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Cultivated Reef

The Mini Carpet Clubhouse


sweet<3

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Wow, I've had to go back over this thread three times lol. You have an awesome collection :D

 

What type of flow do you find they like? Also what about your water quality...do you keep it really clean ?

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It's super easy. IME they dont relax too much and its hard to get them to spread out really nice. Just find the best straight across line you can. cut with a new razor from the mouth down and out on one side then do the exact same thing on the other side. They can squirt so watch ur eyes.

 

Great thanks now I just have to decide who the lucky first timer is :scarry:

 

I'll be growing some out shortly. Do you all keep them in containers when separating them for east removal? I've heard that their foot can be damaged if you try and pull them off their rock - should I just pull gently?

 

Pulling them off of rocks is dangerous. If you do just be really carefull and go really slow. Their foot can be damaged and they can die. A lot of people have different methods. I have heard that if you hold an ice cube to them that they will detach from the rock they are on but I have never personally tried that. You can try pointing a powerhead at them and sometimes they will detach because of that too. You could try asking around I am still new to the mini carpet world!

 

Check the link in my sig for my tank build on page 1 in the first post. I use a plastic office organizer and some plastic clips from wal-mart zip-tied to the organizer and clipped to the rim of my tank. They are vented just enough to keep the frags in and allow good flow through the the basket. They also dont take a lot of space and come in a variety of sizes. Mine is like 2"x6"

 

Listen to him ^^ he knows whats up.

 

Wow, I've had to go back over this thread three times lol. You have an awesome collection :D

 

What type of flow do you find they like? Also what about your water quality...do you keep it really clean ?

 

Thanks so much =)

 

Mine get moderate flow. I have a rio 90 at the top of my 10 gallon cube and they seem to be doing great. But they can tolerate a range of flow. If the flow is too strong though I have found that they don't open up as nicely. So you just have to play around with it a little. I keep my water quality as clean and stable as possible. As far as nitrates and nitrites go I keep it vary clean with weekly water changes. But because my system is pretty small and its all open top, the salinity does fluctuate becuause of evaporation. It doesn't shift dramatically but its definately not perfect. These things can tolerate a lot but you just want to keep things as stable as possible.

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Paul E. Wog

If the maxi is attached to the surface of the rock it is pretty easy to get off if u gently tease the foot with a fingernail and then GENTLY and GRADUALLY pull the foot up bit by bit until they come free. That said one of my maxis that I got online was obviously ripped off the rock which pulled the middle of the foot off and made a hole you could see through from the mouth down the gut and through the foot but never showed any signs of stress of anything. So they can really take a beating.

 

Another way to get them off is if they are on a small or removable rock you can wave the rock around in the water gently but briskly back and forth and they will generally become agitated, bloat up and let go on there own. There have been many times when I have just been holding onto a loose rock with a maxi mini on it to get to something else and just that minor disturbance causes them to let go. Probably the only viable method of getting one off that is wedged in a crevice in the rock.

 

Never tried ice (dont even like the sound of that personally).

 

As far as cutting goes Just practice on your least favorite first, just in case. I also dip mine for 5 mins in a solution of Seachem Reef Dip to prevent infection and have never had one cutting die.

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NaClCrocodile

Think CoralRx would be too harsh after a fragging? I'd like to give my tank a little time to settle down - I'm taking the nitrate facto... uhh sand out and want to give them time to adjust. I'm going to try and find one of those office organizers tomorrow. They don't sting each other, correct? Should I give them some room anyway?

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Paul E. Wog
Think CoralRx would be too harsh after a fragging? I'd like to give my tank a little time to settle down - I'm taking the nitrate facto... uhh sand out and want to give them time to adjust. I'm going to try and find one of those office organizers tomorrow. They don't sting each other, correct? Should I give them some room anyway?

 

Don't have any experience with coralRx. Seachem Reef Dip states that it is anemone safe on the back.

 

Not sure why you would want to take the sand out of your tank but up to you. More then one way to skin a cat. Anyway, I digress I don't want to hijack Sweet<3's tank build thread. But yeah DSB FTW just add more to make it 3-4 inches deep. No offense intended but the whole nitrate factory argument is complete bs if your tank is set up and running properly. You should have plenty of De-nitrification going on in a reef with a properly functioning sand bed. Doesn't matter if I do weekly or monthly WCs; my trates are hardly measurable.

 

Anyway back to talking about how awesome Sweet<3's maxi reef is. :lol:

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NaClCrocodile

One last OT; I was up to 50ppm NO3 and doing weekly w/c of 10-20% and they were still climbing. After seeing the filth come out of my sand bed, I'll just get rid of it. I'm still happy with it and pulled out dozens of mini brittle stars to populate what sand bed I have left but the sand bed just didn't seem to work for me.

 

So sweet<3 how did the fragging go?

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My local store has a mini carpet that is close to 3 inches across. Is this just a larger variety or has it been mislabeled? All the reading I've been able to find on these guys say that they only get up to the size of a quarter.

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Paul E. Wog
My local store has a mini carpet that is close to 3 inches across. Is this just a larger variety or has it been mislabeled? All the reading I've been able to find on these guys say that they only get up to the size of a quarter.

 

There are two morphs of S. Tapetum (two different species IMO) one being coined as the "mini mini" and one that is called a "Maxi Mini" the minis stay small about 1-1.5" and split like crazy; while the maxis can get to 5" but average at 3" and are generally more colorful. The maxi is the rarer of the two morphs and does not split in captivity. You can see both mini minis and maxi minis in this tank build. You should buy that maxi and join us in the cool club :P

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yeah I'm debating on buying it... a couple of my concerns are my lack of space (10gal AIO with about a 7gal viewing area), possibility that it will sting the ricordias on my sand bed, and my lack of success with 2 bubble anemones in the past 2 years.

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Paul E. Wog
yeah I'm debating on buying it... a couple of my concerns are my lack of space (10gal AIO with about a 7gal viewing area), possibility that it will sting the ricordias on my sand bed, and my lack of success with 2 bubble anemones in the past 2 years.

 

These are the best beginner anemones period. WAY hardier then a BTA.

 

They will sting your rics. Just give them the space that they need and they will be fine. I have 31 clustered together in my 10g. It's basically a wall of anemones with all my other corals being placed elsewhere with enough space between them.

 

@ Sweet<3

 

Don't be too in a rush to slice and dice your nems. Get your collection rolling then do it one at a time so you dont ruin your display. I know I am reluctant to cut most of mine. I dont want a tank full of half-nems.

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This is great!! Keep asking questions everyone so I can learn too! Haha.

 

I don't think I will be cutting anytime soon until I get a good core collection going. Plus I don't have any that I am willing to mess up! Haha. But someday I will get to slicing and dicing. Thanks Paul E. Wog for all the great info! Keep it coming!!

 

And buy that maxi awinslo!! You can always make room for them!!

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Paul E. Wog
And buy that maxi awinslo!! You can always make room for them!!

 

^QFT

 

My motto is if you can still see rock there is still room ;p then after that the back glass starts looking temping lol

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This thread has been really informative. I've certainly learned a lot. I set up a new tank last week just for mini's and yumas. Got my first mini yesterday...oh, I'd be soooo nervous cutting it in half. Having two of her would be awesome ...but I'd be terrified that I'd kill both halves lol.

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  • 2 weeks later...
firefishbrain

not to hijack or anything...

miniwhinny- cutting isn't that bad, I got an el cheapo one to practice on. the only difficult time I had was finding the mouth and getting it to lie flat. And as promised, sweet, I'll add a link and shtuff for my build after I aclimate a few maxi's I'm getting tomorrow (still have to make the thread, but I want it to be a bit more stocked first lol). Also, I propose a trade someday down the road =D

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not to hijack or anything...

miniwhinny- cutting isn't that bad, I got an el cheapo one to practice on. the only difficult time I had was finding the mouth and getting it to lie flat. And as promised, sweet, I'll add a link and shtuff for my build after I aclimate a few maxi's I'm getting tomorrow (still have to make the thread, but I want it to be a bit more stocked first lol). Also, I propose a trade someday down the road =D

 

 

Sounds good! I look forward to it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So heres a little update. Not much new besides this guy::

 

cant get a good pic because of where he is wedged

 

IMG_3580.jpg

 

Here is the tank. The aquascape is in dissarray. I can't seem to figure out what I like so its all messed up now:

 

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This guy is getting huge!! He is at least six inches right now.

 

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Can't forget the sexiness!!!

 

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I am looking to buy more if anyone is selling or knows of any deals!!

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NEW!!!!!!

 

So I totally scored today!

 

Ready??

 

 

Bluefolded.jpg

 

BLUE!!!!

 

Blue.jpg

 

And...

 

Lemon-Lime6.jpg

 

 

So happy together...

 

Lemon-limeandblue.jpg

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