Setting Up A Nano

[karigupi]

great pics, Harry is actually quite sweet in a creepy kinda way

 

[cuticom]

I've just been watching the barnacle/limpet creatures in the tank. It's amazing what shipping in water does, so far I've identified four varieties of these guys. one variety throws out many long thin strings which stick to debris, and are then reeled back in, one type has a kind of fan that it spins continually like a TV antennae, then another sort has a long thin clear tube which it sticks out and waves around and touches liverock with and the last has an uber fine feather/pine tree branch creation which it just holds in the flow.

Not even the sponge is dying it's awesome, i figure after a couple of weeks the tank should be very stable, I will feed very occasionally so Harry doesn't starve, maybe every four/five days and the debris Harry leaves should feed everything else.

 

[cuticom]

Wow there is so much life. I've been scanning the tank with a torch after the MH switched off as I found it the best way to find Aiptasia. There are so many bristleworms, 3-5 4" worms, and absolute tonnes of the small ones. I've also already seen copepods and amphipods. It's amazing there's so much life in it, I'm finding it highly entertaining LOL.

 

[cuticom]

So just retested params to see how they were affected by Harry's meal last night

s.g. 1.025 (have been topping up with Saltwater to bring this to 1.026)
pH- 8.2 (tested at different time from last time)
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate-0
Alkalinity- 100 (kinda frustrating, i've been buffering and this SHOULD have risen 50ppm, not 20)

Since it seems fairly stable apart from alk/calcium I'm going to get a clean up crew on Monday, I'm planning to just get a single hermit crab and two snails.

 

[cuticom]

Still not sure on all these worms, I dropped another pellet in for Harry but as he swallowed it whole an other largish worm turned up, not as big as harry but still at least 5" in length. I have got to get over this phobia, their detrivore for gods sake they CLEAN my tank, yet they still really creep me out. I'm at least getting used to Harry he spends all his time curled up under the flat rock unless I drop food in, so I know pretty much where he is, its the ones that pop out randomly that scare me.

 

[seffieuk]

Must admit the first time I saw one it freaked me out - but have got used to them now

SEffie x

 

[cuticom]

Yay my skimmers finally broken in and is giving me proper skimmate, turning it off at night doesn't seem to have much affect either.

 

[cuticom]

Ooooh this is gonna be fun, I move on campus to university at the end of February next year, so I have 7-8 months to play with this tank. I looked up the regulations about tank sizes on campus and they do allow fish tanks however it cannot be in excess of 15l of water. So the chances of them knowing how much is 15 l (4g) is fairly low, so i could get away with a 25l tank, after LR it would hold 15l of actual water LOL. But I'm glad I checked as I
I'll definitely need to keep this in mind to ensure I don't go too overboard with purchases since the tank will eventually need to be downgraded unless my Mum takes it on. However I may not be accepted for a uni resi in the first semester which would give me an extra six months...

 

[cuticom]

OMG I caught Harry! Yay! I just went to look in the tank and Harry was out of the rock, so I grabbed gloves, dipped a new in and caught him! He's smaller then I thought, more like 20 cm unstretched but still I got him!!!! Now to find a home, I've contacted my LFS to ask if they'll take him and I sure hope they will!

 

[cuticom]

Just measured him he's 33cm long, so I wasn't far off, he's really pissed off as well.

 

[cuticom]

My LFS has agreed to take him so Harry is off to a new home tomorrow, to be honest I'm just really relieved, now if i can get the mini Harry's out...

 

[cuticom]

Bangs head against wall many many times. I'm starting to regret starting up a reef tank already. I found a dead crab the other day and today found a dissected bristle worm, five separate segments. So i set a typical mantis trap since I've heard clicking and something has been craving up my liverock. Then I sit with a torch watching the night-life and what do I see? a %^&*() Eunicid worm arrrrrrrrgh. I'm quite literally ready to dump the rock ion freshwater, stuff the corals. I know eunicid worms can be detritus eaters but I'm just sick of it all, there is a tonne of crabs as well, why did I get that rock? it seems to be all centred around the big hunk of rock, there's not much in the Tonga branches.

 

[bae1994]

i had one of those god for saking worms and it tortured me i put traps in but nothing it was like 6 + inches only saw like 6 inches in the end i just freshwater dipped the whole piece of lr it was in and got tipped away in the water but didnt get to see it all as it went into the sand in the bucket
and yes i know it probably killed every thing on the rock
but got rid of that thing

 

[cuticom]

Well I'm ready to FW dip ALL my LR just to get rid of all the freaking pests and whatever chopped up my worm. I know I'll lose the coral and have to go through the cycle, but I really don't mind, I am gonna wait a few days though and see if i can trap the mantis first. I know the Eunicid worm I saw could just be a detritis eater he was a dark red with a white band around his throat, this is him but they don't give an ID
http/www.nhm.org/guana/bvi-invt/bvi-surv...m-04/h0081p.htm

Harry has been caught and is off to a new home this morning, a nice soul is swapping him for some macro LOL, why he wants a giant worm i don't know but anyways LOL.

 

[cuticom]

Test Results 2/7/09
Temperature- 27 degrees
S.g.- 1.025
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate-0
Calcium- 420ppm
Alkalinity- 120ppm

So I'm all good for some corals, however I'm still having fun with hitch-hikers LOL.

Coral hitch-hikers to date- 1 colt coral two inches across, a small colony of clove polyps perhaps 20-30. two unidentified anemones, one brown zoanthid, one orange zoanthid, one brown zoanthid with green centre, a small xenia and another unidentified polyp that looks like eiither a long stemmed zoanthid or a short tentacled aiptasia. Also four aiptasia to date each has been nuked.

Other hitch-hikers- One unseen invert predator, most likely a mantis as my liverock is being pulverised, one eunicid worm, four worms of the same species as Harry, many white brittle stars, a variety of other species of worm, a tonne of feather dusters, a large variety of tunicates and sponges at least four separate species of barnacles, some sort of non moving worms which extend one long tentacle, a large spaghetti worm and a peanut worm. Oh and three small red crabs that are being attacked by above unseen predator.

I've also got algae beginning, a small amount of cyano and some fine hairs of green algae that grows on everything though there isn't much, some fine red algae that grows in small hairs and a darker green one that is growing actual leaves

Harry is gone (thank god) and on Saturday I'm getting a single hermit crab, some snails and my first coral. I'm also picking up a 12" cube on Saturday (got it for a steal, brand new) which will be home to the mantis if I can catch it and will also be the tank I take to Uni.