mmcguffi Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 New FTS plz Nothing you have is photosynthetic right? What are your params and what is your maintenance routine like? Awesome tank OH also is it heated? Link to comment
brandolando4 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Aiptasia are photosynthetic. Link to comment
mmcguffi Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Well, let me rephrase that, did you upgrade the lights? Aiptasia can survive in a dark hole. Link to comment
brandolando4 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 lol, from what I know he hasn't upgraded the lights. Btw I wasn't trying to be a dick but I just learned Aiptaisa were photosynthetic so I got all excited!! Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 New FTS plz Nothing you have is photosynthetic right? What are your params and what is your maintenance routine like? Awesome tank OH also is it heated? New FTS soon - should be adding a few new anemones in the next week or so I'm using the stock LED pendant that comes with the Spec. Aiptasia are photosynthetic, though not very much so. They have surprisingly low energy demands, hence their ability to grow just about everywhere. I feed them once a week, though I feed Melvin (the crab) twice a week and they get some scraps from that. There are also two small red actinaria anemones (one that split), both of which behave nearly identical to aiptasia. They seem to like more light, though, as they hang out about 3/4 of the way up the back rock. The biggest nem in the tank, the as-of-yet unidentified trunkated hitchiker anemone, seems to be entirely NPS. He loves to hang out under his ledge and only full extends when I turn the light off at night. There is a hichiker zoa on the back rock, though. He's definitely photosynthetic. He seems to be doing fine and has recently sprouted a new polyp. Maintenance is very, very minimal on this tank. Basically everything in here is a "fouling" species, so they actually prefer water that's not pristine. I have yet to actually scrub the tank or anything - the 3 dwarf ceriths and 7 periwinkle snails keep it spotless. Plus I have a HH limpet that MOWS through algae. As far as filtration, I built a little media rack that I run a small bag of carbon (the bag that came with the tank) and filter floss on top. Again, I have yet to change the filter floss... It's essentially there to keep the snails in the tank and not back in the filtration chamber (the periwinkles have a max size of 3/5 of an inch). I do a 4 cup water change every two weeks, and that's it. The tank is not heated... And neither is the ocean. Since everything comes straight from there, I figured why bother? And nothing seems to care at all hahaha. The tank fluctuates a lot, but that's the nature of the thing. I want that to happen. It goes between 68F and 74F on any given day depending on how much I run my AC Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted May 29, 2011 Author Share Posted May 29, 2011 Well I've got bad news to report. I went out of town for a little over a week on vacation (to celebrate getting my masters) and Murphy's Law kicked in. My light short circuited and fried sometime while I was away. The tank sat in darkness for 11 days, killing off just about every anemone in there. The only survivors were Melvin (who ate a muscle haha), the unknown HH anemone that came with the rock, one of the red actinarias, and one very, very rough looking aiptasia. Luckily I had moved all of Lefty's awesome bubble tips to my 8g before I left (they look incredible under the LEDs). So now I need to restock this tank... Plus I need a light. Anyone have a clip-on light for sale? The little JBJ picotope lamp would rock! Link to comment
Arkayology Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Sorry to hear about the light frying. Link to comment
olemanwinter Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 This tank is very cool. I live a few hours from the coast so I might set up something like this too. I have been running one of my tanks with a low bio load completely without filtration other than live rock and a powerhead. Something like this seems like the natural evolution from that. I especially like the no heater, no chiller set up - unlike the pacific tide pool tanks. I think I will watch your experience for a few more months and see how it goes. Good luck. Melvin is great. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Sorry to hear about the losses I'm glad to see that it wasn't a total loss though. Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted June 24, 2011 Author Share Posted June 24, 2011 Well I have a TON of news! Including one of the most ridiculous/incredible things ever... Update #1 - Lighting Woes As you know, my light (stadard SPEC LED thing) recently shorted out and caused a minor tank crash. I'm currently running two temporary clip-on LEDs (Hydor Multi-Lights). They are surprisingly bright for 9.99 each, however they are so stupidly narrow in focus that they're basically spotlights. I don't understand how they can even be considered "aquarium lights" with a beam barely an inch wide (though I'm betting the light is bright enough to grow a softy nicely in that one inch beam). I have ordered a clip on refugium light from CADLights that should be in soon. It's a 10000K 9W PC fixture, which will put me at over 4.5W per gallon in the display... Heh. Gotta love small tanks! For those wandering, this is the light: http://www.cadlights.com/index.php?main_pa...products_id=129 Update #2 - New Additions I have been diligently gathering goodies to restock after the mini-wipe. Turns out the gelatinous bryazoan didn't make it after all. RTN set in and it was gone quickly. I moved my unknown blue and red anemone from my 8g cube over to this tank a few weeks ago after he decided to plop down in the middle of my zoas. He's been doing great in the SPEC, devouring brine and soaking up the current. Today I added something I'm calling "the spire" - a beautiful piece of branching live rock covered in macro algae (grape caulpera, chaeto, some red thing, and purple turf algae). It also has tons of small, blood red long tentacle aiptasia and one MASSIVE aiptasia. Its got tentacles upwards of 2 inches each and a diameter of well over three. By far the largest aiptasia I've ever seen. I'll try to get some shots of it later this week once it's acclimated. I also got a few other huge aiptasia (also blood red long tentacle) and the craziest thing ever happened... Update #3 - Craziest Thing Ever While adding the biggest of the trio of blood reds I accidentally dropped him. He got swept in the current of the power head and... eaten. Yes. Eaten. Now I know that's not too crazy - stuff gets eaten all the time. But here's the crazy part. Remember that crazy hitch-hiker anemone I haven't been able to ID? That's what ate him!! Not only that, but he shot up about 2 inches, grabbed the nem, then devoured him in the blink of an eye. I've never, ever seen an anemone move that fast. Ever. Not to mention the aiptasia was at least twice the size of this nem... I'm just baffled by it. But there's always the possibility of propagating this species of nem and selling it as "Kyle's Natural Aiptasia Cure". A beautiful orange-ish anemone that gobbles up aiptasia? That's money in the bank right there. Also, I know you all will be screaming "PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN" so here you go. This is the mystery nem stuffed full of a giant aiptasia. Sorry I couldn't get one with the aiptasia's tentacles sticking out - he literally ate it in a matter of seconds and I was stunned. Update #4 - Pictures!! Melvin creepin' around under the new "aiptasia bridge" Crappy shot of the new rockwork in the front. The Spire is on the left with the bridge toward the center there. Update #5 - FTS 6/23 Sorry for the cords in the shot - like I said, they're my two temp lights till my new one gets in. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Just finished reading this thread through. What a way to take lemons and make lemonade! A pest tank. Great thinking! Tank looks great, sorry for the mini-crash. It stinks when equipment fails. Congratulations on your Master's too! No easy task. Liz Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Very interesting! Can you get more pics of Melvin? Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 Just finished reading this thread through. What a way to take lemons and make lemonade! A pest tank. Great thinking! Tank looks great, sorry for the mini-crash. It stinks when equipment fails. Congratulations on your Master's too! No easy task. Liz Thanks! I'll be tagging along for your new build thread Very interesting! Can you get more pics of Melvin? I'll get some more soon! I need to find a video camera so you guys can see him go crazy for food. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Thanks! I'll be tagging along for your new build thread I'll get some more soon! I need to find a video camera so you guys can see him go crazy for food. Thanks, saw your post. I'm glad this forum has a biotope section. Some fascinating journals here. LOL, the anti-nemo setups... Unless you are doing a Nemo biotope, in which case, my apologies... The new "bridge" is cool. You actually make the tank look larger. I'd like to have bridges like that in my set up. I've got a corner bow, so the scape is going to be super tricky. What camera are you using? My point and shoot has a great video feature, as does my iPhone 4. Liz Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 New light came in today... finally. Nothing like the picture or description, but a 9W PC over a 1.75g tank is nothing to complain about. Plus pest nems don't need squat for lighting Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Nice looking light. We'll require more pictures of course, and you still owe us Melvin video. Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Nice looking light. We'll require more pictures of course, and you still owe us Melvin video. I need a video camera first! I don't even have a webcam or anything... Sigh. Link to comment
neuwave Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Watch out for that mystery nem. I've had them before and they WILL eat anything and everything ( super sticky little guy). They can withstand high or low water movement but I've seen them in high wave action areas. They can live with virtually no light and their main nutrition is from meaty foods. But the one thing I can't remember, it's name something along the line of a beaded nem. If I remember I'll post. Nice project Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 Watch out for that mystery nem. I've had them before and they WILL eat anything and everything ( super sticky little guy). They can withstand high or low water movement but I've seen them in high wave action areas. They can live with virtually no light and their main nutrition is from meaty foods. But the one thing I can't remember, it's name something along the line of a beaded nem. If I remember I'll post. Nice project Indeed. That thing eats aiptasia! It seems to prefer the dark, always moving to a shaded nook. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Indeed. That thing eats aiptasia! It seems to prefer the dark, always moving to a shaded nook. Pests eating pests... Well, don't you have a good phone? The iPhone actually has a pretty good video camera. I do entire thread upgrades with my iPhone if I'm too lazy to whip out my Sony. All the pix in my thread so far, iPhone 4. You must fill our demands for pix... On an odd note perhaps, but I could totally see Melvin with a fan page on Facebook. Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted July 23, 2011 Author Share Posted July 23, 2011 Pests eating pests... Well, don't you have a good phone? The iPhone actually has a pretty good video camera. I do entire thread upgrades with my iPhone if I'm too lazy to whip out my Sony. All the pix in my thread so far, iPhone 4. You must fill our demands for pix... On an odd note perhaps, but I could totally see Melvin with a fan page on Facebook. I have a Blackberry Curve... But I'm on a family plan, so no data (I only got texting a few months ago...). I can't complain, though - as long as I'm part of the family plan I don't have to pay Link to comment
simplyjessi Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I really like this! You haven't posted in awhile - is there any cool updates ? Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 I really like this! You haven't posted in awhile - is there any cool updates ? A little As this is a pest tank I added a little snippet of feather caulpera. It did nothing under the old stock LED... Under the PC... Well now I know why everyone hates caulpera. Speaking of the PC fixture from CADLights... WHAT A PIECE OF ####! It broke today. The internal ballast went out. No way to replace it. It's such poor, pathetic quality... Ugh. I'm so mad I wasted money with that good for nothing company. Link to comment
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