JoelRHale Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 You're back! glad to hear everything is going well. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Still working on a mental plan to upgrade this badboy to a 20L tank! I have an empty 29G tank just sitting beside it, but I'm not sure I like the dimensions of a 29G for salt setup... I had a planted freshie tank in there for a few years, and I hated reaching down to the bottom to clean and such, cuz I'm only 5'2 on a good day and the tank is tall, and also on a hearth that raises it another 3". So I'm thinking I like the height of a 20L much better. Posted about this in the lighting section as well, but does lighting a 20L with my current 2 Boost LED reef lamps along with 2 31W T5HO bulbs sound sufficient? I figure there wouldn't be enough coverage with the LEDs alone, and I don't really want to shell out more money for another reef lamp when I have a perfectly good Coralife fixture that fits the 20L. Thoughts? Hellos? Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Still working on a mental plan to upgrade this badboy to a 20L tank! I have an empty 29G tank just sitting beside it, but I'm not sure I like the dimensions of a 29G for salt setup... I had a planted freshie tank in there for a few years, and I hated reaching down to the bottom to clean and such, cuz I'm only 5'2 on a good day and the tank is tall, and also on a hearth that raises it another 3". So I'm thinking I like the height of a 20L much better. Posted about this in the lighting section as well, but does lighting a 20L with my current 2 Boost LED reef lamps along with 2 31W T5HO bulbs sound sufficient? I figure there wouldn't be enough coverage with the LEDs alone, and I don't really want to shell out more money for another reef lamp when I have a perfectly good Coralife fixture that fits the 20L. Thoughts? Hellos? WOW, I'M SO GLAD YOU ARE BACK!!!!!!! I was following along on your thread and you deserted me. You probably don't remember me but you and I have a very similar build and you made a few comments on my tank. You and your thread was my motivation for my build. I still consider myself a noob but in response to your question about lighting, go ahead and get the extra LED fixture. The cost is not the great especially if you can get it on sale and the pros surely outweigh the cons. No heat exchange, no replacing bulbs every 6 to 8 months and then there is the energy savings too!!! I upgraded my tanks to LED and I'm so pleased that I did. Just my two cents. Don't be a stranger and keep those updates coming. Rob PS. When you get a chance stop by my "In the beginning" thread and let me know what you think. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 So today found out something really disappointing - my koralia that I use in my salt mix bucket has apparently bit the dust. Went to mix a new batch of water and plugged it in, nothin. Unplugged my display tank powerhead and tried that outlet, still nothing. Hrmph. Also found an interesting thing - used a turkey baster to stir the sandbed a bit and apparently the mussel looking things on my live rock are alive! I always just assumed they were shells left over from the rock's wild ocean life days, but one of them is emitting some kind of ooze (angry that I disturbed it I guess) and its mantle (not sure if that's what it's called..) retracts quickly if I run my hand through the light. I was also very pleased to find that my ammonia and nitrate levels remain at 0 (or as close as my eye can tell) even though the tank has been all but neglected for the last few months. Did one water change not too long ago, so that might have helped. After this semester is over I plan on getting back into my tank for the summer. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Finally got a pic of the elusive hitchhiker crab. He's very sneaky. Link to comment
gupebreedr Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Finally got a pic of the elusive hitchhiker crab. He's very sneaky. He's an evil lookin' thing!!! Link to comment
ScubaEthan Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Those radioactive eagle eye zoas and purple zoas look awesome together. I'm jealous of your hairy shrooms lol. I'm in the market for some of those. Looking good! I'm glad my hitch hiker crab isn't that evil. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Haha ya he is kinda creepy... But he rarely comes out and doesn't hurt anything so I let him stay. He's got a nice little dug out under a rock and a cave that seems to be his home Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Alright some more bitter sweet findings today. I have finally ID'd another hitch hiker crab that I could never get a good look. Today I finally saw him while sitting on the floor looking up in the tank, could see him clearly in a crevice against the light. I'm fairly sure it is a porcelain crab! Did a quick google search of "filter feeder crab" and came up with some images of them, and the feeder fans are exactly the same as the crab I have, and I think he has the same kinda large claw shape. Couldn't see his colouring. The bitter news - My frogspawn might be experiencing some bad health. Just noticed today that part of the tissue on one side is getting brownish and shrunken, and there seems to be a "vein" of brown running along the body. It is still extending however, so hopefully it won't get worse. I'm afraid I might have done some permanent harm by having it resting in a cave in my rock, as it seems to have stunted the growth of its tentacles. Will post some pics if it gets any worse. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Got a new goodie today A pink and purple with lime green mouth ric!! Also snapped a pic of the filamentous macro that takes over my tank quickly - haven't been able to ID it, if anyone has any suggestions for eradication they would be much appreciated! Also, opinion question here - is a Koralia 425 too strong a current for my tank? I didn't realize that it had some gunk plugging it and I just cleaned it out and it seems like there's a tornado in there! Gilbert is kinda unimpressed. Would putting my 240gph Koralia be a better choice? Link to comment
justjoshinya Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 great looking tank!!! i love those rics cant wait to get some of my own. and very nice looking zoas Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Thank you justjoshinya I was pretty excited to get a nice ric too, today was the first time I've seen a nice selection at my fav LFS. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 I miss my tank I got my wisdom teeth out on Friday and have been one with my couch at home, and my tank is at my boyfriend's house. I had to get him to send me pics Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Well don't bogart the pictures, share them with us! Hope you're not too miserable, it wasn't that bad when I had mine taken out. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 I don't have any more pics cuz I haven't seen the tank in a few days! haha I'll hopefully be over there soon. I find sleeping is the worst, makes my jaw feel sore! I wake up a lot during the night and have to fall asleep with a hot magic bag around my face But it's been 4 days now and I didn't feel like I needed to take advil this morning... The prescription pain meds they gave me made me dizzy and puke, I'm not hardcore enough to handle them Link to comment
ScubaEthan Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I KNOW WHAT YOUR ALGAE IS! It's evil. I am very sorry. I am 90% sure it is caulerpa brachypus. A photo of mine at it's worst: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3712010 Articles on it that I found: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3713413 Nick Cage has it too. Luckily mine was mostly on one rock so I took the whole rock out, picked it off piece by piece with tweezers and scraped the rest. A few weeks later now I see I missed a few nodes in crevices and it's coming back. But it's under control now. It's best to have a bowl of water to put it it cause it sticks to you. And a net to get out any pieces you break off in your tank. Remove it sooner than later. It grows fast and is a huge pain in the a** to remove. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 I KNOW WHAT YOUR ALGAE IS! It's evil. I am very sorry. I am 90% sure it is caulerpa brachypus. A photo of mine at it's worst: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3712010 Articles on it that I found: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry3713413 Nick Cage has it too. Luckily mine was mostly on one rock so I took the whole rock out, picked it off piece by piece with tweezers and scraped the rest. A few weeks later now I see I missed a few nodes in crevices and it's coming back. But it's under control now. It's best to have a bowl of water to put it it cause it sticks to you. And a net to get out any pieces you break off in your tank. Remove it sooner than later. It grows fast and is a huge pain in the a** to remove. OMIGOSH you are right. That's definitely it! I have been removing it, but it grows back so quickly! And its little tendrils are so strong! Ugh. Thats a pain. I don't even know where it came from. It started out so small and it hardly grew at all, and then all of a sudden BAM it exploded! Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I don't have any more pics cuz I haven't seen the tank in a few days! haha I'll hopefully be over there soon. I find sleeping is the worst, makes my jaw feel sore! I wake up a lot during the night and have to fall asleep with a hot magic bag around my face But it's been 4 days now and I didn't feel like I needed to take advil this morning... The prescription pain meds they gave me made me dizzy and puke, I'm not hardcore enough to handle them If I remember correctly, morning of day 3 was the worst for me. I felt fine then that morning woke up and felt like I'd been hit in the face with a shovel. I don't like those heavy duty pain meds either. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 The tank looks awesome. I really like the new ricordea that you added, they are such a cool coral. Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 The tank looks awesome. I really like the new ricordea that you added, they are such a cool coral. Thank you I like the different colors you can get with rics, and they are relatively inexpensive. Same with zoas Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 no fish would mess with that crab Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 no fish would mess with that crab Hahaha definitely. He's a pretty hefty crab. I don't wanna mess with him either Link to comment
gena Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I hope you are feeling better today! I went back searching through your thread for a FTS. When you are up for it, would love to see a current one I love your pretty new ricordea too!!!! Link to comment
ScubaEthan Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 OMIGOSH you are right. That's definitely it! I have been removing it, but it grows back so quickly! And its little tendrils are so strong! Ugh. Thats a pain. I don't even know where it came from. It started out so small and it hardly grew at all, and then all of a sudden BAM it exploded! Yesss. Glad I can help but sorry I was right haha. My advice: when you have a few hours to mess with the tank, get it all out at once. Then you can just pick off tiny bits as it grows back and you find where you missed. Have you worked on it any? How's the algae and tank overall? Link to comment
Paigee Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 So when I do my upgrade to a 20L, I have some extra dry rock I'm going to use that was from a bigger set up I never got around to doing. It has been dry for at least a year. Do I need to do anything special with it, other than give it a good scrub? I'm also debating drying out my current rock to try and get rid of the calpera and aiptasia... Would leaving it soaking in freshwater for a few days achieve this kill off as well? I'm so torn because when I do my upgrade, I do NOT want these pests to come along for the ride, but my rock has so much life on it, some zoas even grown onto the rock off the frag, that I don't want to kill it all. Advice? Link to comment
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