Lula Mae's full circle 5.5--the end.

[Lula_Mae]

6 hours ago, gogeta said:

Are you gonna do this pico contest?

Yep! I'm the third contestant 

 

 

[Pjanssen]

7 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah, I don't want bryopsis in my big tank lol.

NO YOU DON"T!!

[Pjanssen]

This tank is looking great. Love the st thomas-Thinking of adding one or two to the IM14. I've never had luck with the big feather dusters-they are so beautiful though and it looks great where you placed it.

[WV Reefer]

I love that St. Thomas Mushroom!  My red one got chopped by the powerhead.  

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Pjanssen said:

This tank is looking great. Love the st thomas-Thinking of adding one or two to the IM14. I've never had luck with the big feather dusters-they are so beautiful though and it looks great where you placed it.

Thanks, I was feeling kind of discouraged about it thanks mostly to the algae being so aggressive. It's on one of my blasto frags so I'll have to peroxide carefully. 

35 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

I love that St. Thomas Mushroom!  My red one got chopped by the powerhead.  

Awww that stinks! I'd be so sad. I've wanted a red one almost as long as I've been in the hobby and was super excited to find one so cheap! Now if I could only find one that looked like my very first bright green one from Coral Morphologic. 

[Lula_Mae]

Had a little trouble this weekend with this tank.  A member here kindly offered me some frags from their tanks, and unfortunately the gorgs he sent did not appreciate their trek through the postal service so they started dying and sloughing flesh, turning the tanks very cloudy and pissing things off.  I ended up removing them as they continued sloughing flesh after I tried clipping the dying bits, refreshing the carbon, and dosing Prime and Microbacter, and doing water changes.  I believe I have averted a tank crash but my beautiful yellow and purple feather duster has disappeared, and I can't tell if it just dropped its crown or if it jumped or is dead.   It didn't help that I had peroxide dipped a few zoas to get rid of the bryopsis on the plugs they were on.  Some things still look a bit angry but overall the tank seems to be getting back to normal.

 

I also never shared what I got for this tank when I got the inverts for the Jarden--I picked up a Christmas tree worm rock!  It's gorgeous and the worms are out most of the time, but the porites are already struggling.  I think they need more flow.  I'll try to post a pic soon.

 

I just noticed my red and blue blasto already has at least two more baby heads.  Man it's growing fast! My persnickity purple and green one has baby heads that are growing bigger (they've always been there but growth was pretty stagnant).  They seem pretty happy.

 

Lastly, I was able to get a fantastic deal on a used AI Prime! It should be here in a few days.  I need to get some L-bracket thingies to reinforce the cube organizer shelf I will be using as a stand, but am hoping to have the 15 set up and cycling by the end of the week!  I will be ecstatic if that is able to happen!

 

The clownfish is happily hanging out in her QT PVC.  She has learned to beg for food. Still hates the Formula One flakes, still loves the Omega marine garlic mini pellets.  Silly clown!

[BustytheSnowMaam]

My limited experience with feather dusters is that they eventually emerge with new feathers.  Hopefully that's all that happens to yours.  

[Lula_Mae]

2 minutes ago, tashayar said:

My limited experience with feather dusters is that they eventually emerge with new feathers.  Hopefully that's all that happens to yours.  

I hope so too, I could tell by the way his feathers were curling that he was very stressed (looked like he did the time I accidentally got a little peroxide on him! ) but I haven't even seen the worm poke out of the tube so I worry.  The big duster in the jar dropped his crown but was still alive when I last looked, just looked very peeved lol.

[gogeta]

Check out on rc there's a thread to set up AI lighting schedule to the radion AB+ settings which is one of the best lighting schedule and settings out there for these lights.

 

off the top of my head the thread is called AI hydra settings thread. But obviously can be applied to the prime. 

[StinkyBunny]

If Porites is having issues, there's something else going on in there. I suspect that your alk and calcium aren't right. Check those as well as your mag.

 I bring in Xmas tree worm rocks quite often and I have one that's green. I'll try to shoot a pic of it tonight if I get in in time to clean the glass. The damn Lamarck's angels ate the worms, damn angels.

[Lula_Mae]

18 hours ago, gogeta said:

Check out on rc there's a thread to set up AI lighting schedule to the radion AB+ settings which is one of the best lighting schedule and settings out there for these lights.

 

off the top of my head the thread is called AI hydra settings thread. But obviously can be applied to the prime. 

Thanks for the tip!  It came today and I got it connected to my wifi just now, will have to fiddle with settings later as I've got somewhere to be, but it's gorgeous!

 

48 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

If Porites is having issues, there's something else going on in there. I suspect that your alk and calcium aren't right. Check those as well as your mag.

 I bring in Xmas tree worm rocks quite often and I have one that's green. I'll try to shoot a pic of it tonight if I get in in time to clean the glass. The damn Lamarck's angels ate the worms, damn angels.

You may be right, I don't have test kits but I do need to do a big water change.  Part of it is that one of the rocks fell on it, I think the trochus knocked it over.  By the time I noticed the porites in that spot were already turning white.   I suspected it may want more flow as I found detritus stuck on one spot, I'll have to figure out how I can make that happen.  At least the worms are happy.  Tank's still ornery but hopefully a water change will make it happy.  I'll probably Lugol's dip the angry zoas again.

[Lula_Mae]

Tank is looking happy, things are mostly all opened back up AND I noticed a teeny little crown on my feather duster last night!  He's out now too, it looks a pale yellowy color but I am SO happy he's alive!  I never saw the crown he dropped so I wasn't even sure he made it.  Been thinking about adding the clown in here for now, she's been in quarantine for six weeks today.  Think I should go a little longer?

 

Went on a little Diver's Den shopping spree for the jar and picked up a few things that will go into this tank (though one will spend time in jail quarantine first).

Pederson's shrimp (am undecided whether to put him in here or in the jar)

 

Another pom pom...I may have a problem lol.

 

And lastly...a tailspot blenny!  Isn't he adorable?

 

I'll probably move the clown in here so this guy can use the quarantine tank and move her to the 15 once it's going.  I got a great deal on an AI Prime, which was my first choice for a light, AND I got it in white, which is the color I wanted!  I just need to reinforce the stand and I'm painting the back the same gray as I did this tank because I love it so much.  Hoping to set it up in a couple days!

 

[DevFishe]

Gotta love those pom-poms. You actually inspired me to get one... the way mine attacks food reminds me of a creepy white spider monster demon. But hes a cutie  plus... one more symbiosis in the tank... yay!

[Nano sapiens]

Good choice of critters!

[Lula_Mae]

58 minutes ago, DevFishe said:

Gotta love those pom-poms. You actually inspired me to get one... the way mine attacks food reminds me of a creepy white spider monster demon. But hes a cutie  plus... one more symbiosis in the tank... yay!

Haha yes, they kind of do look spider like.  The first time I saw a video, I was creeped out.  But then I got one and... I think this will be my eighth or ninth pom pom lol.

[gogeta]

+1 on feeling inspired to find a Pom Pom crab now too!

[StinkyBunny]

 

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

 

LiveAquaria is a dangerous website for me lol. Hopefully I don't have issues getting this guy to eat like I did the last blenny.  Any advice on feeding TSBs is welcome!

[ninjamyst]

keep us updated on your LiveAquaria order!  I am tempted to get a few fish from them once I get back from vacation instead of waiting for my LFS to get them in stock.

[StinkyBunny]

27 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

LiveAquaria is a dangerous website for me lol. Hopefully I don't have issues getting this guy to eat like I did the last blenny.  Any advice on feeding TSBs is welcome!

Mine loves Mysis shrimp. That's my go to food for new arrivals.

18 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

keep us updated on your LiveAquaria order!  I am tempted to get a few fish from them once I get back from vacation instead of waiting for my LFS to get them in stock.

Please, please be VERY careful with their fish. I'm not one for QTing fish, but theirs need to be.

[gone_PHiSHin]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

LiveAquaria is a dangerous website for me lol. Hopefully I don't have issues getting this guy to eat like I did the last blenny.  Any advice on feeding TSBs is welcome!

Lula buy these pellets for your tailspot:

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/seaweed-extreme-hikari.html

 

they are very cheap for what you get, very small for the TSB's little mouths, and are 67% seaweed...which from my research and experience, you want a majority of the TSB's diet to consist of plant matter.  i have read that they often have a much shorter lifespan if their diet is based around meat and not veggie.  

 

i have had mine for 9 months in my IM10 and he loves these.  at first i had to soak the pellet in a drop of selcon to get him to eat it, now he will eat 3-6 pellets in a sitting, and they only get soaked a few times a month as a vitamin boost.  TSBs don't eat much in one sitting, relatively anyway, like say a clown would...so i turn off my pump and only add in one or two at a time until he is uninterested and lets the pellet hit the sand.  mine was very small when i got him so he would only eat a pellet or two at a time, so i fed him twice a day. 

 

my TSB also likes PE Pellets, '1 mm slow sinking', which is mostly PE mysis.  these pellets are also tiny, which is very important for TSBs when small, otherwise they spit it out.  he gets these about once or twice a week but mostly the Seaweed Extreme.  throughout the day he will certainly graze any algae you have growing in the tank, he's kept mine pretty much algae free.

 

i have tried Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies in purple and green and he just does not love them.  i have tried the clip, and i've tried cutting the sheet into very small pieces and he will occasionally eat a small piece or two but he is mostly uninterested (they have to be cut VERY small).  this sucks because i want his diet to consist of much more of this.  i've also soaked a few small pieces in Selcon, which helps, but not really.  my girlfriend gets pissed he "won't eat his veggies" and that they have to be cut up very small or he won't touch them, just like a little kid 

 

good luck with the guy, they are one of my absolute favorite nano fish.  mine got named Mowgli.  hope this helps!

[ninjamyst]

1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

Please, please be VERY careful with their fish. I'm not one for QTing fish, but theirs need to be.

hmm....i thought people pay the premium for LA because their fish are known to be in better health.  Sigh.  I guess back to my LFS.  

[gone_PHiSHin]

5 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

hmm....i thought people pay the premium for LA because their fish are known to be in better health.  Sigh.  I guess back to my LFS.  

 

you may be thinking Diver's Den and not actual Live Aquaria?

[fishfreak0114]

My TSB devours mysis and flake.  He would nibble at nori when I used to put it in the tank.  If I remember correctly, it took him a while to start eating.  Try as many foods as you can.  I hope your critters arrive safely!

[StinkyBunny]

7 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

hmm....i thought people pay the premium for LA because their fish are known to be in better health.  Sigh.  I guess back to my LFS.  

I bought fish from both and have never had a fish live for very long or they bring in crap that wipes out everything in short order. They're the reason I got back into the business of transshipping fish and corals. That and there being no shops in the area. The closest store to me is 45 mins away.

 

Definitely try the veggie pellets. Ours would eat those after he got settled in the tank, can't remember which pellets we used, but Hikari makes great foods, I use them for my Koi and goldfish.