Riona Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I've never done a tank journal before, so may as well, eh? I just put water in my 40 breeder a week ago. Thursday to be exact. Oh heck, what day did I post this on again? Well, that Thurs. plus a few more now. Plus 20# of base rock from TB Salt. The new owners seem to be pretty on the ball, and helped me via email before I grabbed the rock from them. Also 20# from KP down in the keys, which is quite lovely as well. Base rock, so not a lot of life. A couple nudibranchs (boo.) which are adorable, but which I'm sure will starve pretty soon. I've got a bunch of dead barnacles (again, boo. Ah well, better than the xanthid invasion I couldn't get rid of last time.) I DID see a few random snails when it went in my tank, but not since. There are a few bits of white sponge that seem to be alive, some sort of little branchy reddish macro that I hope sticks around, a couple bits of green stuff that is pretty sparse. I've also noticed some turkey wing clams (eep. To put some phyto in an uncycled tank or not to, that is the question. They're still tiny, otherwise I wouldn't even think of feeding them yet. . .) and a couple of hidden cup corals. There are also a bunch of spaghetti worms. From the KP stuff, a pencil urchin that will eventually make me make a sump (LOL!) a few serpent stars, some pistol shrimp, more macro (pls live **crosses fingers**) Equipment: Tunze of some sort powerhead, 2x 20 gallon heaters, aquaclear powerhead. Also reefbreeders LED lights. Proposed stocking (lol, does it ever work out that way?) is a pair of Springer's damsels, a royal gramma, and if I can find one a pink streaked wrasse. Maybe a neon goby or two, if I can find them. Still hate the short lifespan on the gobies, though. Inverts: Have added 4 banded trochus, 2 scarlet hermits, and 2 blue leg hermits. Need shells for the blues, since they're teeny tiny and I have nothing for them to eat and move into. No idea what I'll end up doing for my CUC yet. A couple blue legs and half dozen assorted snails, putting more in if I need to likely? For other inverts, I'd like some assorted zoas (definitely some of the KP ones, dunno what else) a pipe organ or two, and some FL rics for soft. Some birdsnests for SPS. LPS is what I tend to like most, and I'd love to have a nice variety. A fox for sure (they're my favourite corals ) a hammer or a few (depending on what I can find. Seems 1 head frags are $50 lately, sheesh.) some lepastrea if I can find a nice blue-eyed one, a duncan, any assorted candy canes and blasto merlettis that I can find. I like M. lords, and I tend to see them pretty often at my LFS, so planning on any of them that catch my eye (and hey, no xanthids to eat all of them this time, it seems.) I have seen branching lobos before, and liked them, but it's been ages since I've seen one, so maybe maybe not for them. Same for a nice trachy brain. Not that I don't see them often, but they seem to be quite pricey recently, which sucks since I finally have a tank big enough for a mature one, haha. 'm probably going to get a photosynthetic gorg or two, a crocea (way down the line) and at least one rock flower anemone. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to get some porcelain crabs and/or anemone shrimp to live in the 'nem. Lol, I like to stock my fish lightly but I've got the feeling I'm going to be crying for more room before long for coral. Also, though it'll probably be on rocks too big for my tank, TBS said that they hope to get some WYSIWYG rock up at some point with native corals that'd otherwise be illegal, so hopefully they'll have some smaller rocks with nicer species at some point, because I'd love a few of our little native guys. Edit: And the crappiest photo of the year award goes toooo! Eh, best I've got so far. My phone (which has died and I need to replace anyway) refuses to take good photos indoors. Sometimes outdoors too. On the other hand, I've gotten a shot of an ant crawling into a 1" flower where you can see (not crisply, sadly) the fuziness of the flower. Thing is moodier than I am when I'm PMS-ing. Planted 20 long is on the bottom. Has a betta and a handful of white cloud minnows plus a ton of plants. Most of them seem to be doing okay under that light (go figure) though I'd gotten a bit more variety than I thought I'd need since occasionally I find something that'll grow like a weed for me, and other times everything just dies. This was obviously before I got the ReefBreeders for it, but just how I tossed the rocks in when I first got them. It's a bit deceptive since there's enough room between the three on the left (again, my phone camera sucks, hahaha) that I've got a nice handful of chaeto that has stopped itself in there. Need to see if I can find my actual camera and hope it'll take clearer photos. Funniest story so far of the tank: When I got the KP rock and was pulling it out of the paper to put in the tank, most of the pistols had abandoned ship. I grabbed one to toss him into the tank (I LIKE them!) but he was moulting. Which I didn't know until I ended up with what appeared to be the entire back half of a shrimp. I sort of looked at it and panicked wondering if I'd somehow smooshed the poor little dude, or if he'd been hacked in half in shipment before I noticed that nope, the angry shrimp was sitting on the paper, and the shell I was holding was JUST the shell. 4 Quote Link to comment
kimdawg Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 I'm glad you started a journal. Sounds like you have a great plan for your tank. You are right about tanks running out of room quickly. I will folllow along to see what you end up with. 2 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted March 26, 2022 Author Share Posted March 26, 2022 One of my rocks is turning brown! Hooray! Wait, I'm excited that I'm getting brown rocks? Lol, the silly things reef keepers get excited over, right? But the quicker the algae comes and goes, the quicker I can do something aside from just staring at rocks. Seems the whelk I got is the clam eating sort, thus I have zero turkey wings (boooo.) but I'm sure I can get some more from the LR supplier I got this rock from after I find and remove the things. Erm, I hope so, since I really love them. No idea how to find said whelks, but eh, I'm sure I'll figure something out. I've got at least 3 hidden cup corals though (eee!) and still a bunch of spaghetti worms. Have also occasionally seen something that looks like it is trying to be mini-serpent star tentacles, some worms that might be peanut worms (they're brown? *shrugs*) and occasionally see something spitting out a mouthful of detritus from the rocks in various spots. NO idea what, there, since I really doubt the worms have the capability, and haven't heard any clicking so dunno if mantis/pistol that is just feeling unthreatened by anything or if something else. The bits of macro still seem to be holding on, and I honestly hope they continue to. Might regret saying that if it decides to take over at some point, but for now it's cute, and alive. Also ended up getting some ReefBreeders LEDs. NOT as cheap as I was hoping to go, but the LFS had them, meaning I didn't need to worry about shipping. Setup gave me all sorts of problems (see: reasons I refuse to try a skimmer again) because technology still hates me. On the good side, Logan (ReefBreeders owner) was willing to email back and forth a few times with me until I got the app to actually work. It's kinda funny since the grow light I picked up for cheap for my planted tank is one of the awful orangey-yellowy-red ones, whereas this one is windex blue, so I've got two very different looks going on in that corner of my room. Also got a handful of chaeto. It has decided to wedge itself between the rocks, which is fine for now so long as it stays alive. Also seem to have some sort of ogo that came in a couple scraps. Same tank has "red macro" at a handful price. I'll try to figure out what kind once it gets a bit bigger. Still planning to get some rock from KP down in the keys. Probably grab a 20# box. Again. Moved both powerheads to the same side of the tank, and am thinking about getting a big maxijet to toss on the other side to make the water flow around everywhere. 4 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted March 28, 2022 Author Share Posted March 28, 2022 I'm getting more rock! Spoke with Philipp from KP just now, and figured another 20# would definitely be good for me. Said he can ship it this week so I can have it going soon. Score! Will have it Thursday (assuming UPS doesn't screw up.) so I can hopefully figure out all the goodies that come with. 2 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 I work in a different city from where I live. I stay with a relative there 3 days a week (which is good since there are few nice LFS there, and there is a Petco with a half-assed salt department within a 2 hour drive of here) and since my diatoms started last week, I figured I'd grab a couple snails while I was at work. Did, brought them home, and my first thought upon entering my room last night was "heck heck heck! Why is my tank so cloudy???? Did something big die?????" Nope. Diatoms all over the glass, which I noticed getting close to the tank as it is more pronounced in the middle, and is still clean-glassed on the edges. Silly human tricks, and weird diatom growth habits! Hopefully the snails enjoy the food. The LFS I normally shop at sadly doesn't have many powerheads. Either a 270 GPH one, or an 800 GPH one, and I was wanting something around 1,200 to put on one side to offset the Koralia nano (275?) and the Tunze that I can't remember the model of. Assuming it's one of the lower-flow ones which means 400-something. Ended up grabbing one from Petco for way too much, but it's got the flow I want. Will just need to see how much water it moves. Keep seeing new dead clams (grrrrrrr.) and haven't seen my cute little friend the whelk since the first day I noticed him. I'd love to find him to toss him into a small container by himself and see if I could keep him alive, but can't really do that until I can find him. I'd rather have the little clams in the tank! Still don't know what I'm going to stock it with besides the couple sapphire damsels. Have seen a pink streaked wrasse in person now at the LFS, and though you really have to watch the tank for him because he's always hidden, he's SO CUTE, and I hope that I can keep enough spots in the tank for one of them to feel safe enough with the damsels. Theirs hides constantly (it took me a few weeks of going in for water/stuff for my planted tank to notice they had him, hah!) but I'm unsure if that's a tankmate issue or if it's a traffic issue since the tank is really close to the front door, the register, and at the start of the aisle with the filter media. Other than that, a royal gramma, maybe? Prefer the look of the black cap, but they're a bit pricey. Still can't find anything that is rock-dwelling that is either not known to munch on anything I want in the tank or doesn't have a super-short lifespan, and most bottom-dwellers are still out because I don't like sand (Anakin Skywalker had that right. Just leave out the creepy bit that he added about Padme after ) I've tried to figure out if I could do a long-term home for one in a corner with some sand and a divider of some sort, but the closest I've found to size-requirements for such a thing say some people use a tupperwareful in QT plus general "oh, you can keep X goby in a Z gallon tank!" Also, I woke up to this on my rocks from KP, which makes me SO excited, because I'll be able to see what I got in a few hours. (it's 10 minutes to 9 in my time zone at the moment) Maybe at some point I'll try to get a couple photos of the rock and the tank! Edit: And by the time I'd finished writing/editing this, an hour later, the delivery post changed, and now my rock is showing as out for delivery I hope I get a mantis. And not too many xanthid crabs. Or any new whelks, lol! 2 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 On the good side, the rock got here and was great. I've found at least 4 brittle/serpent stars. One I can't figure out, one that was half crushed and probably won't make it, but it was wandering pretty well so I'm guessing it'll try. The others had stripey legs, so not gonna be fish eaters. Probably. I noticed at least 3 or 4 pistol shrimp. A bunch of macro, including a couple pieces of codium (SCORE!) on one of them that I hope I can find again. Smelled good, and I was bravely stupid and just tossed it in the display. I think my 20# from the keys takes up about twice the amount of space that the 20# from the gulf does, and I think I might have to figure out how to make a sump (after I find a new 10, or find a new water reservoir for the cypress tree >_> Wonder if I could get another kiddie pool this summer like I did for the mangrove. Two bog gardens+the carnivore garden sounds nice!) since it seems the stuff from the keys takes up about as much volume as I was hoping the stuff from the gulf would, hahaha. Or just have more rock in the display than I was hoping I would. Koralia seems to have died. Impeller wasn't spinning, I tried cleaning it/soaking it in vinegar, and it eventually stopped even trying. On the BAD side, one of my two birds seems to have gotten out of my room while I was busy with the rock (though I don't think I left my door open. Stupid idiot me, she'd been hiding under my bed, and since she never has tried to leave before, I assumed she'd be safe) and I can't find her anywhere. And honestly that makes the rock a lot less cool, since I'd rather have both of my girls happy and safe than anything cool for my tank, but I can't find her anywhere. EDIT: Well THAT was nice. She was under the bed the whole time, the little feathered shit. Over 3 hours later and she finally decided to come out while I was freaking out completely. 3 Quote Link to comment
Jakesaw Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Koralia seems to have died. Impeller wasn't spinning, I tried cleaning it/soaking it in vinegar, and it eventually stopped even trying. -- Hope you didn't toss it. I've found after cleaning - whether it be powerheads or HOB filters. Did you stick a swab gunk from the hole where Magnetic of impeller sits. Sometimes a cleaned impeller just needs a little help getting started.. You may have the steel pin off center a bit when assembled. or maybe the impeller just needs a little assist spin from your finger to get moving. In 30 + years of aquarium ( only 1.3 in Reefing ), never had an impeller permanently stop working on me. Salt + Reef light probably shortens the plastic's life a bit though over time. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted March 31, 2022 Author Share Posted March 31, 2022 I tossed it out with my box o'assorted aquarium junk, but not in the garbage. I'll see if I can find a swab (don't have any q-tips or anything) and try giving it a scrub in the impeller housing instead of just rinsing it. Thanks for the idea. 1 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted April 2, 2022 Author Share Posted April 2, 2022 Yes. I have a couple pieces of coral in a new tank. No I'm nowhere near as ashamed of that as I should be. Gorg's happy as can be, fox is happy enough (seems to completely deflate at night, which has scared the heck out of me a couple times, but comes right back up in the morning.) Candy cane doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Duncan (?) is iffy, but it was at the shop, too. I'm almost wondering if they didn't get some other sort of coral in AS a duncan. Didn't open there, but was in the tank after being in-house fragged long enough to start encrusting on the plugs, and the most I've seen it extend so far is just past the rim. I might try feeding it some mysis to see if I can get it a bit happier. Can't get the white balance on my phone to change, can't figure out the manual override for my lights to get the whites on, lol. So in the blue they are, even if you can definitely see more colour than the photos show when it's up. Hopefully these show up in the same order as they do on my screen. Pic 1: Mr. Pencil urchin. Super cute little dude. Have read they're not reef-safe, so might end up trying to make a sump after all so I can see if I can keep him alive (and maybe divide it because I STILL want a mantis.) Water is a bit cloudy (wiped the glass free of diatoms and stirred up a bunch of the gunk that's still coming out of the rocks while moving them around yesterday.) All the KP rock, starting with the flat piece, going towards the heater. Next shot is the 4 pieces I got from TB Salt. Sort of a top-down fts, and one in black and white to see detail better. After that since it's the order I shot them in is the planted tank, haha. Grumpy betta, a bunch of white cloud minnows who managed to hide in the shot. Sadly the swords seem to not be doing so well, but I am hoping they'll come around. Need to move the vals/other grassy looking ones more into that corner, figure a way to plant that huge anubias (omg, the roots are insane. Though the betta likes it floating, so I dunno.) Front shot in blue then B&W again. KP to the right, TBS to the left. Shot of the stand as it is. Then the little gorgonian frag. I need to glue it to something, I think, because it is always open (well, was irritated there because I'd just moved it) but keeps getting knocked over to the ground. Then a couple feather dusters+the duncan. I just liked the second one because (while it's more open today) it was just being rocked around by the powerhead and looked smooshed. Then (yikes I need to wipe the glass!) happened to catch one of the stars on a stroll around the tank last night. One of the stripey ones. 4 Quote Link to comment
DevilDuck Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 I have a pencil urchin also, it is now a permanent resident of my sump refugium where can munch. It can eat its fill of my grape caulerpa. I've ready they are reef safe when they are small, but once they reach a certain size they can eat coral. My planted tank in the background. 2 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 Meaning I have a bit of time before I have to move him! That is definitely good to know. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 Hm. Chaeto has gotten into the new powerhead and jammed it (it's unplugged for now since I don't feel like moving it and there's nowhere else for the algae) so I might end up doing some research this weekend on how to get a fuge going sooner than planned. Only thing that sucks is it means I've gotta either move the planted tank from under the 40, though I really don't have space for it elsewhere in my room, or put the thing next to the stand, which'll just look awkward. And mean I'll finally need to find a way to hide the powerstrips, lol. Tank isn't drilled and I don't have the ability to easily replace it if I broke it while trying, so I was thinking about doing one of the king of DIY's PVC overflows (like in the attached shot. Stole the pic from a google images search that brought pintrest up, so no good source), but that seems like it'd pull entirely too much water for a 10-20 gallon fuge, so I dunno. If you have an overpowered drain and don't have a return that'll shove that much water back (like if I did an overflow which could pull out 1000 GPH, but I only had a return pump that'd do 100 GPH) but kept the weir in place to prevent it from pulling too much water from the main tank, would it just outright fail, or would it still keep going? Should I put a ball valve on it, or would that be more likely to make it fail? I had a CPR on a tank at one point, but I could NOT get the thing to stop making way too much noise for a bedroom no matter what I tried, so I eventually sold it. Thinking for now just putting the betta's old 5.5 on there after I clean it up and if I can ever find another "pond" for my cypress tree, replacing that with the 10 gallon it's in. Mostly because I don't want to clean it, and I don't want yet another tank sitting around the house, haha. Figure that either would have plenty of room for the chaeto, maybe a couple other decorative algaes, and a return pump. Maybe even the little pencil urchin if I can ever find him/he ever decides to chew on things that I don't want him chewing on. As far as tank news goes, I heard a lot of suspicious clicking earlier after I tossed in some shells for the hermits. Hoping it's a mantis, but I couldn't see where the clicker was (still in one of the rocks, not exploring the new shells) so it might have just been a pistol and something was irritating it, but it sounded like a LOT of clicking for that. Also, it's super funny. The rocks from the gulf are now hitting puberty going through the hair algae phase of the uglies, though the stuff from the keys is still nice and fuzzy like it was when I got it, but is not growing a lawn. I wonder if the short fuzzy algae that it came with is some other sort of turf algae, if it is just preventing the traditional "hair" algae from taking over, or if the rock just has less stuff in it that the algae can enjoy (I know TBS and KP use different base, but I forget which they use.) I'd also. . . decided to pile the rocks somehow, but I'm actually sort of liking the haphazard strewn-across-the-bottom look I've got going right now for some odd reason or another. And am sort of considering keeping it like this? I was thinking that once it matures I was going to stick some SPS and maybe some gorgs to the back wall, and I don't see why I couldn't still do it that way. Maybe put some little short egg crate lifts in for a couple of the rocks in the back so whatever I put on them will be more visible, but then just having most of the rocks be their own islands of a sort to make it less likely that anything would touch and try to kill the coral next to it. Also, seeing as how I JUST MANAGED TO FIND the way to shift white balance on my new phone, I should have some DECENT photos up soon! I hope. Assuming my photography skills are not as bad as last time I tried to take pictures of anything, lol! 1 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 Let's see how big these pictures are ^^' I didn't NEED the photo of the snail, but it turned out pretty good, so I'll keep it in there. Just wish I could have gotten a slightly clearer shot in his mouth. Ah well. Second is the best helper in the whole wide world When she doesn't decide to nearly give me a heart attack taking a multiple hour nap under my bed at least. A CLAM! Little gulf turkeywing. I thought the whelk had gotten all of them before I got him out, but I was apparently wrong. Hopefully there are more that escaped him as well. I'd love a handful of these guys in there, I've got no idea what sort of algae this is. Thought it was codium when I put it in the tank, but it appeared to die/come back from the change and it looks more like a little bottlebrush, whereas all the photos I've seen of the other are solid. Sponge! I just thought it was pretty. Best I could get of the duncan that shows both polyps, the main one and the baby that's forming. Still haven't seen it open more than this, but it's still more than the ones in the LFS tank, so I dunno if he was right that something'd nibbled on them, or if somehow they ended up part starved, or something else, but it's ever so slowly becoming happier in my tank, so I'll take what I can get. Mini brittle star hiding in a dead barnacle. Hoping this one's a hidden cup coral. Especially since those tentacles look nasty. Also a good closeup of some of the algae I got from the gulf of mexico. Pretty sure at least one species of bryopsis as feathery as it is, but it's still the uglies, so I'm fairly confident it'll vanish again in a while. You can also see a spaghetti worm's tentacles and some of the red macro that I hope sticks around. Crummy shot, but was a challenge for my phone. Rock is probably 4-5" across (~10-13 cm?), and this hole goes all the way through it. There's a feather duster at the end of the "tunnel" that I can't see from any angle but this one. In the FTS, you can see the hole it is in underneath the duncan. The no-id gorg. I've put it upright a bunch of times. It keeps falling and ending up like that, so I'm leaving it as-is for the moment. It seems to not be angry there, so maybe it'll grow onto both rocks and I'll have a couple colonies eventually. I don't remember what this one is! I swear he called it a pectinia, which it quite clearly is not. I saw a colony of it that they've got in the super-expensive stuff tank (ha.) The big one kept the perfectly round (for the most part, there were a couple odd-shaped ones) polyps, and the base was recessed. Closest I could find online was a "fluted moon coral," but all of the shots that looked similar were on reef builders, and that site seems to be crashing my browser today, so can't see if I can figure out a better species name to search for from there. Top down of the duncan. With its huge (comparatively, haha) feather duster friend. Mr. Foxxy Fox looking all puffy and sexy I got this one (well, all of it, really) way earlier than I should have, but am glad I did as none of the stores close to where I work had any foxes left the next time I went in after I got this one. And it'd been ages since I'd seen one to begin with. A little M. lord. Top shot since it is leaning back on the rock, so a bit blurry. In their tank it was a bit more gold/blue than green/silver, but either way it's pretty. The candy cane likes to fall just as the gorg does. Dunno if something is helping them or I'm just not getting them in a good spot. Came with the zoas. They're a goldish speckled sort. Don't seem to be bothering it at all, so I'm leaving them until they do. FTS. Sort of at an angle since that's the way I view it in my room. You can't really see the algae as well in it. New phone's better but not perfect. Big mass-o-green on the right hand side is the chaeto. And of course the difference in the rocks. Hair algae on the gulf, some sort of pink fuzzy stuff on the keys. It's actually pretty attractive, and so long as it plays well with coral, I honestly wouldn't mind if it stuck around or spread. And of course the bigger of the two damsels, who was swimming by at the moment. Shame you can't see how vivid he is, or the little black markings on him in this. 4 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 It's been nearly a month? Oof. This is why I don't do journals, lol. Hair algae is almost all gone now. I've pulled out a lot of it, and of course as the tank matures a bit (matures? Hm. Still new, but not baby-fresh any longer, I suppose?) the macro on the rocks is starting to grow in a bit, and the hair is being outcompeted. Still a bunch of little stands of it, but not like before where all the rock surface was covered. Duncan coral is still a bit unhappy, but it's getting a bit bigger all the time, vs. the ones at the store (the couple that are left) which STILL have zero polyp extension. Also got my first stick, a (so he called it?) superman monti digitata. Really want a forest fire, but this one has the red, and is supposed to be a bit blue under. Also got a little 3 head hammer. Had crossed them off my list because I've been reading lately that hammers can be moody, but I like them, and this one's kinda mint-green with some purple splattering, so I'm trying it. And the false-eye wrasse, of course. I still don't see her swinging for food when I feed the damsels, but she's not losing weight, so she's either eaten all of my pods by now (just got some to start culturing!) or is sneaking the food when I'm watching the other fish. PICS! I really need to top off, huh? get a screen kit for the top of the tank. Saw a post somewhere that says you can use unused bath poofs cut open instead of screen, so might grab one of those. They're cheap at least. Second (yikes, no wonder my snails like the front glass so much, lol) is a FTS with the low water level hidden. Pics 3-4 are a study in the dirtiness of my glass difference between the red macro from the keys and some of it from the gulf. The longer, more graceful looking one is keys rock, the cute fat one (and the really thin short one) are from the gulf. I've got a better patch of the gulf stuff, but it's towards the back, and I couldn't get it into focus. After that is a mystery coral (favia of some sort? War coral?)) that was in the cheapie frag pile at my LFS. It's pretty, it's an LPS. It's fine. Unless it starts eating my other corals. Then the sort of more peaceful LPS corner. Fox in the back, so's the acan, candy canes in the middle, though the one is facing backwards (just the standard brown/green.) and the duncan with phobombing featherduster worm in the front. You can see the second polyp on the duncan a bit better now. It's getting bigger, so I'm assuming that means it's not dying. Then the monti. My bigger rfa. The little one was on the same rock and I'm hoping is behind it because I've not seen it since the day after I put it in there. There's also a mermaid's winecup on there ❤️ There were more, but they've faded. Hopefully my tank's conditions are good enough that they'll come back. Then there's the little no-id gorg frag. I tried to move it upright again, but it seems to be growing into the two rocks (LOL!) so I'm guessing it's not too unhappy where it is. Best pic I've gotten of the wrasse so far. (hm. I've not seen any mini-brittles since I put her in there. Wonder if she's snacking on those.) Top down of another no-id LPS, either a chalice or an echinata? Not something I'd wanted in my tank for the nastiness factor, but if I can find a way to keep it isolated for now, I'll keep it. It was prettier in-store under their lights. Top down of the candy canes with the zoas that came on the one. Was a loose dropped frag in the zoa section (and probably more than what I got it for *whistles innocently* and some hiked on it.) Last are the three FL rics still not in the best pic since I am still not 100% sure what to play with between my phone and the tank settings and the new hammer. Might end up moving the hammer since it seems to be getting blasted a bit by the powerhead, but not today. 1 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 Also, since I'm too lazy to edit, got an auto-topoff finally. Probably means I can take the tape off the side of the tank, but I wanna see how it does over the first week it's running before I do. Also, still hearing popping from the pistol shrimps, still sad I never got a mantis on the rocks. Maybe if I ever get a fuge going under there I'll grab a little mantis from KP as my little not-main-tank pet or something. 1 Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 10, 2022 Author Share Posted May 10, 2022 So I got a bath pouf last night to make into the screen for a top. Was going to get a screen kit so I could build it, but couldn't find the corners next to the screen stuff (no idea. At all.) so I'll go by one of the better Lowes's tonight. Hopefully I can put it together once I get home from work tomorrow or over the weekend at some point and get it on so my tank isn't 1/4 empty any longer/I don't need to worry about my wrasse ending up on the floor. Then I'll need to figure out the overflow thing. Hmmmm. Kinda thinking about skipping out of work a bit early to go to the fish store which I can never get to because it is near where I stay while at work, but closes when we do. Tempting because it has been SO RIDICULOUSLY LOUD HERE TODAY because apparently none of the adults here know how to use inside voices, and my head has been throbbing all day because even with the earplugs I had custom moulded for people who don't want to be deaf, yet like setting off small explosions a few inches from an ear (shooters. I'm absolutely talking about shooters, whether hunting, cop/military training, or sport.) I can still make out the whole conversation from 20 feet away around a wall. I really need a better job, LOL. Really want a farm, nice and QUIET, but have not had any luck finding funding here (little dairy for cheese/soapmaking for my profit, prototype of an idea I came up with a decade and a half ago that'd end world hunger, but hey, you mention experimental or value-added instead of bulk to a milk truck and everyone starts mocking you.) and so far my looking in Europe (Netherlands first, Germany second, would consider France third, though omg, I'm scared to death just looking at the language, lol) hasn't gotten me anywhere. Probably because I don't know who to look for for grants for what I want to do. Eh. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 **is bewildered** I have been to three Lowe's in two days, and none of them have the corner pieces for screens. What the heck? Also, I'm starting to wonder how to do the ones I'll need to do for the lights since it just hit me that they won't go into each other? I don't even know how to word that. I'm nearly wondering if it wouldn't be better to just zip tie the mesh to my egg crate, break out spots for the lights, and leave it with just that. Sheesh. Also, found a forest fire digi (LOL! Right after I got another sort!) and picked up a royal gramma who dove under a rock as soon as I let her go. Hopefully she'll figure out that none of my other fish are likely to eat her soon because she's a rather cute little thing. Quote Link to comment
Jakesaw Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 Lowes should have them in stock. If you missed em, order ahead to pick up. https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=screen+corners Local Home Depot has DIY screen kits in same aisle as replacement screens. My kit came with spline, corners, and 4 good sized rails to cut to size with a hack saw and cutting box. Maybe supply chain issues are keeping aluminum rails low in stock at locatons.??? Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 12, 2022 Author Share Posted May 12, 2022 Must be a supply thing. The one in my hometown said they had 7 packs in stock before I went to the store, but there were none there. I am still thinking about just breaking out most of the middle of the egg crate and zip tying the screen to it, though. Wouldn't need to worry about how I'm gonna get the edges around the light's legs if I don't have to assemble anything around them, after all. And I can leave a bit of extra in the back in case I get an overflow box at some point so I can custom snap out bits for it. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 Did my first water change since I got my wisdom teeth out a few weeks ago (0 out of 100 for that experience. Would not recommend unless one of yours goes rogue, abcesses, and snaps like one of mine decided to >_< Worst experience of my life, sans the abusive ex.) Pulled a bunch of dictoyta (noooo. Ugh, the one downside of real LR is that sometimes you get nasties on it, lmfao. Hopefully if I keep on top of it I can keep it beaten back.) 3/4 fish are out and about. Not seeing the gramma, but I've seen him all of twice in a tiny flash of purple since I put him in, so not too concerned. Oddly, and might need to do something about it, I guess I bumped my bigger powerhead because my hammer isn't blowing around as much, (not bad) and my gorg is being blasted to the point that it isn't open. Oops. Might see about bumping it later, but I've got lunch and don't feel like getting my hands wet again right now. As far as coral, my hammer is the most open I've seen it since I got it, the neon candy cane (wasn't planning to get the type, but one of the stores had one they'd, probably accidentally since they typically sell for at least twice that much, accidentally put in the $10 bin. *yoink*) is like a spotlight on that side of the tank even though it is still angry from shipping. The forest fire hasn't opened up yet (and of course it rolled on top of the other digi, tsk.) and looks like it's got the exact same base colour as my other, so hopefully once they start to grow/get happier/whatever they turn out to look a bit different. Also, I have some coralline starting to grow on the front glass. Woot. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 15, 2022 Author Share Posted May 15, 2022 Still haven't seen my gramma since day one >_> Hoping she's in there somewhere and hasn't found a way to jump 6"~ out of the tank, or just died of moving stress and got eaten by whatever. New monti isn't quite happy. Unsure if it's because it fell onto the big rock 'nem (oops) or because the seaweed is brushing it where I moved it to. If it's not open when I get home from work Wednesday I'll move it a bit more. It's only about an inch from the other, which is fine though facing backwards comparatively, so may be anything. Speaking of 'nems, I found my littler one. It crawled under my rock and has bleached a lot. Boo. Hoping it'll come back since it's in a nearly impossible spot to feed, and since the bigger one is attached to that rock and a second, would be difficult at best to get in to move it. Also, 🚨! Saw this guy when I was pulling out a bit of dictoyta/hair algae/moving the monti. Oops. HOPING it's a curley cue, since it is on the keys rock, even though their stripes seem to be a bit more knobby than the ones on this one at the moment. I'd think it's a touch big for it to have come in on any of the frag plugs on that side of the tank without me having noticed it until today. Will keep an eye on it, but I'd rather have to buy a berghia than deal with the dictoyta if it started to take off, so there's that. Pic one is zoomed out a bit because I'm girly and liked the way the rocks were a bit cavernous/the random feather duster I noticed for the first time since it's always under the rocks. Quote Link to comment
Jakesaw Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 Baby royal Grammas are extremely timid - especially with bigger fish around. They can squeeze into the smallest of crevaces in a rock too. How long has it been since added to tank? I would give your tank a good look in all the nooks and crannies in the rock. Even a timid fish should come out to eat when it's hungry and you are feeding the tank. That could be a day or two from a LFS. What are you feeding. Anything frozen like brine shrimp is appetizing to most omnivore fish. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 16, 2022 Author Share Posted May 16, 2022 Was added on Wednesday evening. She zipped under a rock first thing, and I know I saw her out once or twice Thursday around that same rock just darting out for a couple moments, but not since. I'm mostly doing some Hikari pellets, (and when the damsels were a bit littler some bug bites I use in the fresh tank that I still toss in once in a while) though I've also put a cube of one of the mixed frozen diets (that I'm blanking on the name of at the moment) in there. Got distracted so didn't watch too well while it was blowing around the tank, though didn't notice her the few times I looked up. Doesn't mean she didn't dart back into the rocks after grabbing a tiny bite. I need to start hatching my own brine since the shop closest to me doesn't have it live any longer. Will be adding pods regularly once my little bottle of them starts reproducing for me. Didn't ask what the store was feeding since they're not supposed to be a picky species. Oops. The damsels are about her size/a slight bit shorter, and while they might be picking on her, when I added the wrasse they just seemed more confused so I don't think so? The wrasse (H. biocellatus, LA calls them red lined) is bigger than she is, but everything I've seen says the gramma will likely be more aggressive, so if she's intimidated by her it's probably because the wrasse doesn't sit still. Plenty of rock for her to hide in, though! Quote Link to comment
Jakesaw Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 I couldn't get my baby Gramma to eat pellets, but it'd would come out at the smell of the pellets. Frozen brine shrimp did the trick to get RG eating. Damsels are aggressive fish and territorial. Were they in tank for a while before introducing RG. They may have stressed new RG if defending their established territory. I have a Talbot Damsel which is considered one of the peaceful fish of the species and he's still a bugger. Larger clown lets him know who's boss a few times a day. Not seeing fish in 3 days is concerning. Next time you feed give your tank a good watch. You really do want to see the fish come out and eat. They can't live off their fat indefinitely. Quote Link to comment
Riona Posted May 16, 2022 Author Share Posted May 16, 2022 The damsels haven't been near the rock she was hiding in at first, though I can't guarantee she didn't move or that I missed something on the rocks like a big crab or a green brittle star that was big enough/opportunistic enough to take down a fish that was already stressed from being transferred. That said, I'll be a lot happier if I see her. Quote Link to comment
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