Our Tbs

[jmait769]

Try seltzer water. My mantis flew out of his hole when I used that and then the rock only has to be out of water a few minutes!

Good Luck!

Jay

[phil519]

That's really surprising it didn't work for you. Definitely try the seltzer water.

Did you try sticking a stick down the hole to confirm the mantis is in there? When I did that (assuming it is somewhat straight), the mantis would "whack" it with it's claws.

I'm wondering if there is a split/Y in the hole and it is hiding in one area and the Fresh water is just blowing right by it. I'm also assuming there is a secondary exit hence the freshwater isn't pooling - but just going right out the rock.

If it's pooling it makes no sense why the mantis isn't coming out...sorry about that advice not working. I guess my sampling of 3 mantis wasn't enough...just had to be one troublemaker.

[Kenaneu]

No worries, I think you all have very sound advice. Rocks have an incredible amount of variance, however, so no one method will be universal, other than perhaps freshwater submersion, which would be a sad way to kill most of the life on the rock. I'd rather live with the mantis until it gets big enough to have to move to a rock with less crevices. Right now, he's super small - less than an inch long, so he can pretty much zip into almost any crack. I am pretty sure he found a crack that the freshwater bypassed. I really appreciate all the tips, and am confident I'll get him out eventually!

[bobt2]

come on! we cant let this thread die. lets see the 2 yr plus pics and input

[techreef]

I'm on the ropes right now, with a fishless tank. The up side is that my crocea clam and all my corals seem to be doing well. Will post pics asap. Anyone else???

[Kenaneu]

Well I may take some new pics this week to show how the TBS rock has "matured." Things are still going well, although I did lose the freebie sponge Richard threw in despite feeding phyto every other day. Made me sad, but it was something I wouldn't have bought on my own. Everything else in the tank seems healthy, stable and teeming with life, so I am happy overall!

In other news, my poor old tank is starting to leak. The silicone is coming off on the inside of one of the back seams, and I am not sure I want to take the time to re-seal it again. (I have kept this thing alive for about 20 years in various incarnations so maybe it's time to let it go)

So the plan at the moment is to buy some sort of a corner tank that is a little bit bigger... Which means more TBS rock in my near future! Anyhow, it should be fun! Any recommendations on inexpensive but nice looking tanks?

[jmait769]

I’m still here! Thinking about getting a 6 ft tank but only in the dream stage! Here is a recent shot of mine:



Glad you bumped this Bob!

Jay

[drk70]

Still have my tank, although not for long. Going to sell all of it if I can.

[phil519]

still here also...no recent pics...not selling but not buying anything either...lol. I'm looking to upgrade in the future but the wife has other "important" things on the list first.

[bobt2]

i still have my 3 tbs tanks. all still going strong. teckreef, what happened? i have lots of frags cheep if you need a boost.

[techreef]

I introduced my final three fish, 2 schooling bannerfish and a powder brown tang, and then had to travel to London for 2 weeks for work. Turns out the bannerfish developed fin rot on the tip of their dorsal fin and the tang started showing ich the day after I left the USA. Long story short: 100% fish loss, even after treating the two remaining fish (a sailfin molly and a carpenter's flasher wrasse) in hypo for 8 weeks. QT, QT, QT.

Thanks for the very kind offer bobt2! My corals seem to be doing well, and I'm thinking about sticking my toe into the acropora waters by getting a 5-pack of beginner acro's from Liveaquaria. I'm dosing 2-part now, and my alk, calc and magnesium levels are staying steady. My clam has grown two new rows of scutes on its shell, and after parajumping from every rock ledge in my tank has finally accepted a spot low in the tank, which is completely opposite everything I've read about crocea's needing the most light of any clam species. whatever. what coral frags do you have for sale? The only stuff I'm staying away from are shrooms, xenia, and gsp. Pretty much everything else is fair game.

And Jay, your gorgonian is off the hook! What a fuzzy monster! I've had a brand new gorg grow from a 1cm stick hitchhiker on my TBS rock to a multi-branched 4.5" coral, which has been great to boost my confidence through this past travail.

[jmait769]

TechReef – Sorry to hear about the ick troubles. It’s what stops me from introducing any new fish in my system (though I want to!!). I have thought hard and long and really want a spotted or green Mandarin. I know I have the pod population but again not sure I want to upset anything. When do you plan to reintroduce some fish?

Yes, the Gorgonian is just plain growing. I will try and get a pic of it fully retracted which looks like a bunch of ghost white sticks! The funny thing is the lower branches form into a bulbous pocket then split into two branches. Takes awhile however. I still have not cut it and really need to but if I get a larger tank I could transfer it and leave as is. Will see!

Is the gorgonian hitchhiker the same type as mine? That is great it took off for you. I discovered a nice sponge growing on the underside of one of my rocks but every time they get more than an inch in diameter they disappear. The latest one is a nice color of orange and I have had some baby blue ones also. Is that happening to anyone else?

Jay

[techreef]

My gorg hitchhiker has nearly snow-white flesh, with caramel colored polyps. Richard also threw in an adult-size gorg that I mounted to one of my rocks which has the same coloring as the one in your pic, but it doesn't have nearly the number of polyps that yours does. When it's fully extended, I can always still see the color of its branches.

I've noticed two growths on my rocks that appear to be bulbous tunicates. They have a skin that reminds me of button mushrooms you'd find in your backyard, and are a ghostly shade of cream. I also have colonies of a gray-white tunicate that wax and wane on the undersides of most of my rock overhangs. The only other original sponges I have left now are some yellow ball sponges. My orange tree sponge slowly fell apart.

[jmait769]

A couple of pics of the gorgonian I took this evening. It would not retract so will have to wait on that one!





Jay

[Spiffyguy]

I have one of those. it is doing great. the others, whip style ones, died off fairly quick.

[techreef]

Jay, what's your water flow like in your tank? Is your gorg located directly in heavy water flow? If I'm IDing it correctly, the birds nest behind the gorg in your new pic has great polyp extension, and I'd love to hear what you've got running on your tank. I have a green monti cap that I've never seen extend its polyps, and didn't know that they could until I saw a fabulously healthy monti cap in a reef tank at Pratt during a frag swap event.

[jmait769]

I read about gyre flow and I’m trying to mimic that. I have a MJ 1200 Mod with the dumas prop in the left rear corner. It causes a laminar flow from left to right basically a circuit around the tank from the sand bed up to about mid tank. I also have a Pan World 50px-x for the closed loop which I modeled after yours! It has six outlets and four have the small ball valves from loc line so they are cut back some what to allow more flow from the two fwd nozzles. I have aimed those in different direction to collide with the MJ’s flow. Then I have two nozzles from the return which I have pointed toward the front glass. I think about 3500 gph turnover rate. The gorg is receiving a mix of water around it and I would say it is a medium flow. It does not like high flow I know that as it will retract.

You can see a zillion pictures with my red house link and I think there is a picture in there that shows the flow. I think around page 5 or 6.

I have two monti caps. One green and one orange. I wish I had chosen a little more wisely on the colors as their polyps are the same color and the rim is white. But they are growing like crazy and I have even unintentionally fragged them by bumping into them. I have noticed that as they have grown larger I started to have to dose calcium and alk. I’m adding kalk with ato but I’m thinking about dosing two part with a Litermeter. Whats Pratt?

HTH

Jay

[techreef]

That's a good article on water flow. Thanks. The MJ mod always sounded like fun, but I'm trying to keep all electrical devices out of my display tank, so I never did it. Maybe I can try and do some water flow tests this weekend w/ food coloring dye or just some aragonite sand and map out my flows. I'm aiming for multi-layered random flow to occur when the various streams out of my CL collide in the display tank.

Oh, and Pratt Institute is a college for architecture, art, design and information/library science located in Brooklyn. They hosted a frag swap for my local club, Manhattan Reefs.

[bobt2]

anyone want to trade frags. i have almost any leather or hammer or zenia, for a piece of gorganian

[jmait769]

Originally posted by bobt2
anyone want to trade frags. i have almost any leather or hammer or zenia, for a piece of gorganian

Here is the “white” ghost!! I hadn’t realized the bulbs had formed at the top of the upper most branches.





It usually does this (retract) once at night and once in the morning as I have observed.

Bob, wish we were closer I have a bunch of accidental Montipora Digitata frags I could give you and I need to trim that gorg!!

I have given some to a local LFS but this monti grows like crazy!!



Jay

[phil519]

Originally posted by jmait769
I read about gyre flow and I’m trying to mimic that.

Jay

Interesting article.

Have you ever seen this article by Anthony Calfo? Water Flow, How much is enough?

hey techreef - njreefers.org is also hosting a frag swap on 10/27 if you are interested...it's located south of you though off exit 8 on the nj turnpike. There are a lot of good speakers and vendors coming. I can pm you the link.

[H2OLUVSME]

Wow, I was wondering if this thread was still kicking. Here is Dennis, Phil, and Jay all on the same page! I see you up there too spiffy. I think you joined along the thread about the time I got out of here.

Well, after much deliberation, I'm going to be setting up a reef again. IDK if Ill go the TBS route, but a lot of you guys became my RC friends over the course of my previous tank. Ill be checking in here again more regularly.

I've got a thread over in my local forum about the planning of my 180. Check it out!
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1218712


BTW, Do Pat and Dave post around here any more? They were the OGs on the thread Ill be reading back a couple of pages hoping to see pics of you guys stuff, and remembering the other posters/tanks of this uber thread.


EDIT: Wow flipped back through just a couple of pages to find Pat, Bob, and Danielle as well from the old crew. I forgot how much I missed RC.

[techreef]

Thanks Phil. I saw mention of the njreefers swap on manhattanreefs, but unfortunately/fortunately I can't make it as my wife and I are learning how to live with our month-old baby. I can't wait until my corals start to take off growing, now that I am dosing 2-part. I'd love to participate in frag swaps!

Jay, are you nervous about pruning that gorg? Other than it yelling "Feed me, Seymour!" and dragging you under, my experience with the purple sea fan Richard included in my TBS order made me nervous about tissue damage on these animals. I'd love to hear how you go about it, if/when you do.

[jmait769]

Phil – I have read that and it is a great article. I have tried to mimic, as much as possible, what I interpret the type of flow needed. This is how I set mine up:



I have changed the return lines to just loc-line and moved them to the top of the tank you can see in the pic at the top of this page. So basically the CL and the return “inject” at the top of the tank. The MJ (I just changed it to the new SureFlow kit) produces the laminar flow. It causes chaotic flow especially near the SPS corals. Well, working out so far!

Landon – One of the reasons I went with TBS was because of this thread! Sounds like you have a great project. I think I read that Pat broke the tank down and sold it but not sure.

Techreef - Yes. I’m terrified!! My worst fear is I’ll cut it and then watch the skin tissue slowly fall off from the cut. But, I have to do it as it is getting to big. I will keep the thread updated as I do it. I have to go back and read that article again….

Hey post some pics on here! I’m tired of looking at mine! I noticed on the TBS sponsor page some nice tank builds:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1218344

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1119057

Jay

[krajacich]

Landon- Great to see you back. I subscribed to your new thread and look forward to seeing your new tank. I LOVED the old one.

As for my tank, it's doing ok. I had been having some low alkalinity issues, but it's doing better now. I don't have any recent pics. Maybe I'll take a few this weekend and post them.