Project: Kitchen Reef

[billygoat]

Congrats, you've got yourself a great light! Looks very nice. 👌

 

You could also attach the base of the gooseneck to something else nearby so that it hangs over the center of the tank. Any conveniently placed shelves or anything like that available?

[TerraMagnus]

22 minutes ago, billygoat said:

You could also attach the base of the gooseneck to something else nearby so that it hangs over the center of the tank. Any conveniently placed shelves or anything like that available?

Not a bad idea! We'll play around with that.

[TerraMagnus]

The virus is spreading; my youngest daughter (13) & I just set up a 5 gallon nano next to her bed. She is on a mission to figure out how to breed & raise sexy shrimp. And you know what, it might take her awhile, but I wouldn't be surprised if she does it.

[Tired]

The babies are probably planktonic. Look into the tanks they keep jellyfish in- I think they're called Keisel tanks? A tank that's set up so there are no corners, just a gently circulating flow, for planktonic animals to live in. Also, look up what people are doing to raise land hermits, because they have a larval/planktonic stage. 

[TerraMagnus]

Yes, she's also readying some jars for this apparently for that purpose. I think it's rather ambitious but I've learned with these kids not to rule anything out.

[davidgreams]

That's pretty sweet

[Wonderboy]

That is so cool - I have no doubt that she can figure it out - I would find it very enjoyable to follow a little journal for her project    :]

[TerraMagnus]

Still here... dealing with some cyano. No photos until we've got that sorted.

There are some new frags since the last update (and I think we're done on that front now). Some of the palythoas & zoanthids are spreading to their base rocks now. The mushrooms still look awful. We've added a watchman goby & pistol shrimp, and a second ocellaris clownfish. The sexy shrimp has claimed the bubble tip anemone.

I think the tank is "full".

We do very much plan to upgrade to a 20 gallon "long" in 2020. It'll fit pretty nicely in this space, and the extra water volume will be helpful.

[TerraMagnus]

Lots going on. We had a run of what we think was cyano. After a lot of work, I think we are good now. 
 

My wife did go a little nuts with stocking. We now also have an anemone crab, pistol shrimp, watchman goby, a second ocellaris clown, two more astreae snails, and more frags. One of the hermit crabs, the biggest, was relocated to our daughter’s 5 gallon bedroom tank which is now cycling.

 

The water pump was upgraded.
 

We have an acropora that was procured right before the cyano took over and I don’t think he made it. No photo of him here.

 

 

[Tired]

Looks great!

 

Do you know the name of the coral in the last pic? I have some, or something very close, and I'm not sure of the name of that exact variety.

[TerraMagnus]

8 hours ago, Tired said:

Do you know the name of the coral in the last pic? I have some, or something very close, and I'm not sure of the name of that exact variety.

 

"Darth Maul" palythoa.

[TerraMagnus]

Lots going on. Wife went on a surprise shopping spree. The Fluval Evo 5 is out and a 20 gallon long tank is now on the kitchen countertop with all of the kitchen reef life inside.

[MoJal]

1 hour ago, TerraMagnus said:

Lots going on. Wife went on a surprise shopping spree. The Fluval Evo 5 is out and a 20 gallon long tank is now on the kitchen countertop with all of the kitchen reef life inside.

We're going to need photographic evidence. 

[TerraMagnus]

Bubble tip anemone split last night. 

[billygoat]

Show us the 20! I want to see what it looks like there on your kitchen counter. I'm glad it's still a "kitchen reef" despite the surprise upgrade. 😁

[TerraMagnus]

I owe a bunch of photos, a bunch of updates. Wife went a little overboard with the credit card. There's a UV sterilizer now... chaeto refugium... we're in a sort of peak season madness at work right now so I've been behind on my photos. I'll try to make it worth the wait.

[TerraMagnus]

So much happening. I've been absolutely terrible about updates. Some highlights?

 

• Zoanthis and palythoa are spreading like kudzu.
• Watchman goby and one of the pistol shrimp just... disappeared. It's been weeks so we're writing them off.
• Bubble tip anemone has split at least twice. They tend to hide around the back of the rocks so I can only distinctly make out 3 of them. We started with one.
• We had a tailspot blenny that was awesome but he somehow got out of the tank and died. His replacement is a JERK. More on that in a moment.
• Two tridachna clams have been doing well and growing. Until the replacement tailspot blenny decided he likes the taste of clam.He's been grazing on the clam's mantle and the one clam he's been picking at looks bad. The blenny is proving hard to catch so a substantial teardown is probably coming to get him out.
• Two rock flower anemones look amazing.
• We've got some more upmarket zoas on a frag rack in the back of the tank. The Darth Mauls are already down on their own display rock and spreading nicely. I'm rooting for the chaos to take off.
• Coral Banded shrimp seems safe but very territorial.
• Two emerald crabs were in and out again inside of a week; they were ripping zoas off the rocks and eventually started eating the zoas.
• Peppermint shrimp is doing alright. Same with the remaining pistol shrimp, sexy shrimp, the pom pom crab, and the anemone crab.
• Coral beauty angelfish is gorgeous but neurotic. I think the tank is too small for her.
• The percula clowns are fat and happy but not hosting in the anemones. Oh well.
• Rainford goby is a perfect little tank mate. He doesn't eat the food we put in the tank, but he's grazing enough from the rocks to stay fat and happy.
• Spaghetti worms are wiped out. Pineapple sponges are only seen in the sump now and in low numbers. Every once in a long while a pest starfish shows up but is easily removed.

We're moving to a new house later this month. The whole tank will have to move. It's only a few miles from where we are now, so hopefully it's not too bad. Once we're settled into the house and the finances calm down a bit, I noticed the garage wall has the kitchen sink on the other side, so I'm thinking we might start making our own RO/DI and saltwater ... and then more tanks.

[Tired]

Try a bottle trap for the jerkfish. Or shelter the clams for now, and catch jerkfish when you break down the tank to move. 

 

Any idea what ate the spaghetti worms? Rainford, maybe? 

 

Strange that a goby and pistol would both vanish at the same time. I'd think they could deal with a cavein or something of the sort. Do you hear less clicking than before? Maybe they've just set up an entrance at the back of the rocks somewhere.

[debbeach13]

Good luck with the move Congratulations on the new house.

[TerraMagnus]

The jerk fish is OUT. He's being rehomed to another local tank that doesn't have any clams.

I'll try to get some photos.

[TerraMagnus]

Here are some photos of what it looks like in there. I did include the gnarly tridachna as well as the healthier untouched blue one. The bubble tips are withdrawn for the night so you can't get much of them here (when they shrink down they are completely behind the rocks).

[TerraMagnus]

After some 2+ months missing, the watchman goby & his pistol shrimp buddy turned up again yesterday, no worse for wear. This blew my mind. The fish has been unseen for many weeks, in a tank that gets lots of close attention and scrutiny.

 

We're moving to a new house next week so the kitchen reef will be torn down and put back together.

[Tired]

I had a watchman go missing for a month, and found him later in the filter compartment. This was in a Biocube. Any way yours could have gotten back there, or is yours a bit more shenanigans-proofed?