So this showed up...

[00Stoll]

My family likes to feed my addiction and so for my birthday they presented me with a 6 gallon jellyfish tank! :bounce3:



It's a very cool all-in-one setup and I'm pretty psyched to get it started.

A few initial thoughts on setup:

1. I've read that the little reef pebbles that come with the kit are too coarse and can snag the jellies as they travel around. Instead, I've added a filter sock full of aragonite sand to the sump of my 90 gallon reef. I plan to build a biological filter in there, then add it to the jelly tank instead of the reef pebbles. I'm hoping that a week in my sump will be long enough to bring the sand to 'life'.

2. I can't imagine that three 1.5" jellyfish can produce that much bioload. I'm thinking that 4 or 5 pounds of sand oughta do it.

3. For clean-up, I plan to relocate 4 hermit crabs that have been causing trouble in my reef.

I'm definitely interested in advice and suggestions from anyone who has kept moon jellies, and especially anyone who has used this kit before.

Here's a link to the kit: http://www.jellyfishart.com/shop/3-jelly-kit

Thanks!

Alec

 

[Monkeyfish]

Tagging along. I've always been interested in these tanks, but have been hesitant to invest in one.

 

[00Stoll]

Hi Eric!

I will post updates as they happen. Hoping for some constructive input as well, but I've made it all up before, so this is just another adventure!

I have had mixed reefs, FOWLR tanks and species tanks like reef octopus and mantis shrimp, but never jellies. Wish me luck!

 

[00Stoll]

Here's the Jelly Tank update!

I tend to take these things sort of slow...

Taking the advice I'd read elsewhere I first made some aragonite live in my main tank and then put it in the desktop jelly tank. A bad choice. The current is created by a tube the runs up the side of the tank. It is connected to an air stone. Unfortunately the aragonite got sucked into the tube and clogged it.

I emptied the tank, removed the aragonite and went with the reef pebbles that they provided in the kit. I added a piece of live rock from my tank and gave it a week to seed (As it turns out, the jellies ship with a handful of live gravel...still, I feel better knowing that the jellies aren't enduring the cycle themselves).

I have been meaning to try hatching brine shrimp. I liked the idea of feeding them at around 6 hours old to my reef, and since the jellies eat them, this seemed like the time to give it a whirl. Here's a picture of my hatchery:



No real innovation here except that I filled the bottom bottle with a little aragonite to weigh it down and minimize the chances of a cat knocking it over....

The hatchery hatches, and thanks to one of PaulB's threads, I've also built a mandarin feeder and I'm in the process of training a mandarin to eat baby brine from it...details to follow in a different thread.

Back to jellies!

So here they are acclimating. I acclimated for two hours.



and here they are swimming around!





and in motion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDrqTqIBt-M

 

[J2T]

Wow that is really cool. Jellies are surely some interesting creatures.

 

[redondoreefer]

I am thinking of buying one of these for my 4 year old daugther...how hardy are the jellies?

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

I like how the tank changes color. How are the jellies doing? Is the tank fun to watch? Or fish-man to fish-man is it turning out to be a little dull.

 

[squishifishi]

where did you get the jellies from? seems hard to find.

 

[Sparkpaul]

My buddy really loves jellies but I heard it's not possible to keep. ... is that true?

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

The jellies come from the same company as the tank. Check out their website. Pretty cool!

 

[squishifishi]

Are they like, munga expensive?

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

The jellies are $40-$50 but the tank is like $400- $600 :eek1:

 

[siliconinja]

I received one of these tanks as a wedding gift and set it up as directed. Unfortunately it was my first experience with a pet of any kind, obviously my first experience with saltwater.

I had 3 and managed to keep them alive for about 2 months. I scoured the net for information and experiences... And that time period of life is the high side of average for this tank. The substrate included is a death trap, as is the lack of filtration. The bubble channel easily grows algae that is impossible to clean unless totally empty. You need a 10% water change twice a week, it doesn't cycle so you need additives like FritzZyme 9. In addition, you need a 90%-100% water change monthly.

I also tried a variety of different substrates including crushed cycled live rock and medium aragonite, even tried a top layer of glass beads. The real culprit is the uncontrollable air flow, even with a twice daily airline adjustment the jellyfish kept hitting and trapping their tentacles on the substrate, tearing them off, tearing their bells. I found they repaired themselves easily, they are incredibly resilient but delicate creatures... Especially when fed live brine shrimp. Be very careful with the feedings, and after the jellys have moved the food to their stomachs separate them for their protection and siphon up the uneaten food ASAP.

Overall it is a beautiful tank, well built albeit a bit difficult to clean. Love the Kreisel design and the color changing led always impresses guests. I have recently purchased a 29g BioCube HQi and am in the process of setting it up, so the JellyfishArt tank serves as a perfect Quarantine tank and a cool piece right in my living area (wife loves the design).

I wish you the best of luck and will be tagging along, I hope to keep jellys again soon... I just want to wait until I learn how to make a safe home for them.