Smite's UNS 75g Peninsula
- Thread starter Smite
- Start date
Thanks!
Honestly I've been feeling like my tank is a little sterile. I went to John's (minus9) house to get a confetti and a few other frags and that really got me thinking. He had so much life crawling around in that sand and a huge copepod population, micro brittle stars ect. I don't want to give up the BB and very high flow so I decided I'd add a sand bed in the section I moved my skimmer from. I've always wondered about MM and the more I read around the more I wanted to finally try it. So it's really just an experiment to see if I notice any positives or negatives about it. I added 20 lbs like they recommend so there is no wondering on that note and that put my section right at the recommended max depth of 2".
I also managed to sell enough frags recently to cover a few ATI ICP tests and some more moonshiner element refills. I've been dosing dailies and a little blind dosing here and there based off previous ICP results but haven't been following the program like i was on the 180g. It'll be interesting to see if anything's changed after adding the MM. All my traces were always undetectable before even with a calcium reactor, I'm curious if I'm just going to see a Iron reading now or if there is something else to this mud.
The sunsets are by far my favorite anthias I have kept so far. There's some checks from the male here and there but nothing near say bartlett's. The coloration of the male has really come in full force and his tail is much more defined and long than the others. Mine are eating machines at this point, so I'd say go for them if you find a group eating. Tong's has had a group of 5 the last few times I was there.
Honestly I've been feeling like my tank is a little sterile. I went to John's (minus9) house to get a confetti and a few other frags and that really got me thinking. He had so much life crawling around in that sand and a huge copepod population, micro brittle stars ect. I don't want to give up the BB and very high flow so I decided I'd add a sand bed in the section I moved my skimmer from. I've always wondered about MM and the more I read around the more I wanted to finally try it. So it's really just an experiment to see if I notice any positives or negatives about it. I added 20 lbs like they recommend so there is no wondering on that note and that put my section right at the recommended max depth of 2".
I also managed to sell enough frags recently to cover a few ATI ICP tests and some more moonshiner element refills. I've been dosing dailies and a little blind dosing here and there based off previous ICP results but haven't been following the program like i was on the 180g. It'll be interesting to see if anything's changed after adding the MM. All my traces were always undetectable before even with a calcium reactor, I'm curious if I'm just going to see a Iron reading now or if there is something else to this mud.
The sunsets are by far my favorite anthias I have kept so far. There's some checks from the male here and there but nothing near say bartlett's. The coloration of the male has really come in full force and his tail is much more defined and long than the others. Mine are eating machines at this point, so I'd say go for them if you find a group eating. Tong's has had a group of 5 the last few times I was there.
yeah i'm hoping to add a lot of biodiversity soon too. apparently this IPSF place is pretty cool to order from. i was apprehensive before because i was being so careful adding stuff, but f it now. seems like the more established and diverse the better, just don't want to add the wrong stuff..
https://www.ipsf.com/ministars.html
i figure i'll go for some mix of the ministars, worms, livesand, livemud
i've been dealing with dinos off and on and it seems that if there's any consensus on those things it's a lack of biodiversity and/or something to outcompete the dinos. i guess reefdudes had a guy on recently that was saying he watched tisbee pods eat dinos under a microscope, so uhh.. i'll be adding some tisbee pods and offensive levels of phyto soon to go with my diversity increase
that's cool on the sunsets. from what i can gather the ones to really go for are sunsets/resplendents/randalls. those seem to be the right mix of not overly into murdering each other, fairly easy to get eating, pretty, small, and apparently decently affordable. i guess they aren't as prone to uronema as some of the others too. although perusing liveaquaria real quick.. resplendents $50 small females, randalls $80 small females, sunsets $45 small females. dang i feel like those were all in the $30 range last i checked
https://www.ipsf.com/ministars.html
i figure i'll go for some mix of the ministars, worms, livesand, livemud
i've been dealing with dinos off and on and it seems that if there's any consensus on those things it's a lack of biodiversity and/or something to outcompete the dinos. i guess reefdudes had a guy on recently that was saying he watched tisbee pods eat dinos under a microscope, so uhh.. i'll be adding some tisbee pods and offensive levels of phyto soon to go with my diversity increase
that's cool on the sunsets. from what i can gather the ones to really go for are sunsets/resplendents/randalls. those seem to be the right mix of not overly into murdering each other, fairly easy to get eating, pretty, small, and apparently decently affordable. i guess they aren't as prone to uronema as some of the others too. although perusing liveaquaria real quick.. resplendents $50 small females, randalls $80 small females, sunsets $45 small females. dang i feel like those were all in the $30 range last i checked
Yep same train of thought here! If you do order let me know how it goes and maybe when the time comes to replace some mud I'll throw that in the mix.
Every tank I've had hits a dino stage in the first year. It's always a set back because its strips the nutrients so quickly and pisses off all the coral. I'm hoping to avoid a major outbreak using my existing liverock this go around but I do see stringers with bubbles pop up from time to time. I haven't confirmed them to be dinos but it sure looks like it.
Yeah those prices are close to what I paid at Tong's. The male was $45 and the 5 females were around $35. Not the cheapest but they stay small so even when grown the tank wont look overcrowded with them.
Every tank I've had hits a dino stage in the first year. It's always a set back because its strips the nutrients so quickly and pisses off all the coral. I'm hoping to avoid a major outbreak using my existing liverock this go around but I do see stringers with bubbles pop up from time to time. I haven't confirmed them to be dinos but it sure looks like it.
Yeah those prices are close to what I paid at Tong's. The male was $45 and the 5 females were around $35. Not the cheapest but they stay small so even when grown the tank wont look overcrowded with them.
will do. i found some video on youtube of some guy unboxing an IPSF order, but it was like a 10 year old video. i never thought i'd go out of my way to add bristleworms, but after 6 months and being super careful adding stuff, including mostly just sps and removing them from plugs, there aint nothing in my tank haha
yeah seems dinos are just super popular in newer tanks.. i should probably get a microscope to properly ID them and treat accordingly
well $35 for a bunch of females doesn't seem too bad.. idk i really want some anthias, but i was also thinking my stocking was a bit absurd to begin with lol
yeah seems dinos are just super popular in newer tanks.. i should probably get a microscope to properly ID them and treat accordingly
well $35 for a bunch of females doesn't seem too bad.. idk i really want some anthias, but i was also thinking my stocking was a bit absurd to begin with lol
Sweet! Functionality is key, right. It’s cool when it looks nice but a pain when you have to add or remove something, I know. Somewhere right in the middle is where I’m at not gunna burn my house down but don’t need a wiring diagram 
I took Velcro tape and put it across he back if my sump. Now I just add wraps of double sided Velcro around cords ect I want to keep in place. No rust and easy to remove.
Don't sleep on the Tong's acro frags. They may not always be colorful when you pick them out and it's usually a hell of a wait to see what they are gonna do but most those pieces end up rivaling the named stuff I have.
Here are some of what I've gotten from Tong's that are really starting to wake up
I had some more but the file size is too large. I'll post them up later. These were all under RB+B and orange filter. I'll try to get some 20k spectrum up for some comparison one of these days
Here are some of what I've gotten from Tong's that are really starting to wake up
I had some more but the file size is too large. I'll post them up later. These were all under RB+B and orange filter. I'll try to get some 20k spectrum up for some comparison one of these days
I've been back following the reef moonshiner's method fully and I'm really starting to see some improvement in florescents in some of my pieces. This ASD Doomsday is looking real nice right now, the underside looks false in real life and i don't think I've seen that teal color on any other piece before. It's got great contrast. I've also backed off AB+ aminos/vits by red sea and am seeing the blues come back to my reef pets ultra violet. I added some youtube music in there to cover the constant noise in my house lol.
