cswan19 Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 That shouldnt be the problem, I run my cycle from 10am to 10 pm then have my blues on till about 2 am lol. I find it soothing to sleep with them on. I'd just wait them out, diatoms will go away as long as you are maintaining good water quality. I'm glad it isn't the light then I like them on to admire the tank more. haha I guess it is just a waiting game then. haha hopefully a short waiting game. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 I know this is a bit off topic but, I would really like to get a decent macro capable camera. Does anyone know of a camera I may be able to find used for $100 or less that I would be able to throw a macro lens or macro filters on to take shots of my corals. I just don't want to spend over $300 for a camera that I am only going to use to take pictures of my tank with. If anyone has any tips on a decent camera in my price range (around $100) and wouldn't mind sharing, I would really appreciate it. Thanks guys. I'm just tired of the crappy shots I get with my iPhone. haha Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This guy was in the same boat as you. He got a p90, and I think his pics are better than mine with a DSLR.....You can get a P90 for like $75 now since it's a pretty old camera (a few years old...so ancient by technology standards). http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/334737-pics-with-my-nikon-p90/ Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Thanks ninja, that looks great! I will most likely pick up a p90 soon once I make a little extra cash. Do you happen to know if there are any mods to put on some macros filters or a macro lens, i know it is a point and shoot but maybe there is a mod. Looks like I'll be doing some research haha regardless of if there is the capability of using macro with it, it still takes really great shots and I think I will pick it up either way. Thanks Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Another bummer update... My LFS screwed up again. The guy who usually picks up their fish orders got sick and they sent another guy to pick up the order and he didn't get the right fish I ordered. I'm a bit annoyed about it but I guess I'll just spill the beans on what it is. Its a.... (drumroll) Goby and Pistol shrimp pair! I won't say what kind of goby so there is a bit of a surprise when (if lol) I finally get the right one. They said next Tues or Wed they should have them. Needless to say I won't be ordering fish with these guys again lol. I would go elsewhere to get it but I already paid for the pair. They did get the right shrimp in though so I'll be going down there either today or tomorrow to pick him up. So hopefully I'll some picture updates this weekend for you guys. It just feels like this thread is moving sooooo slow! ugh, sorry for the lack of excitement so far guys haha. soooooooooooon! Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Update: June 8, 2014 I got my pistol shrimp today! It was later in the day though so by the time I finished acclimation my blue moon lights were on so I don't have any pictures, but I will tomorrow. Also I decided to take a bit of water from the bag my shrimp came in and test it... this was the result: Almost everything is too high, especially the nitrates. They are off of the chart! I'm hoping that it is because they had my shrimp in a small container inside of their LR only tank. Has anyone else experienced this? I really like my LFS but if this is the quality of water I think I might decide to go elsewhere. Anyway, I also picked up another lightning dove snail My LFS is almost out of them and said they might not get anymore for a while so I wanted to get another. They are cool little dudes. I will have pictures for you guys tomorrow of the new addition I'm really hoping he makes his burrow up front of the tank, so far he has been hanging out in the back.. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 So... unfortunately my shrimp has built his burrow in the back corner of my tank I can barely see him and when taking a picture it gets distorted because of the angle I have to take it at. So I have pictures but they suck... This is what mess I woke up to haha He has started the burrow on the other side of this rock but is digging directly under it. I made sure I pushed the rock down quite a bit into the sand when I first put it in but I'm afraid that the more sand his digs out from underneath it the rock will fall on him. I was thinking about taking the rock out and getting him to move to the other side of the tank away from me or taking him out completely for the time being and then putting the rock on the bare bottom of the tank and scooping the sand up around the rock so it is more secure. I am aware this will most likely piss him off, but I'd rather have a pissed alive shrimp than a dead one. What would suggest doing? I would also like to get him up front if possible, any suggestions? You can see his tail under the rock in this one. And these are the best shots I could get of the dude at this angle I really wish I could see him more What should I do about the rock? move it? While moving it is there anything I can do in order to keep him from burrowing in the back or make my chances of him burrowing in the front any greater? Thanks guys. Link to comment
NanoClown Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Looks good so far Im digging the xenias. Do you plan on letting it grow up your false wall? That would be pretty cool Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Looks good so far Im digging the xenias. Do you plan on letting it grow up your false wall? That would be pretty cool If it grows up my false wall then I will not stop it, but I'm not aiming for that to happen, whatever it does I'm cool with haha. I plan to get some green star polyps as some point and try to get them to grow on the back glass area. I just like look of it. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 Update on the pistol shrimp! I managed to get the shrimp out of the tank and into a small container for a few minutes. Then I dug a hole in the sand all the way to the glass and put the rock in the hole and then put the sand all the way around it, which causes some cloudiness in the tank, but it is already starting to settle. So the rock is super secure now. I'm pretty sure he wasn't happy that I messed things up but he seems fine now. The good news is that he is now starting to dig up in the front of the tank! Woohoo! He is hanging out in this small little "cave" in the rock. It is similar to like a barnacle that is built into the rock, cool little shelter type thing. He also is starting to dig and push some sand out to make the cave bigger and deeper. Hopefully this will be his new burrow. I am aware that they will often make numerous burrows over time but I am happy I can see him now. Here is a (cloudy) FTS Link to comment
NanoClown Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 looks great so far If it grows up my false wall then I will not stop it, but I'm not aiming for that to happen, whatever it does I'm cool with haha. I plan to get some green star polyps as some point and try to get them to grow on the back glass area. I just like look of it. I also plan to do the same thing with GSP I kind of want to get some xenia to grow up the false wall and gsp along the back wall. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 looks great so far I also plan to do the same thing with GSP I kind of want to get some xenia to grow up the false wall and gsp along the back wall. That would look awesome! You should! I am a big fan of the pulsing xenia as it adds some movement to the tank and just is a reminder how alive everything is in a reef. Pretty cool stuff and most of the time it is pretty dang cheap too, I picked up the pulsing xenia I have for $5 and it had two stalks on it. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Finally got some decent pictures of my pistol shrimp! He started making his burrow up front but soon moved to the back of the tank behind the rock and made a burrow there so now I can't see him again. Hopefully, he will move around the tank though as I really enjoy watching him. He is an awesome little guy. I named him Eddy after the circular current found in the ocean, his goby friend (when I finally get him) will be named Jetty after the man-made structure used to protect the coastline. Anyway here are the pics: He is super cool, I love him! I am also debating on getting another ric or mushroom or some kind of new coral this week... Link to comment
Kijho Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Eddy looks PLUMP!! He's awesome, nice and healthy it looks like - and that behaviour of how they "flip around" is very interesting. They are very smart. You've got a pretty fine sand like me I think - I ended up going to the LFS and going to the crab section where they sell crabs that go outside of water. Like... not SW hermits, but the ones people put in a little tank with sand and such for them.. I bought 3 empty shells and put them in a ziploc bag, and then used a hammer and crushed them up (to chunks, not too crushed.) Then I just rinsed the broken shell pieces and dropped them in the tank. My Shrimp immediatly grabbed them and began using them to help support his burrows. So interesting to watch - I can't wait till you get a Goby too!! JUST don't put a YCG in there like I did... or, I guess you could.. maybe your shrimp will be nicer than mine Link to comment
Kijho Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Update: June 8, 2014 WOAH ... Cswan .. I just saw this post!! Have you tested since June 8th? I'd go test again ASAP I really hope those levels drop!! I haven't seen a red nitrate before.. Did you put dump the water from the bag the shrimp was in - in to your tank? Or did you just use a net and take the shrimp out and put him in your tank? I'd do some really urgent WC's to get those levels down - I don't really know 100% but I don't think having them like that for more than a few days will be good on the shrimp or any of your corals Let's do a WC asap okay and post up some test results after!! Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thanks kijho! Those water params are not mine, I tested the water from the LFS that my shrimp came in and was mind blown and wanted to show you guys. I drip acclimated my shrimp for almost 3 hours because of how awful the LFS water quality was. Then I took him out with a net and popped him in my tank. I didn't put any of the poor quality water in my tank, thank goodness. My shrimp is probably very happy to be in my clean water now. I think I am going to switch to a different LFS because of this awful water, it worries me that the things I am buying are not healthy. I really like my LFS but if this is the quality, I'm out. haha My params are pretty good. I didn't grab a picture but I tested them yesterday and they were: pH: 8.2 Ammonia:0 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 0 ppm (wooh! first time with nitrates at 0 ) Salinity: 1.026 Temp: 76.5'F I plan to do another test today and check my parameters after adding the shrimp, just to make sure he didn't spike anything, which I don't think he did. Also, I had read your idea about the hermit shells, and did the same thing It seems to work as he has been using the shells to make his burrows. Thanks for the advice on the YCG, I wasn't planning on getting one just because I have other things in mind and don't want to overstock, plus after hearing your horror story about Kiwi (RIP) I definitely don't want to take the chance. Just a FTS to show you the mess Eddy has made of my sand bed lol. And geez I'm just now noticing how many ugly water spots there are on the back glass... I need to clean those. I love the shrimp but he is a bit of a PITA with my xenia. I keep finding it inside his burrow or flipped over. I may glue it up on the rock, not quite sure. The good news is he hasn't touched my ricordea on the sand bed yet (knock on wood), Link to comment
Kijho Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Oh damn - too early in the morning I haven't had enough tea yet .. missed that. That's the params of the water in the bag from the LFS. Haha... Well, I have one suggestion on that - I just made this suggestion in another person's thread too regarding acclimating. I've never - ever - dip acclimated my stuff. There's alot of mixed reviews about it. The params you posted really prove the point - the water in the bag is deadly! The fact behind it I believe is that it's such a small space for the livestock. No filteration, no movement, no nothing!! The livestock becomes SUPER stressed and realeses SO much it creates huge ammounts of ammonia / nitrites / nitrates. The longer the livestock sits in that bag the worse his chances are. Drip acclimating only creates higher volume of bad water. The amount you drip in doesn't help to really "lower" those levels because the amount is so small it just becomes part of it. Also - I've read that by adding your clean tank water to the bad water, you can create some issues with Ph which can open up a whole new area of problems! What I do with my livestock (clowns, shrimp, goby) is float them for about 20 mins. to get the temp. the exact same. Then I use the net and put them in the tank. I think the small shock they might get isn't a worse as the problems from being in that bad water for so long. For my corals - I use Seachem coral dip disinfectant and put a few drops in the bag and then float the bag in the water for 20 mins. Then I take the coral out and dip it in a container of regular SW / Distilled water. Then I put it in my tank Maybe some of the suggestions will help! Hopefully nothing too confusing I'm too tired haha.. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 I never really thought of it that way. It makes sense that by adding more water it is only creating a bigger pool of awful water. Maybe I will acclimate like you do by just floating the livestock to match the temperatures. Regardless after I get my goby from my current LFS (since he is already ordered and paid for) I doubt i will be returning to this LFS. I found a new one that is a bit farther away but has amazing reviews saying they have awesome water quality, great selection, and great customer service. I sounds like a good place. I'd rather avoid such poor water quality in the future to limit my chances of a problem as a result. Anyway, I will be checking out this new LFS tomor and may or may not come home with some coral(s) dependent on their prices Haha so hopefully another update soon... Link to comment
NanoClown Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Looks great so far Christie! your paramaters are perfect...... im jelly lol. I rarely test anymore but when I do my nitrates are never 0. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Looks great so far Christie! your paramaters are perfect...... im jelly lol. I rarely test anymore but when I do my nitrates are never 0. Thanks nanoclown This is the first time my nitrates have been at 0 ppm. I was pretty stoked to see it. The lowest I'd had nitrates before was 5 ppm so i was shocked lol. Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 So, instead of getting more hermit shells from the pet store and crushing them up, do you think it would work the same or close to it if I used sharks teeth? I live in the sharks tooth capital of the world and go to the beach almost everyday. I have thousands or sharks teeth I have found on reefs when free diving and on the sand while walking over the years. I have some from the size of my whole hand down to the size of my fingernail. Do you think my shrimp would be able to use those as a support for his burrows. I think he is knocking and moving my xenia because he is trying to get the rock it is on for his burrow lol. Is it safe to put sharks teeth in? and do you think it would support his burrow at all? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 i want to live where you live! Link to comment
Kijho Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Yeah put anything... see, you could put like small PVC tubes but that looks so ugly and unnatural. Anything cool like that is awesome... I'd put shark teeth. (Not too big though!) Link to comment
cswan19 Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 Alright, I threw some sharks teeth in the tank yesterday. He seems to be using them but not a whole lot. I took a short video of him digging a burrow. He has since moved to a different area of the tank and started digging over there. Sorry about the somewhat poor quality. It was shot with my iPhone, which also kept running out of storage room as the video was recording (I take too many pictures ). Which is why there a few short videos put together rather than a long video that was edited. I know it is not as good as some others on the forums but it is something to peak a bit of interest and it lets you see Eddy doing his thing haha Hopefully I will be able to get a nicer camera soon so I can get better videos. Also I made a youtube channel for my tank (this is the first video) and I plan to update it every now and then (more often when I get a good camera). So check it out if you are interested. Also if you want the quality to be a little less awful, the video is available in 720p HD for your viewing pleasure Link to comment
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