Part 1 comes on Saturday. Yayy!

[hobobob]

I'm an excited guy. Richard says he's diving today before Gustav slams the area next week.

I'm getting part 1 of the package for a 75 gallon tank on Saturday.

I'll post my progress and experience if there's interest. (and try to see if my photo skills are transferable to getting a decent image through the glass.

It'll be great to get back in the hobby and I really hope the comprehensive nature of the "Package" will get me running out of the chute.

 

[divemonster]

Welcome back!

How long have you been out of the hobby? What brought you back?

You should definitely post all of your observations, questions, etc. Tell us how your setup went, etc. And rule #1 POST PICTURES

 

[figuerres]

Re: Part 1 comes on Saturday. Yayy!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13250495#post13250495 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobobob
I'm an excited guy. Richard says he's diving today before Gustav slams the area next week.

I'm getting part 1 of the package for a 75 gallon tank on Saturday.

I'll post my progress and experience if there's interest. (and try to see if my photo skills are transferable to getting a decent image through the glass.

It'll be great to get back in the hobby and I really hope the comprehensive nature of the "Package" will get me running out of the chute.

Hmm Off topic but:
Interests: Fish:Catching, keeping, cooking, eating: Mycology

So is there a Fungus amoung Us ??
do you mean you want to eat the study of fungus or that you are also a "mycologist" ??

 

[hobobob]

Re: Out of the hobby. I was sort of forced out in 2005. An adventure gone wrong with my brother's housesitting chores resulted in a house fire which literally fried the tank (actually just the inhabitants). I was able to salvage the tank though. I got a new stand, a better skimmer, a really cool Nova Pro extreme light fixture and I'm ready to go again

Mycology and eating. I see I don't have my punctuation exactly correct there. The eating part was meant to mean that interest among others in things piscine but it does extend to mycology as well. I originally got into the study of fungi as a way of positively identifying edibles. It's gone in different directions from there. An amazing kingdom.

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13252925#post13252925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobobob
Re: Out of the hobby. I was sort of forced out in 2005. An adventure gone wrong with my brother's housesitting chores resulted in a house fire which literally fried the tank (actually just the inhabitants). I was able to salvage the tank though. I got a new stand, a better skimmer, a really cool Nova Pro extreme light fixture and I'm ready to go again

Mycology and eating. I see I don't have my punctuation exactly correct there. The eating part was meant to mean that interest among others in things piscine but it does extend to mycology as well. I originally got into the study of fungi as a way of positively identifying edibles. It's gone in different directions from there. An amazing kingdom.

fire and "out of the hobby" Ouch!

Fungi, Yeah a lot more to them than most folks know. I'm not much on it but I read a bit and saw how many different mushrooms can look almost the same but some would kill and others would make a nice snack!
I am amazed at some of the ones that are so odd/bizare looking.

Cool.

 

[hobobob]

As all avowed (and surviving) mushroomers say "If in doubt, throw it out"

My main incentive being not killing my kids, I make sure I'm 100% positive with an ID before it's served. Some nasty poisonous varieties smell great and I heard taste good too. It's yet another geek obsession. don't even get me started on slime molds

 

[hobobob]

First Impressions

First Impressions

The trip to the airport was a piece of cake. Boxes were waiting and I paid up. $162.01 to Philly. Gulp. It's not the first gulp I've taken in this venture though.

5 boxes weighing 260 lbs., well packed and triple bagged. No leaky boxes.

One box said open first. Sand. Another was sand. Mixed it up real good and drained the murky water. Bag in the tank. Slit it up the side. Smoothed out. Water murky, no surprise though.

Now the rock. Ist box: 1 big ol' piece of rock 2nd box: another big chunk 3rd: 2 big chunks. So 4 big reef chunks to start with. Cool!

I didn't notice any bad smells and honestly didn't take much time to search for crabs and mantis on the rock. I just got the rock into the tank. I'll save the hunt for another day. Lots of life on the rock. From what I could see through the gloom, there were orange and black sponges and a few different types on Macroalgae. I'm sure there's tons to appear.

I found a tiny crab, 3 different types of snails and some small thin red worms that snap wriggled frantically in the detritus of the bags. All in the soup.

I haven't really given any thought to scaping yet. I'm not even sure which side of the rock should go up. I need it to clear some. Hopefully tomorrow. So now 4 rocks sitting on the bottom.

Turned on the skimmer and boy is it jammin'! It's had no bioload in it yet so no foam. That's very different now. It's working.

No photos yet. Too cloudy.

All in all, no surprises or disappointments, I'm on my way (somewhere). Wish me luck.

Hobo

 

[figuerres]

Re: First Impressions

Re: First Impressions

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13261846#post13261846 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobobob
The trip to the airport was a piece of cake. Boxes were waiting and I paid up. $162.01 to Philly. Gulp. It's not the first gulp I've taken in this venture though.

5 boxes weighing 260 lbs., well packed and triple bagged. No leaky boxes.

One box said open first. Sand. Another was sand. Mixed it up real good and drained the murky water. Bag in the tank. Slit it up the side. Smoothed out. Water murky, no surprise though.

Now the rock. Ist box: 1 big ol' piece of rock 2nd box: another big chunk 3rd: 2 big chunks. So 4 big reef chunks to start with. Cool!

I didn't notice any bad smells and honestly didn't take much time to search for crabs and mantis on the rock. I just got the rock into the tank. I'll save the hunt for another day. Lots of life on the rock. From what I could see through the gloom, there were orange and black sponges and a few different types on Macroalgae. I'm sure there's tons to appear.

I found a tiny crab, 3 different types of snails and some small thin red worms that snap wriggled frantically in the detritus of the bags. All in the soup.

I haven't really given any thought to scaping yet. I'm not even sure which side of the rock should go up. I need it to clear some. Hopefully tomorrow. So now 4 rocks sitting on the bottom.

Turned on the skimmer and boy is it jammin'! It's had no bioload in it yet so no foam. That's very different now. It's working.

No photos yet. Too cloudy.

All in all, no surprises or disappointments, I'm on my way (somewhere). Wish me luck.

Hobo

sounds good so far.

have you checked the water the rock came in? often in that water and gunk I find anything from small fish to baby stars and shrimp, also snails... crabs.

 

[hobobob]

Yes,

I found a few decorator crabs. A few types of snails. 2 brittle stars. Some very tiny crabs. That's about all. I consolidated the water this morning and I'll give it another check.

Oh, there were a bunch of thin red worms in one box. I didn't know what they were and didn't think that they could be that beneficial or interesting, maybe the opposite, so the succombed.

 

[hobobob]

First Pics. I'll work on technique.

Still cloudy but clearing.

Some snails, sponges and bristleworms dying. Nothing major.

Lot's of types of macroalgae and barnacles.

I saw a lancelet swimming through the water column. I understand it won't make it but it's very interesting while it lasts.

Boy, am I glad I upgraded my skimmer. I needed to empty it this morning. It was full of foul smelling gunk. I can only imagine what it would do to the water quality if not pulled out. It's still foaming up a storm. A shot of the left 2 rocks and a shot of the 2 on the left. I think I'll leave them undisturbed for awhile and worry about aquascaping as I get closer to step 2. I'm concerned about squishing sponges needlessly. There's quite a few showing themselves now. We'll see.

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13263416#post13263416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobobob
First Pics. I'll work on technique.

Still cloudy but clearing.

Some snails, sponges and bristleworms dying. Nothing major.

Lot's of types of macroalgae and barnacles.

I saw a lancelet swimming through the water column. I understand it won't make it but it's very interesting while it lasts.

Boy, am I glad I upgraded my skimmer. I needed to empty it this morning. It was full of foul smelling gunk. I can only imagine what it would do to the water quality if not pulled out. It's still foaming up a storm. A shot of the left 2 rocks and a shot of the 2 on the left. I think I'll leave them undisturbed for awhile and worry about aquascaping as I get closer to step 2. I'm concerned about squishing sponges needlessly. There's quite a few showing themselves now. We'll see.

Yeah I had 2-3 lancets and one lasted at least 2-3 months.

if you have a magnifiying glassuse that to look at some of the gunk just to see what you find. I found a shrimp that way
-- really small :eek1:

red worm... hard to say, probably they were ok. there are at least a half dozen each of segmented and non segmented that we might find and ID and only 1 or 2 can be a problem.

 

[docklink]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13262891#post13262891 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hobobob

Oh, there were a bunch of thin red worms in one box. I didn't know what they were and didn't think that they could be that beneficial or interesting, maybe the opposite, so the succombed.
...A shot of the left 2 rocks and a shot of the 2 on the left. I think I'll leave them undisturbed for awhile and worry about aquascaping as I get closer to step 2.

If they appeared multi-armed, then probably spaghetti worms - beneficial scavengers but not a great loss (probably more still in the sand).

Letting things settle is a really good plan. I think too many people disturb things too much chasing down perceived bad hitchhikers, etc.

Good luck with the tank.

 

[hobobob]

I'm beginning to think that they were small bristle worms. Quite a few have come out of their hidies it seems to die and the smaller looked like what I saw in the bottom of the bags. I see others in holes so I'm not too worried.

I expected some die off.

I look forward to seeing the spaghettis.

I couldn't resist doing a little moving about. It's only 4 rocks and they almost showed me what attitude they should be in. They all "stood up" nicely ala a crude (Oxymoron?) Stonehenge.

Now I'll stop touching them.

Ammonia detectable. I'm ready to change water when I need to.