Donya's 55-Gallon

[Donya]

I've been playing with glue this week. I actually managed to conquer my fear of using krazy glue (ethyl cyanoacrylate...if I spelled that right from memory) to secure some of my softies. In the 55, I anchored down one shroom and the toadstool - which was already on a small bit of rock, but too small for it to not get tossed around when Mr. Hairylegs plows through. It's on a bigger piece of rock now that props it off the bottom more and it seems much happier. I still have some zoanthids to stick down but here is the happy toadstool at least.

There's also a new addition showing its face there. It's not the first CBS I've kept, so I'm well aware of the moody aspects of the species. I was really attached to the first one I had some years back and have been eyeing this one in the store for about a month while it kept reminding me of how much un-filled space there is in my tank every week. Of course, after I took that photo it decided to park behind a rock at the back of the tank. I am now the proud owner of a rock with whiskers.

So, since I'm now over my krazy glue phobia and have worked a bit with epoxy putty recently (although darned Mr. Hairylegs pulled it apart last time, so I'll have to work on that), I think I'm going to have a go at...are you ready for this?...STACKING some rocks. I know, I know, such a rebel in the marine world with this one rock on top of the other idea.

...Seriously though, I don't have stacked rocks in any of my tanks and never have, so it is a new thing to me.

Anyway, I'm also looking forward to a certain "frag farmers market" that's happening in my area next weekend.

 

[seffieuk]

Donya's got stacked rocks AND used super glue, what is happening to the world

Seffie x

 

[Donya]

Donya's got stacked rocks AND used super glue, what is happening to the world

Whatever's happening to the world, it seems to involve giant orange sea squirts!

What can I say...while in a rock-stacking mood, the LFS was having a sale on its livelier-than-normal rock and I didn't see that side of that one too well. I thought it just had a bit of usual orange sponge, but orange sponge bits do not generally spit water in one's face with some force.

 

[seffieuk]

but orange sponge bits do not generally spit water in one's face with some force.

Seffie x

 

[GAB99]

that is the best LR ive ever seen, seriously how much are you paying for that stuff it looks awseome.

 

[Donya]

It's the best rock I've ever seen too - there's a reason I wanted more!

The high-quality rock that this particulare LFS carries is usually sold like livestock on a per-piece basis. This weekend was an exception since they were doing $10/lb for a lot of pieces to clear their tanks out. The piece with the giant sea squirt was a per-piece one at $20 and I would guess it is 1-1.5lb range just going from how it felt to pick up. There's another new rock I haven't posted a pic of yet that was 2.5lbs and $25 at $10/lb. That one isn't as covered in life as the other rock, but still has a bunch of bivales and some more coral patches. I think the two previous rocks I got (the mantis rock and its replacement) were $30 and $35 if my memory is right; not sure of the weight on those though. For comparison, the average price for standard, no-frills LR in this area seems to be $7-8/lb and mystery dry rock is usually $1-3/lb.

 

[Donya]

Here's a pic of the other new rock. Nice little coral thing going on and that giant thing on the top is a live bivalve (some kind of mussel I think).

Taking pictures made the clowns come out from their cave for some reason:

 

[Donya]

Oh yes, today has been a good day indeed. This morning was the Frag Farmer's Market for the area, first one I've been to. I got some nice (and so cheap!!!) frags of green star polyps, Xenia, and Duncans. I probably should have stayed longer since there was a lot of other cool stuff going on there, but I ended up being intimidated by the amount of SPS enthusiasm going on and the rather large crowd that was attending...so I grabbed my "newbie" corals and then ran away like a big chicken. Maybe I'll have more backbone next year. The GSP and Xenia went in the 55gal and the Duncans are in the mantis tank right now since I didn't want to subject them straight away to the other additions I picked up at the LFS on the way home from the frag event: two new Dardanus megistos. If the Duncans like it in the mantis tank I'll probably let them stay and evict the big mushroom instead. I also picked up an algae blenny at the same time as the hermits, but it's doing some mowing in my 20gal temporarily since I don't want to subject it to the hermits either until they've calmed down and sorted themselves out. Pics to come soon!

 

[seffieuk]

Amazing live rock AND a Frag market, oh its soooooooooo unfair!!!!!


Seffie x

 

[Donya]

Two of the new frags:

The Xenia is a very active one. Wasn't moving one bit in the seller's tank but by the time I got home it was doing a rather lively jig. The Duncans are not completely opened up yet so I haven't got a good pic of them yet. I may end up having to move them sooner than I wanted to since the perfectly square frag plug they were on last night has two corners knocked off now. The coral itself hasn't been touched, but darned that mantis and this obsessive rubble collecting.

Left side of the tank:

Right side:

Believe it or not there are stacked rocks there now...three of them. I don't think I'll be able to do much more stacking since the hermits are not as adept at climbing as some other species. The current formation seems to be about as much as the first one can handle without climbing to the top and then turning around in circles all day trying to figure out how to get down.

I've been sort of wondering about doing a HOTB formation to fill the empty space on the left over the sand. If I can find a slim, branching thing that is light enough, I think it might look nice to rig it up hooked over the back and projecting out into the tank a bit like a small platform. I could then stick things like the Duncans on that if I want frags out of reach for the hermits. It would also balance out the incredible lack of anything using the upper half of the tank. Only problem is I haven't found any branching bits that don't weigh a ton. Sort of wondering about the ultra-light fake LR that I see around, since I don't need extra rock for filtration boosts at this point.

 

[sorgan]

A nice gorgonian would give you great height in that centre area

 

[Donya]

Now you tell me! If I saw right (which I might not have given the crowd) there were gorgs gallore yesterday. I do worry about attaching anything like that within reach of the hermits though, since I have no idea how the they would treat it. They might totally ignore it as they do with the softies that are in there, but I don't know for sure.

 

[sorgan]

Ahhh but here is the good bit donya, get a seaweed clip and attach the gorg to the grippy bit and then sucker onto the glass half way up. That's how I bring on small gorg frags.

 

[Donya]

Ahhh but here is the good bit donya, get a seaweed clip and attach the gorg to the grippy bit and then sucker onto the glass half way up. That's how I bring on small gorg frags.

Darnit, now I'm going to have a hard time passing the gorg frag tank next time in my favorite LFS. What do you think about using a magfloat instead of a clip? I am a little warey of clips since I have had big Turbos get snagged on them and they also seem adept at getting the suction cups pried away from the glass.

 

[sorgan]

Use a mag if you like just be sure it's one that you don't mind losing as one the gorgs attached you won't be able to use it (obviously)