20 Long.... Reborn!

[tiepilot68]

I just fed my Clown his twice weekly snack of mini krill and every single blue legged crab and nath snail in the tank came RUNNING.. yes snails can run.. wow.. had no idea! lol... running to the front of the tank to get a bite.

 

Like they were starved! Never seen this before.

 

I feed every other day of flake food, and every 3rd day cyclopeeze for the corals and I heard clams seem to like that too and twice a week a snack of Mini Krill that the clown just loves! Just one or two of them.. they are very small.

 

I installed a beefy canister filter a couple of weeks ago. Thought it was a Cascade 1000 but its the Cascade 500.. but still goes through the water like a hot knife through butter.

 

Is my tank so clean that my Hermits and snails dont get enough to eat?

 

6 hermits total

3 huge turbo snails

4 small nath snails and

1 coral banded shrimp.. (he always comes running any time my hand gets near the tank.)

 

He will actually clean my fingers like a peppermint shrimp.. interesting.

 

Cant imagine my tank is running TOO clean.. but you never can tell.

[c est ma]

IME, hermits & Nassarius have very finely-tuned olfactory organs and do respond to the faintest hint of added food. That said, if they seem to be starving, possibly they are. IMO, this is when "good" inverts go "bad." (Hermits that aren't normally destructive, emerald crabs, etc.)

 

There's a fine line to be walked between overfeeding and starving...hermits that might otherwise be cleaning your rock will prefer nice big chunks of fishfood, e.g. But if any of these animals look "desperate," I'd consider adding food just for them. Nassarius in particular need food--they're not grazers or "pickers." But they will fly all over the tank searching out food the fish and coral have missed.

 

If they're just "spoiled," though, you might try rinsing your mysis well before you spot feed your fish, so that less "juice" diffuses through the water column...

 

Pretty cool behavior to watch, tho, huh?

 

--Diane

[tiepilot68]

Yes very cool!

 

But......

 

Something have been munching on my ZOAS!!! <--- (thank you nvite for correcting us on the proper slang spelling! ..)

 

There are two polyps that have been eaten down to the stalk!!

 

I saw an Asterina star a couple of weeks ago... but it could be I'm not feeding my inverts enough!!

 

What can I buy to suppliment their diet? I hate to just up my feedings... or maybe I should??

[Italiano]

Nice, I like the canopy and that awesome painting

 

Oh yeah, the tank too

[tiepilot68]

Thanks Italiano! I'm going to be buying a 175w MH set up tomorrow, that should be here next week some time. Then I'm gonna hit up Awesome Aquatics and get some more corals shipped in to hopefully make it look great.

 

Cant wait!

 

Thanks again for the compliments!

 

p.s. I do take orders for paintings... most any subject. I would love to paint a Reef Scene for someone! Or... recently loose a fish you were really fond of? Send me pics of him and I can imortalize him forever on canvas!

 

If you know anyone interested or if you are yourself, just PM me and we can work out the details such as Size, subject, pricing, and estimated completion date. (can usually complete a nice oil on cavas within 2-3 weeks depending on size and subject.

 

Thanks!

[c est ma]

^^^^Oooh, I'm going to keep that in mind!

 

RE the inverts--my hc's & nass will eat most anything, including some Nutrifin "slow sinking morsels" I have. Somehow adding those doesn't seem quite as "polluting" as the fresh stuff--but it's probably just as bad...neater & easier though.

 

But don't listen to me too much--all my lifeforms are happy, including the hair algae & diatoms.

 

--Diane

[tiepilot68]

lol Hey, hair algae and diatoms need a place to live too!

 

I'll pick me up some stuff that sinks so they can get to it and maybe leave my Zoas alone.

 

And please do keep that in mind! Just give me a yell if you have any questions about my work. I can send you pics of previous stuff.

 

[Joe b]

cant wait to see that mh on there. tanks looking great. wait corals are you leaning toward when the mh is in?

[msn711]

If something is eating your zoas, make sure that it's not zoa-eating nudibranches.

[tiepilot68]

If something is eating your zoas, make sure that it's not zoa-eating nudibranches.

 

My tank is pretty bare right now and not alot of places to hide.. and I probably spend 3 hours a day looking and studying it. Pretty sure there are none. No new chomping today, and I cant see the eaten stalks.. so it may have been they were just very closed up for some reason. Both were very tiny baby polyps.

 

cant wait to see that mh on there. tanks looking great. wait corals are you leaning toward when the mh is in?

 

I can't wait either! Should have them week after next and I'm going to be on vacation!!

 

Of course I am tempted into diving into the SPS pool right away.. but am going to take it slow and make sure I can maintain a good stable system after upgrading one of the most important parts of a nano-reef, being the lights.

 

Not only are corals too expensive to be making mistakes with they are after all animals and we have to remember to respect them as such.

 

The corals I would like to upgrade along with my tank are some frogspawn and or hammers. More Zoaz of course... GSPs.... some nice leathers to fill up the dimmer sides... then eventually work my way up to SPS.

[tiepilot68]

OK!! Got my new MH lights in Monday.

 

Didnt get them set up until tonight.

 

I must say I am IMPRESSED! wow. Should have made the transition to MH a long time ago!! And the set up I got is darn nice...! Bought from accord86 here on NR. (thanks for the great shipping job Andrew. Everything made it safe and sound, was even able to use the hanging kit.

 

The lights are 175W Iwasaki 14k bulb. PFO hanging pendant and icecap ballast. This thing lights up my entire freekin office! dang.

 

Already my Zoas are lovin it and my crocea clam has expanded its mantle farther than I ever seen it.

 

Ok on to the picture.. Just 1 FTS tonight... pretty wore out from a long day. I will post some shots of the Zoas and clam soon.

 

 

[accord86]

Just found your thread.

 

Tank looks awesome with the new light! How high did you hang it? I would start it off hanging it pretty high for a few weeks, and slowly lower it every week or so. You'll be amazed at how different the colors in your corals will be in no time. They're going to grow right in front of your eyes also.

 

Do you have a pic of how you hung the light?

[tiepilot68]

Hey there buddy,

 

Yah my corals are already loving it. Only have a few and they have really opened up alot.

 

I took the simplest route I could think of when it came to hanging the lights. I made a sturdy stand out of PVC pipe and drilled holes large to hang the light from. When I need to do maintenance I just slide it away from the tank light and all. very easy.

 

Here is a pic.

 

 

 

 

I have added a fan to the lid that is on the same timer as the light and my water has stayed at a cool 74.8 most all day.. wooo!

 

Got to 78 last night before I added the fan. not bad but have been running it at 75 ish for years.

[juin21]

Sigh....I want MH

 

Love the shimmer lines

[c est ma]

You have arrived!

 

[accord86]

Pretty cool with the light stand, works perfectly . Where are you in IL? I think I forgot to mention, but I'm in Glendale Heights (moved here from socal).

[tiepilot68]

I'm way south of ya in the Marion area. Was born up there in Kankakee though. But unfortunately I've developed the southern Illinois accent Y'all.

[tiepilot68]

Ok here are a couple of new pics. I got a Hammer last night and moved the rocks around some.

 

 

FTS

 

 

And the Hammer... Not fully extended yet... getting used to its new home.

 

 

Enjoy!

[tiepilot68]

My Zoas are loving the new lights!!

 

[c est ma]

Oh, they look pretty!

 

--Diane

[tiepilot68]

thank you!! Hey.. what are you doing up at this hour??? lol

[c est ma]

Trying to catch up!

[tiepilot68]

I got home tonight to find my hammer finally fully extended... it was freekin huge!!! like 3 times what its been since I got it.

 

Its been pretty small for the few days I've had it but I guess it decided it likes its location after all.

 

It was lights out time so I didn't get a pic, but I'll take some and post tomorrow!!!

 

I also found a guy at the LFS (the fish net) who sells frags out of his home tank for a really decent price.

 

Gonna go take a look sometime this week.... Think I will take my wife for protection just in case he turns out to be a sexual predator with a penchant for balding short guys. LOL

 

Crap I bet he reads these forums and is gonna charge me an arm and a leg now.. DOH!

 

Speaking of DOH! Simpson's Movie.... ROCKS!!! (_8(/) woohoo!

[tiepilot68]

Ok.. no pics of the Hammer tonight because its mad. I moved it because I bought a huge like bigger than a softball sized rock covered with GSP.

 

When everything gets settled in I will get a good snapshot.

 

I've always like GSP for some reason, although I know some people view them as the bothersome weeds of the sea. These are very florescent and very nice looking! Cant wait til they get acclimated and come out.

 

Right now... they are hiding The guy I got them from had them in a 100 gallon with T5s and set down all the way to the bottom... so my lights are freekin them out I'm sure.

[c est ma]

I love gsp, too. Especially since I made myself hold off until an lfs had a frag of just the color morph I like best, the brightest green with purplish oral discs...

 

--Diane