spanko Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Fun stuff, I love that age. My kids are a boy 20 and a girl 26. She is married and has given my wife and I two beautiful granddaughters. One is 15 months old and one is 3 weeks old. The 15 month old come over and takes my hand to go see the fisheys first thing in the door. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 Happy day Spanko! Best of both worlds! Young kids again without having to care for them 24/7! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Well I have some new additions to my tank. They are: A Skunk Cleaner Shrimp. Something I have wanted to add in for a while but never got around to it. You can kind of see him hanging upside down but its kind of hard to see. A brittle star. After doing some research on this guy I decided to pull the trigger and get one. See photo A Tuxedo Urchin. Sadly my pincushion has gotten so big that he isn't appropriate for my tank anymore. He is about the size of a tennis ball cut in half so he is just too darn big. So yesterday I picked up a tuxedo to replace him and he is going into a larger tank that can support him somewhere else. See photo. Hammer coral. Another coral I have wanted for a while but never bothered to pick up. My local LFS, Pasadena Tropical Fish, was having a sale on these guys for a 2-3" head for $20 so I went ahead and pulled the trigger. He has more if anyone is local and wants one. I am just having a hard time figuring out where to put it and will figure it out finally most likely tomorrow, Friday, as that's major tank maintenance day and I will be moving my live rock around and gluing some more zoa frags into places where I want them. You can see from the photo that its pissed. Now for some VERY unwanted little friends: Some kind of muscle, clam, or scallop. I was moving my shroom rocks around last night and I happened to glance at one of my green ones and noticed a fleshy mouth on the damn rock! "Aw crap! Now what!?!" I thought to myself. If anyone knows what this is please let me know. Either way that shroom rock is going up for trade and if no one here wants it its going to my LFS for trade in. See photo. What looks like it may be either some kind of polyp or Apstasia. I couldn't get a good photo of these things but there are about 3 of them I can see. One on a clam and two on the rocks. Its off to the local LFS's tomorrow in search of a peppermint shrimp or two as I am assuming the worst. Sigh. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 WOW, hammer for $20 from Steve?? I should get in on that... Alas I gotta save my pennies for MAX at the O/C fairgrounds this weekend, lol! You should definitely check it out if you have a chance. Several of us are going with SCNRS and will be found mostly around the Fraggle Reef booth towards the entrance. I'm going on sunday myself. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 I may just do that! And yeah its $20 from Steve. I was shocked too! Honestly he is really odd on pricing. Some stuff is priced so it can't be beat. Other stuff its like "YOU WANT WHAT!?!" I really love it when he answers the pricing question with "For you...?" Supposedly he is getting some Acan's in that will be a real steal. UH Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 I get the 'For you" line every time! Even from Natalie, lol! Zoa prices can't be beat, I just don't understand how $40 for a stalk of xenia is the SALE price! And his dendros, forget it @ $90 per head, what a rip... Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 3, 2008 Author Share Posted April 3, 2008 Yeah! Love that! I always look wide eyed and innocent (as much as I can as big and ugly as I am) and say "Really?!? For me!?!" He now realizes that I am on to the game and he actually will give me pretty good deals on some things. That large piece of yellow fiji I have was a steal for what I got it for. And yep xenia at $40 is nuts as are the dendros! I am hopeful on the Acans though. I would like a few for some spots between the zoa's I have. Any other places for good coral you know about? Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Damn but I wish I had a photo of this... Next time... I am using a new freeze dried mysis shrimp concoction because I have had problems in the past with the frozen stuff having high phosphates in the water and I haven't quite got the hang of feeding my new tank yet so with the high flow I have some of it gets blown up to the top rim and sticks there. So last night I am doing one of my twice weekly feedings of my various corals and out comes all of the normally behind the scenes and shy folk in the tank. First one Nass snail scoots up to the rim and starts sucking down mysis that had stuck there. Then the other two in the tank join him. Feeling left out a zebra cowrie I forgot about from the old tank and never see slides on up with his 3" long feeding tube to get in on the action and I end up offering select pieces of mysis to them via my fingertip. I notice one of my new star fish is feeling a bit left out as are my stag horn crabs so since I am already wet and in the tank I take a pinch and the star fish as well as the stag horns, all of whom usually hide at the first sign of my little finger, are now eating out of my hand which was down right surreal! My cleaner shrimp who also hides at the first sign of me is now my very best buddy and leaps into my hand for his own meal. This morning when I had to adjust something out pops Mr. Cleaner shrimp and leaps right into my hand and Mr. Star fish comes whipping out of hiding like the devil himself was after him to also crawl on up my hand looking for a meal so it looks like I am now a food bar for my inverts! The odd part of this is that I had washed my hands and showered rather thoroughly the night before and thus should have had no scent of mysis on me... Oh and while I am doing the feeding last night my wife is watching some *VERY* bad Chinese soap opera so I get the added bonus of translating Mandarin proclamations of undying love coupled with statements of angst over how they couldn't be together for whatever stupid reason. I felt like I was in a Philip K. Dick book. Wow! I just realized I have no life! Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 lol, no worries UH. I'm sure the verts might be comfortable with you now after that feeding, or perhaps they thought you had more food to offer. Of course it could have been the aroma still stuck to your skin that we can't smell, but they can. For coral, hands down Fraggle Reef of course, there's also Pacific Reef in Torrance, Tongs in Fountain Valley, and ReeferMadness (they just moved from out of Torrance...) Those are my fav places around us to go to. Also Jeff's Exotic Fish in Orange. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 Actually I am thinking that perhaps my scent is now associated with food as like I said I usually really scrub my hands after putting them in the tank... I say this because I have now fed them three times this way even though its off schedule. My abalone now parks himself at a certain corner of the tank at a set time M&F for his ration of Nori too. As to local coral shops don't bother with PR in torrance. They just aren't getting the good stuff anymore. There is a place out in Van Nuys that is much better as is Ali's. PM me if you want the address. Also I will shortly have access to Two Fish and others if there is something special you want... UH Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Some new photos of the tan. Please pardon the algae on the glass. I shot these before I cleaned it. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Can you frag some of the algae for me. Just kidding. Tank is looking sweet. Gotta love halide lighting. I think your tank really benfits from the better skimmer as well. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Looking good! As you know, I love the clams. Hmm, I might be in the marker for a Phos-Ban reactor soon... Or at least for Phos-Ban itself. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Well its now 0012 and I have spent the last 4 hours correcting a horrible mistake on my part. I was cleaning the tank this evening and accidentally dropped my orange chalice behind a rock. I asked my wife to use her much smaller hand to reach down and get it out for me so I didn't have to go in my self. Well she pitched a small fit about it and I got fired up myself so I told her not to worry about it I would take care of it. *BIG MISTAKE*! In order to get at it I needed to move several pieces of rock and in the process I ended up knocking over other rocks which lead to me having to completely redo my rock work and in the process completely ####### off just about every piece of coral in my tank to the point where they were sliming and belching all over the place. It also severely stressed one of my clams to the point where it let go of the rock it was on. Long story short thank God for my skimmer and 5 gallons of salt water on hand as I ended up doing a 10% water change as well as pulled about 100 ml of skimmate out of the tank over the last 4 hours. I also completely redesigned the rock work. Needless to say I am not a happy camper right now but am hopeful that things will turn out ok. The clam who fell off the rock is opening back up a bit on a new rock I have it on. All the other clams are open and responding. My LPS, brain, and leathers are extending polyps and tentacles. And two of the SPS are doing the same. Now its all down to prayer and hope that every thing will be ok. I will post photos of the 'new' design as soon as things are stable and happy again and I take care of any of the dead. UH Link to comment
jaywhite1965 Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 Hope all your corals pull through. That's why I try not to put my hands in the tank anymore. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Thanks Jay. I put my hands in once a week to scrape the glass and feed my brittle star, cleaner shrimp, and corals. Other than that I am right there with you. My own stupid mistake. Never go at your tank when you are angry or in a hurry. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 19, 2008 Author Share Posted April 19, 2008 Its now 1115 hrs and about 12 hours from my colossal screw up. Bad news first. I have a wonderful (NOT!) diatom outbreak this morning in the back left corner of my tank courtesy of all the crap I kicked up last night plus being a bit heavy on the feeding with my inverts via hand. Fortunately my stag horn crab is back in that corner going at it and much to my star fish and cleaner shimp's dismay I am cutting WAY back on hand feeding them. Even though now every time I put my hand in the tank my cleaner jumps in to give me a cleaning. So far it looks like everyone is happy in my tank except for a sps frag and one of my maxima's. The one who fell off the rock from stress. Good news (knock on wood) It actually seems that the new setup made the corals happier than they were. All of them are open with polyps extended even one I was worried about. I also freed up some room for the brain and hammer corals so they have much more room to grow. Unfortunately the rock platform I made for my Derasa is totally unappealing to it and each time I put it there it moves itself. All in all time (and allot of good luck and a bit of help from God) will tell. I also found out that my abalone was pregnant when she came into the tank. Last night at 0230 I found three 1-2mm abalone crawling along the glass. I am pretty sure they are not hitch hikers because after finding that star fish hitchhiker and oyster I have been *VERY* careful to check everything that goes in to the tank including looking for mollusks. Also because I can see one small hitchhiker but not three of the same species. It also makes some sense in that out of the approximately 10,000 eggs she would have laid 3 making it to juvenile status from larva in a tank like mine with the number of filter feeders I have and with the transfer of sand bed that I did from the old tank. I have some photos of them on the glass I will post later. And if anyone wants an abalone let me know as when they get bigger they will not be sustainable in my tank. UH Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Sorry to hear about the tank "disaster." I can totally relate to it in many ways. But I'm really glad to hear it's working out and bouncing back for you. Things happen for reasons, right? Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 Cheers mate. Time will tell. I am still very worried about that clam. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Cheers mate. Time will tell. I am still very worried about that clam. Completely understandable. Just check up on it daily to see if it re-attaches itself. Also keep an eye on mantle extension, and keep it fed with phyto. Good luck! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 Completely understandable. Just check up on it daily to see if it re-attaches itself. Also keep an eye on mantle extension, and keep it fed with phyto. Good luck! Aye. So far so good and its day three. Both are reattached and extending but I am still worried as it was gaping a bit. I have a diatom outbreak due to over feeding and am torn between feeding them and controlling the diatoms. So its a tough one. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Well I am now *REALLY* not a happy camper! I give myself a diatom outbreak courtesy of my noob mistake of overfeeding my inverts and have my lights out for 48 hours to control it and that clam I was worried about but was doing better now detaches from the rock and was gaping! )%#(**)%*()@#%!!!! <Urchinhead punches himself in the head for being such a dolt> Its back on the rock and responding well to light as well as filter feeding now that I have the lights back on but its lost allot of its color and my diatom problem, while somewhat better, isn't fully gone! One *AW CRAP* down. I am still seeing if I can find a home for him and hopefully Phixion or someone else local can take him so he can recover and I can get my tank back under control. On to the next *AW CRAP*! I ordered some *VERY* nice blasto's from Morgan at reefgardener.com that I didn't receive until this week instead of two weeks ago when I ordered them do to one of them getting stung by another coral and my own misinstructions to her... Here they are btw as well as a shot of my other blastos. They are a forrest green one and a rare blue one: Well when they got here I didn't do my usual prophylactic dip to remove any hitcher's because the water in both bags was pretty foul, I didn't have any water handy, and I figured they were blasto's so they shouldn't have anything nasty on them so into the tank they went. *SECOND* noob mistake in as many weeks!!! I must be getting senile! Not Morgan's fault at all. Totally mine. On my live rock I find this: What looks to me to be a nudibranch of some kind. Which means a very specialized carnivore taht has no chance of surviving in my tank... So per my policy I get to euthanize it. CRAP! And yes I would like some cheese with my whine please... Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 On a lighter note my six line is a real little gob$hite! But darn if he isn't a smart one! I had just fed the fish a few minutes ago and was now feeding my staghorn its weekly piece of krill when the little snot scooted right up to the staghorn, waited, zoomed in and snatched the krill out of its pincers then rushed away to hide in the rocks and eat! Right in front of me! He literally looted and scooted and talk about problem solving skills! He knew that the other fish would go after it and that it would float away so he's hiding in a cave with it floating on the roof so he can eat it in peace! Link to comment
Reef507 Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 On a lighter note my six line is a real little gob$hite! But darn if he isn't a smart one! I had just fed the fish a few minutes ago and was now feeding my staghorn its weekly piece of krill when the little snot scooted right up to the staghorn, waited, zoomed in and snatched the krill out of its pincers then rushed away to hide in the rocks and eat! Right in front of me! He literally looted and scooted and talk about problem solving skills! He knew that the other fish would go after it and that it would float away so he's hiding in a cave with it floating on the roof so he can eat it in peace! Nice tank Urchinhead. Those six lines are the coolest fish. They have personality plus Link to comment
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