First 5g Reef on a College Budget - 1 YR 🎆🎉

[CarolinaShoreReef]

[Lula_Mae]

On 6/7/2018 at 12:53 PM, el_ote said:

3 in a 10 gallon. Was thinking going heavy on inverts, can't wait to find a squat lobster, but I may have to move one or two emeralds to the tank at the office. 

If you get one, try a very slow drip acclimation.  Both the ones I've had I think I acclimated too quickly after shipping from LiveAquaria as they didn't last long (well, one died in shipping so I guess that doesn't count lol but that was what I was going to try with him).  They are really neat little guys and I hope to try another sometime.  Very shy and reclusive, though, like pom pom crabs tend to be, also similar in size to pom poms.  Very tiny.

 

3 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Son of a *****. Lmao what a prick. 

I can't tell, what trouble is Mr. Mithrax up to?

[CarolinaShoreReef]

9 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I can't tell, what trouble is Mr. Mithrax up to?

I come back home to find he’s taken my orange ric hostage under the rock with him 😂

[el_ote]

16 hours ago, CarolinaShoreReef said:

Awesome, perfect place for the cave

[CarolinaShoreReef]

14 minutes ago, el_ote said:

Awesome, perfect place for the cave

Yep great viewing and they’re not shy like my yasha and pistol in the lagoon 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Night at the reef. 

 

The green rhodactis is huge now. 

 

Can’t wait to see things grown in more. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Seeded the island with a little more gsp from the lagoon. Different strain, longer polyp and more vibrant than the strain that’s been in here. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Haven’t been home for the past couple days... I have my suspicions that this was work of the emerald crab or water issues. Needless to say, I won’t be adding any more fish to this tank. I’m done spending money on this one. Need to focus on the lagoon. 

[el_ote]

Awww man that sucks! What a bummer. Poor little guy

[CarolinaShoreReef]

1 hour ago, el_ote said:

Awww man that sucks! What a bummer. Poor little guy

Yeah I was kinda bummed about it. No signs of anything. Keeping my eye on the emerald now. Haven’t seen the pistol since. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

UPDATE: Sighted the pistol during feeding. Got rid of the emerald crab. 

Going to start spot treating the GHA that’s growing between polyps. 

Slightly considering adding another shrimp goby but not anytime soon. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Giant. 

[BostonReef]

Saw this on top of the gallery and I thought I recognized those lights! Not the 13.5 but close enough.

 

I’ve recently set up mine as home to a very dumb and a bit handicapped pajama cardinal (pretty sure blind in an eye, swims in circles, only eats the food once it has landed on the sand bed..), switched my leather over which was already moody and is continuing along with some gsp.. good to see you’ve got some nice growth on yours! Too bad about the losses, these things happen, if params are good go for a relatively cheap goby (idk, engineer? diamond? not the expert there) as you already have the pistol.

 

I caught one emerald messing with coral and I suppose they’ve waved their claws at fish, but mostly they’d have to be in bad shape to get caught by an emerald, so even with a bottom dweller i don’t know if I’d blame it so quickly.  Maybe it was a domestic dispute, lol.

 

Out of curiosity, did you plug the hole in the back wall meant to prevent the pump from running dry? I’m considering that and have read Evo owners that did and didn’t.  Especially if I get an intank basket it seems smart though.

[CarolinaShoreReef]

4 hours ago, BostonReef said:

Saw this on top of the gallery and I thought I recognized those lights! Not the 13.5 but close enough.

 

I’ve recently set up mine as home to a very dumb and a bit handicapped pajama cardinal (pretty sure blind in an eye, swims in circles, only eats the food once it has landed on the sand bed..), switched my leather over which was already moody and is continuing along with some gsp.. good to see you’ve got some nice growth on yours! Too bad about the losses, these things happen, if params are good go for a relatively cheap goby (idk, engineer? diamond? not the expert there) as you already have the pistol.

 

I caught one emerald messing with coral and I suppose they’ve waved their claws at fish, but mostly they’d have to be in bad shape to get caught by an emerald, so even with a bottom dweller i don’t know if I’d blame it so quickly.  Maybe it was a domestic dispute, lol.

 

Out of curiosity, did you plug the hole in the back wall meant to prevent the pump from running dry? I’m considering that and have read Evo owners that did and didn’t.  Especially if I get an intank basket it seems smart though.

It seems a likely cause as they used to reside under the same rock together and it being a tiny tank there’s really no where for the goby to go. I left the crab a little too hungry I guess.. 😬

 

Sorry about the cardinal. I bet it loves having the tank to itself. 

 

I did plug that hole. I just took a slice of GSP and glued it over it. The lights on this tank are so white and I’ve found that to be perfect for these softies, especially coral of the xeniidae family (cespitularia, xenia, etc.). 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

For comparison 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Here’s how this tank is looking after a week vacation. Looks like I fed it too heavy before leaving because I cleaned up the GHA really well before leaving and it’s now grown in more than before. I may consider a lawnmower blenny. 🤔

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Finally split. Looks like it’s going to split again. 

 

Here’s a look at this tank. Hard to look at, I know. In my defense, I haven’t had much time to watch over this one (funny, right?! It’s summer)... I think I’m going to start dosing H2O2 before water changes. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Slowly getting that algae back in control. 

 

 

 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Larry 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Currently working on some magnetic rock frags to get a floating island effect. Just broke off some pieces of caribsea life rock, filed down a flat edge and super glued some magnets I got off of a frag rack. Next step is to silicon seal the magnets and build a mold for the exterior magnets. 

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Before I mess with them. 

[Floundering_Around]

Using this method for mounting my gsp, monti(what's left anyway), and a frag of my poci. Snails are a plus to keeping them algae free

[CarolinaShoreReef]

Transformation over the past three months