Rain's Reef Tanquito: New additions! New pics! :D

[Lula_Mae]

Next time just put the birdsnest in a lil cup/Gladware container of water if it's taking too long.  After all, Nemo and Marlin survived by jumping from bucket to cup to tank to spurting fountains to lagoon tank!

 

What, that's not how it works?

 

[Wingy]

A feeding syringe with a thin tube would blow out the crevices of your rock https://www.amazon.ca/100ml-Syringe-handy-plastic-tubing/dp/B00N2EMZB8  a small hand pump would work too. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1292130&KPID=991868&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Lubrication_Products&pla=pla_991868&k_clickid=84a1a927-40f7-4e2b-8686-a0d7b9594f8a

[Wingy]

I found a almost free version that should work well.  At the grocery look for a bottle of water with a screw on top and made of sturdy plastic.  Make a hole in the top, insert a piece of air line and using hot glue or silicone sealing it to the inside and outside.  You will be able to blow or suck and get into tight spaces better than with a turkey baster.  Practice with some spices in a cup of water.

[Rain24]

On 4/22/2017 at 5:35 AM, Wingy said:

A feeding syringe with a thin tube would blow out the crevices of your rock https://www.amazon.ca/100ml-Syringe-handy-plastic-tubing/dp/B00N2EMZB8  a small hand pump would work too. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1292130&KPID=991868&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Lubrication_Products&pla=pla_991868&k_clickid=84a1a927-40f7-4e2b-8686-a0d7b9594f8a

Thanks for the suggestions! I like the siphon from Ace. It reminds me of the one my dad used on his old aquarium. Ah, nostalgia!

 

Your second suggestion reminded me of the DIY precision siphon that someone on here made! I was planning on making one but still can't find a local source of rigid airline tubing.

 

On 4/20/2017 at 6:16 PM, Lula_Mae said:

Next time just put the birdsnest in a lil cup/Gladware container of water if it's taking too long.  After all, Nemo and Marlin survived by jumping from bucket to cup to tank to spurting fountains to lagoon tank!

 

What, that's not how it works?

 

Hahahaha! I love those movies.

 

Yeah, I'm going to have to take better care of the bird's nest. The lower polyps are now also not opening. I saw a rather large amphipod by its base today. I wonder if it's getting irritated by the pod or if there's something else wrong with it?

[Rehype]

Hi Rain coming along for the ride 

[Rain24]

Just now, Rehype said:

Hi Rain coming along for the ride 

 

Yay, Hype! Good to have you aboard! I'm having fun with my little tanquito so far.

[Lula_Mae]

37 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I like the siphon from Ace. It reminds me of the one my dad used on his old aquarium. Ah, nostalgia!

 

Your second suggestion reminded me of the DIY precision siphon that someone on here made! I was planning on making one but still can't find a local source of rigid airline tubing.

 

Hahahaha! I love those movies.

 

Yeah, I'm going to have to take better care of the bird's nest. The lower polyps are now also not opening. I saw a rather large amphipod by its base today. I wonder if it's getting irritated by the pod or if there's something else wrong with it?

Aww poor birdsnest!  It's possible the pod is irritating, but not sure, I dunno much about SPS.  Wonder if a Lugol's dip might help?  Weetie or somebody could prob tell ya better.

[Weetabix7]

6 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Aww poor birdsnest!  It's possible the pod is irritating, but not sure, I dunno much about SPS.  Wonder if a Lugol's dip might help?  Weetie or somebody could prob tell ya better.

 

I honestly have never kept Birdsnest, when I've had SPS I've pretty much stuck with Montis. 

I've never heard of Pods irritating Birdsnest. 

A lugol's dip wouldn't hurt and might help, but it's probably just a continuing reaction to the stress from when it was out of water for a while. 

Hopefully someone else will chime in. @Rehype?

[Rain24]

On 4/23/2017 at 10:11 PM, Lula_Mae said:

Aww poor birdsnest!  It's possible the pod is irritating, but not sure, I dunno much about SPS.  Wonder if a Lugol's dip might help?  Weetie or somebody could prob tell ya better.

I knew I ordered Lugol's for a reason. I'll have to read up on instructions and do it when I change water tomorrow.

 

18 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

I honestly have never kept Birdsnest, when I've had SPS I've pretty much stuck with Montis. 

I've never heard of Pods irritating Birdsnest. 

A lugol's dip wouldn't hurt and might help, but it's probably just a continuing reaction to the stress from when it was out of water for a while. 

Hopefully someone else will chime in. @Rehype?

Okiedokie, I'm going to dip it just to see how it does. Regarding the white tips (not the base), it looks like one side of the tips might have polyps recovering, the other side...not so much.

 

I fed them earlier today and I'll be changing water tomorrow. Birdie is going to spend water change time in his very own Lugol's bath.

[Weetabix7]

4 hours ago, Rain24 said:

I knew I ordered Lugol's for a reason. I'll have to read up on instructions and do it when I change water tomorrow.

 

Okiedokie, I'm going to dip it just to see how it does. Regarding the white tips (not the base), it looks like one side of the tips might have polyps recovering, the other side...not so much.

 

I fed them earlier today and I'll be changing water tomorrow. Birdie is going to spend water change time in his very own Lugol's bath.

 

Lugol's is a great healing dip, which is what I mostly use it for. 

My personal recipe for a lugol's dip is 1 cup tankwater, 1-2 drops lugol's, dip for 3-5 minutes, then return to tank. 

Don't stress it if you didn't do it exactly like that, since lugol's isn't as harsh it's harder to mess up with it. 

[Rain24]

4/25/17 - water change

 

I always feel weird when I change water. Everything is just SO happy after eating and then there I go ruining all the happy polyp extensions.

 

Can anyone tell me if my bird's nest is doing okay or not? It looks like the white tips from sitting out of the water too long last week are getting polyps back slowly. It's hard to see in this shot, but if I turn the pumps off and look from the top, there are tiny polyps on one side of the white tips.

 

The bird's nest coral got a dip in Lugol's for 5 minutes (4 drops in 4 cups of water and rinsed before putting back in the tank - thanks @Weetabix7). Here is a pic of what the base looks like with the polyps not opening. See how it looks pretty happy with polyps extended above where it branches? The polyps used to open all the way down. The frag isn't glued down, it's just poked through a hole in the rock.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me if this fan worm(?) on the left of my green blastos is good or bad? The blastos still open. It's just weird how it looked like a blade of algae on day and then all of a sudden this hairy, feathery stuff came out and started waving around.

 

 

And after my water change, my rocks look like they suddenly have a thin layer of fuzz all over them that wasn't there before the water change.

[Weetabix7]

I have no idea about the layer of fuzz on the rocks. 

Maybe you did a WC with fuzzy water instead of wet water. 

 

The fan worm looks ok and non-problematic, at least what I can see of it in the pic. 

 

The birdsnest actually doesn't look too bad, better than what I expected from reading your description. 

I'd say just keep an eye on those white tips. 

[Lula_Mae]

21 hours ago, Rain24 said:

4/25/17 - water change

 

I always feel weird when I change water. Everything is just SO happy after eating and then there I go ruining all the happy polyp extensions.

 

Can anyone tell me if my bird's nest is doing okay or not? It looks like the white tips from sitting out of the water too long last week are getting polyps back slowly. It's hard to see in this shot, but if I turn the pumps off and look from the top, there are tiny polyps on one side of the white tips.

 

The bird's nest coral got a dip in Lugol's for 5 minutes (4 drops in 4 cups of water and rinsed before putting back in the tank - thanks @Weetabix7). Here is a pic of what the base looks like with the polyps not opening. See how it looks pretty happy with polyps extended above where it branches? The polyps used to open all the way down. The frag isn't glued down, it's just poked through a hole in the rock.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me if this fan worm(?) on the left of my green blastos is good or bad? The blastos still open. It's just weird how it looked like a blade of algae on day and then all of a sudden this hairy, feathery stuff came out and started waving around.

 

 

And after my water change, my rocks look like they suddenly have a thin layer of fuzz all over them that wasn't there before the water change.

You did good!  My 1-2 drops of Lugol's in a cup of water turns into 4-5 lol and I don't even rinse after.  My poor corals...still in a styrofoam cooler too lol.

[Rain24]

18 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

You did good!  My 1-2 drops of Lugol's in a cup of water turns into 4-5 lol and I don't even rinse after.  My poor corals...still in a styrofoam cooler too lol.

 

I was wondering if you got your tank back up and running yet!

 

Regarding the Lugol's, I wasn't sure if it was okay not to rinse so I made sure to rinse it. Also, Experiment One has 3 new heads aside from the 2 that are growing well. You can actually see one of the older, larger heads in the pic above peeking out from beneath the front polyp. Boy, I adopted this frag thinking it was a goner and it's been pretty prolific so far.

 

Also, Benjamin the stomatella had a long spawning event yet AGAIN today. (I caught sight of a cloudy jet while I was inspecting the tank this morning and there he was.) Can they really keep spawning like this? I hope this doesn't mean his end is near. He usually zooms around and eats a lot though.

[Weetabix7]

If you get baby Stomatellas, I want some!!!

 

Like Lula, I don't rinse corals after a lugol's dip. 

 

You are obviously doing something right to be seeing such growth from "rescue corals," that's awesome!!!!

[Rain24]

2 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

If you get baby Stomatellas, I want some!!!

 

Like Lula, I don't rinse corals after a lugol's dip. 

 

You are obviously doing something right to be seeing such growth from "rescue corals," that's awesome!!!!

 

How I wish we'd get baby stomatellas. Benjamin is alone in this tank. Poor guy.

 

Why did I read that iodine was bad for something? Was it for shrimp? Am I not just remembering correctly? Anyway, glad to hear I don't have to rinse.

 

Haha...I often think it's not what I'm doing since I haven't had them for that long yet. We'll see in another few months.

[Lula_Mae]

10 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

 

How I wish we'd get baby stomatellas. Benjamin is alone in this tank. Poor guy.

 

Why did I read that iodine was bad for something? Was it for shrimp? Am I not just remembering correctly? Anyway, glad to hear I don't have to rinse.

 

Haha...I often think it's not what I'm doing since I haven't had them for that long yet. We'll see in another few months.

I believe it's inverts in general, which is why it can be used as a preventative dip.

[money88]

13 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

Why did I read that iodine was bad for something? Was it for shrimp? Am I not just remembering correctly? Anyway, glad to hear I don't have to rinse.

 

Haha...I often think it's not what I'm doing since I haven't had them for that long yet. We'll see in another few months.

It has been said that Invertebrates with exoskeletons (primarily shrimp and crabs) incorporate iodine into their exoskeletons and require iodine for molting and forming new exoskeletons as they grow. But there hasn't been any scientific evidence to my knowledge that this is actually true; I believe there is a lot of speculation and debate on the benefits of iodine and iodide in the reef. 

 

From my understanding iodine in the home aquaria will be depleted extremely fast due to algae consumption. Now I am sure high concentrations of anything will be bad for inverts let alone any life in the water 

 

Here are some articles with more info if you cared to take a look:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

[Rain24]

9 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I believe it's inverts in general, which is why it can be used as a preventative dip.

 

Great, thanks! I'll look into it.

 

Oh, btw...*poke*...are you going to get your tank set up yet? I miss your tank updates.

9 minutes ago, money88 said:

It has been said that Invertebrates with exoskeletons (primarily shrimp and crabs) incorporate iodine into their exoskeletons and require iodine for molting and forming new exoskeletons as they grow. But there hasn't been any scientific evidence to my knowledge that this is actually true; I believe there is a lot of speculation and debate on the benefits of iodine and iodide in the reef. 

 

From my understanding iodine in the home aquaria will be depleted extremely fast due to algae consumption. Now I am sure high concentrations of anything will be bad for inverts let alone any life in the water 

 

Here are some articles with more info if you cared to take a look:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine in Marine Aquaria: Part I ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

Oh I like you! You come bearing articles to read!

 

Thanks for the links. I'll be doing some reading through lunch.

[Lula_Mae]

19 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

 

Great, thanks! I'll look into it.

 

Oh, btw...*poke*...are you going to get your tank set up yet? I miss your tank updates.

 

Oh I like you! You come bearing articles to read!

 

Thanks for the links. I'll be doing some reading through lunch.

Yeah, I got it set up last night.  Just turned on the light and found my duster has abandoned his tube...   And some corals are super-pissed.

[gena]

On 4/25/2017 at 5:46 PM, Rain24 said:

4/25/17 - water change

 

I always feel weird when I change water. Everything is just SO happy after eating and then there I go ruining all the happy polyp extensions.

 

Can anyone tell me if my bird's nest is doing okay or not? It looks like the white tips from sitting out of the water too long last week are getting polyps back slowly. It's hard to see in this shot, but if I turn the pumps off and look from the top, there are tiny polyps on one side of the white tips.

 

The bird's nest coral got a dip in Lugol's for 5 minutes (4 drops in 4 cups of water and rinsed before putting back in the tank - thanks @Weetabix7). Here is a pic of what the base looks like with the polyps not opening. See how it looks pretty happy with polyps extended above where it branches? The polyps used to open all the way down. The frag isn't glued down, it's just poked through a hole in the rock.

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me if this fan worm(?) on the left of my green blastos is good or bad? The blastos still open. It's just weird how it looked like a blade of algae on day and then all of a sudden this hairy, feathery stuff came out and started waving around.

 

 

And after my water change, my rocks look like they suddenly have a thin layer of fuzz all over them that wasn't there before the water change.

aren't the white tips just growth?  From my experience, when a birdsnest starts to go south, the flesh will start peeling from the bottom.  Yours looks great to me .

[Rain24]

10 hours ago, gena said:

aren't the white tips just growth?  From my experience, when a birdsnest starts to go south, the flesh will start peeling from the bottom.  Yours looks great to me .

 

Well, they had more polyps before. But after that time I kept it out of the water for about 20 to 30 minutes (those tips are super thin right now), I had some polyp loss at the top.

 

I'm also sort of not getting polyps opening at the bottom. Flesh hasn't peeled, but the polyps are staying closed. Does that just happen when it realized that it's the new "base" now?

[Rain24]

So, I think it was yesterday or the day before that I realized there is yet another thing growing on Experiment One's little island of rubble. A green polyp has appeared next to the fan worm/feather duster. Wonders never cease with that green blasto. Can't identify it yet. Stay tuned.

 

I've also noticed something weird/interesting with my corynactis - little ones keep budding and then disappearing from bits of tissue left on the rock where the old one used to be. I found a much bigger corynactis in the back of the jar. I wonder if it moved or if I just never noticed this one before. Went to a talk at the beach and learned that some anemones do propagate from their base (pedal something or the other type of propagation).

[money88]

Pictures when you can of the mystery guest!

[Rain24]

Just now, money88 said:

Pictures when you can of the mystery guest!

I will once I find my missing charging cord for my camera. My phone just can't get decent enough pics.