Islandoftiki Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Well folks, my fiance is back from Hawaii and just started listing her new line of Cephalopod tentacle mugs! They're uber cool! There are more going up every day for the next couple days, so check them out! For those of you who didn't see the video of these being made, check it out, it's pretty fun to watch. You can see all of her sea creature mugs at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeaDogStudios 4 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I'll have to go through the whole thread. I got side-tracked by that way cool video . 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Betty's picture won the January Picture of the month contest on the local saltwater club forum! http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?42200-Late-Vote-January-POTM-)&highlight=POTM She gets all of the credit for the win. 1 Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 She's a ham. Congratulations. Betty. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Here's something different: 5 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 15, 2014 Author Share Posted February 15, 2014 Oh, what a wonderful thing the alkalinity dosing pump is! I've been watching my alkalinity levels pretty closely over the past couple weeks and they're rock solid stable. And since I have it dosing a small amount six times during the night, my pH is super stable with a deviation of less than .03. It's obvious that the SPS are really enjoying the improved stability as I can actually seethe new growth every day. Especially the green slimer; it's been going nuts. 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 16, 2014 Author Share Posted February 16, 2014 Saturday morning, I came downstairs for some coffee and my heart skipped a beat as I looked at Betty's tank. The water was horribly cloudy and milky looking. At first I thought something had gone wrong with the ALK doser and I was getting a lot of precipitated calcium carbonate or something. Then I saw that the majority of the sand bed was piled up on the right side of the tank. Then Betty came out of her den with a huge maxilliped load of sand and tossed it on top of the large pile of substrate. Whew, at least I knew what was causing the water to be cloudy, and it was nothing serious. It turns out that she decided she wanted a second burrow tunnel just in front of her existing PVC burrow. She spent the majority of the morning excavating a tunnel under the rockwork. She then started taking small bits of rock rubble into the new addition to shore it up. The entire project took her the better part of the day, and I managed to catch a little bit of shaky cell phone video of the excavation process that was going in the morning. The new burrow extends all the way down to the glass bottom of the tank... and this my friends is why we put acrylic on the bottom of a glass mantis shrimp tank. There was a lot of hammering going on throughout the day, I'm sure some of it was directed at the bottom of the tank. I never would have expected she would build an addition on to her existing burrow, but she did. So, she has a bonus room now. Here's some adorable footage of her hauling loads of sand out of her new room. 5 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 She sure can hold a great deal of sand at one time, and good job of not spilling it at that. Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 OMG...those eyes are too much . Congrats on winning POTM with Betty . Which alk doser did you buy? I've been considering going that route myself, instead of just dripping kalk. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 OMG...those eyes are too much . Congrats on winning POTM with Betty . Which alk doser did you buy? I've been considering going that route myself, instead of just dripping kalk. I got the one that Bulk Reef Supply sells. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-2-part-doser-1-1-ml-per-minute.html It works great, very quiet, I have it set up on a timer on my ReefKeeper. It comes on as the lights go out and doses small amounts every two hours during the night. That keeps my pH exceedingly stable during the night. I'm also using 1 tsp. per gallon of Kalk in my ATO water, which negates any need to dose calcium. 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I got the one that Bulk Reef Supply sells. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-2-part-doser-1-1-ml-per-minute.html It works great, very quiet, I have it set up on a timer on my ReefKeeper. It comes on as the lights go out and doses small amounts every two hours during the night. That keeps my pH exceedingly stable during the night. I'm also using 1 tsp. per gallon of Kalk in my ATO water, which negates any need to dose calcium. I wondered what you were doing about calcium. I've been looking at dosers on BRS, and that one is actually in my cart. Still figuring out exactly what I want to do though. Thanks for the ideas. Quote Link to comment
Nocturnal Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 To me, the main reason for having a man made den is that you can control where your mantis is going to be facing when it's just hanging out at the entrance. Left to their own devices, some species will just sit facing the back of the tank and you'll never see them. They always have the option of not using your man made den, and building their own, but mantis shrimp are lazy and will likely take the existing burrow. Mine didn't bother with the PVC at first but after about a month decided to move in. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 17, 2014 Author Share Posted February 17, 2014 Mine didn't bother with the PVC at first but after about a month decided to move in. After all that work on Saturday, she doesn't seem to be using the extra burrow tunnel at all. Maybe it's not working out as well as she hoped. We'll see if she continues to maintain it or if it eventually will just fill in with sand. Quote Link to comment
Nocturnal Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 After all that work on Saturday, she doesn't seem to be using the extra burrow tunnel at all. Maybe it's not working out as well as she hoped. We'll see if she continues to maintain it or if it eventually will just fill in with sand. Heh, I've been there man. "I'm going to build myself an awesome new table/bench/etc." 2 hours of cutting later "eh, this thing sucks, I think I'll go feed the fish" 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 21, 2014 Author Share Posted February 21, 2014 Just thought I'd share with you Betty's affinity for moving corals and re-decorating her tank every day. Arrows indicate the frags that have been moved in the past 24 hours. In most cases they've been moved at least half way across the tank and a couple have been completely moved from one side to the other. If she can lift it, it gets moved almost daily. I think I'm going to have to glue the SPS down. 4 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 You're messing up her feng shui I guess! 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 She even lifts, bro. 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Too funny! Do you see her doing it? Quote Link to comment
richgoose Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 what a thread. Barney getting fresh with Betty after she evicted him from the burrow was epic, had me rolling on the floor laughing. Thanks for sharing all those (HD!) vids and great photos. Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 You could chronicle the adventures of Betty the interior decorator. Most people have before and after photos of SPS growth. You can have before and after photos of re-decorating with Betty. She should have her own TV show. Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 This morning's decorations left a little to be desired. SPS frags laying sideways, partially buried birdsnest, undata frag removed and covered with a rock. 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 well, doesn't appear she likes sps. 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 Ok, time to try another tactic... Mantis shaming: 6 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 ha ha ha ha. Now that's funny. Quote Link to comment
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