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Madcat's Fluval Evo 13.5 - new shrimpy


Madcat

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21 hours ago, Madcat said:

:D Thanks!

 

Ooh, good advice! Thanks!

 

I have a bit of a funny story to share. I've mentioned in another thread that I work at a chain pet store (no SW stuff, but I like it). We had this odd customer for awhile, a woman probably in her 30's, who would come in several times a week, but disappeared after the store manager invited her to shop elsewhere when she repeatedly refused to utilize our black cashier. Well she reappeared on the weekend which we thought was strange. Then we got an email from one of our sister stores advising us to watch out for this customer - they caught her shoplifting, called the police, and banned her from the store. Employees had seen her putting aquatic plants in her purse on previous occasions. Who does that?!

 

Well she came in today too and we pretty much all kept eyes on her. She knew it and was acting super nervous. After half an hour or so she left. My shift ended not long after that and I headed to the fish store, which is not that close to my own store. I walked around looking at their livestock for a bit, rounded a corner... and saw this customer lifting a plant out of a tank! At that point she glanced around, we made brief eye contact, she casually replaced the plant and then leapt up and scurried away.

 

How weird is this person?! Anyway I caught a couple of employees and advised them to keep an eye on her and told them why. I guess I ruined her shopping trip. Oops.

 

I forgot to mention, I saw this macro at the store. Thought about putting a handful in my pants but decided to get an ID first! Thoughts?

 

IMG_5260.thumb.JPG.701da0673f429ef2b27b0e3dfcf3a6d0.JPG

 

ETA: Oh, and while we're talking about the crazy price of livestock in Canada, I saw a harlequin shrimp that cost $78.99.

So weird!  I used to work in a library and we definitely got a few odd customers lol.

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21 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

So weird!  I used to work in a library and we definitely got a few odd customers lol.

We have a few special customers but I think she takes the cake. Who puts soggy live plants in their purse? They cost like $5! Of all the things to steal.

 

I was at work ALL day and my corals haven't grown at all. This is outrageous. :furious:

 

Pretty sure I watched my blasto poop this morning. It was startling. I thought something was crawling out of it. But I think it was just a poop. The blasto looks happy. Its second head has the tiniest mouth!

 

I really wish my light was bluer. The blasto and clove polyp are pretty either way (they really fluoresce under the blue light though!). But my mint chocolate chip paly looks nothing like the ones I've seen online! I don't want to sacrifice my hood and I don't plan on trying my hand at SPS or anything that would require more advanced lighting - I just wish I could find some blue strip LEDs specifically for enhancing coral colours that I could mount inside the hood. It'd be nice to have more control over the stock light, too. Fluval should really come up with some upgrades that you can buy separately. :closedeyes:

 

Thinking I'll take my big rock piece out again and chip at it a bit more. And keep the rubble, this time! Just have to work up my confidence again. (What if I ruin my rock?!) Also want to look into finding an aquarium stand, hopefully for not too much $. It's on my bathroom counter right now and I'm beginning to hate all the wires dangling off it. A stand would hide everything nicely, plus then I could move the tank into my bedroom and watch my fishes... when I get fishes. Someday.

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3 hours ago, Madcat said:

We have a few special customers but I think she takes the cake. Who puts soggy live plants in their purse? They cost like $5! Of all the things to steal.

 

I was at work ALL day and my corals haven't grown at all. This is outrageous. :furious:

 

Pretty sure I watched my blasto poop this morning. It was startling. I thought something was crawling out of it. But I think it was just a poop. The blasto looks happy. Its second head has the tiniest mouth!

 

I really wish my light was bluer. The blasto and clove polyp are pretty either way (they really fluoresce under the blue light though!). But my mint chocolate chip paly looks nothing like the ones I've seen online! I don't want to sacrifice my hood and I don't plan on trying my hand at SPS or anything that would require more advanced lighting - I just wish I could find some blue strip LEDs specifically for enhancing coral colours that I could mount inside the hood. It'd be nice to have more control over the stock light, too. Fluval should really come up with some upgrades that you can buy separately. :closedeyes:

 

Thinking I'll take my big rock piece out again and chip at it a bit more. And keep the rubble, this time! Just have to work up my confidence again. (What if I ruin my rock?!) Also want to look into finding an aquarium stand, hopefully for not too much $. It's on my bathroom counter right now and I'm beginning to hate all the wires dangling off it. A stand would hide everything nicely, plus then I could move the tank into my bedroom and watch my fishes... when I get fishes. Someday.

There are blue strip lights available but atm I could not tell you who makes them, too tired lol.  But they do exist!  If the thing coming from the blastos mouth was brownish and long and kinda stringy, yep poop it was!  Haha my zoas and palys do it too sometimes.

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18 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

There are blue strip lights available but atm I could not tell you who makes them, too tired lol.  But they do exist!  If the thing coming from the blastos mouth was brownish and long and kinda stringy, yep poop it was!  Haha my zoas and palys do it too sometimes.

The only one I can find is this: https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-18LEDs-Aquarium-Strip-Light/dp/B00OP3P0XA I know someone else with the Evo 13.5 mounted two of them in the hood. It just doesn't have glowing reviews, but for that price I may as well try. Maybe I'll wait till I have more corals - I've already spent a lot this month...

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15 hours ago, Madcat said:

The only one I can find is this: https://www.amazon.com/LEDENET-18LEDs-Aquarium-Strip-Light/dp/B00OP3P0XA I know someone else with the Evo 13.5 mounted two of them in the hood. It just doesn't have glowing reviews, but for that price I may as well try. Maybe I'll wait till I have more corals - I've already spent a lot this month...

Haha I know the feeling, setting up a tank is :bling:!!!  It should be fine for a couple weeks till you can figure something out, and maybe if you look in the lighting forum, someone might have an idea of what you can look for.

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5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Haha I know the feeling, setting up a tank is :bling:!!!  It should be fine for a couple weeks till you can figure something out, and maybe if you look in the lighting forum, someone might have an idea of what you can look for.

Maybe I will just save up for a real light, a quality one. The more I have to work on the tank, the more the hood annoys me. You have to move the entire thing to get in the tank at all. And now that I have corals, I want them to REALLY look nice. It might be worth the light upgrade even if I don't plan on trying my hand at SPS.

 

I do think I will invest in a stand and move the tank into my bedroom, this week ideally. Aside from generally looking messy, I keep feeling that having all my wires in front of the tank is a hazard, even if I do most of my maintenance from the side (and have most of the wires stuffed in a drawer).

 

Last night while brushing my teeth I watched Edouard examine each of the new shells I bought. Then he walked away. My offerings have been rejected. :(

 

I fed my corals again today and they (and the snails) seem happy. The blasto is all wide and puffy - you almost can't even see the second head. That's how it looked in the store, which makes me hopeful that it's feeling good in my tank!

 

IMG_5311.thumb.JPG.47a67c03c228a23827f8ac35da37f8e9.JPG

 

And look at the upper right corner - those brownish spots are starting to appear all over my rock. I think we're finally heading into diatom country. I'll have to savour my tank while it's still pretty!

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3 minutes ago, Lugmos12 said:

what are you feeding them?

Nano Reef Roids. I target feed each head/polyp and then turn my powerhead back on and squirt the remainder into the water column. In future I'll be more stingy but right now I just want my snails to find food.

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I survived my first Real Water Change! Like, with a heater and aerator and everything, not just siphoning out water and then mixing some new stuff and dumping it in. I ended up replacing about 2 gallons because I siphoned a bunch of crud out of the back chambers. I also cut a little plastic sheet and wedged it partway between chambers 1 and 2, so that the water has to pass through my media. (There's space at the top for the water to bypass my filter floss altogether, without the plastic there.) We'll see if that makes any kind of difference. Not so sure my return pump is strong enough to forcibly suck all the water through the filter floss. Kinda looking at a Cobalt MJ900.

 

Really looking forward to streamlining the whole procedure next week, lol. Also, I blasted all the rock with my turkey baster, and you wouldn't believe how much crap came off. Including the brownish spots! Bye diatoms?

 

Claudette being a cutey as usual, and Edouard molesting my paly:

 

IMG_5315.thumb.JPG.65ef7cf0e3a3af5f30c85d4f74bb6d5b.JPGIMG_5316.thumb.JPG.e746390abf520776ce24ecf03c203e5c.JPG

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3 hours ago, Nomoreammo said:

Good updates, really glad it's working out for you! :)

Thank you! I really hope everything continues to go semi-smoothly!

 

Poor blasto looked a little constipated this morning. Maybe I overfed it yesterday? It looks fine now though. :D Also, all the brownish spots on my rock came back with a vengeance. Pretty sure we are well on track for the Ugly Stage. Oh well. White rocks were nice while they lasted.

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Just now, Lugmos12 said:

I really like that blasto.

ME TOO! It's my favourite tank occupant next to Claudette (sorry Edouard). I want it to groooow!!

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My clove polyps are GROWING!

 

Last Wed:

59812776cfbbe_FullSizeRender(19).jpg.a8931ecfbf8361437c2b6b66dbcba5cd.jpg

 

Today:

5981278b74b49_FullSizeRender(20).jpg.ca8ccba4416fb4719f7c82c5319f90ff.jpg

 

Look on the right! New head growing! Also, holy diatoms, Batman.

 

I've been grumbling a bit about my temp controller because my tank is apparently stellar at maintaining itself at 80*, when I have an accurate thermometer in there. But today was STUPID hot and the fan was running when I got home. So who knows how warm the tank might have ended up? Anyway, it's a very clever device. Highly recommend. Tank is creeping up again (80.9 right now) and I don't have to stare at it all evening cuz the Inkbird is on it. B)

 

It turns out there are 6 fish stores on this one strip of road near me, and I only knew of 3 of them! So tomorrow (if I'm not too tired after work) or Thursday I'm gonna go window shopping! I'll have to restrain myself if I don't find one of my planned fishes. (Every time I see a twinspot goby I want one... but there's no way I could feed one. Man.)

 

Still considering adding a bit of the red macro to my tank. More research is in order... we shall see.

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34 minutes ago, Madcat said:

My clove polyps are GROWING!

 

Last Wed:

59812776cfbbe_FullSizeRender(19).jpg.a8931ecfbf8361437c2b6b66dbcba5cd.jpg

 

Today:

5981278b74b49_FullSizeRender(20).jpg.ca8ccba4416fb4719f7c82c5319f90ff.jpg

 

Look on the right! New head growing! Also, holy diatoms, Batman.

 

I've been grumbling a bit about my temp controller because my tank is apparently stellar at maintaining itself at 80*, when I have an accurate thermometer in there. But today was STUPID hot and the fan was running when I got home. So who knows how warm the tank might have ended up? Anyway, it's a very clever device. Highly recommend. Tank is creeping up again (80.9 right now) and I don't have to stare at it all evening cuz the Inkbird is on it. B)

 

It turns out there are 6 fish stores on this one strip of road near me, and I only knew of 3 of them! So tomorrow (if I'm not too tired after work) or Thursday I'm gonna go window shopping! I'll have to restrain myself if I don't find one of my planned fishes. (Every time I see a twinspot goby I want one... but there's no way I could feed one. Man.)

 

Still considering adding a bit of the red macro to my tank. More research is in order... we shall see.

Careful, clove polyps can spread like wildfire! :lol:

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36 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Careful, clove polyps can spread like wildfire! :lol:

For now, I want it to!! That means it likes me, right? :D

 

I think I may start using ChemiPure Blue Nano instead of carbon. Just a thought. How often does one change CPB?

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I only noticed last night that the second head on my blasto has grown noticeably in size since last week. It likes to really open up at night and it's been pushing on the rim of the main head more and more! Anyway, I was just gazing lovingly at the blasto, as I do, when I noticed something. I reached in and was able to rotate the plug a bit without disturbing anyone. And...

 

IMG_5426.JPG.263683262245826281245b50e479b5e8.JPG

 

IT'S A NEW HEAD! A BRAND NEW BABY HEAD THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE!

 

I'm in awe. I've been waiting (impatiently) for my corals to grow, and now that I see growth (especially on the blasto - my favourite - from whom I was expecting very slow growth for some reason), I've just been struck dumb. These creatures have been in my tank less than a week and they're not only surviving, they're GROWING. I can see why this hobby is so addictive.

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5 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Awesome!  I remember how excited I was when my first blasto started growing a new head

I hope all your blastos get better! I decided on a blasto as my first non-cheap coral kind of last minute, and now I just adore it. They're beautiful.

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fishfreak0114
3 minutes ago, Madcat said:

I hope all your blastos get better! I decided on a blasto as my first non-cheap coral kind of last minute, and now I just adore it. They're beautiful.

Thanks :) I'm hopeful for the majority to pull through.  Just wait, if you keep visiting Canada corals I bet you'll come home with more!  They have some very nice ones, at least half of mine came form them.

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12 hours ago, Madcat said:

For now, I want it to!! That means it likes me, right? :D

 

I think I may start using ChemiPure Blue Nano instead of carbon. Just a thought. How often does one change CPB?

Not sure lol I've never used it.  Hopefully someone else can chime in, or do a search and see if you can find what others do.

 

Yay for new blasto heads!

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23 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Thanks :) I'm hopeful for the majority to pull through.  Just wait, if you keep visiting Canada corals I bet you'll come home with more!  They have some very nice ones, at least half of mine came form them.

Would tomorrow be too early to add more corals? :lol:

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On 8/2/2017 at 0:12 AM, Madcat said:

I only noticed last night that the second head on my blasto has grown noticeably in size since last week. It likes to really open up at night and it's been pushing on the rim of the main head more and more! Anyway, I was just gazing lovingly at the blasto, as I do, when I noticed something. I reached in and was able to rotate the plug a bit without disturbing anyone. And...

 

IMG_5426.JPG.263683262245826281245b50e479b5e8.JPG

 

IT'S A NEW HEAD! A BRAND NEW BABY HEAD THAT WASN'T THERE BEFORE!

 

I'm in awe. I've been waiting (impatiently) for my corals to grow, and now that I see growth (especially on the blasto - my favourite - from whom I was expecting very slow growth for some reason), I've just been struck dumb. These creatures have been in my tank less than a week and they're not only surviving, they're GROWING. I can see why this hobby is so addictive.

 

That's awesome, congratulations!!!

I love Blastos, and the type you have are the same as my first Blastos!!

I really like Cloves too. 

 

The red Macro that you linked at the top of the page looks like Red Graciliara to me.

It's a good low maintenance Macro, fairly easy to keep. 

Grows pretty well but not at a frightening rate like some Caulerpas.

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I'm so excited to show you guys the corals I bought!!

 

IMG_5479.JPG.683d4a24156b8afb821466287d36edaa.JPG

 

But first of all, that frag "plug". Woof. I have razorblades and gel glue, I just don't know where to begin in removing all those little polyps. It doesn't look porous enough for there to be any hitchhikers, but obviously there is algae on it. It'd be a feast for the hermies. Should I just dip it and put it in?? Remove the ugly later when I have more confidence?

 

Really excited for you guys to see these when they're all opened up though!

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  • Madcat changed the title to Madcat's Fluval Evo 13.5 - new shrimpy

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