Have you been able to find live mysis? I always ask wherever I go but no one has any. The tigger pods I got today are live though. I also have a pretty good population of mysid, but not mysis. I have multipacks of foods though that have frozen mysis. Here is the best I could get, my camera is a TOT-AL pos and I have no chance of being able to get close up coral pics. Someday. I'd take a pic of my new one, but I don't think anyone needs to see a completely bare hospital/acclimation/quarantine tank.Oh and since you mentioned petco in another post....I went today just for birdfood and they are SELLING, yes selling aptasia as "glass anenomes" I laughed. /monthly_2012_05/0510121520-00.jpg.a73c20e45cba9ac4eb5b0d6bd0c4c37f.jpg
Don't challenge that Ras. if I may add to your list, being able to keep them alive is enjoyable. Not the easiest thing in the world but it sure is enjoyable! /monthly_2012_05/014.jpg.b02274d48afefa36bf029136b7f0e44e.jpg
Haha, you can't even see through the sides of the tank anymore becuz of all the coralline algae growth.
I noticed! How long has that tank been established? The only place any is growing on my tank is on the front, of course, which I have been getting rid of. It's not very old though. And I fee bad I just injected vinegar into an aptasia that was too close to some polyps. I have never killed them like that before, just let peppermint shrimp do it. Now I am a hypocrite! Worked VERY well though
Hey dude I am betting that tank is placed somewhere very close to where you sit or sleep...like mine...because the side view is what I see most of the time! Just sit and stare at it by my bed. Nice tank!
That pic that jr215 posted is actually an old pic of the tank I have now. I got it from him. He had it up and running for at least 2-3 years and then I bout it about 8 months ago. I've done a few upgrades with the lighting and added another power filter, but it was well established when I got it from him. He now has my old 12 gal. Nano that I had when i started. HE wanted something smaller and I wanted something bigger, so we made a deal. :redbong:
And here's the nano I got from Ras. Not quite as big and spectacular, but so much easier to maintain. for the crappy pic. My phone doesn't have a great camera. /monthly_2012_05/tank.jpg.a600cd7c1e7c14d5296c343345490b43.jpg
The tank looks good brethren. The clowns look healthy. Those Tree corals have really grown. I bought a new big ass rock today for $48!! Live rock is expensive and I got a deal on it. I also got a Blue Hippo Tang and some really cool Neon Blue Zoos on a frag. I also ordered my overflow for my tank so I can set up my refugium. asssit:
Pics. FTS New Rock. Weighed 16 pounds. Neon Blue Zoos. Blue Hippo Tang. Already referred to as "Dory". :BangHead: :coolbounce:
Ras, do you fresh water dip the rock before adding to your tank? I did it to kill bristle worms and unwanted parrisites. The only problem with it was some rock would have alot of die off and would cause an amonia spike, and then all down hill from there. So I would keep a small tank with some small pieces of live roc and a couple of damsels. I used that tank as my cycle tank for live rock after fresh water dipping. I'm stoned and rambleing. Nice tank buddy. :not-worthy:
I didn't know you had a saltwater tank. Right on brethren. I love my tanks, fresh and saltwater. I do need to get a couple more tanks. One to set up as a frag tank. One to set up as a hospital/quarantine tank ohh and one more because I need to separate my Blood Parrots from my Oscars soon. Plus I'm setting up my refugium and always upgrading my grow, and we have puppies at the moment. I'm busy and spending money as fast as I can make it, but it's great cuz this is what life is all about for me. asssit:
Ras I think I may have seen you mention you wanted Macro algae. If you can find it, get some of this red stuff I got today. You can see it in my avatar (it's the bright red stuff).Your blue tang and other herbivores will love it. Came in a bottle of saltwater filled to the brim cost $13 and looks really nice. The crabs and other things are already liking it and it's good for nitrates. Needs a lot of water movement. By Reef Nutrition, called "Macro Feast" /monthly_2012_05/imagesCABMW6GR.jpg.557d1efa9dc03f7c331b5fc7051a9725.jpg
Thanks Canna. I'll check into that. I will be adding a bunch of Macros to my refugium. It should be up and running by next week or so. I ordered my overflow box today. I gotta get the tubing and return pump and cut and install the baffles into my 20 gal. long tank that will be the refugium. I have a T5 light already and live sand. My LFS guy will give me some free rubble rock when I pick up my overflow. Gotta get some bio balls as well. I actually love buying equipment for my tank as much as I do buying livestock and corals. asssit:
You are way ahead of me. I am the queen of freshwater aquascape but saltwater is still quite new (had a few tanks years ago, never went far into it) I still am learning what all these things are and what they do and how they work (protein skimmers, got the basic idea...not sure why I need it, overflow....used to know more about it when I worked at an aquarium, forgot long ago). I know what a refugium is but I don't know how to connect it to a regular tank, how that works...ect. Hey at least I know what bio-balls are! Gotta say I am not like you. I don't fancy buying equipment. I have everything that came with this marineland tank and nothing else. Just a nothin fancy hang on the back filter with a bio-wheel. It does the job, especially because I do weekly water changes of about 30-40% (it's so easy on a small tank). I don't yet test KH. I will be learning about that the further I get into corals. I got some new corals today, some flower pot corals, some more button polyps or something similar.....well they are green, pink, brown and reddish, don't ask the specific species. A kenya tree coral which I like the sound of them "growing so fast they can become a pest"...that's fine with me I will take frags. And some green star polyps (like those a lot)I got a flame scallop because yours made me jealous and a jennifer basslet because I love the yellow on purple. That put me over capacity for this 10 gallon with a Springer Damsel, the Basslet and the Mandarin but it's stocked with that macro algae now and sponges to help to nitrates....and my frequent water changes. (if I need to, I will give the Springer away) I also got some live brine shrimp and enjoyed watching the feeding frenzy. That's a once in a while thing as I don't want too many dying and fucking everything up. I add trace elements/minerals and use premixed water of 1.024-25 now. How dumb do you think it is to not be testing kh? I'd like to get away with it...but if stuff starts dying that will be the first thing I test. At the moment, everything looks peachy...Here is my bad attempt at getting a good shot of my corals....and a bunch of picture of corals I have but those are not my photos, just the species I have. /monthly_2012_05/0514122011-00.jpg.35e498d91f1beb3364feffbbbb0bd1b3.jpg /monthly_2012_05/greenstarpolyp2.jpg.07eb963b513cb295c4ba7634f6aaa317.jpg /monthly_2012_05/lemonlimegoniopora.jpg.c460ee79be2c696e122bc803319fb550.jpg /monthly_2012_05/buttonPolyp1.jpg.03da3ca69d7019d46d85b8a6e231a28a.jpg /monthly_2012_05/l.jpg.0c7c35d98389846efe450deb0714036e.jpg
Love my Scallop. Fascinating creature. i hope I can keep it happy and alive long term. I have heard that they can be hard to keep. All the soft corals are pretty easy. LPS corals can be a bit more demanding and SPS are the toughest next to Clams and Anemones. I have also heard that Flower Pots can be tough to keep alive as well. If you're doing frequent water changes, the chances of your trace elements being off is far diminished. However it does sound like your pretty heavily stocked for a 10 gal. so watch those nitrates. I only bought my first KH test kit today. Up until today I only tested Calcium pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. I'm gonna check my KH tomorrow, but all my Coralline algae and LPS corals seem to be growing fine. The overflow is simple and tying the fuge into the main tank is easy as well. Basically an overflow consists of a small box that hangs inside the tank attached to a larger box that hangs over the back. The two are connected via a "U" shaped tube that forms a siphon as the front box fills , the water flows through the tube into the rear box, where it drains via gravity down into the sump/fuge where it flows through and is returned up to the main tank via a submersible pump. A protein skimmer basically simulates the foam that forms as waves break onto the beach depositing excess proteins and solid wastes where in nature they are broken down by bacteria living in the sand, but in the skimmer they are collected in the cup and then dumped. The Green Star Polyps and Kenya Trees are super easy to grow and will reproduce fairly quickly. I have at least a dozen new Kenya Trees in the last 5 months. Mushrooms and the Zoanthids are also easy and will reproduce a lot. Frags are cool, cuz most shops will take frags in trade for whatever you need like supplements, food, etc. asssit:
And a better tank shot, with a shit camera /monthly_2012_05/0514122304-00.jpg.8afae548f055a656b16f0bf5620ef4ea.jpg
Ahh I can remember an overflow now, and also understand how the fuge would work, duh, a pump. Ok, I was stoned i'll blame it on that The protein skimmer I get but do people have them for tanks this small ever? I def would if I had a tank more like yours. Hey, how do mushrooms reproduce? I could just go read the faq of a reef site but I am a lazy fuck. Do they split? Does your scallop go from periods of full extension of tentacles and then about half later? Mine is doing that....well it was full when I put it in there, it's about half now. I did feed the tank today.... edit: nevermind the scallop was pissed I put him where I did and he got stuck.
Oh the flower pot coral was actually free because because it was on a rock with three huge aptasia so he just charged me rubble rock price. There are about 10 stocks and growing. to hear it's harder to keep, hope I do my best. It looks pretty good now. And I injected the aptasia with vinegar, so, free coral! Just read it is LPS. All my others are soft corals. I won't be getting anything but those until I know I can at least keep those alive and reproducing. I went to another store and asked what they would charge for one on a nice rock with 10 stocks and he said probly around 25-30. I payed $2
Yeah, flower pots can be expensive, you scored a good deal for sure. Mushrooms will reproduce one of two ways that I have seen. Either by mitosis or splitting in half, or they can move their entire body by "walking" more of a slow crawl over a several day period until they have moved a few inches or detached from the rock they were on and they leave behind a small piece of flesh where they were. That piece of flesh will grow a new head and become a mushroom. My Scallop has moved all over the tank in the last week, I suppose looking for a more suitable spot with the flow it likes and I believe they like a shadier location kind of under a ledge, where they feel safe. Have you seen yours stick it's foot out of it's shell and grab onto things? It's a trip. They will also clamp their shells shut quickly to propel themselves. Watch those aptasia. From what I have read, if even a small little fragment of flesh tucked up inside the rock survives, it will grow back eventually. I have never had any so far, thankfully, but you could always just buy a peppermint shrimp for the tank. Perfect for a Nano and they eat aptasia. Pretty little shrimps too.
Sump/Refugium Got my Sump/Refugium going. I picked up this 20 gal. long glass aquarium off of craigslist a while back for $6. I had left over Lexan from making the top for my main tank. I cut 4 baffles to make 3 chambers separated by 2 bubble traps. The flow is from right to left. Water enters the Sump/Refugium on the right from the new CPR CS50 Overflow box I bought, and flows under the first baffle through a simple sponge filter to trap bubbles. Then flows over the second baffle through slotted teeth I routered out using my Dremmel tool into the center chamber which is the refugium containing a deep sand bed and a few pieces of rock and some Chaeto and Caulerpa macro algae. Then it flows through the refugium slowly and over the third baffle into the second bubble trap and then under the fourth baffle into the return chamber where it's pumped back up to the main tank. It's it by a 24 watt (100 watt equivalent) 5000K Daylight CFL bulb. I plan on putting some Dwarf Seahorses in the fuge. It should be about 10 gal., which is perfect for Dwarf Seahorses. First I gotta get my chiller though. I'll be getting that next week or so, as soon as I have the money. My LFS guy has a nice used 1/5th horsepower chiller for $250. Once I have that, I'm setup. asssit: The Overflow box. CPR CS50. Pretty cool. Has a small vacuum lifter pump to maintain a constant siphon that will automatically restart in the event of a power outage. I already have a ton more pods in the tank. I am also going to hopefully be getting a Red Mandarin Goby in the future. asssit:
