Our Tbs

[patsan]

Originally posted by bobt2
feed pt2 for the first time last nite. what a blast! my wife went crazy when the long arms of the serpent came out of the rock and grabed the shrimp off the feeding stick. it just gets better and better.

Sounds like you're already starting to forget about the rough cycle!

Who knows about the stars. It doesn't really matter. We all know what we have here.

It doesn't really matter what color hoses we use does it? It's nice to be able to see the flow, but also looks a little yucky when it gets brownish in there. I want to keep cleaning the hoses out to make it look cleaner. It's probably easier not to see it.

[bobt2]

cycle? what cycle? actually the amm still shows .25

[jnb]

I won't say anything about a ceratin someone having fun feeding so close......

I like to see life in those hoses - I have certain things that take make their home in there believe it or not -

Originally posted by patsan
Sounds like you're already starting to forget about the rough cycle!

Who knows about the stars. It doesn't really matter. We all know what we have here.

It doesn't really matter what color hoses we use does it? It's nice to be able to see the flow, but also looks a little yucky when it gets brownish in there. I want to keep cleaning the hoses out to make it look cleaner. It's probably easier not to see it.

[luckiM]

So I wonder how many times a thread has to split before they consider giving us our own forum? Or at least make this the thread of the month?

[jnb]

I agree - I have only been able to keep one firefish and that is only after I added a couple chromis who wander higher in the water column which keeps the firefish lower so he when he does dart, he has a ways to go before hitting the surface. He seems very happy without another firefish

I am sensing not enough patience be certain people here, which results in frustrations, money, sadness - type in the word patience on a RC search and see what I am talking about (not directed at H20luvsme)

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
first off i wouldnt recommend a mandarin in a 55 gallon tank. IMO, you just cant get enough pods growing fast enough in a tank that size.

also, 3 firefish is a bad idea, unless you have a huge tank. the only way 2 will work, IMO, is by getting a male and female and adding them at the same time. as Pat pointed out, expect them to jump.

if you plan to spend $150-$200 in fish, why not spend this on equipment or LR and LS?

defiantly get your equipment first. lights, skimmer, water pumps, sump etc.. should all be up and running before you purchase rock and sand, which in turn comes before you buy fish and corals.

[patsan]

Nick, in all fairness doggydog is only 13 years old...so he/she has lots to learn and naturally would like instant gratification, like all of us would like. So if we're patient with him or her, and let doggy know the best possible way to do things, hopefully we'll be teaching him or her. I don't think it's inpatience...I think just needing to learn.

DOGGYDOG911....are you male or female?

[lossman]

Originally posted by krajacich
It's back now...weird system

Hmmmmmmm Could it possibly have been my itty bitty vote that brought it back????

[jnb]

sorry

Originally posted by patsan
Nick, in all fairness doggydog is only 13 years old...so he/she has lots to learn and naturally would like instant gratification, like all of us would like. So if we're patient with him or her, and let doggy know the best possible way to do things, hopefully we'll be teaching him or her. I don't think it's inpatience...I think just needing to learn.

DOGGYDOG911....are you male or female?

[lossman]

Originally posted by jnick
slime is well, a light coat of slime on everything in your aquarium set up except for the glass you clean - if you run your finger along the inside of your sump, your hoses - everything, you can feel the slime - it is known to really impact microbubbles in a good way - don't know the science but it is well known.

It is different than the slime of your skimmer neck which is (should be) dirty ugly smelly slime - you should clean your skimmer neck of this as - at some point it does not let the bubble build up crawl up the neck as well - but know that when you first clean the skimmer - it appears to not be bubbling up the neck as well - this is expected as you have removed the innocent slime a bit and the oil from your hands, etc also - it just needs to reslime up and it happens pretty fast in an established skimmer - did this help?

OK, so at which point do I need to clean the neck of the skimmer? How often?

As for slime in the refugium, am I negating any benefits from this by trying to keep the fuge and sump clean of algae? I don't presently have a problem with micro bubbles as I use pre-filter socks. So, do I need this slime in there?

[jnb]

I have not rated this thread - since I see the rating means things and the timing is curious to some - Pat - you tell me when you want me to rate it if you want

I have never rated a thread - didn't know I could till recently.

[H2OLUVSME]

Sally i would not remove any algae from the fuge. it is taking up nutrients by spreading, and i wouldnt remove it unless it is overgrowing one of your more desirable algae.

i rated this morning for the first time too, after seeing it dropped back to 4 stars. maybe we are teeter tottering on the borderline, where one low vote brings it down, but one 5 rating brings it back up. either way, ive never looked at thread's ratings, and it doesnt matter what the rating is for you to get thread of the month. there is a vote that takes place every month for the thread of the month. usually some one in the reef discussion forum nominates some threads and encourages people to vote, i think this is how it works. ive never been too interested in the whole process.

[lossman]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
Sally i would not remove any algae from the fuge. it is taking up nutrients by spreading, and i wouldnt remove it unless it is overgrowing one of your more desirable algae.

OK, so I should just ignore the brown algae on the glass and sand? There are a couple of snails, one brittle star (that I know of) and a small cuke in the fuge. Should I leave them in there or move them to the main tank? We put them in there to deal with the brown algae.

Thanks for your help

[jnb]

I don't recall seeing your setup - I would want to see my fuge clearly - lots of cool little critters, etc - but I have never cleaned my sump - I would not wipe down the walls that you don't look thru much or the baffles, etc or clean outflow pipes, etc.

When you get the dirty sludge buildup such that you can not see thru the neck - (its sort of subjective) - I think its time to clean - I keep a small sponge floating in my sump I use to wipe it down.

I read on RC the dirty sludge effected skimming (does not allows the bubbles to rise as well) and since have proved it to myself - if you clean too much overall skimming will be upset.

The purist say don't use a sock as it gathers debris and the current sends it back into the system as it rots. My thoughts are that if it is not otherwise removed its in the system anyway. The purist say if its still in the system, your skimmer is deficient or not tuned correctly. SO - work on tuning your skimmer before you remove the sock - if your skimmer allows, tune it so it skims with less buildup in the neck - which means a little more wet skimming - if the sludge of my skimmer neck is more than a inch from the top down - I raise the bubble level a bit. Some skimmers are that easy to fine tune; but I think most are.

Originally posted by lossman
OK, so at which point do I need to clean the neck of the skimmer? How often?

As for slime in the refugium, am I negating any benefits from this by trying to keep the fuge and sump clean of algae? I don't presently have a problem with micro bubbles as I use pre-filter socks. So, do I need this slime in there?

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
We were split again. Here's the picture of Bob's hitchhiker.

Pat and Bob,

Yep that is a cuke. It looks identical to the one I posted earlier that feeds like a sea apple with the arms extended. Mine is still in the exact same spot and comes out to feed every couple of days.

I also just found a much smaller one stuck to my return pump in my sump. Its body was actually sucked into the grating, I thought it was gone for sure. But I put it in the main tank on a rock very close to a hole. Last night I saw it had gone in the hole and had its arms out feeding! Look to be pretty hardy creatures.

B.

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by lossman
OK, so I should just ignore the brown algae on the glass and sand? There are a couple of snails, one brittle star (that I know of) and a small cuke in the fuge. Should I leave them in there or move them to the main tank? We put them in there to deal with the brown algae.

Thanks for your help

the snails cant hurt. i agree with Nick as far as visibility into the fuge, i clean only the front glass, and i dont do it well or often. i dont mess with any algae on the LR or sand though.

i have a few snails in my fuge, and dont think they cause any problems. they do help cultivate any algae buildup.

if you want your fuge to work as a safe haven for crittes, i would get rid of the star. they are poredators to all sorts of micro-fauna (including pods and beneficial worms) and will quickly consume the critters in a small refugium.

[BrianPlankis]

Pat,

No my crab looked different than your white crab. Its body was shaped different and the claws were longer and flatter. I hope to post pictures of some porecelins I got from Galveston, the claws look identical to the white porcelin claws.

Cirolanid Isopod "Research" Update: I had 2 adults and 3 baby isopods in a small cup of water for 5 days with 2 live amphiopods. The amphiopods looked fine after 5 days and several times I even found them hiding under the adult cirolanids! One of the baby cirolanids actually died in the water(no circulation, no pumps, stayed at room temp).

I decided to end the experiment today as the water was starting to stink. I did put a small piece of frozen shrimp in this morning and the 2 remaining babies ate immediately, so looks like they were hungry and either didn't try to eat the amphiopods or the amphiopods could escape any attempt.

I don't know if I'll do more research, as I have only caught 1 baby in 3 days, but I'll post again if I do.

I modified my skimmer output this weekend and reduced the noise level and air bubbles returning to my tank by about half I hope to post pictures at some point, but basically the skimmer output was previously dropping about 1 1/2" to the water and splashing and creating a lot of bubbles. I added a 90 degree bend and put in a gentle slope on the extra pipe. Now the water falls about 1/8" to the water and no noticeable splash or bubbles.

B.

[RunDrums]

I had caught one "kid" c-pod Friday night put it in a mason jar and put a good bit of celzeplease in the jar with it. left it oven night the water it self was red, I guess I was thinking if they do eat this stuff the body would have a red tint, which it did NOT that morning, dumped the SW from the jar and added FW back the pod was still a clear cream/tan color no red tint and didn't live very long in the FW (eg). I have seen 4 more babies in the main tank, no way would my fish net catch them, so I'll wait until they get bigger or die.
I have been toying with the idea of adding a few pieces of coral to the tank, since I can not add fish. any suggestion on what to start with? I have a 150 de 14k MH light. I visited a LFS here in town Friday that only carries SW I walk out mad , because the owner was " downing " my gulf rock, plus said I would have a hard time mixing, gulf coral that I have on the rock with other type's of coral, because of stinging? is this true?? anyway I want to start adding coral, what would be a good start??
I didn't tell you the owner of the FS also called you guy a bunch of 14 year olds and i sould not take advice from people on the internet beleave me I won't listen to him!! some of the BEST advice i've gottin was from folks like you.

[H2OLUVSME]

RD how long has your tank been set up, with rock and all?

[H2OLUVSME]

i took this yesterday, right after a water change. its a little cloudy from the fresh SW, and little blue, couldnt quite get WB right, but as you can see my little algae bloom (that Dennis so kindly pointed out las time i posted a pic ) has finally subsided. i never had it tested, but im convinced it was PO4.

[patsan]

It looks good Landon. I don't remember the algae bloom.

Bob hung the lights today in the main tank. Hopefully this will lower the temp in the tank while still being able to keep the lights on.
He used the cables I got for my new lights, so I'll just order a new set.

[RunDrums]

current tank is a 45 gal semi hex with 2 /12' LSB, remora pro skimmer mag 3 drive which replaced a seaclone that was added last month same time first batch of lr added, HOB wet/dry that has ruble rock in it. all is self contained NO sump or Refuge 70 lbs of LR see below for date added

this tank has been fish only one year, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 pep shrimp, 1 big red / white brindle star and some snails I had battled ICK for the last 3 month, introduced a fish with out QT which brought it in I have NO fish at the present time just the other cridders stated above. which gave me the idea of adding LR while the ick died off plus update skimmer & lights< NO I did not add copper to main tank > . stated to introduce Live rock in tank, on 3/8/05 - 40 lbs of gulf from LR.com then put another 20 lbs of keys in tank 4/19,. water prams are good now with nrates staying at about 20. i'd like to see this get lower i guess with water changes it should come down.
HHmmmm after reading the date of when i added rock maybe i DO need to wait a little longer??? what do you think??

[H2OLUVSME]

RD, i would try and get your nitrates down to 0. after you've got your trates down to 0 for a few weeks, then start thinking of adding some simple corals, like star polyps, mushrooms or zoanthids.

i would treat your tank as if it is brand new (as of 4/19). i added clean-up at 4 weeks, my first mushrooms at 6 weeks, and my first fish between 8-10 weeks. i think this is a pretty good basis, as long as you dont go crazy with overloading it real fast. i added one coral every other week, and two more fish (at 1 month intervals) and kept a very steady tank.

this theory/timeline of course varies tank to tank. you really just need to get things as perfect as possible before starting to add to the tank, then monitor before/after/during each new addition.

the way i refrain from adding too much is with research. if i see something i like i read about it for a week or so. sometimes this keeps me from buying the livestock (due to negative effects on tankmates, aggressiveness, etc....), but at least gives my tank time to stabilize while im contimplating the livestock. if i decide to get something in particular i start to look for one. i dont ever buy the first anything i see. i like to have something to compare it too. this process generally takes a little time, also giving your tank much needed time.

by doing this, i have ended up with healthy specimens, that i know how to take care of. also, i end up with stuff i like in my tank. i dont have to worry about getting rid of anything because i dont like it, or its not exactly what i want.

waiting is always best, and nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank

[H2OLUVSME]

Pat, i really like the way that fixture looks.

[Doggydog911]

Originally posted by H2OLUVSME
first off i wouldnt recommend a mandarin in a 55 gallon tank. IMO, you just cant get enough pods growing fast enough in a tank that size.

also, 3 firefish is a bad idea, unless you have a huge tank. the only way 2 will work, IMO, is by getting a male and female and adding them at the same time. as Pat pointed out, expect them to jump.

if you plan to spend $150-$200 in fish, why not spend this on equipment or LR and LS?

defiantly get your equipment first. lights, skimmer, water pumps, sump etc.. should all be up and running before you purchase rock and sand, which in turn comes before you buy fish and corals.

So what do you think I should put in for the replace of a fire fish and a mandarin?

[Doggydog911]

I think Ill put in a Sailfin Blenny