Llj's 4G Now 5.5G... A Little Patch Of Sun!

[lljdma06]

Time for some HD camera fun!

But first two videos...

Porcelain crab doing what porcelain crabs do...



And my panda goby! He's so much more active since I got the extra critters. He's a delight! I must name him, but let me give it more time.



Now for pictures...

fts

GSP with yes, a lovely aiptasia, must zap that sucker soon!

Mushrooms...

Little panda peeking!

Now for the invertebrates!

Scarlet cleaner shrimp.

Porcelain crab (closed)

Same porcelain crab (open sifters)

Black sun, open

Orange sun, open

Pompom crab, Armand.

Thanks for looking. I'm so happy with my tanks. I'm so glad that I started my SW tanks. It's hard work, but it's literally hours of fun and enjoyment.

L

 

[DrRob]

You're definitely making me want to take the plunge into a reef tank. Once I've got the new living room built a reef is going in.

Loving the tanks.

 

[ALW]

Im not a fan of Cleaner Shrimps at the moment. Very good pitures you have Lissette!

 

[lljdma06]

Some tank stats... Since it's important to some people. Tanks been setup since mid August.

Tank: AquaH2O35, it's like 14" long, 4g

Lighting: Up Aqua LED Fixture (Luminous Intensity: 300mcd/1pcs (Blue) 1400mcd (White))

Circulation: Rio 90 powerhead and A nano filter converted to a refugium, going to upgrade the nano fuge though. I've got good flow now, but you can never have enough flow

Substrate: Live sand about 4 pounds

LR: 4-6 pounds (mixture of Haitian rock and rock that houses coral

Livestock:

1 panda goby
2 porcelain crabs
1 pompom crab
2 scarlet hermits
1 asterea snail
1 Tubasterea faulkneri
1 Tubasterea micrantha
1 5" rock of Clavularia viridis
Assorted mushroom corals

This isn't stocking for a newbie, I've got a lot of experience with other systems under my belt and I've done my reading. The whole tank requires feeding and that means a lot of water changes to maintain parameters. I'm happy that the rest of my systems are sort of snooze fests as this one is a challenge to keep. but very rewarding.

L

 

[MBOU]

Gorgeous!! I love how clean it looks! All clean lines, though its same with your planted tanks

I cant believe I forgot about pom pom crabs!!! I need one of those!!

Dont know much about Porceline Crabs though, what are they like? Behaviour and feeding wise for you!

What do you run your salinity at? Out of curiosity because no one seems to be able to make up their mind on 'ideals'. I know it depends on livestock but hey...

Id love to know more specifics on products but it would mean nothing to me being on the other side of the ocean!

I think im in love with Armand!!

 

[lljdma06]

Gorgeous!! I love how clean it looks! All clean lines, though its same with your planted tanks

I work like a dog to keep this tank clean and healthy. Non photosynthetics need to eat, A LOT, especially early in their keeping. Like I said in the disclaimer, this tank isn't something I'd recommend to a person new to SW. Thank you, though, I think my marine systems kind of have a planted vibe to them. I gotta do a water change today.

I cant believe I forgot about pom pom crabs!!! I need one of those!!

Pompoms are very fun. Hahaha, careful though, if they lose their symbiotic nems, they'll pick up a substitute. Even aiptaisia. Hahah, it's like packing a 44 magnum.

Dont know much about Porceline Crabs though, what are they like? Behaviour and feeding wise for you!

Porcelains anemone crabs are filter-feeders. They usually host with an anemone, but can host on other things. Mine will actually perch on the rocks behind my gsp. They tend to stay more stationary than a pompom and use their filters to catch food. Mine eat cyclops ease and they'll take pieces of mysis. I have two. Probably a pair since they are not aggressive with each other.

What do you run your salinity at? Out of curiosity because no one seems to be able to make up their mind on 'ideals'. I know it depends on livestock but hey...

I run mine higher, at 1.025, but the sun corals require good calcium levels. On the flip side, the salinity is extremely stable. I use a jewelry scale to measure it. To two decimal places.

Id love to know more specifics on products but it would mean nothing to me being on the other side of the ocean!

The light is a piece of garbage, but I knew I was keeping nps from the beginning, so ligthting didn't matter much. The gsp and mushies are doing fine. If you notice, my light is over only one side of the tank, not in the middle. Hahaha, they are on the "bright" side of the tank, which isn't really very bright at all. The suns are in the dim side of the tank. I'm going to expand my refugium over the holidays. It was fine for the 2.5g, but the 4g could stand an upgrade. Then the flow will be crazy. Which is what the suns like. It's good now, but there can always be more flow. I'll just shift the mushies around if they don't like it.

I think im in love with Armand!!

Armand is my sexy beast. You cannot have him. He is mine. His anemones have really grown nicely. Easily doubled in size since I got him. Everybody loves cyclops ease and mysis.

I need to name the rest of the critters. But I want to wait on that. They are all doing very well, but I don't want to jinx anything. OMG, the porcelain shed the other day, and I thought it was dead at first. The shed is really quite thick, much more so than a hermit's shed or a cleaner shrimp's. Kinda took me by surprise until I saw I had 3 porcelains in the tank instead of two.

 

[lljdma06]

Some random pictures...

Pompom shed, how gross! Ewwwwww...

Sun corals. I really need to just hunker down and do a sun coral diary here. These guys should get their due in the coral forum here. The black sun is so consistent, the orange sun is more of a challenge, but it's fat and eating.

And OMG! I know I buy a lot things but I KNOW I didn't buy this little guy! It's not an emerald, sally light foot or anything like what I've seen. He's tiny, a third the size of my pompom, if that.



fts

Thanks for looking. This tank also gets a water change today. I've got a head cold, but must care for the children.

 

[lljdma06]

Bad Mushies, bad, BAD Mushies!!! Or... When bad mushies happen to good people

So I've read Borneman, great book on corals, everybody should read it. So in the Corallimorph chapter, there's a nifty picture (pg. 196) of a Rhodactis actually eating a Banggaii cardinal. But you read this thing and look at your corals and go... Nah...

First story... This is a little mushroom, just left of center. Cute, right, like quarter-sized.

Well, when I was doing a water change, he accidently got dislodged and became a detached corallimorph. I spent a day or two trying to find him areas to reattach. Then I had to go away for the night. The next morning, his bottom half had indeed attached to a small rock. Good, but he had also managed to engulf a small black sun polyp and was eating it! I'm not kidding. I was shocked, I pulled them apart and moved the mushie away from the sun coral. The sun is ok, I only lost the one polyp, but sheesh...

Next tale of mushie madness...

This is my rhodactis... Bright green, far right, cute, right? It's about the size of a quarter, really small.

This is my rhodactis on mysis...

I knew full well that these guys are semi aggressive, all corallimorphs are. I guess because they are so easy to care for, people often downplay the aggression, but be aware, they can pack a wallop when they want to. My giant pumpkin yuma doesn't let much grow near her.

Thanks for looking.

L

 

[MBOU]

Looking excellant there!! Some sexy corals

God i still love the sun corals!! I didnt appreciate how big your black sun was until the last picture of it!!!

I gave one of my marine customers a scare yesterday, i fed the big Rhodactis mushies a mix of krill, mysis and enriched brineshrimp from a syringe and they went huge and the swelled up and folded up, they looked sooooo much like nems!

Customer came in and was like "oh you cant be serious, you cant have that many anemones in that tank!!"

LOL they lvoe being fed, its funny though, the rhodactis have to have it put right in the mouth parts or they are too slow, the Riccordea however seemed really sticky and at loads and was easier to feed.

Poor clowns didnt know what to do when their home shut them out!

I have a Riccordea on the run, it wont stay put anywhere, i even tried superglueing it but its having none of it lol. But it ate loads anyway, will have to keep an eye on it now! Your rogue mushie has made me paranoid!

 

[lljdma06]

Looking excellant there!! Some sexy corals

God i still love the sun corals!! I didnt appreciate how big your black sun was until the last picture of it!!!

I gave one of my marine customers a scare yesterday, i fed the big Rhodactis mushies a mix of krill, mysis and enriched brineshrimp from a syringe and they went huge and the swelled up and folded up, they looked sooooo much like nems!

Customer came in and was like "oh you cant be serious, you cant have that many anemones in that tank!!"

LOL they lvoe being fed, its funny though, the rhodactis have to have it put right in the mouth parts or they are too slow, the Riccordea however seemed really sticky and at loads and was easier to feed.

Poor clowns didnt know what to do when their home shut them out!

I have a Riccordea on the run, it wont stay put anywhere, i even tried superglueing it but its having none of it lol. But it ate loads anyway, will have to keep an eye on it now! Your rogue mushie has made me paranoid!

Why thank you. I'm very lucky. Miami has an excellent selection of corals and a lot of LFSs, so it's extremely competative.

Yeah, the sun coral is big. It's feeding fine again, recovered nicely from it's encounter with the rogue mushie. Still waiting on my red sun.

I may place my rhodactis farther from the orange sun, though. There are a lot of bare patches of rock that'll suit it fine. And I'm finished with the Aquaclear 30 refugium, so that goes in today. The flow will be CRAZY then. And the Suns will be happy, happy, happy.

 

[lljdma06]

I have been feeding the suns for a while and am getting used to things (routine feedings & water changes) in an nps tank. I'm taking a risk (don't do this please!! My risk to take, you be safe and have yourself a nice system) and adding my first gorgonian. A Diodogorgia nodulifera. Very small, cost me $10, so it's a $10 mistake if it doesn't do well. These are actually native to the Caribbean, so if this does well in my 4g, I'll consider larger pieces for the high current areas of my 36g, or I'll create high current areas in the shade for them. They like dim spots, and high flow. Well, the 4g tank has dim spots and flow like crazy.

These are the easiest of the gorgonians and I think a good starting place for me. I have my dreams to keep perhaps a blueberry gorgonian years and years and years down the road, but right now, I'm perfectly satisfied with this one. It's beautiful. OMG. I wasn't expecting much. I hear they are tough to get open sometimes.

When I first put it in... Haha, I was so happy when some polyps extended. Boy! Was I in store for something truly special. It doesn't take much to impress me.

Then my scarlet hermits kept knocking it over and I was getting nervous. I didn't want to damage it. They are kind of fragile. I finally found a position where it seemed secure for now. And it started to open...

OMG, when this thing is extended, it's truly stunning. I love it. It's very Christmasy, isn't it?

I also have an updated video of Mr. Mystery, the hh crab. He's still teasing me... I'm working on an id.



Still need to upgrade my refugium. It's ready to go, I just don't want to knock down the gorgonian now.

Thanks for looking and Happy Holidays to all of you!

L

 

[lljdma06]

Moved the rhodactis away from the orange sun yesterday night. It damaged two sun polyps. I think they'll recover, though. The black sun polyp that was attacked by the other mushroom is actually regrowing tentacles. The rhodactis is now on the other side of the mushy patch, but I may attach it to a rock and move it even farther. I just get a lot of freebie mushies from the lfs I go to. The disadvantage is that they are not on secure rocks, so I need to attach them better. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

L

 

[lljdma06]

Attached the pesky green rhodactis to a rock and moved him way far away from my sun corals. No more bothering!

Had to add a pico heater last night. Dipped into the 40s, which for Miami, is rather cold. Tank is at 78 now, so I disconnected it. I'll plug it in later at night.

I also finally installed the modified Aquaclear 30 that I converted to a refugium. And all I can say is that I've got one happy gorgonian right now.



It was extending before, but nothing like this. Whoa! The refugium light will go up today. I gotta go look for it. It's somewhere in all my fish stuff.

L

 

[Shovelman]

So perty

 

[lljdma06]

This tank had a scare today. It plunged to the late 30s last night and while I run a small heater, it still couldn't keep the tank heated very well and it fell to 73. Yikes!

Well, I put on the house heat and am now trying to get it to 75. Looks like I'll be maintaining that temperature over the winter. Everybody's fine, I just didn't like the temperature being so low.

I told ya, stable temperature, stable parameters, the two hardest things about a pico...

Will be doing a water change today. It's scheduled for one.

L