Rhy's Blau Gran Cubic 238L (+25L Sump) New Tank!

[SaltNoob]

What did you get?

-Tyler

 

[GGtank]

SOrry bout the delay here's the new tankmates

I really wanted to be different and not get a watchman goby but he kept swimming up to me in the LFS. I had no choice . Put the two in the tank and they were instantly stuck to each other

Unfortunately, that shrimp really does appear blind and ignored all my nice cavernous rockwork to instead build a cave at the very front of the tank, goby didnt seem to mind but one of the nassarius snails that was climbing up the glass above the pair fell right on top of them and in an instant goby flew across the tank, shrimp disappeared (dunno where) and I havent found the shrimp since. He's TINY and I do have two much larger cleaner shrimp, plus a very hungry green wrasse so im hoping she didnt get to him. Goby got all confused by the chaos and ran into the rock work, now he's all by himself I hope the pistol survives. And I hope I see him soon.

Anthias getting a lil clean

New acropora frag (Bali Slimer i believe)

DOes anyone know if dosing Vit C will kill the cheato in my sump

 

[SaltNoob]

ANy luck finding your shrimp? Mine got separated for about 10 minutes once. I freaked! Lol they found each other very easily though haha.

-Tyler

 

[GGtank]

SO after doing some reading up and finding out that in fact most pistol shrimps are nocturnal, I decided to do some investigating last night/early hours of the morning armed with a dull red light. Found the pistol!!! I was shocked by the speed with which he can move, looked like a torpedo swimming in the tank! Then he landed neatly on a rock and dived into his burrow which is luckily placed nicely in the front of the tank. Watched him pile stones for a bit and then went to bed. Only problem is that Goby seems to have pitched camp at the exact opposite side of the tank. I also worry that the shrimp is too small for the Goby, the entrance to his burrow is tiny!

So i'm leaving them for a bit, hopefully the goby will find the shrimp, if not, I may have to force him to that side of the tank!

On a side note, that hitchhiker Bi-colour blenny is ALL BAD NEWS! I'm thinking he was likely put in with the live rock because of his behaviour and it was no accident! He's at the goby (which I expected a bit) but he also seems to love picking on my nassarius snails, he really has a proper go at them, with a good few bites!!! I wouldn't care if they weren't costing me MONEY! So I figure he has to go, as well as the green wrasse, neither of which i think will be easy to catch.

I also noted a very large bristle worm last night, and a large black hairy hitchhiker crab! Will have to get that crab out somehow...

I've put in a little fish trap, with some shrimp as bait, hopefully i'll at least get the wrasse, we'll see. Don't want the decaying shrimp to pollute my water too much. Speaking of which

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 25-50
pH 7.7
PO4 - 0.25
Ca 485
Mg 1320
KH 9.9
Salinity 1.027

Started dosing RedSea NO3-PO4 reducer. Was hoping the stats would be better with the cheato in the sump, but I guess it's only a tiny bundle of cheato and its a large tank. Anyways next time will measure AFTER a water change as opposed to before one and hopefully things will be better.

 

[SaltNoob]

SO after doing some reading up and finding out that in fact most pistol shrimps are nocturnal, I decided to do some investigating last night/early hours of the morning armed with a dull red light. Found the pistol!!! I was shocked by the speed with which he can move, looked like a torpedo swimming in the tank! Then he landed neatly on a rock and dived into his burrow which is luckily placed nicely in the front of the tank. Watched him pile stones for a bit and then went to bed. Only problem is that Goby seems to have pitched camp at the exact opposite side of the tank. I also worry that the shrimp is too small for the Goby, the entrance to his burrow is tiny!

So i'm leaving them for a bit, hopefully the goby will find the shrimp, if not, I may have to force him to that side of the tank!

On a side note, that hitchhiker Bi-colour blenny is ALL BAD NEWS! I'm thinking he was likely put in with the live rock because of his behaviour and it was no accident! He's at the goby (which I expected a bit) but he also seems to love picking on my nassarius snails, he really has a proper go at them, with a good few bites!!! I wouldn't care if they weren't costing me MONEY! So I figure he has to go, as well as the green wrasse, neither of which i think will be easy to catch.

I also noted a very large bristle worm last night, and a large black hairy hitchhiker crab! Will have to get that crab out somehow...

I've put in a little fish trap, with some shrimp as bait, hopefully i'll at least get the wrasse, we'll see. Don't want the decaying shrimp to pollute my water too much. Speaking of which

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 25-50
pH 7.7
PO4 - 0.25
Ca 485
Mg 1320
KH 9.9
Salinity 1.027

Started dosing RedSea NO3-PO4 reducer. Was hoping the stats would be better with the cheato in the sump, but I guess it's only a tiny bundle of cheato and its a large tank. Anyways next time will measure AFTER a water change as opposed to before one and hopefully things will be better.

The two will find each other and then the goby will have a good spot to hide from the blenny. The shrimp being small is usually a good thing, so when the shrimp closes the hole/door at night the goby can push out if needed. The bigger the shrimp, the bigger the barrier =) lol. Mine pushes through sometimes when I am feeding.

Good luck catching the fish!

-Tyler

 

[FishAreFriendsNotFood10]

same pistol shrimp as me they are brilliant i agree hehe my pistol has now dug a huge complex for himself and his goby friend and the goby doesnt move a inch, im guna try that red light trick though to see if i can watch him, might be a daft question but any sort of red light?

 

[GGtank]

Hmm good question, it's just a red light option on a torch light. No one seems to mind it at all at night, all the night creatures go about their business when its on, though if the white light goes on everything hides.

Got the bi-colour blenny out

One down, one green wrasse to go.

Seriously considering a mandy. Saw 3 really fat nice mandy's in the LFS today. Plus I have a fair amount of live copepods and my LFS sell frozen rotifers. Must check to see what they are eating. Dunno if I will go for one, they are so picky! Also, added 3 blue legged hermits to the sump, time to give it a lil clean!

New zoa pics tomorrow!

 

[GGtank]

Picture update!

Still havent got the green wrasse out yet, beginning to think it may be impossible! But got two new tank mates!!! Goby-one-konobe still hasn't found the pistol shrimp, don't know if they will ever find each other at this rate!

My very big hermit crab, picture doesnt do him justice but the shell next to him is a medium sized blue legged hermit, so you can imagine how big he is!!! Question: Anyone know what type of hermit he is?

Two cleaner shrimp

Anyone spot the new addition? he's hiding in this pic and his name is Candy

The male anthia has been displaying to the two little females, very very interesting and fascinating as he actually changes colour!!!!
Here he is normally

And here he is right after displaying, it's hard to catch on camera cause it fades so fast and he moves so fast, but he goes very light pink with a bright red stripe

The other new addition, Mozart Swimmy (fish are named by my godson, do not blame me)

My oldest (and largest) snail, survived from the very first clean up crew (10/2010)

Red hermit looks like he shed and MAYBE changed shells?

Some tiny orange mushrooms I forgot I had, found them in the back and put them there to recover a bit

And new mushroom (a freebie)

Irene (the impossible to catch and very large green wrasse)

My yellow sluggy

Camera does not do these zoas justice (they are peach with bright yellow rims)

Really wanted to get this yellow tail wrasse and though they are reef safe (with caution) I was wondering if anyone has any experience with them? Plus i'd need to get the green wrasse out first

New coral polyp

Lucius

Beyonce and Leonidas

Here's Candy in his glory (with Goby-one-Konobe)

In the background you can see the three anthias (Divina Divine, Shirley Temple Bar and Panti)

My birds nest

And my other sps

Thanks for watching!!!!

 

[GGtank]

Re-scape done, very happy with the new aquascape, gives me a lot more space for corals and looks a lot more natural. Still cant get the green wrasse out. I used the following pic as inspiration

Rough template

Will post pics later!

Rhy

 

[bae1994]

Very nice have you got a fts of yours ?

 

[lljdma06]

I loved this update. Your fish names are my favorite. Great stuff. Mozart Swimmy is awesome. LOLOL That wrasse is big, not sure about the yellow wrasse. The problem with wrasses is that often if it's a juvenile, the colors will be significantly different. There are several species, if I'm not mistaken, that start off yellow. Some are reef safe and others are not. Irene is pretty though, good luck finding her a home.

I'm very excited to see the rescape. The inspirational reef is a stunner. I like how they have nps corals in the mix. The sun corals are very similar to mine.

 

[GGtank]

Thanks guys

I will get a FTS up this weekend for sure!!! I love the inspiration tank as well. Can't wait till I get some nice monti frags to add to my tank.

My mistake with the last post, i meant to say ''yellow tail wrasse'', the yellow fish in the pic is a goatfish (don't want one of those hehe). The yellow tail one is the black one with white spots and the yellow tail (very pretty) *drool*

Irene will probably be in that tank until it's dismantled, there is no hope so for now I'm just gonna keep her. Maybe when she reaches 8'' i'll be able to catch her lol.

Yeah i love the NPS as well, i definitely do not have the dedication to keep them though, they are gorgeous and so are yours!

I have two new tank inhabitants as of the last hour, will post pics this weekend. They are soooo cute and small!! I shall leave you guys in suspence until the update!!

 

[GGtank]

Hmm after hours of watching my new tank inhabitants I was well shocked to see an 1'' long black hitchhiker crab moving about my tank in the dead of the night as if he owned it! He's hairy (bad sign and I'm certain he's probably a member of the mithrax fam (?) he has identical characteristics to emerald crabs (same cupped claws etc). Can't believe such a huge hitchhiker hid from me so well!!!!

Dunno how I'm gonna get him out but I better try.

Pics later today!

 

[bae1994]

You could use the cup in sand with bait that might work

It's crazy how they go unnoticed for so long

Bae

 

[GGtank]

So much is happening in the tank! I have an 'old update' to post here first, then maybe tomorrow will take new pics and update again lol!

So,

Firstly, Royal Gramma is missing o_o haven't seen him in 2 days and I fear the worse, oddly my clowns were constantly picking on him, I looked into his 'usual' cave but with no sightings, no sign of a body either. I fear the worse, but who knows, he may pop out and surprise me (doubtful).

Secondly,
New tankmates---

Diagonal bar goby

Neon Goby being friendly

Very kewl fish, always cleaning the anthias, and he's sooooooo tiny!

As for the Diagonal Bar goby, I was not risking him not meeting the pistol shrimp!
So first I got the pistol shrimp's home in good sight:

Very small (ignore my zooming in lol)

Then I put the goby into a modified fish trap and placed it over the pistol shrimp's home so they were guaranteed to meet.

Accidentally we kinda caved in poor pistol shrimps hole while trying to get the goby to meet him so I spent the rest of the night watching and waiting with lights off. After 3 hrs or so, there was movement! pistol shrimp had dug himself out! Goby seemed curious! But the when he approached the shrimp, i heard 'pop' and goby jumped! Seemed the pistol was pissed!!! At this point i thought, it mustn't have been my YWG but my pistol that didnt want the relationship. But playing the ever hopeful matchmaker I left the fishtrap on them. To my great joy at around 4am I saw the goby enter the cave, and the pistol instantly became braver than ever before, digger his burrow larger and wider. Looked like this in the morning:

Very very happy, though since they started to shack up, I've only seen the goby twice and he hasn't eaten anything to my knowledge yet

Hopefully my YWG will learn a few lessons from the new goby and maybe even share the house!

Orange mushroom splitting

Lucius at the back of the tank, made an effort with this tank to ensure no rocks touch the glass

Tank from left side (difficult angle, doesnt really do it justice)

Tank from right side

YWG with his own lil cave

New coral

FTS (it looks very different to this now, but tomorrow I'll post all that up.

Parameters are stabilising but no where near satisfactory yet.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate (pre water change) 2 (down from 25 but still too high)
pH 7.4-7.7 (dosing Salifert pH/KH buffer)
PO4 still too high 0.2 (dosing NO3 PO4 X from Red Sea)
Ca 410
Mg 1350
KH 11

Nocticed my deltec mce300 isn't working so gonna fix that asap! More piccies of newbies etc tomorrow