Lalani's 20H

[Lalani]

Thanks, Colin. I think I'm going to try to sell most of the stomas. Some of them are large enough to ship now.

Yup, very excited!!!! Should be here in a few hours!

 

If the eunice worm is the same thing as a fire worm (like I think it is), then I know someone who would be glad to take it off your hands if it starts to cause problems. My fiance has been looking for one to make a species tank out of it. Oh and by the way I love your tank.

Thank you!

The eunice worm is not the same as a fire worm. Fire worms look almost exactly like a bristle worm but with a few more striking features. The eunice worm looks almost like a centipede.... really they are completely round, dark brown, and have several 'whiskers' protruding from their faces.

[Lalani]

Back wall has been scraped and new additions have arrived!!!!!

 

I couldn't stand it any longer and I had to scrape the back wall. It is now clean again, at least for the most part. *Whew*

 

Before:

 

After:

 

 

Also, the package from SeaLife arrived this afternoon!!!!!

 

First up, new crabs:

 

Porcelain:

 

I ordered one red mithrax and Ken sent two, he's awesome. The crabs are enjoying the GSP island:

 

 

Next up: Rocks, sand, and hitchers......

 

 

Rocks, sand, and hitchers!

 

The rock is beautiful, but it is absolutely crawling with........ aceteminophors!

They are practically rocking the bucket!

I won't have the tank and the piece of furniture it will sit on ready until the beginning of next week, so the rock is going to cure in a bucket for now.

 

~7lbs. Sand:

 

~7.5lbs. LR:

 

~5lbs. Cultured base rock (looks almost as good as the LR and came with a few cool hitchers too, including a couple of active barnacles:

 

Fuzzy macro algae:

 

Big pod (isopod?):

 

Pistol shrimp was in the newspaper also, he was so happy when he was put into the pico tank.... Took a quick look around and shot into the rocks, where I heard gentle snapping from inside... I'm sure he's making good friends with the other two pistols. :

 

LR curing bucket:

 

 

That's all for now, stay tuned! I need to start another thread for the pico upgrade.

[j'field]

Look's great and interesting Lalani. Looking forward to see your new thread too.

[opaquelace]

That's truly some beautiful LR! I love LR. Weird I know, but I think it is so cool.

[cfeist]

You missed a spot on the back wall It's all I can focus on... jk

 

You got a sweet porcelain crab!! Damn mine is cool, but yours has some nice orange coloration. I thought I read that your rock was crawling with acetaminophen

 

I love buying new things for the tank, cant wait to see more!

[Lalani]

Look's great and interesting Lalani. Looking forward to see your new thread too.

That's truly some beautiful LR! I love LR. Weird I know, but I think it is so cool.

Thanks!

opa, I love LR too. It's like a box, you can't wait to see what comes out of it.

 

You missed a spot on the back wall It's all I can focus on... jk

[c est ma]

Back wall has been scraped and new additions have arrived!!!!!

 

Porcelain:

 

Ooooh, how exciting!! And what a lovely porcelain!

 

I'd agree that was an isopod, and congrats on the pistol and all the rest as well! Happy times.

 

--Diane

[phil121]

Wow! Lalani your photos are beautiful as is your tank. The porcelain crab is very nice. I love the blue background it really looks nice IMO. Anyways, keep it up!!

[Monkfish]

Havnt popped in here in a bit the new pics are fantastic as usual and its really cool how bob hangs with the clown.

[cfeist]

 

Lol, I'm just jealous because I have no corraline and you are scraping it although with that blue background I would scrape it too

[irishtexan]

WOW! I haven't checked on your thread in so long and I just read about 10 pages to catch up

 

Obviously I missed a ton. I can't wait to see the new pico, and the nice clean background looks super spiffy!

 

I love the LR. Ken is awesome and it seems that I get more freebies each time I order.

 

 

 

Looks great and I will be following along daily from now on

-text

[Lalani]

Ooooh, how exciting!! And what a lovely porcelain!

I'd agree that was an isopod, and congrats on the pistol and all the rest as well! Happy times.

--Diane

Glad I left the isopod in the newspaper then! I just hope there aren't any more, because I do want one or two tiny fish in the new tank, without worrying.

 

Wow! Lalani your photos are beautiful as is your tank. The porcelain crab is very nice. I love the blue background it really looks nice IMO. Anyways, keep it up!!

Thank ya! The porcelain crab is great. He found a nice overhang where he is perched upside down and filter-feeding.

 

Havnt popped in here in a bit the new pics are fantastic as usual and its really cool how bob hangs with the clown.

Bob is a cool dude.

 

Lol, I'm just jealous because I have no corraline and you are scraping it although with that blue background I would scrape it too

Hmph...... Guess I'll forgive you.

I've never had coralline grow this quickly before!

 

WOW! I haven't checked on your thread in so long and I just read about 10 pages to catch up

Obviously I missed a ton. I can't wait to see the new pico, and the nice clean background looks super spiffy!

I love the LR. Ken is awesome and it seems that I get more freebies each time I order.

Looks great and I will be following along daily from now on

-text

Yay, thanks Tex!

[opaquelace]

How do you get your pics so clear? I can't seem to do it.

[starfish609]

Big updates are always good to see. Sorry to hear about the stomatella, those are some of the coolest gastropods (glad you have lots more). The crabs are an interesting choice, they should be fun for you to watch. The green zoa's look like they are growing quite well for you - must be the lights (man you got a deal).

 

Which reminds me here is a link for some retro kit reflectors. Your specs say you might upgrade the lighting with individual reflectors, I don't know if you have some in mind already or if these will fit your lights but just in case. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...hreadid=1348940

 

Can't wait to see the new rock scape and more pics. I was hoping to see the back wall covered, but oh well.

Cheers

[Lalani]

How do you get your pics so clear? I can't seem to do it.

Lots of practice! I'll try to help ya on your thread.

 

starfish, Thanks! I'll take a look at those reflectors. I'd really like to attempt a mod of this fixture. If it can be done with minimum cost, I think it would be a great DIY T5HO fixture!

I just couldn't stand the dirty back wall... I let the coralline grow in the 10gal, but I was itching to clean the 20H.... I don't know why.

[PodRod]

That is really nice rock! I've bought from Ken on several occasions but never live rock. I'll have to keep him in mind if I ever set up a new tank. Nice porcelian crab btw. I got mine from Ken also and love those guys! Look forward to seeing more great pics!

[singmealullaby]

wow nice. those rocks have some great shapes. and it looks like it has some nice coralline too. i can't wait to see how it looks in the tank.

[c est ma]

Glad I left the isopod in the newspaper then! I just hope there aren't any more, because I do want one or two tiny fish in the new tank, without worrying.

 

Well, not necessarily a harmful isopod. See this thread:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry1615035

 

It's only the cirolanids you have to worry about...

 

--Diane

[Lalani]

Ah, thanks for the link, Diane. Maybe I jumped the gun, but better safe than sorry, right?

[Lalani]

I added the 5lbs. of cultured base rock and it turned out to be more rock than I expected! It really fills out the main structure, and I think I like it. A little more tweaking needs to be done, to try and get the slope again, but I'm pretty happy with it.

One of the new rocks has a couple of barnacles on it that are quite active, so I stuck them right in front.

I also moved the mushroom rock over so that they are getting the least amount of flow.

I think I am going to remove the Whammin' Watermelon zoas on to one of new rocks in the front and let them spread out.

Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[starfish609]

I like the new added rock Lalani, it looks to be about right to me. The tank looks "fuller/denser" now, plus you have all that extra space now to grow some new things. Moving the green zoas sounds good to me to lighten up the middle area. Are you planning on adding something else as well? Different color maybe?

 

Are the new crabs hiding in the caves and can you see well into the caves to see them?

Cheers

 

EDIT: I actually do like the look of some rock showing, maybe covered with coralline since you won't let it grow on your back wall.

[c est ma]

 

 

I added the 5lbs. of cultured base rock and it turned out to be more rock than I expected! It really fills out the main structure, and I think I like it. A little more tweaking needs to be done, to try and get the slope again, but I'm pretty happy with it.

One of the new rocks has a couple of barnacles on it that are quite active, so I stuck them right in front.

I also moved the mushroom rock over so that they are getting the least amount of flow.

I think I am going to remove the Whammin' Watermelon zoas on to one of new rocks in the front and let them spread out.

Any suggestions?

 

Lalani--hope you don't mind my juxtaposing those two pics! Everytime someone posts a rearrangement, I have to go back and see the previous look--I'm so anal. So I thought I'd have a look at the before & after together...

 

I REALLY like the new arrangement! Funny, as I'd thought things were just great before; but this new scape definitely ties some things together...I'm especially taken with that cascade of zoas/palys in the center! And I love the look of big clumps of similar corals together--the gsp mound there, the zoas there, the 'shrooms there, the euphylliads there...Without any real changes in the colony sizes themselves, it sort of suddenly makes the tank look more mature and less fraggy. I'm definitely taking notes!!

 

Your shrooms looked great before, but I would bet, based on my experience anyway, that they will show their appreciation for lower flow conditions.

 

The large new rocks in front fit in so well--and create such wonderful opportunities for either additions or expansion growth of what you already have!

 

Cool barnacles! I hope they do well for you--such fascinating creatures!

 

Altogether wonderful, IMO.

 

--Diane

 

PS: Boy, those orange palys are sweet!

[Lalani]

starfish, lol! You and the coralline.

I'm probably going to move some of the zoas onto the new rocks, but I don't plan on adding anything else unless I see something that really jumps out at me. The crabs are hiding in rock caves. Every once in a while they come into view, but not for long. Hopefully they will adjust and come out more often.

 

Diane, thank you for bringing this to my attention! I never realized how I was grouping the different corals.

The tank does look fuller and more 'stable.' I'm hoping that it won't take too long to grow out and look as mature and beautiful as your 5.5gal. tank.

The barnacles are really interesting! When I first looked at the rock, I didn't notice them at all. It was only when they were in a bucket of SW, and they just started to open up, that I realized it was something living! It may just be one barnacle, because it looks like one solid 'base.' Also, a tiny clam has popped out of the same rock and a few feather dusters are coming out of one of the other rocks. Not too shabby for base rock!

When I got those palys, they looked really bad, due to a shipping mishap. I didn't think they were alive, but they started to open just before I threw them away. Here are comparison pictures for you.

 

 

[Kraylen]

Amazing.

 

That is ALL I have to say.

[starfish609]

WOW! That's a huge difference in those palys. I take it they are slow to multiply? They are sharp looking.