TBS Nano

[ReefBuff02]

I'm starting my second Tampa Bay Saltwater Nano Reef, a 10 gallon. My favorite part about TBS rock is the countless surprises that come with it. You can watch your tank for months and still find new things, especially if you have a small (nano) tank and can get in close to see just how much life is squeezed into every inch of this amazing (and environmentally friendly) aquacultured rock! I'll post pictures as my reef set up progresses.

 

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OK here is part one of 'the package' about 15 minutes old... this is mostly a test to see if I've managed to figure out uploading pictures...

 

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Success! This is the nascent reef with just my actinics on for 'mood lighting'. There's still a lot of silt in the water due to the addition of a bunch of sand and rock, but it's starting to clear! In a few more hours I'll turn on the skimmer (once the bacteria granules, included by Richard at TBS, have dissolved and found a new home).

 

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A close up of one of the 'base' rocks sent with shipment one. The sponges covering this rock are bright pink. I've found cup corals as well... Still waiting for the water to clear some.

I also have heard several faint pops from various locations in the tank so I suspect I have a few pistol shrimp hitch-hikers. My last TBS reef had a pistol shrimp and a mantis shrimp as hitch-hikers. The mantis made himself/herself known within about 20 minutes of the second shipment by waltzing out on the sand and staring right at me. They are amazing creatures! Mine was brilliant purple under actinics and turned out to be as clever as a fox. I spent three months trying to catch it and when I finally succeeded, I felt as though I was Captain Ahab and I'd slain my white whale... I actually regretted it almost immediately. If I get one this time I may keep it for awhile. They are very smart and have the most advanced eyes in the animal kingdom (better than ours!). And they're very active and fun to watch.

 

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Make sure you check you bags for stranded hitch-hikers. I found this bright red guy scurrying across the bottom of one...

I think it's a hermit with a cool shell but I can't exclude a speedy decorator crab...

 

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Early in part one with the MH light added...

My nano is a 10 gal all glass. I painted the back wall black and used a hang on back aquaclear 110 as a combo sump/refugium. In it, I placed a skimmer, a small heater, rubble for the refugium, and a foam filter for detritus. I also placed some "plastic canvas" at the top of the filter water column to see if I can get any algae to grow there instead of in my tank. It should be easy to remove the plastic canvas and scrub algae off if it works. And if it doesn't... well it was like $2 so oh well. I'm also going to run a small powerhead in the tank at intermittent intervals via timer to see if I can create turbulence to help keep the live rock detritus free. Lighting is 150 W MH and two 36 W PC actinics plus moonlight LEDs. This is way more than necessary to run a stable 10 gal reef but I have the stuff left over from other tanks so why not? Plus, I live in an apartment so every drop of RO/DI water is lugged down stairs in the parking garage and up stairs into the building, often during long midwest winters, so I feel entitled to a bit of over-engineering to reduce wear and tear on my back ; )

And this little hitch-hiker bag rescue is definitely a decorator crab... he went right to work once I added him to the tank.

 

[liverock]

Awesome!

Awesome!

Another professional customer...nothing better!

You have a really cool orange body deco crab there...pretty rare critter, and only from this area...you are blessed.......really neat mon!

Thanks for the kind words.....I really appreciate it.....diving again Friday ..more rock and critters!

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

 

[ReefBuff02]

Thanks Richard!
Your rock is the best!
Question: I have these guys climbing the glass... I assume they are Whelks because of the snout, but I don't want to remove any good snails. Is there a way to better tell them apart?

 

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My orange decorator crab is checking out his new tank (he's bottom right corner of pic). Skimmer has been on for a few hours and the tank is much clearer now. More pics to follow tomorrow... (day 2!)...

 

[liverock]

Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.)

Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.)

Thanks Richard!
Your rock is the best!
Question: I have these guys climbing the glass... I assume they are Whelks because of the snout, but I don't want to remove any good snails. Is there a way to better tell them apart?

From that pic....looks like a Nassarius Snail ...whelks have a smoother shell...larger snout.......usually....

sea ya
Richard TBS

 

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Day 2... Ammonia 0.0

 

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The water has cleared significantly since yesterday. My skimmer pulled about a half cup of tan, cloudy gunk.

 

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Water is crystal clear today. Ammonia was 0.50 this morning and is down to 0.25 this evening. And I've got low levels of nitrite and nitrate... the cycle is in full swing.

 

[PorkchopExpress]

very nice! i have a ton of snails with snouts as well and i can't really tell the difference between whelks and nassarius...i'll have to take another look at their shells

and you're right...i'm about a month and a half in and i'm still discovering new stuff...last night i noticed what looked like a large snail without the shell slithering over the substratum...i'm assuming it was sea slug that i've never seen before...then today i noticed a 2nd decorator crab that i had no idea i had

 

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Thanks! I saw a brown pistol shrimp last night when I was looking into a dark tank using a flashlight. He hid before I could get my camera. Using a flashlight is an easy way to see nocturnal critters.

 

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My Nassarius snails are laying little egg packets on the glass... has anyone ever seen these hatch?

 

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My orange decorator crab found orange sponge debris to cover himself with. I almost didn't recognize him...

And here's a much larger cousin I found...

 

[liverock]

My Nassarius snails are laying little egg packets on the glass... has anyone ever seen these hatch?

Well that is cool, propagation in a week old tank....amazing..:beer:..I see that all the time in my own tanks..., but in huge systems it is hard to say if the make it......

how do they look now?

can ya get a macro shot?

and it always happens around full moons, they all climb the glass and have fun!

Diving today was a pure joy. Flat calm, and the rock is absolutely exploding with life...the growth on it is really surprising me.... this new rock is amazing..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1632368
in it recruiting ability...the macros right now are stunning.

Makes it a lot of fun harvesting when the water is warm, and the sea calm.

Richard TBS:spin1::spin1::spin1:
www.tbsaltwater.com

 

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My tank has cycled! Zero ammonia for three days. I did a water change to pull off some of the nitrate and phosphorus which were high after the cycle finished.

The orange sponge just extended these collections of tubes which I assume are used for feeding. It was previously smooth with no openings.

The pink sponges have also opened, but they just have a series of dark circles, no tubes. The orange decorator crab is on top of the rock. It's really going to town with all kinds of debris glued to it since I first added it last week.

 

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Here's my cycled part 1 waiting for part 2! The snail eggs easiest to see are the white dots in a string in the top right. However, there are more eggs all over the glass every morning. I tried to take a close up of an egg sac but it just came out blurry. Each white dot is actually about a dozen little round white eggs inside a clear ovoid case. The dots start out round but some of the older ones change shape and move around inside the clear case. They still don't look like snails... but I'll try to snap a pick if some hatch.