Wombat's 4G Shroom Room

[MortalWombat]

I will be taking delivery of the first coral tomorrow, in the meantime I figured I would give a few more details about my ideas for this project. 

 

Target Temp: 76-77F. This is a degree or two colder than I have kept my tanks in the past. 

 

Target Salinity: 1.024. The reasons are twofold. 1. Water evaporates quickly from this aquarium (I'm making a lid to help), so it will increase the salinity towards the middle ground of 1.025, and 2. Water that is less saline, has more room to hold gas- including O2. 

 

I'm pushing the parameters towards the colder, less-saline side of the spectrum with the hope that it will improve gas exchange between the air and water, as well as between organisms and the water, and that it will have a balancing affect on pH. Ideally this will allow me to keep a more basic pH in spite of higher nutrient levels.

 

That brings me to feeding. I have found a variety of coral foods aimed at softies, sps and even filter feeders that interest me. I have been a fan of Hikari for a while, so I decided to pick up some of their "Coralific Delight" to spot feed to the shrooms and pom pom crab. I have always been a fan of direct coral feeding, and I suspect that if I find something these corallimorphs like to chow on, they will become a pox in no time! 

 

(parts in bold for those short on time) 

[Tired]

I mean, bounce shrooms already look like they've got a pox, so that's got it covered. 

[MortalWombat]

No shroomage today folks. I'll keep you apprised of any developments.

 

[MortalWombat]

I have a confession to make. I would like to get this off my chest before I continue on with updates. I ordered a white spot hermit as part of the CUC. Hermits are fairly common additions to reef tanks, as I'm sure you know. I did some reading up on this particular crab, dardanus megistos, and discovered it is one of the largest-growing hermit crabs, capable of living for several DECADES. The order had already shipped but the more I learned about the hermit trade, the worse I felt about my purchase. I was in the process of setting up a temporary habitat just for this guy until I could give him to someone with dedicated hermitarium, so he could live happily in a communal setting. The order arrived today, and the poor little guy was DOA. I feel horrible. I will never buy a hermit crab again, these guys deserve way more respect than we humans have given them. I know how dramatic this sounds but there is literally a hermit crab genocide going on in the pet trade.

 

 

Sorry I helped take you away from the ocean little buddy : (    

[Tired]

You're reading about a completely different kind of hermit. LAND hermits are the ones that live for decades, are social, require a huge specialized enclosure, and are collected and shipped in such harmful ways. Aquatic hermits need a much smaller enclosure on average, don't seem to be social, generally don't live as long, and can be collected and shipped perfectly sustainably. They do great in aquariums- often better than in the wild, since there's no predators. 

 

Also, I don't think that's a white spot. White spots are red. They get huge, and do live quite awhile, but as far as I know they aren't social like land hermits. Absolutely not suitable for a 4gal tank, though. Maybe a 40gal with very, very sturdy rockwork. 

[MortalWombat]

6 minutes ago, Tired said:

You're reading about a completely different kind of hermit. LAND hermits are the ones that live for decades, are social, require a huge specialized enclosure, and are collected and shipped in such harmful ways. Aquatic hermits need a much smaller enclosure on average, don't seem to be social, generally don't live as long, and can be collected and shipped perfectly sustainably. They do great in aquariums- often better than in the wild, since there's no predators. 

 

Also, I don't think that's a white spot. White spots are red. They get huge, and do live quite awhile, but as far as I know they aren't social like land hermits. Absolutely not suitable for a 4gal tank, though. Maybe a 40gal with very, very sturdy rockwork. 

You are incorrect, do some reading. 

[Tired]

Care to link me to anything that specifically talks about aquatic hermits? From reputable sources, not PETA (known for lying) or the like. I can't find anything on a quick search that's not about land hermits, from PETA, or just a general "hermit crab care" article. 

 

The vast majority of reef hermits in the hobby do not in fact need a dedicated setup, just a regular aquarium. Any source you're looking at that's talking about a hermitarium is referring to land hermits. Even the odder hermits just need a large, sturdy aquarium- again, nothing fancy. 

[MortalWombat]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

Care to link me to anything that specifically talks about aquatic hermits? From reputable sources, not PETA (known for lying) or the like. I can't find anything on a quick search that's not about land hermits, from PETA, or just a general "hermit crab care" article. 

 

The vast majority of reef hermits in the hobby do not in fact need a dedicated setup, just a regular aquarium. Any source you're looking at that's talking about a hermitarium is referring to land hermits. Even the odder hermits just need a large, sturdy aquarium- again, nothing fancy. 

I'm not going to come into your thread and try to gatekeep, so I'd appreciate it if you show me the same respect or get lost. 

[Tired]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I've just never heard any issues with aquatic hermit collecting that don't apply to just about every other aquatic animal also being collected, and as far as I know, it's far better off than land hermit collecting. If you've seen something reputable that says the collection of aquatic hermits is unethical, I'd love to see it. I can't seem to find it myself, and I'm a bit concerned that maybe I'm missing something. 

 

(I'm also very bad at tone online. I think I tend to be overly blunt, but it's a bit hard to tell when I can't properly assess my own tone to figure out what I've done wrong.)

[TheCurriculum]

I stopped running hermit crabs years ago.  One of the hermits gets to be the biggest after a few years. The tough guy would than go around killing all his tanks mates.   

 

I have nassarius snails to handle any big material that needs to be eaten and they live a long time.  Last time I bought a pair was over 7 years ago and they are still with me.  Never know they are in the tank till you drop food in as they dwell in the sand.

 

Looks like you are going to have a fun tank.  Will keep an eye on your updates 

 

Happy reefing to you and everyone else

 

[MortalWombat]

I made a lid for the rear compartment and found the flow nozzle for the return pump. Now the flow is just right.

 

 

I also found a hobbyist nearby that cultures a few kinds of pods and phyto. I bought 8oz of tisbee copepods and introduced them today during a water change. I will be adding more species of pods and sourcing my phyto from him. One thing I have noticed with the bare bottom is how fast snail poo accumulates in this little tank. Just one penny-sized trochus can make quite a mess in a couple days. On the flip side it is doing an amazing job on the algae.

 

 

This little booger is doing good, it's about quarter-sized when fully open. 

 

 

While I was prepping the ric I broke the rock beneath it's foot into three by accident, so I went ahead and fragged it into thirds.

 

 

Happy Saturday 

 

 

 

[Tired]

Aw, the booger is cute. I'll be curious to see how big it gets. Though I suppose these guys are probably pretty slow-growing, otherwise the hobby would be overrun with them.

[MortalWombat]

 

The pom pom was fun to watch for a bout 2 days until I realized he was crawling all over my coral and stinging the crap out of it. He even went hulk and nem bashed my trochus on the head. I gave him away to another reefer. This was my last purchase of wild caught livestock. I love observing reef organisms as much as the rest of you (I got my SCUBA cert for that reason) but if it can't be/isn't aquacultured, I will not be purchasing it in the future. We have a responsibility to nature that is not being fulfilled. 

[ReefTaco]

May I suggest a porcelain crab. They are reef safe and super peaceful. They won't harm any corals

[PeterU]

40 minutes ago, Instant_taco said:

May I suggest a porcelain crab. They are reef safe and super peaceful. They won't harm any corals

Love my Porcelain Anemone Crab. Sticks on or close to the Maxi-mini Carpet Anemone that hosts it, leaving everything else alone.