another step by step account

[dbacksrat]

i put a piece of LR from my tank into the Q tank--along with a hermit crab...this morning i saw what appeared to be the body of the hermit crab on the bare bottom this morning--then the shell moved, and out poked my newly molted hermit crab...it scared the hell outta me, but i'm glad he's all right...whew

cyano is still a challenge, but i'm now using 100% RO water from the Penguin/Glacier machines outside of the supermarket...1 trip every week is getting a little annoying--an RO unit is definetly looking good right about now

 

[1979camaro]

xmas present...can get a pretty good one for like $140...problem solved

anthias are difficult little fish...i wanted one but decided i wasnt up for the feeding regimen and fragility of them

 

[dbacksrat]

yeah the little tag said "need special care"--so i'll pass on those for now
i'm already getting a $160 orbit PC light fixture (it has moonlights AND fans)

 

[S.Reef]

LOL...your fish store is pretty funny. I gurantee they dont feed the fish 6 times a day. Mysis is a good choice too.

Good luck

 

[dbacksrat]

hey--i noticed a maroon "hairy" thing (with the emphasis on thing" with the diameter less than a pencil--i know its next to impossible to identify w/o a pic, but oh well
any idea what the hey it is?

 

[dbacksrat]

here's a good pic--notice the yellow watchman goby in the center

 

[S.Reef]

Cool.

 

[dbacksrat]

i had the camera focused on the ywg, but then my clown zipped in right as i took the pic

 

[1979camaro]

nice pic

 

[dbacksrat]

another update--today i dropped $48 at my favorite lfs--$29 on an interesting purple leather cabbage coral, $5 each on two loose mushrooms (both spotted), and $5 on 2 astrea snails, one of which i believe to be dead before arriving home
i don't know if i've said this yet, but for christmas i got a 2x65 watt orbit pc fixture i've begun to notice things that i'd have never seen with normal flourescent, such as featherdusters and tiny bugs (i doubt they are pods)

 

[dbacksrat]

a so-so pic of the cabbage coral on the first day...hmm

 

[dbacksrat]

a pic of the spotted mushroom i got for $5--it has since fully extended

 

[1979camaro]

very good sir!

FYI: the first one's scientific name is Sinularia dura, the second Discosoma or Actinodiscus (depends on who you ask)

ive heard good things about those orbits...what light combination is it in there? one 10000k and one actinic?

 

[wayne]

I'd go for a 10K and something higher but not an actinic. Actinic is ornamental rather than useful light. Can you get a 20K?

 

[dbacksrat]

umm--i can't get back to you on the light combo yet...
yesterday i noticed three pods (the first ever in my tank) from the lr the coral was attached to...and some small worms, and some aiptasia

 

[dbacksrat]

can i use superglue to attach the two loose shrooms to the lr? yesterday my clown knocked the larger one into an inaccessible cave--i had to burrow under the structure and extract it

 

[1979camaro]

if they have some rubble attached to them then you can super glue them down, otherwise that isnt usually very succesful. what i would do is try to use bridal veil to sort of tie them down to a piece of LR for a week and they should anchor themselves. another option is to get a plastic cup and cut holes through the side to allow water to pass...fill the bottom with some rubble (we are talking 1/4in sze minimum) and put the mushrooms in the cup for a few days

 

[dbacksrat]

yesterday i noticed something zipping around in between some rocks--looked like maybe a pod or a shrimp

 

[dbacksrat]

1-9-05: today i noticed two brittlestars about the size of a half dollar (maybe a little smaller) that came in on the coral attached to a piece of LR...no pics, but they are pretty sweet looking

 

[1979camaro]

very cool...how are the shrooms doing?

sounds like things are really coming along well for you!