Crawdads57
In Memoriam
I started a 16 gallon tank with approx 20lbs of live pukani from TBS in April. Great stuff, I got a ton of cool hitchhikers. Among those hitchhickers were 20+ porcelain crabs! It took about a week for me to realize how many were actually in there. Within about the first 3 weeks I lost 3. Last night I sat down and really tried to count them after feeding some frozen mysis and reef-roids. I counted 18, and I wouldn't be surprised if I missed a few. They seem to be happy as can be.
I feed about 1/3rd of a cube of frozen mysis and a couple "dashes" of reef-roids (like a little less than 1/8 tsp) - and I do this twice weekly. I use a syinge with a 12" needle to spot feed various soft corals and acans and 80% of that is actually eaten by fish and porcelain crabs. I also feed a few different kinds of pellets everyday.
So here's my question, given that my water is now stable and I'm happy with the consistency of my Ca / Mg / Alk, and since I haven't lost anything in at least 6 weeks, do I have conditions for a photosynthetic (hardy / easier) gorgonian? Those 3 porcelain crabs are the only thing I've lost at all.
Do you feel I would need to up my feeding? I'm not really crazy about feeding more - tank is staying pretty clean and nitrates are testing 2-5ppm routinely.
If I were to get a gorgonian, what is the easiest / hardiest available?
Same questions regarding a sponge. I think this pink stuff that looks like... wax was melted onto the rock, almost? I think its a sponge. If it is, then this pink sponge that came on the rock has receded significantly on the tops of the rock - I think this is because of the intensity of the light, because it is still going strong under an overhang. Also, would a gorgonian or a sponge be hardier given what I am describing here?
I feed about 1/3rd of a cube of frozen mysis and a couple "dashes" of reef-roids (like a little less than 1/8 tsp) - and I do this twice weekly. I use a syinge with a 12" needle to spot feed various soft corals and acans and 80% of that is actually eaten by fish and porcelain crabs. I also feed a few different kinds of pellets everyday.
So here's my question, given that my water is now stable and I'm happy with the consistency of my Ca / Mg / Alk, and since I haven't lost anything in at least 6 weeks, do I have conditions for a photosynthetic (hardy / easier) gorgonian? Those 3 porcelain crabs are the only thing I've lost at all.
Do you feel I would need to up my feeding? I'm not really crazy about feeding more - tank is staying pretty clean and nitrates are testing 2-5ppm routinely.
If I were to get a gorgonian, what is the easiest / hardiest available?
Same questions regarding a sponge. I think this pink stuff that looks like... wax was melted onto the rock, almost? I think its a sponge. If it is, then this pink sponge that came on the rock has receded significantly on the tops of the rock - I think this is because of the intensity of the light, because it is still going strong under an overhang. Also, would a gorgonian or a sponge be hardier given what I am describing here?
