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Connections, maybe? I haven't read the whole thread, though. Goddamn, look at the size of those skimmers. You can stuff a body in those. As an aside, one thing a friend and I figured was that once you got to 4-digit tank sizes, you probably didn't, strictly speaking, need to do water changes, so long as you kept up with skimmers, top-off, and maintained the cal/alk/mag balance with a calcium reactor. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Sep 26, 2011 |
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Sep 26, 2011 06:05
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And he still says he does 200 gallon water changes every week. ridiculous.
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Sep 26, 2011 06:16
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Dono posted:And he still says he does 200 gallon water changes every week. ridiculous. A bucket of salt a week. 1% water change is strictly vanity.
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Sep 26, 2011 06:17
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I love how the calc reactor is taller than myself.
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Sep 26, 2011 08:07
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Keeping up with the peacock mantis in live food is kind of interesting--always on the lookout for huge mollusc free shipping packs like this one, talking to every LFS owner within easy driving distance to see if they'll keep non-reef-safe hitchhikers around for me for cheap cheap prices, etc. And that's just to supplement the regular feeding, which for me right now is Rod's Food Predator blend, since that's the stuff that I feed the anemones anyway, and hell if I'm able to stop the mantis from pilfering that when it lands in the water.
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Sep 26, 2011 23:16
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Wow, that is incredible. How on earth does he find the time to maintain all that stuff? Keeping it running smoothly would be a full time job!
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Sep 27, 2011 06:30
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Anony Mouse posted:Wow, that is incredible. How on earth does he find the time to maintain all that stuff? Keeping it running smoothly would be a full time job! Well sure, if you consider suiting up and diving the tank to be work. 
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Sep 27, 2011 06:49
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arioch posted:Well sure, if you consider suiting up and diving the tank to be work. I'm just surprised he even has time to do the work on his tank. You'd think living a life like that you'd be busy working :eyeroll:
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Sep 27, 2011 16:43
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More goodies!
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Sep 27, 2011 19:30
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My mandarin jumped today  You will be missed Sir Smoochies!
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Oct 7, 2011 00:40
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One of my emerald crabs died yesterday. I have no idea what killed him. When I got home from work, he was laying upside-down on the bottom of the tank without a mark on him. I guess he had a crab-heart attack? He was the biggest and healthiest-looking crab too...
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Oct 7, 2011 01:48
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Mesh top or bust. My wrasses (and the friggin blue spotted jawfish) splash me every so often and they'd be wrasse jerky if I didn't have my mesh screen.
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Oct 7, 2011 02:08
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Anony Mouse posted:One of my emerald crabs died yesterday. I have no idea what killed him. When I got home from work, he was laying upside-down on the bottom of the tank without a mark on him. I guess he had a crab-heart attack? He was the biggest and healthiest-looking crab too... Did you confirm it was actually his body and not a molt? I ran into a similar situation a few weeks ago where I found 4 emerald crab corpses. Not a mark on them, appeared to be Sudden Crab Death Syndrome and it appeared to be the actual crab corpse. Only one of them was left alive and I figured he was next. About a week later, just after the lights came on, I'm watching the tank and I see an emerald crab. Then another. Then another. All five that are supposed to be in the tank are there, alive and well.
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Oct 7, 2011 05:26
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Emancipator posted:Did you confirm it was actually his body and not a molt? I ran into a similar situation a few weeks ago where I found 4 emerald crab corpses. Not a mark on them, appeared to be Sudden Crab Death Syndrome and it appeared to be the actual crab corpse. Only one of them was left alive and I figured he was next.
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Oct 7, 2011 06:25
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Anony Mouse posted:Is it possible for a crab to molt and leave behind a perfect replica of themselves? Yes. Only the "tail flap" will be open, that's their escape hatch out of the exoskeleton.
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Oct 7, 2011 06:51
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I made a mesh screen out of a shower loofah last night, amazing how much those things stretch. Velcro'd it to the sides of the tank. What'd you make yours out of?
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Oct 8, 2011 00:44
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SaNChEzZ posted:I made a mesh screen out of a shower loofah last night, amazing how much those things stretch. Velcro'd it to the sides of the tank. The stuff you can get off BRS, with the window screen frame, though I bought my materials elsewhere.
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Oct 8, 2011 01:59
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arioch posted:Yes. Only the "tail flap" will be open, that's their escape hatch out of the exoskeleton. Crabs are loving weird!
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Oct 8, 2011 02:05
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Anony Mouse posted:Crabs are loving weird! From the Skyrim thread: 
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Oct 9, 2011 05:57
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Lobsters. From what I've been able to gather from the internet (which is not very much) the lobsters at stores need giant 200 gallon saltwater aquariums, which is just insane. However there are also blue lobsters, which can live in freshwater (I know this is the saltwater thread, but in no way did I feel like this warranted it's own thread). They eat... 'everything' you can give them turtle food, dead fish, dead sea horses, they're just bottom feeders. They also like to hide. Does anyone here have any experience with a pet lobster. Can you take them out and have them walk around? Can they really eat pretty much anything?
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Oct 10, 2011 01:27
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"Blue lobsters" are pretty much crawdads. There are a good number of saltwater lobsters in the trade, most of them aren't going to get above 6 or 9 inches or so and can do fine in the average saltwater tank. We're not talking about keeping Maine lobsters or the California spiny lobster, here. On the other hand, most of these "lobsters" pretty much look like crawdads. They'll eat anything, dead fish, live fish, dead seahorses, live seahorses, pellet food, anything. Just make sure the food you are feeding are formulated for fresh or saltwater, because freshwater food is not very nutritious for saltwater creatures and vice versa, and can and does cause liver damage. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/arthropoda/lobsters/lobsters.htm VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Oct 10, 2011 |
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Oct 10, 2011 02:52
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1st_Panzer_Div. posted:Lobsters. From what I've been able to gather from the internet (which is not very much) the lobsters at stores need giant 200 gallon saltwater aquariums, which is just insane.
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Oct 10, 2011 03:22
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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Found this in my tank the other day: Pretty sure it's a pseudocorynactis. Not sure If I want to kalk it or not, it's so pretty, but I'd also have to spot feed it and it is in the very bottom corner of my tank under a frag rack. :/
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Oct 11, 2011 04:57
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Found some zoa eating nudis in my tank today. Only saw 2 and siphoned them out asap, but it's got me worried. I think I might double dose my tank with flatworm exit tomorrow and hope I nuke them out :x
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Oct 11, 2011 05:04
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Melchior posted:Found this in my tank the other day: I think corynactis are the small ones and pseudo the bigger ones, though obviously we're trying to identify these based on vague descriptions on the web. I have plenty of these, they do fine without spot-feeding as long as you have lots of pods and the like in your system. Have, had, I don't know, they stay out of the light. But they seem to be mildly fluorescent and sometimes I spot one. Something to keep in mind is that since they stay out of the light they're not going to do much stinging, as far as to your corals. They also don't seem to bother my fish, and my wrasses sleep down there.
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Oct 11, 2011 05:26
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Dunno. I GUESS I have a good amount of pods in my system, but they aren't something I actively look for or think about because I don't have a mandarin. Good to know though. Somtimes a piece of mysis will find its way down there to it though.
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Oct 11, 2011 17:29
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arioch posted:"Blue lobsters" are pretty much crawdads. To be honest, there is no way in hell I would ever put one of those in my tank. They have big claws and are opportunists. You are just asking to lose a sleeping fish some day.
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Oct 11, 2011 18:44
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arioch posted:
I'm new to this hobby, but I know I want this exact tank. Is there some way I can coerce you into emailing me the specs and details on creating this awesome setup which you have created or any improvements you can see in hindsight? I'm not keen on fish really, but I love corals and clams. Anyway I'll stop gushing like a schoolgirl and leave it at the request for your specs and um, a cost approximation?
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Oct 12, 2011 00:09
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Not so much the specs, I don't have those anymore, but this is cell-cast 1/2" acrylic and even so I screwed up initially: it was meant to be a 3x2x1 tank, but I ended up with 34"x22"x11" because I had to do some extra cutting. The bracing on top is also not the kind of bracing I would have gone with if I had another go-around on it. That being said, unless you're intent on learning how to work with acrylic with this, I would take this information, that you want a 3x2x1 tank with eurobracing with .5" cell-cast acrylic (the eurobrace can be 1/4" or 3/8" or something, no big deal), and go to a local guy that can build it for you (ask around on your local reefing forums). Also plan out your plumbing and have him do the drilling, if you don't want to bother with holesaws and the outer diameter measurements on bulkheads. Depending on how you want to set up the tank, plan out where you want the drain and the returns. I set it up to be viewable on all 4 sides and it by and large is, excepting the stupid positioning I did with the frag racks and the two conduits for the light fixture, so my drain is in the smack dab middle with 1.5" PVC and two returns, one on either side, with 1" PVC. I use a Mag 5 for the return and this was perfectly sufficient. If you want the tank positioned lower in height than mine (mine's like 4' off the ground) for more effective top-down viewing and don't care about viewing it from one of the sides, then set up your drain and return there in a more traditional kind of setup like you'd see on one of the Marineland reef-ready tanks. As it is 1/2" cell-cast acrylic, it's not going to be cheap, but a glass tank of this type with 2 Vortechs on it is asking for trouble. I would estimate a range of $350-500 for building the basics on this setup if you get everything right on the first go. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Oct 12, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 00:34
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cheese posted:To be honest, there is no way in hell I would ever put one of those in my tank. They have big claws and are opportunists. You are just asking to lose a sleeping fish some day. I wouldn't ever put my peacock mantis shrimp in the reef tank either, but that mean bastard has no use for the couple maroon clowns, a bristle star, and some softies and anemones in its tank. (It's well-fed from the Mexican turbos I make sure to have a constant supply of) It's probably possible to build a tank to house an honest-to-god lobster. Not sure what else I'd put in it, however!
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Oct 12, 2011 04:23
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arioch posted:I wouldn't ever put my peacock mantis shrimp in the reef tank either, but that mean bastard has no use for the couple maroon clowns, a bristle star, and some softies and anemones in its tank. (It's well-fed from the Mexican turbos I make sure to have a constant supply of) Lots of butter? I kid I kid. I saw the most awesome and huge green serpent star the other day. drat marine tanks. drat them to hell because by the time I had money to get the salt and protein skimmer and lighting I couldn't have the star. I don't want fish. Just the brittle stars and some shrimp. Maybe an urchin.
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Oct 12, 2011 05:38
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So I bought all of the materials (20g high, 24" 2x T5 fixture with individual reflectors, powerhead, etc) for a planted tank about 2 months ago and its just been sitting on my desk. I've had multiple fresh and saltwater aquariums over the years, but am currently without any tanks up and running. I think I was just deluding myself into getting a FW tank because I didn't want to spend the money on a new reef setup. I'm not a noob by any means, but I'm wondering if I should just start over. The 2x T5's are not going to be enough on a 20H and the 20H isn't that great a tank for a reef anyway. Sell my brand new stuff and go with a Mr. Aqua/Do Aqua cube and a PAR38 LED lamp or two? Simplicity is they key so I would probably go skimmerless, little to no sand and at most one small fish.
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Oct 12, 2011 06:15
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Large greens are pretty active predators as far as I know, you can probably kiss the shrimps and urchins goodbye (depending on the urchin).
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Oct 12, 2011 06:16
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arioch posted:Large greens are pretty active predators as far as I know, you can probably kiss the shrimps and urchins goodbye (depending on the urchin). My last tank was an 18" cube lit by a 250w DE Halide and I had a yellow brittle who I swear could probably have touched all four corners at once if it had wanted. I think it ate an orchid dottyback but man if that thing wasn't fun to feed.
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Oct 12, 2011 06:21
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Should add that I could probably sell the 2x bulb fixture for 80+ and just buy a four bulb. I think I would like to run the tank with heavy water changes doing the filtering, and a smaller tank would make that easier though.
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Oct 12, 2011 06:23
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Oh yeah, brittles are FUN to feed, no question. And yeah, I run a 4-bulb T5 fixture over my custom 20H. The water changes on that 20 are done with waste water from my reef, so we're talking 25% WCs at a time of water from a tank with spot-on pH and alkalinity (kalk-saturated top-off, controller on a calcium reactor) and real heavy-duty nutrient export.
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Oct 12, 2011 06:36
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arioch posted:Not so much the specs, I don't have those anymore, but this is cell-cast 1/2" acrylic and even so I screwed up initially: it was meant to be a 3x2x1 tank, but I ended up with 34"x22"x11" because I had to do some extra cutting. The bracing on top is also not the kind of bracing I would have gone with if I had another go-around on it. Cool. Thanks for the details on it, and that isn't nearly as expensive as I thought it was going to be. Actually about half, so good. Always good to estimate high. As for an acrylics guy the only glass shop local doesn't deal with it but gave my brother the contact info of a supplier so I'll see what I can get from them. So where do I start? Would you recommend a custom build for my first go/introduction or should I hit the shops/craigs and find a good 75/90gal and jump in with that? My local fish store is Wet Pets by Steve. Norman, OK. If anyone knows the place. To me(Uneducated) they seem great. But maybe you have better.
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Oct 12, 2011 09:42
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Terminal Philosphy posted:Cool. Thanks for the details on it, and that isn't nearly as expensive as I thought it was going to be. Actually about half, so good. Always good to estimate high. I just started my first tank about 9 months ago and I went the craigslist route. You can also start watching the Reef Central forums for your local groups, if you have any. You can't post buy/sell threads for 50 posts and 3 months, but you can watch sell threads and respond to them as long as it's in the local group forums. I got a 90g reef ready tank for $150, brand new still in the cardboard. I would also recommend building your own stand. It is a pain in the rear end, but nothing you can't do, even if you haven't worked with wood before. There is a really good design by Rocket Engineer that is amazing. Other than that, just read those forums as much as you can over the next 2-3 months. There is so much information out there, and one of the reasons I say go with craigslist / second hand stuff is because you'll do it for like half the cost, and in 2-3 years when you want to upgrade you'll know what you want a lot better.
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Oct 12, 2011 15:40
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Terminal Philosphy posted:Cool. Thanks for the details on it, and that isn't nearly as expensive as I thought it was going to be. Actually about half, so good. Always good to estimate high. Note when I said basics I pretty much meant just the stand and the display tank, and a cheapo (craigslist?) sump. The other stuff isn't going to be terribly expensive, you don't need an overpriced pre-built acrylic wet/dry or anything, but add in the rest of the hardware (heater, return pump, lighting) and you'll get somewhat closer to $1000. I went with a 6-tube T5 fixture, but my friend who went with the same exact tank specs went with a single MH bulb and one 6500K T5. If you feel like you/your family/landlord/etc. would be comfortable with you getting more than 1 tank, I'd start with a reasonable introductory setup before going all custom'd out. Something relatively cheap that you can use to cure rocks or quarantine fish later would be ideal, or run as a frag tank for later, etc., so probably something in the 20gal range. Run it with a HOB filter or whatever, or if it's a full nano setup from a local reefer then go with that, no big deal. I started out with a 5.5gal, then a bc14 with LEDs I picked up off the local reefer forum, then went custom. In that time I sold the bc14 to a co-worker friend and bought a custom 20H. Right now I have the main display, the 20H, the 5.5, and a Dymax IQ3 pico.
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Oct 12, 2011 21:17
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A note on the sump: glass would be fine, but I cracked my 20L sump while servicing the return pump, so I went with a straightforward acrylic build (approx a standard 29gal), which is what I'm running now.
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Oct 12, 2011 21:21
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