Our Tbs

[phil519]

greenbean - it looks like a murex snail to me...but alas snail guy i am not...

dennis - the stingray lagoon - it's covered in hair algae. I think they need a more powerful skimmer... Funniest thing (or saddest) I saw at seaworld: 2 year old boy walking around with a binky and before the parents could react - spitting it into the large lagoon filled with fish and sharks. The kid looked none the worse although the parents were fretting.

pic of one tank at seaworld that I thought was "okay" for posting:
Tank appears to have a squamosa or derasa clam with a sand-filtering cuke. Obviously there are a mixture of corals in the background too.



As for mhe's unidentified object - there was someone else that had the exact same thing - I've got three of those things. I'm not as confident as richard/greenbean on it being a filter-feeding cuke (but I've yet to hear an alternate plausible explanation so I'm going with cuke). If that's the case - they are smaller than a dime in size because mine are awfully small.

[krajacich]

Originally posted by patsan
I seriously doubt your finishing up your cycle already if your ammonia reading was at 1. But maybe you're on your way to leveling out on the rising ammonia levels, and the worst is over.

That's actually what I meant by finishing up the cycle...I think I'm on the back end of the cycle.

With my part 1 cycle, once the tank started to smell less strongly the next day my ammonia instead of being at 1 was at 0.4 so I'm hoping my ammonia reading tomorrow will be good.

[drk70]

Originally posted by patsan
Dennis, did your Tunze ever quiet down? If so, did you have to do anything special to get it more quiet?
I was supposed to meet Tony today to get the non defective cover, but with my back being out, I haven't gone anywhere all week.
I still have to install mine.

No. When it is on low speed I can hear it. I need to take it apart. I makes a sound like others have described.

[drk70]

Originally posted by phil519
greenbean - it looks like a murex snail to me...but alas snail guy i am not...

dennis - the stingray lagoon - it's covered in hair algae. I think they need a more powerful skimmer... Funniest thing (or saddest) I saw at seaworld: 2 year old boy walking around with a binky and before the parents could react - spitting it into the large lagoon filled with fish and sharks. The kid looked none the worse although the parents were fretting.

pic of one tank at seaworld that I thought was "okay" for posting:
Tank appears to have a squamosa or derasa clam with a sand-filtering cuke. Obviously there are a mixture of corals in the background too.



As for mhe's unidentified object - there was someone else that had the exact same thing - I've got three of those things. I'm not as confident as richard/greenbean on it being a filter-feeding cuke (but I've yet to hear an alternate plausible explanation so I'm going with cuke). If that's the case - they are smaller than a dime in size because mine are awfully small.

Did you get a chance to go see Discovery Cove?

[bkelley02]

it's been a long time since I've had a reef tank and had to deal with cycling like this, but it ammonia always accompanied by the odor? I've had the rock for 5 days now and according to my salifert test, ammonia has never gone about .5 and I've never really noticed any smell. Had a few sponge die, and they smelled when I removed them, but that's been it. Am I just lucky or do you think I might have a bad test kit? I just bought it.

[bobt2]

after seeing all the pictures i want to start all over again. adding part 2 was a challenge not to cover up any good stuff on 1. the next problem is how to add corals on top of pt 2!

[greenbean36191]

greenbean - it looks like a murex snail to me

I agree, that was my first thought, and the purple at the tip of the siphonal canal and shape of the aperature added a little weight to that theory. However, the spire makes me unsure since it seems a little un-murex-like to me. It seems too smooth and too long in proportion to the rest of the shell. I don't have a better guess though, and it probably is a murex, I just don't feel comfortable enough with it to say that it is.

[kidzatheart]

This tank with the ammonia this high is making my house stink. This cycle is being bad. We have now once again took all the part 2 rocks out and took off what looked and smelled bad. All i can say right now is i am NOT a happy camper.

[drk70]

Originally posted by kidzatheart
This tank with the ammonia this high is making my house stink. This cycle is being bad. We have now once again took all the part 2 rocks out and took off what looked and smelled bad. All i can say right now is i am NOT a happy camper.

That really stinks! No pun intended.

[drk70]

Originally posted by greenbean36191
I agree, that was my first thought, and the purple at the tip of the siphonal canal and shape of the aperature added a little weight to that theory. However, the spire makes me unsure since it seems a little un-murex-like to me. It seems too smooth and too long in proportion to the rest of the shell. I don't have a better guess though, and it probably is a murex, I just don't feel comfortable enough with it to say that it is.

So if it is a murex does it still stay out of the tank?

[krajacich]

More Pictures

One of two brain corals that came with part two plus some colorful sponges.


Fun angle- looking at an urchin and some tube corals through my massive red macroalgae


The hermits are everywhere! Nice to finally have a clean-up crew


Fun close up

[krajacich]

Originally posted by kidzatheart
This tank with the ammonia this high is making my house stink. This cycle is being bad. We have now once again took all the part 2 rocks out and took off what looked and smelled bad. All i can say right now is i am NOT a happy camper.

I'm sorry your cycle has been so rough. When you take the rocks out to take off smelly stuff are you exposing it to the air? If so, I wonder if that wouldn't prolong the smell/cycle. Hope it calms down for you soon!

[bkelley02]

Thanks for the info Kidz. Hope the cycle turns around for you!

[kidzatheart]

Here is a pic of our toadfish named grumpy. He isnt from TBS or in the TBS tank. He is in our 80 gallon that he shares with all the hair algea. That tank is about to be broke down and redone from scratch. He is a hog with eatting. I use 100 pound fishing line to feed him. I put the cocktail shrimp on one end and hand it down in the tank and he comes after it. Once he bites the shrimp i pull the cord out of him mouth. He is about to get a new home though so we can break the tank down.

[kidzatheart]

LMAO. Wow, photo bucket sure does post huge pics. That second pic looks like he is saying boo. LoL. He aquascapes the tank to his liking.

[krajacich]

Originally posted by kidzatheart
LMAO. Wow, photo bucket sure does post huge pics. That second pic looks like he is saying boo. LoL. He aquascapes the tank to his liking.

What a face! I love that last picture. It almost looks like he's mad at having his picture taking....great name BTW; it seems to fit him

[kidzatheart]

After seeing how big the urchins can get im not sure i wanna keep the one we have in the TBS tank in there. The one in the tbs tank is growing so fast. The one in the 29 reef we have likes to tumble my frags over. I am all the time having to pic up our acan lords and zoos.

[banik]

Originally posted by kidzatheart
This tank with the ammonia this high is making my house stink. This cycle is being bad. We have now once again took all the part 2 rocks out and took off what looked and smelled bad. All i can say right now is i am NOT a happy camper.

I am in the same boat as you wiht my part one
I cant keep up wht the water changes, i change water and within a couple of hours it has spiked up to 1.5 again.
When i came home from work yesterday my WHOLE apartment smelled of dead sponges, which i am sure you know how offensive that smell really is.
I kept reading how easy the tbs cycle normally is, and i fell like i a gettng punished for some reason. For the last 3 or 4 nights, i have stripped the dying sponges off of the rocks, which is making my rocks VERY BARE. i just hope some of it grows back.

THe good news is that durig the smell test tonight i was able to get 3 mantis out of my tank, however i still hear one in the tank.

Anyone in LI need a few mantis shrimp?

[Nirol]

Originally posted by banik
THe good news is that durig the smell test tonight i was able to get 3 mantis out of my tank, however i still hear one in the tank.

Anyone in LI need a few mantis shrimp?

How did you get them out?

[kidzatheart]

banik, sorry you having such a hard time. Our part 1 cycle was real easy, only had todo 1 water change. Part 2 is awhole different story with us on our 5th water change in 3 days. Hopefully this last cleaning did the job.

Also it wont matter if your almost take out everything with part 1 cause when you receive part 2 it will more than be enough.

P.S. We will have a few more pics up alittle later.

[phil519]

Originally posted by drk70
So if it is a murex does it still stay out of the tank?

no on discovery cove - my 3 yr old wouldn't appreciate it as much. Next time!

I believe Murex snails prey on mollusks...so if you have turkey wings or eventually tridacnid clams - the snails need to go. Even if it's not a murex, one can deduct that it is not a cerith or a nassarius and isn't a florida fighting conch. Astreas live in a more temperate environment and turbos are smooth. This means it's some unidentified snail that could be helpful or could be harmful. Better to be safe than sorry.

Here's a half-decent pic of a gymnothorax eel at seaworld...where's john and his id game?

Originally posted by banik
Anyone in LI need a few mantis shrimp?

Post an ad on the LIRA forum or on the Selling Forum. I found homes for all five of my mantis this way.

[patsan]

Originally posted by bkelley02
it's been a long time since I've had a reef tank and had to deal with cycling like this, but it ammonia always accompanied by the odor? I've had the rock for 5 days now and according to my salifert test, ammonia has never gone about .5 and I've never really noticed any smell. Had a few sponge die, and they smelled when I removed them, but that's been it. Am I just lucky or do you think I might have a bad test kit? I just bought it.

I don't think your test kit is bad or you're lucky. Many people have had cycles just like you're having.
It seems lately that a good handful of people have had rough cycles.
I know with both my shipments, I never had to do any water changes. The ammonia levels never went past .4 on part 1, and .2 on part 2.
I've also never smelled what a dying sponge smells like. I know when I've cleaned out the skimmer, I have smelled a "low tide" smell...but that's about it.
Yours is doing what it's supposed to do! be happy!

[patsan]

Danielle,
I loved all the pictures! Your photography skills are great. It seems to get better with more practice, doesn't it?
I look back at my first pictures, which I thought were great, and now can see the difference between them and how they improved the more I took.
You really have such nice diversity there!

[bobt2]

pat, i added my first coral, a green star polyp. i shoot you a picture later today

[patsan]

Originally posted by bobt2
pat, i added my first coral, a green star polyp. i shoot you a picture later today

Oh, that sounds great Bob! Where did you get it?