JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system

[NexDog]

Thanks Marc.

Good point on the valves, I'll open them up a bit more and see how it goes.

The fuge has no sand but there was a huge detritus buildup there. I just need to be more vigilant about cleaning it once a month.

The microbubbles has me stumped. I believe I'm getting bubbles from both lines (return and CL). I've redone the connections on the pumps and literally poured glue over all joints yet I still get them.

 

[melev]

It just takes a tiny hole to create a venturi effect. If you were closer, I'd be willing to come over and help you isolate it. Unfortunately, I'm not. If you want to go crazy and take pictures of everything section by section and email them my way, maybe I'll see something that looks like a red flag. You'd be taking 40 macro shots of plumbing probably, but if it helps...

Detritus does need to be removed. I do that to my sump every 3 weeks. In my refugium, I have sand, LR and macro. So I fan my hand over the substrate to create a muddy cloud, and pump that out of the system.

 

[scarletknight06]

check the h&s forum for a thread on how to properly plumb your skimmer for gravity feed from an overflow. i bet this along with fixing the durso will make you very happy

 

[NexDog]

The skimmer issue is the least of the issues. Fix the microbubbles and I would be happy.

 

[NexDog]

So I received the Blue Carpet Anenome today. I also ordered this nice blue sponge:

The anenome didn't travel well. It's highly stressed, mounth is gaping, some innards were hanging out. But I'm not over worried as it shoukd like the new tank with strong halides. So going to give it a few days and hopefully it will perk up and also colour up. It hasn't been treated well and looks half-starved. Basically there's no way that this anenome is teh same as the one on that picture. Blatant fraud if you ask me. :rolleye1:

In the tank:

Sponge in the tank (under PC):

Last weekend when we went to the coast we went hunting around some tidal pools. I took home 3 tuxedo urchins and a small cuke. We were also suprised to see some corals in the pools, a first for me:

 

[Psionicdragon]

its a bad idea exposing the sponge to air. the air could be caught under the little caverns, which will lead them to starvation.

 

[jnarowe]

yeah, the sponge will probably die. even slight exposure to air can kill them. I did have one survive after being exposed to air and then it was used as a condo by some kind of creature that killed it.

 

[gregmoeck]

re:

re:

I agree, sponge will almost always die. I hope the anenome does ok after a while. Dont give up on it, it could be the one in the picture, its just freaking out.

 

[NexDog]

Damn, didn't know that about sponges.

And the nem looks worse this morning.

Best $200 I ever wasted.

 

[melev]

As soon as I read your post, I thought "that's not an anemone" and "why is he holding it in the air?!"

I do hope it will be okay, but just so you know for the future, it MUST be kept under water at all times. It should be bagged under water, and acclimation (to remove LFS water and replace it with your reef's water) should be done fully submerged. Then it should be placed in the reef, again never exposed to air.

Hopefully your anemone will perk up. Maybe, just maybe, you'll get lucky with the sponge.

 

[vest0830]

Where did you get that anenome from?

 

[NexDog]

Shop in Tokyo called BoraBora. Only get fish from there. I've had good experiences with the fish but not anything else.

Yesterday morning when I checked the tank the nem looked terrible. It had folded over on itself, totally defalted. I took it out and placed it in a bucket the right way up and all its guts were hanging out. After a while it seemed to recover so towards the end of the day I placed it flat on the sand the right way up so it wouldn't fold again. It looks bad - mouth gaping about 5cm.

 

[Kent E]

I heard this somewhere so I don't know if its true, but you might be able to put the sponge in the blender and then pour it in the tank. It might have a better change of survival. I don't think the air is your greatest threat but rather the flow. They need a certain type and speed of flow and they would naturally settle in their "larval state" and grow where the flow was good for them.

Might want to get a little more feedback before you go to that course of action, as I'm not a marine biologist but play one on the internet.

 

[Kent E]

The other thing is that it would most likely settle in places where it isn't well viewed and lit. From my experience its next to impossible to have a show sponge. In high light algae always seemed to run it over.

 

[MDP]

Hi Lawrence.

Sorry to hear about the anemone. That's simply not on. How does your good lady feel about tearing people off a strip? My better half is much more corageous than I am when it comes to confronting people who waste the family finances. If it isn't top notch, as specified, like the pic (etc etc) off we go.

I realise that you are after a colourful carpet, but if you're interested I'd be willing to send you down my carpet which has outgrown the tank. It is brown/greenish hues (i.e. it's not brown, but it's not green either!) as I know you could give it a good home. If not it will get a well deserved rest back in the sea on my next trip to Okinawa.

This thing is about the size of a dinner plate when expanded and has endured power cuts, ph collapse and been the victim of two SEIO 1100s. Never thought it would come back from that one, but that was 2004 and it continues to grow and grow. It is astonishingly genki and eats everything (including a hermit on one occasion!).

Anyway, if you'd like it it's yours. I'll ship down with your cuke. No worries if you don't want it, would make more sense to put something else in the box.

BTW nice pic of the coral. What was that? I couldn't decide if it was a softie or an SPS. On our trip to Miyazaki we saw loads of coral skeleton, but no corals.

Cheers

Matt

 

[NexDog]

Kent - I'll see what I can dig up on sponges. Meanwhile I'll reposition lower somewhat sheltered. It really is beautiful and I'd love to be able to keep it.

Matt - only reason I wanted to take on a carpet was for the promised colour so any replacement would have to have great colour. Maybe these anenomes just don't ship well? It's hard to say for sure but the anemone would need to be prime condition for a true comparison with the pic on the site.

That pink coral was definitely some type of SPS. The base of it was welded onto the rock and would have required a hammer and chisel to remove. As I didn't have the tools on me I left it where it was. The place we went to was just south of Aoshima and the road to Nichinan. There is a stop-off point on that road but it's a hike down the cliff as it's high up there so we down a bit and parked up by that small harbour down there and looked around there. That whole stretch of coast with the "Devil's Washboard" (Oni No Sentaku Ita) is perfect for tidepool hunting due to the nature of that rock formation.

 

[robthorn]

I wouldn't count the anemone out just yet. I might think leaving it alone and not messing with it would be the best bet. not forcing food in it's mouth. since you have been messing with it does it appear to be sticky when you touch the tentacles? if it does then it may be not liking the move or shipping or your water. hopefully a few days will change things for the better. I have seen carpets in some nasty water. do you know which carpet it is by chance?

 

[MDP]

No probs Lawrence.

Quite understand, just thought I'd ask.

I think you have something when you talk about the anemones not shipping well, however for us in Japan, I think this has more to do with the shipping method. This shouldn't be a problem for us given our location and proximity to reefs and major exporters of marine life, but it clearly is.

As I said in an earlier post, I was down at Pau Pau earlier in the week when their anemones came in. It was disgusting, the poor things had about 2cm of water all around in the shipping bag (e.g 8cm anemone in 12cm bag). The water in the bag was grey and the smell!!!! When I see this, I quite understand why people call for the banning of collecting of anemones. These ones don't stand a chance unless they are going into extremely experienced hands. At least Pau Pau are now great in their questioning of customers before sale.. If you haven't got MH and on an established tank you aren't going to be leaving with an anemone. Still that's only half the story as we all know.

I can thoroughly recommend locally caught anemones however.

One site, Pakalolo group, collects theirs from Ishigaki Island and ships direct to the customer.

Link is below (anemones are the first link on the right, everything is from Ishigaki so good value and guaranteed hand-caught). Nice angels as well!

http://umibose.com/stocklist.html

Please let me know what you think.

Matt

 

[NexDog]

It was very sticky at first but less so yesterday when I transferred it back to the tank after being in the bucket all day. I was careful to acclimate it for about 3 hours when I first got it. Not really sure what type it - maybe Gigantea?

 

[jnarowe]

Maybe there is a business opporunity there if anemones aren't being shipped well. If I lived there, I would catch my own.