Dr. Felicia's Back to Basics IM14 - Retired 2/25/2020

[gena]

11 minutes ago, Felicia said:

Thank you, Gena.  I know!  They're giving me serious aquarium nostalgia.  I hope they settle in ok and do well!  I'm anxious to get home this evening to watch my tank now that it has some life.

 

I just have to start planning the rest of my stocking.  I am definitely getting a clown pair.  However, I think I should only do one additional fish on top of the YWG and the clowns or my bioload will be too high.  I'm really torn between a tail spot blenny or an orange firefish.  The blennies have such cute personalities, but they spend a lot of time perched.  I like the color and movement of the firefish, but they can be a bit shy and don't have as much personality.  Not sure on which I want yet.

 

It worked out perfectly that my reservoir for my RODI unit holds exactly the same amount of water as the ATO reservoir 

Well, firefish would really be a throwback .  I vote firefish and only because you don't have to worry about them swimming into the mp10 when it's off.  I always like to think of worst case scenario LOL..for example....you aren't home and the mp10 stops from a power outage or something and then comes back on with the blenny inside .  I like both fish though, tough choice!

[Lula_Mae]

11 minutes ago, Felicia said:

I usually hear good things about Live Aquaria, but I've never ordered from them myself.  Seems like the best place to get rare/unique fish, but otherwise not the most cost effective way to get common fish/inverts.  That's really too bad that they would ship a fish like that.  You definitely expect more from Live Aquaria since they're supposed to be quarantining and getting the fish to eat before sending.  Zebra hermits are the WORST.  They get HUGE and MEAN.  I stay away from those now. I basically will only get scarlet hermits, blue leg hermits, and halloween hermits now.  Scarlets being the least aggressive.  KP Aquatics definitely won't disappoint.  Considering their prices they always send even bigger than expected and healthy animals and corals.

Haha yeah the zebra I had got himself banished to solitary confinement and made me swear off hermits for over 5 years lol.  Once he was out, my little pom pom actually came out of hiding sometimes!  I definitely would never order from LA just for snails or hermits but figured grabbing a couple snails was cheaper than a separate order from Reef Cleaners, and since I've almost never seen scarlets for sale at any LFS I've ever been to, so I added that on, definitely not expecting an empty shell lol.  I have had good overall experiences with them but they dropped the ball on this one.

[Felicia]

1 hour ago, gena said:

Well, firefish would really be a throwback .  I vote firefish and only because you don't have to worry about them swimming into the mp10 when it's off.  I always like to think of worst case scenario LOL..for example....you aren't home and the mp10 stops from a power outage or something and then comes back on with the blenny inside .  I like both fish though, tough choice!

Yeah the firefish and YWG/pistol pair would really be a throwback set of fish.  That's really how I'm leaving except the little blennies are so dang cute!  Good point about the MP10 though.  Their predilection for MP10 perching is stressful.  I'm definitely leaning towards the firefish.  They're such common fish but they're so delicate looking and I love how they swim and twitch that top fin around.  Fish selection for tiny tanks is tough!  Oh, who am I kidding, even when I had a bigger tank I wanted to overstock with ALL THE FISH! 

 

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Haha yeah the zebra I had got himself banished to solitary confinement and made me swear off hermits for over 5 years lol.  Once he was out, my little pom pom actually came out of hiding sometimes!  I definitely would never order from LA just for snails or hermits but figured grabbing a couple snails was cheaper than a separate order from Reef Cleaners, and since I've almost never seen scarlets for sale at any LFS I've ever been to, so I added that on, definitely not expecting an empty shell lol.  I have had good overall experiences with them but they dropped the ball on this one.

Oh, I love pom poms!  That's another invert that's on my must have list for my new tank.  I just need to locate one with both its pom poms.  Yeah, totally understandable to just add crabs and snails to the order.  Definitely sounds like they really dropped the ball on you this time around.  Hopefully they don't keep having issues like that.

[Lula_Mae]

33 minutes ago, Felicia said:

Yeah the firefish and YWG/pistol pair would really be a throwback set of fish.  That's really how I'm leaving except the little blennies are so dang cute!  Good point about the MP10 though.  Their predilection for MP10 perching is stressful.  I'm definitely leaning towards the firefish.  They're such common fish but they're so delicate looking and I love how they swim and twitch that top fin around.  Fish selection for tiny tanks is tough!  Oh, who am I kidding, even when I had a bigger tank I wanted to overstock with ALL THE FISH! 

 

Oh, I love pom poms!  That's another invert that's on my must have list for my new tank.  I just need to locate one with both its pom poms.  Yeah, totally understandable to just add crabs and snails to the order.  Definitely sounds like they really dropped the ball on you this time around.  Hopefully they don't keep having issues like that.

I pom poms!  That one was my first, I've had probably half a dozen since.  My little pico had one named Shelby who was a ham--there's a video on my 1.6 gallon thread (was 2.3 then 3.5 then 1.6 lol) of her before I discovered her murderous and possible coral eating tendencies...usually they're just sweet, shy little guys though and that's why I love them so.

[Weetabix7]

17 hours ago, Felicia said:

Thank you!  Hopefully I'll be able to get some gorgonians after this hurricane in Florida.  I love the photosynthetic Carribbean gorgonians and was planning to stock with those.  KP Aquatics has a message up on their site that hopefully they can continue business after Irma.  I'm anxiously awaiting news of how they fared, since they're located in the Florida Keys.  They're my favorite online source for corals and I really hope they can continue to do business!

Well I admire your commitment to maintaining the seahorse aquarium!  I know it is a ton or work, and you can't ever slack at it.  Someday maybe you can take a break and have an easy tank!  I'm definitely looking forward to enjoying an easy aquarium for now!  At least you seem to have a good enough tank sitter that you can still take vacations 

 

 

Alright, I'm back home and in 10 days, the ATO only used about half of the water in the reservoir, so looks like the tank can go 20 days without an ATO reservoir refill.  I should just get an autofeeder to throw on there and then I won't even need a tank sitter for vacations/work trips!

 

I got home yesterday afternoon and tested the water to see what was going on with the cycle.  I figured the cycle would be complete since the tank is 3 weeks old today and I started it with Real Reef Rock cured live rock, live sand, and bottled bacteria.  I threw in a couple of pinches of PE pellets before I left to give the tank something to kick off a cycle.  Anyways, the results from my testing yesterday was:

 

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 5-10 ppm

 

 

 

 

I went ahead and did a 2.5 gallon water change yesterday to lower the nitrates and then decided to go ahead and add the first inhabitants.  I went to the LFS to see what they had and I had to resist the urge to buy so many fish and inverts!  They had all the nano fish I'm considering and a ton of the inverts I want in stock all at once!  They had adorable, fat tail spot blennies, orange firefish, and a yellow watchman goby.  They also had red banded pistol shrimp in stock, so I decided to get a yellow watchman goby as the first fish and a pistol shrimp for him to pair with.  They also had some nice porcelain anemone crabs, so I couldn't resist grabbing one of those.  I'm hoping to put together a ricordea area for him to hang out.  I also got 4 nassarius snails for my CUC.  I'm holding off on other snails for now since the tank doesn't have any algae yet.  I just wanted something to keep the sandbed clean and since nassarius are scavengers, they can eat the leftover food and waste and don't need algae.

 

Of course when I added the YWG and pistol shrimp to the tank, they went opposite directions to hide.  I'm hoping they'll find each other over the next few days and start a burrow.  I didn't see either of them this morning before work, so hopefully I'll see them this evening to confirm they survived the night.  I did however see the porcelain anemone crab up on top of the rocks filter feeding this morning, so he seems to be doing well!  I bought some PhytoFeast for him at the LFS.  I didn't get a photo of the crab, but I did get a quick photo of the YWG and pistol shrimp after adding them to the tank.  Here they are!

 

 

 

 

What a great start!!

As for KP Aquatics, I'm a fan of theirs as well, and another of my favorite vendors is in a spot in Florida that was hit by Hurricane Irma as well. It will likely take them a few weeks to get back up to "normal" operations again, hopefully not too long. 

[Felicia]

17 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I pom poms!  That one was my first, I've had probably half a dozen since.  My little pico had one named Shelby who was a ham--there's a video on my 1.6 gallon thread (was 2.3 then 3.5 then 1.6 lol) of her before I discovered her murderous and possible coral eating tendencies...usually they're just sweet, shy little guys though and that's why I love them so.

I do too!  You've had quite a few! I'll have to go check out that video.  I've only had one that was in my original 10 gallon and then my 30 gallon.  I lost that one when the 30 gallon crashed and I never got another one because those little guys get so lost in bigger tanks.  I'm looking forward to having more of the smaller inverts in this smaller tank.  I've never heard of one eating corals!  That's not good!  I know they'll clip off coral polyps and carry them around if they lose their anemones, but they usually don't do too much damage.  I believe Gena's was carrying around a zoa polyp at one point.

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

What a great start!!

As for KP Aquatics, I'm a fan of theirs as well, and another of my favorite vendors is in a spot in Florida that was hit by Hurricane Irma as well. It will likely take them a few weeks to get back up to "normal" operations again, hopefully not too long. 

Thank you!  From what I'm hearing from friends in Florida, it seems like it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.  There's a lot of damage but it could be so much worse.  I think given a few weeks, Florida will be mostly back to normal except for a few of the most affected areas.  The owners of KP Aquatics posted a photo of their house which is intact other than water damage on the bottom floor.  I spoke with the owners of Live-Plants in Bradenton, FL and they said they had minor damage to the shop, but expect to be back up and running and shipping out orders next week.  Glad its not any worse than that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tank seems to be doing well other than that I haven't even seen a glimpse of the YWG, pistol shrimp, or porcelain crab.  Hopefully they're doing ok.  Its amazing how aquarium creatures can hide even in small aquariums.  I fed the tank last night and all 4 of the new nassarius snails came out and ate, but no sign of the other inhabitants.  The stress of adding new inhabitants and seeing if they settle in is always the worst.  I really hope they're ok and I'll see them soon!

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, Felicia said:

I do too!  You've had quite a few! I'll have to go check out that video.  I've only had one that was in my original 10 gallon and then my 30 gallon.  I lost that one when the 30 gallon crashed and I never got another one because those little guys get so lost in bigger tanks.  I'm looking forward to having more of the smaller inverts in this smaller tank.  I've never heard of one eating corals!  That's not good!  I know they'll clip off coral polyps and carry them around if they lose their anemones, but they usually don't do too much damage.  I believe Gena's was carrying around a zoa polyp at one point.

Thank you!  From what I'm hearing from friends in Florida, it seems like it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.  There's a lot of damage but it could be so much worse.  I think given a few weeks, Florida will be mostly back to normal except for a few of the most affected areas.  The owners of KP Aquatics posted a photo of their house which is intact other than water damage on the bottom floor.  I spoke with the owners of Live-Plants in Bradenton, FL and they said they had minor damage to the shop, but expect to be back up and running and shipping out orders next week.  Glad its not any worse than that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tank seems to be doing well other than that I haven't even seen a glimpse of the YWG, pistol shrimp, or porcelain crab.  Hopefully they're doing ok.  Its amazing how aquarium creatures can hide even in small aquariums.  I fed the tank last night and all 4 of the new nassarius snails came out and ate, but no sign of the other inhabitants.  The stress of adding new inhabitants and seeing if they settle in is always the worst.  I really hope they're ok and I'll see them soon!

Yeah my first ended up with with a ricordea in his claw, and Shelby nipped my superman mushroom! I suspect she ate the blastos as the four remaining heads were recovering from the crash and looking good and then the next day the skeleton was completely white, same with a new frag I'd brought home, and she was the only thing in the tank.  She also attempted to kill and eat the other pom pom I added hoping they'd share poms. Shelby was a unique pom pom lol.

[MarieH]

Tail spot blenny! You will never regret it.  I had no luck with pom poms, hiding and then disappearing. I think I saw mine 2x before he vanished.   I love the ywg. I'm thinking of it but I'm holding back for a 3g it might just be a mini maxi and a  porcelain crab pair. Nothing else.   Looks awesome already!

[Felicia]

On 9/12/2017 at 3:17 PM, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah my first ended up with with a ricordea in his claw, and Shelby nipped my superman mushroom! I suspect she ate the blastos as the four remaining heads were recovering from the crash and looking good and then the next day the skeleton was completely white, same with a new frag I'd brought home, and she was the only thing in the tank.  She also attempted to kill and eat the other pom pom I added hoping they'd share poms. Shelby was a unique pom pom lol.

Yeah, that was a seriously rogue pom pom!

On 9/13/2017 at 6:34 AM, MarieH said:

Tail spot blenny! You will never regret it.  I had no luck with pom poms, hiding and then disappearing. I think I saw mine 2x before he vanished.   I love the ywg. I'm thinking of it but I'm holding back for a 3g it might just be a mini maxi and a  porcelain crab pair. Nothing else.   Looks awesome already!

Sorry, Marie!  While I do love blennies, I just couldn't resist the throwback of doing an orange firefish.  Twitch was an orange firefish and one of my first ever saltwater fish.  She was with me for several years and I miss her.  I actually grabbed an orange firefish at the LFS today, so now I just need to get a clown pair and this tank will be all set in terms of fish.  Yeah pom pom crabs can be a bit shy and elusive.  I'm hoping I can get one and actually see it on occasion.  Its definitely hit or miss with them.  A single minimaxi with a porcelain crab would be so fun!  I love the symbiotic relationships, especially when you can really observe them in small tanks like that!  I'm hoping to get my porcelain crab to host Florida ricordea.

 

 

 

I was getting a bit discouraged because I hadn't even seen a glimpse of any of the new inhabitants I added (YWG, pistol shrimp, and porcelain crab).  Finally, last night I saw the YWG come out at feeding time.  Of course he seems to have made a little burrow under the rocks in the very back of the tank.  Hopefully that doesn't end up being his permanent spot.  I also finally saw the porcelain crab last night, so that just means the pistol shrimp is still MIA.  He's so tiny though that I'm not giving up hope yet.  He's probably in there lurking somewhere.  I'm hoping him and the YWG find each other and pair up and build a burrow somewhere up near the front of the tank.  I'm just glad to know that the new inhabitants seem to be doing well so far.  They're just shy.

 

Since adding new inhabitants, I've been adding Seachem stability everyday to make sure the bacteria population keeps up with the bioload.  I also did a 3 gallon water change today.  I'm hoping to do monthly water changes eventually, but I'll try to do weekly until the tank is out of the new tank phase and is stable.

 

I also went to the LFS today, which was fun.  Midday on a Saturday was a busy time.  I had a blast catching up with the owners and employees that I haven't seen in months since taking down the old tank.  Luckily I have a really awesome store to go to around here.  I hung out and browsed and ended up coming home with a few things.  I got a skunk cleaner shrimp specifically for Lily.  She used to love watching the pair of those I had in my 30 gallon.  They're such spunky little things and a ton of fun to watch.  Lily keeps sitting up by the tank trying to see if there's anything in there, but its been pretty boring.  Hopefully she'll enjoy her cleaner shrimp.   I also got an orange firefish and then grabbed a few corals.  The $25 section at my LFS is buy 3 get 1 free, so I grabbed 4 items from that section.  I got 2 Florida ricordea, both with multiple mouths.  One is blue and one is more of a purple color.  I also got a 4-polyp frag of rasta zoas and a 7-polyp frag of some zoas with a bright orange center and then pastel blue.  They're the type of zoas with the smaller polyps.  

 

Everything is acclimated and in the tank.  I dipped all the corals in Revive for 10 minutes because I have no desire to fight pests in this tank.  The corals are all still just on their plugs on the sandbed for now until I decide on permanent locations.  The shrimp and firefish are being a bit shy but haven't completely disappeared the way the other inhabitants did.  The firefish keeps popping out into the water column for a bit and then darting back into the rocks to lurk.  The shrimp is just chilling on the back side of the rocks kind of up under the arch.  I'll get photos once everything settles in.

 

Next weekend, I'm hoping to go cut some frags of some of my original corals that I gave to a friend in town.  I'm letting him keep the colonies since they're too big for this little tank, but I'll go get small frags of things like my green nepthea, green cabbage leather, fuzzy green mushrooms, gorgonians, etc.  I'm also going to look at a clown pair he has for me.  He breeds clowns and has a young pair that he bred that he offered to give me.  Its a picasso and a misbar percula that are supposed to be about an inch long, so reasonably small.  If I like those when I see them next weekend, then I'll add those to the tank next weekend.

[gena]

Twitch...LOVE that name!!!!!  Twitch II

 

Where's the pics? LOL

[Pjanssen]

Just got caught up. Irma took up a lot of my time both before and after. Sound like things are well under way for this tank. You are so lucky to have a friend near by that you can trade with. Seems like a perfect relationship where you can go and get frags of your old stuff and know that the colonies are being well taken care of. I have some overgrown pieces in my 29 that I'd like to frag off, but trading them to the LFS and not knowing where they end up is unsettling. 

Can't wait to see pictures of everything.

[Felicia]

On 9/16/2017 at 6:56 PM, gena said:

Twitch...LOVE that name!!!!!  Twitch II

 

Where's the pics? LOL

The firefish was named Twitch because of how they twitch that top fin.  Maybe this one will be Twitch II 

 

I know, I'm slacking on photos!  I had a crammed weekend and didn't get to spend much time on the tank.  At least I got to do my water change and make a quick trip to the LFS on Saturday.  Then Saturday night we had a big going away party for a friend who is starting a job at the NIH in Washington DC.  I was the one who planned the party and everything, so I had a lot going on.  Then I got up early Sunday morning to drive up to Healdsburg (Sonoma county) with two of my girl friends for a ladies' day in wine country.  I was exhausted Sunday night when I got home and just kind of crashed and no tank photos happened   I did however snap a few after work Monday night, so those are coming shortly.  However, most of the inhabitants are still super shy, so getting decent photos are hard.  I need some more corals to take photos of since those can't hide! 

 

On 9/17/2017 at 4:31 AM, Pjanssen said:

Just got caught up. Irma took up a lot of my time both before and after. Sound like things are well under way for this tank. You are so lucky to have a friend near by that you can trade with. Seems like a perfect relationship where you can go and get frags of your old stuff and know that the colonies are being well taken care of. I have some overgrown pieces in my 29 that I'd like to frag off, but trading them to the LFS and not knowing where they end up is unsettling. 

Can't wait to see pictures of everything.

I hope everything survived Irma ok!  I've been stalking everyone's threads for updates, I just have been busy and haven't been posting a lot.  I'm glad you're ok and hopefully there wasn't too much damage in your area!  I grew up in Florida (Jacksonville area), so I have a lot of friends still in the state, so I was watching all of it anxiously.  Also, my parents are near Atlanta, so they lost power for a while as well and some trees came down, but they didn't have any damage or anything.

 

Yeah my friend who used to own an LFS and now just does aquarium servicing/maintenance for a living is an awesome resource.  He has a wholesalers license to get fish for his client's tanks.  He has ~1,000 gallons worth of aquariums in his back yard in these two fancy sheds.  He also breeds clownfish.  I am his tank sitter and cat sitter for the 1,000 gallons worth of tanks and there 4 cats when they go out of town, and in exchange, he does my tank and cat sitting when I go out of town and also hooks me up when I want clownfish and such.   I'm hoping to go this weekend to pick up a clown pair from him and also to frag a few of my corals he's holding onto.  Do you have a local club?  That's always a good way to get rid of frags.

[Felicia]

Ok, how about a few photos?  

 

First off, here's a new FTS although there's not a lot to see yet since there aren't many corals or anything.

 

And a top down shot.

 

Here are the two Florida ricordea I picked up at the LFS.  They mostly only had blue ones, so I'll end up probably ordering some orange and green ones through KP Aquatics once they're back up and doing business.

 

Here are the zoa frags I picked up.  Some no name ones and some Rastas.  I turned the light really white for the photos so that the iPhone could handle the white balance, but the colors on the corals are looking bland under the white light.  I'll have to work on figuring out the ideal photo taking settings for this light.  Its been quite a while since I had this light set up on a tank.

 

Here's the new skunk cleaner shrimp.

 

And here's the wonderfully grumpy and super bright yellow YWG.  I still haven't seen the pistol shrimp, so I hope its still alive in there somewhere.  He's so tiny and I know those guys can disappear for quite a while, so I'll wait a while to see if I see him before I get a replacement.

 

 

 

If you look closely, the legs of the porcelain crab can be seen right in the center of the photo, down in the rocks.

 

The firefish was being super shy during the photos, but I caught a quick photo of her another time when she was out.  Of course, the light wasn't set right then, so the iPhone picked it up as super blue.

 

 

Lily seems to enjoy this tank more so far since she can sit right up next to it.

 

And to finish up the post, here's a quick, fun video of two nassarius snails colliding! 

 

[Felicia]

In other fun news, I'm at work right now and a package just arrived today!   I figured I'd help out the Florida economy by placing an order with Gulf Coast Ecosystems.  I have been impatiently waiting to get some gorgonians in this tank!  I ordered some gorgonians and a couple green ricordea and some nerite snails.  I haven't opened the box because I don't want to let the heat out, but I'll post an update when I get home and unpack the box.  Now I'm just anxiously awaiting the reopening of KP Aquatics so I can send them some business as well 

 

 

[Pjanssen]

 

13 hours ago, Felicia said:

Do you have a local club?  That's always a good way to get rid of frags.

 It's not very active I guess. At least the website isn't. The only time anything is posted is when there is a frag swap. The frag swaps aren't really frag swaps so much as vendors selling. They've tried hosting things like bowling night but it always gets cancelled due to lack of interest. Also, I tend to be pretty shy with people I don't know and hesitate to start up conversations.

[vlangel]

I love the fish and inverts you have chosen.  Its going to be a fun little tank for sure.?

[kimberbee]

Very nice pictures!! Lily is so cute! My cat couldn't care less about what's going on in my tanks! 

[Felicia]

6 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

 

 It's not very active I guess. At least the website isn't. The only time anything is posted is when there is a frag swap. The frag swaps aren't really frag swaps so much as vendors selling. They've tried hosting things like bowling night but it always gets cancelled due to lack of interest. Also, I tend to be pretty shy with people I don't know and hesitate to start up conversations.

Seems like some of the clubs are definitely more active than others.  If your local club has a forum, you could always offer frags through there and that would be a good way to get to know some local hobbyists.  It might also inspire other people to start trading as well and make it a bit more active.  I'm shy when there is a large group of people and I don't know anyone, but reef people tend to be easy to talk to even if they're strangers because we all have something in common to talk about.  

 

6 hours ago, vlangel said:

I love the fish and inverts you have chosen.  Its going to be a fun little tank for sure.?

Thank you, Dawn!  Just going with the standard, run of the mill nano fish this time around.  Nothing exciting, but I love them!  I'm enjoying the little tank so far.

 

4 hours ago, kimberbee said:

Very nice pictures!! Lily is so cute! My cat couldn't care less about what's going on in my tanks! 

Thank you Kimber!  Lily goes through phases with how much interest she has in the tanks.  She always loves the build part when I have empty tanks she can sit in and equipment everywhere to investigate.  She was somewhat interested in my tanks when she was young and then seemed to really lose interest over the years.  I'm realizing however that she never really had a good spot to just sit and watch the tanks close up, so that may have been part of the issue.  Now with this tank sitting on a big dresser, she has space to sit by it and check it out and she seems more intrigued.  She doesn't watch for very long yet, but there also isn't much movement yet since all the new inhabitants are still being shy and lurking.  Speaking of, the firefish was coming out but now I haven't seen it in the last two days.  I hope its ok.  I'm ready for the inhabitants to stop being shy and come out!  I'm hoping adding more corals and things to make it less open will make them feel more comfortable.

[Felicia]

Alright, so I got home from work last night and unpacked the box from Gulf Coast Ecosystems.  I have to say that I was very impressed with their packing.  There were no leaks and everything was in great shape!  These were shipped 2-day USPS priority for $15, which is nice and inexpensive and everything survived the 2-day shipping no problem.  I was also impressed with the size of the gorgonians they sent!  For $12, I was expecting smaller ones, but these are all huge with tons of branches.  The ribbon gorg is massive and almost borderline too large for this little tank!  That's ok though, I can always trim gorgonians as needed.  Also, I got 2 green ricordea for $5 each and am very happy with the color.  For $5, I thought they might be pretty drab, but they're both a really nice mint green color.  Super pretty and a decent size.  One of the two even has multiple mouths.  Overall, I'm super impressed with Gulf Coast Ecosystems!  I'll be a repeat customer for sure.   I didn't get any photos of the new goodies in the tank yet, but I snapped a few shots right after I unpacked everything.

 

The four gorgonians I ordered - golden plume (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata), purple plume (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata), purple frilly (Psuedopterogorgia elisabethae), and purple ribbon (Pterogorgia anceps).

 

Two green Florida ricordea and 5 virgin nerite snails.

[gena]

Everything is looking awesome!  Those no names have a name...isn't it something like scrambled eggs?    Maybe not, but I've seen them before and always thought they were so pretty!

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, Felicia said:

Alright, so I got home from work last night and unpacked the box from Gulf Coast Ecosystems.  I have to say that I was very impressed with their packing.  There were no leaks and everything was in great shape!  These were shipped 2-day USPS priority for $15, which is nice and inexpensive and everything survived the 2-day shipping no problem.  I was also impressed with the size of the gorgonians they sent!  For $12, I was expecting smaller ones, but these are all huge with tons of branches.  The ribbon gorg is massive and almost borderline too large for this little tank!  That's ok though, I can always trim gorgonians as needed.  Also, I got 2 green ricordea for $5 each and am very happy with the color.  For $5, I thought they might be pretty drab, but they're both a really nice mint green color.  Super pretty and a decent size.  One of the two even has multiple mouths.  Overall, I'm super impressed with Gulf Coast Ecosystems!  I'll be a repeat customer for sure.   I didn't get any photos of the new goodies in the tank yet, but I snapped a few shots right after I unpacked everything.

 

The four gorgonians I ordered - golden plume (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata), purple plume (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata), purple frilly (Psuedopterogorgia elisabethae), and purple ribbon (Pterogorgia anceps).

 

Two green Florida ricordea and 5 virgin nerite snails.

 

Can't wait to see a FTS with these!!!

[Lula_Mae]

On 9/20/2017 at 6:11 PM, Felicia said:

Ok, how about a few photos?  

 

First off, here's a new FTS although there's not a lot to see yet since there aren't many corals or anything.

 

And a top down shot.

 

Here are the two Florida ricordea I picked up at the LFS.  They mostly only had blue ones, so I'll end up probably ordering some orange and green ones through KP Aquatics once they're back up and doing business.

 

Here are the zoa frags I picked up.  Some no name ones and some Rastas.  I turned the light really white for the photos so that the iPhone could handle the white balance, but the colors on the corals are looking bland under the white light.  I'll have to work on figuring out the ideal photo taking settings for this light.  Its been quite a while since I had this light set up on a tank.

 

Here's the new skunk cleaner shrimp.

 

And here's the wonderfully grumpy and super bright yellow YWG.  I still haven't seen the pistol shrimp, so I hope its still alive in there somewhere.  He's so tiny and I know those guys can disappear for quite a while, so I'll wait a while to see if I see him before I get a replacement.

 

 

 

If you look closely, the legs of the porcelain crab can be seen right in the center of the photo, down in the rocks.

 

The firefish was being super shy during the photos, but I caught a quick photo of her another time when she was out.  Of course, the light wasn't set right then, so the iPhone picked it up as super blue.

 

 

Lily seems to enjoy this tank more so far since she can sit right up next to it.

 

And to finish up the post, here's a quick, fun video of two nassarius snails colliding! 

 

The snails! 

 

Gorgs look super nice, I can't wait to see them open and fluffy!

[Felicia]

22 hours ago, gena said:

Everything is looking awesome!  Those no names have a name...isn't it something like scrambled eggs?    Maybe not, but I've seen them before and always thought they were so pretty!

Thank you!  Yeah I figure they actually have a name, I just don't know what it is.  I can't keep track of the zoa names.  I just know some of the more popular/old school ones like bam bams, rastas, blondies, etc.   I've never had these before either, but I like the contrast of the orange and blue.  I think once they become a nice mini colony they'll be a good pop of color.  I'm trying to stick to nice, bright colorful zoanthids.  I'm trying to have a section of my tank look like this again.  This is from my 30 gallon 

 

 

21 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Can't wait to see a FTS with these!!!

I'll get one soon!  I didn't take one last night because the gorgs aren't all open yet.  Most of them are shedding as a result of shipping (just normal shedding, not like losing flesh), so they don't have many polyps out.  They were starting to put out more polyps last night, so maybe today they'll be all polyp-y   I also need to decide where to put everything.  I've just been tossing things in there for now.

 

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

The snails! 

 

Gorgs look super nice, I can't wait to see them open and fluffy!

Yeah, those nassarius are entertaining me.  I have 4 of them and I think they're the most active ones I've ever had.

 

I was impressed with how healthy all the gorgs look!  Hoping they get all fluffy in the next day or two.  Right now they're only partially fluffy 

 

 

 

In other tank updates, as of yesterday I now have diatoms.  Yuck!  That's my least favorite part of a new tank.  Hopefully those will clear up quickly.  

 

The firefish missed a couple feedings so I was getting a bit worried, but she reappeared last night, so she was just being shy.  The only inhabitant that is still unaccounted for is the candy stripe pistol shrimp.  Everything else seems to be settling in well, although they're all still shy.

 

The sand is getting piled up really badly from the flow, which really annoys me.  I used Fiji pink, so its fine, but not super fine.  Also, the flow is just the return pump and the MP10 on the lowest setting in reef crest, so its not like there's too much flow.  I decided to order an IM Spin Stream attachment for the return to see if distributing/randomizing the flow stops the sand piling in the one area.  I ordered that from inTank through Amazon, so its supposed to arrive tomorrow.

 

Oh, and I did a bit more coral shopping.  I definitely want to put cool softies/leathers in this tank, so when I saw this on Legendary Coral's site and on sale no less, I couldn't resist.  Legendary Corals is about an hour and 15 minutes from where I live, so they have a local pickup option to save on shipping.  They're going to be at the LFS closest to my house next Saturday, so I'm going to wait until then to pick up my new toadstool from them to save on driving time.  Can't wait to see this in person next weekend!

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

On 9/22/2017 at 1:32 PM, Felicia said:

Thank you!  Yeah I figure they actually have a name, I just don't know what it is.  I can't keep track of the zoa names.  I just know some of the more popular/old school ones like bam bams, rastas, blondies, etc.   I've never had these before either, but I like the contrast of the orange and blue.  I think once they become a nice mini colony they'll be a good pop of color.  I'm trying to stick to nice, bright colorful zoanthids.  I'm trying to have a section of my tank look like this again.  This is from my 30 gallon 

 

 

I'll get one soon!  I didn't take one last night because the gorgs aren't all open yet.  Most of them are shedding as a result of shipping (just normal shedding, not like losing flesh), so they don't have many polyps out.  They were starting to put out more polyps last night, so maybe today they'll be all polyp-y   I also need to decide where to put everything.  I've just been tossing things in there for now.

 

Yeah, those nassarius are entertaining me.  I have 4 of them and I think they're the most active ones I've ever had.

 

I was impressed with how healthy all the gorgs look!  Hoping they get all fluffy in the next day or two.  Right now they're only partially fluffy 

 

 

 

In other tank updates, as of yesterday I now have diatoms.  Yuck!  That's my least favorite part of a new tank.  Hopefully those will clear up quickly.  

 

The firefish missed a couple feedings so I was getting a bit worried, but she reappeared last night, so she was just being shy.  The only inhabitant that is still unaccounted for is the candy stripe pistol shrimp.  Everything else seems to be settling in well, although they're all still shy.

 

The sand is getting piled up really badly from the flow, which really annoys me.  I used Fiji pink, so its fine, but not super fine.  Also, the flow is just the return pump and the MP10 on the lowest setting in reef crest, so its not like there's too much flow.  I decided to order an IM Spin Stream attachment for the return to see if distributing/randomizing the flow stops the sand piling in the one area.  I ordered that from inTank through Amazon, so its supposed to arrive tomorrow.

 

Oh, and I did a bit more coral shopping.  I definitely want to put cool softies/leathers in this tank, so when I saw this on Legendary Coral's site and on sale no less, I couldn't resist.  Legendary Corals is about an hour and 15 minutes from where I live, so they have a local pickup option to save on shipping.  They're going to be at the LFS closest to my house next Saturday, so I'm going to wait until then to pick up my new toadstool from them to save on driving time.  Can't wait to see this in person next weekend!

 

 

I admired that toadie on their site, it's gorgeous!  Alas, $50 shipping is out of my budget right now lol

[Felicia]

11 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I admired that toadie on their site, it's gorgeous!  Alas, $50 shipping is out of my budget right now lol

Its really unique!  I'm excited to see it in person!  Yeah I never want to pay $50 in shipping for corals online either.  I rarely want more than one or two things from a vendor at one time, which makes it hard to justify the shipping cost.  It works out that Legendary Corals is somewhat local for me and willing to meet at the LFS.

 

 

 

 

Tank Updates

Alright, so I did a bunch of tank maintenance type stuff today.  The new Innovative Marine Spin Steam arrived today, so I got that installed.  Its a bit noisy.  I can definitely hear a whirring sound if I'm close to the tank.  I'm hoping it gets quieter as it breaks in.  However, even if it is a bit noisy, it seems to have really helped with the issue of the sand getting pushed around.  The random flow doesn't pile the sand up the way that a constant stream of flow does.  I also turkey basted all the rocks and blew off the remainder of the shedding skin from the gorgonians.  Then I did a big 4.5 gallon water change and sucked up all the detritus from the shedding gorgonians and vacuumed the sand bed which had areas of diatoms.  After the water change, I removed the new corals from their plugs and glued them into place.  Everything was angry from all of that, so I didn't take photos tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get some good photos.

 

However, I did snap a few quick and fun photos while I was working on the tank.  First off, the porcelain crab was out and about during the whole cleaning.  He wasn't the least bit phased about me basting the rocks where he was or gluing gorgonians right next to him.  I even bumped my hand into him once by accident and he just waved his claws at me like, "This is my spot and I'm not moving!"  I fed him some PhytoFeast tonight, so I also have a fun video of him eating that I will post shortly.

 

 

Lily was having fun watching the whole cleaning process and was hanging out on the dresser by the tank watching what I was doing.

 

 

In other news, my name is Felicia and I have a coral buying problem...   I posted that I purchased that toadstool from Legendary Corals and then a bit later on Friday I got sucked into Pacific East Aquaculture's 35% off sale plus $19.99 shipping for orders over $150.  I haven't ever purchased from PEA, but I've heard good things.  I checked out the sale and they had SOOOO many awesome softies and leathers.  I just could not resist.  I got so excited purchasing corals that I forgot to save the photos until after I checked out, so I just have the tiny thumbnail images of what I got.  They'll give you the idea though.  I requested that these arrive on Tuesday.

 

Long Polyp Toadstool

 

Green Toadstool and Purple/Blue Cespitularia

 

Green Kenya Tree (Capnella)

 

Thick Finger Leather

 

Blue St. Thomas Mushroom

 

Blue Photosynthetic Sponge (This was my PEA nugget selection for spending over $100)

 

I can't wait to see these new corals in person and get them all placed in the tank.

 

I'll finish off the post with another cute photo of Lily sleeping on one of the couch pillows like its her throne.