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Had my first death tonight which was actually a murder... a dwarf red hermit literally yanked an electric blue out of his shell and made off like a car jacking. The poor electric blue was not adjusting well from his cross country transfer, but still— that’s some harsh tank life there. Like watching an episode of Lockup. Now the jerk is proudly parading his new shell back and forth along the front glass of the tank, while the scarlet shrimp The Red  Baron plays with the carcass like it’s a soccer ball 🤭

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1 minute ago, Nursecop818 said:

Had my first death tonight which was actually a murder... a dwarf red hermit literally yanked an electric blue out of his shell and made off like a car jacking. The poor electric blue was not adjusting well from his cross country transfer, but still— that’s some harsh tank life there. Like watching an episode of Lockup. Now the jerk is proudly parading his new shell back and forth along the front glass of the tank, while the scarlet shrimp The Red  Baron plays with the carcass like it’s a soccer ball 🤭

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Hermits are dicks. 

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1 minute ago, Nursecop818 said:

Had my first death tonight which was actually a murder... a dwarf red hermit literally yanked an electric blue out of his shell and made off like a car jacking. The poor electric blue was not adjusting well from his cross country transfer, but still— that’s some harsh tank life there. Like watching an episode of Lockup. Now the jerk is proudly parading his new shell back and forth along the front glass of the tank, while the scarlet shrimp The Red  Baron plays with the carcass like it’s a soccer ball 🤭

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I went to hobby lobby and got a pack of sea shells and added a few random sizes to my aquariums. Hermit  crabs need new houses when they molt. If none are available they will make one available werther it's a snail or another crab

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1 minute ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Hermits are dicks. 

Oh especially since I’ve been watching that electric blue all day for signs of getting better, moved him to the front for observation, saw him eject some legs, then disappear. I thought hey- maybe he’s better and just molted? Nope. He got jacked. But problem is I saw his shell making tracks down the front wall of the tank and told its little owner oh look your crab is better!! Walk over there to find out oh wait...... that’s not an electric blue..... my bad... WTF?! I’m standing there going you bastard! under my breath.

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2 minutes ago, vegasgundog said:

I went to hobby lobby and got a pack of sea shells and added a few random sizes to my aquariums. Hermit  crabs need new houses when they molt. If none are available they will make one available werther it's a snail or another crab

I just put some in there for that very reason but they’re kind of big I guess. I’ll need to find some smaller ones before the others start yanking other inhabitants out of their homes.

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Just now, Nursecop818 said:

I just put some in there for that very reason but they’re kind of big I guess. I’ll need to find some smaller ones before the others start yanking other inhabitants out of their homes.

Need random sizes. If they are to big they won't move in. 

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4 minutes ago, Nursecop818 said:

Oh especially since I’ve been watching that electric blue all day for signs of getting better, moved him to the front for observation, saw him eject some legs, then disappear. I thought hey- maybe he’s better and just molted? Nope. He got jacked. But problem is I saw his shell making tracks down the front wall of the tank and told its little owner oh look your crab is better!! Walk over there to find out oh wait...... that’s not an electric blue..... my bad... WTF?! I’m standing there going you bastard! under my breath.

 

Heres a pic of one of mine I found bare assed and had to save him. 😂

 

 

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52 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Heres a pic of one of mine I found bare assed and had to save him. 😂

 

 

Oh that's no good! How do you save a nekkid crab?

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54 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Here’s a video of a robbery in progress:

 

 

Man they totally are car jackers!! But kind of cute and funny about it!

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Had a new homes sale today for crabs. So far only the one taker, but everybody keeps sniffing out the new digs and thinking them over. I bet I have more takers by tomorrow. This one dude went for a FANCY mansion-he can barely maneuver that thing but he wears it proudly!

 

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11 minutes ago, Nursecop818 said:

Had a new homes sale today for crabs. So far only the one taker, but everybody keeps sniffing out the new digs and thinking them over. I bet I have more takers by tomorrow. This one dude went for a FANCY mansion-he can barely maneuver that thing but he wears it proudly!

 

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That IS fancy!! 😄

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Oooooh yeah. He started sniffing that one out as soon as it dropped past his nose. Came down from his perch almost immediately. And now he doesn't really have any good place to sit but on the pinnacle of the rocks next to the acropora. Hope he doesn't damage it, since it's just showing some signs of turning red.

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So today has been a busy busy day!! Water change day (still once a week YAY!!) Turkey basted all the nasties off the rocks and corals and stirred the sand really well with the baster too, rather than siphoning the sand straight up. Did about a 40% water change after all said and done, because I cleaned all the back chambers and the pump and skimmer. And I made my very first batch of saltwater today--I feel like I need to call myself something like The Wee Heisenberg or something. Next up will be blue me... I mean RODI water this weekend when the new filter arrives. I can't describe how gleefully pumped I am over this little science experiment today--it's like going back to biochem or microbiology. What can I say, I'm a nerd. Got perfect readings on the water and stored it in jugs waiting for the next water change. NO MORE TRIPS TO THE 🧙🏻‍♀️FSL and her LFS!!  

 

 

One question I have for the Mensa group here: what to do with my calcium levels? I have noted now that I have a month's worth of data, when the skimmer started actually skimming, it started stripping the calcium out of the water. And the only way for me to get it back in is to feed MicroVert. That makes my nitrates go back up. So. Is it worth it to keep the skimmer, which has been working, or more worth it to start buying elements to dose the water with? Currently I have none. 

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8 hours ago, Nursecop818 said:

So today has been a busy busy day!! Water change day (still once a week YAY!!) Turkey basted all the nasties off the rocks and corals and stirred the sand really well with the baster too, rather than siphoning the sand straight up. Did about a 40% water change after all said and done, because I cleaned all the back chambers and the pump and skimmer. And I made my very first batch of saltwater today--I feel like I need to call myself something like The Wee Heisenberg or something. Next up will be blue me... I mean RODI water this weekend when the new filter arrives. I can't describe how gleefully pumped I am over this little science experiment today--it's like going back to biochem or microbiology. What can I say, I'm a nerd. Got perfect readings on the water and stored it in jugs waiting for the next water change. NO MORE TRIPS TO THE 🧙🏻‍♀️FSL and her LFS!!  

 

 

One question I have for the Mensa group here: what to do with my calcium levels? I have noted now that I have a month's worth of data, when the skimmer started actually skimming, it started stripping the calcium out of the water. And the only way for me to get it back in is to feed MicroVert. That makes my nitrates go back up. So. Is it worth it to keep the skimmer, which has been working, or more worth it to start buying elements to dose the water with? Currently I have none. 

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I would gather more data first. You don’t have enough corals yet for calcium to be a big issue.

 

I’m not a big fan of stripping things out only to add them back in. If that’s what is happening, I would just lose the skimmer.  

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3 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

 

I would gather more data first. You don’t have enough corals yet for calcium to be a big issue.

 

I’m not a big fan of stripping things out only to add them back in. If that’s what is happening, I would just lose the skimmer.  

Yeah I've kind of wondered. I have to empty that thing just about every day because the cup fills up pretty quick. Plus, whenever you add in the microbacter 7, it has to be off 4 hours anyway. I could put something more beneficial in that chamber like a bag of carbon or something. 

 

I keep seeing people say no rubble. I have bio rings because that's what Fluval sells, not rocks. Should I pull them out? I thought they were supposed to be a good place for the good bacteria to attach and grow, but it seems people are saying they catch nitrates instead. Just curious what the consensus is. 

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Just now, Nursecop818 said:

Yeah I've kind of wondered. I have to empty that thing just about every day because the cup fills up pretty quick. Plus, whenever you add in the microbacter 7, it has to be off 4 hours anyway. I could put something more beneficial in that chamber like a bag of carbon or something. 

 

I keep seeing people say no rubble. I have bio rings because that's what Fluval sells, not rocks. Should I pull them out? I thought they were supposed to be a good place for the good bacteria to attach and grow, but it seems people are saying they catch nitrates instead. Just curious what the consensus is. 

 

A lot of people say that it’s just a place for junky stuff to accumulate....... a lot of people don’t clean back there as well as they should anyway.

 

I would ask some people in the thread for that specific tank and see what they use...... it’s a popular tank.  

 

I dont use any of that stuff so I’m biased. 😄

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2 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

A lot of people say that it’s just a place for junky stuff to accumulate....... a lot of people don’t clean back there as well as they should anyway.

 

I would ask some people in the thread for that specific tank and see what they use...... it’s a popular tank.  

 

I dont use any of that stuff so I’m biased. 😄

I always siphon out the chambers when I do a water change and check them real well for nasties, but if they're microscopic, then I guess hunting for them is moot. But I'll ask on the Evo thread. It seems to be a subject matter that's a bit divided, and most people use Matrix instead of rings. I may change them out for that if people say that's better, more porous, but I'll see what they say. I may go with pulling the skimmer though. It's kind of a pain in the butt.

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ECLS Reefer

So today I did my first water change using my own saltwater that I made from the Red Sea Coral Pro salt, rather than having to deal with the 🧙🏻‍♀️ FSL. My little hammer had been looking super shriveled up into a hammer ball the last couple of days, with my calcium levels reading pretty low, around 360/380. Other than the calcium being low, no other parameters have been out of whack; the nitrates have been around the same as usual of 5-10. I did the water change partly because I have no calcium on hand the new water is supposed to contain higher concentrations of it. The other corals in the tank obviously look pretty healthy and happy and open-the GSP, the torch is pretty large and wavy, the grape is grapey I guess. The zoas I accidentally smashed yesterday when a wave pump fell on them while cleaning all came back open and had repaired by this morning; they aren't completely open in the picture but they are at this moment. And the little acropora-well, we are still working on making that one do something other than look like it's sitting there flipping me off. The red and green favia has been opening up and extending little tentacles pretty nicely- I haven't seen any sweepers but I also haven't noted anybody looking stung so I guess that's good.

 

My goby J Edgar Hoover moved back over to the other side of the scape where Snappy his pistol shrimp friend is supposed to live, but to be honest I haven't seen hide nor hair of that little guy in forever. I do hope he's not dead under his rock. Is there a way to even know for certain that a pistol hasn't met his maker? I haven't heard him snap in a while, but I haven't been sitting here able to listen for him 24/7 either. 

 

Also, I noticed today that there's some kind of new phyto-animal in the tank. I'm not sure what the heck it is-it's almost like a two legged octopus? It's pretty quick and I couldn't get a very clear shot of it with the camera because it's so tiny but I did the best I could. Anybody have any ideas on what it is, and if it's going to be a pain to deal with?

 

At any rate, the biggest changes I've made lately are: took out the protein skimmer (in case it was stripping the calcium out of the water, plus it was a giant pain in the butt on daily cleaning maintenance), put In Tank Chamber 2 basket back in Chamber 2 with Seachem Matrix and De*Nitrate, took out Fluval bio rings in favor of the other two. Changed the water to saltwater made from Red Sea Coral Pro. Changed the heater to Neotherm 150W heater and Inkbird thermostat controller (because the fluval heater would never stay on one temp, ever). So if anybody has any other ideas about why I can't keep calcium in the water, let me hear it! 

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Everything is looking good. I wouldn't worry too much about the skimmer if it's causing you problems; a lot of people with nano tanks get along fine without using a skimmer by just doing water changes. 

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ECLS Reefer

Woohoo!! Good update- J Edgar’s buddy Snappy has been spotted! The sneaky little turd came out from under his rock tonight along with his creepy bristle worm friend, so good to know we are still only down one creature and it was still due to a tank murder and not keeper negligence. It always makes me happy to know I haven’t killed anything with my ignorance 😖.

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  • ECLS Reefer changed the title to Sister Margarets School for Wayward Girls 13.5g Evo (June 2021 TOTM). Random Update with Foto

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