The Arid Sea

[gena]

So sorry about the corn snake. I completely understand the love of a reptile. Hugs!!!!

[nevermore1701]

Another big water change tonight, and I did some rockwork while I was at it. Glued some of the bare rocks together, never done that before. Actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, once I ditched the marine putty and just used copious amounts of super glue gel. Ended up with lots more useable rock space for future corals, along with more open water for fish to swim in. The scape is much more stable now than it's ever been, the urchins shouldn't be able to knock stuff over any more. Also have fewer crevices for critters to get stuck in, overall a huge improvement in every way.

 

Took a little over half the sand out too, it looks just as good with fewer potential problems. Also makes the tank look a bit bigger, amazing what a difference an inch and a half less sand makes.

 

Overall, I think the tank looks a lot better than it did four hours ago, and is ready to be slowly repopulated.

[gena]

I wanna see it!!!

 

I have forgotten...what survived the crash?

 

I'm so glad you didn't give up on it!!!!!

[nevermore1701]

Still cloudy, but it's not that hard to take a new picture later I guess

 

 

Can't tell from the front, but the middle rock is near the front of the tank, there's a good bit of room between it and the "cave" I glued together . I'll grab more pics later.

 

As for what survived the crash, that would be a sparse bunch of tiny brown zoas and even smaller brown cloves. Easily the least interesting things in my tank

 

While uploading my pic I was browsing old shots, man I had some pretty zoas

 

 

 

 

[gena]

Wow...the scape looks a lot different. I love that cave!!!! You have so much more height now.

 

Are the urchins original or new? That's amazing if they survived the tank crash.

 

Are you running stock lighting?

[nevermore1701]

Wow...the scape looks a lot different. I love that cave!!!! You have so much more height now.

 

Are the urchins original or new? That's amazing if they survived the tank crash.

 

Are you running stock lighting?

 

Thanks, it looks a lot better than the jumble it's always been

 

The urchins (along with the stars, hermits, snails, and crabs) are all new, none of the critters survived the crash. I had some store credit at KPA that I was able to use for the new CuC.

 

I'm running stock 50/50s (new bulbs that I found in my "fish stuff" cabinet, that was a nice surprise ) with a small Marineland LED board behind them so the back didn't look so dark. The Marineland doesn't do jack for useable reef lighting, but it does make the back end of the tank look brighter. I've wanted to upgrade to a read LED retrofit for the hood for years, but it's hard to justify spending more than I paid for all the equipment combined on a light, especially when I really want to upgrade to a larger tank at some point.

[gena]

 

Thanks, it looks a lot better than the jumble it's always been

 

The urchins (along with the stars, hermits, snails, and crabs) are all new, none of the critters survived the crash. I had some store credit at KPA that I was able to use for the new CuC.

 

I'm running stock 50/50s (new bulbs that I found in my "fish stuff" cabinet, that was a nice surprise ) with a small Marineland LED board behind them so the back didn't look so dark. The Marineland doesn't do jack for useable reef lighting, but it does make the back end of the tank look brighter. I've wanted to upgrade to a read LED retrofit for the hood for years, but it's hard to justify spending more than I paid for all the equipment combined on a light, especially when I really want to upgrade to a larger tank at some point.

I don't remember any jumble. I always thought you had a nice clean/neat tank!!!!

 

Forget a lighting upgrade...just get a bigger tank with better lighting, when you can =)

[nevermore1701]

Well I could afford a new light in a few months, a bigger tank in a few years

 

I've always tried to keep the tank clean, but I've never had the rockwork done too well, it was either fairly solid in a big pile or looked nice but would get knocked over by critters (especially the damn urchins, they love moving stuff around!).

[gena]

Well I could afford a new light in a few months, a bigger tank in a few years

 

I've always tried to keep the tank clean, but I've never had the rockwork done too well, it was either fairly solid in a big pile or looked nice but would get knocked over by critters (especially the damn urchins, they love moving stuff around!).

Well, in that case...do the light upgrade .

[nevermore1701]

Water cleared up pretty well overnight.

 

[HVani]

The hits just keep coming. Not tank related this time, but on Friday night I lost one of my corn snakes. I know, lots of people don't like snakes, but she was every bit as much a part of the family as the cats, dogs, and horses. I got her as an adult over ten years ago, so she was quite old for a corn. It wasn't a complete surprise, as she'd been having problems keeping food down over the last few weeks, which she'd never had trouble with before. Still, it was devastating, my wife and I are real broken up about it.

 

Anyway, in tank news I did another heavy water change now that it looks like everything that's gonna die and decay has, and the new CuC should be coming in Wednesday. Also picked up some fresh Purigen and Chemi-Pure, some chaeto, and re-rigged the back light box so hopefully it'll stay cooler and won't burn out as often. Hope the CuC and frequent water changes get this algae outbreak under control pretty quickly, it's damn ugly

 

 

Oh no So sorry for your loss. I have 2 corn snakes and a milk snake. I would be devastated if I lost any of them

[gena]

Water cleared up pretty well overnight.

 

It really looks awesome! Cleared up nicely!!!

[nevermore1701]

Oh no So sorry for your loss. I have 2 corn snakes and a milk snake. I would be devastated if I lost any of them

 

Thanks, it hit me pretty hard again when I did my weekly feeding and cleaning for the remaining corn. They shared a cage and it was rough looking around for her and then remembering she was gone

 

 

It really looks awesome! Cleared up nicely!!!

 

Thanks, I think I went through half a bag of filter floss after getting all that sand stirred up

[nevermore1701]

Rics and Rhodactis came in from Gena today, all but one look great, guess it just got a little too stressed in shipping. Hopefully it'll recover!

 

I'll try to get some pics of them, it's been a while since I've done it

[Leatherneck3755]

Looks great. I have the same JBJ. Rusty rhino 12 gallon aio. It's because of tanks like yours that I learned how to mod mine. Thanks. Great tank!!

[nevermore1701]

Looks great. I have the same JBJ. Rusty rhino 12 gallon aio. It's because of tanks like yours that I learned how to mod mine. Thanks. Great tank!!

 

Thanks, mine is in a rebuilding phase right now, hopefully it will be back to its former glory (thought that might be overstating it a bit!) in a few months.

 

Got a couple of shots of Gena's shrooms, the peachy colored one was really hard to shoot, the color just doesn't grab the camera's attention with the dull brown crap around it.

 

 

 

 

Didn't realize at first that there are two of the green Rhodactis, they separated overnight and I got a pic of the happier one, the other one looks pretty mad, hopefully it'll pull through. Also ran out of superglue gel, I thought I had a full tube but apparently I used it all putting the rocks together.

[gena]

I hope you aren't cursing me for sending those rhodactis . They will grow out of control, but I think they are cool. I figured they could at least entertain you until your move and upgrade .

 

That orange ricordea was pale in my tank too. I hope it colors up for you. I like those brown cloves, actually!!!!!

 

Did that other ricordea melt away then?

 

Oh and the rhodactis actually look fine. That's their "I'm just pissed" look. They'll eventually perk up .

[nevermore1701]

I hope you aren't cursing me for sending those rhodactis . They will grow out of control, but I think they are cool. I figured they could at least entertain you until your move and upgrade .That orange ricordea was pale in my tank too. I hope it colors up for you. I like those brown cloves, actually!!!!!Did that other ricordea melt away then?Oh and the rhodactis actually look fine. That's their "I'm just pissed" look. They'll eventually perk up .

 

I'd love to have my tank overrun with pretty green Rhodactis, it would be a huge improvement

 

The picture is of the better looking one, the other is more shriveled and pale on one side, but I think it'll recover. The one ric did end up melting, unfortunately, but the other two look fine.

[nevermore1701]

Got the new arrivals glued in today, hope they like their spots!

[nevermore1701]

Went to McKinney to see family and had to make a visit to the Dallas World Aquarium. Here are some of the random pics from the actual aquarium side of the place. I considered masking my neck, but didn't want to deny Gena the pleasure of staring at it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gena]

 

I'm branded the neck perv. Oh well, there are worse things .

[nevermore1701]

_{Quick pic of the happier of the two Rhodactis, along with some of the brown cloves that are developing white mouths and some zoas in the background that are getting a bit of color back.}

 

[gena]

_{Quick pic of the happier of the two Rhodactis, along with some of the brown cloves that are developing white mouths and some zoas in the background that are getting a bit of color back.}

 

Is the other one still being fussy? At least this one looks good. I still like those cloves .

[nevermore1701]

Is the other one still being fussy? At least this one looks good. I still like those cloves .

The other one lost a big chunk of itself and looked pretty rough for a while, but it's recovering nicely. I'll try to get a pic of it tomorrow.

 

I still wish all the cloves weren't brown, but at least they're getting white mouths so there's a little interest

[nevermore1701]

Got some pics of some of the new additions. The little orange mushroom and zoas are still mad because I had to re-glue them a few minutes ago, they should be ok for pictures tomorrow.

 

Kenya tree:

 

 

 

Bluish mushroom:

 

 

 

Firefish:

 

 

 

And the happy Rhodactis from Gena: