SeaFurn's 100 Days of Nanos Contest Tank: 40 Baby RFAs

[SeaFurn]

Final Contest Post

Wow - that went fast!  It’s been fun, frustrating, exciting, overwhelming, satisfying, and I’m so glad I participated. I’ve learned so much, and I’ve enjoyed seeing the progression of the other contestants’ tanks and how they’ve been caring for them, their challenges, and how they’ve handled them.  Pretty impressive if you ask me! 
And I’ve enjoyed getting all the responses, reactions, help @seabass @StinkyBunny @FlowerMama @kimberbee @Weetabix7 @BulkRate, and feedback everyone has given on my tank.  So for that, THANK YOU!!
 

As you all know, I consider myself a newb.  I had a saltwater tank back in high school but it was so different then.  I don’t consider that real experience for this and the thought of having my first tank and all my actions on display for this was a bit unnerving.  

Up until this contest started, all the advice I had read was to take it slow.  Well, that clearly doesn’t apply to a 100 days contest!  I was quite overwhelmed at first with all the decisions that needed to be made and actions that needed to be taken just to get started.  Luckily, I had been reading threads and learning about setting-up and taking care of a  tank since January, which helped with this contest tremendously. I can’t imagine how things would have turned out if I hadn’t been doing that. 

 

A special thanks goes to @Weetabix7 during this time to help me make some quick decisions and get started down a good path.  And also for some fast growing bright green GSP!

 

Advice for newbs - read, read, read the threads first, plan it out, and take your time. All the information you need to get started and be successful is out there. Then, when you can’t find an answer, ask a question.  People here are more than happy to help out.

 

Observations/Challenges

Equipment

• IM 14 Peninsula - I love the tank itself.  Great build quality.  I wish I could have set it up to take advantage of the peninsula style but that wasn’t going to give me the view perspective that I was looking for. 
• The stock IM pump - you know I hate it.  Overall it is quieter than when the contest started but it’s still too loud IMO. Sometimes I have to turn it off and on a couple of times to get it to its quietest operation.  In addition, I was more than a little disappointed when the replacement pump came with a broken pin. But, at the time, I had so much other stuff to concern myself with that I didn’t take the time to get a replacement for the replacement. 
• Current Marine Orbit Pro - I like the light. I didn’t take full advantage of its capability but my livestock didn’t require it.  I programmed my own light schedule. It wasn’t intuitive at first, but after you figure it out, it’s pretty easy.  My only complaint is that if the power goes out, the light doesn’t resume to the set program in the right place when it comes back on.   
• Submersible LED light - I experimented with a 7” light in the second chamber and found it was strong enough to grow chaeto. Every 2 weeks I harvest a little bit of it.  Maybe now that the contest is over, I’ll take it out and see if there’s an increase in algae in the tank. I will say that the flow of water through the second chamber wasn’t really fast enough to keep the slime from accumulating on the netting that holds the chaeto. 
• Intank Floss Holder - love it!  A must have for any tank. Thanks @inTank
• ATO - I don’t have one. At roughly 400-500 manual top-offs at this point, I know why people have them!  I’m amazed at how much evaporation there is each day.  This will be an upcoming purchase!

Livestock - $432 

• GSP - $25 - At first, I was a little concerned I wasn’t going to get much coverage in 100 days, but it’s grown quite well. 
• Snails - $12 - Dwarf ceriths, Florida ceriths, Nerites, and Nassarius.  I got a 10 gallon Quick Crew from Reef Cleaners @johnmaloney and split it up between my reef bowl and the contest tank.  I swear there are a lot more snails in the tank now than when I started.  First thing I did every morning was to check for snail jumpers.  I’m happy to report there were no successful suicides. 
• 2 Porcelain Crabs - $34 - These two are pretty cool to watch but can really be a PIA when it comes to feeding the RFA’s.  They are bullies and will literally grab food out of the nems’ mouths.  The molts freaked me out a couple times for sure! 
• 2 Occellaris Clownfish - “Bonnie and Clyde” - $40 - I was so nervous when I added Clyde to the tank (first fish).  I watched him for hours to make sure he looked OK and was settling in. I was really surprised how active he became after Bonnie arrived. She’s becoming more aggressive towards him, and he just spazzes out to appease her.  The two are now inseparable as you can see in most pictures.  They have so much personality, and I know they recognize me when I come up to the tank. 
• Rock Flower Anemones - $321 - I’m completely fascinated and addicted to RFA’s. Each one has a personality too.I got all mine from @VIPReef.  They did a great job picking out nice looking RFA’s for my orders, and they’ve been very helpful trying to sort out the issues I’ve had.  There were no issues giving me credit for some of the losses. 
  • Order 1 - 10 RFAs.   My original plan was to have 10 RFAs in the tank. As you all know from my thread, things didn’t go as planned, and you could tell how frustrated I was.  In the end, I believe (right or wrong) that I lost the first two due to the stress of being moved from their tanks at VIP and shipping. I believe the next two had some kind of infection that developed over a short period of time after introduction, and the last two died because of those damn fire worms. 
  • Order 2 - 9 RFAs (I got another 10 pack but one was for @BulkRate) - I lost two within a day or two of the order arriving. Those two had issues with their feet from the beginning (wouldn’t attach to the acclimation basket even) and I suspected they might not make it. I’ve already e-mailed VIP about credit for those, and I’m sure they will issue that.

So now I’ve got 11 RFAs in my garden that I love. I hope all the worms are gone (I think they are but I’m still on watch for them) and that the RFAs grow and someday have babies. I’d like to have an entire separate tank full of nem babies. @BulkRate - let me know when a couple of your babies are big enough to make a move to my tank!

 

What would I do differently
I would dip my rocks.  I chose live rock for the contest because I didn’t think there was going to be enough time to cycle dry rocks. Then, as I received the rocks before the contest started, my concern was keeping as much alive on them as possible - so dipping them would have seemed a little counter intuitive, and I would have never thought of it. 

 

I would add fish first to get the tank “dirty” and then add the RFA’s. If there had been some detritus in the sand, maybe, just maybe, the worms might not have taken to munching on the nems - assuming that’s what really happened.  I never saw them doing that, but after I removed the few worms I had, I haven’t had any losses.    

 

I also might add fewer RFAs to begin with. Although, if I had only added five to begin with and lost four of them so quickly I would have been really discouraged!  I chose to go with 10 in the beginning because the feedback was they were easy to care for, I felt a little time crunched, and I wanted to get them into the tank and settled so I had at least that part accomplished because I was so much more nervous about getting fish and didn’t want the expense of doing multiple shipments of RFAs (@$50 each). RFAs are expensive enough already.  

 

Final thoughts
I wish I had a better camera and knew how to take good photos. Taking pictures has always been a challenge to me, and I’m so jealous of all the wonderful photography I see on NR.  Kudos to all of you who do it well.

 

Thanks to @metrokat @jedimasterben and @Christopher Marks for arranging this contest and to all the sponsors @InnovativeMarine @Marine Depot @Oceanbox Designs @inTank @DaveFason @johnmaloney @sangheili @World Wide Corals
Congrats to all the participants for their amazing tanks and thanks to everyone who’s viewed and/or commented on any of the tanks!  

Now for the final pics!

Final FTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video from this morning

 

"Bonnie and Clyde  (or actually Clyde and Bonnie as in the pic)

 

 

Some RFAs

 

 

 

 

The only named RFA - "Grumpy". You can see why. I couldn't this one the other morning.

 

 

GSP coverage

 

 

That's all for now folks!!!

 

[debbeach13]

Nice write up. I really enjoyed following your tank.

[seabass]

Yes, excellent write up.  The tank looks great.  I'm so happy that everything is doing so well.  I'm confident that someday you'll have a bunch of RFA babies.  Keep up the good work.

[Weetabix7]

16 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

Final Contest Post

Wow - that went fast!  It’s been fun, frustrating, exciting, overwhelming, satisfying, and I’m so glad I participated. I’ve learned so much, and I’ve enjoyed seeing the progression of the other contestants’ tanks and how they’ve been caring for them, their challenges, and how they’ve handled them.  Pretty impressive if you ask me! 
And I’ve enjoyed getting all the responses, reactions, help @seabass @StinkyBunny @FlowerMama @kimberbee @Weetabix7 @BulkRate, and feedback everyone has given on my tank.  So for that, THANK YOU!!
 

As you all know, I consider myself a newb.  I had a saltwater tank back in high school but it was so different then.  I don’t consider that real experience for this and the thought of having my first tank and all my actions on display for this was a bit unnerving.  

Up until this contest started, all the advice I had read was to take it slow.  Well, that clearly doesn’t apply to a 100 days contest!  I was quite overwhelmed at first with all the decisions that needed to be made and actions that needed to be taken just to get started.  Luckily, I had been reading threads and learning about setting-up and taking care of a  tank since January, which helped with this contest tremendously. I can’t imagine how things would have turned out if I hadn’t been doing that. 

 

A special thanks goes to @Weetabix7 during this time to help me make some quick decisions and get started down a good path.  And also for some fast growing bright green GSP!

 

Advice for newbs - read, read, read the threads first, plan it out, and take your time. All the information you need to get started and be successful is out there. Then, when you can’t find an answer, ask a question.  People here are more than happy to help out.

 

Observations/Challenges

Equipment

• IM 14 Peninsula - I love the tank itself.  Great build quality.  I wish I could have set it up to take advantage of the peninsula style but that wasn’t going to give me the view perspective that I was looking for. 
• The stock IM pump - you know I hate it.  Overall it is quieter than when the contest started but it’s still too loud IMO. Sometimes I have to turn it off and on a couple of times to get it to its quietest operation.  In addition, I was more than a little disappointed when the replacement pump came with a broken pin. But, at the time, I had so much other stuff to concern myself with that I didn’t take the time to get a replacement for the replacement. 
• Current Marine Orbit Pro - I like the light. I didn’t take full advantage of its capability but my livestock didn’t require it.  I programmed my own light schedule. It wasn’t intuitive at first, but after you figure it out, it’s pretty easy.  My only complaint is that if the power goes out, the light doesn’t resume to the set program in the right place when it comes back on.   
• Submersible LED light - I experimented with a 7” light in the second chamber and found it was strong enough to grow chaeto. Every 2 weeks I harvest a little bit of it.  Maybe now that the contest is over, I’ll take it out and see if there’s an increase in algae in the tank. I will say that the flow of water through the second chamber wasn’t really fast enough to keep the slime from accumulating on the netting that holds the chaeto. 
• Intank Floss Holder - love it!  A must have for any tank. Thanks @inTank
• ATO - I don’t have one. At roughly 400-500 manual top-offs at this point, I know why people have them!  I’m amazed at how much evaporation there is each day.  This will be an upcoming purchase!

Livestock - $432 

• GSP - $25 - At first, I was a little concerned I wasn’t going to get much coverage in 100 days, but it’s grown quite well. 
• Snails - $12 - Dwarf ceriths, Florida ceriths, Nerites, and Nassarius.  I got a 10 gallon Quick Crew from Reef Cleaners @johnmaloney and split it up between my reef bowl and the contest tank.  I swear there are a lot more snails in the tank now than when I started.  First thing I did every morning was to check for snail jumpers.  I’m happy to report there were no successful suicides. 
• 2 Porcelain Crabs - $34 - These two are pretty cool to watch but can really be a PIA when it comes to feeding the RFA’s.  They are bullies and will literally grab food out of the nems’ mouths.  The molts freaked me out a couple times for sure! 
• 2 Occellaris Clownfish - “Bonnie and Clyde” - $40 - I was so nervous when I added Clyde to the tank (first fish).  I watched him for hours to make sure he looked OK and was settling in. I was really surprised how active he became after Bonnie arrived. She’s becoming more aggressive towards him, and he just spazzes out to appease her.  The two are now inseparable as you can see in most pictures.  They have so much personality, and I know they recognize me when I come up to the tank. 
• Rock Flower Anemones - $321 - I’m completely fascinated and addicted to RFA’s. Each one has a personality too.I got all mine from @VIPReef.  They did a great job picking out nice looking RFA’s for my orders, and they’ve been very helpful trying to sort out the issues I’ve had.  There were no issues giving me credit for some of the losses. 
  • Order 1 - 10 RFAs.   My original plan was to have 10 RFAs in the tank. As you all know from my thread, things didn’t go as planned, and you could tell how frustrated I was.  In the end, I believe (right or wrong) that I lost the first two due to the stress of being moved from their tanks at VIP and shipping. I believe the next two had some kind of infection that developed over a short period of time after introduction, and the last two died because of those damn fire worms. 
  • Order 2 - 9 RFAs (I got another 10 pack but one was for @BulkRate) - I lost two within a day or two of the order arriving. Those two had issues with their feet from the beginning (wouldn’t attach to the acclimation basket even) and I suspected they might not make it. I’ve already e-mailed VIP about credit for those, and I’m sure they will issue that.

So now I’ve got 11 RFAs in my garden that I love. I hope all the worms are gone (I think they are but I’m still on watch for them) and that the RFAs grow and someday have babies. I’d like to have an entire separate tank full of nem babies. @BulkRate - let me know when a couple of your babies are big enough to make a move to my tank!

 

What would I do differently
I would dip my rocks.  I chose live rock for the contest because I didn’t think there was going to be enough time to cycle dry rocks. Then, as I received the rocks before the contest started, my concern was keeping as much alive on them as possible - so dipping them would have seemed a little counter intuitive, and I would have never thought of it. 

 

I would add fish first to get the tank “dirty” and then add the RFA’s. If there had been some detritus in the sand, maybe, just maybe, the worms might not have taken to munching on the nems - assuming that’s what really happened.  I never saw them doing that, but after I removed the few worms I had, I haven’t had any losses.    

 

I also might add fewer RFAs to begin with. Although, if I had only added five to begin with and lost four of them so quickly I would have been really discouraged!  I chose to go with 10 in the beginning because the feedback was they were easy to care for, I felt a little time crunched, and I wanted to get them into the tank and settled so I had at least that part accomplished because I was so much more nervous about getting fish and didn’t want the expense of doing multiple shipments of RFAs (@$50 each). RFAs are expensive enough already.  

 

Final thoughts
I wish I had a better camera and knew how to take good photos. Taking pictures has always been a challenge to me, and I’m so jealous of all the wonderful photography I see on NR.  Kudos to all of you who do it well.

 

Thanks to @metrokat @jedimasterben and @Christopher Marks for arranging this contest and to all the sponsors @InnovativeMarine @Marine Depot @Oceanbox Designs @inTank @DaveFason @johnmaloney @sangheili @World Wide Corals
Congrats to all the participants for their amazing tanks and thanks to everyone who’s viewed and/or commented on any of the tanks!  

Now for the final pics!

Final FTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video from this morning

 

"Bonnie and Clyde  (or actually Clyde and Bonnie as in the pic)

 

 

Some RFAs

 

 

 

 

The only named RFA - "Grumpy". You can see why. I couldn't this one the other morning.

 

 

GSP coverage

 

 

That's all for now folks!!!

 

 

Thanks for letting me be a part of this with you from the beginning. 

I know you did feel like a Noob, but I think you handled the challenges that came up really well, and I think the things you learned from this venture will be really helpful as you move forward and give you a very useful foundation to build on. 

It will be interesting to see what new things you take on. 

I really liked the sunlit video, all the RFA close-ups, and I think you have Padina Macro on the GSP rock!!

As others have said, good write-up. 

I also have to say that I think dipping Live Rock is counter-intuitive.  

But that's me. 

It was cool to watch your journey but I think it'll be even cooler to watch this continuing, moving forward.

[Pjanssen]

Great write up @SeaFurn  I feel like I learned from your thread too. I'm. It sure I would have had the conviction to continue the way you did. You're an inspiration

[metrokat]

Love love love. Thank you for letting us be a part of this journey with you. 

[SeaFurn]

11 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Nice write up. I really enjoyed following your tank.

Thank you!  And thank you for following along with all your responses!

 

5 hours ago, seabass said:

Yes, excellent write up.  The tank looks great.  I'm so happy that everything is doing so well.  I'm confident that someday you'll have a bunch of RFA babies.  Keep up the good work.

I really really appreciate all your help!  I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions so be prepared!

 

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks for letting me be a part of this with you from the beginning. 

I know you did feel like a Noob, but I think you handled the challenges that came up really well, and I think the things you learned from this venture will be really helpful as you move forward and give you a very useful foundation to build on. 

It will be interesting to see what new things you take on. 

I really liked the sunlit video, all the RFA close-ups, and I think you have Padina Macro on the GSP rock!!

As others have said, good write-up. 

I also have to say that I think dipping Live Rock is counter-intuitive.  

But that's me. 

It was cool to watch your journey but I think it'll be even cooler to watch this continuing, moving forward.

Thanks Weetie!  Couldn't have done it without ya!  

 

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

Great write up @SeaFurn  I feel like I learned from your thread too. I'm. It sure I would have had the conviction to continue the way you did. You're an inspiration

Aw...thank you!  

Having followed your thread I think you would have pressed on too!  

I loved following your tank - it's absolutely beautiful and you should get an award for the stand it's on alone! 

 

11 minutes ago, metrokat said:

Love love love. Thank you for letting us be a part of this journey with you. 

Thanks Kat - felt like an uphill hike sometimes but I'm glad I did it! 

[Lula_Mae]

Love this tank and the write up, too!  Glad you stuck with it when things were rough.  And I have this thread to thank for the inspiration for my new GSP garden! Great job, and the RFA's look amazing!

[SeaFurn]

RFAs still kickin!

 

 

 

 

[seabass]

I think you got this now.   Not that you were doing anything wrong.  But I don't expect many more problems... just RFA babies.

[Weetabix7]

20 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

RFAs still kickin!

 

 

 

 

 

They look so good, ohmigosh!!! 

Those are great pics too. 

[Lawnman]

Very nice tank!!!

[SeaFurn]

18 minutes ago, Lawnman said:

Very nice tank!!!

Thanks Lawn! 

I cracked up at your comment in the Lounge last night that RFAs suck ass! That they do sometimes!

Also wanted to say thanks for mentioning you were gonna watch the fight on Instagram Live-was able to catch it! Would have never thought of that.

Lame fight. Wasn't sure what to expect though. 

[Lawnman]

2 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

Thanks Lawn! 

I cracked up at your comment in the Lounge last night that RFAs suck ass! That they do sometimes!

Also wanted to say thanks for mentioning you were gonna watch the fight on Instagram Live-was able to catch it! Would have never thought of that.

Lame fight. Wasn't sure what to expect though. 

 that's how I watch all the big fights. 

[SeaFurn]

While feeding the clowns tonight I noticed 3 of the RFA's were completely stretched upward like I've never seen before.  I kept watching and one of them started spawning!!  The other two remained stretched upward and formed a cup with their face. Their mouths were protruding and had somewhat of a yellow color which I've never seen on them.  I'm assuming they are female.  They are the largest in the tank and have grown so fast.  There were part of my second order.  The other 7 nems in the tank didn't seem to react to what was going on at all.  I turned off the pumps and gently swirled the water around while the spawning continued for about 30 minutes.  I then removed all the filter floss and just ran the pump and moonlights for the next hour.  Lights are off now and I replaced the filter floss.  The fall equinox was a little over a week ago so they are a little behind schedule - although I just thought mine were too juvenile to spawn.  Pretty exciting! Thought I'd share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Sweet

[seabass]

On 8/27/2017 at 12:42 PM, seabass said:

I don't expect many more problems... just RFA babies.

I just love to say I told you so.

[Pjanssen]

This is exciting

[SeaFurn]

53 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Sweet

Yes!  So exciting!

 

51 minutes ago, seabass said:

I just love to say I told you so.

Ha! You did - now we wait for 7-10 weeks!  I totally didn't expect it though. I was thinking in the Spring I might see this but not sure there was enough action with just one spawning. @BulkRate said his entire tank was cloudy. Mine not so much.  

Got any advice as to what I need to be looking for next?

 

2 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

This is exciting

I know!  Can you believe it?  

[seabass]

2 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

what I need to be looking for next?

This:

I was looking at my tank and saw a few babies on the sand.  A couple of minutes later, a couple more.  Then I saw a RFA giving birth, grabbed the camera, and shot this video.

 

[BulkRate]

Awesome news, all!  Thanks for that video, too, Seabass.

 

@SeaFurn Yep, just wat a few weeks and start watching for some of your female anemones to start turning themselves inside out mid-to-late November.  Last couple times I've missed the event itself, but found several new anemones around the based of the mothers (maybe about the size of split lentils) when feeding.

 

I suggest target feeding the anemones you suspect to be female a couple times a week with small particulate foods (chopped LRS nano blend, ReefRoids, Hikari cyclops or DrG's decapsulated brine shrimp eggs or even ground-up pellets soaked in tank water).

 

 

[Weetabix7]

Very cool, so neat to see this happening in your tank!!!!

 

[Minmay]

Thats awesome!!! If you wanna give one away Id be happy to take one or pay ?

[SeaFurn]

On 10/11/2017 at 7:58 PM, Minmay said:

Thats awesome!!! If you wanna give one away Id be happy to take one or pay ?

Well I'm hoping to figure this RFA breeding thing out, grow them up a bit and then  offer them up exclusively to N-R members!  It's gonna take time and I'm sure lots of ups and downs. But go ahead count yourself in iine for one - SOMEDAY! 

[SeaFurn]

First fire worms and now this -

some kind of sea spider.

Saw it in my tank about a week ago and was fortunate enough to get a pic before it literally jumped off the rock and swung under it just like it was attached to some kind of spider man web. Crazy!

@StinkyBunny says to KILL IT WITH FIRE!

@seabass sent me a link to info on these interesting little creatures. 

I haven't seen it since and I have no idea how I'm gonna catch it. It's very tiny. I guess I will have to go into  mode. If anyone has any tips let me know!