Caesar777's "REEFING SUX III" Bowfront

[Caesar777]

Decided to just make it a new topic, since the last one was (I'd say "became", but it always was) muddled with crap. I've since moved up from the 16 in the beginning of my "Reefing Sux II" thread to the 26 mentioned somewhere in the middle, anyway.

 

So.

 

Up-to-date-ify: Now my reef is a 26 bowfront. Sexy black silicone seams, black pine stand with full door, no canopy/lid. I reinforced that All-Glass stand because it scared me to see only the brace of the tank supported. (Basically built a table inside the stand to hold the main bulk of the tank: the middle!) Remora Pro on the back, 150-watt 20,000K HQI MH (BlueWave ballast wired by my coworker to a PFO doghouse pendant hanging from the ceiling by two enameled black chains), 25-35lbs of live rock (Pukani, Marshall Island, Tonga branch, some others). It's a modern, clean look. I like it. Great coralline growth, too--moved the stuff from the 30 that had been up for a year and a half to the 10-gallon flatback hex last December, to the 16 bowfront in mid-April, to the 26 in the end of July, and saw nice new coralline growth on the bare parts of the rock by mid-September.

 

Okay, honestly, I go through phases with this thing. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, sometimes I want to stuff eighteen new corals into it, sometimes I want to tear it all down, sometimes I want fish, sometimes I hate fish, sometimes I get irrational fears that someone will break into my room, find nothing of real value, and smash the tank out of frustration.

 

Stocklist:

 

Corals: I don't think I have any sps right now, though one of my coworkers has an awesome dark blue tortuosa I might get a frag of. No room for sps, really, just because there are so many other corals in there. One big neon-green frogspawn (looks like blown glass, sparkling color and lots of nubs) and a big clump of neon green cloves take up the most room, along with the classic purple-tipped green hammer on the side. Various Blasto wellsi, one fist-sized green and red merletti, a red Acan lord, a few Echino frags, LOTS of colored zoas, and a nice green Alveopora with white centers. Neat. Oh, and a small two-inch Crocea clam up top, seems really happy. One red coco worm--one ditched and died. (Moron.) Tank is pretty darn full. I have my eye on a green fox at work, but it's huge. I think I could make room.

 

Fish: One African bluestripe pipefish (white line along his back, very striking) and one thumb-sized black angler. The angler is in an in-tank mini fuge with some red grape kelp that's taken off since it's been put in with him, and he eats f/t silversides and always lures at me when I walk by. What a fatty. Jet-black, dusting of white stars, beautiful animal. Developing jaguar-panther spots on his "paws"--notice how, when you look at a panther in the sun, you see faint spots? They're really melanistic jaguars or leopards, so they still have the spottage, just no white, orange, or yellow.

 

My favorites are the prawn goby trio. Got this stupid Griessingeri goby at work, tiny as a freaking mysid, so I took him home since we had no place for him there and my tank had no fish that could hurt him (at the time, two African pipefish that have since perished in a freak heat wave). He's since doubled in size, and eats well, displays really neat. (Flicks that orange switchblade of a dorsal while raising and lowering his oversized adipose fin complete with false eyes, and his frilly red pectorals as well. Quite a show.) But I never see the little fugger. Barely an inch long--closer to 3/4--he NEVER comes out into the open, although there are a lot of frags on the bare bottom to hide among. So I've been bugging one of our suppliers for months--MONTHS--for a Michael's pistol shrimp, aka bullseye pistol. Finally he sendt me one, an enormous two-inch monster. Looks awesome, though, and despite this species' noted ferocity even among other Alpheus (known for killing small fish, even prawn goby symbiotes), I didn't care about Greasy the goby, since I literally see him about once a month anyway. Sure enough, the shrimp snaps loudly all night and wakes me up a few times, but--and I find this nuts--they've paired up. The next week, he sends another, smaller bullseye--the size I'd been looking for, an inch--so I grabbed that one. Next morning I see his snapping claw lying quite lonely among the rocks, but he's face-to-face with the bigger pistol and alive! Now the three are a set. VERY cool. Bullseye pistols OWN. I fed them some tiny scraps of silversides today; they're amazingly able to find where the food is (the big guy was cruising all around the tank trying to track down the food, not knowing that all I'd put in thus far was a tiny ss for Borax the angler). I located him, brought the food over with my fingers, and set it down two inches from him. He came forward and snatched it. His buddy came over to the same area not 30 secs later, and same thing. They'll be hand-feeding like Borax quite soon.

 

So I have three fish, two of which are extremely tiny. I'd like to get a nice show fish, but all the ones I like are jumpers or need more space than this tank, so no go. Had a pair of clowns--nice wild-caught Onyx percs--but they were never happy, and within a week I passed them on to a coworker with a larger tank and real anemones (the frogspawn didn't trick these old-times). Oh well--clowns are overdone and boring, anyway.

 

PS, Borax was named long before the Borat thing... There was literally a show about borax mining. I think the only thing on tv more boring would be a toss-up between Frasier and The West Wing. I'd rather do a full-on waterchange/detritavac than watch either of those.

 

Oh, I plan to do a half-inch of sand, since the bottom's pretty cleared of frags now (just did a big waterchange, pulled a full bucket of BROWN water, ick--detritus is my enemy)... Deciding between regular larger-grain sand (not sugar sand, too annoying and looks dirty really fast) or the Arag-Alive black and white sand, which at first I hated, but then saw it in the nano display at work (they'd done it over the weekend), still hated it, then decided it looks kind of cool. But the black looks like terrestrial rock. That, and artistically, it looks..."busy".

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the thinking chamber!

 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah, someday I'll get a camera. I got a raaaaaise! (sarcastic tone)

[p.o.t.u.s]

I think the only thing on tv more boring would be a toss-up between Frasier and The West Wing. I'd rather do a full-on waterchange/detritavac than watch either of those.

 

 

Those are two of my favorite TV shows!

 

Can't wait to see pics...though with your record on pictures, I'm not holding my breath!

[Caesar777]

I posted a few, once. Or twice. I borrowed my bf's camera, but, man, it's HARD to photograph this stuff.

 

Oh, I did get some pics at work of my urchin sting. Turns out we had some kind of small flower urchin loose in the system. Grabbed him unintentionally (he was on the blind side of a small rock I picked up to detritavac under it) and got a good stingin'. He stuck to my fingers and came up with them when I pulled my hand from the water! My fingertips and thumb turned dark purple for the rest of the evening. Pretty cool. Unpleasant-feeling, took a Benadryl and had no further effects. The pain subsided quickly. The urchin looked pretty cool, too--got a nice shot of him just barely poking out of the water in a collection container. Neat effect. Black and white banded with thick, somewhat long, tapering spines. Lots of little "grabbers" with what to sting with.

[Daemonfly]

---> insert threadworthlesswithoutpics.gif here <---

[Izzue]

Good to see ya back with a tank again young lady...

Now stay out of the lounge and get that tank waving!!!!

Good Luck

Izzue

[travisurfer]

all that and no pics , at least you added something about the simpsons though

[Caesar777]

I have one pic. The remaining coco worm in focus, cowardly commie tube-ditching one in the background.

 

 

Edit: Wow, auto-resized. That thing was like 80 times that size, lol.

 

My bf took these shots--the cocos above and these two below. Forgot about them. He didn't touch them up at all, so everything's too blue.

 

 

[Caesar777]

Okay, so every day our maintenance guy comes in on his cell phone, "I'm f####n' P#SS#D!" Now I can relate. Got a red serpent star on Friday--bright fire-engine-red, body a bit bigger than a quarter and legs each 4-5" long--and my pistols killed it. I mean, I WATCHED them do it. Tried to stop them, but they fought him all night. Found him the next morning on his back, so tried to help him by moving him elsewhere; he wandered a tiny bit but today I got up to find Redsy the Legless Wonder out in front, sliming up. He's a goner. I'M F#####N' P#SS#D! Those damn shrimp are LOUD, too.

 

Greasy is still alive, although the big snapper really comes at him a lot. Have been doing more water changes.... Corals look good. The shrimp are obivously doing excellent. Hey, I hand-fed them bits of silversides. I also let the angler bite me for my own amusement--you wouldn't think that mouth could fit over my finger, but it DO. Heh. He's really grown a bit.

 

More pics sometime.

 

[Caesar777]

DAMN IT! I have what is, for now, a tiny white rock crab. He already has a penchant for zoanthids--with a carapace the size of a pea, he's holding a clump of five of my red Palythoa polyps! >

[Caesar777]

Huh. I reached into the tank to snatch the cluster of polyps from the crab--he'd backed into a rock to, I assume, snack on them--and accidentally knocked over a fist-sized cluster of paly-covered branches maybe 2-3mm thin. Caught it before it could fall to the bottom and shatter, and put it back. Retrieved the polyps from the crab--or three of them, anyway, grr, that cutter--then dried off my arm and laid down. A few minutes later, I noticed that my hand felt like I'd hit it with a hammer, and I noticed a tiny, 3mm swollen cut. The pain persisted for maybe ten minutes. Strange. It happens a lot at work. My hands look like they've been in a blender.

[Caesar777]

CRITTERZ SPECIAL ON COPS TONIGHT!

 

EDIT: Bwahaha!--they actually said it:

 

"Snake in custody."

 

(Twelve-foot retic! Surprised it didn't snap at anyone!)

[adinsxq]

you have a boyfriend?!

[Caesar777]

Yeah, I'm a girl. I've been with him for three years. And not a fakey cross-country thing like that other NR girl.

[Caesar777]

Anyway. Fed the crap outta the tank today. Cyclopeeze for all the little guys, silversides for the angler, Borax, bits of silversides for the blastos and acan and, of course, the pistols. I stuck the head of a tiny silverside onto the feeding prong thign I have (just a bent acrylic rod 3mm thick) and the smaller one tried to pull it off but couldn't, so he kept snapping at it until I twisted the stick to loosen the piece. Funny guy. The other one, well, I had no pieces left, and he was obviously looking around for some. He wandered around and found that a dove snail (aka "giant Nassarius"--looks like a huge N. vibex) had a big chunk, and just jacked him. Ha! All the corals were happy with the Cyclopeeze & silversides, seeing as I never feed the tank. Greasy probably liked it, too, but I didn't see him. Saw him yesterday, though. The pistols kicked him out--they said "no mas!". He tries to be their buddy but they snap at him to make him go away. Oh well. Dumb goby keeps trying.

 

I'd like to add that, while I have nary a sense of smell, DAMN!--frozen/thawed rats STINK! Stupid baby ball pythons can't figger it out. They both grabbed the rats and constricted them, but didn't actually eat them. Two hours later, one is now eating a cold, smelly rat-baby, while the other is still dilly-dallying around, interested but not eating it. He put it in the water bowl, took it out of the water bowl, put it back in, carried it around, started to eat it, then let it go. Ugh. I thought I had 'em.

[Izzue]

I'd like to add that, while I have nary a sense of smell, DAMN!--frozen/thawed rats STINK! Stupid baby ball pythons can't figger it out. They both grabbed the rats and constricted them, but didn't actually eat them. Two hours later, one is now eating a cold, smelly rat-baby, while the other is still dilly-dallying around, interested but not eating it. He put it in the water bowl, took it out of the water bowl, put it back in, carried it around, started to eat it, then let it go. Ugh. I thought I had 'em.

 

Eeeeehhhh...I lost the desire for reptiles way back...especially when my last King snake got loose in Momas house during the winter time. Funny thing he was found by the magical sound of a Piano...ding I heard one day...aa haaa, there you are in the Piano.

Izzue

[Caesar777]

That's pretty funny.

 

One of the snakes ended eating his rat--took him TWO HOURS--the other half-ate it and then regurgitated it. Stunk up my bedroom. ICK! I ended having to flush the now bacteria-ridden, slobber-coated thing. The uneaten rat, I mean.

 

I'm trying to get these new baby ball pythons to eat frozen--it's kinder than feeding live, but also one of them is for my boss's nephew. He's a good kid, and deserves to get a nice X-Mas gift. He loves snakes, but has no access to live mice where he lives (he's 10 or 12, lives in Arizona somewhere, his mother killed herself, and his father is never there and doesn't seem to care), so it'd be the perfect gift for him--it just needs to be eating frozen/thawed well so that he doesn't have to deal with the heartache of trying to force-feed (and possibly kill in the process) a stubborn snake. He gets whichever snake eats better. He's come up here a few times, and is such a good kid but so at risk, considering his background. Smart, he needs a creature to nurture since he has no parents to nurture him. So sad.

[Mr.anemone]

(*-*)..since you are well known to reef tanks.. i wonder i could ask some questions regardind my saltwater tank.hhmm..ok mine is a 3feet tank..well the tank is running for about 4 months now. ok the questions is what should i do when my Ph level goes down to 7.0 to 8.0.....? you see i have been having trouble's regardind Ph level's..i even ask my local fish stores & even search the net ...but i seem not to get it...a couple of days back i bought two damsel's the were doing fine...after few days they seem to breath fast....i got scared and i decided to check my Ph level..it was somewhere around 7.6 ..please help me because i have corals in my tank....by the way i added carbons in the tank...hopefully the Ph level will increase.....i'm also thinking of changing my water..about 30 to 40 percent.. is that enough..? ok i think its a lot of questinos rite now..so i hope you can help me..your kind and goodwill will help me and my tank....THANX...(*-*)

[Izzue]

^^^ check alkalinity...I add B-ionic daily for alk to keep ph in check.

also look into refugium to run opposite photoperiod from main tank...also helps keep ph stabile at night.

Izzue

[Caesar777]

Got a new little midas blenny. Big pistol (Big Snappy) snapped him in the head, and clean knocked him out. He was just laying on the bottom, breathing, thus alive, but not breathing hard out of stress, more weakly like he'd die. Found him this morning looking the same (was hard to tell whether he was dead or not; he wasn't) but in a different area. I was online, and within an hour heard the pistol snap and saw he'd hit him again! Came home this evening, saw the African pipe and the Greasy goby, but no midas. Saw the snappy-ass pistol pair. They are beautiful, but freakin' jerks.

 

These shrimp are Black-Irish bastards.

[RP Beesh]

do you have the pix of your whole setup?

[Caesar777]

Hahahaha

 

 

Sometime. I don't have a camera. My bf does, but I suck at taking pics and he's not too into reefing, much less photography of it.

[Caesar777]

Oh, so here's a fun kicker: I've had a ton of frags and Blastos just sitting on the bottom of the tank for months, ever since I moved it from the 16 to this current 26 (so....late July, I think, or early August, now that I think about it more) and have been placing things, but some fall, not to mention I get new frags all the time. Decided to take a few hours to do a water change (6 gallons--a full Kent bucket--like usual) to get out the detritus and dozen or two flatworms, and glue frags. That was lame... Got a new piece of LR and placed it when I got it, but it slid down. Trying to adjust it where I wanted it, I just watched my entire rock structure SINK and settle like a 7-11 in a sinkhole. (That happened down the road when I was a kid, heh. I "ha-ha!"'d at it.) Aquascaping--especially re-aquascaping, like in this case, seriously gives me a panic attack. I can't even watch when my coworkers decide to redo the rock in the displays. I FREAK. So, naturally, I stifled my scream so that my landlord wouldn't wonder wtf, and was able to fix it without too much hassle. I've had some serious anxiety attacks over reefs in the past. Fixed it, glued most of the frags, and Tuesday--when I can go to work and get RO water--I'll do another water change, do the last of the frags (take some to work, too), and add the quarter- to half-inch of sand. Black-and-whtie, I've decided. If I hate it, I'll siphon it out. It's only going to be in the front, where you can see. The rock will hide the bare back. I've been afan of barebottom tanks, but have seen a nice change in the nano display at work since adding a quater-inch of that B&W AragAlive, so I'll do it. Will try to get pics.

 

Off on another topic that's been on my mind. It's MY thread.

 

SUGAR = GARBAGE

STRIPPED GRAINS = GARBAGE

SATURATED FATS = GARBAGE

CAFFEINE = GARBAGE!

 

I need to quit these evil things. It's no wonder I feel poorly so often. Too much GARBAGE!

 

CAFFEINE is the Devil Elixir. When taken, as this stimulant would with anyone else, it makes me amazingly elated and energized; the comedown is so harsh I snap like an angry caiman, a screaming banshee. I'm not bipolar--doc-proven, lol--but caffeine makes me so. Those extreme (and in this case, artificially-induced) ups and downs in emotion are worse than the mid-phase feelings I have without it. Once in a while, it's a fun ride. I get hooked. It's a DRUG! A stimulant! It's addictive like any other drug, and I truly see the withdrawal effects. I've taken prescribed opiate pills and had no problem (many complain of being addicted to them; indeed any narcotic drug will be quite addictive), but caffeine really gets me!

 

SUGAR... A stripped food in its worst form! Not only does the body uptake sugar more quickly than fat, but it's terrible for the complexion. I seea difference between days when I drink soda or eat a bunch of candy (I'm a candy addict, it's true) and days I don't. It's not a matter of acne, but how the skin looks. That clean, healthy glow versus a dull, strange appearance. It doesn't help that my skin is, as my mother put it, "somewhat translucent-looking", deeply accentuated when I'm ill or have taken too much sugar.

 

STRIPPED GRAINS... Nearly as bad as sugar, these fragments of what was once nutrition are basically sugar. No WHITE bread! No white RICE! WHOLE-WHEAT bread, BROWN rice, BARLEY flour, mixed grains! Full of fiber, protein, minerals (naturally-occuring and easily absorbed, not removed and added back after the stripping and bleaching in a different, unpalatable form), they make so much of a difference!

 

FATS: Artificial fats--TRANS fats--are added to nearly everything nowadays! Cheese, sauces, prepared foods, all with this unnatural and obviously unhealthy compound added. The addition of SODIUM, to add in preservation as well as, like the fats, flavor, only worsens the situation as it hardens the arteries and causes the body to retain fluids. Dehydration. Flushing of vital nutrients.

 

HEALTH! HOW?

 

FRESH FOODS! EXERCISE! MODERATION of everything! But who has the time? Every time I buy a loaf of bread, I end eating two slices when I buy it, then forget about it. Fresh lettuce? Never in the mood for salad when I buy it, I rarely eat ANY of it. The iceberg stays fresh longer but is basically water, like celery. Romaine and other types are much better, but foul so quickly and another of my potent fears (besides failure, zombies, shadow people/creatures, and the unknown) is rot and literally causes me to feel faint and toss out the food. Hummus, tofu, tomatoes, apples, oranges, whole-wheat bread, walnuts, all these things can be combined into excellent and healthy food... but it takes time to prepare it all, not to mention buying it. But who has the time?

 

EXERCISE! Why is it so difficult to stay on an exercise regimen? I've never enjoyed keeping to a certain schedule--like insomnia, I've had this since I was a young child, as far back as I can remember--and that makes it difficult. Health is a roundabout in a series of roundabouts, isn't it? One of my coworkers is as healthy as a horse. He doesn't work out ever, but he's lean and obviously physically very healthy. Couldn't ever see him sick. How can it be so difficult for some people? So many people, it seems. I used to try to keep a regimen of using the exercise bicycle in the morning for 20-30 minutes before work every morning, and 2-4x a week 30-60 minutes after work. It gives me energy...yet I so often find myself too tired to do it. Irony? Paradox? WHAT? I'm not overweight, I don't have terrible skin (rather nice when I take care of it and don't slack off), and I've always been thin but pale. I remember a book given to me by a very friendly Hare Krisna at the airport in LA, which discussed, among other thigns, the best eating and exercise regimen based upon your "type". It was Ayurveda, not HK, just for the record. (HK is an Americanized adaptation of Eastern religions started by Yogi who wanted to find a form of religion palatable to folks from the USA... Many took it the wrong way, lol.) Of the four (or three?) groups, the only name I can remember is Kapha, who is generally overweight, has sensitive, often red skin, and a fiery attitude. It is best countered with relaxing activities, bitter or unspiced foods, etc. My type was the opposite--thin, sometimes rather dark complexion (I'm pale but tan quickly in the sun, never burn), quiet and so on, best countered by spicy foods, hot drinks, and avoiding cold foods and drinks (like ice cream, for example, which does make me feel awful, but I think it's the lactose and dairy). I'm not sure where this self-discussion has placed as of now, but that's all I have for now. I took some Benadryls to attempt to sleep, and as a plus it helps my constant allergies anyway...Food allergies, maybe? I do eat a lot of highly allergenic foods like wheat, nuts, etc., as well as being exposed to dust, pollen, and dander from family and friends' cats, dogs, and birds, the latter group all known allergens to me. I know that cutting out sugar altogether is not realistic. I know that cutting caffeine forever is not realistic--even though I took no caffeine four four years, in high school. I know that taking vitamins will help me but are certainly no magic bullet. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET. For ANYTHING. It all takes so much effort, so much strength, so much dedication, it seems. I had it when I first became vegetarian, when my eyes were opened to the world around me. Reality opened like floodgates, and the world was so big and insane and awful and overwhelming all at the same time. Of course I'd feel sadness as I came to realize the reality of the criseeeees of the world: famine, disease, poverty, pollution, violence, death, sadism, all so tragic but inevitable as the world is. I immediately realized that being vegetarian was the first step: to stop eating animals that are not necessary for my life. To preserve resources like I was taught as a child and now seems to be demonized: turning off lights, not running the water while brushing teeth, recycling, and so on. But the issues of the world were a much larger one, and it hit me hard. Everyone reacts to things differently; some become energized with passion and go out to attempt to help change. Others, like me, especially since at the time I was just an adolescent girl, can't realize that it's too much. I put blinders on since then. It was my only option. A friend I knew from a cafe once said that, when you know something can't be changed or helped, that you have to just laugh. Hence South Park cracking jokes about AIDS, celebrity murders, and so on. She made a lot of sense. Sadly, I became cynical, more sarcastic than anything else. I could crack a joke without laughing, myself, but I couldn't close my eyes altogether, couldn't just accept things. I became angry. Fearful. Lost. I realized why I had to put on the blinders: things must be taken upon one step at a time. I can't solve the constant warring in Africa. I can't stop the RTNing of corals due to cattle runoff. I can't write up laws to keep fishermen from taking too much, and couldn't enforce it if I could. But I can't just accept that nothing can be done. I try on the small scale, ever-growing. I always assume the best in people, but along the same vein, fear the worst. I know human nature; that I've learned in stone.

 

I'm in your desert.....fearing your bats.

[jimbro]

jesus c, that's quite the book. suffering a bout of insomnia myself at the moment. only thing i'll comment on is the vegetarian thing. did the same thing myself, was vegetarian for a few yrs, held myself to too rigorous a standard, crashed and burned. blinders on full force now. but it's important to do what you can, even if it's just turning appliances off. and life's not so serious that you can't laugh in it's face. esp at the horrible stuff. somethin tells me you're a fan of dead baby joke

 

good luck being healthy (i've presently got the blinders on there too) and nice corals btw

 

Jim

[Caesar777]

Thanks. Maybe I'll try to get some sleep soon. And some fts's....someday...

 

I still remember this one from elementary school: "What's red and bubbly and claws at the window?"

 

Yeah. Heheh.

 

Still vege, btw. I've had a fwe points within the past few months during which I've considered dropping it....But I can't. I thought it might not be worth it to cut out something that's so prevalent.. But I couldn't eat something knowing it's the flesh of a dead animal. It seriously disgusts me...It's like a zombie tearing apart a guy's skull to eat his brain.That, and most meat nowadays is crap anyway--so much added stuff (McD's, frozen stuff, etc.) like antibiotics (tons, literally, every year used for livestock), disease, not to mention added fats, salt, and processing. I'd be even less healthy! Heh.

[jimbro]

ya i still kinda believe most of it, just too damn lazy to implement it in my life. hypocrite? ya i guess so but who isn't. and my fav db joke is still: what's blue and makes a woman cry?