ѕqυιяяεł'ѕ 10 gαł αgα

[squirrelieygrrrl]

i had to count earlier to figure out how old my tank really was, i realized that i started it about 7 months ago, although it was a fowlr for about 6 months before i converted it to a full blown reef tank. i have also been ogling over the stylo's theres this one on liveaquaria that i drool over. im a little nervous to add another sps under my pc's because i had gotten an indigo monti that is now a cruddy shade of tan/browm my poor clam would have survived if it hadnt been poorly cared for while i was on vacation. but shoot what can ya do! my lighting has 96 watts, and surpisingly despite the fact that they are pc's the clam was actually putting on growth. so i can only imagine that i was doin somthin right. i had him placed approx 8in under the lights. wich apparently met his par requirements. so if you manage to get the right clam (tank bred would be easier) then your t-5's should be able to cut the mustard so to speak! i know some people out there will disagree with me. but shoot its all relative.

 

~squirrel

 

ps: hooked on phonics

[squirrelieygrrrl]

i also wanted to add a little bit of my maintenance practices on here,

so i do a 2-3 gal water change every Sunday morning, before i change the water out i spray off the rocks with a turkey baster and some times scrub them with a toothbrush to remove any nuisance algae, only if needed though. once i get into the whole water changing process i vaccume(yeesh sp?) just the top layer of sand off to remove any detritus. once my water change is complete, then i rinse the chemi pure bag, the ceramic cylinders and the pre filter sponge off in the removed water to get rid of any lingering crud. i do my best to keep my lights as clean as possible to keep the light out put up.

 

as for daily maintenance i clean the glass as needed, and observe observe observe (of course!)

 

on to my dosing procedures. i dose calcium with kalkwasser and alternate with super buffer dkh every other day with my top off water, to prevent calcium/alk swings. i also use sea lab #28 and replenish the cubes as needed.

 

1 feed cyclops every 2-3 days and such a minute amount. its hard to really estimate how much. but i thaw the cube in a cup of tank water for about 1-2 seconds with a quick rub of my fingers on the cube. the clowns are actually quite avid hunters and i have soooooooo many pods in there. the rocks are practically teeming with them. so many infact that they squabble over hiding spaces during the day. i see the little clowns (there about 1/2-3/4 of an inch) eating pods all day, and they seem quite fat as a result.

 

testing - i use red seas marine lab and the reef lab (i know these labs are reputed to having poor accuracy, but once they are used up i will switch to something better) and test approx every 3 days give or take depending on how the corals look.

 

i think that about sums it up, if im missing anything plz let me know! as im not sure what exactly all i should post as "tank stats and husbandry practices"

 

~squirrel

[AdriftQuasar]

It looks like you have a really fantastic tank going. It is a shame that you lost that clam though. I've been planning on upgrading my lighting for a while now just so I can keep a few.

[squirrelieygrrrl]

aw thank you very much! i have been having my doubts if i was doing things right, always great to have a little reassurance.

 

~squirrel

[AdriftQuasar]

I think it's best to never be %100 sure about what you are doing. I think being over-confident causes just as many problems as being under-experienced.

[squirrelieygrrrl]

word!

[Lizzie1324]

Oh wow, I didn't know it had been up so long as a FOWLR!

How old was it when you put the clam in?

They are sooooo cool.

I agree with you, if everything is doing great under pc's why fret?

Some people are a little too serious about what can do well under what lighting.

I don't want people disregarding all advice, but I think it is good to be a little relaxed

And if the clam was growing under your pc's that freakin' awesome! Lol, it definitely looked like it was thriving in those pics before the accident. Maybe I should look into getting one a little more...

[squirrelieygrrrl]

hmmmm lemme think about that one....

 

i think it was about 9 months ish, give or take. although it was about 3-4 months after i converted it to support corals. i think....lol

 

clams are tricky though, i really think it just depends on the individual clam. I'm no pro though when it comes to clams so don't take my word for it!

 

~squirrel

 

[Phixion]

it all depends on the clam though and it's placement in the tank. Croceas for sure are the most light hungry clams and probably in most cases won't survive more than a few months under PC's Same with most maximas. Derasas and gigas done't require nearly as much light and will fare better under PC's than the other 2 first mentioned clams. I'm only down to 1 clam right now myself though, I'd really like to get a couple more to put me back at 3 at least... =/

[squirrelieygrrrl]

question answered! thanks phixion

 

so you dont think that my clam would have survived the long haul despite it putting on new growth? mostly i ask because i would really like to try another crocea. lemme know what you think, also whats your opinion on my tank now that i have updated the thread with my equipment, husbandry, and maintenance stats?

 

~squirrel

[dtfleming]

I would get your tank parameters straight first before add another clam. Try to find one around 3" they seem to do better then younger ones. I have three clams in my tank with two more in my frag tank.

[squirrelieygrrrl]

im not planning on getting a clam any time soon, i was merely tryin to get some info before i attempted it again. also my tanks params have been stable for about 2 weeks now. thanks for the info.

[Phixion]

Well your tank is certainly coming along since the crash. But I'd wait a bit before getting another clam. Most usually say that you'll want to wait 6 months before getting a clam if you're starting out with a new tank. That isn't your case here, but you're tank does need to re-mature and re-establish itself, so in your case here I'd give it no less than 2 months of stability time and more close to 3. Your testing often, so that's good! You'll want at least a month worth of stable Ca and alk levels before getting a clam again, and of course you'll need to even more stay on top of those levels after getting it. I'd agree totally with DTflemming above in that you'll have the best luck with a clam that's at least "3 in size. Smaller clams tend not to fare so well in captivity. I've learned this myself (even with a "2 clam) as well as the satble parameter issue. As much as I'd LOVE to have more now, I myself have to get a handle on the low pH situation going on in my tank unfortunately.

 

It's hard to say if you're clam would have made it or not, again the whole "each clam is different" aspect comes into play. Putting on growth isn't always a sign of good health though. It's responsiveness of light is a good tell tale sign as well as mantle extension, color, if it's gaping or not and quite importantly, if it's attached. A happy clam will just about always be attached if it's a crocea or maxima. Derasas being larger clams don't normally attach except when young and rely more on their weight to keep them firm in the sand where many will reside. For you though as far as clams go, I'd say your main bottleneck right now is your lighting. 96w T5's is usually the bare minimum flourescent lighting you'll want a clam under, and at that you'll really want to have individual reflectors. You could support a derasa clam under your light ing though, but for a crocea, you'd most definitely need it placed higher up. I think you have the right husbandry skills though, just find a tank sitter with near matching abilities, hehe. Good luck!!

[squirrelieygrrrl]

hey phixion,

 

thanks for your reply, and your kind words of encouragement. good to know that i should wait a little longer. i think ill stick with the full 3 months as i dont want a repeat disaster, i was horribly attached to that little clam, and i felt terrible when it expired. full blown heart ache. i had no idea that the size of the clam had influence on its survival rate. a very valuable tid bit of info indeed! lol, at first i was a tad put off by dt's post as i felt i was being flamed a bit! we women are sensitive creatures. im sorry to hear that your also having some tank issues at the moment. its tough when your labor of love isn't going the way you had intended!

 

on the subject of the expired clam, it was well attached, and placed high up on the rockwork (about 4in from the top of the tank) it was quite responsive to light and shadows, it did not appear to have either pm or gaping(as i did some research to make sure) its color was precisely the same as it was when i bought it. the only thing that seemed off was that its mantle was quite extended, perhaps too extended. i dont know if thats possible or not to tell the truth.

 

i realize that i was pushing its par requirements a bit by trying to keep it under pc's (not only are we women sensitive but we are also stubborn! ) if i were to attempt a dersa in the future would i indeed be able to keep it on the sand bed? or would i have to make a nook in the rockwork to keep it higher up? i hate to say it phixion, but i think i have adopted you as my mentor! i had posted a thread about needing a mentor, and there were no real takers! so sorry buddy but your sol! lol

 

thanks again

 

~squirrel

 

ps: finding a good fish sitter 'round here is like finding a needle in a hay stack!

[Phixion]

lol, I feel honored. I don't recall that post, so I must have missed it somewhere along the way.

 

It does indeed sound like your clam would have made it. I once had a clam that had what seemed like a super extended mantle. it could mean that it's begging for more light, but usually the mantle will arce up in a V shape when it's reaching. It's really hard to tell sometimes. The thing with "baby" clams is that they rely on phytoplankton feedings as well as high light requirement. As they get older they rely more on light and can suffice on just mere filter feeding from the water column. I lost my prized black and gold maxima a couple months ago to PM. I wasn't quite sure that's what was wrong till it was almost ok. I also didn't know how fast PM acts, but basically from the start of when it appears to when the clam expires can be in as little as the span of a week unfortunately. I've also found out the hard way that my 10g custom AIO tank with it's 1x40w Satellite PC fixture is not enough to sustain ANY clam even for a week. That was the demise of my derasa I had despite me only temporarily putting it in that tank and then relocating it back to my 30g. In your case you could certainly start with a derasa on the sand, but at the slightest hint of the mantle arching up instead of flopping over, then I'd move it up higher onto the rock work. And don't worry, us guys can be stubburn creatures too.

 

I can relate to the tank sitter dilema. I will only let a handful of local established reefers even watch my tank when I'm gone. I'm going to be going on vacation out of country in a few months here for 12 days and I'm scared to leave my tank alone!!

[squirrelieygrrrl]

well phixion,

 

im glad to hear that your willing to take me on, as i could really use a little help from an experienced reefer!

thanks for the tips regarding clams, good to know. also im sorry to hear youve been having clam issues as well. i hope it all works out for you real soon. oh and what fun would it be if we weren't stubborn?! keeps it interesting if you ask me. unfortunately i dont know of an experienced reefer any where near me, not with in a hundred miles any how. i live in the boonies.......were an hour away from a one horse town...lol, so i dont really have any other option than using the person who tank sat last time......scary.....i can totally understand that youd be nervous, as i was freaking out the whole time i was gone....so have faith hopefully you wont go through the same problems i had.

 

on a side note, the craziest thing just happened to me while i was replying to you. a little female humming bird just flew into our house and knocked its self out on one of our windows....poor little thing. i grabed her up with a towel and waited for her to wake back up, and i set her free! guess i muse have humming bird juju! lol

 

anyhoo take care and ill talk to you later.

 

~squirrel

[AdriftQuasar]

Cool story about the hummingbird.

 

One of the reasons I like following other people's threads, particularly people who have gotten the attention of experienced reefers, is that knowledge is often shared that benefits me and my tank. I'm going to be doing a huge lighting upgrade and clams are one of the things I would like to add to the tank eventually. So thanks, Phixion.

[squirrelieygrrrl]

thanks adrift!

[Phixion]

Much welcome to anyone I can help out along the way, whether directly or indirectly.

 

Pretty crazy story with the humming bird. They fly so swiftly, it's amazing they don't run into more than just windows. I dunno if I'd say Humboldt County is quite the boonies, I know it's beautiful in that part of CA as opposed to the city life down here in LA... =/ Granted we do have some beautiful places, but you are near the coast if I remember correctly, so I envy you there! It's been many years since I've been up north of S.F. though. Anywho, glad I can take you under my wing, I like helping out people in the hobby, that's the rewarding benifit of the community we have and are.

[squirrelieygrrrl]

ok so,

 

i have had this leather for 15 days now, and it has yet to fully extend its polyps. unfortunately i purchased it with out seeing it fully extended so i have no idea what it actually looks like. my lfs was in the process of stirring up detritus out from behind their frag racks, so it looked the same as it does in the pictures. i believe that it is a sacro, although im not sure. if some one else out there can help me identify its taxonomy that would be wonderful. it has gone through a shedding spell for the past two weeks. i believe i may have contributed to its unhappiness as i had it too close to the lights. i have now placed it on the sand in a moderate flow area. it has responded slightly to its new placement, however it has only shown its polyps a little. like small pimples. another curious thing is that i was looking at it this morning and what i had initially thought was a polyp was actually some sort of calcareous matter coming from one of the holes. it was clear, very tiny, and hard like sand. im not sure what it was, or what that means. any ideas? many thanks, hope to hear your replies and thoughts. heres some fresh shots of it taken this morning. sorry for the poor quality, my camera is a pos. maybe some day ill invest into getting a better one.

 

~squirrel

[Phixion]

It could be stressed. If it's shedding, that could be caused from stress or at the least like when an invert molts, the shedding itself can be stressful. I'll share a story...

 

I have a neon green toadstool (possibly an LE neon green, but not sure on that). Anyways, it's not actually mine but rather I'm holding it for a fellow reefer that's out of the country for a while. One day I noticed it start to develop a couple white rimmed holes in the crown, but it was still having full polyp extension. Fearing it might be a fungus or parasite, I put it in a dip of Lugol's iodine. I put in 12 drops instead of the 6 I probably should have put, and left it for 10 minutes, which is twice as long as I probably should have. Needless to say when all was said and done, the very next day the leather was half it's previous size and it was pissed off like no other. It completely shed it's skin and didn't have even a single polyp extension for 3 weeks after that. It's since made a full recovery and as it turns out, the holes are actually how it grows and propigates itself, d'oh! All that fretting and almost killing it for nothing, lol! In any event, move the leather to another part of the tank, it may not be happy where it's at. But try not to handle it or move it too much as that can further stress it. Do weekly water changes at least till it starts looking healthier and having polyp extension. And as with anything in the hobby, patience is of the virtue. Good luck!!

 

P.S. Within the last 10 pages of my 30g tank thread are the time table of the toadstool along with pics of it when it went through it's drama, lol!

 

Oh yeah, I also noticeed that you run a Tom's Rapids mini canister on your tank. I just got one and put it on my 10g custom AIO tank. So far it's working out good. How do you like yours and do you have any leak issues with it?

[squirrelieygrrrl]

Much welcome to anyone I can help out along the way, whether directly or indirectly.

 

Pretty crazy story with the humming bird. They fly so swiftly, it's amazing they don't run into more than just windows. I dunno if I'd say Humboldt County is quite the boonies, I know it's beautiful in that part of CA as opposed to the city life down here in LA... =/ Granted we do have some beautiful places, but you are near the coast if I remember correctly, so I envy you there! It's been many years since I've been up north of S.F. though. Anywho, glad I can take you under my wing, I like helping out people in the hobby, that's the rewarding benifit of the community we have and are.

 

it was definitely crazy, im glad i got to it before my 1 year old did. lol, that would not have been good for the little thing. where i live in Humboldt is absolutely the boonies, from what i understand we live in the most remote community in the continental us, its called shelter cove. im about 100 yards from the water, with a fabulous view. so living in the middle of no where does have its perks. ive never been a city gal, i dunno if i could handle la life. ive been there a couple of times and couldn't wait to leave! no offense. i am great full that i made my way here to the nr community, if i hadn't found this site i don't know if i would have been nearly as successful. also i truly appreciate your kindness and support.

 

about the leather, im not really sure what the issue is. i have spoken to tinyreef about it, and he suggested that i post the same information that we had been discussing to see if any one else out there had any ideas. does it appear to be a sacro to you? its still up for debate on its taxonomy. i did move it down to the sand bed this morning, and it seems to like it better there than were it was previously. so fingers crossed that will help. im fairly diligent about my water changes, and i just completed my sunday water change, with fresh chemi pure. i think im gonna need all the luck i can get! lol. ill check out your thread again about the leather you have to see if that sheds any light on mine.

 

the tom rapids canister is ok. to be honest im not too thrilled with its preformance. it seems to get clogged very quickly and the flow reduces usually in a week. so every week just about i end up having to dismantle it and clean. kind of a pain in the ass. also i wish that it had more space for media. i should have just bucked up and bought a larger canister. the only leaks ive had with it have been user error (if i may coin your term!) make sure that the hoses are connected properly, and that the tightening bushings are properly seated. also be double, even triple sure that the o-ring around the top is perfect, with no media bags hampering its closeing. lol, i stuff a small bag of chemi pure in there and it just barely fits...i didnt think that the foamy carbon media was really up to snuff. just my .2 cents.

 

~squirrel

[squirrelieygrrrl]

bump

[Phixion]

Thanks for the insight on the Tom's canister. I had a slow drip leak (but a leak no less) from the pointless flow-meter that's part of the intake, apparently it wasn't tightened down all the way from the factory. of course user error on my part for not checking it in the first place, but i didn't see any description in the manual that it could even be taken apart which I indirectly found out, lol! I got it nicely tightened down and it working well for me so far after a week of having it. The hoses to it are annoyingly short though, I might end up putting my own black nylon hoses on it, but we'll see... I also put some Chemi-Pure in mine, but the small bag and it fits good without issue, I put the in the Elite version though for the GFO aspect.

 

What I remember of Humboldt is that it's a nice area, especially being along the coast. I wouldn't imagine CA would have one of the remotest spots in the country though. LA life isn't so bad though, it's just getting used to all the crazy and weird people out here, the horrible traffic (which is better now that gas prices are through the roof) and of course the crazy climate we've had in recent years. I have been to worse urban areas though, NYC is TOO fast paced and big city for me, and S.F. in some areas can be comparable to NY. I was in the boonies once when I visited relatives in Missouri that have a farm out there. Right across in the middle of an area where several amish families live. You really know you're in the boonies when you get held up by a horse and buggy going down the street, lol! I was too bored out there. It was fine for about the first couple of days though, hehe.

 

I'll take a look back at your leather and see if I can ID it. But Tiny really is leather master here on NR. His advice on them is about as good as gold!

[squirrelieygrrrl]

your welcome phixion,

 

lol, i was kind of thinking the same thing about that flow meter, i just havnt made the jump to get rid of it yet. imo i think it reduces the flow further. mostly because of those silly little baffles(i guess thats what you would call them) that are on either end of the red magnet thing. do ya think i should just remove it? i agree that the hoses are worthless, also damn near impossible to keep clean because its corrugated.i also use the elite stuff, i think it works great (what the heck does GFO mean? lol)

 

as far as cali life i have to agree with you though. it cant be beat imo. being the most remote community is just a little factoid that some of the locals throw around. for all i know they could be burning the cheeba a little too much.

 

thanks for tryin to help me with my leather issues. ill take what ever i can get!

 

~squirrel