Lifegard 4.1g Pico Build

[ECLS Reefer]

8 minutes ago, dwdenny said:

No worries you would think but it’s a business so less main hubs means less employees to have to pay and less tracking lost packages and where they went. 

If you bought those GBGs from the same place I’ve gotten them in California, their fish shipments for me usually did show up somewhat stressed. But they have hard to find stuff like GBGs more often than any other company and usually have stuff like sexy shrimp when others don’t as well. But I ordered a citrine goby from over that way around this time last year and it showed up rather cooked, poor thing 😢. 

[dwdenny]

10 hours ago, ECLS Reefer said:

If you bought those GBGs from the same place I’ve gotten them in California, their fish shipments for me usually did show up somewhat stressed. But they have hard to find stuff like GBGs more often than any other company and usually have stuff like sexy shrimp when others don’t as well. But I ordered a citrine goby from over that way around this time last year and it showed up rather cooked, poor thing 😢. 

I purchased mine from live aquaria. Will be honest it got to me before the stated delivery time and the fish didn’t seem to stressed. But it was tiny. I thought I had a bag of water no fish. Hahahahahaha. It was probably less than a 1/2” long but it has grown sines I put it in the tank. Cleared out all the pods in my tank then the flatworms and finally started eating flakes and pellets about a 14 days later. 

[ECLS Reefer]

4 minutes ago, dwdenny said:

I purchased mine from live aquaria. Will be honest it got to me before the stated delivery time and the fish didn’t seem to stressed. But it was tiny. I thought I had a bag of water no fish. Hahahahahaha. It was probably less than a 1/2” long but it has grown sines I put it in the tank. Cleared out all the pods in my tank then the flatworms and finally started eating flakes and pellets about a 14 days later. 

Man I need my little melanurus to get after the flat worms in my big tank. Bunch of lazy freeloading fish in there. I must have cleaned out nearly 10 big flatworms off my euphyllia yesterday and there are FOUR wrasses in there 🤬 LA.ZY.

[dwdenny]

22 minutes ago, ECLS Reefer said:

Man I need my little melanurus to get after the flat worms in my big tank. Bunch of lazy freeloading fish in there. I must have cleaned out nearly 10 big flatworms off my euphyllia yesterday and there are FOUR wrasses in there 🤬 LA.ZY.

I wasn’t expecting the flatworms to be eaten they were just small Acoel flatworms maybe they just disappeared not sure but I was fighting them for a month before the fish and three weeks after then are gone. I am just happy they are gone.  

[dwdenny]

Was going to do a water change so tested my water. Parameters look good so going to skip this week and see what they look like next Saturday. Trying to get to bi-weekly water changes not cause I don’t want to do them but if parameters are good why change it out. 
Salinity 35ppt

Temp: 77-78

PO4: .049

NO3: 2

Ca: 430

Mg: 1280

Alk 8.3

pH: 8.0

nitrates are low cause I have some algae in the middle and return chambers so next Saturday going to scrape and vacuum it out and see what happens to NO3. 

[dwdenny]

Trying to figure out what else to put in the tank. Need some movement and additional color. 

[ECLS Reefer]

Seems like everything is right where it should be. You in the Houston area? I made a run to TAP this morning here and they had a lot of nice color in their tanks.

[dwdenny]

7 hours south of Houston unfortunately. We have one LFS here in McAllen. They usually have good stuff but a little pricey. Thinking RFA or torch if I can find one at a reasonable price. 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 minute ago, dwdenny said:

7 hours south of Houston unfortunately. We have one LFS here in McAllen. They usually have good stuff but a little pricey. Thinking RFA or torch if I can find one at a reasonable price. 

Someday when all my euphyllia is more grown up I’ll have nice things to frag. That sucks that you’re that far south. We have family in Harlingen. That’s a long drive even from here.

[dwdenny]

I will be close to San Antonio on Tuesday might have to take a 50 mile detour to a couple of places. 

[ECLS Reefer]

2 minutes ago, dwdenny said:

I will be close to San Antonio on Tuesday might have to take a 50 mile detour to a couple of places. 

Do they have nice shops? I’ve never looked when I’ve been there. 

[dwdenny]

Good question. Will try and get to 2-3 of them and let you know. 

[dwdenny]

On 6/26/2021 at 6:49 PM, ECLS Reefer said:

Do they have nice shops? I’ve never looked when I’ve been there. 

Didn’t have time to stop and look plus it was raining hard. I couldn’t see 20 feet past the hood of my truck. 

[dwdenny]

Getting some growth finally. 

[Daniel92481]

Cool shrimp! 

[dwdenny]

7 hours ago, Daniel92481 said:

Cool shrimp! 

Thanks. It’s a character. Every time I clean or do a water change he attacks my hand. Goes nuts when I feed pellets or flakes. And when the mysis gets in the water oh dang super crazy. 

[dwdenny]

Got some new corals coming in soon. I am hoping they ship out tomorrow. 

[dwdenny]

Received my order this morning on time as scheduled. Acclimation process is going will be dipping them in coral dip and maybe even iodine just to be on the safe side. Pictures coming soon.  

[dwdenny]

Here a a couple of pics after they have been in the tank for about 40 min or so. The GBG seems to like the neon hammer. The neon seems to still be a little upset but the teal hammer seems to be opening up great so far.

[dwdenny]

All opened up with in an hour and half they look awesome. What do you think of the flow is it enough?  had to use YouTube to upload videos. 
https://youtube.com/shorts/A4_VGGf2fJA?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/GyFA-H9rL2Q?feature=share

[dwdenny]

Haven’t had a lot of time to update the thread so here a few pictures hope you enjoy. Hammers have good tentacle extension and the birds nest has good PE. Sorry didn’t clean the glass 😱

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Looking good! Hammers and looking pretty happy 😎

Your trouble with the refractometer gave me the motivation to check mine as I've been having similar problems in the past. One of these days I want to get a Hanna checker as they seem easier like @Daniel92481 mentioned.  Also how are you liking your stand? I was looking at that same one/type and was wondering if you have any gripes about it since you've had it for a while now.

[dwdenny]

17 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

Looking good! Hammers and looking pretty happy 😎

Your trouble with the refractometer gave me the motivation to check mine as I've been having similar problems in the past. One of these days I want to get a Hanna checker as they seem easier like @Daniel92481 mentioned.  Also how are you liking your stand? I was looking at that same one/type and was wondering if you have any gripes about it since you've had it for a while now.

Thanks yes once I got the 35ppt solution my tank has been much happier. I check it once a month to make sure but I always test the tank water then the change water and make sure they match. I love this little stand. It was super simple to put together and is holding up really nicely. I have all the boxes that stuff came in on the bottom of the stand but thinking of moving the to the closet so I can put my ATO reservoir in there and drilling a hole in the back for the lines. Overall I would buy this stand again for another 5g tank but nothing bigger.