"The Package"- Part 1 has arrived!
- Thread starter AFL
- Start date
:rollface:
lionbacker54
New member
we are waiting with baited breath...
Man, what an amazing batch of rocks and critters! Sorry for the delay, I'm fighting a nasty cold and didn't take many pictures last night.
Richard, thank you so much!
I've got a couple today, but I think I need to rethink my scaping to make room for some of the great corals Richard threw in! I'm still googling to try and figure out what some of this stuff is! One of the hitchhikers is DEFINITELY a decorator crab though! I hope he makes it through without being properly acclimated.... pics coming in a few minutes!
Richard, thank you so much!
I've got a couple today, but I think I need to rethink my scaping to make room for some of the great corals Richard threw in! I'm still googling to try and figure out what some of this stuff is! One of the hitchhikers is DEFINITELY a decorator crab though! I hope he makes it through without being properly acclimated.... pics coming in a few minutes!
And critters!
Clam:
Hermit cleaning up a sponge:
Tiger goby- He's still pretty shy, but does come out of the caves once in a while.
Shrimp! He is not shy at all, he's crawled on my hand a couple times while arranging things.
Snail checking out a starfish arm. (or vice versa)
And finally (for now) the sea squirt!
Clam:
Hermit cleaning up a sponge:
Tiger goby- He's still pretty shy, but does come out of the caves once in a while.
Shrimp! He is not shy at all, he's crawled on my hand a couple times while arranging things.
Snail checking out a starfish arm. (or vice versa)
And finally (for now) the sea squirt!
lionbacker54
New member
nice job AFL. thanks for posting.
More pics? You got it!
More pics? You got it!
Hey all, I was feeling like I was posting too many pics, so.... careful what you ask for, here they come!
Everything is going GREAT! My ammonia is at 0! Tiny crabs are starting to come out of hiding, no gorillas! There's one tine guy thats brown and white striped, the rest I believe are red mithrax. The decorator is still in there, but I have been unable to get a good picture of him so far... soon I hope. He hasnt done much decorating, he has his little crevice and he stays in it, popping his little red eyes out. The peppermint shrimp is fearless, and jumps on my finger for a ride anytime I've got a hand in the tank. The goby has a nice little home in a rock full of holes, and gets out and about every once in a while, when he's out he usually follows the pep.shrimp around. My porcelain crab is visible almost all day long, waving his fans around. I put a chunk of raw shrimp on a chopstick to see if anyone in the tank was interested, and the porcelain came running! He sat and ate right off the stick for a while. I gave a tiny bit of shrimp to the cup corals, and they grabbed hold quick and sucked it down. Of course the starfish got some too, again right off the stick. I'm pretty sure I've got a mantis also- No casualties yet. I'd really like to set up a species tank just for a mantis, but I havent seen it, can't tell where it's lair is, and have yet to try any of the trapping methods I've heard of on here... I don't want to trap him until I have a tank set up for him. Maybe next weekend....
The only thing that seems to be having a tough time is the yellow ball sponge... it started with a big 'bubble' on top, now it seems to have a mohawk of spikes running all around it. Pics below... not sure what to think of it. Anyone?
Madratter- I thought the same thing when I saw you were running a 12dx. What are you running in the compartments? In compartment 1- I have a tiny protein skimmer, in 2 I have a bag of filter floss that I change every 4 or 5 days so far, and compartment 3 is just the heater and return pump. I'm about to order new bulbs from nano tuners- one full daylight, and one true actinic, rather than the 50/50s it comes with, I'll let you know how that goes.
Noahm- It's a JBJ nanocube, so its covered well, thanks!
Helix149- You got it! here's some more pics!
"Big Red" Mithrax- (i think, right?)
"lil Red" Mithrax-
Snail- his leopard pattern is really neat.
Is this a turkeywing bivalve? It came attached to a jewel box clam as one of Richards bonus items! I thought it was just a dead shell the clam had attached to, so I buried in the sand to hold the clam up. It stayed buried for 2 days, then one morning I woke up to find my big gorgonian on floating in the corner, and this guy firmly attached to a rock 6" off the bottom of the tank, I wish I could have seen it moving.
Do clams have teeth?
More in next post......
More pics? You got it!
Hey all, I was feeling like I was posting too many pics, so.... careful what you ask for, here they come!
Everything is going GREAT! My ammonia is at 0! Tiny crabs are starting to come out of hiding, no gorillas! There's one tine guy thats brown and white striped, the rest I believe are red mithrax. The decorator is still in there, but I have been unable to get a good picture of him so far... soon I hope. He hasnt done much decorating, he has his little crevice and he stays in it, popping his little red eyes out. The peppermint shrimp is fearless, and jumps on my finger for a ride anytime I've got a hand in the tank. The goby has a nice little home in a rock full of holes, and gets out and about every once in a while, when he's out he usually follows the pep.shrimp around. My porcelain crab is visible almost all day long, waving his fans around. I put a chunk of raw shrimp on a chopstick to see if anyone in the tank was interested, and the porcelain came running! He sat and ate right off the stick for a while. I gave a tiny bit of shrimp to the cup corals, and they grabbed hold quick and sucked it down. Of course the starfish got some too, again right off the stick. I'm pretty sure I've got a mantis also- No casualties yet. I'd really like to set up a species tank just for a mantis, but I havent seen it, can't tell where it's lair is, and have yet to try any of the trapping methods I've heard of on here... I don't want to trap him until I have a tank set up for him. Maybe next weekend....
The only thing that seems to be having a tough time is the yellow ball sponge... it started with a big 'bubble' on top, now it seems to have a mohawk of spikes running all around it. Pics below... not sure what to think of it. Anyone?
Madratter- I thought the same thing when I saw you were running a 12dx. What are you running in the compartments? In compartment 1- I have a tiny protein skimmer, in 2 I have a bag of filter floss that I change every 4 or 5 days so far, and compartment 3 is just the heater and return pump. I'm about to order new bulbs from nano tuners- one full daylight, and one true actinic, rather than the 50/50s it comes with, I'll let you know how that goes.
Noahm- It's a JBJ nanocube, so its covered well, thanks!
Helix149- You got it! here's some more pics!
"Big Red" Mithrax- (i think, right?)
"lil Red" Mithrax-
Snail- his leopard pattern is really neat.
Is this a turkeywing bivalve? It came attached to a jewel box clam as one of Richards bonus items! I thought it was just a dead shell the clam had attached to, so I buried in the sand to hold the clam up. It stayed buried for 2 days, then one morning I woke up to find my big gorgonian on floating in the corner, and this guy firmly attached to a rock 6" off the bottom of the tank, I wish I could have seen it moving.
Do clams have teeth?
More in next post......
more pics!
Any idea what this black thing is? There are a couple of them on different rocks, if one of the CUC crawls over them, they shrink down and close that little tube in a hurry.
Here's my porcelain eating from a chopstick.
Serpent star grabbin some shrimp:
Here's that exploding yellow sponge-
Another shot-
That's it for now!
Any idea what this black thing is? There are a couple of them on different rocks, if one of the CUC crawls over them, they shrink down and close that little tube in a hurry.
Here's my porcelain eating from a chopstick.
Serpent star grabbin some shrimp:
Here's that exploding yellow sponge-
Another shot-
That's it for now!
liverock
RC Sponsor
You make it look easy!
You make it look easy!
You know you have done a really EXCELLENT job with your tank......
I am amazed at your astuteness!
Small tanks are not easy...you have made this look very easy....good job.
One little bit of info.....you have an incredible amount of life in that very small water volume.....so you really need to be on top of any changes on any inhabitants.....especially sponges...if in doubt use you nose.....if it is not right, ditch it....trying to save one inhabitant is not worth the rest of your tank.....this is not so, crucial in larger tanks, but a small one like your can be unforgiving...so just be aware...
but from the looks of things,, you knew that and have done a KILLER job with your tank...
On another note....was very special today on the Gulf.....I dropped the anchor, looked over the side and could see the grouper...almost xtal clear today, very rare for the Gulf...as usually vis is non existent...I see maybe 3 days a year like this....so am going again tomorrow just to "enjoy" work!
sea ya
Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
You make it look easy!
You know you have done a really EXCELLENT job with your tank......
I am amazed at your astuteness!
Small tanks are not easy...you have made this look very easy....good job.
One little bit of info.....you have an incredible amount of life in that very small water volume.....so you really need to be on top of any changes on any inhabitants.....especially sponges...if in doubt use you nose.....if it is not right, ditch it....trying to save one inhabitant is not worth the rest of your tank.....this is not so, crucial in larger tanks, but a small one like your can be unforgiving...so just be aware...
but from the looks of things,, you knew that and have done a KILLER job with your tank...
On another note....was very special today on the Gulf.....I dropped the anchor, looked over the side and could see the grouper...almost xtal clear today, very rare for the Gulf...as usually vis is non existent...I see maybe 3 days a year like this....so am going again tomorrow just to "enjoy" work!
sea ya
Richard TBS
:rollface: :rollface: :rollface:
Thanks for the feedback Richard! I knew going in that I have less of a safety buffer with such a small tank, but I wanted that challenge to kick me back into gear. Although this is my first reef- I have had fresh and marine fish only tanks for over 10 years, and then nothing since I moved into my current house almost 8 years ago. As I've mentioned, I'm planning a 150g-ish in wall build, and wanted a small reef to see if that's the way I want to go, and to get me back in the habit of tests and water changes, etc... It looks like I may be selling a little bit of stock earlier than expected, so that in-wall build may be soon....
As for my 12g (as I'm sure Madratter would agree) following your cycling and acclimation instructions, and of course, the incredible quality of the TBS sand, rock and cuc- has made this much easier than I expected. It's still work, and I advise anyone interested to do as much reading as you can, and come into it with a plan.
I'll give that yellow ball a whiff tonight and see if its on its way out or not.
Thanks again Richard!
As for my 12g (as I'm sure Madratter would agree) following your cycling and acclimation instructions, and of course, the incredible quality of the TBS sand, rock and cuc- has made this much easier than I expected. It's still work, and I advise anyone interested to do as much reading as you can, and come into it with a plan.
I'll give that yellow ball a whiff tonight and see if its on its way out or not.
Thanks again Richard!
