Agreed - keep at if Carinya - good luck!

DIATOMS!

Tested my water tonight - looks like I'm in the clear!

Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 8.2
Alk: 6 (bit low - how do I raise safely?)
Phos: 0

So I've got lots of diatoms and lots of pods now. Also saw a mysis shrimp swimming around. I'll be adding the CUC soon.

Just put an order in with John at reefcleaners for a CUC - and I bought something...fuzzy...

It gets here Sat.

Did you get the $2 Halymenia frag he's offering?

Nope...didn't see it until after the order

I subscribe to his forum.

Pictures with my new macro ring (not quite as clear as a new lens would be, but whatever, they were $11):

My nudi








Pods

Looks good man.

Thanks

MOAR HITCHHIKERS!

Porites?


Baby Urchin



Mah nudi (I hope whatever he eats is in abundance in my fuge )



Hair worms



Micro brittle



BASTID!



FFS (full fuge shot)

Verah prettah!

I'd like to get some sealife rock someday.

Thanks man - it's 100% worth the money I paid, for sure.

Looking good!!!

Thanks bro!

Is this live rock from the Caribbean or Pacific? It looks very nice!

I'd say that coral HH was Pocillopora if I had to throw out a guess.

Gulf of Mexico.

Looking good D!

reminds me of setting up my contest tank........good times, good times.

You got some sweet hitchers there buddy! ( told ya! )

Sorry it took me so long to catch up on this thread. Tagging along from here.

Thanks guys - rock's from the Gulf like Fosi said. Also, found the nudi belly up tonight - guess he didn't have the food he needed

In other news, this guy showed up today and I don't have a clue. I didn't think he was mobile until I saw him in a diff. location tonight than this morning. Could be another nudi, but he's flat and REALLY slow moving. Thoughts?

Click to view attachment

tough to tell from the pic...little chiton?

that's what I suspected after posting. He's really colorful for a chiton too. and wouldn't you know it - I just ordered a chiton from john at reefcleaners

I have one in my 5.5 also, hitched in. Very colorful.

I need to get some more John too, time for a CUC supplement in all four tanks lol.
The Chitons John has are very cool too. Good stuff.

And I thought that was the "something fuzzy" you spoke of earlier

yes, it does look like a colorful chiton. I have a large one that only comes out only at night (even room lights will scare it).

haha...yeah, a fuzzy chiton it is.

I have a fairly large (2") chiton that came in with my rock. I only ever see him when I move tanks which means he must come out late at night.

If this guy grows a bit, he might be my favorite thing in my tank. Still no sign of a stomatella though

Question - and be honest: would at mated pair of gobies with a pistol shrimp be alright in my tank if they were the only fish? I know 2 fish in a 9g display (probably 8g in the fuge additional) is pushing it. They have plenty of sand bed to work with. Thoughts? If the mated pair is too much, I'll just go with one goby/shrimp, but the pair of gobies would be so much cooler.

Man that rock you got is super nice! Lots of life on it. I can get some very similar looking stuff that's aquacultured in the gulf from one of the LFS around here, but I hate dealing with the owner.

I really like the idea for your tank. I think perhaps something like the green banded gobies would do alright as a pair, although I don't know if they are commensal with pistol shrimps. They are also know to spawn rather easily in captivity.

I know Yasha's will definitely pair up with shrimp, and there is no disputing their beauty, just not sure if they like to roam very much at all. If they're more of a "stay at home" goby, then I think you might be alright with a pair, considering the fuge.

Yeah - they do have room in the display to dig a burrow and chill - I made sure of that before I built the foam wall. I'm not adding a clownfish or any fish that likes to roam a bit due to the size of the display. DiversDen still has a mated pair of yahia's and a shrimp on sale - I just want to wait some more to let my tank mature a bit before adding the biggest bioload.

Thanks for the compliments!

I think a pair of Green-Banded Gobies would be fine in there. Pretty sure they don't pair up with Shrimp tho.
I may get flamed for saying this but I suspect that a pair of Yashias and a Pistol would be okay.
Adding that much bioload at one time to a tank of this size would mean you'd have to watch your param's very closely for a month afterwards and be prepared to do more frequent WC's at first.
This tank is still a little young to be doing that right now though, isn't it?
I've never heard of someone having a pair of Gobies with a Pistol, not sure how the relational dynamics would work out on a "threesome".

The fuzzies I got from John have been much more active than the hitchers I have. Out and about day and night. Unfortunately they have proven rather short lived for me.

Sorry I cannot offer an experienced reply on the goby pair.

I do have a Yasha and pistol in my 12 DX nano cube tho. Very cool to observe. Amazing how much sand the shrimp can relocate in very short order. Quite the comical duo.

yeah, they aren't going in there any time soon. sorry...i do a lot of long term planning like i'm ready to do it now, but I know the limitations. I think the threesome would be fine. they sell them on DD trio'd, so i'm guessing that they captured them like that.

One thing to keep in mind though, is that even if collected as a pair, sometimes the relationship will be broken when you introduce them into a new tank. It can take some time for them to pair back up, if ever. There was a really nice series of articles in Coral magazine last year about the very same thing, good read if you have it or can find the back issue.

Now that's an interesting thing to ponder. Thanks for the heads up - I'll look into it.

Reefcleaners order!

Wow nice order that looks so sweet.

Thanks! I'm VERY pleased with the order! I think I ordered like 8 periwinkles and I probably had 20 in the bag!

Yup, sounds like John.

Very nice!

This little guy dug his burrow by the glass in my display:

Those are cool. You'll find them all over the place eventually.

http://www.reefs.org/forums/download/file.php?id=4094

http://www.reefs.org/forums/download/file.php?id=4102

Yeah, amphipods are fun to watch. I never had any burrow next to my glass before, though. It's neat watching it go back and forth to each side of his burrow making sure it's safe.

looking realy good!
FYI I believe the grow tips of the red mangroves need to be above the water line.

Thanks - I'll confirm that with John. They had roots so I just stuck them in the sand

Edit: yeah, John's site says the growth tips should be above water. I'll get them up there today.

New FTS:

Want so bad!!!

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...&ddid=59901

Dooo eeet!

Tank looks good man.

WOW much more then the last ones you wanted.

Yeah - different goby than the last one. Though I've pretty much decided that getting a mated pair + shrimp isn't worth it. I'd rather get one fish and then have room for a smaller goby or two (YCG, etc.), or more inverts. That pair is beautiful though.



Thanks