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msscha's 24 gallon office cube


msscha

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I use the glue then waterweld putty followed by yet more glue method. They stick pretty well.

 

Glad your new fish is settling in. I got new corals but they look pretty bad so no real pictures yet. Actually wondering about your toadstool, that's a leather right? How did it react when you put it in the tank? was it shipped to you or did you buy it local?

Thanks for the recs on glue/putty. I couldn't find the putty when I went to home depot, so was hoping glue would be sufficient. It isn't!

 

The toadstool is a "leather" -- a.k.a, toadstool mushroom leather coral -- the link is to LiveAquaria where I usually begin my info gathering. Even after acclimating, when I first placed it in the tank, it closed up and I understood why it's named "toadstool" -- it looked just like a mushroom in a kid's drawing. It began opening up the next morning, and today, was one of the first to react to light -- even before the tank lights came on, just the office light triggered its "awake" look. The one I have is pretty small! It doesn't look much like the one in the pictures, though an image search will turn up lots of posts. I bought it local. Because my tank is at the office, I won't use the mail -- nothing would survive campus post, and there's no way for me to guarantee I'd be available to get something from a carrier to my tank before it died. I don't think they are particularly rare, though I do think that fish and corals are somewhat seasonal. If aqua-cultured, season may not matter as much (I really don't know), but if wild-caught, then it does. I have a friend who drives down to a big-time facility in Tampa to buy direct. I'd love to go with him sometime -- I think I might be able to get something home from Tampa, which is only about 3 hours from here.

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I think steviet has a post somewhere detailing the glue/putty/glue method. I use it once i know the corals are staying in the spot i picked, when testing the spot out i just use putty so i can remove them if i need to.

 

Your tank looks great btw, i didn't see the photos before (my stupid phone wouldn't show them).

 

Also, nice toadstool. I just got my first leathers yesterday, they're still stressed from shipping but i have high hopes that they will pull through nicely. I got a green devils hand and a fiji leather which i think will look something like your toadstool once it's settled and regrown some bits.

 

I think i'm going to end up with the same fish combo as you, clown and goby. I picked up 1 clownfish today, i know i should have got him a mate but didn't have enough $$. Hoping if i get another one soon he won't have established territory to protect. He's hosting the powerhead right now, silly fish.

 

You have a turbo in your tank right? Does it eat the macro algae at all? i really want some nice macros but the last ones i got my stupid turbo ate the whole lot in one night :(

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I think steviet has a post somewhere detailing the glue/putty/glue method. I use it once i know the corals are staying in the spot i picked, when testing the spot out i just use putty so i can remove them if i need to.

 

Your tank looks great btw, i didn't see the photos before (my stupid phone wouldn't show them).

 

Also, nice toadstool. I just got my first leathers yesterday, they're still stressed from shipping but i have high hopes that they will pull through nicely. I got a green devils hand and a fiji leather which i think will look something like your toadstool once it's settled and regrown some bits.

 

I think i'm going to end up with the same fish combo as you, clown and goby. I picked up 1 clownfish today, i know i should have got him a mate but didn't have enough $$. Hoping if i get another one soon he won't have established territory to protect. He's hosting the powerhead right now, silly fish.

 

You have a turbo in your tank right? Does it eat the macro algae at all? i really want some nice macros but the last ones i got my stupid turbo ate the whole lot in one night :(

 

Stevie's T thread is awesome, and I have it bookmarked in pinboard for easy retrieval! I read nearly the whole thing, but skipped the putty part (my bad). I think it's funny that your clown is hosting the powerhead! Either I don't recognize the behavior or my clown isn't hosting anything. She's a bit silly, is Bozette, hence her name. I think the trick to introducing a second clown is to get one much smaller and hope for the best. Bozette went totally nuts when I put in one as big as she is.

 

And yes, the turbo ate all macro except halimeda discoides down to the nub. The red emerald I had in did that, too, but I watched the turbo just munch two different types (a strap type and a bubble-shaped type of some kind) -- I'm hoping it doesn't go after the cheato. However, it didn't touch the macro in my tank until all the algae was gone. By the time I got my CUC, the whole back of the tank was covered in pretty green sludge-y flowing stuff and the algae eating snails just stuffed their guts for two weeks before it was gone. There may be some relationship with the type of macro, too -- whether it's Caribbean or Pacific maybe? All the stuff on my rock and at the LFS is Caribbean; they don't carry a lot of macro at all. I wish they would b/c I'd like to add some. I really like the look and it helps with the whole underwater garden vibe I'm going for.

 

I'll head over to your thread and see if you've posted new pics of the corals!

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Bozette is a great name. Sucks that she wouldn't accept another clown.

 

Well, i might get some cheato next week and see if he eats it. I like the look too and also it helps water quality all good things so i'd like some in my tank but if he's going to ignore the actual algae i want him to eat and eat this instead i'll be annoyed. I'm pretty sure my lfs only carry cheato which sucks. I got my last nice red stuff from reefcleaners and it was all gone within about 3 days.

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Bozette is a great name. Sucks that she wouldn't accept another clown.

 

Well, i might get some cheato next week and see if he eats it. I like the look too and also it helps water quality all good things so i'd like some in my tank but if he's going to ignore the actual algae i want him to eat and eat this instead i'll be annoyed. I'm pretty sure my lfs only carry cheato which sucks. I got my last nice red stuff from reefcleaners and it was all gone within about 3 days.

I missed out on the nice red stuff, too! Had it, then three days later they didn't. I don't mind, though, b/c my tank is primarily purple in tone, so the green is a nice contrast.

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Monday Morning

 

Everyone accounted for this morning -- yeah! The goby has dug itself a pit under the cheato; I think it buried the little piece tube coral. I'll go hunting for it later. The goby moves sand out and around its nest (is that the right word? Maybe just home...) using both its mouth and its tail. It'll go into the pit, head down, and vigorously shake its tail, then come out and inspect. I really don't know if this is a kind of feeding behavior or habitat building. Definitely makes a mess of the water column for a few seconds! Rain's color seem deeper today, too. The gray that begins just after the yellow head is definitely darker (it was nearly transparent last week) and the slightly darker gray, wide vertical bands have appeared, too. The red stripes run clearly now from head to tail, and the point where tail makes contact with the body also has a red edge, followed by white, before the tail goes mostly clear. Very cool fish!

 

Corals look good -- the duncan was totally closed when I came in, which is a bit unusual, but has since opened up. Being closed meant a good look at the new heads and I discovered another -- yeah! Am planning spots for 3 more corals, but haven't decided which. I'll be moving the acans back up to the top next to the yellow sponge (they seemed really happy there). Then I'll put something else where they are -- the spot is a bit lower than the surrounding rock, so I'll have to think what would make sense. The other two locations are first, in the back, on a little outcrop of rock next to the cheato. And I'd like to put something on the diagonal slant -- whatever it is is going to need to LOVE high flow since it'll be right in the way of the koralia water pump.

 

Heard two loud clicks this morning, right after feeding time. Hmmm.

Edited by msscha
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Someone somewhere on NF mentioned eunicid worms and clicking in the same sentence, so I thought I'd do a bit of research (I am on my lunch break!) -- found this awesome article by Shimek -- he's a great writer, really smart and really funny.

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That was probably me -_-

 

I had two eunicids in my tank. I tore the tank down to get them out. I couldn't believe the strength those guys had. One dropped out of the rock and was literally jumping on the towel it landed on. It was strong! They were thick guys too. I felt so bad flushing them but I didn't think anyone would find them desirable :lol:

 

I wondered if the clicking was related to them, but I still have clicking so I guess not :)

 

Now I'm wondering if the clicking is a giant pod. I've never seen any sign of pistol or mantis type shrimp in there.

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Now I'm wondering if the clicking is a giant pod. I've never seen any sign of pistol or mantis type shrimp in there.

I wonder that, too -- I've got some giant pods in the tank. I actually thought it was a small shrimp, but closer inspection showed it had the wrong head/tail for it. I think I need more pods, actually. The rainfordii goby eats them. I've read so many entries the last few days where people's rainfordii died slowly of starvation b/c they didn't have the right food sources, and apparently, they don't really eat prepared stuff much. This is why they do better in a mature system, which mine both is and isn't. Yet more research to do!

 

Bozette, my clown, is looking really nice, though. Her black stripes are darkening up -- it's very pretty.

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Definitely something burrowing under one of the base rocks. I'm choosing to live with it. So far, there's been no damage to anyone! Rain seems to be burying then re-burrowing out his sand pit. Maybe he's in competition with the clicking-rock-burrower for who can make the biggest mess? Was happy to see Rain pass a big ole poo this morning! Waste out means fuel's going in, so at least I know he's eating. Also seeing pods on the side of the glass again (thanks, cheato!) which will be important to the fishy health. May still supplement every couple of weeks with purchased pods, though. Cyano is slowly coming under control. I need to move the shrooms 'cause I think it may be bothering the hidden cup when it gets particularly large and blowsy. I'm spotting lots of new or improving sponge life! Some very pretty orange-y, pink-y colors and same whitish ones as well. Three of the nems are back (grrr). Two majanos and one who-knows-what-it-just-won't-die. Maybe it's a zombie 'nem and I should just deal with it. Mollusks seems content -- they're opening and closing like mollusks should. I think I may have picked up a hitchhiker feather worm on my cheato! There's a tiny feather critter, complete with tube, on the sand, under the cheato. I saw it yesterday while looking for pod life. Kind of psyched about that. I hope it doesn't get buried to death by Rain.

 

Only coral that doesn't seem jazzed at the moment is the clove -- doesn't open as far as it used to. Otherwise, I've got the annoying freaking sugar ants all over the office, including my keyboard. Which may say something about my eating habits in the office :P . Heading off to Orlando tomorrow for an NSF conference on grant writing -- woo hoo!

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It's funny how happy we get when we see our more delicate fish take a poop :lol:

 

Do the ants sit on the tank as well? I remember how horrified I was, about 10 years ago, when I discovered a colony of ants attached to the side of my quarantine tank, with a trail leading to a base board. I'm not good with bugs!!!!!! They liked the warmth of the tank. That quarantine tank came down the same day.

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It's funny how happy we get when we see our more delicate fish take a poop :lol:

 

Do the ants sit on the tank as well? I remember how horrified I was, about 10 years ago, when I discovered a colony of ants attached to the side of my quarantine tank, with a trail leading to a base board. I'm not good with bugs!!!!!! They liked the warmth of the tank. That quarantine tank came down the same day.

I think they may be hanging out under the tank -- and they didn't appear until we had a three night cold spell where the night temps were in the 20s. Blech. :eek:

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YAY poop! Sorry but i know how you feel, i have a sick cat and when she poops it's a relief.

 

Ants? ew. I hope you can get rid of them.

 

Let me know what you use on the majanos, i have two that won't die either. I'm considering super gluing them in.

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DIY Cube Nano Man
Also spotted either a little shrimp or big copepod yesterday afternoon. It was about 1/4" long, some striping, some kind of antennae looking things up front, and a deeply curled tail end. When I got close to examine it, it shot like a bullet into the hairy shroom! Interesting, 'cause I read yesterday that hairy shrooms are semi-aggressive and leak a toxin that can be fatal to sessile invertebrates.

 

I once found a small shrimp like this in my 55Gal. I saw it over a period of 2-3 nights then didn't see it again for like over a year, but i'd had lots of clicking noises coming from the tank every so often since. The i found a rather large peacock mantis shrimp in my tank. I removed this critter and took it to my local LFS. But the clicking continued... I figured it might of had friends. However about another 6 months later I saw it peeping out of a little hole in one of my rocks. It was unmistakenly a pistol shrimp of some sort. It hadn't grown a great deal since I first saw it but it was more deeper green coloration, but still had a few of those unforgettable stripes further down its body. As an extra surprise I found shortly after this that it had a friend with it - a 2nd identical looking buddy living together with it in the same rock. That's my story :)

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I once found a small shrimp like this in my 55Gal. I saw it over a period of 2-3 nights then didn't see it again for like over a year, but i'd had lots of clicking noises coming from the tank every so often since. The i found a rather large peacock mantis shrimp in my tank. I removed this critter and took it to my local LFS. But the clicking continued... I figured it might of had friends. However about another 6 months later I saw it peeping out of a little hole in one of my rocks. It was unmistakenly a pistol shrimp of some sort. It hadn't grown a great deal since I first saw it but it was more deeper green coloration, but still had a few of those unforgettable stripes further down its body. As an extra surprise I found shortly after this that it had a friend with it - a 2nd identical looking buddy living together with it in the same rock. That's my story :)

Wow! I suspect I've got another pistol, and I dearly hope it's not a mantis b/c I don't want to take it all apart again! I've read on NR that most people can tempt mantis with baits, so maybe that will work if that is what it turns out to be. I couldn't get the last pistol out of my tank with a bait, and ended up catching it with a net. As long as I don't lose other inhabitants, it can stay. The Rainfordii goby makes such a mess sand sifting all day that I really don't care anymore about tunnels under the rock B).

 

20s? :eek: Holy cow!

Yeah -- just enough to kill everything tropical down to the ground, then back up to 78 in the afternoon. North Central Florida at its finest!

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Brittle stars have their skinny little arms out all over the place today. When I do the wc today, I'll be moving the clove, though I haven't figured out where. It seems like the gobies sand-spitting is really pissing it off. Also, the Rain seems determined to move sand from one spot to another. Weird fish (but in a good way). Okay, gotta get my head back at work. :wacko:!

 

Later: switched the toadstool leather and clove -- we'll see if the clove improves; the toadstool was pretty stoic about the whole thing -- hardly closed up at all. I wanted to move hairy shroom, too, and in doing so, managed to knock the trumpet off its frag. Got it re-glued, but man, is it ticked at me :o . Turned an unbelievable fluorescent green, has little tentacles sticking out of its center, and generally just looks mad. I wish I'd just skipped the round plug and stuck it directly onto the LR, but didn't. Moved the mushrooms down onto the sandbed near the hairy -- they aren't looking too sure on life, either. Got the acan glued back up top again.

I think Rain hid under the rock in one of its tunnels while I was fussing. And the whole time my hand is in the tank, both Clown fish and peppermint shrimp are nibbling away.

 

My brain is too fried to keep working, so looks like I'll be back this weekend. At least it's a three-day one, and I can sleep past 5:45a.m!

Edited by msscha
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Don't you hate when you're trying to do good things and inevitably end up making more work for yourself. I seem to do that a lot.

 

More pics when everything is less ticked off?

 

I've got to get a cleaner shrimp, i want something to clean my hand every time i put it in the tank.

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Making some slow progress on the cyano -- yeah! I added a half unit of chem-pure elite on Saturday, so maybe that's helping or maybe it's Rain's endless sand-sifting. The FTS shows it still on top, but mostly gone from the bottom corals and sand bed.

 

Moving the clove has had no positive effects, but after changing the flow around, the toadstool and duncans seems even happier! The former flow had them butting up against each other. Though no one seemed upset by this, it seemed more prudent to create a little breathing room. I didn't need to move the corals -- just re-worked where the BC flow was pointing. The acan has another new head starting, and a limpet cleaned the bottom yellow sponge ball nicely. The bright pink shroom went roaming, and found itself back where it was before I moved it. Since it likes that spot, it can have it! Even when fully fluffed, it doesn't get close to the hidden cups. I also moved the blasto from its spot on the bottom rock, not because it was unhappy, but because it was getting lost in the sponge, ricordea, duncan mix. Even though it is difficult to spot in the FTS, it has its own perch in a small crevice just below the top rock.

 

FTS -- 1/17/2012 -- Rain caught mid-act in sand-sifting!

fts_1_17_2012.bmp

 

Rain and Bozette (can you tell it's an office?)

fish.bmp

 

Sideview -- 1/17/2012

sideview4.jpg

 

Close up on the Toadstool and Duncans

toadstool_duncans.jpg

 

Duncans with Babies!

duncans5.jpg

 

Toadstool -- the texture is just so cool.

toadstool3.jpg

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Wow...the pretty cyano has really cleared up for you! I really do think that cyano is pretty ;) The stuff I have is dark brown....I always get the dark brown variety. I wouldn't mind it if it looked like yours!

 

Rain really is beautiful!!!!!

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Wow...the pretty cyano has really cleared up for you! I really do think that cyano is pretty ;) The stuff I have is dark brown....I always get the dark brown variety. I wouldn't mind it if it looked like yours!

 

Rain really is beautiful!!!!!

Thank you! Actually, I like the color of the cyano, too. And the velvety texture is pretty -- makes me want to pet it!

 

Great pictures. Love the shot of Rain shifting the sand.

Thanks, Vicki!

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Monday Morning Update

 

Everyone is happy this morning! Except the clove, which is clearly not doing well, though some individual polyps that are part of the frag with mushrooms on them are alive and doing well. I read a news release on coral and zooxanthellae adaptations to warmer waters which was kind of cool (no pun intended). The owner of the LabSpaces site has a 150 gallon SW in his lab complete with a webcam! I would like to set up a webcam.

 

I'd post pics but my daughter has my SD card in her camera. Sigh. Need to get that back!

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