Cptbjorn's 3g DIY Pico Cube

[cptbjorn]

I just saw the eunice worm for the third time

 

I saw it starting to poke out its head between two ricordea when I was distributing pellets to the sexy shrimp so I put a pellet down there and waited for it to come out, it grabbed the pellet and slipped right through my tweezers when I tried to grab it though... It has grown quite a bit but it is still lightning fast and I've seen it in 3 different spots throughout the tank now so it pretty much has the whole place tunneled. This latest spot is right at the sandbed though so it is a decent place to bait it out again, I'm going to try again tomorrow.

[.Newman.]

if eunice = bobbit worm then that's pretty bad. those things me. I have something that looks like it in my pico but I *think* mine has bristles...your's is small correct?

[cptbjorn]

Yeah they are also called bobbit worms. I've heard that most are reef safe scavengers but the first two sightings I was able to watch it for about an hour and I saw it catch an amphipod and a bristle worm... I think it could take down a smaller sexy shrimp and I worry about the clam too so I want to get it out, hopefully in one piece so I can give it to someone.

 

My eunice worm is mostly smooth and brown and has the antennae around its mouth. I would guess you have a bristle worm just based on how much more common they are and also you say it has bristles.

[.Newman.]

I sure damn hope mine's a bristle worm! I can't stand these:

[cptbjorn]

Actually that one looks pretty cool, I think it wants a hug

 

I almost caught mine today, I've successfully lured it out 3 times in the last few days. One of these times I'm going to successfully grab it with my tweezers and either rip its head+front half off or pull it out. I'm really hoping the tail end can't regenerate because I would guess it is going to be left behind (lol)

 

 

I picked up a couple acros today, my LFS just announced last night that they were going to start having a 10$ frag section so naturally I was there this morning waiting for them to open I got a very bright green slimer and a stocky blue/lavender one and cut off small pieces of them for this tank and the rest will go in my big tank when it is ready.

 

I moved most of the corals from my 13g into my sister's 120 in preparation for the tank switch and while I was in there I nipped off a piece of their legit ATL appleberry monti, here it is bottom center. Also the green hydnophora is recovering surprisingly fast, the sunset monti is glued in place up top (and isn't bleaching) and the new little green slimer:

 

 

And a FTS, the monti undata is finally showing some PE after I moved it all around the tank trying to make it happy. Turns out it wanted to be in the sand surrounded by chalices, can't say I blame it lol.

 

[cptbjorn]

My sexy shrimp were hanging out on the acans today and I gave them a few pellets and started taking some pictures. Look real close under them clam though:

 

 

 

 

[.Newman.]

oh no....

[evilc66]

That's a little guy. Local reefer pulled a 6ft one out of his tank a few months back.

[Mr. Microscope]

What the heck is that thing? Some sort of cucumber or worm? And 6 foot??!!

[.Newman.]

bobbit/eunice worm. 6ft is crazy, I would be afraid that a worm that size would bite me good

Do not want

[Mr. Microscope]

Yikes! Those things look like something from outerspace!

http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/...s/Eunice_sp.jpg

I hope I never see one of them pop out of my toilet.

[Guest TheBlueLorax]

oh my....I hate those things I once had one if my old tank that ate part of my star each night, I did finally catch it, dont ask me how i killed it though

[cptbjorn]

Yup. You can tell just by watching it for a couple minutes that it is a pure evil opportunistic hell raiser. It is still a baby but I've seen it stretch out over halfway across the tank so it is at least 5"-6" long and a bit over 1/8" wide. Normally it will only come out an inch or two though and if it gets spooked at all it just disappears, my eyes can't even track it so either it is super fast or it has teleportation technology. I'm hoping for the former

 

I stopped by Barrier Reef Aquariums today and picked up a sweet pink+green millepora and ALMOST talked them into clipping me a frag of their cali tort from their Elos display tank. There's pics of it here but you kinda have to see it in person, it just glows blue and you can see it from across the store. I think I'll be able to convince them to sell me some soon

 

edit: oh yeah and I met a PE sales rep at my LFS today and he gave me a pack of PE mysis and it is awesome stuff. Much bigger chunks than hikari so spot feeding LPS goes twice as fast

[scythe]

http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/adva...ighlight=bobbit

 

Here is a fascinating tale of a reefer trying to rid himself of a bobbit worm. I read the whole story its fairly long but interesting.

[Weetabix7]

http://www.michiganreefers.com/forums/adva...ighlight=bobbit

 

Here is a fascinating tale of a reefer trying to rid himself of a bobbit worm. I read the whole story its fairly long but interesting.

 

I just read that whole thing.

WOW.

[cptbjorn]

I read it too, thanks for the link that was awesome. It is cool that he got it out alive and was able to find it a home.

 

It sounds like my plan to grab it with tweezers will only rip it in half and probably not kill it, I might try some sort of fishing line like slapshot used almost successfully in that thread.

[cptbjorn]

I had forgotten about my Idaho grape monti since I got it at the swap two weeks ago because it is up top on the side. The guy I bought it from grew it under 400w halides so I thought it would brown out or get mad or whatever. But when I looked at it today I thought the rim looked a little different so I pulled up a pic from when I got it and realized that not only has it kept most of its color it has attached, encrusted and grown 1/8-1/4" around all the edges in 2 weeks Here's a pic:

 

 

So I started looking through more older pictures and found some other things that have really grown, here's my first acan frag that I got as a single head with a few babies a little over 4 months ago and is now about 6 large heads and over a dozen more small ones:

 

 

6 weeks of growth on 3 of my chalices:

 

 

And 2.5 months of growth on some zoas, started as about 20 and they have grown all around the frag plug and off in several different directions and there is well over 100 now

 

 

 

I've been dosing seachem fuel, feeding mysis, oyster feast and phyto every day or two, and once a week before my water change I do full cubes of BBS, cyclopeeze and ON prime reef soaked in selcon overnight which turns the water into a milkshake and I can't even see the back glass. It seems like a ton of food for 3 gallons but I feed the mysis carefully with tweezers, replace the micron fabric every 3-4 days and my pump doesn't let anything settle anywhere. I've tried weighing my chaeto and it grows 20-25% per day and I remove about 2.0g dry weight with my water change each week yet my nitrates and phosphates read as 0 with my API kit and no other algaes grow in any significant amount

[.Newman.]

nice update. that acan reminds me of the one I got...so that might be what mine will look like when it starts growing

Sounds like feeding is paying off! I'm going to start feeding my tank just a little this week...

[cptbjorn]

Yep, you gotta hit the acan with some mysis every couple days if you want them to really grow. At first mine would just take one big mysis every 2-3 days but now among the 15 or so heads that are big enough to eat it will take half a cube if I let it. Just make sure you rinse them really well and keep an eye on your algae/nitrates/phosphates.

[.Newman.]

wasn't even planning on feeding them twice a week lol. would zooplankton be good enough including cyclop eeze? cuz I don't have mysis yet...

[cptbjorn]

You can try it, when I feed cyclopeeze I turn the pumps off and wait a bit for the water to be completely still and then carefully feed with one of those plastic eyedropper/pipette things to give it a better chance to grab some of it. IMO mysis is the best thing to feed acans and most other LPS because the chunks are just so much bigger but they like cyclopeeze and other smaller foods too.

[badfish816]

awesome growth.

[SaltineSage]

Boo your inbox is full. How am I supposed to bug you about your awesome skills? I picked up the drivers I talked to you about... so far it seems like a very inconsistent current at setting 1-6, once it hits 7-250 it is smooth.

 

But I wanted to ask a few questions about your power supply as my tank is slowly coming together. Did you put a new DC adapter on your arduino or did you split the power off differently? I don't want to blow my board up, being this close... My Cree's are scheduled to be in this week. Glass is about to be cut. My evil plan is coming to fruition! ... of course, with your help

[badfish816]

updates cpt. what's been goin on????!!!!