Maddie's Evo Adventure

[billygoat]

7 hours ago, Maddie said:

Good news and not so great news... My Dragon's Breath macro is going nuts, and the LFS's supplier keeps taking pipefish off their order. Probably going to be another few weeks until I can get them. In the meantime I'm supposed to be picking up a small Toadstool for the top middle rock.

Mushroom rock gets new inhabitants every few weeks, it seems. They have a big green Rhodactis that's crazy cool that I might have to pick up too. 

My Mermaid's fan also had a baby, right behind the first one so you can barely see it.

 

Wow, everything in this tank looks great! The GHA that was down on the sandbed and mushroom rock seems to have been totally driven out. I just scrolled back to the first page to check out the pictures you took right after you got the tank, and holy cow has it come a long way! You've really done a wonderful job of turning its fortunes around. Excellent work!

 

Sorry to hear that you've not had any luck getting a new pipefish though. That's a bit unfortunate! But hopefully it will just be a matter of time. 😊

[Maddie]

LFS trip! They didn't have any RODI water (why we went in the first place), but... I did pick up two new little dudes! Not what you're expecting or what I thought I was bringing home ($2 worth of water), but I'm excited about them!

[Maddie]

My two new additions are in the tank proper! One very pretty Porcelain Crab and a tiny Pom Pom Crab!

[billygoat]

Nice new additions! Both of those crabs are super cool and usually very peaceful. I'm sure you will enjoy observing them. 😊

 

Kind of a shame that the LFS was out of RO water though! I heard water is kind of important in this hobby. 😅

[Maddie]

3 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Nice new additions! Both of those crabs are super cool and usually very peaceful. I'm sure you will enjoy observing them. 😊

 

Kind of a shame that the LFS was out of RO water though! I heard water is kind of important in this hobby. 😅

The PP is the about dime sized, so super tiny and hard to find. The PC is larger but promptly put himself in a very hard to see spot, which I hate because he's gorgeous. Bluish shell with bright orange fans, they're crazy pretty! 

I had to run to Wally World to pick up distilled water since my salinity was pretty high. Their RODI filter broke and it's coming, but they have to take the current extensive setup off the wall and set up the new one as soon as it gets in. They were super sweet about it, as always. I get discounts on livestock because I work in the industry, which I love, and they'll order anything you want If their vendors can get it. 

Thanks for the compliment @billygoat, I love your tank so much, and I don't think mine is anywhere near diverse! It's a work in progress for sure!

[Maddie]

[billygoat]

Aw thanks! The diversity largely comes from real ocean live rock. Without that stuff it's next to impossible to get all the little things that make the details of a nano really come to life. But you shouldn't sell yourself short here; you have to consider where you started from! You took over a destroyed system and turned it into something beautiful, and that is a great accomplishment. 😊

 

I had a porcelain crab for awhile and it moved around quite a bit before deciding on a spot, so don't be too alarmed if yours is out of view for the time being. Once it finds a good location it will likely remain there almost permanently, but it's sort of a process and might take awhile.

 

I have a 20g Brute trash can that I fill up with RO water every month or so, which makes it so that I don't have to go to the store over and over again to continuously refill. I'm not entirely sure if having my water sit around in a bucket with no circulation for weeks on end as I slowly use it up is the best thing in the world, but so far I have had no issues with it, so it might be something to consider if you have the space.

[Maddie]

3 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Aw thanks! The diversity largely comes from real ocean live rock. Without that stuff it's next to impossible to get all the little things that make the details of a nano really come to life. But you shouldn't sell yourself short here; you have to consider where you started from! You took over a destroyed system and turned it into something beautiful, and that is a great accomplishment. 😊

 

I had a porcelain crab for awhile and it moved around quite a bit before deciding on a spot, so don't be too alarmed if yours is out of view for the time being. Once it finds a good location it will likely remain there almost permanently, but it's sort of a process and might take awhile.

 

I have a 20g Brute trash can that I fill up with RO water every month or so, which makes it so that I don't have to go to the store over and over again to continuously refill. I'm not entirely sure if having my water sit around in a bucket with no circulation for weeks on end as I slowly use it up is the best thing in the world, but so far I have had no issues with it, so it might be something to consider if you have the space.

Thanks 😄

The brute can is a great idea, but I'm not sure I could get it in and out of my car with any ease. I live about 10 minutes away, so it's not a trip, and I enjoy talking to the staff and seeing new livestock, so I think biweekly visits will suffice for now. 

The Porcelain crab is sort of visible, but I hope is settles somewhere I can see it!

[Maddie]

It's been a slow month. Very few changes to the tank... I now have tons of worm like tunicate things on the rock, pod heaven, and still no new pipefish. I went to the fish store earlier after seeing 'Blue Pipefish' on the stocklist, only to be disappointed that it was a larger species, not the Blue Striped Pipe. I did come home with a couple goodies though...

Two sexy shrimp and a new shroom. The shroom is a yellow spotted flesh colored thing, it looked much more impressive under their lights.  

However, Repticon and the much larger H.E.R.P.S. had me spending far too much on animals I did not need, including Emrys the Crested Gecko, and Fluffy, my brother's tarantula.