nickjqz Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Wow great thread! Can't wait to see the Chalk Bass!! Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Wow great thread! Can't wait to see the Chalk Bass!! Thank you, I try. I had a NitrIte spike but it's going down. Thank goodness. Diatoms are getting messy. LOL... Some pictures for you. These aren't great, I've been enjoying some beer today. A lot of beer LOLOL fts See, diatoms are definitely there. Have not seen Mr. Spinypants at all. I have dubbed the urchin Mr. Spinypants. llj Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Nitrites are zero, did a water change, about 35-40%, and I put in my CUC. I've got the following... 7 tiny blue-legged hermits 3 ceriths (2 teeny ones and one medium one) 3 Nassarius snails (2 big ones and one small one) I'll add more I think. Especially Nassarius, these guys are great. Fts Acclimating... LR, but with a teeny, tiny Acetabularia macro on it. You can see nassarius if you know what to look for. Blue leg hermit shed... Cerith snail, the largest, he goes everywhere. Mr. Spinypants, still hanging in there. He seems to have moved to this rock which is great because I can feed him easily. The problem is that pulling him out of the crevice will cause him undo stress. If he ventures out of the rock, I'll catch him and put him in a critter keeper I got to isolate him, but at least I can feed him crushed pellets regularly because I know where he is. He gets fed 2x a day, but I can certainly increase the amount. I have no idea what this is a picture... Can't see on the thumnail in photobucket. More LR Can you spot the Nassarius? Here he is! With a feather-duster friend... These nassarius are great, they go everywhere. I want more. Ideal for the DBS. Hermit crab and cerith... In the crevice fts with actinics Tank was much cleaner this morning. CUC is doing a good job. I may expand it a bit. Plants and macros will be ordered soon, when I get paid. Thanks for looking. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share Posted September 11, 2011 Stats are good, but still did a water change. Went to the LFS to get additions to my CUC, but they didn't have good specimens of the species that I'm using. But... I did see something that I wanted and I got it. First mushrooms. They are more green in person. Like a kelly green, but they photograph blue. I got something easy for now. The only corals in this tank will be Ricordea FL and mushrooms. Ric frags sell for pretty cheap here, so I'll build it one coral at a time. Blue-legged hermits on the Haitian rock. Another view of the mushrooms. It's a decent sized rock too. FTS, this tank's still kind of dirty. The Nassarius aren't cutting it. I'll have to get in there and remove the diatoms myself. Or get the macros in there soon. I just need to get paid before I add the macros. Thanks for looking. llj Link to comment
Monochrome5 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Florida Fighting Conch will make that sand sparkle (plus stay in your biotope!) Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Florida Fighting Conch will make that sand sparkle (plus stay in your biotope!) There was a reason why they got shot down. I know, one would be ideal. Something about either the seagrass or the macros, or that they got too big. Not sure. I'd have to look back. But I remember considering one in the beginning for just this. Link to comment
Deep Stops Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Those mushrooms look like a Pacific Actinodiscus.............. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Those mushrooms look like a Pacific Actinodiscus.............. Really? Ok... Will go slap their mug in the id forum soon & get confirmation. They can go to another tank if they are a Pacific species... Thanks for the head's up. Link to comment
Deep Stops Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Really? Ok... Will go slap their mug in the id forum soon & get confirmation. They can go to another tank if they are a Pacific species... Thanks for the head's up. Check out coral morphologic for Caribbean soft corals if you haven't already. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 Check out coral morphologic for Caribbean soft corals if you haven't already. Ok, I'll check it out tonight. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Time for an update... An understatement for sure! I had a string of performances in October (classical singer) and I really couldn't focus on my music and post here like I was before. So I took a big break. I'm kind of back. I have a lull in the performances and wanted to let you know that I was still playing around with my tanks. I missed NR. Still need to take a long weekend and catch up with all the other journals. The mushrooms are doing very well in the 8g. The frogspawn isn't a Caribbean species, but I'll be sending that to a friend in the next few weeks. I got a friend that likes Euphyllia species, hard bad. I don't have the CUC I need for this tank. The crabs didn't kill the asterea like I thought it did, but they did kill my ceriths. I need to basically keep the blue-legs and swap out everything else to other tanks. John Maloney, if you are out there, I promise I'll be ordering soooooon! The perpertual ordering soon... I have a little bit of monies now. I got some serious cyano bacteria and diatoms. The stuff got everywhere when I cleaned the class. Hahaha, but my army of blue-legs earned their keep and ate the cyano. Good blue legs. You see that critter keeper in the corner? That's Mr. Spineypant's humble abode. He's still kicking. He's doubled in size and has re-grown his spines. Unfortunately, I can't release him back to the tank. I see a pest tank in the future... Ok... So I go to the LFS one day (A new one, just opened), and I see a mated pair of Yellow-headed jawfish! They were not part of the original stocking plan, but this pair just looked so healthy. Here's some video of them in the LFS. I have the deep sand bed that they prefer. They are colonial and my tank was too small for a group unless I had a mated pair. I never saw a mated pair at any prior lfs, so I had scratched them off my stock list. They are notorious jumpers, so good that I also have a lid. See, what I have to do to acclimate? The female's larger, she drove the male away temporarily while she began to dig out the couple's burrow. Very glad actually that I didn't plant the tank yet, as she made a total mess. Also glad I didn't have much with regard to corals (just the frogspawn, and a mini colony of Ricordea florida). Her digging... She invited the male back and here are the two in their new home. The burrow's in the front right of the tank. I got lucky! Woohoo!!! Some video... Wow, that was a long update, and that's not even the tank that went through the most changes. Wait til you get to my picos. That'll be insane. I'll upload more video of the jawfish tonight. I'm fascinated by this species. L Link to comment
neuwave Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Looking good. Have you decided what kind of sea grass your going to use? Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Looking good. Have you decided what kind of sea grass your going to use? Sorry for the delay in response. I was at work. Shoal grass is I think what I'll go with. The goal today is to visit John Maloney at Reefcleaners and get me Florida/Caribbean CUC. Right now, it's a bit of a mixed batch and I don't quite know what I have and I want to be sure, if this will indeed be a biotope. The only species I know for sure are my blue-legged hermits and they get to stay. L Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 More videos... His and her burrows. You can barely see them, but they are coming out a lot more now. Eating well too. Her bachelorette pad... I just want to point something out, though. These are not fish for every system. They require deep sand beds and a tank with a tight lid as they are great jumpers. They will make a mess of your sand and rock work, so if you want a tank where you are the only one who aquascapes, these aren't your fish, as beautiful as they are. I just happened to have the requirements that they need. L Link to comment
castiel Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Very cool fish, llj =0) Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Very cool fish, llj =0) Thanks, Peter. This tank is finally taking shape. I have finally placed two important orders... 1. Reefcleaners - Ordered a CUC that is exclusively Caribbean 20 dwarf ceriths 7 Nassarius vibex 8 Florida ceriths 4 large nerites 5 medium nerites 2 Fuzzy chitons 6 virgin nerites 2 porcelain crabs What will happen is that the snails from the CUC I currently have will be moved to other tanks, which could use more CUC anyways. Any extras will be put in other tanks. 2. Gulf Coast Ecosystems - Ordered macro algae and shoal grass 2 orders of Halimeda opuntia 2 orders of Halodule wrightii (shoal grass) The biotope is taking shape. I also have epoxy, so I'll begin attaching corals to the rock work. I have a lovely Ricordea Florida mini colony that needs to be mounted. Jawfish are doing well, making a huge mess, but doing well. Can't wait to add the chalk bass. L L Link to comment
neuwave Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Are you considering a small harem of dwarf angels? That would be a awesome. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Are you considering a small harem of dwarf angels? That would be a awesome. Nope, going for a small shoal of serranus tortugarum (chalk bass). Link to comment
neuwave Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Nope, going for a small shoal of serranus tortugarum (chalk bass). Equally as nice. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 Equally as nice. & more unexpected. Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 The Moment of Truth... Plants arrived (11/16/2011) My package from Gulf Coast Ecosystems arrived yesterday. I'll admit, I was pleased with the packaging. Very heavy package, but you can see why... The plants were fully submerged and packed in water, then placed in a styrofoam box with insulation. Excellent packing. I ordered... 2 orders of Halimeda opuntia 2 orders of Halodule wrightii (shoal grass) But it seems I also got a Halimeda discoidea as well. No problem, still received plenty of H. opuntia. I've got spare plants too. May post them for swap or sale if I can't find a place for them. Here are the plants out of the packaging... Halimeda opuntia Halodule wrightii OMG! Water in the bags stunk like High Heaven! Thought I was gonna puke. :sick: But, it smelled just like the Gulf Coast, so it's great to have such local plants. The plants themselves did not smell, so I know it wasn't the plants, just that lovely Gulf Coast water with all that organic content. Yum! So, I basically treated the H. opuntia like anubias and attached them to the rock work, which is consistent with how I see it growing in photographs. The Shoal grass was treated with a lot of care. I separated it into individual rhizomes and plants, ala Eleocharis or Lilaeopsis species and planted individually and spaced them for spread. Took forever and was very difficult as I had to keep an eye out for my Jawfish, which are accomplished jumpers. This is the initial planting. I may, again, tweak this a bit. Forgive my algae and cyano, I've got a larger Caribbean CUC coming today. Under actinics... I'm so excited, you have no idea. I think I managed to create a working biotope that caters to the needs of its inhabitants and yet still create an aesthetic aquascape. Again, I've got to tweak things, but I'm very proud right now. It looks like a planted tank, but it keeps with Marine principles. I'm very happy I resisted the urge to "collect" species. I only have three species. I'm also glad I resisted red macro algae. I think there is plenty of red and purples with the Haitian rock. Now I just need the chalk bass and a cleaner shrimp species. Getting the grass to grow is going to be a challenge, I've got enough light, I just have to cater to its needs. I don't need break neck growth, just need to maintain it. Sooooooooo excited. This took forever to realize. Thanks for looking. L Link to comment
neuwave Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Nice collection of plants. This should be interesting. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Looks great I want to see the shoal of Chalk Bass!! Link to comment
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