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the $3 soap dish


formerly icyuodd/icyoud2

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Check out my tank to see another in action. Cheato really does awesome under metal halide. After seeing some peoples designs with the egg crate, I think I might have to go this route as well and get another soap dish for my tank!

 

I would cram cheato underneath the egg crate in those, you know how many pods could be supported in there! Not to mention the nutrient export.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Got my "Soap Dish" of Cheato up and running this weekend.

 

(Got it at Walmart - $1.79 - must of been on sale) :D

 

I was looking at Fosters and they had an "in-tank" fuge for $24 and it looked like the large soap dish (just square) with a power head attached blowing water into it. I'm was thinking you could do the same thing with the large soap dish and a small power head.

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Total NooB here! Can someone please explain to me the purpose of a fuge and what the cheato is and needs to survive? I've been doing a lot of research b/c I have a Mandarin and have read repeatedly that I need to have a fuge for the copepods. I don't want to get extreme, so this sponge holder thing looks AWESOME! Where would I place it in the tank? Could I just put it in a spot that gets good flow? Also, how do I maintain the cheato? Is it obvious when it is healthy like any ole plant, or do I need to switch it out every once in a while? Thanks for the help. Right now I am just constantly adding copepods and brine eggs. I'd like to not have to worry about it so much.

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formerly icyuodd/icyoud2

how big is the aquarium? mandy need large feeding grounds to supply a healthy amount of copepods to thier diet. a small aquarium (under 30g) cannot support enough pods for a healthy mandarin (most "experts" say 100g per mandy)

 

many of us that keep mandy in smaller systems add sumps/fuges to fight the good fight. :) the refuge is a safe house. be it, to house fish/inverts that cant be kept with the rest of the tank mates, a safe place for algae, or a safe place for foods like copepods to breed. thats it.

 

cheato just needs light and water movement. if its green your good. :)

although the soapdish will help, imo (2.5 years of mandy experiance) it wont be the fix your looking for. you really should add a sump and stock it with pods. (no matter how big your system is)

 

couple other points.

 

NEVER EVER ADD BRINE EGGS TO YOUR SYSTEM-hatch them in a bottle and feed them live. the eggs can/ will cause ammonia algae problems, but the shells can cause your fish real problems.

 

also 1 month is a very new system to house a mandy. your only saving grace is your adding pods.

 

brine is a hollow food and only nutrious for about 8 hours after hatching (the time it takes to eat the egg sack) after that all energy/food is used for growth and its pretty much usless unless you gut load the brine (adult)

 

i'd get away from brine and start stocking the aquarium with live mysis (which will breed for years in a sump/fuge) rotifers, isopods etc.

 

try some cyclopeeze or cyclops (frozen copepods) if your mandy doesn't eat them, try feeding at the same time you feed live. decrease the amount of live food verses frozen food as time goes on.

 

if you search mandy on this forum, you'll find alot of my posts and things i've done to keep my mandy healthy and happy in a smaller system. :) (switch out lr from the sump, algae purchases, pod breeding etc)

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So my tank is a 24g. I'll start looking in to a sump and I'll quit with the brine eggs. I have searched the forums and found so much good info. That is how I have landed here actually. What if I added a cheato soap dish and restocked it with mysis and copepods every month? Would I still have to get a sump? He eats frozen fine. I have started target feeding him in a baby bottle in one corner of the tank. He knows where to find it and as it thaws he goes to town. I know that nutrition is more than just weight, but I am proud that in two weeks he has really fattened up. Here's a photo...

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Abraham1907

Where are these custom knives I have heard about? I love making little things out of garbage(not literal digging thru a dumpster garbage) but I have never made anything as cool as a guitar!

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formerly icyuodd/icyoud2

heres the smallest custom damascus knife i've made.

IMG_0061.jpg

IMG_0065-1.jpg

to go with my miniture knife collection.

minis2-1.jpg

minis-1.jpg

 

if you want to see more pic's, shoot me a pm and i'll dig up my disks.

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well i have to say, after putting the soap dish on the shelf for a while, its once again proved it worth.

 

this has to be my fav. use for the $3 soap dish.

feeding times always a treat in the dish. for both the horses and spectators. :) )

 

 

 

Can we get a full tank shot??

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formerly icyuodd/icyoud2

click on the link in my sig. it shows the entire system from its creation to present. (last month) i'll be up dating the pic's very soon with the arrival of the new baby horses.

 

until then......

before

IMG_3987.jpg

and after the most recent pruning

IMG_4307.jpg

IMG_4311.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Firstly, that last post that has my name on it, is not my post. Huh :huh: .

 

Secondly, how is this soap dish fuge working out so far? It has been awhile now, does it do the trick or do you still have to replenish regularly?

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  • 1 year later...

i am IN LOVE with this soap-dish innovation.. imma run and get 2 tomorrow.. yay to new frags, chaeto, and possibly horses and mandarin ;)

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CorvetteJoe

Great idea! I may try this in mine. There is no room to light the back of my 12gal cube, so my chaeto doesn't look so hot :(

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  • 1 year later...
kevantheman35
not just in stores and not just with reef tanks. :) i have alot of hobbies that pay my bills, and tend to find alsorts of things to use in ways they weren't meant to be used.

 

i'm forever turning files into knives, skids/pallets into custom guitars (alot are made from some very impressive pieces of wood.) heres one im working on now, the flamed maple is actually part of an old skid found at a friends foundry.

(still alot of work to do on this one)

IMG_0135.jpg

IMG_0134.jpg

 

i even have a broken ostridge egg im using as a bonsia pot :)

 

Lets see the BONSIA POT!

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  • 3 months later...

I didn't go through the entire 5 pages of response, so there is a good chance this has been mentioned. If so, forgive the redundance here. Great idea with the soap dish and I especially like the mini frag set-up, BUT you guys need to be extremely careful with throwing in some of the Macro algeas in your display tanks. If your macros are not contained and spread into the tank, you can very quickly have a problem with it taking over. Take a look at the top photo, I see what I believe to be grape Caulerpa growing off the adjacent frag and stuck on the filter intake.

If I may make a minor suggestion, if you're going to have a mini refugium IN your tank, consider buying one of those square FW live bearer boxes that is covered in a very fine mesh. Would do the same thing without the risk of contaminating your tank with unwanted Macro growth. Chaeto ( Chaetomorphia) is one of the safer types but comes with minor risks if it spreads into the display. Just my humble 2 cents worth. You've been warned.

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