Cell Block H

[Choppa]

It's working well by the sounds - time to add more inmates

Chop

[Hunky Dory]

Well I finally bit the bullet and went after the Trigger, meant pulling out most of the rock and chasing it down with a net. There was no way it was going to be fooled with a trap. She's now in my sump for the time being until I decide what to do, the LFS are happy to take her sell it for me but I don't care about the money and would just like the fish to find the right home. This won't be easy as it needs to be housed with much larger, very tough tank mates but it's really a gorgeous fish.

I've had the same basic rock formation for over 10 years so time for a new aquascape seeing that I had it all pulled apart. Not easy to do in 30" depth and a pissed off clownfish that kept launching attacks on my arm, the little bugger actually really hurts!

New inmates

[Choppa]

Is that a juvenile olive tang? Nice

[Hunky Dory]

Yes, a baby Olive, feisty little fellow and didn't get on well with the Tomini at first but they've sorted out a pecking order now. Easily the best algae grazer I've ever owned. Funny how the politics have changed and it's a lot calmer since the Trigger's been removed and probably the change of scenery to, perhaps everyone can now get a good night's sleep without worrying about being bitten. So now there's the HTF, the Melanopus Clownfish, Sailfin, Tomini and Olive Tangs and an Asfur Angel, -what a ripper of a fish, tame, peaceful, greedy and beautiful. Corals include Zoas, Xenia, a few mushies and a Dendronephthya which may not have been a good idea but it was a freeby and seems to be doing well (atm). Equipment wise I put in another stream pump, a Sicce voyager7 so with the two existing Tunzes I've got close to 30,000lph of flow when they're all on.

[Hunky Dory]

Well the Triggers gone , the poor thing couldn't live in the sump forever and was swapped for some more Xenia and an Olive Starfish. Shame Undy's are such b@st@ards as it was developing into a stunning looking beast.
In the pic below you can sort of see what appears to be a lot of detritus but it's actually masses of miniature tube or fan worms? I've always had them in the live rock but never colonizing the sand bed in this quantity. Looks like a furry carpet up close.



The tank's been going great otherwise, nitrates still around the 2ppm mark and that's with the fish getting 2 or sometimes 3 feeds a day. A 20% water change and a bioplellet top up are due though. I've also started to feed reef roids to and the corals seem to respond to it. There's little polyps sprouting everywhere, even in the sand. Probably helped along by the Undulate liking to frag everything. Still getting green Algae on the glass but none on the rock anymore, it does though keep the Tangs and the Asfur occupied between feeds -which is a good thing.



I finally got a pic with all 6 fish, not easy to do reasonably close up. I know it's teasing but I put their food container within view so they would mill around it



And last but not least, a new colony of fluoro green Rhodactis



Cheers and thank god it's Friday

[Hunky Dory]

Hi again thought I'd do a little update. Seeing the water quality has remained fairly stable and there's good coralline growth
I decided to drop in a few LPS corals. It's been fun feeding them but frustrating as my fish, especially the Sailfin, steals all the food.
To look after the scraps and give the Tangs a hand with the algae I've also replenished the CUC with new hermits, Turbo snails
and a couple of Nardoa starfish.


Hammer


Bubble


Fungia


Xenia frag and one of two starfish -Nardoa novaecaledoniae


New blue Xenia, should look nice once it's settled in.


Coralline starting to compete with the green algae.

Some good fin action from the desjardinii


And a nearly full front shot.
The next plan is to replace some of the ancient phosphate ridden LR I've already taken out with a few new primo pieces.
I'd like to build up the left hand side again, sort of how it was with a large bommie/reef-slope and I love seeing what new critters might
come with it.

[Choppa]

Looking great HD

Love the blue xenia and the sailfin pic.

Chop

[Hunky Dory]

Cheers Chop

Seeing the LPS has been going well I added a few more, an orange and a green plate, a green Helio and a Maze coral. Also started building up the left hand side with some new LR and a largish green Sinularia which I glued in position. Still a little on the flop but it should stand up a bit more once it's settled in.

Asfur enjoying it's new swim-through


Fungia collection growing


Just behind the Turbo snail you can see a sand sifting star, awesome animal, quite quick moving and even though mainly nocturnal will emerge out of the sand at feeding time.


One of the Nardoa's, these guys are great at getting up into the corners under the eurobrace and removing algae and scum.


HTF


Sailfin bombing in the arvo sun


Motley Crue

[Andy.B]

nice tank HD love your fish list

HTF "Count Dracula", nice to see he's grown his top left fang back!

awesome photo! love these guys is he well behaved around your corals or does he tip them in search of food?

[Hunky Dory]

Hi Andy the Tusk's very well behaved except for being very greedy and hasn't tipped or damaged anything so far but is always on the hunt. It can be a bit frustrating when I feed the lps which I have to guard with a long piece of pvc pipe until they've consumed their food. They're really peaceful fish unless you have inverts.