Laj's 10 --> A Long Overdue Update + photo dump

[YaBoyLaj]

New light came... holy crap, my corals have colors I never would've known about.  This light isn't on complete 8000k, I just wanted to see how the corals and orange tipped dragons breath looked. I have it around 6500/7000k ish 

I really need to stop being lazy and get my nikon back out 

[vlangel]

Color is good!

[YaBoyLaj]

So the tank is still going strong but it's lacking in one very important department, fish and inverts! I've considered a few small oddball gobies and some glass/yellow striped cardinals and as far as inverts, maybe some small anemone shrimp (I can't stop wanting them lol) a caribbean porcelain crab and maybe, MAYBE a crinoid squat lobster. Any other ideas?

[YaBoyLaj]

The tank is still going strong. At the LFS, they had a ghost shrimp who came in on accident with some peppermints and was doing great in saltwater, he looked like a coldwater shrimp which I liked so I snagged him up and has been in the tank for a few days and is doing great and munching on mysis like a pig! No pic ATM but he is pretty cool. This is what he looks like 

[ajmckay]

Nice.  Is it really a ghost shrimp ?  Suppose there are probably several variations - the ones I see are usually just clear and gray.

[YaBoyLaj]

9 minutes ago, ajmckay said:

Nice.  Is it really a ghost shrimp ?  Suppose there are probably several variations - the ones I see are usually just clear and gray.

That's what I thought too, I'm honestly not sure. From what I've read is that regular ghost shrimp only live for a short time in pure saltwater so I think this one may be a completley different species.

[YaBoyLaj]

OK! I found the exact species (or at least I'm fairly certain it is), it's Palaemon serratus, here's a writup http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/2033

[vlangel]

I love that shrimp.  It is very cool.

[Cintax]

4 hours ago, ThePaontedFrogfish said:

OK! I found the exact species (or at least I'm fairly certain it is), it's Palaemon serratus, here's a writup http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/detail/2033

So cool!

[YaBoyLaj]

1 hour ago, vlangel said:

I love that shrimp.  It is very cool.

thanks lol

 

[ajmckay]

Interesting find - though as you mention it's found around the British Isles so it's a cold water species (or temperate I'm not really sure what that's considered lol)...  The thing that surprised me was the size..  To 11cm?  That's pretty huge.

[YaBoyLaj]

2 hours ago, ajmckay said:

Interesting find - though as you mention it's found around the British Isles so it's a cold water species (or temperate I'm not really sure what that's considered lol)...  The thing that surprised me was the size..  To 11cm?  That's pretty huge.

I know, I saw that too  I guess he took the temp change pretty well but I did see he was intertidal so I guess he's used to fluctuations... If only I had the coldwater tank I want  Idk what I'll do with him when he's all grown up 

[YaBoyLaj]

Ok so its been quite a while since my last update so I guess I'll write a quick overview. Tank is doing well with the macros growing fast and corals puffy and fat. Sadly the shrimp managed to flip himself out of the tank and was found dead on my desk the following morning. I picked up a black clown goby who is doing great and was eating the same night I brought him home. Lots of corals have been added including a huge red rhodi and a dendro which i've been looking for for a while. Still looking for some cool additions, invert and fish wise. I would like to do 3 glass or yellow striped cardinals and a small team of oddball inverts like a caribbean porcelain crab and possibly a pair of mushroom coral shrimp that is if I can find/order them. As far as corals and macros tho, I think I'm gonna stick to getting more macros b/c I'm pretty much good on coral at this point. I'm looking for codium and some scroll to round out the collection and to add some new color to the system. FTS soon! 

[YaBoyLaj]

OK so here is a photo dump, W/C was done yesterday along with trimming some of the macro and cleaning up the chaeto... + some dosing  (I will be getting a new herd of snails to deal with the GHA before it gets out of hand 

 

Green Fungia

Acans

Out of place FTS... the ions bottle wanted to be in the pic i guess. PS. Please excuse the wire/chaeto tupperware, water marks and algae, I just wanted to get an FTS out and didn't really notice

Bleached asf dragon's breath... it grows well but I dont know how or why. Will be moved to lower light

Ric garden

Big blue disco I've had for 2 years, just split but this one smothers the absolute hell out of it

A blurry pic of my duster... cuz I'm too lazy to get a better one 

Yuma I've had for about 5 months, he's grown a bit but he's pretty for sure, blue, orange with a green mouth.

Toadstool that's been in all 3 of my recent tanks and his P.E is amazing in this one and so this is where he will stay. I have another one but he just finished shedding and looks kinda gross atm 

Small gorg frag I got from my old job, they said it was dead... it wasn't lol

RFA from RAP

Big ol' rhodi from the new LFS in my area... 15 bucks wasn't too bad 

The dendro who's spoiled as all get out. He is PHAT when fully open but again, being my lazy self, I didn't want to wait for him to fully open XD

[vlangel]

Nice pics!  And if you would not have said anything about your FTS, I would not have seen those things ?.

[YaBoyLaj]

5 hours ago, vlangel said:

Nice pics!  And if you would not have said anything about your FTS, I would not have seen those things ?.

lol 

[YaBoyLaj]

Hair algae has gotten pretty bad so I'm going to take some more drastic measures, since the algae grows over every new sprout of caulerpa and has turned the once really pretty bush of dragon's breath brown, I will be pulling all macro and running carbon for a while to try and combat the gha. The majority of the corals are doing really well, the only issue is my black clown goby constantly perches on my acans and plate and they haven't opened fully in 2 + weeks so I'm hoping a re-scape should help and maybe he'll find a new spot, it's definately a rough patch but it's not awful.. just a hiccup 😙

[Subsea]

On 1/31/2018 at 12:02 PM, ThePaontedFrogfish said:

So I spent the majority of last night working on all 3 of my tanks, lots of issues, but was able to get them functioning pretty well. Today I'll be picking up some Kent products for dosing (trace & iron) and will also be adding a small rio powerhead for some extra flow towards the bottom of the system. The AC20 does an incredible job and has already amassed a large collection of crap in the sponges and carbon. I feel like carbon really defeats the purpose of having macros as it takes up the nutrients they need to thrive. So today I'll be swapping the stock 3 stage for my trusty classic cut to fit black filter sponge and filterwatte and see how that works!

Macro uses inorganic nutrients (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, phosphorous) coupled with phytosynthesis to form organic biomass.  A normal byproduct of photosynthesis is DOC (dissolved organic carbon).  Granulated activated carbon removes 65% of DOC in a reef tank.  

They compliment each other.  Macro removes inorganic nutrients and leaks DOC.  GAC removes DOC.

 

PSS.  DOC grows bacteria.   

[Subsea]

From “feathers to leathers”, you have a very nice tank.

 

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookhalyfloresia.htm

This Halymenia is collected between 20’ - 120’.  Not very bright at that depth.

[YaBoyLaj]

On 5/7/2018 at 7:51 PM, Subsea said:

From “feathers to leathers”, you have a very nice tank.

 

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookhalyfloresia.htm

This Halymenia is collected between 20’ - 120’.  Not very bright at that depth.

Thanks man!

[ajmckay]

tank is looking great!  I like the coral selection in particular.   

 

One thought - is your heater submerged enough?

 

Also, regarding the AC filter - it's probably in your best interest to clean it frequently.  At least in my experience the sponge is very quickly colonized with bacteria.

[YaBoyLaj]

On 5/14/2018 at 8:28 PM, ajmckay said:

tank is looking great!  I like the coral selection in particular.   

 

One thought - is your heater submerged enough?

 

Also, regarding the AC filter - it's probably in your best interest to clean it frequently.  At least in my experience the sponge is very quickly colonized with bacteria.

Haha, i notice the cord for the heater was tense so it was keeping it out of the water, it has sense been moved and another suction cup added. I never mess with the sponge, I dont want to risk a drop in bacteria lol. I did clean the pipes and water return but left everything else alone 😁

 

Apart from that, I did rehouse my black clown goby to my established 12 with much more spots for him to perch. This was done due to him really taking a liking to perching on the acans and fungia, even after a rescape he really stuck to them. 🙂 Hopefully now they can open up again and get some food, I haven't seen their sweepers in a good month.

[YaBoyLaj]

So I am happy to say the GHA has subsided and is basically non existent! AND the fungia and acans are back to looking 100%; Woo Hoo! BUT I did realize along the sand bed there is a blooming population of planaria, I'm not too upset because so far, no negative effects, but as far as dealing with them, that's where the problem lies. I know a lot of people stand by coris and six lines but this is a 10, not a 50. I guess I could try a six line, but every one I've ever owned was a dick and frankly I don't want to have to fish him back out after the mess is taken care of, that is even if he goes for them. Plus I don't really want a velvet nudi cuz I wouldn't want to get rid of him 😂 I like to eradicate things naturally so I don't want to jump straight to flatworm exit unless absolutely necessary. Anyone know of a good nano flat worm muncher?

[YaBoyLaj]

Good lord it's been quite a while since I posted anything on here, the 10 is still kickin and is doing better than ever after multiple treatments of Flatworm Exit and HOURS of manual grape caulerpa removal. The AquaClear grows chaeto like a mf and keeps the nutrient levels at a perfect balance. The RFA and fungia have grown quite a bit along with the now 5 species of gorgs housed in the tank. The dendro has grown 0 new heads but the polyp itself has gotten pretty beefy and is fed once every 1-2 days. Fish wise, just a yellow watchman, springeri damsel and an orbiculate cardinal who have co existed in the tank for almost a year now with no issues. With being a full time college student and a move coming up, I kind of had to put the hobby on hold for a while and keep everything as is, but now that I have a bit of time I'm coming back full force 😗 I plan on getting a larger system , probably a 40 in the near future and consolidate both reef tanks into one and keep one smaller tank 2-5 g for all the little inverts I got 😜 I'll try to get some pictures up when I can.

[YaBoyLaj]

My lazy ass got some pictures, they aren't the best but its what I snapped before I had to dip out to school 😛