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Wingy's "Old School Pico Reef" now a 5 gallon rimless


Wingy

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The sexy shrimp and blue leg hermit were not out begging for their breakfast this morning.  Hopefully they are molting and just hiding.  The emerald crab gave me a mighty wave, or the crab version of the finger,  so I don't think anything is really wrong.  

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To cheer me up my other half treated me to a shopping spree at the lfs.  I was told to keep it under $1000.  Yeah right.  $1000 in corals wouldn't fit in the tank.  I like the $30 and under tank.  It's always has a variety of small but bright and colorful pieces.  I spent $100 and got some snails, 2 ricordea and a zoa mix. 

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The back tank glass is full of green hair algae.  It is ugly but I let it grow for the pods.  Last nightI took a toothbrush  to some of it and dumped big clumps into the Opae tank.  The Opae fought like mad over it and devoured it.  I am almost tempted to convert some Opae to full saltwater  to see how they would do at keeping the substrate clean.  My big concern  is that the filter creates to much water movement and that they would be blown around and injured.

 

On a positive note Redrum the blue leg hermit didn't  kill any of the new astrea snails last night.  

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1 snail is now missing so I did some research and it appears that the blue leg hermit can do just fine in brackish water and can co-exist with Opae Ula so I will be setting up an acclimation container because of the difference in salinity and banishing Redrum from the reef.  

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  • 3 months later...

Redrum is now with the Opae Ula.  It is no longer the bully of the tank.  The Opae may be small but they are fast and not afraid.  

 

Today was maintenance day.  I did another scrub of the rock I bought in the fall.  If it continues to grow GHA I will get rid of it.  I have had nothing but trouble since adding dry dock.  I will never do it again.  I like the rock from the high end lfs much more.

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Hi Wingy. I was wondering how you are doing. That's to bad about the rock and GHA. I had good results scrubbing GHA off rocks with peroxide and a tooth brush but it does mean taking it out of the tank and first pulling off any clumps. 

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Hi Deb.  I thought about using diluted peroxide but wanted to preserve the coraline that has grown on it.  Hopefully I beat it back some and the snails can clean up the rest.  I also moved the tank into the darkest area of the room which may also help.

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  • 1 month later...

Redrum the hermit crab has adjusted to life in the brackish water Opae Ula tank.  The Opae move to fast for Redrum to catch and they enjoy climbing on its shell to clean off the algae.  

 

I am still having trouble keeping the newest rock in the reef tank free of algae.  I really don't want to nuke it with peroxide but I am leaning toward placing it in the Opae tank for a few days for them to clean off and then move it back.  The Opae go nuts for GHA.  The Opae tank doesn't have any filtration or pumps so I wonder if this is a good idea.  

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  • 6 months later...

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