Liz's Waterbox 70.3

[Elizabeth94]

Spaghetti worm or sorts I think. 
 

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

5 hours ago, Elizabeth94 said:

KPaquatics live rock just came in! It is beautiful. I did a high salinity dip to try and push crabs out but nothing came out. I bet they are all deep in the rock. I did get a pencil urchin that is alive! Place him in immediately because he was just in damp towel for the trip. Should have taken a picture of him in my hands because he is strong and won’t let go of the rock now lol!

 

It is early so my tank has a bit of UV lighting so the rock looks more orange but it is a really nice pink coral color. After everything settles I will have to rescape the tank. 

Wish I did the whole tank with this rock. I might order another box in a few months and phase out the dry rock. 

 

omg!! That's so pretty😍. I've been tossing around the idea of live rock like that when i start my big tank..... now you might have made up my mind for me 😂

[Elizabeth94]

59 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

omg!! That's so pretty😍. I've been tossing around the idea of live rock like that when i start my big tank..... now you might have made up my mind for me 😂

DO IT! Haha. 

 

I am stuck at work and all I can think about is this rock (ik what a weirdo). I just want to see if I can spot some more life. What I need is a red light for night time viewing. 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

On 2/18/2020 at 5:33 PM, Elizabeth94 said:

DO IT! Haha. 

 

I am stuck at work and all I can think about is this rock (ik what a weirdo). I just want to see if I can spot some more life. What I need is a red light for night time viewing. 

Nah not weird at all lol. I'd be doing the same thing probably 

[mitten_reef]

On 2/18/2020 at 4:24 PM, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

now you might have made up my mind for me 😂

JUST DO IT!!!! 

 

based on what I've seen in my roughly half decade on NR, set up with dead rocks usually end up with more issue than their supposed benefits of "0" pests.  Plus, you can pick up aiptasia, bubble algae, and other algae through your frags - so what's really the point.  (maybe, it's easier to set up dry scapes to your liking).  

 

You just have to inspect and monitor your new rocks for a few weeks until you're pretty certain that it's clear of any unwanted species before you start willy-nilly gluing every possible frags on them, and have a hard time removing pests afterward. If you see anything during observation period, it's easy to pull the rock with no frags, and chip off anything you don't like.    

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

3 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

JUST DO IT!!!! 

 

based on what I've seen in my roughly half decade on NR, set up with dead rocks usually end up with more issue than their supposed benefits of "0" pests.  Plus, you can pick up aiptasia, bubble algae, and other algae through your frags - so what's really the point.  (maybe, it's easier to set up dry scapes to your liking).  

 

You just have to inspect and monitor your new rocks for a few weeks until you're pretty certain that it's clear of any unwanted species before you start willy-nilly gluing every possible frags on them, and have a hard time removing pests afterward. If you see anything during observation period, it's easy to pull the rock with no frags, and chip off anything you don't like.    

Honestly, everyone gets all crazy about pest, but I think hitchhikers of any kind would be pretty neat. I can just imagine all the weird stuff that hides in the rocks. I wouldn't be handling it with my bare hand though 😂

[Tamberav]

Ohhhh I didn't realize you got the rock same week I did! We got it from the same collection I bet 🙂

 

I love the rock too. Less hitchikers then some other venders but the color and shapes are beautiful and the rock was pretty clean. I have had some live rock that came in full of silt.

 

We all know of teenyreefs beautiful tanks and he seeded his bigger tank with half KPA and I know Metrokat back in the day used the gulf live rock for her beautiful biocube. Hitchiker fear is very overrated.

 

 

[Elizabeth94]

I agree. I am actually hating the dry rock that is in my tank right now. I might hold off on adding corals and such until warmer weather and get another shipment of rock. I haven't seen any crabs yet. I am wondering if it was just too cold to be shipped to RI. 

 

And of course I wanted to try and rescape today and the two dry rock pieces I wanted to remove, I couldnt. Pencil urchin locked onto one, and my RFA stuck on the other. Story of my life haha. Tank looks like poop right now it's embarrassing. LMAO

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

What’s the best live rock for getting hitchhikers? I heard that saltybottomreefcompany has good rock for hitchhikers.

[Tamberav]

12 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

What’s the best live rock for getting hitchhikers? I heard that saltybottomreefcompany has good rock for hitchhikers.

Tampa bay is #1 - they ship in water to an airport near you. The water is key for keeping all the hitchikers alive. It is $100 just for shipping but you can even get live fish. You will get pretty much no cycle with this rock as it will all be living. 

 

I got a good amount of hitchikers with gulf live rock, its sent priority mail so a few days in wet towels and affordable. Plenty of stuff dies due to slower shipping but plenty of it comes back too. I ended up with corals (favia and cup corals, sometimes a rose coral or gorg), macro, urchins, cucumbers, clam like things, crabs, aptasia, and mantis shrimp. The rock is heavy and filthy but plenty of life. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

1 minute ago, Tamberav said:

Tampa bay is #1 - they ship in water to an airport near you. The water is key for keeping all the hitchikers alive. It is $100 just for shipping but you can even get live fish. 

 

I got a good amount of hitchikers with gulf live rock, its sent priority and affordable. Plenty of stuff dies due to slower shipping but plenty of it comes back too. I ended up with corals (favia and cup corals, sometimes a rose coral or gorg), macro, urchins, crabs, aptasia, and mantis shrimp

I may get one of these for my tank for college, I would rather get Tampa bay, but it’s kinda expensive. What’s the cheapest amount I can get? I can only have up to a 10 gallon tank in my dorm.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

Speaking of college tho, I found a Hagen Fluval evo 6 gallon tank that’s near me for 40 bucks and it’s brand new. That would probably make a nice tank for my dorm, what do you guys think? I like how shallow it is. 

[Tamberav]

26 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

I may get one of these for my tank for college, I would rather get Tampa bay, but it’s kinda expensive. What’s the cheapest amount I can get? I can only have up to a 10 gallon tank in my dorm.

its always 100 for shipping regardless how much you get. 

 

I would never cure gulf live rock or others in a dorm. That would STINK so bad. They would probably make you remove it and your room mate would hate you. Actually the entire hall might hate you.

[Elizabeth94]

16 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Speaking of college tho, I found a Hagen Fluval evo 6 gallon tank that’s near me for 40 bucks and it’s brand new. That would probably make a nice tank for my dorm, what do you guys think? I like how shallow it is. 

 

I always liked the look of the fluval evo tanks, I say got for it! 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

2 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

 

I always liked the look of the fluval evo tanks, I say got for it! 

I think I will, bc it also comes with a full set up. A light for the tank, a filter and sand. As well as a heater too I think. I think that’s a good deal for $40

[mcarroll]

12 hours ago, Tamberav said:

its always 100 for shipping regardless how much you get. 

 

I would never cure gulf live rock or others in a dorm. That would STINK so bad. They would probably make you remove it and your room mate would hate you. Actually the entire hall might hate you.

He would become legendary -- like the jackass who would blow up the best toilet on the floor every Friday with a football sized.....contribution....that was impossible to flush as soon as the cleaning staff left. 

 

Legendary.  But not in a good way.   LOL

 

Spending (and waiting) for TBSaltwater's bagged rock sounds like it would be well worth the minor expense.  (If the expense isn't minor, then keeping a reef in college might not be the best idea anyway....it tends to be expensive to a degree no matter how you slice it.)

 

Cut that expense by ordering your rock with one or more other folks -- split the rock and split the shipping.

[Thrassian Atoll]

Rock looks great!  Should definitely help with some biodiversity.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

8 hours ago, mcarroll said:

He would become legendary -- like the jackass who would blow up the best toilet on the floor every Friday with a football sized.....contribution....that was impossible to flush as soon as the cleaning staff left. 

 

Legendary.  But not in a good way.   LOL

 

Spending (and waiting) for TBSaltwater's bagged rock sounds like it would be well worth the minor expense.  (If the expense isn't minor, then keeping a reef in college might not be the best idea anyway....it tends to be expensive to a degree no matter how you slice it.)

 

Cut that expense by ordering your rock with one or more other folks -- split the rock and split the shipping.

I’m getting a tank no matter what, bc I don’t want to just throw away all that I’ve accomplished and all the money I’ve put in. So a tank in college is a definite. 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

But that is a good idea to find someone else who has one and split the price. We could even do the same for corals. I get a certain type of coral and then he gets a different kind and whenever one grows large enough we could just trade and give each other frags. That could honestly fill up the tank pretty fast if we did it that way

[Elizabeth94]

Just added these two black frostbite clowns, hopefully they do well. So my stocking is just four fish right now. I think I want one or two more fish. I lost my yellow coris wrasse randomly a while back. Just found him dead under a rock. So sad he was so pretty. I try another. 
 

Im very happy with this fine sand so far. My two conches are workhorses and keep it clean. 
 

I have my eyes on the new ecotech versa dosing pump but it seems like they sell out quickly. Well see. 
 

 

[Elizabeth94]

So I have noticed since I added this live rock my system seems much more healthy. I still have diatoms but not nearly as much. My dry rock is finally turning that green color, so hopefully the beginning stages of it coloring up. Conches are doing a fantastic job on the sand. Hope it stays that way. 
 

I also noticed that a smooth-skin acro that faded out after a temp drop months ago, is coming back strong. I chopped it off the rock and must have left some skeleton and tissue behind. Its growing a new base and turning green again. Id like to attribute this to the live rock also but who knows. Maybe the system is finally stabilizing. 

Dry rock portion in the photos looks brown. But if you were to zoom in you’d see only diatoms on the top portion. Cleanup crew is finally knocking it back. 

 

[Elizabeth94]

Been a little bit. The tank has been stable and display looks good. My lfs doesn’t really have what I am looking for so I have been holding off. But I decided I had no more patience, and placed an order that will be here tomorrow.  I wanted some more pinks in the tank so thats what I focused on ordering. 

My Frogskin Acro is doing well so I decided to try some more sticks just cuz!

 

[Thrassian Atoll]

Looking good!  Hope the asd stuff looks well.  I know his stuff is hit or miss.

[Elizabeth94]

59 minutes ago, Thrassian Atoll said:

Looking good!  Hope the asd stuff looks well.  I know his stuff is hit or miss.

I hope so too. I never ordered anything from him before I wasn’t aware of negative reviews. Now im nervous!

 

I am actually surprised I haven’t been as impulsive buying corals as I was with my other tanks. But with everything going on I have been inside more looking at the tank. So Ill probably be picking up the pace. 
 

My focus is mainly on this guy...

[Thrassian Atoll]

26 minutes ago, Elizabeth94 said:

I hope so too. I never ordered anything from him before I wasn’t aware of negative reviews. Now im nervous!

 

I am actually surprised I haven’t been as impulsive buying corals as I was with my other tanks. But with everything going on I have been inside more looking at the tank. So Ill probably be picking up the pace. 
 

My focus is mainly on this guy...

That’s a good looking dog!  Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of people staring at their tanks these next few months.  
 

My buddy just got some stuff that looked nothing like the photos.  My stuff from him is hit or miss on the size, colors, and how well they hold up compared to stuff I get from local reefers.