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

[Wingy]

Here is another youtube video.  

 

[748S911]

Lol, huge amphipods suck in my 2.5 they look like Godzilla hahahahah.

[Wingy]

How do I get them out?  I smooshed 4 with a chopstick but there are more.  

[748S911]

Mines are like rock ninja's that are impossible to kill 

[Wingy]

I am trying to be very careful in what ever I do so I don't nuke the bacteria.  It looks like a hypersalinity dip or a freshwater dip will kill off the beneficial bacteria,  Kent Lugol's dip will probably do the same thing.  I could remove the rock and try shaking and banging it in a bucket of salt water but I'm not sure if that will dislodge them because the rock is full of passageways.  

[seabass]

5 hours ago, Wingy said:

It looks like a hypersalinity dip or a freshwater dip will kill off the beneficial bacteria

Do you have something that supports this?  I would think that a hypersalinity dip would have less impact on the biofilter than freshwater.  Although I believe Brandon was claiming that rinsing in freshwater was tolerated by the nitrifying bacteria.

 

TBH, I don't know for sure one way or another.  Maybe I'll test this some day.  I'd be interested in a link, as long as it isn't just speculation.

[Tamberav]

Would an emerald crab be able to grab and eat them? I see my big emerald eating my asterina stars and they are nocturnal. 

 

I don't think a FW dip will be a big problem for bacteria. Much of the bacteria is deep in the rocks pores and the FW won't even reach there with a short dip. 

[Wingy]

4 hours ago, seabass said:

Do you have something that supports this?  I would think that a hypersalinity dip would have less impact on the biofilter than freshwater.  Although I believe Brandon was claiming that rinsing in freshwater was tolerated by the nitrifying bacteria.

 

TBH, I don't know for sure one way or another.  Maybe I'll test this some day.  I'd be interested in a link, as long as it isn't just speculation.

I don't have any hard information that supports it either way but with such a small system just the chance scares the heck out of me.  I used a bamboo skewer and got one of them this morning.  I left its carcas for the critters to eat hoping the pom pom will develop a taste for amphipod.  

[Wingy]

4 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Would an emerald crab be able to grab and eat them? I see my big emerald eating my asterina stars and they are nocturnal. 

 

I don't think a FW dip will be a big problem for bacteria. Much of the bacteria is deep in the rocks pores and the FW won't even reach there with a short dip. 

An emerald crab might go after amphipods.  I will have to look into that.  Are sexys compatible with an emerald crab?  I can honestly say I never imagined I would be spear fishing in my living room.  I am going to check out the Dollar Tree after work to see if I can find something made out of thin acrylic that hangs that I can turn into a makeshift frag holder for this poor zoa until I can eradicate these little shits.  

[Tamberav]

Sexys are so fast that they are the only invert my leopard wrasse hasn't ate yet (besides a mean boxer crab and a pistol who never shows face) but I have no idea as I haven't kept the two together.

 

I know my small mantis shrimps ate pods but they would eat your cuc and sexies 😛 Was neat to watch them wack the big pods....such overkill 🙂

[Tamberav]

I would also think a green banded goby would eat them...mine did...and tried to eat a nass snail once cuz it saw the stalk wiggling out of the sand bed. They are tiny but with the appitite of a shark. Just that they are not nocturnal so would only catch them during the day.

 

Definitely some odd nocturnal gobies out there too...who would decimate them such as a hasslet goby...maybe hard to find though....hmm.

[Wingy]

What if I were to dip the rock in some really really cold saltwater?  That shouldn't cause a die off of organics or bacteria.

[seabass]

Without supporting data, I have a feeling that hypersalinity might be your best bet:

Quote

Helpful Tips for Controlling Unwanted Pests:
Submerse the new rock into a bucket filled with saltwater with a specific gravity of 1.035 to 1.040 for one minute. Any invertebrates including mantis shrimp, bristle worms, and crabs will quickly evacuate from the rock and into the bucket of water.

Remove the live rock from the bucket and sort through the invertebrates in the bucket. Determine those you want to add to your system and discard unwanted pests. Bristle worms still attached to the rock can be removed with a pair of needle-nosed pliers or tweezers. This technique can be used to remove unwanted pests before or after curing your newly arrived live rock.

https://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=209

[Wingy]

The tank looks so good tonight so my other half has requested that I try hunting the amphipods for a few days.  I promised 1 day.  Almost everything did look terrific tonight.  Only my new piece of gsp looks terrible and has started to turn black in spots.  I am going to take a toothbrush to it tomorrow followed by a Lugols dip to see if I can save any of it.  The mushroom is big and full, there is a new polyp on the cloves so I am up to 9 from the original 3, the knopia looks terrific and the xenia has some new growth.  Best of all the 4 large zoa polyps are open and the little polyps while still closed are showing a hint of color.  When feeding everyone tonight I dangled a pellet near the hole where I saw the amphiods and didn't see any antenna.  

[Clown79]

Your pico is looking really good! 

 

 

[Wingy]

I got up 3 times Monday and Tuesday nights, using a red light, I didn't see any large amphipods.  I have started squishing anything larger than copepods that I see on the glass.  The gsp piece had more black on Tuesday  I gave it a scrub with a toothbrush to remove the black, around half is still purple,  followed by a 10 minute dip in Lugol's.  I figure I have nothing to lose by trying.  I really hope it can recover.  It comes from a beautiful piece that had extremely long tentacles and beautiful color.   The shrimp are all over that piece now, probably because of the Lugol's.  I was given a recommendation of a good lfs that I hope to check out this week.  

 

Unrelated to this tank.  My opae ula are at the post office a day early and are being delivered today.  I started the jar in November after the grumpy maintenance supervisor at work was let go and my co-workers started getting creative in what they kept on their desks.  If the IT guys can have sea monkeys and ant farms on their desks I figure I can have a jar of opae ula.  

[Wingy]

Mister Cranky Pants mushroom detached again and is now back in the substrate, in full lighting and as fluffy as can be.  I was even able to watch it eat tonight.  The Armour of God zoa's two new polyps finally opened up.  I went shopping today and the picking were slim.  The lfs is getting ready for a live sale so most of their stock is being held in reserve however I found a nice duncan and a yellow zoa.  

 

The lights are out, the duncan has just barely started to open and all 3 sexy shrimp have laid claim to a head.  It was happily hosting a clown fish at the lfs so it should not be bothered by 3 little shrimp.  

[Wingy]

My pretty new duncan.  It seems to like this spot and has opened nicely.  

 

 

[Wingy]

I just witnessed a very strange sight.  The pom pom crab was flinging the substrate forward with its rear legs and then burried its hind end all while waving its anemones around.  

[Wendy]

You have some very interesting thingz happening in your pico...

It's looking really cool too!

Lol, that Pompom is just cheering for you! 

You'll have to post a pic of those sexies hanging out with the duncan (;

[Clown79]

On 5/26/2019 at 3:01 PM, Wingy said:

I just witnessed a very strange sight.  The pom pom crab was flinging the substrate forward with its rear legs and then burried its hind end all while waving its anemones around.  

Lol. They are funny,  acts all tough while plopping its bum in the sand!

[Wingy]

My pom pom crab is carrying an egg sac.  I tried to coax it out from under the ledge so I could get a picture but haven't had any luck yet.  I really doubt the eggs are viable because the crab has been in my tank for the past 28 days.  I wonder if that strange behavior from the other day was preparing the abdomen for the egg sac.  

[Wendy]

Hmmm... @Wingy... could of been.

I'm not familiar with the rituals of an egg bearing Pompom crab. I had one in the past & I believe it was a male.

Mine loved to hang out in macro algae & usually was visible right after lights turned off.

[Wingy]

Its Friday so to celebrate I bought more pretties.  I had to remove a half gallon water to float the bags of new stuff.  

[This guy is extra salty]

1 hour ago, Wingy said:

Its Friday so to celebrate I bought more pretties.  I had to remove a half gallon water to float the bags of new stuff.  

What did you get?