Hobbits 12 Gallon Journal

[Hobbit]

ok, my tank has been up for a while, and I'm sure SkiFleth is about dead by all my questions. Another thanks out to SH for his journals, and answers. My tank is a Eclipse 12. I didnt start this journal on the net, bu i've been writing notes for a while by hand. I'll just type 'em all up!


12 US gallon
21 W lighting
10 lbs of black reef sand
7 lbs of Live rock

STOCKING
option 1
4 nassarius snails
4 Cerith snails
4 astreas snails
1 Mexican Turbo Snail
1 fighting Conch
6 dwarf hermits (species undecided)
1 goby (undecided)
1 Randalli Pistol shrimp
1 fire shrimp
1 O. Clown?

zoos, polyops, 'shrooms, leathers, bubble tip

Option 2
2 ------ snails (species?)
2 ------ snails (species?)
1 ------ urchin (species?)
1 Gonodactylus smithii Mantis



Probably going to go with option 1. All i need right now is a test kit, a light, a couple powerheads, and a CUC. w/ 7 pounds of LR right now, how much more should i get? I was thinking about 8. @ 2.70/lbs w/ $9 shipping, it comes to $30.60. The test kit is about $20, and the light is 103.88 w/ tax.Depending on how the tank looks, maybe i wont get so much LR. I do want that much though. Maybe more.I have a bottle under a piece of LR, and some rubble on the right side of the tank, and thats where the pistol shrmp would live once i got him. I would get him to live there by using plastic to keep him there until he made it his cave. Then i would remove it, and he'd live there.I dont want a single island, or clump of LR. I want that little cave setup on the left side, against the side of the tank, and a large incline of the right side corner. Thats where my cleaner, hermits, and anemones could all climb up and live. I want zoos, and maybe a feather duster over by the bottle cave, and some leathers at the base of the large slope, with a bubble tip about halfway up, and SOMETHING at the top. I dunno what. Any suggestions?

 

[Hobbit]

this entry was about a week later:

Im really leaning towards the mantis. I would have to have a piece of acrylic cut to put on the bottom though, so he wouldnt break the bottom. With it, I would have an urchin, and my tubo snail. maybe others. I want the same coral planes, no matter what option i want, and i want the rocks to be the same. The only problems i see with this is algea buildup, because i cant put a whole lot in there, cause my mantis might cnage his mind of snail roomates. I read somewhere that a mantis can't crack an acrylic tank. I sure hope thats true.I doubt it. I will upgrade to a 96 w quad retrofit light.



Thats all i've done so far. I lost my other pages. My tank accidently completed the cyle. I have probably thousands of pods (?) There are probably 150 just on the back side of the tank, and the sand is infested with them. I wonder if a mandrin goby would pair with a pistol. I actually fed them a couple times. I would shake some food into a little pile at the bottom. (probably 10 pieces of food) And the pods would swarm them, and when i get home, the food is gone. I also have about 15 little slugs. About as long as 3 of the larger pods, and they remind me of a starwars ship. They look streamlines, and they are clear. I also got a feather duster colony on a piece of lr. I think its feather dusters. They have brown stems, and yellowish tenticles. Bout 7 of them, and thy are very small. I have a Feather duster on another peice of LR That is quite bigger. Maybe .5 centimeter across. I also got a crab HH. failed to indentify. Im sure he'd love a mantis tankmate too. I've isolated him in a plastic breeder trap to prevent him from eating my feather dusters.

 

[AndyS]

Good start, might be a good idea to make notes of water tests as you go along, the Mantis idea sounds good but you have to think, they are pretty rare to find at LFS (well over here in the UK anyway)

Couple of things though, i wouldnt keep a mandarin unless you can get it to feed on frozen or flake, as it will make short work of the copepods in your tank, and in option 1 you describe a bubble tip, do you mean anenome? Thats a bad idea for a tank that size.

Good luck, look forward to pics!

 

[Hobbit]

ok, what other corals would you reccomend? I was planning on asking ppl where they ordered the mantids, because i've never seen em in persoN! One of our LFS sells mandrin, and i was thinking about asking him to show me them eat frozen food, to see if they would. And i haven't got any test kits yet, I have a friggen D+ right now, and i need to raise it b4 im allowed to do anything fish related. lol. Im not even suppossed to be on this website. Ill work on some good pics, and try to post 'em next time a parent leaves the house








BTW:

Thanks for the reply

 

[AndyS]

Ok, for a start anenomes arent corals, they may appear that way but arent, and have a powerful sting. Also they can move around your tank so wherever you place them they will walk around and mess up your tank, i have seen anenomes at my LFS that decide they like to live halfway up the side of the glass, not pretty.

If your just starting out with corals its best to stick with softies, especilally as you only have 20watts of lighting at the moment.

Good ideas are:

Mushrooms
Button Polyps
Small Leathers

All of these will need to be placed relativly high in your tank until you get new lighting.

Andy

 

[Hobbit]

no, i hae only 13 watts of lighting right now, its what came with the tank. Im gonna wait for my 96 watt to get in before I get any corals at all. But first i need to get my grade up before i can order the light. lol. And thanks for telling me about anemones. What corals would you reccomend, because i belive i can keep about anything with the light im going to get? Some pretty, hardy ones. And my lfs sucks about corals. I have one that has some pretty ones, but they're way expensive. Know of any websites or anythingg where they're fairly cheap?

 

[AndyS]

Well im from the UK, and never mail order corals (prefer to see individual specimins first) but liveaquaria is supposed to be pretty good over the pond.

With 96 watts you can keep a good selection of corals but remember corals need more than just light, some are more tolerant of water qualities than others, and some need spot feeding so make sure you research each coral before you buy. I wouldnt start off with any SPS corals for that reason.

Also remember that corals grow, and under the right conditions pretty quickly, some can overgrow your tank and shadow out areas, avoid large leathers for that reason.

Oh and one last thing, you cannot plan where inverts are going to live in your tank, they will find their own homes regardless of what you do.

Andy

 

[Hobbit]

Are you sure? about the inverts?


My pistol Topic

 

[AndyS]

Positive, you can try but in the end nature will take its course, you may be able to convince a pistol to dig his cave near the front, but if he doesnt want to then he wont.

 

[Hobbit]

you just made my decision then.... Unless I cant find one,



















































Im getting a mantis. The pistol was gonan be my fav thing if i went with option 1.

 

[AndyS]

well at the end of the day its up to you what you do with your aquarium, not anyone on an internet forum. you MAY be able to get a pistol that lives near the front, its just not definate.

 

[Hobbit]

Yeah, but i dont wanna spend $25 on something i have a 75% chance of seeing.

Have you any idea where mantids can be ordered? I've been thinking of getting one for a while. Its decided now, unless my mom protests.

 

[Danno]

Link One
Link Two
You will have to wait for them to come in stock if you want to get them from here.

 

[Hobbit]

I was told those are too big for 12 gallons?

 

[Hobbit]

Which of these 2 lights would you suggest?

Link 1
Link 2

thanks. I can't find a difference except for price, but waht do you think?