eitallent Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 I just finished rinsing out my sponges. Eww. I rinse them twice a week and get lots of sediment out each time. I do what some on here taught me to do and that is to blast the dead spots and rock surfaces with a baster. A bunch of matter floats into the water column and gets trapped in the sponges. Here is the rinse water. FTS with Skipper as the cherry on top! LOL Yes, Skipper, that is your hammer coral. I won't touch it. I will only look at it and snap a picture. From one I got three The Duncans are doing well. The Zoas are growing nicely. Doh! Okay, Skipper, those belong to you too. Introducing my new Ricordia. They are so pretty. I brought home a new Sympodium frag on LR and the Peppermint shrimp went right to work on the new rock. There must have been some Aiptasia that was to small for me to see but not too small for Karloff! Click image to view a 30 second video of Karloff on duty. He is working on the edge of the rock and after I stopped recording he moved onto the top of the rock. The Mushrooms finally picked a spot to be happy. I am enjoying the gentel grace of the pulsing Xenia, I got this one as three stalks and just recently has started pulsing. I turned off the pumps and recorded this for you. Okay! I will leave you guys alone now Skipper... 1 Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I brought home a new Sympodium frag on LR and the Peppermint shrimp went right to work on the new rock. There must have been some Aiptasia that was to small for me to see but not too small for Karloff! Peppermint shrimp rarely eat aiptasia, unless they are wild-caught (rarely are), it would have just been picking at anything that was on it. Link to comment
msscha Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Peppermint shrimp rarely eat aiptasia, unless they are wild-caught (rarely are), it would have just been picking at anything that was on it. Hmm. Our information sources deliver different opinions. According to my lfs experts, that is not the case with peppermints. Peppermint shrimp are often wild caught b/c it is more expensive to breed them and the Caribbean species are numerous. Also, according to my own research (I'll see if I can find the article -- it isn't where I expected it when I just looked), peppermint shrimp DO eat aiptasia, only there are several species of peppermint and the one that eats aiptasia reliably is the Caribbean version -- which also happens to be the one most often sold in the aquarium trade. Anecdotally, my peppermints have always eaten aiptasia -- I've watched them do it. I've noted the number of aiptasia go down while I have peppermints. I think this is one area where there is some difference of opinion -- some people on NR really dislike peppermints (if not fed, they are known to nibble coral --solution? feed them enough! Same with sexies) and others like them quite a bit. I am in the latter camp ! I am besotted with Skipper ! I love those blue mushrooms, too. Happy to see you've got a duncan -- they are my favorite! You get the best of all coral worlds with them -- flowy, dance-y movement, flower like polyps, comfortably solid stalk, cool colors. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hmm. Our information sources deliver different opinions. According to my lfs experts, that is not the case with peppermints. Peppermint shrimp are often wild caught b/c it is more expensive to breed them and the Caribbean species are numerous. Also, according to my own research (I'll see if I can find the article -- it isn't where I expected it when I just looked), peppermint shrimp DO eat aiptasia, only there are several species of peppermint and the one that eats aiptasia reliably is the Caribbean version -- which also happens to be the one most often sold in the aquarium trade. Anecdotally, my peppermints have always eaten aiptasia -- I've watched them do it. I've noted the number of aiptasia go down while I have peppermints. I think this is one area where there is some difference of opinion -- some people on NR really dislike peppermints (if not fed, they are known to nibble coral --solution? feed them enough! Same with sexies) and others like them quite a bit. I am in the latter camp ! Caribbean, that's the ones! I can never where they are from. And I've always seen ones that completely ignored it, with only a few in between that were ever helpful with more than just trying to clean your hands when stuck in the tank. Link to comment
pschom Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I've had three peps in two tanks. Two of them ate the available aptaisia. The current one keeps the display CLEAN! And I know this because there are a tone of them growing and pretty large in the overflow, but none in the display. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Maybe I've just had horrible luck across a dozen of them lol. Link to comment
saltt Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Wow! Your tank is beautiful!! I am literally in love with your yellow clown goby. Everything looks amazing! Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Wow! Your tank is beautiful!! I am literally in love with your yellow clown goby. Everything looks amazing! Ha! TY But I feel I have a long way to go! Fun, fun, fun... Yes, Skipper. Sigh. I have fallen for him/her too. He hugs the food pipette now! Makes me smile! I like this. Thanks! I am trying out your DIY refugium idea right now! I had an old cereal plastic container, the disposable storage containers& super glue gel already in the house! Now I just have to connect the water, add the algae and I will be sittin' pretty! I've had three peps in two tanks. Two of them ate the available aptaisia. The current one keeps the display CLEAN! And I know this because there are a tone of them growing and pretty large in the overflow, but none in the display. Your "Peppermint patrol" is on the job too! Thank goodness. I would not want to have to kill Aiptasia by hand. I am besotted with Skipper ! LOL I think we should start a fan club! Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Skipper, what a camera hog! He should do commercials! Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 13, 2012 Author Share Posted October 13, 2012 I added Sympodium, a feather duster and a little piece of toadstool leather. I got my GE RO system up. Hubby added the DI cartridge today. I am waiting on the TDS meter! Connection to laundry plumbing: Set up between utility room cabinets: Jug filling up in utility room sink so no flood worries: Some more pictures of life in My Atlantis: Emerald Crab, Ozzie is behaving and only touching what he should, namely algae not corals! Karloff the Peppermint shrimp is diligent in his cleaning duties. Front Left side Right side Zoas Of course Skipper! 1 Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 13, 2012 Share Posted October 13, 2012 I just finished rinsing out my sponges. Eww. I rinse them twice a week and get lots of sediment out each time. I do what some on here taught me to do and that is to blast the dead spots and rock surfaces with a baster. A bunch of matter floats into the water column and gets trapped in the sponges. Looks real good eitallent, and yes Skipper is a "real estate collector" indeed ... he takes everything he can get that is in the tank as "his" .... Magnet (mine) does the same ... Thanks for the update .... and wow those sponges did hold a lot of detritus for sure ... I use floss and replace it every day in my HOB filter so it is not a large amount but it traps quite a bit of unwanted material. Thanks for the post to my thread ! Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 'Tis water changing day! Here are today's stats before WC: pH 7.78 (boo!) Alk. 8.2 Temp 83.5 SG 1.026 Ca 440ppm I am attempting to steady the pH with a reverse cycle in a refugium. Using Weetabix7's DIY guide, I built one from food containers. Here is the link to that post: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=4055542 Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 I have been busy as a bee in spring; mixed up fresh SW, blew debris from nooks and crannies with a baster, changed water, scrubbed glass, rinsed sponges and changed activated carbon. I moved some live rock into the refugium. Everything is fed and clean! Ahhh The most exciting thing I did is that I managed to spill a large amount of water on my power supply. There was an alarming buzzing sound coming from wet electric plugs. This caused me to have a moment of paralysis! Finally, I snapped out of it and unplugged the thing from the wall. Lucky for me the pumps and lights still work. Here are the pictures I took that cause me to spill the water in the first place. Live rocks added to fuge 1 Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I have been busy as a bee in spring; mixed up fresh SW, blew debris from nooks and crannies with a baster, changed water, scrubbed glass, rinsed sponges and changed activated carbon. I moved some live rock into the refugium. Everything is fed and clean! Ahhh The most exciting thing I did is that I managed to spill a large amount of water on my power supply. There was an alarming buzzing sound coming from wet electric plugs. This caused me to have a moment of paralysis! Finally, I snapped out of it and unplugged the thing from the wall. Lucky for me the pumps and lights still work. Very very nice eitallent ... and yes water and electricity do not mix too well :-) Great look and real nice pics Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 19, 2012 Author Share Posted October 19, 2012 Very very nice eitallent ... and yes water and electricity do not mix too well :-)Great look and real nice pics Thanks, Albert. I am glad I had finished taking the pictures. I was little shaky after all the commotion! Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 Thanks, Albert.I am glad I had finished taking the pictures. I was little shaky after all the commotion! I can imagine ... the last time it happened to me the power strip started smoking but lo and behold it did not shut down and neither did the breaker in the electrical panel ... odd but I guess it must have been a cheap power strip ... fortunately I did what you did and just switched it off and then dried it out, and after that it worked just fine from what I remember Anyway ... nice pics and nice life forms ... Did you see that Green Eyed Goby on my thread ? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 'Tis water changing day! Here are today's stats before WC: pH 7.78 (boo!) Alk. 8.2 Temp 83.5 SG 1.026 Ca 440ppm I am attempting to steady the pH with a reverse cycle in a refugium. Using Weetabix7's DIY guide, I built one from food containers. Here is the link to that post: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=4055542 Don't worry about your pH. The little fuge really won't make an impact unless you have far more macros that are furiously growing. BUT it is a great place for copepods to live. Link to comment
pschom Posted October 19, 2012 Share Posted October 19, 2012 I agree that refute Jim will probably not increased pH enough to be where you wanted to be. As time goes on everything will regulate if you're keeping up with water changes. Another thing to do is don't do anything just because they level tested low. If you reef looks good and everything is growing then there's not really a need to dose or add refugiums and such. I realize the urge to do so may cause you to buy needless products which is sometimes what happens to me but like I said if everything looks good you don't need it. And everything does look good I might add Link to comment
msscha Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Lovely critters! The feather duster is particularly nice. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I added Sympodium, a feather duster and a little piece of toadstool leather. Of course Skipper! Lovely shot ... Skipper at his best ... Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 20, 2012 Author Share Posted October 20, 2012 Lovely shot ... Skipper at his best ... TY! Don't worry about your pH. The little fuge really won't make an impact unless you have far more macros that are furiously growing. BUT it is a great place for copepods to live. Thanks for your input. I enjoyed making it. I agree that refute Jim will probably not increased pH enough to be where you wanted to be. As time goes on everything will regulate if you're keeping up with water changes. Another thing to do is don't do anything just because they level tested low. If you reef looks good and everything is growing then there's not really a need to dose or add refugiums and such. I realize the urge to do so may cause you to buy needless products which is sometimes what happens to me but like I said if everything looks good you don't need it. And everything does look good I might add Everything looks good and is growing! Thanks! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 You did a great job on building that refugium. I particularly liked your idea to put a bag where the water comes out of the return spout. You're right, that will help w/splashing, and it was a creative solution! You'll probably have to change the bag when you do WC's so you don't get too much algae build-up, but that should be cheap & easy to do. Did you say you will be running it on a reverse light cycle? How many gallons is this tank? I'm sure you've said somewhere, but I didn't see. Link to comment
eitallent Posted October 21, 2012 Author Share Posted October 21, 2012 You did a great job on building that refugium. I particularly liked your idea to put a bag where the water comes out of the return spout. You're right, that will help w/splashing, and it was a creative solution! You'll probably have to change the bag when you do WC's so you don't get too much algae build-up, but that should be cheap & easy to do. Did you say you will be running it on a reverse light cycle? How many gallons is this tank? I'm sure you've said somewhere, but I didn't see. Thank you for the idea! The light in the refugium stays on at night and I block the light from the tank with a large Manila envelope. The tank is a 12 gallon JBJ Nano but I measured that with LR and sand I only got 9 gallons. Also, I will be testing the 3M Scotch Weld 8005 on some Polypropylene plastic. The specs say that it will stick with only cleaning and light sanding of the surfaces. Fingers crossed! Now onto something different... What is this Duncan coral doing? Is it what it looks like? LOL click picture to view video: Link to comment
pschom Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 lol He's taking a poo. No need to clean up. Link to comment
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