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I was interested in getting a mantis shrimp and a tank for it, but my girlfriends dad sold his tank that I was gonna buy off of him, Thought i'd post here and get some of you guys to post your stories about first getting a mantis, and tips on taking care of it. Something about having an animal that hits as hard as a .22 cal bullet makes me  Also: I'm wondering what's the smallest size tank I can get for a mantis, I have plenty of room but I don't want to spend thousands on a tank and live rock like I've seen others do.
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Jun 19, 2012 16:54
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Mercgunner posted:I was interested in getting a mantis shrimp and a tank for it, but my girlfriends dad sold his tank that I was gonna buy off of him, Thought i'd post here and get some of you guys to post your stories about first getting a mantis, and tips on taking care of it. Check out the Mantis subforum on ReefCentral. It is fairly informative. I think 30g is the minimum they recommend, but I have only done a little bit of reading on the topic.
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Jun 19, 2012 17:03
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Not a bad lookin mini tank! As far as lunar lights go, I used to when I had one built into my Halide, but I don't anymore. The fish don't really miss it, or so it seems.
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Jun 19, 2012 18:02
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Smallest for a peacock (O. scyllarus) is ~30g, you can keep smaller ones than that in relatively small tanks, though. There are mantis shrimp that don't get much above 2" that would do more than fine in anything above 10gal.
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Jun 19, 2012 20:17
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Edit: she's gone. Hoping for any kind of help here...it's kind of long, but my fish might die, so I appreciate any input... Ok so my pearly jawfish (I've had her about a month now) has been doing great and has a burrow with tunnels and one part is under some live rock. Anyways, last week I was feeding and a trochus snail was on the LR, fell off of it (too excited about the food I guess?), and started climbing down the jawfish burrow. When the snail fell, I went to move it, and some of the gravel went down the burrow. Well, the snail ended up trapping the jawfish in the burrow and some gravel fell on her too, and she just wasn't moving at all. I could see she was breathing fine, but she looked trapped. The snail wasn't moving, and there was gravel on her. Anyways, we got the snail out of there by removing it with our hands and the jawfish was still looking like it was pinched under the gravel. We pushed enough gravel out of the way and the jawfish was able to swim. Unfortunately, it looks like she tattered her back and bottom fin in the process. She was still doing great and eating at this point and swimming fine... Well, a few days ago she made a burrow in the middle of the tank. She didn't come out the first day, but after that she came out at feeding time and we could tell she was hungry. We fed her pellets a few days and mysis shrimp once. Two days ago we could see some improvement and one of her fins was looking better. I went without feeding yesterday, and today when I got home from work she was swimming around the top of the tank, vertically, and looking like she was gasping for air. Sometimes when she would get near the intake (biocube 14), the suction would just pull her against the vents and she would just stay there. I looked at her closely and one of her side fins looks great, the other has been mangled...I have no idea if that was how it was earlier a few days ago or not, but she was swimming so well the last few days I think it just recently happened. Anyways, I threw some pellets in and she wasn't interested, so I went for mysis, and she still didn't care. Then the clownfish started nipping at her. We shooed the clown away (I think my wife said the blenny also went for her once). I checked params just to be sure and nitrates were between 10-20 (last did a water change 5 days ago), so I did a 20% water change. For now, I put a clear plastic box with holes I drilled in the tank. It's staying at the top of the tank by using my algae magnet cleaner. The jawfish is in there with one of her barnacles. She jumped out of that once and so now it's covered. She's definitely showing lack of color and like I said, one side fin is torn up a bit...no blood that I can see, but it's greatly affecting her swimming. Her tail fin is still a bit mangled, but her top and bottom fins are looking better than they were a week ago when I posted this. I have the clove oil and vodka ready to go...just dunno if I should try and hold off overnight or if recovery is completely hopeless at this point... I originally was going to set up a QT, but I figured trying to get a jawfish out of her burrow would either stress or kill her regardless, so I decided to wait it out...I should have set it up a few days ago just in case. This sucks. nwin fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 21, 2012 22:22
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My power supply/ballast thing for my lights on my 24G JBJ nanocube tank burned out and I couldn't find anyone selling a replacement. So, I upgraded to LEDs and retrofit the tank's canopy. I went with two strips of ecoxotic panorama pro modules (19W each, one 12k and one actinic). I used to have 72W power compact lights. I am getting conflicting information from the LFS and the internet regarding what I can do with these now. Are these sufficient for SPS (at least the easier ones)? They are definitely brighter than my PCs, but I am a little confused about the wattage thing - previously I thought wattage per gallon was the main important thing, and I've gone down in wattage, but the lights are clearly better (they better be for how much they cost to set up). Basically I'd like to get a couple pieces of SPS and want to make sure I'm not being irresponsible and putting it in a tank it won't grow in.
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Jun 21, 2012 22:57
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nwin posted:This sucks.
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Jun 22, 2012 00:17
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Cant remember if I posted this or not, but came home one night to my mandarin doing this while 'sleeping'. Usually when the lights go out he finds a nice place to settle down and sits there, but he was being weird this night so I had to turn on the lights so we could record it  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGo_YC0lOvg Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 22, 2012 22:17
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I think you posted the wrong video (although I can't complain about seeing Ritz). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufFY_VRBpZk
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Jun 22, 2012 22:28
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Mr. Despair posted:I think you posted the wrong video (although I can't complain about seeing Ritz). Haha thanks for that 
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Jun 22, 2012 22:39
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Mr. Despair posted:I think you posted the wrong video (although I can't complain about seeing Ritz). I need this turned into an avatar sized .gif 
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Jun 22, 2012 22:56
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Dunno why it's not looping anymore.. but E: Here we go! 
Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Jun 23, 2012 |
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Jun 23, 2012 00:00
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I thought you were gonna post something like my scooter blenny/dragonet does (Changes ghost white, sleeps in the sand with just the eyes showing) but nope, haha.
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Jun 25, 2012 06:07
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Yeah, that definitely weirded me out the first time I saw him sleeping haha. OMG HE'S DEADDDDDD, oh no, just sleeping.
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Jun 25, 2012 18:38
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Today my girlfriend put her hand into a Wolf Eel tank to see if he'd bite: The little guy just sat there curled around her hand for a few minutes.
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Jun 30, 2012 03:26
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Need some stocking advice: Once again, 14g biocube with: 1 b/w occ. clown 1 tailspot blenny pom pom crab cleaner shrimp pep shrimp hermits snails I'm looking for one last fish. I had a pearly jawfish who I loved, but she passed away. As a result, I have a 3-4" sandbed that I'm sure isn't helping with algae problems. So far I'm thinking: pearly jawfish sixline wrasse firefish If I don't got for another jawfish, I want something active. My clowns only active when it's feeding time, otherwise he's being hosted by the glass or some corner of the tank. My tailspot is alright, but likes to just perch a lot, as that's what blennys do, it seems. I'm thinking the six line because they seem active as gently caress, but I've heard they can be real pricks and getting it out would be a nightmare. The fire fish is a cheap, colorful addition, but I dunno how active they really are. Any other thoughts? Also, if I don't get another jawfish, I'm thinking of taking half the sand out. I would take out the LR/fish, then drain the tank, remove as much of the sand I want, then put in new water, and add back in the LR/fish. Could stirring this amount of sand up cause a mini cycle? Tanks been up for about 5 months.
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Jun 30, 2012 15:03
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nwin posted:Also, if I don't get another jawfish, I'm thinking of taking half the sand out. I would take out the LR/fish, then drain the tank, remove as much of the sand I want, then put in new water, and add back in the LR/fish. Could stirring this amount of sand up cause a mini cycle? Tanks been up for about 5 months. It would nuke the tank. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php#14 My advice is to do it slowly, in relatively small quantities at a time, with some of the advice Randy points out: 1) bag of carbon in the back chamber 2) bag of GFO in the back chamber 3) maxijet hanging off the top side with the air hose attachment 4) dose iron supplement, such as the Kent stuff for macroalgae
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Jun 30, 2012 15:54
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Would this bulb be ok as the sole light source in a 20gal high? The only corals in it would be polyps/mushrooms and MAYBE a frag or two of a hardy LPS. http://www.rapidled.com/12-led-par38-bulb-mixed-color/ If it would be passable, what would the difference be with the 60/80 degree lens width?
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Jul 2, 2012 19:47
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Morbid Florist posted:Would this bulb be ok as the sole light source in a 20gal high? The only corals in it would be polyps/mushrooms and MAYBE a frag or two of a hardy LPS. I wouldn't hesitate to use it with that setup. I have RapidLED's old 7 LED version with 80 degree optics on my 11G tank. I'd use that one with 60 degree optics on a tall. I'm able to keep softies as well as SPS with it. My montis and birdsnests are doing well.
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Jul 2, 2012 20:19
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Thank you sir. One question solved for this tank move...
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Jul 2, 2012 20:32
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12 CREEs is enough to sufficiently cover a 20gal for softies growth, I'd be worried about footprint, you'll have a big ol spotlight in the middle of the tank and a quick fall-off. And if that description is NOT mistaken, these things are being run at LESS than HALF power, <1.6W each when they should easily hold 3W. 19W should be for a 5 bulb or "underclocking" a 7 bulb fixture. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Jul 2, 2012 |
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Jul 2, 2012 22:11
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So maybe I should get a second one eventually? I kinda thought that but I've never seen one of these things in action. But if I'm looking at $200 for those, maybe I should consider something like this? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+23687&pcatid=23687
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Jul 3, 2012 14:26
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I think those PAR38 bulbs are more powerful. What are the measurements of your tank? I have 1 7-LED PAR38 bulb above our 14g cube, and it works great. But if your tank is a bit longer you may want to get two.
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Jul 3, 2012 14:40
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I'm not sure the exact dimensions but it's definitely not square, it's a rectangle so two does seem to make sense. But then there's the LED strips to take into account and I'm kinda leaning in that direction now. The bulbs are cool but if they're going to cost more, for less LEDs, I think that Marineland strip seems like a better call
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Jul 3, 2012 15:07
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If you look at the actual PAR output I would bet that the PAR38 bulbs do quite a bit more. Not all LEDs are equal.
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Jul 3, 2012 15:16
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The Marineland (even the "reef-capable") fixtures run on 1W LEDs and are pretty terrible, though they may carry less colorful, less light intensive softies. There's certainly not enough actinic blue LEDs in it to bring out any "pop". I would call the rapidled guy and make sure the description is mistaken. Also what could be interesting is getting 1 of those 12-bulb actinic-only par bulbs and 1 of the 7-bulb all-whites, then running both of them pointed down at the same general area, and run them both on dimmers (also check what kind of dimmer socket/fixture would work, I'm not real up on how to dim these guys though the description says you can). VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 17:43
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How do people deal with hoses for chillers, and keeping them uncrimped at the top of the tank as they come in/out? I'd like to think there's something like a bracket that clips on the rim with a curved halved or quartered PVC pipe. I've had a bitch of a time doing it with a biocube but now that I'm moving over to a "real" tank I don't have anything to cut into and pray that they hold up.
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Jul 3, 2012 20:49
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Morbid Florist posted:How do people deal with hoses for chillers, and keeping them uncrimped at the top of the tank as they come in/out? I'd like to think there's something like a bracket that clips on the rim with a curved halved or quartered PVC pipe. How bout a 90 degree street elbow, so that the tube is just pointed straight down?
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Jul 3, 2012 20:58
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Hmm that's not a bad idea. And I can probably find a screw-on cap for them so I can close up the elbows when I take the chiller off for the winter, rather than make a replaceable plexi top. Just superglue the elbows to the plexi and cap them... I think I like this idea
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Jul 3, 2012 21:12
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Morbid Florist posted:Hmm that's not a bad idea. And I can probably find a screw-on cap for them so I can close up the elbows when I take the chiller off for the winter, rather than make a replaceable plexi top. Just superglue the elbows to the plexi and cap them... Yep, you can get one that's threaded on one end and not on the other. That's how I have my return set up, pressure fit up from the bottom where the return line comes in, then threaded to screw into the bulkhead. Just like this: 
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Jul 3, 2012 21:19
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I posted a little bit ago about upgrading from PC to LED (still curious about the answer to my question). It's been about a week now, and since then the little bit of lobophora (brown flaky stuff) has started growing like crazy. It seems to be killing one of my ricordeas, and I can't seem to brush it off with an algae brush or anything. I'd take the rock out of the water and put it back in dead, but there is quite a bit attached to the rock I don't want to lose. Does anything eat the stuff? I also have chaeto growing throughout the tank(hitchhiker I assume), which I know is good for filtering stuff, but eventually it's going to get out of control. Is there something like a nudibranch I could get that will eat macroalgae like that?
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Jul 4, 2012 01:49
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Murphy Brownback posted:My power supply/ballast thing for my lights on my 24G JBJ nanocube tank burned out and I couldn't find anyone selling a replacement. So, I upgraded to LEDs and retrofit the tank's canopy. I went with two strips of ecoxotic panorama pro modules (19W each, one 12k and one actinic). I used to have 72W power compact lights. I am getting conflicting information from the LFS and the internet regarding what I can do with these now. Are these sufficient for SPS (at least the easier ones)? They are definitely brighter than my PCs, but I am a little confused about the wattage thing - previously I thought wattage per gallon was the main important thing, and I've gone down in wattage, but the lights are clearly better (they better be for how much they cost to set up). Wattage per gallon only really made sense when PC was the only lighting choice. It is completely useless now. People generally use PAR, which can be measured at different depths. Looking at those lights, I'd imagine you'd probably be okay with some easy SPS towards the top of the tank, maybe a birdnest or something. But I am still struggling with keeping SPS right now, so don't take my word for it. Murphy Brownback posted:I posted a little bit ago about upgrading from PC to LED (still curious about the answer to my question). It's been about a week now, and since then the little bit of lobophora (brown flaky stuff) has started growing like crazy. It seems to be killing one of my ricordeas, and I can't seem to brush it off with an algae brush or anything. I'd take the rock out of the water and put it back in dead, but there is quite a bit attached to the rock I don't want to lose. Does anything eat the stuff? I also have chaeto growing throughout the tank(hitchhiker I assume), which I know is good for filtering stuff, but eventually it's going to get out of control. Is there something like a nudibranch I could get that will eat macroalgae like that? Never seen lobophora. Is it a macroalgae? It kind of looks like you should be able to pick it off with tweezers / tongs. I got a nice pair in my frag kit that work pretty well on stuff like that. Either way, that doesn't look like stuff I'd want to let get out of control. Some of the macroalgaes can be some of the worst hitchhikers you can get. The chaeto should be easy enough to just remove by hand. If you keep an eye on the tank for a week and just pick out any you see, you should be good to go. I don't know of anything that will eat macroalgae, other than something like a tang. I'd check on ReefCentral, they can probably give you a better response. If you search the forums I'm sure it's been covered before.
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Jul 4, 2012 02:08
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Urchins, foxfaces, and some tangs will ~probably~ eat the lobophora. Definitely pick it out and try to outcompete it, though.
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Jul 4, 2012 02:58
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Thankfully, the only thing I have a problem with is bubble algae. The stuff has managed to get into my tanks despite aggressive manual removal without popping the sacs. It barely exists though, but the fact it exists in my tank at all drives me up the wall.
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Jul 4, 2012 03:22
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I had bubble algae, but it all went away. The last bits of it were grown over with coralline and then vanished. So yeah, a strict regime of nutrient export/control and competition takes care of it all, really.
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Jul 4, 2012 09:51
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Since I bought a ten dollar pump and a brute trash can to do water changes, I've been a lot better at that 'nutrient export' part.
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Jul 4, 2012 17:53
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So I was at the LFS last night and for some reason thought it'd be a good idea to buy a Mr Aqua 12 long to put on the kitchen counter. Why do I hate myself so?
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Jul 9, 2012 18:25
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SaNChEzZ posted:So I was at the LFS last night and for some reason thought it'd be a good idea to buy a Mr Aqua 12 long to put on the kitchen counter. What's the plan for stocking?
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Jul 9, 2012 20:15
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arioch posted:What's the plan for stocking? No fish, too shallow. Probably SPS, Maxi-minos and sexy shrimps. Gunna have 36w of led over it. The problem is, since it's going on the kitchen counter I have nowhere to run a sump for it, so I'll be using an AC70 as a fuge with probably 1 or 2 k-nanos for flow. What have I done, up to 3 tanks at home and one at work now :\ Anyone wanna buy a fresh water tank? Frozen Pizza Party fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jul 9, 2012 |
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Jul 9, 2012 22:01
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I'm pretty addicted to maxi-minis, with a couple porcelain anemone crabs, that would be ok. Not sure what to feed them AND keep up the water quality though. I'm having a hell of a time with it in my tank.
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Jul 9, 2012 22:17
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