Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

rO.oster's BC29 revision 3.0 - Resurrected from Death


rO.oster

Recommended Posts

The green invasion has begun :wub:

 

SR7JoY2.jpg

 

The most exciting part is that the tank finally has motion!  The GHA has taken root on every surface inside, and my little green crop is really starting to fill in.  During both past revisions, I was pretty late in ordering the CUC which allowed a huge forest to grow in before they were able to chew it back.  Each time I had to go in and manually cut out long spaghetti  strands of GHA.  They eventuality do clean it up; I like having an ample supply of food for all the inverts as they settle into their roles.

 

This time I was trying to be mindful but my orders still do not arrive until Wednesday! omgomgomg  

 

I'm really excited for the CUC to arrive, I went in two directions which will bring me a hugely diverse crew.

 

From Reefcleaners I ordered the 20L cleaner package.  It has 20+ Dwarf Ceriths, 11 Florida Ceriths, 8 Nerites, and 7 Nassarius snails.

 

From Indo-Pacific Sea Farm I ordered the SurfZone Livesand Activator package.  It has a cup of mature tank argonite sand, 6 micro hermits, tiny worms, amphipods, 6 grazing gastropod snails, spagetti worms,  baby bristle worms, baby shrimps and snails, and a diverse mix of phytoplankton and zooplankton.  Instead of the bottle of nitrifying bacteria (I already dosed the Purple Helix) they substituted a wad of Clean chaeto!  Finally, another extra bag of reef amphipods.  As a bonus, they threw in a ultra green toadstool leather which just so happens to be on my coral list, so that sealed the deal.  A great investment in micro tank inhabitants!

 

I'm excited to have both Caribbean and Hawaii Pacific organisms in my tank!

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment

I performed my first 20% water change today and added GAC, GFO, and Purigen to the fuge rack.

 

I  measured some parameters as well, the specific gravity of my water is currently 1.026 at a steady 78.0 degrees.

 

Ca: 450ppm, dKH: 8, Nitrate: 3ppm, and Phosphate: .2ppm

 

I've plucked 3 tiny apastatia from the sandbed , in and around the immediate area of the rubble sand I added from Indo Pacific Sea Farms, so a little disappointed with that :rolleyes:. I'm doing my best to keep a vigilant watch for them, but the GHA is distracting.  In the past I've successfully beat apasatia using Peppermint shrimp, I am sure I will see more apastatia before i'm done stocking.

 

Also the hermits they sent are what appears to be left handed zebra hermits, and so far I haven't seen any of them touch the GHA, which is getting long....  I know for sure blue leg hermits eat it, but maybe its a size thing, mine are pretty small.  I may go pickup a few blue legs from the LFS tomorrow.

 

If the CUC can put a handle on the new growth, I will have to go edward scissor hands in there this week and give things a haircut.  Everythings unfolding just like the last two revisions, this included.

 

Seeing a lot of neon green highlighting on the rocks.

 

The Smart ATO Micro is doing a great job keeping the tank topped off.  Current evaporation is at like 1.1 gallons a week.

 

After adjusting the top off and water level in chamber 2 to be just under the floss, there is zero water splashing noise.  With lights on, the 2 LED fans are barley noticeable.  The MP10 is the loudest equipment part, I am really pleased with the setup so far.

 

Oh and uhhh, I may have ordered some coral :haha:  Can we say ZOA GARDEN?!!

Link to comment

I stopped by the LFS today and picked up 5 blue leg hermit crabs.  I was worried because they were pretty small, but I dropped them in and they went right to work on the GHA!  I should have purchased them as soon as I seen the first signs of sprouts.

 

Also, everything is coverd in tiny pod larvae.  The water column looks hazy due to a huge cloud of them swirling about!  My green toadstool wont stay extended because it keeps plucking pod larvae out of the water column.

 

Sl0NCd1.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I am amazed how fast the CUC took down the GHA.  I only removed what little was on the glass and as of today, only a sparse few wispy strands remain.  This weekend I will downsize the hermit population to 2 each of the blue leg and left handed zebra hermits.  Then, its gonna be survival of the fittest as the grazing population matches the bioload.  The GAC and GFO really made the GHA fade and lose its lushness, this is the first time I didn’t have to prune.

Link to comment
On 2/17/2018 at 10:56 PM, rO.oster said:

 

If the CUC can put a handle on the new growth, I will have to go edward scissor hands in there this week and give things a haircut.  Everythings unfolding just like the last two revisions, this included.

 

 

:lol: This cracked me up!  Glad the blue legs did their job and you didn't have to!

  • Haha 1
Link to comment

My first coral order arrived today from Aquariumdepot.com. I’ve ordered from  them in the past, they always had good prices for decent basic filler coral.  Did anyone else catch any good sales recently?  Mine was 50% off!  5-15$ frags I’ll take it!!

 

The package arrived UPS Next Day Air 14 hours after the shipping order was created.  I tracked the journey and carried the box inside 30 minutes after delivery.  Everything was encased in a solid styrofoam cooler with a small vent hole above the heat pack.  The water was at a perfect temperature despite it being 50 degrees outside.  I set about acclimating, and then gave everything a Lugols dip.

 

ZdzNNKK.jpg

 

After a good rinse, everything went in.  I cleaned up, closed up shop, and high tailed it back to work.

 

Tonight, everything is mostly open with one or two frags just peeking open. It doesn’t appear I will have any losses,  but we’ll see.  I am very excited to spy a few hitch hiking zoa polyps of different colors that I didnt order but saw advertised, so i’ll frag those off and start some new clusters.

 

AdYIWYj.jpg

 

c74veqi.jpg

 

I’ll give things a few days to rest and adapt to my lighting, and then start experimenting with placement.

 

Things are really popping at dusk now! :naughtydance:

  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
22 hours ago, DarkMagic said:

Whoa your pods are as big as your hermits!

I’m a little worried they will start munching on the zoa’s, I think maybe it’s time for a fish!?  I’ve got a 4week business trip comming up soon, and my caretaker will be by once a week for general easy tank maintenance and a pinch of pellets.   But with all this pod activity, surley one fish will be just fine!?  I’m tempted.

Link to comment

" I’m tempted..." 

 

Don't do it ?

Wait till you get back... My 2 cents 

Looks like a great pack to start things off... Excited to see it all open up. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
23 hours ago, vitreous99 said:

Wait till you get back... My 2 cents 

Make that 4 cents, totally agree! Are the zoas having trouble? Didn't know pods bothered zoas at all.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
11 hours ago, DarkMagic said:

Make that 4 cents, totally agree! Are the zoas having trouble? Didn't know pods bothered zoas at all.

And now that’s 6 cents 

 

what kind of fish are are you thinking of?

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
On 2/22/2018 at 9:02 PM, vitreous99 said:

My 2 cents

 

23 hours ago, DarkMagic said:

Make that 4 cents

 

12 hours ago, Livia said:

And now that’s 6 cents

 

You guys are making a lot of sense.  No fish for me till I get back!  :slap:

 

The zoas are all doing great, I spent today removing the frag plugs and glueing them to my rockscape, so everything is back to being pissed off.  The ricordia are small but have multiple mouths.  The sympodium is still kind of shy, I gave it its own rock island to encrust for now.  I glued down the gorgonians towards the back, the lavender ribbon went through a shed and is a nice deep purple.

 

For fish, I’m still a little undecided on the exact final choices.  For sure, I want a Falco Hawkfish and a Royal Gramma, I’ve never owned them before so I am excited for the pertching and different vibes they will bring.

 

I’m pretty sure I want a single clownfish this time.  During the last two revisions, I had pairs, and the first pair (Ocellaris) had a frogspawn host them, it was amazing but the female was mean.  The second pair (Percula) never chose a spot and the female was a demon.  This time I want a Davinci Snowflake Ocellaris Clownfish grade B, and a nice cherrycoral 24k gold torch for her to live in.

 

Finally, the goby dilemma.  I’ve already owned a yellow watchman, randalli, and yasha haste gobys.  I don’t want to repeat having the same fish,  but I’m not too impressed with the remaining choices for gobys that pair with a Randalli Candycane shrimp (i bought one yesterday from the LFS, you guys said no fish not no shrimp :happydance:).   The spike fin goby looks really sweet but doesn’t get that big, does anyone have any experience with it?

 

I found a few more apastatia so I picked up my favorite remedy, the peppermint shrimp.  The LFS lady said a blessing on the shrimp to empower its appetite, and by today, no apastatia could be found.  

 

I cleaned the glass so tomorrow is picture day after a good nights rest.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Spike fin is another name for flaming prawn go by. I've owned a few and they are my favorite fish ever. However they do stay stay small, can be very shy, and do not pair with pistol shrimp. 

 

I like the hi fin goby/yellow rose goby with Randalli shrimp. Similar size/behavior to the yasha,  but different look.

 

And lol! I'm glad your LFS has a peppermint shrimp blessing that actually works!

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Full tank shot:

 

TgbA8Pk.jpg

 

I love the perspective achieved with the gorgonians in the back, their slight motion really adds to the backdrop. The toadstool is in a perfect spot, the polyps dance lazily in the current on long stalk ends.  All the zoas are doing well, I evenly distributed the daytime colors, and then also took into account the acitinic glow.  I absolutely can’t wait for this to grow in more.

 

Thank you for the goby tips @sublunary. When it come time, I think I’ll probably get another yasha hase to burrow with the randalli shrimp, but would love to also have the flame prawn if the two gobies are compatible.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

That looks beautiful! It's going to look great growing out.

 

You can definitely get both. They likely won't interact at all, but won't hurt each other. And your rockwork looks big enough for them both to find homes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Amphipod damage: 

 

V6RxqgE.jpg

 

They are chewing strips out, Ive seen the biggest pods do it.  They seem to really favor this cluster, some other zoas are untouched.  There are no preditors in the tank to keep them fearful, they rifle through everything like its a corn maze.  If I dont get at least one fish I will lose a few zoa frags for sure..... 

Link to comment
On 2/27/2018 at 11:07 AM, vitreous99 said:

Can the coral recover from this? 

 

Those polyps are now totally obliterated.  My hope is to get the amphipod poulation in check; if at least one polyp survives then it can grow back eventually.  They are also picking on my neon yellow zoas too. 

 

During the last two revisions, I had wrasses, and thus never encountered this issue before.  I went ahead and got a green mandarin, a risk I know, but the chaeto wad in the back is growing fast and the display glass is COVERED with pod fry.  :scarry:

Link to comment

We have a neon blue goby... Tiny little gal we call glitch. Kind of an interesting fish (they will target parasites on other fish but will eat other foods) ...Probably a very light bio load. Wonder if a little guy like that could help with pods while you are gone. 

Link to comment

Une petit mise à jour, a small update.

 

I’m almost done with week 3 on my four week business trip in France.  My tank babysitter has been by my house once a week to change the floss, feed, and monitor the top off reservior.  So far, everything is reported to be good, nothing unusual to note, other than the evaporation rate seems to be slower than I anticipated.  

 

Here is the FTS the day before I left on 3/2/2018:

 

BnfbxCQ.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment

That looks beautiful! Hope it's doing just as nicely when you get back.

 

Do you get to enjoy France at all while you're there, or does work fill up the whole time?

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...