Part 1 Denizens

[divemonster]

Here are some pics from the tank this morning.

This little guy was climbing on the glass. When the lights came on it moved very quickly to the sandbed and disappeared.

Here is one of the pretty orange tunicates:

One of the MANY Feather Dusters living on the rock:

 

[liverock]

Nice!!

Nice!!

Nice Pic's.....you must have the killer camera!

But you ain't seen nothing yet....wait for tomorrow!

sea ya
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[OgreMkV]

Yeah, it gets better.

 

[divemonster]

Re: Nice!!

Re: Nice!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12912498#post12912498 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liverock
Nice Pic's.....you must have the killer camera!

But you ain't seen nothing yet....wait for tomorrow!

sea ya
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

actually it's an old camera that frustrates me :mad2: i need a decent lens, an underwater housing with the port dome, strobes, etc. for my digital SLR. Then i'll have a killer camera :inlove:

here's a tank shot:

so far we've lost 11 snails. everyone else seems happy. including the 2 cheeky mantis shrimps setting up their own bed-n-breakfast in the rock on the end.

 

[HowardW]

Nice pics, if you do any future aquascaping I might place the large polyp gorgs and the condys in the brightest part of the tank and the sponges in the shadier higher flow parts, especially the deeper water yellow ones.

 

[divemonster]

we've moved the condys to the bright parts of the tank and they move themselves out of it. thanks for the advice on the sponges. i'll move them today

 

[HowardW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12943568#post12943568 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
we've moved the condys to the bright parts of the tank and they move themselves out of it. thanks for the advice on the sponges. i'll move them today

Maybe they'll eventually move themselves back, they are typically higher light specimens but they will let you know via where they end up. What type of lighting are you using?

 

[divemonster]

sponges are moved.

the lighting in the tank is:

2 x 150W 10K reeflux with ice cap ballasts.

When I asked Richard he said it would be plenty of light. I'm not interested in keeping anything other than this gulf reef tank (as opposed to keeping some corals or critters from indo-pacific region)

 

[redwarrior77]

I like how you're going with a specific ecosystem for your tank...it sounds more educational than mixing creatures from all over the world.

I wish I could get as good of pictures as yours!

 

[figuerres]

Re: Nice!!

Re: Nice!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12912498#post12912498 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by liverock
Nice Pic's.....you must have the killer camera!

But you ain't seen nothing yet....wait for tomorrow!

sea ya
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

Richard, some low cost digitals like my Kodack 4900 can do good photos if you have a tripod and a macro lens and adapter.

you may recall at one point I posted some closeups of the PODS in my rock? that was my 4MP 4900 with the macro adapter.

today that camera is way old...

 

[divemonster]

even though I have a tripod I don't use it since most of my photography is done underwater.

my camera is 3.2 megapixel. the only thing that saves it from getting dropkicked to the nearest landfill is the manual white balance feature.

 

[HowardW]

<<< the lighting in the tank is:

2 x 150W 10K reeflux with ice cap ballasts.

When I asked Richard he said it would be plenty of light. I'm not interested in keeping anything other than this gulf reef tank (as opposed to keeping some corals or critters from indo-pacific region) >>>


On a 55g that is actually more than enough PAR and a lot of stuff on TBS rock actually doesn't require a lot of light.

 

[divemonster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12946614#post12946614 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HowardW
<<< the lighting in the tank is:

2 x 150W 10K reeflux with ice cap ballasts.

When I asked Richard he said it would be plenty of light. I'm not interested in keeping anything other than this gulf reef tank (as opposed to keeping some corals or critters from indo-pacific region) >>>


On a 55g that is actually more than enough PAR and a lot of stuff on TBS rock actually doesn't require a lot of light.

the sponges are in shadier areas now. the powerheads have been moved a bit to accomodate their water flow needs. hopefully they'll be okay now. The polpy gorgorians get a good amount of light and water flow and they do look happy.

would something attack a cucumber to get it to move away from a jealously guarded hole (as opposed to attacking it for a cucumber salad snack)? one of my cucumbers has an awful gash on its body. it was not like that when I put it in the tank. I'm watching it closely and hoping it survives. One of my divemasters named it "Gash."

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12947098#post12947098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
the sponges are in shadier areas now. the powerheads have been moved a bit to accomodate their water flow needs. hopefully they'll be okay now. The polpy gorgorians get a good amount of light and water flow and they do look happy.

would something attack a cucumber to get it to move away from a jealously guarded hole (as opposed to attacking it for a cucumber salad snack)? one of my cucumbers has an awful gash on its body. it was not like that when I put it in the tank. I'm watching it closely and hoping it survives. One of my divemasters named it "Gash."

CRABS!!! :mad2:

I have seen them attack and try to eat them.

 

[divemonster]

ah!! earlier today i did see a stone crab sitting at the base of a rock like it owned the place. guess it is time for the chopstick-from-above to descend and crush :hammer:

 

[redwarrior77]

Those crabs...think they own everything...go forth and conquer!

 

[figuerres]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12948139#post12948139 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
ah!! earlier today i did see a stone crab sitting at the base of a rock like it owned the place. guess it is time for the chopstick-from-above to descend and crush :hammer:

Yeah, they are like hogs, they will eat anything in reach, moving or not.... even things that nothing else will eat.

well there is one thing they don't eat .... them little red flatworms!

now if they would pick them off the sand and rock when a tank has them.... that would be cool

 

[divemonster]

flatworms!

flatworms!

Denny, I saw a flatworm in the tank last night on the glass. it was brown and had a blue-green iridescent spot in the middle. it was about 1/2" long. i've read somewhere on the TBS boards that the flatworms are "bad" guys for the reef. I haven't seen any of the red ones though

 

[redwarrior77]

From what I've heard, most worms are ok and even help keep things cleaned up. I think some people go a little nuts going after bristleworms, but then I don't have any fancy corals yet to protect!

 

[figuerres]

Re: flatworms!

Re: flatworms!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12950746#post12950746 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by divemonster
Denny, I saw a flatworm in the tank last night on the glass. it was brown and had a blue-green iridescent spot in the middle. it was about 1/2" long. i've read somewhere on the TBS boards that the flatworms are "bad" guys for the reef. I haven't seen any of the red ones though

some of them like to eat coral, I personaly have never let a single large one bug me.

the kind I was refering to are more ugly looking than anything else, they will "carpet" the sandbed and are a bee to get rid of.

link to marc's site with photos, he also has some stuff on them on his site:

http://melevsreef.com/id/tbs/flatworms.jpg