gena Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Randi is tank sitting for you while you're away? I bet overnighting makes a huge difference in how the rock will cycle. Makes sense. Link to comment
Felicia Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I cannot get over how colorful that rock is! And I just love that you decided to set up the dual mantis tank! There is just so much going on in here! I love all the awesome hitchhikers you keep finding. I had to order serpent stars from KPA, but you get awesome big ones on your rock! It sounds like you aren't having much die off and are having a very fast cycle. My seahorse tank did that and confused me a lot. I got the ammonia to spike by throwing in food but then it would go away very quickly and I didn't see much nitrite or nitrate at all. I was using dry rock though, so I expected much more of a cycle with that live rock you got. KPA must have packed it up really well to have so little die off and all the cool hitchhikers arrive alive! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 Yeah, I only need her to come the 1 day smack dab in the middle, Sunday. Hagen is going to babysit my parents, keep them out of trouble. They love him and never pass up the opportunity to keep him. He is a joy. I bet w/ some training to learn not to jump he would've been a wonderful therapy dog. Link to comment
gena Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I love little dogs. Like Hagen or my Chloe. All they want is to be with people. My brittany is the same way but he's a moose and very hyper. We love him to death, but I openly admit to loving my Chloe more. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 I cannot get over how colorful that rock is! And I just love that you decided to set up the dual mantis tank! There is just so much going on in here! I love all the awesome hitchhikers you keep finding. I had to order serpent stars from KPA, but you get awesome big ones on your rock! It sounds like you aren't having much die off and are having a very fast cycle. My seahorse tank did that and confused me a lot. I got the ammonia to spike by throwing in food but then it would go away very quickly and I didn't see much nitrite or nitrate at all. I was using dry rock though, so I expected much more of a cycle with that live rock you got. KPA must have packed it up really well to have so little die off and all the cool hitchhikers arrive alive! Yeah, this was throwing me for a real loop, cuz I figured I set the cycle back when I did the 20% water change and put in the little skimmer. Then I still added more live sand 2 days ago too to mess things up even more. It's reef grade and has many more shells but it looks like w/ it's thickness I can actually use my little inch wide sand vacuum on it, something I couldn't do w/ the Evolve, I would suck up sand. KPA just wrapped in wet newspaper and put them all in one big huge bag, 2 bags, there was maybe an inch of water below. Nothing smelled the least bit fishy. I haven't had the obnoxious fishy smell, just a touch. I can't believe you had a fast cycle w/ dry rock. Not that is really crazy. Gator gorgs? That's crazy. So cool that you get all these fancy spiral gorgs. As you know I have so much more room than in the Evolve 8, I want to try so many things I've never had. The hardest part is going to decide how to scape it because I want the best sides facing but those same sides have some pretty colors I feel bad about covering w/ coral? I'm going to try not cover the colors up. Which is hard because one rock is a nice level slow incline up, it would be perfect for so many things, mushrooms, rics, oh my gosh, rics. I have the rock back right that has red/orange splotch on the rock, wouldn't that make a beautiful backdrop for the superman rhodactis that split 3 ways???? Ok, I just figured out where those are going. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 They will eat the small snails too. Your guys are so small they might have problems with nerites even. lol I say just add a cuc and see what happens. I think it will be fine. They will just snag a snail here and there which is good for them anyways. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 7, 2013 Author Share Posted November 7, 2013 They will eat the small snails too. Your guys are so small they might have problems with nerites even. lol I say just add a cuc and see what happens. I think it will be fine. They will just snag a snail here and there which is good for them anyways. I will. I can't believe how emotionally attached I am to these 2 mantis shrimp already. The one is already so intelligent, He clicks, I come. Has me trained. I just want to see if he'll swing his wrecking ball but he will not do it when I'm there. And he follows me when I'm front tank side facing or go to the side, when I go to the side, he will completely go head to head direction. Anything your mantis go particularly nuts for? How often do you feed your shrimp? Yours are so uniquely different and gorgeous. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 Nitrate is exactly in the middle on the Salifert kit, btw 2.5 and 5. It'll be difficult to see in the pic, I can't get good pics, acrylic is just sharper in clarity than the glass. But, I think the white thing that's round may be the head of a zoa or something? upper middle left. And pic of Holly. Chose that because she's green like Christmas. Boy am I REALLY becoming attached to every living thing so far. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 No, I've changed her name, It's Ivy. More fitting. Link to comment
gena Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 I see it, but can't figure out what it is! I like Ivy!!!! Link to comment
Tamberav Posted November 8, 2013 Share Posted November 8, 2013 I will. I can't believe how emotionally attached I am to these 2 mantis shrimp already. The one is already so intelligent, He clicks, I come. Has me trained. I just want to see if he'll swing his wrecking ball but he will not do it when I'm there. And he follows me when I'm front tank side facing or go to the side, when I go to the side, he will completely go head to head direction. Anything your mantis go particularly nuts for? How often do you feed your shrimp? Yours are so uniquely different and gorgeous. Aw, thanks I feed every other day or every 2 days. A small chunk. I also buy hermits or snails and toss in on and off. Some mantises are picky but mine so far eat anything with gusto. They really like new objects, toys ect... so finding things to introduce them to is fun. Marbles, childrens toys, anything really. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 8, 2013 Author Share Posted November 8, 2013 Aw, thanks I feed every other day or every 2 days. A small chunk. I also buy hermits or snails and toss in on and off. Some mantises are picky but mine so far eat anything with gusto. They really like new objects, toys ect... so finding things to introduce them to is fun. Marbles, childrens toys, anything really. Yeah, who wouldn't like a marble? Made me think of those reflective balls people have on pedestals in their gardens? I can't stand those- just not my style. Seeing how inquisitive they are I could totally see that. Here's LEGOS! Go to it!!! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 The 34 has been at 2.5 nitrates for a couple days now so I think it's cycled. I did find several things today, thanks for verifying Randi- aptasia on one rock, the right back - Randi's bringing me the Aptasia Rx . I'll also check each rock closely by pulling it up closer to the surface and make sure there's not any I can't see. Then I found green bubble algae on 2 rocks . Small but nevertheless and I found these pinkish red 2 tubes of tunicates on the back, slanted side of a rock. Many colors on the rocks- lots of little purple and green hairs. Also, hot pink dots and see some orange specks here n' there, like a pin point. I'll order a CUC in another 10 days, no diatoms anywhere but this wasn't a normal cycle for either of my tank. My Evolve took 3 weeks, lfs water, lvs live rock, and bagged Aragalive. This time for both the mantis tank and the 34 it was my own RO/DI, live rock and live sand. Worked out really fast. Really live rock and water apparently really made that difference. I'll be scaping soon . Also, having to come up w/ names for my 2 mantis, hopefully I'll see them tomorrow w/ the day light on muted. Oh, they were also put in their tanks today. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Last couple of days I heard a snap sound from the 34, sometimes twice in a row, happens within 5-10 mins after turning off the tank light. It must be some kind of snapping shrimp, because it wasn't as perfect as the "click" from the mantis. I did have a tiny clear shrimp that went in there from the bag. Don't know if it's grown in a week, haven't put but maybe twice some brine shrimp in there for whatever will eat it. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Awesome polyp extension on the porite. The little green macro I was speaking of. It's a little taller now. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 I turned the lights down to the lowest setting for the evening, moments later here SNAP! SNAP! I definitely have a snapping shrimp, I'm sure of it now. My mantis don't do that when the lights turn down or off. So, I turn up the light and see this big guy. He's bigger than any I had in the Evolve so I just want to make sure it's just a bristle worm, right? He's just bigger and has more fuzzies and I want to make sure he's good, if not I'm getting the manly tweezers and yank him out. Link to comment
Felicia Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Ewwww! Scary! I know they are beneficial but bristleworms creep me out. Amazingly, I don't have any in either of my tanks. Probably because I used mostly dry rock. Good photos though! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 Ewwww! Scary! I know they are beneficial but bristleworms creep me out. Amazingly, I don't have any in either of my tanks. Probably because I used mostly dry rock. Good photos though! I've had ones that are 2/3" and skinny and not hairy like this so this guy at 1 3/4" looks gigantic to me. It doesn't have those barbed ends or I know that would really be bad. I still though better get some kitchen gloves next. Between this and the mantis tank. Link to comment
gena Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I bet you have even bigger worms than that in your rock!!!! I had a ginormous one. Haven't seen him in a while. He shared the rock with my Midas. Maybe the midas ate him and that's what messed him up!!!!! Who knows. I also had bubble algae on my rock. Didn't have any aptasia though. Did have that same cute umbrella macro. Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 It looks a bit like a Fireworm to me. But that's creepy. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 It looks a bit like a Fireworm to me. But that's creepy. I"m going to put it in the pest forum too and get more opinions. At least I see he's not afraid to come out- more chances to get him then if I need to. Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I"m going to put it in the pest forum too and get more opinions. At least I see he's not afraid to come out- more chances to get him then if I need to. Just be very careful when you're trying to fish him out of your tank. The last thing you'd want are his bristles lodged in your skin. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 Just be very careful when you're trying to fish him out of your tank. The last thing you'd want are his bristles lodged in your skin. That's why I'm getting the gloves and using the manly tweezers, the long ones that I use to feed my rock flower. Link to comment
Mr. Mustache Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Where did you get this rock!!? There are some gnarly things going on here!! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted November 12, 2013 Author Share Posted November 12, 2013 Where did you get this rock!!? There are some gnarly things going on here!! KP Aquatics. Same place everyone gets beautiful gorgonians and sponges. Link to comment
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