biggles
Premium Member
Thought this might interest some. I added about 50lbs of fresh LR to my tank to cycle it with just circulation and a couple of T5 tubes. No skimmer (still hasn't arrived) so it was on for young and old with the ammonia spike but after two weeks the ammonia was high with low nitrites and i noticed a very surprising hitchhiker on my LR, have a good look and see if you can spot him - he's rather large.......
Having discovered Charlie (that's his name) with a 3" wide grin sitting amongst the rock pile i immediately propped him up and he now has a commanding view of the tank - that's him on the left side of the tank at the top of the pedestal shaped piece. I immediately did a 20% water change and added another 20lbs of fully cured LR to the tank to take the sting out of the cycle for Charlie. Another week passed and i now have zero nitrites and low nitrates and Charlie grins with his mouth wide open most of the day. Here he is when i discovered him.
He already had a funky hairdo when i found him but he's now added green streaks to it so it's time for a CUC to give him a buzz i think - crew cut will look good on him (i have plans for a monti toupe :artist: )..........
That's right, Charlie is a 3" diameter clam, he's not glamorous and won't like the colorful and flamboyant clams that will join him down the track (he can spit down on them though) but considering he managed to survive my new SPS tank cycle he has earned his place and will be wearing this years latest acro fashions in the coming months.
Another couple of tough nuts that made it through the cycle were porities and a very small acro i found on the cement after cutting the rock it had been attached to with a diamond saw. It basically 'popped' cleanly off the rock (failed encrusting 101 at acro uni :reading
and baked in the sun for 10 mins until i spotted it. I placed it 6" under the 2 x 39W T5 cheapo tubes and last night i finally saw small PE :celeb1: Under blue LED's he glows green as does the porities polyps so both have a date with a frag plug and some super glue. Setting up a 250W radium over the frag section of the sump this weekend so they will be the first tenants.
Hope i didn't bore you but i have always found SPS a lot tougher animal than many seem to think - they don't want to RTN and die despite most of us at one time or another doing our best to kill them with stupid goofs.......:headwally: If anyone wants an update down the track of Charlie's foray into the SPS fashion world just let me know and i'll post some pics when he gets dressed up, he might look plain and ugly but he's a diamond in the rough......
I haven't looked into what he is exactly but i hope to find out, he's Australian and that's all i know for now.....
Having discovered Charlie (that's his name) with a 3" wide grin sitting amongst the rock pile i immediately propped him up and he now has a commanding view of the tank - that's him on the left side of the tank at the top of the pedestal shaped piece. I immediately did a 20% water change and added another 20lbs of fully cured LR to the tank to take the sting out of the cycle for Charlie. Another week passed and i now have zero nitrites and low nitrates and Charlie grins with his mouth wide open most of the day. Here he is when i discovered him.
He already had a funky hairdo when i found him but he's now added green streaks to it so it's time for a CUC to give him a buzz i think - crew cut will look good on him (i have plans for a monti toupe :artist: )..........
That's right, Charlie is a 3" diameter clam, he's not glamorous and won't like the colorful and flamboyant clams that will join him down the track (he can spit down on them though) but considering he managed to survive my new SPS tank cycle he has earned his place and will be wearing this years latest acro fashions in the coming months.
Another couple of tough nuts that made it through the cycle were porities and a very small acro i found on the cement after cutting the rock it had been attached to with a diamond saw. It basically 'popped' cleanly off the rock (failed encrusting 101 at acro uni :reading
and baked in the sun for 10 mins until i spotted it. I placed it 6" under the 2 x 39W T5 cheapo tubes and last night i finally saw small PE :celeb1: Under blue LED's he glows green as does the porities polyps so both have a date with a frag plug and some super glue. Setting up a 250W radium over the frag section of the sump this weekend so they will be the first tenants.
Hope i didn't bore you but i have always found SPS a lot tougher animal than many seem to think - they don't want to RTN and die despite most of us at one time or another doing our best to kill them with stupid goofs.......:headwally: If anyone wants an update down the track of Charlie's foray into the SPS fashion world just let me know and i'll post some pics when he gets dressed up, he might look plain and ugly but he's a diamond in the rough......
I haven't looked into what he is exactly but i hope to find out, he's Australian and that's all i know for now.....
