Fourteener

[oncorhynchus]

pretty sure its a vermetid snail. i have hundreds in my tank. they reproduce like crazy and string a web out to catch debri and then pull it back in the extrusion to feed on its catch

 

Thanks. Had no idea those were snails. Did a little research and it seems that having them is less than funktastic. I might have to go after them. I read a post that said you can get rid of them by poking a big sewing needle in their tube and rooting around a bit...

[Funktastic Wint]

Thanks. Had no idea those were snails. Did a little research and it seems that having them is less than funktastic. I might have to go after them. I read a post that said you can get rid of them by poking a big sewing needle in their tube and rooting around a bit...

 

the only reason u would take it out is if u thought it was unattractive.

[rO.oster]

Thanks.

 

Btw, I checked out your tank thread. I really like your aquascape. It's original, looks cool, and provides lots of great area for coral. I'm kinda bummed how mine turned out. Thinking about making some changes, particularly in taking out the big coral piece and adding some rocks. I wish I had had the patience to do dry base rock and really set it up nicely like you did. As it was, I picked up some rock at a LFS (though thankfully it was dirt cheap, $25 bucks for all of it) and although I think it filters like crazy, I don't love the way it looks. I wonder how dangerous it is to pull a big rock out of the tank....

 

thanks a lot for your compliments, i really had no clue how it would all go when i first started it, that was my first try to get them all together in some decent way. i think i tried messing with it once, and that's when the putty all broke apart and it all fell apart. so i tried to re-glue it all with waterproof gel, and that was a DISASTER because the rocks were out of the water for a few hours and drying, and the glue wouldn't dry, and I had a order arriving in 48 hrs. long story short, i would mess with your scape sooner than later, becuase the more you add the less you want to mess with things to let it all grow.

 

those snails are a pain, i bought a six line wrasse hoping he would eat them too, but no luck. I too will be employing the sewing needle tactic, since they are actually growing off of my frogspawn as well.

[oncorhynchus]

Added some new corals:

 

Ricordea

 

Purple hammer

 

Not new, but like the pic

 

Super bright

 

Green Nepthea

[Rain24]

Ah, there we go! I found your thread again. The new additions look great and so do the pics. I failed to subscribe last time, so I'm going to do so now so I can follow along.

[oncorhynchus]

Ah, there we go! I found your thread again. The new additions look great and so do the pics. I failed to subscribe last time, so I'm going to do so now so I can follow along.

 

Thanks Rain. Looks like you'll be adding some livestock soon too. I can't wait for some of these pieces to grow out a bit, particularly the nepthea. I've seen some larger neptheas and they can look stunning.

[oncorhynchus]

I've added more corals and rearranged the live rock a bit. Generally things are going well. I've not missed a weekly water change. I've been tracking salinity daily, mg, alk and ca weekly. I've been testing just before the water change to get a sense for how my tank is consuming over a week. Generally the alk, ca and mg have not been moving. Alk is 8.4, Ca at 440 and Mg at 1200. Last week though they actually all had drifted down a bit so I dosed a 3 part that is custom made at my lfs. I was conservative in calculating the volume to dose and I got lucky and the params went to exactly where I wanted them. I'll test again on Saturday before my next water change.

 

I've been slowly picking out vermatid snails with a curved set of hemos that I use for fly tying. It works like a charm and they come off cleanly in one piece. In the last two days I've noticed what seem to be Amphiscolops flatworms on the glass. Mine are definitely shaped exactly like the images I find of them on the web, though they are more brownish than white. From what I read, this type of flatworm is harmless. I've only seen them on the glass in the evening when the pods are there as well. Speaking of pods, I'm on the tail end of a pod explosion. It seems that this is a good sign. I'm going to watch the flatworms closely to see if I need to intervene. I'm not sure where the flatworms came from; I've dipped every coral in the tank thoroughly.

 

On to the fun stuff. I've now got the following corals in the tank:

 

Radioactive Dragon Eye zoas

Mushrooms

Frogspawn

Red Chalice

GSP

Pink zoas

Giant green polyp Duncan

Ricordea Florida

Ricordea Yuma

Palau Nepthea

Small Orange Monti frag

Purple hammer

Yellow tip torch

Birdsnest

Blue clove polyps

Pulsing Xenia

 

The Xenia got munched by the peppermint shrimp (now removed) and I thought it was gone but a few weeks later it turned up in three spots and looks to have survived. Some of my radioactive dragon eye zoas seem to be losing their color. At first I just thought I had a few grey zoas that came with the colony, but now it appears that more are losing their zooxanthellae, so I've moved them a bit higher in the tank to see if it helps. When I added the torch my clownfish went right into it and it looks like it stung him pretty good. He's showing a lot of black marks from it, but they are fading. He's acting normal otherwise and is a great fish. He comes right up when I feed him and eats out of my fingers.

 

Pics:

Full Tank

 

I plan on letting this nepthea become the centerpiece. It is growning noticeably since I got it.

 

You can see some of the zoas in the colony on the left that have lost their color.

 

Watermelon chalice frag (that is what the lfs said it was anyway).

 

 

My plan for the near term is to let things grow out and keep up with maintenance. I'd like to add another fish, but I'm going to wait on that for a month or so too. I'd really love to get a mandarin, but that seems ill advised in a tank this size. Maybe a goby?

[Rain24]

I will always vote for a goby!

 

By the way, I heart your frogspawn. Are those the ones with pink or purple tips? I can't tell from my monitor for sure. It looks pinkish.

[oncorhynchus]

I will always vote for a goby!

 

By the way, I heart your frogspawn. Are those the ones with pink or purple tips? I can't tell from my monitor for sure. It looks pinkish.

 

The frogspawn has pink tips and is growing quickly. The colors in the photos aren't that great, I'm still trying to figure out this whole f-stop, ISO, aperture business with the new DSLR. Regarding growth, 3 heads are now becoming 5. One thing I did note on the frogspawn is that it was under MH lighting at the LFS and the green on the tentacles was much darker than it appears under my PC lighting (I have the 3 24w bulbs with the nanotuners kit; 1 white PCR, 1 combo PCR and 1 dual actinic PCR). With these bulbs my lighting is a little white and I may swap out the white for another combo. My theory was that the white light would be better for growth? Although after seeing a 14 biocube at Neptune Aquatics with LED lighting (2 panaoramas and 1 reef brite) I REALLY want to go to LED now. The lighting on that tank was vivid and shimmery and, well, just downright buttery.

[oncorhynchus]

I lied. I added some more corals; metallic green cloves, more zoas, RPE palys and a green montipora. I'm really going to try to hold off adding anything else for a while save an indigo blue vermiculata. I've got a great spot for one and I want to get a small frag and see if the 3.24 lighting with PC-R bulbs can keep it growing. I *think* it will if I put it really high in the tank. We'll see. My mid-tank birds nest has certainly been showing good growth.

 

My tank has really started consuming ca and mag in mid-Feb so I've been continuing to dose a 3 part that I got from Aquatic Collection. Prior to that, weekly water changes were holding things where I wanted them. Now, though, it seems I've got to supplement. I'm also feeding a half-dose of oyster feast every other day. My clown and LPS corals are eating spirulina and arctipods. I dropped dry flakes owing to fears of phosphates. Here is how my parameters have been holding up over the past 6 weeks (I do a 3 gallon wc once a week).

 

 

Here is something you don't see every day. Duncans with wide open mouths.... there's also about10 new heads budding.

 

[oncorhynchus]

Three months since my last post but the tank is still going strong. I've had aiptasia and beat it. Bryopsis and beat it with Tech M. Explosion of flat worms that waned on their own. Explosion of vermatid snails that I beat back by picking them off. Clownfish that brought in ich and died and I have been fishless for three months. Most recently I had great coralline algae growth that resulted in an explosion of asterina stars and now the coralline is spotty. To combat that I got a few harlequin shrimp, which are awesome but shy so far.

 

My coral has been doing well. By species, here is a rundown:

 

Frogspawn: looks great but not much growth. Has not sprouted a new head.

Zoas: Good growth all around on three types.

Palys: Have two types, one opens but looks iffy the other seems to be sealed shut. Tried a freshwater dip on it and now have two small polyps semi-open. The closed polyps have been closed for 1.5 months.

Duncans:now on its third round of heads. Looking good.

Mushrooms: Growing well.

Ric and Yuma: No real growth but look good.

Chalice: One red one has doubled in size in 4 months and one watermelon has not changed and bleached a bit.

Green Nepthea: Slow growth, but growing. Lately has been closed but hoping it will open soon.

Montipora: One green one orange. Good growth, but both seem to be growing downward instead of forming cups.

Torch: Split into two heads and doubled in size.

Hammer: Bought three heads, one split. Sends out long sweepers so I recently moved it to isolate it more.

Xenia: Got eaten by a peppermint shrimp. Thought they were gone, but two turned up and have grown a ton.

Birdsnest: Best grower so far. From two points to dozens.

Blue Acro: Moved to a spot that gets sunlight and now it is growing well.

Goniopora: Just added it but it looks great.

 

Goniopora

 

Birdsnest

 

Frogspawn

 

Zoas

 

Xenia

 

Purple Hammer

 

Yellow tip torch

 

Emerald crab hanging out

 

Full tank shot

 

Comments and suggestions welcome....

[ulver982]

Awesome looking tank. I love the rockwork and your coral placement. Keep it up!

[oncorhynchus]

Awesome looking tank. I love the rockwork and your coral placement. Keep it up!

 

Thanks man. Your tanks...wow....

After doing this for a while I am starting to think CF bulbs won't cut it. Looking to go LED soon.

[gabe3eb]

Looks great!

 

At first I thought you were refering to my 2nd favorite website.... www.14ers.com

[oncorhynchus]

It's been a while but the tank is doing great. I've added a nice pair of tank bred occelaris clowns that I bought as "tiny clowns" from a lfs. They were truly tiny but they've grown up a little and paired up. It is amazing how much bigger the female got compared to the male. They cleaned rock and spawned a few weks ago, but then I put in the RBTA and it threw them off (I think). The female moved into the RBTA but they are not exhibiting spawning behavior any longer. I've also added nice ponape birdsnest and crocea clam. All the corals and livestock are doing great.

 

The biggest change since the last update, though, has been the lights. I took out my 3.24 72w PC upgrade and put in three panorama pro modules. Two W/RB and one RB/Magenta. The color is crisp and vivid, but I'd like a little more pop. I'm thinking of adding a UV and a RB/Magenta stunner.

 

Full tank

 

A birdsnest that started as a small unbranched frag and just took off

 

A duncan that started as two heads

[AnthonyPf]

Two words for you: Simply Wonderful!

[oncorhynchus]

Two words for you: Simply Wonderful!

 

Thanks anthonypf! I Checked out your thread. Your orange coralline is sweet. Scrape some off and send it my way!

[dan06277]

Nice stuff. Are you using stock lighting?

[oncorhynchus]

Nice stuff. Are you using stock lighting?

No, using three panorama pro led modules. Two white/rb and one rb/magenta. I have had them in for about a month and the corals seem to like it. This tank got natural sunlight march through sept and the coral loved it though! The birds nest took off...

[oncorhynchus]

A video:

 

Video - 11/7/11

 

I'm worried about the clam. It has developed some small white spots. Not sure if it is too much/too little light or something else all together. It is very responsive to movement and shadow though. I'm watching it closely, if it gets worse I'll probably bring it back to the lfs and see if it recovers under there halides.

[oncorhynchus]

A picture from this evening under the blue/magenta panorama.

 

 

Compare the birdsnest in the upper left above to the picture below from 10/18. Just about a month and some of the tips have grown about a half inch.

 

 

I broke a tip off a few months ago and it has grown and branched nicely.

 

 

This has been under 4 panorama pros (splash guard was put back on):

 

 

A wierd thing happened a few days ago. I was looking at the tank and one of my larger snails was on a big piece of live rock. A monster worm comes out and wraps around it like a boa constrictor, picks it up and starts waving it around. The head of the snail went under the shell to the snail body like it was nibbling on it. I took the opportunity to get that beast worm out of the tank, at least half of it. I grabbed it with hemostats and tried to pull it out. I got the better part of it and what seemed like the head. The rest of the body retreated back into the rock. Hopefully it died! This is what I pulled out. Doesn't look like my typical bristle worms.

 

[oncorhynchus]

It turns out the worm I got half of is an Oenone. No question about it in my mind. From an article here:

 

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/

 

"Oenone are nocturnal predators on snails and clams, and perhaps some other animals. They appear to extend from their burrow, and as they approach their prey they apparently secrete some mucus that covers the prey. This mucus may simply smother the prey, or it may contain some venom or narcotizing agent. After the prey is immobilized the worm extends a proboscis from the bottom of the head into the mucus and the jaws grasp the body of the prey. The jaws may also cut the attachments of the body to any shells, or alternatively the mucus may contain an agent that chemically severs the attachment. In any case, the prey's body is ingested. When the aquarist investigates the scene the next morning, all that typically remains is an empty snail or clam shell covered in a blob of mucus. Not many other predatory animals in marine aquaria typically leave behind such remains, consequently a dead, empty, shell covered with mucus is considered to be good evidence of the presence of an Oenone."

 

The picture looks like a match and from time to time I've been finding dead snails and they've always had a big blob of mucus on them. I just thought this was what happened when a snail died and decomposed. I'd pull them out and toss them. It turns out this SOB has been whacking my snails at night! It probably also explains the white spots on my clam which have been healing and have stopped appearing in the paast few days. I think the clam was just too big for him thankfully. I wonder if the other half will live if I got his head when I pulled him out? The snail I caught him attacking is definitely messed up too. It tips over, stays that way for hours or even a day. Eventually rights itself. Crawls 6 inches or so and tips over again. Wierd. I'm going to have to watch closely to see if the worm regenerates and comes back out...