Islandoftiki's Mantis/Pest Tank Pico Contest Winner!

[Islandoftiki]

Here are the official Full Tank Shots and Full Equipment shots for August 1.

 

FTS:

 

 

FMS (Full Mantis Shot):

 

 

And a couple FES shots:

 

(See that green light? The chiller is running!)

 

[x3thelast]

your tank looks better and better sir! still my one and only favorite "pest" tank

[Islandoftiki]

Question:

 

What happens when you make an order 20 dwarf cerith snails from Reef Cleaners and request a few extra dwarf cerith snails for your mantis shrimp to snack on?

 

Answer:

 

They send you about 100! Mind you, I'm not complaining in the least. I kinda figured they would do that. They got distributed between my main tank--that I've depleted of dwarf ceriths to feed the mantis--and my majano propagation tank that was lacking in CUC. And then I threw a large pile of them into the pest tank for Shadie to snack on.

 

 

See all of those? That's only about a quarter of what they sent. The rest are in my other two tanks. I think I'll have a happy mantis shrimp for a while!

 

 

By the way, the rest of the CUC they sent arrived in great condition and are going to town in the other two tanks now. I'm excited to see how these fuzzy chitons do! I also got some limpets... one of which my emerald crab overturned and tasted a piece of before he cast it aside. I hope that didn't kill it.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Islandoftiki

[x3thelast]

yea i ordered 20 once and i got 100ish still. kept a few spread the rest around my reef community for free.99

[MeepNand]

That's even more than they sent me!

Good luck on the contest. It looks stunning.

No, incredible.

No, no... godlike.

[Parker0824]

Ok folks, here we go! I just got the pico contest entry tank up and running!

 

This is going to be a pest tank filled with everything you hope to never have in your main display tank. I will be calling on many of the local reefers and local fish stores to donate pests to this worthy cause. No livestock will be purchased for this tank. It will be stocked 100% by local donations.

 

The Gear:

 

Tank: Fluval Spec 2 gallon

Pump: Mini-Jet 404, rear cover removed and lower half of front cover cut off for clearance.

Heater: Hydor Theo 25 watt

Filtration: Planning to run Chemi-pure in the rear chamber with filter floss and about 2 lbs of infested live rock.

Lighting: BoostLED par 30 bulb on a swing-arm desk lamp.

 

Substrate:

Nature's Ocean Premium Marine Substrate, Medium-Coarse.

Modifications:

I plugged off the lower orifice in the filter compartment with epoxy to force all of the flow through the filtration media.

 

Mini-Jet 404 pump installed with the rear cover removed and the bottom half of the front cover cut off. The top half of the cover was retained to insure that the pump inlet remains as far away from the glass as possible.

Assembly:

Substrate and water installed.

 

Rear chamber with filter floss and heater. No chemical filtration during the cycle.

 

All set up and running. Lights off for the initial cycling of the tank. I did put in a cap full of Niteout bacteria in the tank to help speed up the cycle. It shouldn't take long.

 

Once the water clears, I'll start working on the rockscape. My rock already contains some hitchhikers that are going to be part of the main display of the finished tank. Those include Aiptasia, brown majano anemones and some poop-brown palys and zoas. There are also several different kinds of nuisance algae that are there in small numbers. Hopefully they will grow out of control! I will be adding much more starting April 1st.

 

Stay Tuned!

 

Covering up that filter hole at the bottom really does work I epoxied mine as well, and I've had a lot better results.

[tupes]

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/ci...ry/845C8D76.jpg

 

Where did you find that lamp for the tank. Im going to order a ledtric bulb soon but don't want a cheap looking lamp holder thanks.. Tony BTW tank looks great...

Edited August 13, 2012 by tupes

[Islandoftiki]

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/ci...ry/845C8D76.jpg

 

Where did you find that lamp for the tank. Im going to order a ledtric bulb soon but don't want a cheap looking lamp holder thanks.. Tony BTW tank looks great...

 

That's an Ikea Lersta floor lamp: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20110903/

 

First, I cut the base of the lamp off (easy since the cord comes out the middle) and bolted the lamp to the table with 1/2" U-brackets. I removed the shade. To make it look finished, I cut a piece of a PVC plumbing coupler to length and painted black. The plumbing pipe fit perfectly into the remaining head of the lamp to cover the threaded portion that's normally covered by the shade. Then I took four large rubber plumbing o-rings from the hardware store and put them on there for a bit of an art deco look.

 

Pretty simple and cheap.

 

Lamp: $15.00

Plumbing coupler: $3.00

O-Rings x4: $12.00

Rustoleum textured black paint: $10.00

[jedimasterben]

Those majanos are some of the most beautiful anemones I've ever seen. You'll have to hook a brother up, my mantis is already asking me to decorate his house.

[Islandoftiki]

Photos coming tomorrow!

Edited August 14, 2012 by Islandoftiki

[Islandoftiki]

As promised... Pictures!

 

Pay particular to the massive growth of the macro algae on the back left since the last photo I posted of it!

 

FTS:

 

 

Massive growth from the palys, zoas, yellow polyps and majanos! (Baby majano at the lower part of the rock)

 

This devil's hand leather coral is growing fast!

 

The graveyard of broken dreams and dwarf cerith shells.

 

Look at this beautiful macro algae! It was a hitchhiker. No idea where it came from.

[BGJ223]

That algae looks like Dictyota, which actually fits the theme of your tank. Since it is an evil algae that does not die!!!

[Islandoftiki]

Yeah, that's what Albert thought, too. I think we have it more or less nailed down to Dictyota humifusa.

 

[Islandoftiki]

That algae looks like Dictyota, which actually fits the theme of your tank. Since it is an evil algae that does not die!!!

 

Well, I wouldn't call it evil. I would call it nutrient export. LOL. I'd say it will have to be pruned from time to time. It's kinda cool though. It's really drab in color and has a light coating of bryopsis all over it.

 

Between that stuff and the caulerpa, I have to do a little pruning every three weeks or so. Considering I'm not running chaeto in the back chamber, I'm happy to have any macro algaes in the tank.

[jedimasterben]

I actually kinda like that macro, has like a blue tint to it? or is that just the camera?

[Islandoftiki]

I actually kinda like that macro, has like a blue tint to it? or is that just the camera?

 

I would call it a frosty grey. The lights give it a little bit of a blue tinge.

 

It's closest to the picture from guamreeflife.com.

 

I'll be trimming it in a week or two, so if anybody wants a piece...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The slight greenish tinge in my picture is because of a coating of some other slimy-green/brown algae.

[BGJ223]

I would call it very evil. The stuff does not die. High nutrient, low nutrient, it doesn't care, it just lives on.

 

I actually have some in my Dymax IQ3 pico tank, and it is a red color. In another tank it is a greenish/grey color.

[Islandoftiki]

I would call it very evil. The stuff does not die. High nutrient, low nutrient, it doesn't care, it just lives on.

 

Sweet! I just added a sprig of it to the majano propagation tank!

 

I removed about 1/4 of it from the pest tank with today's water change.

[Islandoftiki]

Update: The tank is doing amazing as always. It's hard to imagine it being any more awesome.

 

Here is this month's FTS for the competition:

 

 

Yesterday, my mantis shrimp came out from seclusion and showed his face. He's been walled up in his little cave for about 6 or 7 days.

 

[jedimasterben]

I think you need to send me that left-most stalk of xenia.

[Islandoftiki]

I think you need to send me that left-most stalk of xenia.

 

It would cost more to ship the xenia than it's actual value. I just gave away a large chunk of that same xenia (bigger than that entire colony that's in the pest tank) that I had in my 10 gallon tank to a local guy.

 

Xenia doesn't ship well from what I hear. That said, if you want a chunk after the end of this month and are willing to pay shipping, I'll send you some. We could take a stab at a 2 day small priority mail flat rate box and see if it survives. That would cost about six bucks. Full-on overnight shipping would be prohibitively expensive for xenia.

[jedimasterben]

It would cost more to ship the xenia than it's actual value. I just gave away a large chunk of that same xenia (bigger than that entire colony that's in the pest tank) that I had in my 10 gallon tank to a local guy.

 

Xenia doesn't ship well from what I hear. That said, if you want a chunk after the end of this month and are willing to pay shipping, I'll send you some. We could take a stab at a 2 day small priority mail flat rate box and see if it survives. That would cost about six bucks. Full-on overnight shipping would be prohibitively expensive for xenia.

I'd have no problem paying shipping for a healthy frag, the stuff around here is tiny and just doesn't seem to survive for me, but it also may be a different species than you have. The stuff I have only has stalks that get like 1/4" across, yours looks ginormous.

[Islandoftiki]

I'd have no problem paying shipping for a healthy frag, the stuff around here is tiny and just doesn't seem to survive for me, but it also may be a different species than you have. The stuff I have only has stalks that get like 1/4" across, yours looks ginormous.

 

It's interesting stuff. In the pest tank, it has long stalks and waves it's hands very actively and rhythmically.

 

The same xenia in my 10 gallon (which has much more flow) stays fat, short and blows around in the current of the MP10, but it's harder to discern the hand-waving action.

 

In my majano propagation tank, it shriveled up and looks horrible. It hasn't melted away yet, but it's not at all happy in that tank. Go figure. I don't know what it doesn't like about the majano tank. Maybe the nitrates are too high for it. I know it likes slightly dirty water, but it probably has it's limits.

[lljdma06]

Yeah, your Xenia is pretty awesome. I actually came across your video on youtube first before I found your journal here. It's the fastest Xenia I've ever seen.

 

Great job on the tank.

 

L

[Islandoftiki]

I wish I had caught this on video. Last night, I replenished the dwarf cerith snails in the pest tank. I grabbed about five of them from the other tank and tossed them in near the mantis' entrance. He stuck his head out, looked around and noticed the new snails. Then a few seconds later, he comes out of his cave and grabs one and starts to head back to the cave. Then notices there are more and starts trying to pile as many into his arms as possible. He was only able to carry two at once, but he tried for more. Much clicking was heard that evening.