I started a 40 gallon tank in Sept 2006 using just the package from Richard. I had no prior aquarium experience (other than a beta in a fish bowl...). I thought I'd write to share my experience. In short, keeping this tank has been way easier than I'd ever imagined. I believe that much of that credit goes to TBS for the quality live rock package. Thanks Richard - your rocks and critters have provided endless hours of enjoyment and fascination!
My tank today (I'll try to add pictures later):
- Purple coraline algae has pretty much covered the back wall and there's a fair amount on the rocks.
- The two anenomes (condy and flower) are doing well as is the gorgonian .
- Two jewel box clams that came on the rocks (2-3" in diameter) are...well...happy as clams.
- The shrimp and one cuke are there. The other cuke was lost early on in a skimmer pump accident.
- At least three porcelain crabs are still waving enthusiastically.
- The hitchhiker tiger goby is happier than the clams.
- The serpent star grows larger and more horror movie looking by the month. A smaller red striped star that was a hitchhiker is still there as well along with many small white/grayish ones that live under just about every rock.
- There are a few (mostly orange and white) sponges still around along with a yellow one.
- About 1/3 of the tube coral is still alive along with several cup corals.
- I restocked hermits and snails but about 6 or 8 of the original snails are still there and three of the original hermits.
Mantis/Gorillas:
- A mantis from the first part went to the LFS and several gorillas went the way of the sharp pointy stick early on.
- I kept a second mantis. First, I couldn't catch him and then he grew on me. When I restocked hermits and snails after a year, I had to make the difficult decision to remove him. He was fun to watch but I finally decided that he had to go. I wanted to start a second tank for him but a second tank just isn't in the cards right now.
A few days later, the snapping started again - it woke me up from a dead sleep at 2am. I cannot believe that, with all of the hours that I've sat in front of that tank, I have not seen whatever that is. How can a mantis (or pistol...geez I hope it's a pistol shrimp) live in that tank for 27 months and I've never seen it?? Nothing will drive you crazier than to make the decision to get rid of your mantis only to find out you have another one lurking!
- There are still a couple of small gorillas. There was a big one that I killed a couple of months ago that I witnessed committing unsavory acts.
Care and feeding:
- I change 10% of the water every couple of weeks (sometimes every week, sometimes only once a month). I usually use distilled water from the grocery store but I started the tank on tap water and still use it on occasion since it seems to work just fine.
- Nitrates, phosphates, ph, etc are all right on.
- I feed the anenomes, stars, and anyone else who seems hungry (inculding the mantis when he was there) every week or so with frozen shrimp, scallops or the occasional fresh oyster.
- I use the recommended amount (per the label) of Reef Chili once or twice per week.
- I replaced the CF bulbs after one year. I have one 10000k and one blue bulb on about 8 hours/day.
The only problem that I really have is with red algae (cyano). I had a hair algae problem but adding hermits cured that in a hurry. I'm going to add another powerhead or two and see if the extra flow helps with the red algae, otherwise, I just vacuum it off of the rocks when I change the water - it's really not a big deal.
This ended up a little wordy, but there's a lot to say about a TBS tank after a year!!
John
My tank today (I'll try to add pictures later):
- Purple coraline algae has pretty much covered the back wall and there's a fair amount on the rocks.
- The two anenomes (condy and flower) are doing well as is the gorgonian .
- Two jewel box clams that came on the rocks (2-3" in diameter) are...well...happy as clams.
- The shrimp and one cuke are there. The other cuke was lost early on in a skimmer pump accident.
- At least three porcelain crabs are still waving enthusiastically.
- The hitchhiker tiger goby is happier than the clams.
- The serpent star grows larger and more horror movie looking by the month. A smaller red striped star that was a hitchhiker is still there as well along with many small white/grayish ones that live under just about every rock.
- There are a few (mostly orange and white) sponges still around along with a yellow one.
- About 1/3 of the tube coral is still alive along with several cup corals.
- I restocked hermits and snails but about 6 or 8 of the original snails are still there and three of the original hermits.
Mantis/Gorillas:
- A mantis from the first part went to the LFS and several gorillas went the way of the sharp pointy stick early on.
- I kept a second mantis. First, I couldn't catch him and then he grew on me. When I restocked hermits and snails after a year, I had to make the difficult decision to remove him. He was fun to watch but I finally decided that he had to go. I wanted to start a second tank for him but a second tank just isn't in the cards right now.
A few days later, the snapping started again - it woke me up from a dead sleep at 2am. I cannot believe that, with all of the hours that I've sat in front of that tank, I have not seen whatever that is. How can a mantis (or pistol...geez I hope it's a pistol shrimp) live in that tank for 27 months and I've never seen it?? Nothing will drive you crazier than to make the decision to get rid of your mantis only to find out you have another one lurking!
- There are still a couple of small gorillas. There was a big one that I killed a couple of months ago that I witnessed committing unsavory acts.
Care and feeding:
- I change 10% of the water every couple of weeks (sometimes every week, sometimes only once a month). I usually use distilled water from the grocery store but I started the tank on tap water and still use it on occasion since it seems to work just fine.
- Nitrates, phosphates, ph, etc are all right on.
- I feed the anenomes, stars, and anyone else who seems hungry (inculding the mantis when he was there) every week or so with frozen shrimp, scallops or the occasional fresh oyster.
- I use the recommended amount (per the label) of Reef Chili once or twice per week.
- I replaced the CF bulbs after one year. I have one 10000k and one blue bulb on about 8 hours/day.
The only problem that I really have is with red algae (cyano). I had a hair algae problem but adding hermits cured that in a hurry. I'm going to add another powerhead or two and see if the extra flow helps with the red algae, otherwise, I just vacuum it off of the rocks when I change the water - it's really not a big deal.
This ended up a little wordy, but there's a lot to say about a TBS tank after a year!!
John
