Ben's Tank

[seffieuk]

Cheers Trod, ive no idea then. Still not doing too much. Kinda stays in the darkness. Hope it wasnt too late for it. Pods need to hurry up and come.

oh btw what do you feed you pod culture? phyto?

thx

Yes, i feed my culture phyto and occasionaly I drop a cube of food in - maybe once a month.

There are a number of features which can be used
to differentiate between the sexes. The males tend to be larger and
more robust than the females. The caudal and soft dorsal fins are
larger in the male and the male tends to have more orange on it's
face. However, the most distinctive difference is in the dorsal fin.
The males have a greatly elongated first dorsal spine while females
do not.

So, dorsal spine or no spine?

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

couldnt tell you...h/shes still only hiding. can seeit and its deffinatly alive. Just wont venture out. Hope it livens up. Really hope it wasnt starving in the LFS and too far gone.

pods expected very soon.

 

[seffieuk]

couldnt tell you...h/shes still only hiding. can seeit and its deffinatly alive. Just wont venture out. Hope it livens up. Really hope it wasnt starving in the LFS and too far gone.

pods expected very soon.

Ben, It is really obvious if s/he was starving, they get so painfully thin - certainly not plump like you talked about Trods Mandarin hid for a long while, whist mine was out and about quickly, don't think there is any hard and fast rule. Get the extra pods in your tank as soon as possible, put them in when the lights are out or the other fish will eat them all!

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

Id say it looks a similar build to that one...and looking at the fin on that i would say mines a girly

 

[seffieuk]

Id say it looks a similar build to that one...and looking at the fin on that i would say mines a girly

So we all have girlies

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

Did you get you pods from reefworks? I got an e mail from them yesterday advising me that mine would be delayed because they didn't want to send them out in freezing temps. which is fair enough, no good if they arrive dead I really must start up my own pod farm as seffie has done, its quite frustrating waiting for the delivery each week
Are you going to start one yourself Ben? Seffie says its really easy and if she can do it......................... Only joking sis

 

[scott133]

HI ben

what lights do you use for your hard corals and do you use ro water


thanks scott

 

[ben1987]

Yeah reefworks. The plan was to add half to a plastic tub, add air pump, sand and like some hidey holes. Put that in the sump so it would have a light source over night.
Then add the other half to the tank near where the mandarin hides at night once the lights go out. Then maybe order a couple more to make sure.

HI ben

what lights do you use for your hard corals and do you use ro water


thanks scott

Hi scott. Yeah i use RO water. Then i have metal halide lighting. I have a 150w one at the minute but a 250w ready to be put on when i have time as i really want to get into SPS soon

 

[seffieuk]

Ben, you don't need the sand in the pod culture just bare bottom. And as my dear sister says if I can do it anyone can

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

ooo ok...cheers

 

[BigC]

Pods are easy Ben Rotifers take a little more effort.
See pic below of my basic Pod culture vessels. (Old pic, old sump and pre-skimmer installation but still the same set-up)

BigC

 

[ben1987]

Thx for that BigC are they just airlines?

 

[seffieuk]

Yep, just airlines

Seffie x

 

[BigC]

As Seff above.
You dont blast the critters with air though just a steady flow of slow bubbles. I use an Algarde plastic gang-valve and hoof the extra from the pump into the skimmer air intake. The skimmer works a lot better with the extra air input.
As for the copepods draw water outta the vessel with a meat/turkey baster and squirt it onto a cotton hanky draped over a jam-jar. then I flush this with new saltwater. and then wiggle the hanky in the tank.
I replace the drawn off water in the pod vessel with new made-up saltwater and carry on feeding green water (photoplankton) Just enough to tinge the water green, it will clear in a couple of days and then just add more of the same. Dont worry if the culture gets low, they're a bit like daphnia it will regenerate after a couple of weeks, allow a couple of weeks until this happens otherwise you will be depletig your stock somewhat.
I also found out (by accident) that those vessels (large water drinking holders from Sainsburys, couple of squid each) are also magnificent for growing on BBS using the same method above. The baby shrimp must use the green water and grow to adults. Extra food for me which is all good.
Hope that helps a little.
Regards
BigC

 

[ben1987]

Cheers mate, looks easy enough

Get your phyto off ebay?