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My Rockin' Flower Garden!


FlowerMama

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Basement where nobody lives and there's a back door there. I also have to save some for a real phone. I have the most basic phone, I don't text even or have a data plan. It only does what it was meant to do. Calls and be my alarm in the morning.

 

That's awesome! More often than not I wish I had a phone that did nothing more than make and receive calls. I'd imagine that I would spend a lot more time being productive and enjoying my surroundings if I wasn't glued to my phone all the time.

 

Following this! I wish CoralmorphoLogic was still selling online. I always wanted to pick up some of their beautiful rock nems..... The pink zebra stripped nems were jaw dropping

 

I've seen some pretty spectacular rock nems hit the wholesale market recently. I haven't bought any, but I'm sure we will be seeing them popping up from multiple vendors very soon. They won't come cheap though..

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Rock flowers will attach to glass on the bottom of sand tanks, they also stick to rocks, however I figured with gravel it'll be easy to clean gravel around them and move them. Once they're stuck, it's difficult to remove them from a rock or on glass, and I want to just move them in the easiest way possible..that's why I didn't want rocks in the growing area. I can't see putting them on crate, it wouldn't be comfortable for them and I think the small ones would fall through.

 

I was thinking about this and I don't think you will want rocks in the "display area" either. The display area will be where the adults are, right? The babies will appear under the mother's oral disk, likely already attached to the rock. There won't be any way for you to remove the babies from the rock to move them to the grow out area. So, I'd consider doing the whole tank with a sand/gravel bottom and moving the liverock to the sump. (You could always go fancy and make the sump a display tank of its own... you know with some mantis shrimp. ;) ) The broodstock will be fine with the sand bottom tank. They will just slide their foot through the sand and attach to the glass bottom, then have their oral disk spread out on the surface of the sand. That is very similar to how they can be found in the wild.

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I didn't realize you had a HOB skimmer. Well, that's one that showed up w/ 5 stars on Dr. Fosters and still is the same price. HMMM. Is yours with or without the drain?

 

I ran it as an HOB on my sump and I've had it on my tanks before. It's the one without the drain. The drain wasn't an option when I bought mine. I have 2 of them - they're great skimmers IMO. Granted I haven't tried anything else - probably because I've always been more than happy with them.

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I was thinking about this and I don't think you will want rocks in the "display area" either. The display area will be where the adults are, right? The babies will appear under the mother's oral disk, likely already attached to the rock. There won't be any way for you to remove the babies from the rock to move them to the grow out area. So, I'd consider doing the whole tank with a sand/gravel bottom and moving the liverock to the sump. (You could always go fancy and make the sump a display tank of its own... you know with some mantis shrimp. ;) ) The broodstock will be fine with the sand bottom tank. They will just slide their foot through the sand and attach to the glass bottom, then have their oral disk spread out on the surface of the sand. That is very similar to how they can be found in the wild.

 

Yes, I only want rocks in the sump, nothing but black gravel in the breeding area and growing/display area. easier to move a baby when it attaches to a couple pieces of gravel.

 

oh, and I found my stand. I didn't realize my friends had these under their 40s at their house. They are very sturdy and I like that they have a reinforced bottom. And I love the industrial look. It's a winner! It also has adjustable feet if the floor is uneven. SO, hoping to get the 40, the 20 and this stand next weekend for the dollar per gallon sale.

 

http://www.petco.com/product/119923/Petco-Brooklyn-Metal-Tank-Stand.aspx?CoreCat=LN_FishSupplies_StandsFurniture

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Yep. And the metal is thicker too and sturdy. They look much stronger.

 

I was at my friends house today, sold them 3 of my pencil urchins because they have some algae to deal with and I took a pic of a rock flower they have. They were asking me why it had a stance like this that makes it look like a top hat. Told them "don't know" - all of mine have done that before. I actually really like the richness of the browns in this and it still has purple on the tips. I actually still find it very beautiful.

 

http://s1278.photobucket.com/user/1stimereefer/media/047_zps1680c832.jpg.html'>047_zps1680c832.jpg

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I would leave out the skimmer. You're only putting RFAs in there, right? No fish? If so, the bioload should be really low, and I don't think you'd really need the skimmer. Also, I could see it being intrusive with the breeding process, as it would pull gametes from the water column and probably hinder fertilization.

 

Also, have you thought about moonlighting? If the purpose is to maximize breeding I think it would be helpful, as a lot of spawning events are ties to the phases of the moon .

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By moonlight are you meaning actinic on low at night? Issue too is they only spawn in spring and fall, and unlike clams, they don't spawn just because another one does. Across from the tank on the other side is a window so the room illuminating and then darkening w/ the sunrise/sets may help. The light in the tank would be on a timer otherwise to simulate so that's my next issue, what kind of led light. Mostly the room would stay dark except for that daylight coming in and when the tank light comes on.

 

I wasn't sure about skimmer really because the RFAs have to be fed more than 3 x a week, a quarter-teaspoon per adult per feeding. If you want to breed. And since I've seen them poo like zoas I figured it might be necessary. Then the babies need the stuff that can dirty water too, the phyto and oyster feast for example. Maybe I should just do without a skimmer first, just keep caulerpa in the sump, see what my levels are like and go from there. I think you're right. Nix it for now.

 

I thought that by separating the breeding section it might help keep the spawn there; rather than get disseminated across a tank of young flowers that can't do anything w/it. I could close it off w/ glass almost to the top. But I don't want to close it off completely because I still need flow. Still not sure how to go about that part. Not hard to put a small Hydor Koralia in there for a little motion but I don't want it to be dead water otherwise by not having some kind of flow in and out of the section itself regularly. Thanks for bringing that up. It helps me try to think through things.

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Oh wow it's only twice per year? Then it's not tied to the phases of the moon. If I had to put my money on it, I'd say it's more tied with the length of the daytime/seasons. When you say that it happens in the spring and fall it sounds like it's tied to the equinoxes. For both things, a controller for the lighting would be really helpful, and you could probably program it to automatically lengthen/shorten the length of day. The way the moon phases are simulated is by having your lights on a dim setting at night; it would go from completely dark for the new moon, and ramp up to being dim for the full moon.

 

I think the extra food/poop could be taken care of effectively with a good microfauna population as a clean up crew. A lot of amphipods or maybe some bristleworms? The amphipods would also probably end up being food for the baby anemones as well. And if they're anything like my elegance coral, the adults would also take care of any bristleworms that venture too close. PLUS, from what I understand RFAs are super hardy anyway, and shouldn't be bothered by a little nitrate?

 

You know, ACTUALLY, if you can figure out when the spawning will take place you can run the skimmer without worries. I mean, if spawning is only happening a couple times a year, no sense in having to get rid of the skimmer year-round, right?

 

Could you draw up a tank schematic design in paint? lol It would really help me visualize what you wanna do with the different areas of the tank.

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I was thinking of a Maxspect Razor 120w 16k on legs since I can't hang from ceiling since I rent the duplex, don't own. Now there was someone who said once they put a moonlight on they spawned- wait, wasn't that you??

 

I'll try draw something tomorrow. Wow, it's 1:57am here & I need to shower & go to bed. Have to wake up in 5 hrs. bye and thank you for thinking this out w/ me.

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You might want to wait for the Bluefish LED controller to be released before purchasing your lights. Genix had floated the idea of making a module that would allow it to control the Maxspect, but I'm not sure if that will be produced or not. Anyways, the reason I mention the Bluefish is you can use it to simulate any location in the world -- in terms of sunrise/sunset and even weather. I don't know if it does moonphase simulation.

 

I've been daydreaming about upgrading my Nuvo8 to a 16 and doing a Florida biotope. I'd light it with one of Dave's NanoBoxes and control it with a Bluefish set to Miami. My stumbling block to my plans is my job situation. My contract ends June 30th, and I don't know if it will be renewed. My job is specialized to the point that getting another position will require an interstate move. So, sticking with just the 8 for now.

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Ok, so 12 x 18 spawning/breeding area then 24 x18 is the growing/display area.

Beneath it a 20G high for Cobalt heater, uncured live rock and caulerpa. Not to scale but you get the point. I don't Paint well.

012_zpsfaab96bc.jpg

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Ah this is very helpful :lol:

 

So, how come you're separating the adults and the babies again? Is it to be able to see the babies better and feed them?

 

 

I'd light it with one of Dave's NanoBoxes and control it with a Bluefish set to Miami. My stumbling block to my plans is my job situation. My contract ends June 30th, and I don't know if it will be renewed. My job is specialized to the point that getting another position will require an interstate move. So, sticking with just the 8 for now.

 

The controller that comes with the nanobox lights can also be set to a geo-coordinate location. You could set it to florida and have the controller simulate the sun and the moon.

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The controller that comes with the nanobox lights can also be set to a geo-coordinate location. You could set it to florida and have the controller simulate the sun and the moon.

 

Well hot damn, the NanoBox just sounds sexier and sexier.

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Ah this is very helpful :lol:

 

So, how come you're separating the adults and the babies again? Is it to be able to see the babies better and feed them?

 

 

 

The controller that comes with the nanobox lights can also be set to a geo-coordinate location. You could set it to florida and have the controller simulate the sun and the moon.

 

 

My thoughts are that I'd have a greater chance at fertilization if they're spawning in a more closed environment, than spawn going all over the tank and being wasted. Once they've grown a little I'd move them to the other side?? But it would be easier to feed them too. I don't think anything about it has to be complicated. Pretty much a spawn and hope for the best, wait it out tank. But due to the divider, I'm not sure on how to work the flow. They don't need a tremendous amt of flow.

 

I'm thinking 12-15 rockflowers in that section. It's a 7-8 min spawn session. I"m thinking of actually reversing my output and overflow so the overflow would be on the far right, furthest from the spawning section.

 

The sump/fuge would be bare bottom and the display tank would have like 1.5" premium black gravel.

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Plans are moving right along! I like that stand too :). Looks like this will be quite the fun project!!!!!

 

Don't mind that the drawing is breaking probably all the perspective rules, like that the 20 appears 2/3 smaller than the 40!.

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If you need a 40 for this pm me. I got a spare I'll hook you up with. Never been used and you should only be about a 2 hour drive away. :)

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Well, they're having the $1 per gallon sale at Petco this Sun onward for a week or so and it's right on the main road where I get out work. I might though head that way at some point soon to go to Greenville to hit Ocean's Floor. That's where I got my 6line and my Kessil. Thanks for the offer. If going to Petco doesn't happen for whatever reason I'll let ya know. I plan on getting the stand, the 40 and the 20 this Sun.

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Don't mind that the drawing is breaking probably all the perspective rules, like that the 20 appears 2/3 smaller than the 40!.

Looked good to me :).

Are these mini nems or Maxi mini nems?

Rock flower
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You are planning this out so well, I don't know if I have the energy for all of this, to start breeding them. I'm going to try a lazy man's approach...and will probably be very unsuccessful :lol:.

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