Tank Thread Tank reached 38 years old...in 2009!

[Paul B]

Now that I can see that "Slug" better I can see that it is a nudibranch and is probably snacking on my colt coral.
On another note:
Yesterday I collected a batch of mud from the Long Island Sound. I had to try a few different places because in some places below 1/4" there is hydrogen sulfide. Those places are where the mud is too fine and no oxygen can penetrate. I found another place which was sandier and was perfect. The hydrogen sulfide was down about 6" so I colllected above that.
Under a microscope the mud is teeming with tiny worms, pods and an assortment of other life. Some of this I added to my reef.
I also had some mud which I collected about 6 months ago and I checked that out under the microscope also. That older mud had lost much of it's life. I knew that it would being it was in a small container for a long time with hardly any food input.

 

[Paul B]

A couple of days ago something spawned in my tank at night. Not a fish because I can usually see when they spawn but probably the urchins or a coral. I can tell by the smell.
Usually a salt tank has kind of a fresh salty smell but I immediately noticed an odor and the water was slightly milky.
I know from experience that it was not the smell of something dead but the unmistakable musty odor of a spawning.
Another clue was that the corals looked better than usual, not worse.
The smell disapated in a day with no help from me and the water cleared. Yesterday a pair of gobies spawned but those eggs stay in one place and do not smell. Not in the small amount that gobies lay anyway.
I know the smell of spawning from when 24 urchins all spawned at the same time.
Also my skimmer was pumping out a lot of waste which was whatever eggs or sperm was in the water.
I have been away for a few days and diden't notice anything that looked like it was ready to spawn but sometimes it is hard to tell.
There are things I discover in my tank occasionally and don't know if they came from local water or the tropics.
I have not added local water since last fall and no rocks in years, or decades. I did add some corals and I assume some of these things came in with them as babies.
Spawnings are usually a good sign but urchins will spawn in response to changing water conditions.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[Paul B]

To update those 5 bumblebee gobies, they are all going great and now for some reason they spread out all over the tank. Ever since I have had them they hid around the right side of the tank toward the back. Now they swim around like "regular" fish.
They still stay a few inches apart from each other though.
One of my larger gobies spawned the other day so they had a feast. They battle their way around the larger fish to get to worms and they still get new born brine every day as all the fish do. I think I can say that these gobies can acclimate to full salt and can live in it indefinately. They are very colorful and striking, peaceful toward other fish, easy to feed, (as long as you give them meaty foods) and real cheap. What else can you ask for?

 

[Paul B]

Yesterday I collected some nice cold Atlantic Ocean water. My fish are getting a treat for Memorial day.

Speaking of Memorial Day, lets remember what this day was made for.

Have a great Holiday.
Paul :usa1:

 

[Paul B]

Another update on this old thread. My bluestripped pipefish are again full of eggs which happens every month or so and that urchin again stole that coral, but this time he left it in the dark in a place where I can't get to unless I dis mantle the tank which I am not going to do. I think he will pick it up again and deposit it in a place where I can get it so I can glue it to an even larger rock.
Today before the lights came on I noticed a slug of some type about an inch long that had a small shell on it's back. I forgot what you call them but they are kind of a half snail and half slug.
As soon as I put the flashlight beam on him he ran away. Well slithered away. I never saw him again or that other nudibranch that I posted a month ago.
I also noticed today a large colony of fan worms. I first thought they were corals but they are red fan worms. I usually find these under rocks but these are up on top of the rocks so they may be a different type.
All 5 bumblebees are doing fine and they swim all over the place.
My bubble coral fell onto the green star polyps (no doubt with help from that urchin) and the bubble lost about 2 square inches of flesh. The star polyps look fine. Just one of the pitfalls of a reef.
I hope everyone is well.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[DHaut]

Sounds like the slug is a stomatella. Love those - amazing CUC members!

 

[Social D]

Wow your tank is the same age as me give or take a week, This must be a world record for the longest home tank on the go - Never heard of anything in the UK come close to this !!!

 

[Paul B]

Never heard of anything in the UK come close to this !!!

Yeah, the Beatles were popular longer than that. I remember them at Shea Stadium.

I just got this watchman, he looks like he just saw a Stomella

 

[Paul B]

I would have sweared my tank was getting ready for an algae outbreak but for some reason, it went the other way and there is absolutely no algae to be found, which is scary. I always want to see a little algae. There is some in the bottles but thats about it.
I think I will feed more.
There is also an explosion of tiny snails. I can't tell what type yet because they are about this size -------> . <-------
I don't have any snails that I know of except that half, snail, half slug thing that I forget it's name. (Oh yeah stomalla) I also have local mud snails but I have another tank of those and these babies look different. I know they are algae eating snails because they are only on spots on the glass where I missed in cleaning.
If I get time I will put one under my electron microscope, which is really a jeweler's loupe and a flashlight

It is a boating day so I will be collecting some amphipods, shrimp and seaweed.
Have a great day, I hope it isn't raining where you are .
Paul

 

[Paul B]

I know I talk alot about blackworms, (I know I talk a lot anyway)
But another use for these fantastic oil filled creatures is for feeding corals. I feed these to bubble corals and any type of cup coral that normally will eat. A couple of worms on their disk causes the animal to slowly close up. Of course the fish gobble up the worms fast so I have to trick the coral to close by touching their outer rim. When the coral closes enough so that there is only a small hole left, I shoot 15 or so worms in there. Then the coral closes fully and re opens in about 45 minutes with a big smile on his face. Well somewhat.
Here he is just after a meal.

This is the same animal, but this picture is old, the coral is almost twice this size now which is about 9" across.

Of course one of these helps greatly and I could not have a reef without it.

I also feed Bubble corals with this method. I just shoot a few worms between some large bubbles and some tentacles start to emerge. Then I shoot a few worms in a few different places. The corals open larger and much better looking.

 

[Paul B]

My algae trough seems to be doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It is full of algae, it looks like a combination of hair algae and some other type but absolutely none of it is growing in my reef as you can see by this picture I took two days ago.

:p

 

[Paul B]

I have five or six very large mojanos which were all living on the same rock. They have recently started to migrate off the rock to other places which they are forbidden to do
They think I don't notice because they move a little each night, now all but one is off the rock which they have been on for over a year.
I was born at night, but not last night.
I gave them a stern talking to and if they are not back where they are supposed to be in a few days, they will be in my mojano eradication experiments.
I already stopped their meals of fish eggs.
This is their baby pictures

 

[jason18]

Sorry to hear tht you have majanoes too..

 

[jsvokowest]

where do you go collecting again. seeing your success with NSW does away with all my worries about collecting from the gardiners island area. do you do anything to treat the water or just let it age.

 

[Paul B]

Sorry to hear tht you have majanoes too..

Jason, nothing to be sorry about. These are an experiment and are almost 2" across. I wanted to see how large I could grow them. There are only a few of them and I think they are a different type than the kind that multiply all over the place. I have had them but I eliminated them. These look like regular bubble tips and they don't bother anything. I even like them

where do you go collecting again. seeing your success with NSW does away with all my worries about collecting from the gardiners island area. do you do anything to treat the water or just let it age.

I collect creatures in Port Washington but I collect water farther out in the Sound or in the Atlantic beaches.
Gardener's Island would be perfect. I am going to a wedding on Shelter Island today not far from Gardeners but I won't be collecting obviousely.
Usually I don't do anything to the water except add some salt. The water here is a little weak. I do strain it through a coffee filter if it has a lot of floating stuff or those tiny jellyfish.

 

[jsvokowest]

that where my dads house is are you going to rams head or the old pridwin hotel for the wedding. if you ask someone where shell beach is you could do some nice collecting in your tuxedo. wish i was out there this weekend and been able to shake hands with the legend

 

[Paul B]

wish i was out there this weekend and been able to shake hands with the legend

Jsvokowest, Thanks but I am just a retired electrician and a hobbiest like you are.
The wedding was great. it was not in a catering hall as I am very tired of those.
I also really dislike Manhattan weddings and I have two of them coming up in the Seaport. This one was in the parents of the bride's home on the water on Shelter Island. The house is surrounded on 3 sides by water in a wooded bay. It was one of the most beautiful places for a wedding I have ever seen. They had a tent in case it rained, a large tent as there were over 200 people there. The groom has a 1950 chevy which had the Just Married on the windows and tin cans tied to the bumper on ribbons. A really nice wedding. No Tuxedoes, not even in the wedding party. Thats the best part. No suits either. The guy who invented tuxedoes should have been shot, stupid invention.

 

[Awibrandy]

Just as lovely as ever! Thanks for sharing Paul!! Glad you enjoyed the wedding, sounds like a gorgeous place...........

 

[Paul B]

Awilda, the wedding was very nice. This is the saltwater cove that surrounds their property. It is an inlet off of Peconic between the North and South forks of Long Island

 

[SoGOOD]

congrats!!!