Wiil's 5 gallon hex

[.Newman.]

then keep 1 hermit. why are you ditching them? cuz youre afraid theyll eat your snails? IMO they will attack only snails of similar size or larger than the crabs. small snails like dwarf ceriths probably wont be bothered, unless theyre already dead. thats my experience with my hermit. idk if thats universal

[Wiilio]

Well from what I've noticed, the snails do what the hermits do, plus the glass. And right now the glass is looking kind of gross... Algae scrapers scratch the glass (even ones especially for acrylic) so I'll need to get a wand on a sponge sort of thing, and that won't be able to reach the back of the tank. So I need more snails. I don't want to have too large of a CUC, so I'll just be swapping out.

 

And I have two small snails and two small hermits of the same size, and my other two hermits are the size of the other two snails... kinda weird how that worked out The hermits HAVE killed snails before. I've gone through 5 other snails. But they never use the shells... except the zebra and that might have been a shell the LFS gave me.

[.Newman.]

well you cant rely entirely on snails to clean your glass from algae. all they do is leave the tracks of their radula scraping. they dont clean it they way you would. in other words, they miss spots...BIG time.

[Wiilio]

Yes yes I know, but while the the snails don't clean all of it, the hermits clean... none of it

[.Newman.]

you can clean all of it if you have the right tool...think of one lol

[Wiilio]

Well as flippin sweet as the new rock is, it has made some limitations on where I can clean. The only thing I can think of is something that has a bendable handle.

 

But I'm tired of the snail genocide anyway. Makes me sad

[Wiilio]

No new pics of the tank, but how about some of the LFS?

 

Didn't get many, just a shot of THIS CUTIE! :

(Soooo very tempted to buy, but I didn't )

Found out that they feed their clown gobies cyclop-eeze and mysis shrimp.

 

And the tank with all the corals:

 

 

Polyps are in the mail I'll update once they get here.

[.Newman.]

nice tang you got

[Markushka]

I think the package contained more water than your tank does it weighed like 10 lbs! I really hope usps doesn't #### this up cause I sent you some nice pieces.

[Wiilio]

 

EDIT: Two cool things

1. I got my sister's camera for the week (which is how I got the pics from the store) so I'll hopefully be able to take better pics of the polyps and tank

 

2. The porcelain crabs that the LFS sells... are blue

[Wiilio]

They're here!

 

There was quite a bit of leaking, but at least there was still water in the bags, and everything was double bagged.

 

Stupid post office :/

 

 

PICS!

 

Then after acclimation...

 

 

 

 

 

More to come later!

[Wiilio]

More!

 

 

 

 

And what didn't go into the tank... went here!

 

Thanks Markushka

[Markushka]

I'm not seeing the blue cloves :/ ####ing A. I triple bagger everything and double bagged all the stuff inside the third bag. was there a lot of water loss? damn.

[Wiilio]

I'm not seeing the blue cloves :/ ####ing A. I triple bagger everything and double bagged all the stuff inside the third bag. was there a lot of water loss? damn.

 

The blue cloves are on that log-shaped piece right? That's the first picture. They're just not out. This was right after I put them in.

And if they're not... then I have no idea what that is.

 

The yellows are already out, and some of the zoas are out too.

 

You sent a lot of snails o.o;

 

And there were also a lot of hitchhiker bristleworms and a brittle star, which are all in the frag tank.

 

Algaes are in the frag tank too until I can find out how to incorporate them into the main tank.

 

Wasn't too much water loss, but the box was very soggy (as you can see in the picture).

 

 

Methinks I just spied a mantis

[Markushka]

The blue cloves are on that log-shaped piece right? That's the first picture. They're just not out. This was right after I put them in.

And if they're not... then I have no idea what that is.

 

The yellows are already out, and some of the zoas are out too.

 

You sent a lot of snails o.o;

 

And there were also a lot of hitchhiker bristleworms and a brittle star, which are all in the frag tank.

 

Algaes are in the frag tank too until I can find out how to incorporate them into the main tank.

 

Wasn't too much water loss, but the box was very soggy (as you can see in the picture).

 

 

Methinks I just spied a mantis

 

 

Mantis didn't come from my tank. May have gotten a mysis actually not that I think of it. I have these large mysis that i feed to my lion. and i have em in all my tanks. one may have hh on a frag. Does it look like a regular shrimp?

[Wiilio]

Mantis didn't come from my tank. May have gotten a mysis actually not that I think of it. I have these large mysis that i feed to my lion. and i have em in all my tanks. one may have hh on a frag. Does it look like a regular shrimp?

 

I can't tell because it won't come out of the flippin' rock. But that's probably what it is. Same color and size.

[Wiilio]

I'll probably add a picture of the yellows later. They're absolutely stunning for a "weed coral." They need a new spot in the tank, though; the rock they're on now will be dedicated to zoas.

 

Palys are alive and well. I need to find another place for them in the tank as well, since they're on the zoa rock.

 

Zoas are slowly but surely coming out. Love the greens It's almost like a neon green!

 

GSP and PSP haven't come out yet, but I'm really anxious to see the PSP.

 

Blue cloves... I'm sad to say, but I'm pretty sure they're dead :/ The one hermit crab I kept has been on that rock for the whole day. So either it really likes blue cloves, or it's getting rid of the dead polyps.

 

How long should I wait before adding a porcelain crab? (YCG's going in last.)

I'd like to have the polyps spread onto the rocks they will be on before I add something that can knock them over. Maybe it's time to pull the epoxy or super glue back out...

 

EDIT: Just moved the yellows to where the GSP used to be, all of the zoas (except the ones attached to the same rock the PSP is on) are on the rock I want them on, the rock with all of the palys is on the flat rock at the bottom, and the GSP and PSP are both on the rock at the top (it'd be cool to have them both grow in there ). I also managed to work the red grape algae into the display, and would like to find a way to get the macro in, too. I'll eye it later.

 

I'll get the pic of the yellows when they all come out again. Which should be soon since they've already poked out a little.

 

Also I moved the cloves to the frag tank just in case there were any living ones at all.

 

EDIT 2: Pics!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the blue cloves... I have hope for them; there are still some blue specks left

 

And here's the FTS:

[Markushka]

every things looking good! tho there is definitely some bryopsis left on one of the zoa frags. Do you have any mag supplement? I was battleing bryopsis unsuccessfully in my tanks, too much volume and too little mag. My urchins helped a bit too but it was not enough.

[.Newman.]

IMO you should wait at least one and a half months now before adding the porcelain. you need to make sure the tank can get its balance back after the addition of all this livestock. its best to wait

[Wiilio]

Markushka: No mag supplement. I just filled a cup with tank water and went to work with the tweezers, dipping the frag in every so often. Probably didn't get it all, but I got a lot of it. That'll do for now I suppose. I don't think my tank is big enough for urchins

 

Newman: Sounds good. Would you recommend adding the porcelain and YCG separately? I figure that would be best. Maybe I'll go get the porcelain when Christmas break hits

 

Also I made a photobucket for these pictures since having them on imageshack made this page load really slowly

[Markushka]

Markushka: No mag supplement. I just filled a cup with tank water and went to work with the tweezers, dipping the frag in every so often. Probably didn't get it all, but I got a lot of it. That'll do for now I suppose. I don't think my tank is big enough for urchins

 

Newman: Sounds good. Would you recommend adding the porcelain and YCG separately? I figure that would be best. Maybe I'll go get the porcelain when Christmas break hits

 

Also I made a photobucket for these pictures since having them on imageshack made this page load really slowly

Yeah I guess that works too I just had too much rock to clean so tweezers were not an option. Just pick off any growth you see.

[.Newman.]

yes add them separately if you can

[Wiilio]

Markushka: Will do

 

Newman: I most certainly can! I've waited this long to have something besides rocks in the tank; I can wait longer.

 

Any idea how long it'll take for these things to start spreading? I want the zoas to spread across that whole rock... I know that it'll take a long time to cover the whole thing, but even seeing a little growth would make me happeh :3

[Markushka]

If you feed the yellow polyps mysis they will spread faster.

[.Newman.]

in my tank the zoas spread slowly even with feeding. idk but i think in a small tank like this if you keep things sterile theyll spread slower, but if you dont you will get some algae. you need to find a methodology that works. I personally dont mind them growing slow in my tank, even though i feed every week with zooplankton. i read somewhere that zoas take off after about 6 months of being in a stable tank that doesnt change parameters much. but maybe thats just one person's experience. a lot of people report their zoas bolting off right when they get them so experiences vary.