Lula Mae's 1.6ish gallons of whatever I want to put in it--tank updates and news and stuff

[Lula_Mae]

15 minutes ago, money88 said:

You can cut the cubes, in my tank and my friends we usually cut the cubes in thirds. You can de-thaw the entire cube and keep leftovers in the fridge, but I wouldn't recommend more than 2 or so days. 

 

Awesome to see a molting as well!

 

11 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Holy wow, so much amazing stuff happening!!!

I love it, things are looking super good!!

I always shave a little bit off a cube with a sharp knife and then defrost just the little bit. 

One cube actually lasts me forever, lol. 

 

Seriously, it's looking really, really good in here!!! 

Good to know, I can probably get away with less than a third of the cube so I will try some slicing next time lol.

 

And thanks, I am really happy!  Hoping once the light gets here and I get it set up that things will begin to really color up some and it will start to look even better!

[Weetabix7]

This is slightly after the fact since you've already ordered your light BUT I thought you might find this helpful in reaching a better understanding of the effect of different color LEDs, since it's something we've talked about: 

 

[Rain24]

I love seeing all the new progress in the tank. Shelby molted! Exciting times.

 

I always look forward to your posts since there's so much to see and read about. I'm also fascinated with how your blue scroll is coloring up!

 

How did you handle the cleanup of all the extra food? I know that normally you'd do a water change from what I've been reading. But with Shelby newly molted, I was wondering how you did it?

[Lula_Mae]

12 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

This is slightly after the fact since you've already ordered your light BUT I thought you might find this helpful in reaching a better understanding of the effect of different color LEDs, since it's something we've talked about: 

 

I've only read the first post but that was very interesting, thanks for the link!  I think I am actually going to order one of the ABI bulbs from Amazon cuz the other is taking forever to ship and I need something asap over my tank lol.  Even my non-reefing husband commented that things look browner.  I'll try the other bulb when it arrives but I have Prime so it won't take long to get one of the other bulbs.  I found a lamp today at Target that I hope will hold the bulb.

 

10 hours ago, Rain24 said:

I love seeing all the new progress in the tank. Shelby molted! Exciting times.

 

I always look forward to your posts since there's so much to see and read about. I'm also fascinated with how your blue scroll is coloring up!

 

How did you handle the cleanup of all the extra food? I know that normally you'd do a water change from what I've been reading. But with Shelby newly molted, I was wondering how you did it?

I used a turkey baster to suck out all the extra shrimp lol.  Then I dumped in some Microvert for everybody with intentions to change the water today.  I just added a little bit of fresh saltwater to make up for what I took out with the baster.

 

Got home and found my St. Thomas spewing brown goo...

 

The white filaments they spew when they get irritated from being moved or whatever but I am not sure what that brown stuff is and am concerned lol.  Hopefully the water change will help them out.  Eep!

 

Oh, and 200 posts!

[HammerLover]

That's really amazing stuff there! Im planning to add my first shrimp in the jar (thinking of saron or monkey) but Im still hesitant. I had a yellow coral banded but he's in my fowlr and its a PITA to get him out.

 

I'll stick my gsp up on the wAll later too hehe and Im way overdue of update pics

[Weetabix7]

The St. Thomas coulda been pooping, if it's one of the corals that ate well the other day. 

[gena]

Green banded gobies aren't the most outgoing goby, but also not the most shy.  They are adorable and playful little things.  They spend a lot of time at the bottom part of the tank.  Mostly in the sand and if you have a hole in your rock down at the sand level, that's where they will make their home.  They aren't coral perchers, from my experience.  Not like a clown goby.

 

Where you put your turquoise trumpets is exactly where I was going to suggest you move them . 

[Lula_Mae]

16 hours ago, HammerLover said:

That's really amazing stuff there! Im planning to add my first shrimp in the jar (thinking of saron or monkey) but Im still hesitant. I had a yellow coral banded but he's in my fowlr and its a PITA to get him out.

 

I'll stick my gsp up on the wAll later too hehe and Im way overdue of update pics

Shrimps are fun!  I've not had luck with them in the past but of course am gonna try again sometime lol.

 

A GSP wall would be rad!

 

10 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

The St. Thomas coulda been pooping, if it's one of the corals that ate well the other day. 

Yeah googling brought up the possibility of it being poop, the St. Thomas didn't eat shrimp but maybe ate some of the Microvert?  At any rate, I looked at them a little while after posting and the brown goo was gone from both of them, as were the filaments. Now they are open, inflated, and looking as happy as clams mushrooms!

 

St. Thomas are so weird!

 

5 hours ago, gena said:

Green banded gobies aren't the most outgoing goby, but also not the most shy.  They are adorable and playful little things.  They spend a lot of time at the bottom part of the tank.  Mostly in the sand and if you have a hole in your rock down at the sand level, that's where they will make their home.  They aren't coral perchers, from my experience.  Not like a clown goby.

 

Where you put your turquoise trumpets is exactly where I was going to suggest you move them . 

Aww I can't wait to get one!  They sound so cute. Wonder how one'll get on with Shelby?

 

Thanks!  I like them there, I think it adds a nice bit of mid-ground height but not too much.  Hoping for some gorgs or something to add background height eventually.  Trying to figure out how to get the blastos off the sand now as I am not comfortable with the polyps being that close to it.  Maybe I'll prop them up with a piece of rubble for now or replace one of the rocks and give Shelby back her caves lol.

[Lula_Mae]

Also, @gena and anyone else who's had a porcelain anemone crab, have they shown any sort of aggression to other tank inhabitants?  Very interested in getting one but concerned about it and Shelby getting along lol.

[Weetabix7]

38 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Also, @gena and anyone else who's had a porcelain anemone crab, have they shown any sort of aggression to other tank inhabitants?  Very interested in getting one but concerned about it and Shelby getting along lol.

 

I think they're usually pretty shy. 

Sometimes too shy, if anything. 

Hopefully someone else will chime in though. 

 

Also, I can help with a GSP Wall!!!

Am I Amazing or what?? 

I have a largeish, unattached mat of GSP that is in my Waterfall Pico and I was just looking at it thinking, "Yaknow, that is too large for this little Pico, I should trim it down and offer frags of it along with my Coralline Starters". 

[Wingsong]

I'm so jelly of your Rics, they look so peaceful and lovely in their corner!

 

And your Turquoise Trumpet, I have the red and white Trumpet but I'd love to get both colors. Yours looks so sweet and pastel!

 

I hope the new shroom pulls through, I try to dip new frags if they start spewing brown stuff after their initial dip and being in the tank. Seems to help them in my experience, but the dip could also stress them. I think shrooms just love spitting their guts at you...

[Lula_Mae]

More tanky weirdness!  Last night when I peeped in shortly before bedtime, Shelby was front and center and I noticed something...

 

Shelby lost a nem!  I was totally bummed.

 

This afternoon when I got home, I looked in and she was hanging out on the side below the trumpets, and I did a double take...

 

She has two nems!  What in the world??    I'm not 100% that it's her nem, or maybe she split the one she had, I'm not sure (if it's that or if she collected something in the tank to carry lol) but wow!  Saltwater tanks never cease to surprise me!

 

23 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I think they're usually pretty shy. 

Sometimes too shy, if anything. 

Hopefully someone else will chime in though. 

 

Also, I can help with a GSP Wall!!!

Am I Amazing or what?? 

I have a largeish, unattached mat of GSP that is in my Waterfall Pico and I was just looking at it thinking, "Yaknow, that is too large for this little Pico, I should trim it down and offer frags of it along with my Coralline Starters". 

Haha that's great!  Is it a nice color?  I hadn't decided on whether to put on in but since I've never tried it, I may just be willing to if you offer frags!

 

13 hours ago, Wingsong said:

I'm so jelly of your Rics, they look so peaceful and lovely in their corner!

 

And your Turquoise Trumpet, I have the red and white Trumpet but I'd love to get both colors. Yours looks so sweet and pastel!

 

I hope the new shroom pulls through, I try to dip new frags if they start spewing brown stuff after their initial dip and being in the tank. Seems to help them in my experience, but the dip could also stress them. I think shrooms just love spitting their guts at you...

Haha thanks, I love the little ric corner.  Hope it colors up better under whatever new light arrives first lol.  I love the trumpets!  They're the same turquoise ones from Reef Gardener that Gena has in her tank, they're a lovely soft blue-green under my current light.  The St. Thomas mushies are back to normal, inflating and looking big and fat and happy lol.  They are just weirdos!   Part of why I love them, they seem to have a lot of personality for a mostly sessile animal.

 

Gonna feed the tank and do a nice big water change and hopefully get some pics in afterward.  Was gonna run errands but our parking lot is a mess and I don't want to lose my cleared out spot since half the spots are covered in snow chunks from the snowplow that needs to come through again.   Yay snow?

 

P.S. Please disregard the leg from her molt in the second picture that I missed fishing out...

[Weetabix7]

Y'know, I have heard of Pom Pom's splitting up their anemones or picking up new things to use in it's place in the aquarium. 

The life we are able to keep in our little Reef Observatories is so varied and fascinating!!!

 

The GSP is SUPER vivid neon green and healthy and since it's unmounted, you can mount it or put it wherever you want. 

It has long flowy polyps, so I am currently moving the unmounted GSP mat from section to section in the Waterfall to test the current in each one. 

 

Sounds like it's definitely a day to stay inside!!

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Y'know, I have heard of Pom Pom's splitting up their anemones or picking up new things to use in it's place in the aquarium. 

The life we are able to keep in our little Reef Observatories is so varied and fascinating!!!

 

The GSP is SUPER vivid neon green and healthy and since it's unmounted, you can mount it or put it wherever you want. 

It has long flowy polyps, so I am currently moving the unmounted GSP mat from section to section in the Waterfall to test the current in each one. 

 

Sounds like it's definitely a day to stay inside!!

Yeah, I've heard of it too, and my first pom pom actually subbed in one of my rics for so long it turned into a tiny white nub lol.   I don't know if they ever put them down and come back to them but that's what my husband wondered.  Maybe it's a po'd zoa polyp.

 

I am very tempted by the GSP!  I will have to think about it.  I probably would mount it to the back wall haha.  Hmmm

[HammerLover]

4 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Y'know, I have heard of Pom Pom's splitting up their anemones or picking up new things to use in it's place in the aquarium. 

The life we are able to keep in our little Reef Observatories is so varied and fascinating!!!

 

The GSP is SUPER vivid neon green and healthy and since it's unmounted, you can mount it or put it wherever you want. 

It has long flowy polyps, so I am currently moving the unmounted GSP mat from section to section in the Waterfall to test the current in each one. 

 

Sounds like it's definitely a day to stay inside!!

The gsp wall would be awesome since I can trim it easily from the glass plus its a nice bright green contrast from my bright red people eaters. And its also very tough I'll say. That gsp was from a friend who had it encrusting beside a chalice and it didnt care even though the chalice stung it every night. Im hoping it can tolerate the sweepers of my torches lol

31 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah, I've heard of it too, and my first pom pom actually subbed in one of my rics for so long it turned into a tiny white nub lol.   I don't know if they ever put them down and come back to them but that's what my husband wondered.  Maybe it's a po'd zoa polyp.

 

I am very tempted by the GSP!  I will have to think about it.  I probably would mount it to the back wall haha.  Hmmm

You should try it! They are awesome wallpapers for reef tanks lol

[RIP Sebastian]

How did you like Reef Gardener? Are the rics nice? I've been meaning to order a butt load of them. Was considering Got Corals or Reef Gardener. 

 

Thanks! 

[Rain24]

Shelby and The Disappearing Nem

 

And now we have a title for a children's short story! LOL.

 

My guess is that Shelby dropped a nem and found it again. (Total guess.) Where did you get Shelby again? I've looked locally and no one has a pom pom. I've decided against hermits to keep Benjamin (the stomatella) safe.

 

[Weetabix7]

6 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

Shelby and The Disappearing Nem

 

And now we have a title for a children's short story! LOL.

 

My guess is that Shelby dropped a nem and found it again. (Total guess.) Where did you get Shelby again? I've looked locally and no one has a pom pom. I've decided against hermits to keep Benjamin (the stomatella) safe.

 

 

Oooh, I wonder if we could get @natalia_la_loca to do the illustrations for that book!!

 

Good call on the hermit.

[natalia_la_loca]

I'm game   

[Lula_Mae]

19 hours ago, HammerLover said:

The gsp wall would be awesome since I can trim it easily from the glass plus its a nice bright green contrast from my bright red people eaters. And its also very tough I'll say. That gsp was from a friend who had it encrusting beside a chalice and it didnt care even though the chalice stung it every night. Im hoping it can tolerate the sweepers of my torches lol

You should try it! They are awesome wallpapers for reef tanks lol

Lol I very well might, I haven't decided.  Coming down with a bit of a cold so my brain's a little fuzzy at the moment. 

 

17 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

How did you like Reef Gardener? Are the rics nice? I've been meaning to order a butt load of them. Was considering Got Corals or Reef Gardener. 

 

Thanks! 

She was great to work with, worked with me to expand my initial order with some of her new stuff when one of my items vamoosed.  The rics don't look amazing under my lights but they are pretty nice, the orange one was huge!  Sadly one has disappeared, and of course it would be the purple one!  She does offer ric packs for a great price and customer service is top notch.

 

3 hours ago, Rain24 said:

Shelby and The Disappearing Nem

 

And now we have a title for a children's short story! LOL.

 

My guess is that Shelby dropped a nem and found it again. (Total guess.) Where did you get Shelby again? I've looked locally and no one has a pom pom. I've decided against hermits to keep Benjamin (the stomatella) safe.

 

 

I got Shelby from a local store but I have previously bought all my pom poms (and some dwarf feather dusters ) from Live Aquaria.  You could ask local stores if it's possible to order a pom pom, but the store that carried Shelby is the first I have ever personally seen that stocked pom poms.

 

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Oooh, I wonder if we could get @natalia_la_loca to do the illustrations for that book!!

 

Good call on the hermit.

 

2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I'm game   

That would be a very interesting children's book lol.  I can only imagine the story line!

[Lula_Mae]

Well, I'm exhausted and fighting off a cold so I am going to bed soon but I wanted to share a very quick sneak peek of what the tank looks like at the moment...please excuse the weird reflections and out-of-focus-ness... I am gonna have to re-learn how to take pics lol.

 

 

Got some great pics the other day so hopefully I can put them all in an update tomorrow and hopefully get some better pictures.

 

[Weetabix7]

You're so much better at pics than me!!

 

Hope you get some good rest and feel better soon. 

[Rain24]

I hope you feel better soon!

[Lula_Mae]

On 3/18/2017 at 7:31 AM, Weetabix7 said:

You're so much better at pics than me!!

 

Hope you get some good rest and feel better soon. 

 

12 hours ago, Rain24 said:

I hope you feel better soon!

Thanks guys!  I got up yesterday, dozed off at my desk, and went back to bed for a few more hours lol.  I felt a lot better after but spent the day puttering around the apartment instead of working on tank stuff so hopefully I will get some stuff done soon and get those pictures up I mentioned.

[Lula_Mae]

Ok, so I keep getting distracted instead of writing the post I've been planning and now it's bedtime since I have to be up so early, but here's a cute pic and funny story from tonight.  I spotted Shelby on the heater and said to my husband, "Hey, Shelby's on the heater!" and he goes, "Is she cold?" and I said, "Nah, she's just chillin'," and he said, "Well, technically she's warming up..."

 

Ms. Shelby surveying her kingdom.