Lula Mae's "Jarden" of Enjoyment--dinos :(

[Felicia]

Very cool addition!  I hope once it settles in you'll see it out and about!

16 hours ago, gena said:

Hahaha...my husband was standing behind me and said...what's with the spider?

 

I was like, that's NOT a spider, it's a crab .  Technically it's a "lobster", but it doesn't look like a lobster to me.

From my understanding, they're more closely related to hermit crabs than lobsters, so crab is totally acceptable.    They've always reminded me a bit of spiders, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Lula_Mae]

16 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Looking so much like a spider. A evil dark, creepy spider. It just looks like trouble to me. It will be interesting to learn about it.

Mr. Stripey is not evil, however, he just looks like a peppermint!

 

15 hours ago, seabass said:

I think it's a crab.  I'm not sure why squat lobster became their common name.

I think you're right, I read something about them being closer related to porcelain crabs?  I think, I'm tired and don't remember at the moment lol.

 

7 hours ago, Clown79 said:

It's so cute!

Isn't he?

 

6 hours ago, Felicia said:

Very cool addition!  I hope once it settles in you'll see it out and about!

From my understanding, they're more closely related to hermit crabs than lobsters, so crab is totally acceptable.    They've always reminded me a bit of spiders, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

Me too!  And the pom pom crab lol.

[Lula_Mae]

I did some peroxiding on the rocks last night for the algae...and found Mr. Stripey's claws and the remains of the pom pom. One of the new rics from GCE in its cup got damaged, I think a piece of rubble slid into it, so I wonder if it released some toxins or something.  I put it in the big tank since there's carbon to absorb in there.  This afternoon I woke up to a very cloudy tank (the jar). I immediately dropped in some Microbacter and am mixing water for a big change.  Hope things are ok in there...

[pj86]

Hope everything in the tank/jar comes out fine.

[gena]

Which one is Mr. Stripey?  The lobster????  I hope things are ok!!!!!!

[StinkyBunny]

That squat lobster is damn cool. Now I know why the pack on those is so high, they're tiny. I see them quite a bit on the lists out of Sri Lanka. nice job on the tank, sorry about the casualties.

[Lula_Mae]

44 minutes ago, gena said:

Which one is Mr. Stripey?  The lobster????  I hope things are ok!!!!!!

Yes, he's the new squat lobster!  Found the green mushroom and red St. Thomas looking pissed, I think sand got on the green one, from @tashayar, they had zooxanthellae coming out the wazoo. I need to find my tiny green one too. I dipped those in Lugol's and put in the 5.5, I figure the carbon will help there. 

2 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said:

That squat lobster is damn cool. Now I know why the pack on those is so high, they're tiny. I see them quite a bit on the lists out of Sri Lanka. nice job on the tank, sorry about the casualties.

They're super cute, I wish I could keep one alive more than a few days! Ugh I'm tired of problems in my tanks. 

[gena]

5 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yes, he's the new squat lobster!  Found the green mushroom and red St. Thomas looking pissed, I think sand got on the green one, from @tashayar, they had zooxanthellae coming out the wazoo. I need to find my tiny green one too. I dipped those in Lugol's and put in the 5.5, I figure the carbon will help there. 

They're super cute, I wish I could keep one alive more than a few days! Ugh I'm tired of problems in my tanks. 

is it possibly just a molt???? I hope!!!!

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Lobsters are good, peaceful long-lived inverts.  I don't know about squats (I don't know squat about squats ) but I have a Daum's reef lobster and he's been with me since 2008.  Every once in a blue moon (literally) he sheds, and I think the shed is a dead lobster, but in a few days I start seeing him again.  I recommend them over shrimp because they seem to live forever. Unfortunately, he never gets big enough to eat.  

[Lula_Mae]

2 minutes ago, gena said:

is it possibly just a molt???? I hope!!!!

The pom pom was definitely not looking like a molt, and all I found of the lobster was the two claw arms. I'm going to deep clean the tank when I do the water change shortly but I'm not hopeful. The feather duster was ok last night but I don't know now.

3 minutes ago, tashayar said:

Lobsters are good, peaceful long-lived inverts.  I don't know about squats (I don't know squat about squats ) but I have a Daum's reef lobster and he's been with me since 2008.  Every once in a blue moon (literally) he sheds, and I think the shed is a dead lobster, but in a few days I start seeing him again.  I recommend them over shrimp because they seem to live forever. Unfortunately, he never gets big enough to eat.  

Is it totally reef safe? Sounds like a neat critter! If you want to eat him, you've got to butter him up. 

[Lula_Mae]

Well, I think I know why the tank was cloudy.  My beautiful purple Biota gorg, the Hicksomella sp. that survived when the Grube's did not, decided to go from shedding skin last night to shedding flesh tonight.  One branch is bare and the forked one nearly so, and what's left is pale white. Not sure what made it so mad but it sure made everything else mad!  I did find my tiny green shroom, shrunken and angry, poor guy.  Feather duster is still ok and poking out of his tube in the bowl at the moment lol.  I just deep cleaned the tank and took out the black Tahitian moon sand.  I've suspected it has contributed to my algae issues in this tank/the GSP garden, and in a tank I had a couple years ago, where algae ran rampant.  I don't understand why but I'm tired of fighting algae in the tanks I use it in.  I love the way it looks but it is hard to keep clean and this was the last straw, so I opened the bag of Fiji Pink sand for my 15L and put some of that in the jar.  I did rinse it and poured in water slowly but still got the cloudy tank look going on lol.  It's slowly clearing up now, so hopefully stuff can go back in soon.  I dipped the gorg in iodine and put it in the big tank since there's carbon to help there.

[vlangel]

14 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Well, I think I know why the tank was cloudy.  My beautiful purple Biota gorg, the Hicksomella sp. that survived when the Grube's did not, decided to go from shedding skin last night to shedding flesh tonight.  One branch is bare and the forked one nearly so, and what's left is pale white. Not sure what made it so mad but it sure made everything else mad!  I did find my tiny green shroom, shrunken and angry, poor guy.  Feather duster is still ok and poking out of his tube in the bowl at the moment lol.  I just deep cleaned the tank and took out the black Tahitian moon sand.  I've suspected it has contributed to my algae issues in this tank/the GSP garden, and in a tank I had a couple years ago, where algae ran rampant.  I don't understand why but I'm tired of fighting algae in the tanks I use it in.  I love the way it looks but it is hard to keep clean and this was the last straw, so I opened the bag of Fiji Pink sand for my 15L and put some of that in the jar.  I did rinse it and poured in water slowly but still got the cloudy tank look going on lol.  It's slowly clearing up now, so hopefully stuff can go back in soon.  I dipped the gorg in iodine and put it in the big tank since there's carbon to help there.

O wow, I am sorry that your jarden is not adding to your peace and tranquility.  I hope replacing the sand is the beginning of everything coming together for you.

[Rene]

38 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Well, I think I know why the tank was cloudy.  My beautiful purple Biota gorg, the Hicksomella sp. that survived when the Grube's did not, decided to go from shedding skin last night to shedding flesh tonight.  One branch is bare and the forked one nearly so, and what's left is pale white. Not sure what made it so mad but it sure made everything else mad!  I did find my tiny green shroom, shrunken and angry, poor guy.  Feather duster is still ok and poking out of his tube in the bowl at the moment lol.  I just deep cleaned the tank and took out the black Tahitian moon sand.  I've suspected it has contributed to my algae issues in this tank/the GSP garden, and in a tank I had a couple years ago, where algae ran rampant.  I don't understand why but I'm tired of fighting algae in the tanks I use it in.  I love the way it looks but it is hard to keep clean and this was the last straw, so I opened the bag of Fiji Pink sand for my 15L and put some of that in the jar.  I did rinse it and poured in water slowly but still got the cloudy tank look going on lol.  It's slowly clearing up now, so hopefully stuff can go back in soon.  I dipped the gorg in iodine and put it in the big tank since there's carbon to help there.

 

Sorry to hear the pico is giving you issues!  . You probably know this, but all the gorgs I've kept liked pretty high flow. No idea if that's contributing to your challenges or not though. 

[Lula_Mae]

26 minutes ago, vlangel said:

O wow, I am sorry that your jarden is not adding to your peace and tranquility.  I hope replacing the sand is the beginning of everything coming together for you.

Thanks, me too. It feels like it's been one issue after another ever since starting the GSP garden this came from.  Definitely not planning any gorgs in here for a while lol.

 

3 minutes ago, Rene said:

 

Sorry to hear the pico is giving you issues!  . You probably know this, but all the gorgs I've kept liked pretty high flow. No idea if that's contributing to your challenges or not though. 

Yeah, it had been giving me great polyp extension the last few weeks as I had a powerhead and a low-flow air bubbler in there, two days ago it was fluffy and extended, yesterday it was shedding (only) skin, today it's half skeleton.   Not planning to try gorgs in here again for the time being, maybe in the future I'll give it another try but I've had too many issues to want to try again right now.

[Rene]

Yuck!  That is a bummer!  Yeah, sounds like that is for the best right now.   

[Lula_Mae]

It's up!

 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Sorry to read about your troubles. I  have faith that it will soon be a flourishing little garden again.

[fishfreak0114]

Sorry you're having so many problems lately!  Just remember, when the storm clears there'll be a rainbow...

[Lula_Mae]

On 11/11/2017 at 9:53 AM, debbeach13 said:

Sorry to read about your troubles. I  have faith that it will soon be a flourishing little garden again.

 

23 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Sorry you're having so many problems lately!  Just remember, when the storm clears there'll be a rainbow...

Thanks guys. I came home from work this morning and peeked in and noticed how bright it looks with the white sand, even with lights out, and then I noticed...there is a dearth of stringy brown algae in the tank!  It will be a few days before I know if there was a permanent difference made but I am hopeful!

[Lula_Mae]

Here's what the jar looks like with the new sand.

 

 

You can see stuff is still mad and I'm not sure why. I don't think the air pump I have is giving enough flow, or maybe it's where it's positioned that is the issue.  Looking at getting a bigger pump, recommendations welcome.

[Clown79]

On 10/11/2017 at 11:29 PM, Lula_Mae said:

Well, I think I know why the tank was cloudy.  My beautiful purple Biota gorg, the Hicksomella sp. that survived when the Grube's did not, decided to go from shedding skin last night to shedding flesh tonight.  One branch is bare and the forked one nearly so, and what's left is pale white. Not sure what made it so mad but it sure made everything else mad!  I did find my tiny green shroom, shrunken and angry, poor guy.  Feather duster is still ok and poking out of his tube in the bowl at the moment lol.  I just deep cleaned the tank and took out the black Tahitian moon sand.  I've suspected it has contributed to my algae issues in this tank/the GSP garden, and in a tank I had a couple years ago, where algae ran rampant.  I don't understand why but I'm tired of fighting algae in the tanks I use it in.  I love the way it looks but it is hard to keep clean and this was the last straw, so I opened the bag of Fiji Pink sand for my 15L and put some of that in the jar.  I did rinse it and poured in water slowly but still got the cloudy tank look going on lol.  It's slowly clearing up now, so hopefully stuff can go back in soon.  I dipped the gorg in iodine and put it in the big tank since there's carbon to help there.

I'm sorry you're having issues, it's so frustrating when there are issues.

 

I think your suspicion of the black sand is correct. I used it in my 10g and had nothing but issues with gha. Once I removed the sand, the gha was gone and has not returned.

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Looking at getting a bigger pump, recommendations welcome.

Have you considered a small fountain pump like this: https://www.amazon.com/Meditool-Submersible-Fountain-Aquarium-Hydroponics/dp/B0747HDV4G/ref=sr_1_10?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1510567274&sr=1-10&keywords=fountain+pump+adjustable

[Lula_Mae]

6 hours ago, Clown79 said:

I'm sorry you're having issues, it's so frustrating when there are issues.

 

I think your suspicion of the black sand is correct. I used it in my 10g and had nothing but issues with gha. Once I removed the sand, the gha was gone and has not returned.

Interesting to know it's not just me who had issues! The tank a couple years ago had ridiculous GHA problems constantly. 

 

3 hours ago, seabass said:

Have you considered a small fountain pump like this: https://www.amazon.com/Meditool-Submersible-Fountain-Aquarium-Hydroponics/dp/B0747HDV4G/ref=sr_1_10?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1510567274&sr=1-10&keywords=fountain+pump+adjustable

I actually have a pump almost identical to that, I had taken it out with the intention of using just the air pump but it wasn't enough flow, so I've added the fountain pump back for the moment. Going to try Walmart and PetSmart today for a Whisper air pump or something.

[SaltyBuddha]

Man, sorry to hear about the losses. I've been gone all weekend and I'm trying to catch up on all the picos. I lost my cleaner shrimp in my IM10 this morning. I didn't know how many feels I had for the little fella until today 

 

I have the whisper air 10 gallon pump on mine. I only have rocks in there now, but from what I can see, there is a ton of flow when it is turned up. 

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, SaltyBuddha said:

Man, sorry to hear about the losses. I've been gone all weekend and I'm trying to catch up on all the picos. I lost my cleaner shrimp in my IM10 this morning. I didn't know how many feels I had for the little fella until today 

 

I have the whisper air 10 gallon pump on mine. I only have rocks in there now, but from what I can see, there is a ton of flow when it is turned up. 

Aww, it always stinks to lose a little critter.  That's actually the pump I picked up today at Walmart, it's HUGE compared to what I was using!  I think it'll work out just fine (I hope) lol.  The other one was losing too much pressure or whatever between the check valve, adjustable valve, and the length of tubing, and was designed to run a teeny filter, not provide circulation.