Already found my first hitchhiker. Saw him in my Zoa's as soon as they were in the water. Pretty sure it is some sort of brittle star. I thought it was a worm at first, but then I saw more of them poking out. Really tiny. Have only seen maybe a half inch of whatever he is. But he basically is a white and red alternating striped looking arm with "bristles" running down both sides. The only reason I think it is a starfish is because when I put a gloved finger next to it, about 4 more "things" showed up and they all wrapped around my finger. But when I grabbed one and pulled, it gave me resistance and then snapped. So I figure I have a starfish in my Zoa-rock with a missing arm.
Paul's AquaPod 24G Specs and Build Thread
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So yeah, now that I have turned off my lights for the night, every few minutes I hear a clicking sound coming from my tank. I am sitting about 10 feet away from it watching TV and I can still hear it. Sounds like I have a Mantis hitchhiker. I went over to see if I could spot him and instead I saw about 5 tiny white snails crawling all over my Zoa's. They are so small that they must be juvenile/newly hatched snails that came along with my Zoa Rock. They look like turbo's but are white and about the size of a grain of rice. I can't wait to see what comes out of this rock next. It is crazy that so much un-intentional life came along with this rock since I watched the guy in the store "swish" and shake my rock back and forth underwater for about 20 seconds to flush out any "free" things I might get.
My clown goby seemed like he wasn't interested in the pellet food that I had been trying to feed him. And I haven't seen him eat anything since I bought him. So I decided to make my own frozen food for him. Went to the store and bought 7 of those large grey "shrimp/prawns" and 6 Scallops. Threw them in my "Magic Bullet" with a little bit of water and in a few seconds I had a mushy/smelly mess that I threw in some ziplock bags to freeze into sheets. I put some in my tank and the goby actually looked like he was eating a little of it. But I am still worried that he isn't eating enough.
Next time I make food I am going to throw in some of the pellet food to blend. I wish I had remembered to do that this time.
Fragged my Zoas onto some smaller rocks. The rock I had purchased was just way to big for my Nano. Did a mixure of the "hammer smash" approach to the original rock as well as the "surgeons scalpel" to get some smaller groups off the large rock to superglue onto new rocks. All the pieces seem to be doing well and each frag has at least opened a few polyps. So I think I did pretty well for my first "fragging". Now we will have to wait and see if my lighting is good enough to get the frags to grow and expand.
Next time I make food I am going to throw in some of the pellet food to blend. I wish I had remembered to do that this time.
Fragged my Zoas onto some smaller rocks. The rock I had purchased was just way to big for my Nano. Did a mixure of the "hammer smash" approach to the original rock as well as the "surgeons scalpel" to get some smaller groups off the large rock to superglue onto new rocks. All the pieces seem to be doing well and each frag has at least opened a few polyps. So I think I did pretty well for my first "fragging". Now we will have to wait and see if my lighting is good enough to get the frags to grow and expand.
I never figured out why the test color was so weird. But it basically went back to working a few days after that incident. It now seems to be giving me results that make sense. So I am still a little paraniod about the results that I get. Figure I will have the LFS test my water every time I go in. But my goby, shrimp, and crabs don't seem to be complaining yet.
Holy Crap;
I just noticed two of my Turbo Snails had been in the same spot all day so I pulled one out to see if he was dead. Let me tell you that the stench that hit me was so bad that I thought that I was going to puke. And that is a hard thing to do seeing as how I have been living with College students for 6 years now. I didn't even have his shell close to my face. I guess that explains why my tank water smelled kind of gross. After I stopped crying from the smell I checked out the second one and he was dead as well. Found that kind of weird that they died since my Astrea snails are still running around like crazy.
I just noticed two of my Turbo Snails had been in the same spot all day so I pulled one out to see if he was dead. Let me tell you that the stench that hit me was so bad that I thought that I was going to puke. And that is a hard thing to do seeing as how I have been living with College students for 6 years now. I didn't even have his shell close to my face. I guess that explains why my tank water smelled kind of gross. After I stopped crying from the smell I checked out the second one and he was dead as well. Found that kind of weird that they died since my Astrea snails are still running around like crazy.
The Goby hides ALL THE TIME. Even when I try to feed him. So these pictures were hard to get. Thats my excuse for why they are so blurry. The only thing I can see is that hs gills look kind of white compared to the rest of his body. But he doesn't seem to be breathing heavily or trying to be close to the surface. So I assume that he is getting a good supply of Oxygen.
My Conch wanted to say hi to you all as well......
My Conch wanted to say hi to you all as well......
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I didn't think I was going fast 8O
All I have is a clean up crew and a goby. But definately thanks for the comment. I am not getting any more fish for a while anyway. So the pace will be slow. No money, and I want to make sure this tank is really ready after that whole "snail death" episode.
All I have is a clean up crew and a goby. But definately thanks for the comment. I am not getting any more fish for a while anyway. So the pace will be slow. No money, and I want to make sure this tank is really ready after that whole "snail death" episode.
I had a 40W Dual Actinic 460nm/420nm bulb sitting around due to a shipping error from Dr. Foster and Smith. Decided to see if it would fit/run on the ballast that I have already in my hood. :idea: To my surprise, the ballast that comes with the tank is rated for 40W. But it ships with 32W bulbs installed.....Whatever. So I pulled out the 32W Actinic and threw in the 40W. Im thinking about doing the same for the daylight bulb. Seems like an easy way to go from 64W to 80W for about 15 bucks. 
I also switched the bulbs around so that the Actinic bulb runs with the fan instead of the daylight bulb. Did this because I have the Actinic coming on an hour before and turning off an hour after the daylight bulb. So switching the fan made sense. Removed the fan cover from the empty fan bay since I have heard that this helps temperature control. Going to put a second fan in there when I find one in my computer junk drawer.
Did some minor re-decorating with my live rock to give more floor room/swimming space for my future fish. I had way too many caves/holes/tunnels leading to nowhere. A lot of wasted space where no light was even reaching. Since all I have is branch rock, it doesnt matter how hard I try to pack it together. I will always have an abundance of caves, overhangs and tunnels for my fish to hang out in. I'm not that worried about it since the Goby still seems to be able to find a place to hide where I can't see him. :wink: I know he is alive because whenever I look at my tank I see him peeking out at me. But whenever I even start to get off my couch he runs for cover like I am coming to whack him with a baseball bat. :twisted: Maybe once he realizes that I am the one that feeds him he will shape up and parade around for my enjoyment.
I also switched the bulbs around so that the Actinic bulb runs with the fan instead of the daylight bulb. Did this because I have the Actinic coming on an hour before and turning off an hour after the daylight bulb. So switching the fan made sense. Removed the fan cover from the empty fan bay since I have heard that this helps temperature control. Going to put a second fan in there when I find one in my computer junk drawer.
Did some minor re-decorating with my live rock to give more floor room/swimming space for my future fish. I had way too many caves/holes/tunnels leading to nowhere. A lot of wasted space where no light was even reaching. Since all I have is branch rock, it doesnt matter how hard I try to pack it together. I will always have an abundance of caves, overhangs and tunnels for my fish to hang out in. I'm not that worried about it since the Goby still seems to be able to find a place to hide where I can't see him. :wink: I know he is alive because whenever I look at my tank I see him peeking out at me. But whenever I even start to get off my couch he runs for cover like I am coming to whack him with a baseball bat. :twisted: Maybe once he realizes that I am the one that feeds him he will shape up and parade around for my enjoyment.
So I discovered that placing a tank against a wall is a bad idea if you need to get to the back of it to do any modifications while it is full of water/fish/rock. But apparently a window is a good idea as can be seen by my pictures. It was kind of not intended to be used this way but hey, it worked.
Backround on the situation is that I manage and have a free apartment within a Residence Hall/Dorm on a University Campus so I always keep my blinds closed. Don't want my students looking in on my personal life. So placing my tank against the window wasn't a problem since I treat that window like a wall. But when I wanted to add a light to the back chamber of my tank I couldn't figure out how to get access back there. Then it dawned on me ....... open the window, take out the screen and go to work. And hey, it worked well and I only got about 20 college students gathering around to watch the crazy boss-man working on a tank through an open window. So now I have a nice little Chaeto light and a new way to access the back of the tank.
Backround on the situation is that I manage and have a free apartment within a Residence Hall/Dorm on a University Campus so I always keep my blinds closed. Don't want my students looking in on my personal life. So placing my tank against the window wasn't a problem since I treat that window like a wall. But when I wanted to add a light to the back chamber of my tank I couldn't figure out how to get access back there. Then it dawned on me ....... open the window, take out the screen and go to work. And hey, it worked well and I only got about 20 college students gathering around to watch the crazy boss-man working on a tank through an open window. So now I have a nice little Chaeto light and a new way to access the back of the tank.
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UPDATE:
I am working on replacing/adding a fan or two as well as widening the vent slots on my hood. When I added the higher wattage bulbs and the "Chaeto Light" to the back compartment, the averager temp of my tank went up to about 83 from 79. I know this isn't a super high temperature, but I would like to get it down to around 79 again. I will post pics of the finished job.
I am working on replacing/adding a fan or two as well as widening the vent slots on my hood. When I added the higher wattage bulbs and the "Chaeto Light" to the back compartment, the averager temp of my tank went up to about 83 from 79. I know this isn't a super high temperature, but I would like to get it down to around 79 again. I will post pics of the finished job.
Pod explosion. I just looked over at the tank and thought that the glass looked kind of dirty. So I took a closer look and HOLY CRAP, there were pods all over the front glass. Never saw even one before now. Surprised me how fast they showed up since I am always staring into my tank and never saw any. Guess that means my tank is doing well and still balancing out. Maybe I will go buy a Mandarin.........just kidding.
Fish Update:
Goby is always out and around the tank now. I think he just needed some time to figure things out and decide that I was the one to impress in order to get food. I'm going to get a tiny little Perc to keep the Goby company. I'm pretty much stopping the fish purchases there and just have the two since I know Perc's are high load. The plan is to add some more Zoa's or something easy and not light intensive. LFS has 25% off sale this weekend so I might go check that out.
Goby is always out and around the tank now. I think he just needed some time to figure things out and decide that I was the one to impress in order to get food. I'm going to get a tiny little Perc to keep the Goby company. I'm pretty much stopping the fish purchases there and just have the two since I know Perc's are high load. The plan is to add some more Zoa's or something easy and not light intensive. LFS has 25% off sale this weekend so I might go check that out.
:idea: Moral of the story up front: :idea:
Don't buy all Branch Rock for your Nano. I have had more trouble aquascaping with this stuff than I could ever imagine if I had some "normal" shaped rock. :evil:
So I took a long hard look at my pile of sticks and really tried to envision where I would be able to place any frags that I buy in the future. I really didnt have much slope in the tank, it was pretty much a steep incline and I couldn't really see where I could place anything that needed light other than on the sand in the front. Since I wanted to go out and buy my little Perc today I figured it would be a good idea to re-arrange before he came home. Also would make sure the Goby was not going to freak out defending his territory when the Perc showed up. And lastly, because I had a butt-load of caves and crevases that the goby never even seemed to be interested in checking out. So I compacted my rock work so that it now appears to take up about half as much room in my tank. Same amount of rock, but half the caves, tunnels, and wasted space in the back with no light penetration. Also "attempted" to slope it as much as I could to allow for frag placement and Zoa spread.
The drawback is that now about half the coraline that I had growing is facing away from the light and I have all kinds of bleached white/light starved rock facing outwards. But thats ok, just that much more space for cool things to grow I suppose.
Added the Perc and the Goby back to the tank. They seem to be happy so far. I added some Purple-Up when I saw all that white rock. So it is cloudy, but I will post some clear pics when the dust/calcium settles.
Don't buy all Branch Rock for your Nano. I have had more trouble aquascaping with this stuff than I could ever imagine if I had some "normal" shaped rock. :evil:
So I took a long hard look at my pile of sticks and really tried to envision where I would be able to place any frags that I buy in the future. I really didnt have much slope in the tank, it was pretty much a steep incline and I couldn't really see where I could place anything that needed light other than on the sand in the front. Since I wanted to go out and buy my little Perc today I figured it would be a good idea to re-arrange before he came home. Also would make sure the Goby was not going to freak out defending his territory when the Perc showed up. And lastly, because I had a butt-load of caves and crevases that the goby never even seemed to be interested in checking out. So I compacted my rock work so that it now appears to take up about half as much room in my tank. Same amount of rock, but half the caves, tunnels, and wasted space in the back with no light penetration. Also "attempted" to slope it as much as I could to allow for frag placement and Zoa spread.
The drawback is that now about half the coraline that I had growing is facing away from the light and I have all kinds of bleached white/light starved rock facing outwards. But thats ok, just that much more space for cool things to grow I suppose.
Added the Perc and the Goby back to the tank. They seem to be happy so far. I added some Purple-Up when I saw all that white rock. So it is cloudy, but I will post some clear pics when the dust/calcium settles.
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