RocketEngineer
Space is big.
For the last few months, I've been concentrating on my Office 40B Build so this system has been somewhat on autopilot. This past Monday, that changed in a big way. As part of the office build, I ordered a 25g Package from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I was so impressed by what I recieved that I contacted Richard and placed an order of 20#s of live sand combined with a 20g package. The idea was to get both the second half of the package for the office tank plus this new order all at the same time. This was shipped late Sunday night and Monday afternoon I was finally able to pick it up from the airport. The last time I tried to introduce new biology into this system, I ended up with mostly just algae. Even just a week later I can tell that this time around is different.
For starters, here are the four boxes of stuff:
This is a heck of a lot more than I got the last time around. And everything, including the rock and the sand, was shipped in water.
While opening the bag with 40#s of live sand in it, I spotted a very large shell. To my surprised IT MOVED. Not willing to risk getting stung by something, I used my long pincers and a net to put it into one of my spare buckets:
We will come back to this later.
Fast forward a week and the system has settled down and I've finally had time to snap some pictures of what I got in those four boxes. Lets start with a FTS:
Here is one of the hitch hiker sponges:
There is a coral along the bottom edge of it that also came with the rock.
In fact, there are a number of rocks with corals already growing on them:
As part of the package, Richard sent a number of sponges and gorgonians. Here are a couple examples up close.
Ball Sponge:
Fan Gorgonian:
Oh, and that snail wasn't a snail. It was a monster hermit crab:
So far, I'm very happy with what came in the package. I've spotted pods on the glass again and there are all sorts of organisms on the rocks themselves. The gorgonians and sponges add much to the display that had been missing, especially with the few corals I do have mostly being on the sand bed. While I realize not everything will last, I'm hoping that by the time they disappear, other additions will be taking their place.
For starters, here are the four boxes of stuff:
This is a heck of a lot more than I got the last time around. And everything, including the rock and the sand, was shipped in water.
While opening the bag with 40#s of live sand in it, I spotted a very large shell. To my surprised IT MOVED. Not willing to risk getting stung by something, I used my long pincers and a net to put it into one of my spare buckets:
We will come back to this later.
Fast forward a week and the system has settled down and I've finally had time to snap some pictures of what I got in those four boxes. Lets start with a FTS:
Here is one of the hitch hiker sponges:
There is a coral along the bottom edge of it that also came with the rock.
In fact, there are a number of rocks with corals already growing on them:
As part of the package, Richard sent a number of sponges and gorgonians. Here are a couple examples up close.
Ball Sponge:
Fan Gorgonian:
Oh, and that snail wasn't a snail. It was a monster hermit crab:
So far, I'm very happy with what came in the package. I've spotted pods on the glass again and there are all sorts of organisms on the rocks themselves. The gorgonians and sponges add much to the display that had been missing, especially with the few corals I do have mostly being on the sand bed. While I realize not everything will last, I'm hoping that by the time they disappear, other additions will be taking their place.
. 
