Fishfreak's foxy BC29: Brine Shrimp!

[fishfreak0114]

Today I gave all my frags to someone for free because they were just detracting from my tank and starting to grow onto my "frag rack" (which I threw out). She also gave me two mushrooms that she called watermelon mushrooms. They look like they'll be nice once they open more. Here's a pic of them, still stressed out. And a couple pics of the tank without the rack

 

 

 

[fishfreak0114]

Just looked at the palys, some of them have managed to open to the side a bit, I'll glue them better tomorrow

[amphipod]

Hopefully they don't shed off the super glue, I can think of a few extremely risky injection attacks that would surely eliminate the pest, just it probably would hurt your tank *cough ammonium bicarbonate, toilet bowl cleaner, silicone, copper sulfate, windex *

 

Aww RIP frag rack

[fishfreak0114]

Lol most of them did she'd it because it had just been a little on the mouth. Today I ENTOMBED those suckers in glue, I got like 90%. It looks horrible but I figure eventually when they're gone something else will grow there.

[fishfreak0114]

Today on my lunch break I looked at some stuff under a microscope, I'll probably do this again soon, I really want to see a bristle worm and a flatworm. I was amazed to see some really tiny things, some to small to see with the naked eye. There was this thing that looked like a beetle crab combo walking on the brittle star. The brittle star was only about 350 um arm tip to arm tip so I'd guess that this thing was only about 25-35um

 

Amphipod

 

 

Coralline algae

 

http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr200/Orb1915/Mobile%20Uploads/th_trim.08187664-DEDA-4278-B2C4-D8643C26777C_zps4nleonxt.mp4

 

The mushroom now that it's happy

[amphipod]

Those are some cool micro shots, hey look it's cousin Phil maybe the beetle crab is actually a mite? There are a few other options but that is my first guess.

[fishfreak0114]

I've covered like all but 5 of the Palys in glue. I always miss some lol. I used my iPhone flashlight super close to see if there was sand grains in them or not, but I was worried about glueing the wrong one so I'll have to get the others next time

[fishfreak0114]

Those palys are really good at excepting glue, they can squeeze through any small crack so now there are like 10. I've decided to kick it up a notch, just injected 4 of the escapees with hot vinegar and I will continue doing that to 4 or so every couple days. Would it be better to inject them with Kalk? Also, I'm pretty sure both heads of my hammer are splitting, they're both retracted and small, and they look more like 8's than a circle and have for a long time. Everything else is good except the pagoda which is definitely a goner, it's lost tissue on the top now too.

[amphipod]

I'm sure the toilet bowl cleaner would finish them

 

Kinda weird when candy cane perked up pagoda started dying. Maybe they like something to be opposite in your waters parameters, maybe a micronutrient?

[fishfreak0114]

Yah maybe, in a last ditch effort to save the pagoda I fragged off a small healthy piece and chucked the rest. I'll post pics in a few. I used a power drill to put holes every couple millimetres then I used a chisel and hammer to break it off, it didn't turn out half bad. I dipped it too. Currently it's on my sand bed

[fishfreak0114]

I made sure to leave about an inch of healthy tissue all around when I was fragging to improve the chances, I managed to get a 2x1 inch or so piece.

 

 

[fishfreak0114]

Well, some bad stuff was going on in my tank today, here's a link to the thread about it

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/367836-help-hammer-coral/page-2#entry5194802

 

The gist of what happened was all my coral was pissed off, hammer with tissue recession and plate has almost no tissue left. Believing it to e palytoxin that was poisoning my corals, I have since follows the advice of several people who I owe a big thanks to, and fragged my nice Zoas off the rock and put them on plugs and tossed the whole rock.

[fishfreak0114]

I fixed all the problems with the palytoxin. I decided that my tank wasn't festive enough so I had a little fun and decked it out

 

[amphipod]

Things really swung out of control with the palytoxin. That escalated quickly .

[HIppieRose]

Lovely deco for Christmas.

[fishfreak0114]

FTS--sorry just noticed how bad that photo is. If I remember I'll take a better one tomorrow.

 

 

Since the toxin issue was fixed, the Duncan has been having awesome growth, there's about 6new heads, all still tiny, that started to form at the same time. Everything has been looking great really

 

 

I'm thinking of placing a coral order from frag box in the next few days, I actually want to order BEFORE Boxing Day because a lot of the stuff I like is wysiwyg and I know people will snatch it up with Boxing Day deals. I'm always torn whether to spend more on one really fabulous piece, or get several that I like that are cheaper. I think if it comes down to it I'll go with the cheaper ones because they often have nice frags that are just a bit messed up color wise which I could care less about so they are way cheaper as a wysiwyg.

[fishfreak0114]

In my art class I often do ocean themed stuff, I've done nudibranches in oil pastel and a clownfish is a frequent occurrence. Right now I'm painting Dory.

 

[lostsol95]

Got shells for my soon to be hermits. Yes I know not all of them are hermit usable. I just like shells

WOW, I will be happy if my aquascaping turns out to be half as good as this! Great job!

[fishfreak0114]

Awe thanks lostsol, I just kinda piled them together and hoped they wouldn't fall

[fishfreak0114]

I placed an order Monday night, till waiting for fragbox to get back to me to confirm that no one else bought the items before me, and to set up a shipping date. I'm hoping for the 30th. Now I keep looking at their website and seeing awesome wysiwyg frags for $10. Debating on adding to the order lol.

[fishfreak0114]

My order is set to arrive on the 30th. I'm so excited! And also pretty nervous but so excited! I ended up adding another 5 frags to my order form their Boxing Day sales. I got some amazing deals, like as in $5 frags. Here's a pic of what I ordered the first time.

 

 

Then yesterday I bought

Red lobo $25

Marble Favia $5

Neon green birdsnest $5

Green ricordea $10

Hornet zoa $10

 

When I'd planned to make an order to was thinking 5-6 frags, guess I got a little much hehe. This hobby is so addictive though I really hope the new additions do well. Any tips for acclimating so many frags? I'm planning on putting a heater in the container so they don't get cold, a small preset one I use to mix sw. I'm guessing that most of them can't touch each other with the exception of zoa-zoa and ric-ric? Everything else would hurt each other?

[fishfreak0114]

More questions about acclimation and when I put them in the tank:

1. Should I put carbon in with them in case they are releasing chemicals from stress?

2. Should I dip everything?

3. Will they all be ok on the sand bed for a while?

4. Should I keep the aggressive ones (ex.favia), away from the others?

 

I'm probably going to have more questions when I go to mount them about placement and aggression. Which should be fairly soon after I get them, I'm out of epoxy but I have 3 sticks coming in with my Boxing Day supply orders.

[fishfreak0114]

Well apparently Merritt is considered "rural" so they can't do overnight shipping here ? Now trying to get it arranged to be shipped to Kamloops so I can pick it up there. Needless to say, I'm not getting it tomorrow . Hoping for the 31st but if not, then by next weekend.

[teenyreef]

Nice tank! And how exciting to be getting lots of frags. Have you figured out the shipping logistics yet?

 

There are certainly people that know more than me on N-R, but to answer some of your questions...I would not dip the rics, as they don't typically harbor pests and they can be delicate. I would dip the rest, though, depending on what kind of dip you have.

 

I don't worry about temperature acclimation or water acclimation for most corals. Inverts and fish, definitely yes.

 

I always put new frags on the sand bed so they are getting the lowest light possible. After a few days or a week or so, I make sure they're doing OK and then start to move them closer to the light. For ones going up high, I move them up in stages over a couple weeks.

 

Favia will definitely sting other corals, but probably not until they get established and start feeding. When you are just getting them started on the sand bed they should be OK.

[fishfreak0114]

Thanks teeny, I'm super excited to get a bunch of frags! I did figure out the shipping, sadly it won't be shipped until next Friday and I'll drive 45 minutes to Kamloops to pick it up. Now I just need to resist buying coral to add to my order as a birthday present for myself lol.

Ok so I won't dip the rics, should I dip the Yuma?

Should I leave the SPS on the sand bed or put them in place right away since they need lots of light? I think I've decided on final placement or about half of them, but that may change when I see the actual frags.