As promised, here are some updates

[thefatman]

well, i finally felt i had enough energy to take and edit some pics. so here is how the tank is coming along.

for those who dont read in m'ville very often, i had a heart attack (#4) a few days after christmas, so Asia has been nursing me back to health and taking care of the tank for me

for those who are new, and don't know me yet, asia is my 8 year old daughter

i'm doing much better now, jsut re-couping slower than i thought i would. overall, i feel way better than i did last week!

anyway, here's some pics, been quite some time since i posted.

[thefatman]

a couple full tank shots: one with actinics, and one with daylights.

as you can see, the goni is hanging in there still, and the pincushion leather is growing FAST. zoos are spreading and xenia is now starting to spread. Sponge is doing quite well, all the fish are doing great. Dori is about twice the size she was when i got her in novemebr for asia's birthday, and hasn't gotten ich once (knock knock)

very very little algae in the display tank. jsut a few random spots of bubble algae, and some green along the top and bottom of the glass, where the mag-float cant reach. i havent been able to scrape it, and asia cant reach the bottom, without a snorkle

[Casey]

Looks great Jay it is coming along nicely.

[thefatman]

some of you may remember my first official coral in this tank was a blastomussa, sold to me as a "very rare type of candy cane"

well when i got it, it had only 6 polyps, now there are 16, that i am able to count!

[thefatman]

my pinsuchion leather, has grown about twice the size it was when i got it, and has now spouted TWO babies. the main "trunk" has attached to the rocks it was leaning against, and now is starting to thin at the "elbow" i assume, so that it can separate and let the babies have the base.

[thefatman]

here are the two babies growing on the base of the pincushion. the zoos next to it jsut appeared there one day. the main colony of that color is actually about 8" away on a different piece of rock, and at a different elevation. so i dont know how those got where they are, but imagine my surprise when i found them

[thefatman]

this is the main colony that the prior zoos came from. when i got this colony it only had about 5 zoos in it. and then one day they all shriveld up and starting "melting" away. then a few days later, they started growing new "heads" and then pow, they started spreading like mad!! and apparantly not only in this spot!!

[thefatman]

what used to be one head of xenia, with one stalk, and about 10-15 polups has now grown immensly. there are now three heads and three stalks, and 40 or 50 polyps. now, the other day, they started leaning over and growing "nipples" o nthe sides. then i woke up to find them attached to the nearby rocks, and now they are separating from one another!!!!

the really cool thing is that it's separate pieces of tocks, so once they finish parting, i can move the rocks new new locations, and let them spread all over the tank too!!

[thefatman]

my star polyps. two different variations.

they are still doing very well. the smaller polyped colony isnt spreading, but is doing well.

the longer polyped colony, you might remember had some odd brown coral growin in the center. well those started spreading, (jsut havent had the desire to cut them out)

in a way it was good, as it forced the stars to spread. so now the rock they were sitting on, is completely covered with the purple mat now, along the back side, and is starting to spread out sideways as well. the mat has lots of little tiny polyps starting to come out of it

[thefatman]

for christmas my mom went to my favorite lfs and talked to them about what to get me for christmas. knowing me, and my tank, he recommended "hairy mushrooms"

so she picked up this colony. they are spread over a nice pice of tonga branch, with 3 "legs"

there are 9 shrooms on it, and most are 2" - 3" in diameter when fully opened. the largest is maybe 4" across

there are two different colors as well. the front are pink/green

the ones in the back are a green base with red polyps.

[thefatman]

here's a shot of the shrooms up close. i love the way these look. they sway in the water, and remind me of a carpet anenome

[thefatman]

here is the left side of the tank with all the lights on. i still have the caves and tunnels all interconnected under the structure, so the fish can get from one end to the other within the tunnels. and all the openings are surrounded by zoos and xenia on the left.

[thefatman]

and finally the right side. the stoney "ridge" coral is stil ldoing quite well. although i stil lhave figured out exactly what it is

the goni is doing well, but doesnt extend nearly as far as it used to, i fear it might be heading down hill

[CAT]

Looks great, Jay. Tell Asia she's an ace reefkeeper

[thefatman]

thanks cat and casey

yeah she feels all grown up when she feeds the tank, or clips in some nori

but her favorite part is still cleaning the glass with the magfloat, and she has to stand on a chair to reach the top lol. my poor midget daughter

well, that's all the pics for now, my apologies to the dialup folks. but i wanted to get these all up now, because i'm getting tired out. didnt have the will for two threads