UNS 3n

[HippieSquirrel]

14 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'd love to have thumbnails someday but at present am too busy to add more pets to my life lol.  Which species do you have your eye on?  I daydream about fantasticas someday but wouldn't start out with them lol.  I do like isopods, however, and just got my hands on P. scaber "Calico" and A. nasatum "Peach," which I used to have but lost after moves, and one I'm really excited about, P. scaber "Orange Dalmation." My favorites though are the giant canyon isopods, they are hilariously entertaining to watch!

Yeah I didn’t think I would be trying darts either however I got lots of experience at school and through a summer job working with a variety of animals which gave me the confidence I needed even though I’ve always been a fish/dog person.  I’m most interested in Ranitomeya benedicta 'Shucushuyacu' or Ranitomeya imitator 'Varadero’ mainly I like the orange/red with blue contrast.  To be honest I know very little about isopods, currently I just have springtails in there.  I plan on adding some dwarf species as well though.

[Lula_Mae]

13 minutes ago, HippieSquirrel said:

Yeah I didn’t think I would be trying darts either however I got lots of experience at school and through a summer job working with a variety of animals which gave me the confidence I needed even though I’ve always been a fish/dog person.  I’m most interested in Ranitomeya benedicta 'Shucushuyacu' or Ranitomeya imitator 'Varadero’ mainly I like the orange/red with blue contrast.  To be honest I know very little about isopods, currently I just have springtails in there.  I plan on adding some dwarf species as well though.

I used to have dwarf purple Costa Rican isos, they are cute and tiny and will make good dart snacks lol.  There's also the dwarf whites which I've heard don't ship well and a few other less common dwarf varieties.  For bigger ones, the P. scaber "Giant Orange" ones are pretty popular, or any of the scaber species really.  Darts won't eat them but will eat the babies.  They definitely reproduce too slowly to be a reliable solo food source though.

[HippieSquirrel]

Brief tank update:

Tank is taking longer to cycle with turbo start 900 than I thought but it’s much faster than doctor Tim’s.  I’m already at 0 ammonia and the nitrites are coming down.

 

I currently have a few critters in QT no spoilers yet but there’s a handful of zoas/palys (about 10 frags), two very tiny shrimps, a very tiny crab, and I pulled out 3 RFAs from my other tank to go in there as well, a baby RFA also tagged along on the rubble! 

 

Hopefully I can start moving them over this coming week!

 

9 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I used to have dwarf purple Costa Rican isos, they are cute and tiny and will make good dart snacks lol.  There's also the dwarf whites which I've heard don't ship well and a few other less common dwarf varieties.  For bigger ones, the P. scaber "Giant Orange" ones are pretty popular, or any of the scaber species really.  Darts won't eat them but will eat the babies.  They definitely reproduce too slowly to be a reliable solo food source though.

Yeah the dwarf purples sound familiar, I think that’s what I was going to try and get.  I will also be culturing fruit flies so they’re mostly there for cleanup duty!

[HippieSquirrel]

I think I've narrowed my choices for gobies down... just wondering what everyone else's opinions were on these species:

 

Coryphopterus personatus

Eviota nigriventris

Elacatinus puncticulatus

Eviota pellucida

 

Which do you think would be best for my tank setup and why?  Is there one that has better personality than the others?  

[HippieSquirrel]

So as it turns out I got the live aquaria notification yesterday that they finally had eviota pellucida in stock again.  The big selling point was that they also had porcelain anemone crabs in too so I could knock both off my list at the same time!  So that’s what I’m going with.  It was by far my favorite of the bunch looks wise I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to find one anywhere.  If the cycle isn’t done by the time they arrive next week I’ll just throw them in my makeshift isolation chamber in the 20 I’m optimistic though. 

 

I can’t wait to get this tank going!

[Reefkid88]

Reminds me a lot of my old pico,I love it. 

[HippieSquirrel]

1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Reminds me a lot of my old pico,I love it. 

Thanks!  I've read parts of your tank thread, It's a shame you had to break it down.  

[HippieSquirrel]

I’ve noticed some issues with surface film buildup, figured the ac50 would agitate the surface enough and it does but not enough.  It seems surface film is different in saltwater systems.. who’da thunk .  So I started looking into low profile skimming solutions and ran across this https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073J1D234.  I’ve purchased products from this brand before but for freshwater so I figured I’d give it a shot.  I also haven’t seen an acrylic add on to HOB filters before so I figured I’d share.  Most others are bulky and/or ugly and not clear like this.  

 

Ill keep everyone posted on how it goes.  This way it’s not a permanent addition to the tank, looks better than a diy option, and was surprisingly relatively cheap.  Only issue is the suction cups are on the wrong side for my setup but I’ll just take them off and leave the nobs.. should be behind the rock work anyway.  

[JBM]

On 3/11/2018 at 3:13 AM, HippieSquirrel said:

And so it begins..

 

 

I’ll grab a better one when it clears up.  Gonna run to the store in the morning and pick up some turbo start!  So excited! 

 

Cleared up: the shimmer is excellent!

 

Slight lack of foresight.. may have to play with light schedules to prevent algae.

What lives in the larger cube? I wish my wife would let my T.Blondie & H.Maculata live in some other place then the closet

[HippieSquirrel]

2 hours ago, JBM said:

What lives in the larger cube? I wish my wife would let my T.Blondie & H.Maculata live in some other place then the closet

Nothing except plants and springtails at the moment, gonna be adding some dart frogs eventually.  I haven’t owned any land critters just cared for some so I’m taking that project slow.  

 

I’m with your wife on that one though, huge arachnophobe here .  

[HippieSquirrel]

I've got a few extra small hermits in there now!  WC tonight and transferring some corals hopefully tomorrow!

 

Goby and crabs arrived today... they sent a red neon goby instead of the gold neon which is what I ordered.  Still cute but not what I wanted, was on the list though so at least I can keep it in the tank.  Funny thing is the red neons were on sale at the time of my order so it was probably 7-8 dollars more expensive (they're out of stock now so I can't confirm)...  Thanks Live Aquaria.  Now I have an infected pederson with and isopod, no idea how long it'll live (they did refund it though) as well as a wrong fish.  I thought a big organization would have better quality control than this.. you'd think they'd at least have one person around who knows fish to double check everything.

 

I think I'll stick to diver's den.. I really wish I had a 'true' local fish store.  The best thing I've got is a place called aquarium adventure which is essentially petsmart but with a much larger selection of fish and supplies as well as a saltwater section, oh and the prices are outrageous because they're the only place that sells 80% of their merchandise for 30-40 miles.  

 

*end of rant*

 

*enter therapy fish*

 

[vlangel]

I like the scape of this tank and am anxious to see it progress.

[ayobreezie]

looks good.  following for sure.  I wanna do something similar with an ADA tank I have in storage.

[HippieSquirrel]

On 3/30/2018 at 5:22 PM, vlangel said:

I like the scape of this tank and am anxious to see it progress.

Thanks! Me too!

19 hours ago, ayobreezie said:

looks good.  following for sure.  I wanna do something similar with an ADA tank I have in storage.

You should go for it!  

 

 

I added the zoa/paly frags, RFAs, and the other critters yesterday.  Sorry I have no pictures yet I’m working this weekend.  Also everyone still seems to be adjusting.  The goby disappeared into the rockwork and I only just confirmed he’s still in there this afternoon, one of the pedersons already ended up in the filter (alive though! seemed to enjoy picking at the mangrove), and the RFAs are on the move.  Also I actually found 2 baby RFAs today which is cool.  At this point I’m just hoping I didn’t shock the system and put it through a mini cycle.. I’ll be doing frequent water changes to mitigate the chances of that.  

 

Ill definetly grab pictures monday Monday and Tuesday when everyone starts opening up more!  

[HippieSquirrel]

OH I almost forgot!  I’ll probably regret not taking a picture when I had the chance but oh well.  Will a porcelain anemone crab host Xenia....?  He/she hunkered down at the base of the two stalks and even after the transfer still is stubbornly clinging to it.. meanwhile the 3 RFAs that have been with him/her in the holding container and the new tank and are feeling lonely .  Funny thing is the Xenia swimming crab (who doesn’t seem to be eating the Xenia at all unlike what I’ve read) sits in between the polyps all day and doesn’t seem to mind sharing... I currently have he strangest threesome ever. 

 

[HippieSquirrel]

Alright they’re finally here! Crappy pictures of angry zoas/palys  there’s more polyp extension every day though but I just did a large water change so they’re pissed.

 

 

The threesome has broken up.. they never last  

 

 

Unfortunately I couldn’t get a pic of the goby but it’s in there!  Amazing how he dissapears in such a small tank.  

 

New FTS

 

[HippieSquirrel]

Another picture I couldn’t fit in the last post.  I'll continue working on pictures of the RFAs, goby, and corals as they adjust and start opening up more.

 

Enjoy!  Thanks for looking!

 

[k4ndyk1ng]

Nice nice, keep us updated this is looking very nice.

[JBM]

Happy corals make a happy tank

[HippieSquirrel]

Unfortunately this tank has hit a snag, in my previous tank I added things slowly since I was kind of forced to.  It wasn’t something I had considered with this tank.  Live and learn I guess.  I added too much bio load to the tank all at once and the tank is re-cycling.  Most likely due to the tank size.  I’ve been moving critters back to my 20g and will do things much slower this time around.  Luckily no one died and I will be leaving the goby as it seems to be fine and would be difficult to catch.  To be honest the only ones reacting poorly were the corals and RFAs anyway.  

 

As such it will probably be a bit before any updates are made on this tank.  

[Lorekeeper]

Sorry to hear! I was really liking this tank.

 

Good luck on your next go around!

[k4ndyk1ng]

Did the same with my tank dude, hopefully everything will be alright.

[HippieSquirrel]

Alright so I am down to a handful of the zoas/palys, goby, and one RFA I couldn’t catch.. and guess what,  this afternoon when the lights came on all but one of the zoas/palys are out.  Now I’m second guessing moving them all... I might try to push through what do you all think?

[SeaFurn]

That’s a good sign. 

I think I’d keep doing the frequent water changes and press on. 

[JBM]

Frequent water changes are going to be your friend. 15% plus. Just keep in mind that your gonna want to temperature and salinity match