growsomething Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 Here's my contest offering, the "Why Be Normal" tank. 6 gallons of pests and strangeness, hopefully attractive. This will be a clash of fw and sw in appearance only. Current Full Tank Shot: [Photo 📸 Here] Contest Entry Picture: Equipment: 6 Gal. Fluval edge with the top removed. 18w nemo light. For now a .5 sicce return pump sitting in the tank, maybe a cheap hob later with live rock in it. Was looking at intank, but they dont carry any. Bdbs from Tractor Supply Dragon rock and other fw type rock. Spiderwood Livestock: Local caught mojano and other oddities, glass anemone, xenia, caulerpa, and one feature item tbd. Not sure if a local caught fish or shrimp will go in it, but probably if I take time to catch something. Today I aske the lfs for a ziptie in their system covered in aptasia. They thought I was joking. What a beauty! 8 Quote Link to comment
WormLicker Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 I think aptasia looks very cool 🤷 Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment
kimdawg Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Now you just need some flatworms and it can look like my tank. 3 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Good luck in the contest! Great stocking plan. 1 Quote Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Yay, a pest tank! 2 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 10, 2021 Author Share Posted October 10, 2021 Went to the beach at sunrise with our cart and 5 g buckets. Was shocked to find dead fish again. Red tide came back yesterday. The plan was to start the tank today, but that won't be happening now. Maybe pick up some asw this week to get things started. Who knows how long this red tide will last. 2 Quote Link to comment
Ratvan Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 oh i do love a pest tank 1 Quote Link to comment
LazyFish Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 This will be intresting for sure...I'm actualy liking the dimentions of that tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 12, 2021 Author Share Posted October 12, 2021 On my nuvo 10 thread I've been posting updates of an old shrimp bucket and it's changes that I will pbly use creatures from for this tank. Yesterday I stopped by the jobsite and there is no discernable red tide in the bay, apparently it is just on the beaches. Little fish were swimming around in the bucket with hundreds of amphibious and assorted fauna. This morning I got 10 g of water from the dock for this tank. It is tannin stained, but that is fine since there will be wood in the tank. I'll pbly run a little carbon to cut the tint. Hopefully tonight I can get it setup if not started. Here is the area I'm getting the water from. A pass to the gulf is just behind the mangroves in the distance, which pbly explains all the life on the bucket. Yes, that janky fencing will be up when the homeowner moves in, an for final inspection instead of powdercoated aluminum. That's just the way things are going right now. 4 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 16, 2021 Author Share Posted October 16, 2021 There were dead fish on the dock the day after I got water there, but there was so much life in the bucket the day I got it I think I'll use it. It's a pest tank. First tank scape With the light on the side... My boy approves! Notice the empty saved 200g acrylic on the side 😏 Halloween tank! 4 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 Finally cleaned some bubble algae and red cyano out of the nuvo 10 and placed them here with a few xenia I could dig out of the rock pores. Fts. The smaller wood has not sunk yet, so it will do whatever it wants till saturation. I'm not sure what wood will do to the parameters, and the dragon (?) stone. I'm not even sure I'm going to test parameters, but it could be interesting. Also going to place black paper on the tank backside. I totally forgot the aptasia till I was typing this! It's been sitting in a whipped cream container for weeks. Looks to be OK. 4 Quote Link to comment
LazyFish Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 Haha tenacious little monsters. 1 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 21, 2021 Author Share Posted October 21, 2021 Glass anemone () settled right in. Scattered xenia have settled in the sand 3 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted October 24, 2021 Author Share Posted October 24, 2021 These 2 anemone have been fed 1 pellet for 3 nights and have started blowing up unbelievably fast. The largest of the 2 is almost an inch from tip to tip. 3 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted November 25, 2021 Author Share Posted November 25, 2021 Wow, this thing looks awful! Xenia are loving it, but even the aiptasia stay shriveled from the algae. Due for a cleanup this Holiday. 2 3 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Looks like you included spaces in your contest tag. Please let me know once you have changed your tag to 9to5, so that you are included in the contest. Sorry about the confusion. Looking forward to more updates. 2 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 9 hours ago, seabass said: Looks like you included spaces in your contest tag. Please let me know once you have changed your tag to 9to5, so that you are included in the contest. Sorry about the confusion. Looking forward to more updates. Done 1 1 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Thanks! Good luck; you're in. 👍 I love this idea. I hope this tanks gets past its ugly phase soon, so that we can really appreciate it. 2 Quote Link to comment
kekke1082 Posted December 10, 2021 Share Posted December 10, 2021 Very cool idea! I miss living off the gulf coast i would have totally done the same and went with locally collected species. The gulf and bays can be so diverse! I used to love swimming and fishing in Johns Pass and in Tampa Bay. Can't wait to see how your tank progresses! 2 Quote Link to comment
debbeach13 Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 Merry Christmas - Happy New Year Let's be clear. This post is about a request for an update on this tank. 3 5 1 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted December 31, 2021 Author Share Posted December 31, 2021 Everything is closing up, even the xenia and invasive green zoa. Problems keeping the PH above 7.5 with the fw sand, rock, and wood. I'm not sure what to do. I've never needed to check alk in my nsw/lr tanks, so I have no means to test this tank right now, but pbly it is off w the ph so low. Lfs is closed for a few days. Added baking soda tonight, just a touch to see what happens and if things perk up. That's not a long-term solution, though. Happy New Year to you, too, Miss Deb. Going to eat bbq and watch kids run around with family tonight. See you next year! 1 Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted January 1, 2022 Share Posted January 1, 2022 IDK, I'm kind of thinking it might be an ammonia problem more than a pH issue. Was there a death? A large water change could improve the water chemistry (pH, alkalinity, ammonia, etc). Do you have a current pic? Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 Happy 2022! There are no deaths, only a hermit crab in there, and he's still cruising around, seeming unbothered by the water conditions. I tested for ammonia and it was 0. 2 Quote Link to comment
Chris's Fishes Posted January 8, 2022 Share Posted January 8, 2022 On 12/31/2021 at 5:24 PM, growsomething said: Everything is closing up, even the xenia and invasive green zoa. Problems keeping the PH above 7.5 with the fw sand, rock, and wood. I'm not sure what to do. I've never needed to check alk in my nsw/lr tanks, so I have no means to test this tank right now, but pbly it is off w the ph so low. Lfs is closed for a few days. Added baking soda tonight, just a touch to see what happens and if things perk up. That's not a long-term solution, though. Happy New Year to you, too, Miss Deb. Going to eat bbq and watch kids run around with family tonight. See you next year! You could always try and chunk a small amount of crushed coral or rock rubble into the HOB, if you can make room. I'd imagine that with a PH in the mid 7's, even a small amount would buffer things enough to be noticeable. That's the method plenty of FW people use to add minerals to their tanks without going for PH Up or something. 1 Quote Link to comment
growsomething Posted January 9, 2022 Author Share Posted January 9, 2022 Already full of live rock 😉 1 Quote Link to comment
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