Ordering "The Package"

[Amyandlars]

If your going to have corals your going to need a powerhead. Depending on what corals you want is once again going to determine what kind and how many powerhead your going to need. With FW your goal cycle rate is 10x, with SW it's going to 15x plus, once again when you decide what you want then that will tell you more what kind of set up you need.

 

[GregK]

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the info

Thanks for the info guys. I'm trying to do as much research as I can before diving in.

In terms of lighting and its affect on what corals I should get, are there some general guidelines? For example, if I have metal halide lighting, does that mean that hard corals will generally do better than soft corals or vice versa? Or does the difference fall somewhere else?

I've also been reading that nano reef aquariums should try to avoid corals with longer tentacles such as the elegance coral. The size of the aquarium I'm planning on is 24 gallons. Are there other specific corals (or families of corals) that I should avoid?

 

[jcwedit]

Picked up the first shipment of "the package" yesterday. One of the boxes had sprung a leak, but not bad and i was able to make it home with the rocks still underwater.
The hardest part about getting rock from TBS is rockscaping, almost every side of the rock i recieved had something amazing on it. I was able to catch 2 gorrila crabs before they could find a home. Spotted another one deep in a hole that should be fun to catch. THere is some much stuff on these rocks i cant even list it, so ill post pictures tomorow.
I had a small spike in levels this morning, so i have done 2 water changes and all seems good, got the RO working overtime. So glad i found this forum and ordered from Richard, i almost spent the same money on rock from my LFS that what total bare.

 

[jcwedit]

Picked up the first shipment of "the package" yesterday. One of the boxes had sprung a leak, but not bad and i was able to make it home with the rocks still underwater.
The hardest part about getting rock from TBS is rockscaping, almost every side of the rock i recieved had something amazing on it. I was able to catch 2 gorrila crabs before they could find a home. Spotted another one deep in a hole that should be fun to catch. THere is some much stuff on these rocks i cant even list it, so ill post pictures tomorow.
I had a small spike in levels this morning, so i have done 2 water changes and all seems good, got the RO working overtime. So glad i found this forum and ordered from Richard, i almost spent the same money on rock from my LFS that what totaly bare.

 

[Red_Six]

I had a birth today in my tank. It is either pistol shrimp, peppermint shrimp or mantis shrimp. I have several hundred of them swimming around and the fish are just loving it. There are quite a few survivors in my fuge so perhaps I will find out what they are. This is the second time this has happened although the first time I know that it was a pregnant gorilla crab that dropped the bomb.

 

[liverock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9217630#post9217630 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Red_Six
I had a birth today in my tank. It is either pistol shrimp, peppermint shrimp or mantis shrimp. I have several hundred of them swimming around and the fish are just loving it. There are quite a few survivors in my fuge so perhaps I will find out what they are. This is the second time this has happened although the first time I know that it was a pregnant gorilla crab that dropped the bomb.

Way Cool!

to small to identify yet...how long are they?

could be pep shrimp, but doubt it as they require free swimming planktonic foods to get in the larval stage...but I think some kind of shrimp.

You should be a proud pappy as getting marine larval hatch to that stage of growth ...Is Not Easy!

Richard TBS

 

[Red_Six]

They are about 2 mm long. With my luck I now have 203 mantis shrimp in my tank.

:eek1:

 

[liverock]

???

???

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9228381#post9228381 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Red_Six
They are about 2 mm long. With my luck I now have 203 mantis shrimp in my tank.

:eek1:

Dr. Roy should be able to ID them...try in the mantis forum!

Most likely whatever they are, they will become fish food.....hey, fresh shrimp, yum!

Richard TBS

 

[jcwedit]

Sorry for the delay, i have posted pictures here:
http://www.automaticdog.com/

So far so good, i have 2 more Gorrila crabs i have to catch and i hear clicking from what i assume is a Mantis shrimp, but i have yet to see him. Everyday we find some new critter, who knew staring at rocks was so much fun. Otherwise i am keeping up on the levels and doing water changes.

 

[buus]

Use a chopstick to smash the Gorilla crabs (it's fun and easy!). The clicking may be a pistol shrimp (you hope!).

If you find a mantis, you can lift the rock that he's hiding in out of the tank, shoot some soda water into his hole, and he'll come scrambling out.

 

[jcwedit]

I have the chopstick standing by, im gonna try non-lethal methods until the 2nd shipment comes in but after that it's hunting season.
My Amonia levels are starting to fall.

 

[liverock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9243538#post9243538 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jcwedit
Sorry for the delay, i have posted pictures here:
http://www.automaticdog.com/

So far so good, i have 2 more Gorilla crabs i have to catch and i hear clicking from what i assume is a Mantis shrimp, but i have yet to see him. Everyday we find some new critter, who knew staring at rocks was so much fun. Otherwise i am keeping up on the levels and doing water changes.

Looks like your cat thinks there is competition!

Richard TBS

 

[liverock]

alive?

alive?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9228381#post9228381 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Red_Six
They are about 2 mm long. With my luck I now have 203 mantis shrimp in my tank.

:eek1:

any survivors?

 

[SW Madman]

MORE ROCK

MORE ROCK

Well, I have had my tank up and running with my package for about 5 weeks now! Everything is doing great and I'm about to order a few more rocks to add to the tank. I'll have to ask Richard for some extra special one's this time!! It's still amazing watching all the new critters. I've had a few crabs dispell eggs into the water but haven't seen too many litle ones. The other critters must really like the fresh caviar. I did get rid of my mantis, he was about 4 inches long. A monster indeed!! There is a pistol shrimp that is making quite the home under one of the rocks. Well, once I get the time I will post some pics for everyone. ?I'll try to take some pics this weekend.

 

[jcwedit]

Round 2 coming tomorow, hopefully the fine people at Newark airport are a little more gentle this time, lol. I'll put some pictures up and let you guys know how it goes.

 

[SW Madman]

Tank pictures

Tank pictures

Well here we go. I hope this works out. I tried earlier and I couldn't post all of them together. I'll do one at a time. This rock is incredible and I hope this helps someone decide to try some too. Richard is very knowledgable and very helpful. Hopefully the pics look good

 

[SW Madman]

Here's some more.

 

[SW Madman]

A couple more. First one is of Tube coral. The middle shows some black sponge and a fan. The bottom one shows a Porcelin crab. I have all kinds of these fellas of all different sizes

 

[SW Madman]

Blu legged hermit crabs

A shot of the whole tank.

Tube coral with white sponge.

Again, this stuff is great. I have never seen rock like this before. Richard knows his stuff and is very accommidating. I will definately buy more in the future. I'm hoping to find a place in the house for a 190+ gallon reef tank.

 

[SW Madman]

Sorry the last one's didn't upload.