Fishy Business

First-time Innovative Marine 15 gal cube

timmeh

timmeh

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Hello everyone!

We (myself + 11 year old tank-owner) are a little less than 3 months into our first tank journey. It has been an amazing experience so far - especially after coming to CMC and meeting with members of the club. Even though the tank is little and young, it's still so much fun to watch. Even moreso now that we're watching more than just a couple crabs and snails move around, while waiting for the tank to cycle.

So here are a couple pictures (damn, it's hard to get good pictures of the tank from the iphone!):

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IMG_8711.jpg


So the tank owner (and me!) really love the look of the wavy and flowing corals. This means lots of hammers - a duncan, one bubble nem, and some of the dreaded pulsing xenia and clove polyps (isolated on an island). Plus a couple other things in there that are just too cool!

We also wanted to share our thanks to both @derek_SR and @MarcosDelgado0.

Derek, for the awesome chalice (we'll glue that down tomorrow!) and the monti hirsuta (which we are still hoping to find a place to mount).
Marcos, for the amazing hammer frags. Incredibly, the 4 you gave us are all unique and different from the other four we bought at the CMC! We now have this great, growing little hammer garden that is looking so dang cool!

We are also both so excited to come to the upcoming frag swap, and meet more people in the club. Right before the event, we'll head to one of the shops nearby and buy a few basic frags so that we can participate and join in with the fun! :D
 
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Turkeysammich said:
Very nice. Btw. The duncan that you mounted at the top. Should be on the sand bed. They are lower light corals.
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Oh dang! Okay, we'll pop that off tomorrow and scoot it down to the bottom! We were going to do a little bit of rearranging of some of the hammers, so we'll do both at the same time!
 
Welcome and nice looking tank.

Be cautious of the chalice coral depending on it's type they have long sweepers at night, that you may onlynsee if your up late. They can sting and also kill other corals. So be sure to give it space on all sides from things you wouldn't want stung. Same way as hammers for the most part. Placement needs consideration.

+ 1 to the comment on the duncan Placement.
 
Tank is looking good! Definitely a good idea to keep this tank journal updated as often as you can because that’ll make it easier for people to give you advice. Glad I could contribute to this a little bit!
 
It was good to meet you too. I’d put that monti up high somewhere - maybe in the Duncan’s spot. It will get big and branchy and look cool up there.

But if you really like the flowy corals - feel free to swap the monti! I won’t be offended one bit.

Good luck and see you at the swap!
 
Oh that's a good reminder about the chalice - you can kinda see how we wedged it into the back-right corner where there isn't anything else. Maybe we'll lift it up higher (onto the arm pointing out to the right) so it's totally isolated. I was just worried about it shading things out once it gets established.

The pictures here don't make it very clear, but the hammers are all mounted on their own rock, and the lower rock on the right-hand side is both behind and lower than where the hammers are living. We suspect this is where we'll put a few other corals we get at the swap, which will likely be less wavy-arms and flowy. We are, however, keeping a rock outcrop on the left-side of the tank (near the hammers) as a spot to eventually place a torch or two. @MarcosDelgado0 gave us the good advice of waiting until the tank was 9+ months old, and really established, before getting a more finicky torch - so we'll look forward to that day!
 
I haven't posted a tank journal update in here in a while, but we're doing great despite a few ups, downs, and lessons along the way (ex: don't point the return pump right at hammers - even after just a single day, it can kill off heads).

But all in all, we are loving it. And after the last frag swap, we got a few really cool things that everyone is excited to see growing up in the tank.

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We have also learned why everyone says "Put Xenia on a rock far away from everything else". While the LPS in our tank are very very slow to grow, as the tank matures... the xenia... holy crap. This stuff just won't stop. Thank god we put it on a rock in the corner.
 
timmeh said:
I haven't posted a tank journal update in here in a while, but we're doing great despite a few ups, downs, and lessons along the way (ex: don't point the return pump right at hammers - even after just a single day, it can kill off heads).

But all in all, we are loving it. And after the last frag swap, we got a few really cool things that everyone is excited to see growing up in the tank.

View attachment 71050

We have also learned why everyone says "Put Xenia on a rock far away from everything else". While the LPS in our tank are very very slow to grow, as the tank matures... the xenia... holy crap. This stuff just won't stop. Thank god we put it on a rock in the corner.
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Looks awesome. If you aren’t aware xenia can also release spores or polyps and apear in other places in the tank as well. Green star polyps has to touch something to spread to it. Not the same with corals like xenia or Kenya trees.

You can keep them contained to a rock, but keep a eye out and be prepared to quickly manually remove any that may apear in other places you don't want them. If you see polyps in a undesired place and ignore them and as you mentioned it won't stop on it's own.
 
Tank looks awesome! Love the hammers. I see an NPS too, very cool

Like Michael said, xenia can bud off polyps and crop up elsewhere. I've seen polyps floating around before so be aware!
 
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