|
Wo Sind Sie posted:A friend gave me a shell that he got at the beach several days ago. In it, to his surprise, was an aquatic hermit crab. He's been incredibly active, eating shrimp pellets like nobody's business and he's been fitting himself for a new shell amongst the ones we put in with him. He's been in a small tank for the past day or two, with water collected at the beach, but we need some help setting up a tank. You're going to have to cycle the water in the ten gallon tank before you will be able to reliably keep anything alive in it. This could take a few days or a few weeks. Invertebrates are considered more sensitive to poor water quality than fish, so unless you have a friend who has an established tank where you can keep your crab while your new tank cycles, don't get too attached to him. Also don't expect him to live very long in a small container if the water is stagnant. It needs to be oxygenated and filtered somehow. Also, what ludnix said.
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2010 06:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 06:11 |
|
|
 Click here for the full 648x484 image. My RBTA split on Monday, after having reached a fully expanded size of 7-8" the previous week 
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2010 22:14
|
|
|
Sweet anemone, glad to see it's healthy and splitting!
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2010 08:33
|
|
|
 Click here for the full 1023x798 image. So, I'm getting BOTH of these ... (I'm actually splitting it with a coworker, we're chopping both colonies in half and we each get half of one, so we can mix it up and hopefully if one of them doesn't make it we still have the other)
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2010 22:21
|
|
|
A recent FTS
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2010 23:06
|
|
|
That's beautiful. Also I bought this on a whim: 
VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Aug 20, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2010 23:26
|
|
|
arioch posted:
Skeletal structure looks similar to one of my acros: 
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2010 05:30
|
|
|
ludnix posted:Skeletal structure looks similar to one of my acros: http://reefbuilders.com/2009/12/02/true-australian-acropora-echinata-imported-reasonable-numbers/ These. We finally got around to getting somebody out on the west coast to pick us a couple colonies... (they're striking as all hell in person, each corallite is just almost a perfect long cylinder shape with no tapering, just slight bending ... I have a frag of the older "icefire" echinata and my friend has a mid-sized colony of it) I'm still trying to score a good sized mini colony of this baby for us to split up so we can both grow it from large frag size: http://reeftools.com/news/northwoods-strawberry-shortcake-is-dfs-junes-limited-edition-coral/ Frankly though I'm not expecting to get SSCs until the mariculturing kicks up for them. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Aug 20, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2010 07:08
|
|
|
FTS "front": Click here for the full 648x484 image. FTS "back":  Click here for the full 648x484 image. "Icefire" echinata, pink/red/yellow mille, "OG raspberry lemonade" acro:  Click here for the full 640x480 image. "Red Planet", AC blue maxima clam (Red Planet is a rescue project, it had gone green then tried to bleach out)  Click here for the full 640x480 image. AOG and mixed palys, cloves  Click here for the full 648x484 image. Acro navini  Click here for the full 648x484 image. Some ORA frag, Borealis? I think.  Click here for the full 480x640 image. green/blue tenuis  Click here for the full 480x648 image. fragged off a wild colony, really striking cream green body, blue tips, green polyps (in the background: pink lemonade acro, blue mille, frags of a random wild colony, more palys, etc)  Click here for the full 648x484 image. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Aug 20, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2010 17:01
|
|
|
Those are some wicked frags. I don't get to see many of the nicer acros because of the limited market here it doesn't make much sense for our LFS to order much nice stuff. I did get an awesome looking ORA Borealis for $5 yesterday though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2010 19:19
|
|
|
2 hours of drip-acclimating these down from 1.031/40ppt SG/salinity UGHHHHHHH  Click here for the full 800x600 image. Oh well, now they have as good a chance as anything... aussie echinatas are pretty hardy, though, so I'm hopeful. Fingers are pointing to the mini-colonies we made, not pictured are the 2 colony bases that we put in another system so that god forbid we lose anything we won't lose all the $$$ worth.  Click here for the full 800x600 image. After a few days to a week or so of acclimation time we'll split up the colonies between our systems a little better and see what shakes out. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Aug 21, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2010 00:08
|
|
|
As far as availability of stuff goes, my area (Chicago's area of the midwest) is apparently REALLY REALLY REALLY good for overall availability of stuff from the hobby trade. Lots of breeders, lots of high end hobbyists. We have tremendous frag swaps 3 times a year in our club with hundreds in attendance and lots of hobbyist vendors driving prices down from the shops that do set up. Lots of propagated and tank-bred stuff, including 2 of the major suppliers of onyx clowns (Rod not so much nowadays, he skipped rearing quite a few batches, but now he's got some that should be ready to sell in a few months).
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2010 00:42
|
|
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOh8ZADyhns Wavemaking in motion. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Aug 21, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2010 02:15
|
|
|
I cracked my 20L sump ... well there are 2 cracks and multiple stress fractures. So, cue emergency operation--called up my friend, we went over and picked up an approx 29 acrylic pre-build sump, and moved everything over. Now I've got my mud bed sitting in a bucket with a bubbler, and everything else is in the new sump. All in about 3 hours worth of work.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2010 06:14
|
|
|
The solution was to put the mud into a 2.5G aquarium and just set that inside the 'fuge chamber of the new acrylic sump. I'll have pics of this new setup when I get back home.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 17:13
|
|
|
Replaced the 15,000K Odyssea bulbs in my cheap Aquatraders dual 250w HQI fixture with a pair of 20,000K Ushio bulbs. A bunch of green hair algae sprouted up in the period of about two weeks, and I noticed that the bulbs were getting a bit more yellow. Hopefully its just the bulbs that caused the algae. I've been keeping up with water changes and the parameters seem fine. Before (6/1/2010):  Much Larger After (8/23/2010):  Much Larger According to the date I took the first comparison shot to my old 6x54 T5HO, I've only had this fixture since 4/1/2010. 4-4.5 months lifespan on the original bulbs?  Interesting to see the coral growth of the various SPSes. The birdsnest looks huge compared to before.Also added a yellow tang last night. All the other fish are keeping their distance, but its totally non-aggressive so far. Lost my sixline wrasse a week or so ago apparently -- found it dried up behind the tank. I've had the covers off because of the heat, lost that round of russian roulette. Lose one fish, gain another.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 18:41
|
|
|
Holy crap that green star really grew in such a short time. Our water must suck as I don't see even 1/3 that much growth.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 19:08
|
|
|
revmoo posted:Holy crap that green star really grew in such a short time. Our water must suck as I don't see even 1/3 that much growth. Yea, I've never had any problems growing GSP or Xenia in any of my tanks. The Xenia became a plague and I fragged almost all of it out.. twice. Gave that entire rack in the first pic to my co-worker, who proceeded to kill it all in his tank Gave another full rack to the LFS; got about $60 for it.Also gave the same co-worker about 1' worth of GSP pluckings, which all grew back within 2 weeks. I can't kill this stuff. I've been considering selling/trading the remaining Xenia and the huge GSP rock on craigslist, though it grows so well that if I just keep fragging it, I could have an endless supply of free corals at the LFS. I just need to get more 2x2 marble tiles for the GSP. I hate keeping frag racks in the tank, though. so ugly.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 19:22
|
|
|
I made a custom transparent mesh out of .5" screening material and a screen frame kit from like, Lowes, since clowns and wrasses are prone to carpet surfing. This also has the benefit of not impacting lighting and temperature exchange. I have massive evap problems though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 21:01
|
|
|
arioch posted:I made a custom transparent mesh out of .5" screening material and a screen frame kit from like, Lowes, since clowns and wrasses are prone to carpet surfing. This also has the benefit of not impacting lighting and temperature exchange. That's a really good idea. I'll have to do that if I get another wrasse. Now that the flame angel and the sixline are gone, I can probably get another mystery wrasse (the flame and the sixline teamed up against it and killed it )I go through about 5 gallons of top off water every 4 days or so.. though 5 gallons will last at least a week in the winter. My temperature control is a fan pointed at the top of the sump. Keeps it <82.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 22:57
|
|
|
What's the water volume of the system? I do about 4 gallons a week, but then I don't have a fan pointed straight at the water surface (and I don't use halides), and my volume is currently approximately 47 gallons (I'm bringing that to around 52-54 once I finish tinkering with the new acrylic sump).
VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Aug 25, 2010 |
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 23:38
|
|
|
arioch posted:What's the water volume of the system? I do about 4 gallons a week, but then I don't have a fan pointed straight at the water surface (and I don't use halides), and my volume is currently approximately 47 gallons (I'm bringing that to around 52-54 once I finish tinkering with the new acrylic sump). Its a 90G display with a 24G sump (approx. 12G used), so something like 112 gallons saltwater and 5 gallons fresh RO/DI in a home depot bucket next to the sump for top off.
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2010 23:47
|
|
|
Anybody else here have an octopus?
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2010 04:29
|
|
|
Nahbahsah posted:Anybody else here have an octopus? Most people with experience stay away from them. Not that we wouldn't loving LOVE to have one, but the facts that you have to have special considerations for them (tight fitting lids and whatnot), often you have to chill the water below room temp, and they only have a lifespan of like 3 years generally keeps us away from them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2010 11:19
|
|
|
Sup. Click here for the full 648x484 image.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2010 22:35
|
|
|
Psimitry posted:Most people with experience stay away from them. Not that we wouldn't loving LOVE to have one, but the facts that you have to have special considerations for them (tight fitting lids and whatnot), often you have to chill the water below room temp, and they only have a lifespan of like 3 years generally keeps us away from them. I know all of that. I have one myself which is why I asked if anybody else had one.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2010 08:02
|
|
|
Nahbahsah posted:I know all of that. I have one myself which is why I asked if anybody else had one. Fair enough. Most people come into this thread asking about octopi (is that correct?) wondering if they should get one. By anyone else, I thought you were someone who had read the thread, seen someone who owned one, and were asking for advice on picking one up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2010 09:02
|
|
|
Nahbahsah posted:I know all of that. I have one myself which is why I asked if anybody else had one. Pics of your setup please. I've ways been fascinated by the idea of keeping one but it seems like so much hassle. Do you have anything other than your octopus in there? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2010 20:00
|
|
|
Bellmeistr posted:Pics of your setup please. I've ways been fascinated by the idea of keeping one but it seems like so much hassle. Do you have anything other than your octopus in there? I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Yeah I'll have to put up some pics and videos soon. I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2010 04:20
|
|
|
 Click here for the full 648x484 image.  Click here for the full 648x484 image.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2010 23:11
|
|
|
I just noticed that Bulkreefsupply is now carrying the clear 1/4 and 1/2" mesh and all necessary supplies to make the custom mesh aquarium tops. You can probably get the rest of the stuff cheaper (the spline, the spline tool, frames, corners) at Lowes or Menards or Home Depot or whatever, but the clear mesh itself is actually harder to find in anything less than MASS quantity.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2010 03:55
|
|
|
Sweet, I was hoping I wouldn't have to get it off ebay.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2010 06:01
|
|
|
Mesh: $9 Shipping to Canada: $15  Still beats buying a roll though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2010 07:41
|
|
|
Finally, noticeable polyp extension on my echinata mini-colony. (We made 10 minis out of the 2 full colonies) So now I can feel reasonably good about putting the rest of my 5 in my DT. Click here for the full 640x480 image. (Look on the corallites on the lower left there.....) VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Sep 2, 2010 |
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2010 15:46
|
|
|
 Click here for the full 648x484 image.  Click here for the full 648x484 image. Two more.
|
|
#
?
Sep 3, 2010 15:40
|
|
|
Switched my entire 120g reef to LEDs. 84 LEDs on heatsinks with protective acrylic covers.  LEDs in the canopy  Tank lit with the LEDs. In total it reduced my lighting power consumption from 700w at peak lighting to 210w.
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2010 03:22
|
|
|
I've heard of these DIY LED arrays becoming more common. How much did it end up costing you?
|
|
#
?
Sep 7, 2010 05:31
|
|
|
For a DIY LED array you should figure about $10 an LED. Mine was $800. Very steep compared to MH or T5's initial cost, but the eletrical savings will pay for itself within a year, even faster if you factored in the cost of replacing bulbs. Right now I have all constant current drivers, meaning the LEDs run at 700ma all the time. In the future though I might upgrade to dimmable drivers so lights can be dimmed and adjusted via a controller. With them being dimmable it would make it possible to adjust your coloration of the light as well just having a natural rise and set of the lighting throughout the day.
|
|
#
?
Sep 8, 2010 18:56
|
|
|
Well, my brown acro that appeared to be doing very well died in a matter of hours. Looked at it that morning, looked fine, looked at it just after the lights came on and it was completely bleached. I've been battling some GHA (caused by my original MH bulbs, which were replaced recently), so maybe the new light shocked it. I've also been dosing eight.four as my pH and carbonate were a little low (6 degrees dKH). Actually, I've only dosed it twice: once a few days before, and once just after it bleached. Also just got an algae bloom on the glass. Not sure what's going on in there. All the parameters appear fine (except carbonate). 0 nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, 500 calcium, 8.0 pH (will rise with the dKH), 0 phosphates. I just replaced the filters and resin in my RO/DI a few weeks ago and it still is showing 0 ppm (8 ppm input). Same salt mix I've always been using (reef crystals).
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 03:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 06:11 |
|
|
This is one of those "holy poo poo" moments: http://www.madfragsonline.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=56
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2010 18:53
|
|