Ten gallon nano has begun
- Thread starter lordroad
- Start date
I love my little red guy. Amazingly, the store that got them had a 100% survival rate of the stock, all six survived the trip, acclimatization, and introduction to the LFS. And they looked great.
I've tried feeding him tiny bits of shrimp like I do the brittle star but it seems uninterested. However, I've been crumbling up formula one and turkey basting it into and on the pod pile... half an hour later the star was all over it, so I assume he was nibbling on the powder.
I need to take a really good full tank shot. But I'm just not satisfied with the shots. Have any advise on picture taking, OCC?
Those blue starfish are cool... is it a linckia you're looking at?
I think you should go for it as they are super cool looking. Be sure to acclimate em well, though.
I've tried feeding him tiny bits of shrimp like I do the brittle star but it seems uninterested. However, I've been crumbling up formula one and turkey basting it into and on the pod pile... half an hour later the star was all over it, so I assume he was nibbling on the powder.
I need to take a really good full tank shot. But I'm just not satisfied with the shots. Have any advise on picture taking, OCC?
Those blue starfish are cool... is it a linckia you're looking at?
I think you should go for it as they are super cool looking. Be sure to acclimate em well, though.
yea the linckia is what I was looking at, but im a littleweary about getting them because they get pretty big, and since I cant upgrade my tank soon I dont know if hes reasonable. What type of star fish is the one you have (like a name). I want to add something very exotic to add to my tank.
As for photos I just use a tripod and ussully instead of chasing the fish around I let them come to me. I dont really get to many good shots so Id be weary of taking my advice but thats what I do lol.
As for photos I just use a tripod and ussully instead of chasing the fish around I let them come to me. I dont really get to many good shots so Id be weary of taking my advice but thats what I do lol.
Frustrated, argghh
Some setbacks as of late. *ALL*
First of all, an apology to Camaro... last night I inadvertantly pulled out all my scroll algae. It was so overgrown that not only was it blocking out light for half my tank but collecting some nasty detritus that was clogging my HOB and powerhead on a semi-weekly basis. Very annoying. I only meant to trim it down to one patch, but the whole bulk of it came off like a bouquet... it was ****ing-a huge... actually made me think of a bridal bouquet in a Tim Burton movie
Another reason I yanked it out is my colt coral isn't doing so hot. I noticed this yesterday, it was droopy and didn't extend to its proper self. Today was even worse. Limp, discolored in some stalks (but oddly they color up again and another one seems dark), and just shrunken and unhealthy-looking.
Now some good news and some more bad news...
First, the good news involves my mandarin. I hate to speculate, but I really think he is eating cyclopese. After 3 days of feeding Cyclo 3-4 times a day in small amounts, he has appeared to have rounded off some in the abdomen. However, I'm not taking any chances. I ordered some seapods last week and they should be here by Friday or Saturday. My hope is daily Cyclo along with a monthly bottle of copes' will do the trick.
This also led to my droopy colt coral, I believe.
The overfeeding caused a spike. This wasn't helped by my yanking out the algae as crap was stirred up. Talking to Froggy today, I checked my ammonia, and yikes, it was at .15-.25. And I did my weekly water change yesterday. I then did the full routine of tests, and nitrites, nitrates, Ph, and salinity showed up at optimum levels (0, >5, 8.4, 1.023).
Only ammonia showed up. This may have been a fluke... I may have dropped in one too many drops, added too much water, whatever. I will test again tonight.
My tank just looks bleh right now. The rock where the algae was is barren, I foolishly rearranged my pod pile and that looks like crap and will require more work, and I'm worried about the colt coral. At least the mandarin is eating (I think)...
Oh, as a quick aside, the other day I saw the mandarin mauling a spaghetti worm out of its hole. It was hilarous, a tug of war. The worm retreated, unfortunately, but I was happy to see him gnawing on something other than little pods.
I would love to buy some of those "minty" zoas or the "skittle rock" from sharkysreef.com, but I just don't have the money right now, and I need to be sure the tank is stablized before I add anything else I could kill. Since knocking down the pod pile, it just looks ugly, and my mind has already latched onto the idea of zoos from sharky's covering that whole area...
Plan is to test for ammonia tonight, do another water change tomorrow if I need it, then test for nitrites to see if I'm getting a full cycle spike.
Oh, and here's a whole tank shot when my colt coral was looking niiiiiiiiice
My other corals, the GSP and brown button polyps, are looking fine. Thriving, in fact. GSP is growing and spreading fast.
Some setbacks as of late. *ALL*
First of all, an apology to Camaro... last night I inadvertantly pulled out all my scroll algae. It was so overgrown that not only was it blocking out light for half my tank but collecting some nasty detritus that was clogging my HOB and powerhead on a semi-weekly basis. Very annoying. I only meant to trim it down to one patch, but the whole bulk of it came off like a bouquet... it was ****ing-a huge... actually made me think of a bridal bouquet in a Tim Burton movie
Another reason I yanked it out is my colt coral isn't doing so hot. I noticed this yesterday, it was droopy and didn't extend to its proper self. Today was even worse. Limp, discolored in some stalks (but oddly they color up again and another one seems dark), and just shrunken and unhealthy-looking.
Now some good news and some more bad news...
First, the good news involves my mandarin. I hate to speculate, but I really think he is eating cyclopese. After 3 days of feeding Cyclo 3-4 times a day in small amounts, he has appeared to have rounded off some in the abdomen. However, I'm not taking any chances. I ordered some seapods last week and they should be here by Friday or Saturday. My hope is daily Cyclo along with a monthly bottle of copes' will do the trick.
This also led to my droopy colt coral, I believe.
The overfeeding caused a spike. This wasn't helped by my yanking out the algae as crap was stirred up. Talking to Froggy today, I checked my ammonia, and yikes, it was at .15-.25. And I did my weekly water change yesterday. I then did the full routine of tests, and nitrites, nitrates, Ph, and salinity showed up at optimum levels (0, >5, 8.4, 1.023).
Only ammonia showed up. This may have been a fluke... I may have dropped in one too many drops, added too much water, whatever. I will test again tonight.
My tank just looks bleh right now. The rock where the algae was is barren, I foolishly rearranged my pod pile and that looks like crap and will require more work, and I'm worried about the colt coral. At least the mandarin is eating (I think)...
Oh, as a quick aside, the other day I saw the mandarin mauling a spaghetti worm out of its hole. It was hilarous, a tug of war. The worm retreated, unfortunately, but I was happy to see him gnawing on something other than little pods.
I would love to buy some of those "minty" zoas or the "skittle rock" from sharkysreef.com, but I just don't have the money right now, and I need to be sure the tank is stablized before I add anything else I could kill. Since knocking down the pod pile, it just looks ugly, and my mind has already latched onto the idea of zoos from sharky's covering that whole area...
Plan is to test for ammonia tonight, do another water change tomorrow if I need it, then test for nitrites to see if I'm getting a full cycle spike.
Oh, and here's a whole tank shot when my colt coral was looking niiiiiiiiice
My other corals, the GSP and brown button polyps, are looking fine. Thriving, in fact. GSP is growing and spreading fast.
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thats a sweet picture Lord, but the scroll did look friggen huge. Do you think it will grow back or did you remove it entirley?
Thats awsome news that your mandarin seems to be eating! and thats awsome that hes fighting worms lol.
I really like your GSP in the corner of the tank, looks really nice.
awsome tank man
Thats awsome news that your mandarin seems to be eating! and thats awsome that hes fighting worms lol.
I really like your GSP in the corner of the tank, looks really nice.
awsome tank man
Thanks, OCC.
That algae was so stubborn coming up, and as I had removed half of it only a few weeks ago, I think it will sprout up again. I miss it, but only when I took it out did I realize how out of hand it was... it was growing out of the water and inhibiting water flow from the HOB, lol
Little bits at the root remained as it seemed buried in the rock.
That algae was so stubborn coming up, and as I had removed half of it only a few weeks ago, I think it will sprout up again. I miss it, but only when I took it out did I realize how out of hand it was... it was growing out of the water and inhibiting water flow from the HOB, lol
Little bits at the root remained as it seemed buried in the rock.
Thanks Camaro (and OCC) for the water circulation tip. I spun the outtake nozzle around last night and the coral seemed to perk up... however, I can't tell if I'm giving it too much movement or too little. Going to try it in other positions throughout the day and gauge its reaction.
I found this info from tidalgardens.com
"Cladiella will periodically retract its polyps and form a waxy film. This shrunken state may last a couple weeks before the film is shed and the polyps reextend. We believe this shedding is a healthy process that Cladiella employ to prevent nuisance algae from growing on it. This process can be aided by greater circulation around the coral."
Don't know about the waxy film, but I don't think it's my params as the fromia star and other corals are all fine. Ammonia still reads .25, but I think the test kit may be reading a little high.
I threw in some activated carbon to run for a few days and see what that does.
Anyone have similar experience with colts/tree corals/leathers?
I found this info from tidalgardens.com
"Cladiella will periodically retract its polyps and form a waxy film. This shrunken state may last a couple weeks before the film is shed and the polyps reextend. We believe this shedding is a healthy process that Cladiella employ to prevent nuisance algae from growing on it. This process can be aided by greater circulation around the coral."
Don't know about the waxy film, but I don't think it's my params as the fromia star and other corals are all fine. Ammonia still reads .25, but I think the test kit may be reading a little high.
I threw in some activated carbon to run for a few days and see what that does.
Anyone have similar experience with colts/tree corals/leathers?
Improvement for colt coral
Here's how it looked yesterday...
And today is attached below.
I bought another window fan for the bedroom and it's cooling the room much better. Also, the carbon is still running, so it may be taking out any toxin. Anyone have problems with this kind of coral and zoas and GSP?
Here's how it looked yesterday...
And today is attached below.
I bought another window fan for the bedroom and it's cooling the room much better. Also, the carbon is still running, so it may be taking out any toxin. Anyone have problems with this kind of coral and zoas and GSP?
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