Tank Journal Archive

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
Live Rock Alive With Life
I dont think i'v seen a piece of LR that is so jam packed with such an array of life. It cost me about $15 (@ $13 p/kg) and so far I have discovered (in no particular order:
3 tunicates, 5 Mojano nems (i like them :), numerous green star polyps, a crab, bryopsis (which cant get out of control since the crab eats it), electric blue dictoyota dictoma, several small bristle worms + 1 large green 1, a heap of different tube worms + different coloured feather duster worms, orange sponge-like things, the usual encrusting algae & just last night i noticed an oyster/mussel shell open & close so i have 1 of those too.
I'v also noticed in one of the dead corals, that 3 (that I've counted) very large amphipods are cohabiting - they are the size of baby cockroaches!
I am wondering if they (or something else) are breeding since I have also noticed, in the water column, what i suspect to be larval forms of something. The first type are white & wriggle through the water. They zip up to the surface, float for a bit then wriggle back down to where they hide for a bit. I only see them when i 1st put the light on - after 10 mins theyv hidden so that tells me theyr nocturnal. The other 1s i noticed this morning look like & move like newly hatched brine shrimp only theyr transparent. They disappear after lights on too. So in all, i feel I've gained a definite bargain with my LR - & no doubt theres beasties I've thus far missed. Stay tuned.......
 

Wrangy

Member
May 7, 2013
2,923
1,567
Research
That sounds like awesome LR :D I do love watching all the small creatures go about their business almost as much as I love watching the rest of the life in my tank :p
 

jimbo

Member
Jul 31, 2013
71
26
yeah its amazing how you can just watch the tank, even without any fishies in there !
 

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
Thank you @MagicJ - they are apparently epitoke - aka worms.

I'v since discovered another mussel/oyster thingy and the mystery as to how my crab manages to move like lightening from one spot on the rock & appear in another has been solved: there are 2. I had wondered.

I also ventured into 1 of the local LFSs (theres 3 but only 2 keep marines) on Thursday to buy meds for my guppy tank (i will post in the FW forum about that - theres some sort of plague going on in there) & couldnt resist sneaking over to the marine section. I like this LFS but for a bad reason - they dont know SHIT

Great for ME because i have gotten myself many a bargain because of their ignorance (& i am just FINE with that because if you have a business you need to follow 2 rules: know your product & employ people who knows your product - if you cant be fucked doing that, then i will use it to my advantage).

But its a death sentence for the creatures they stock. They had 2 Target Mandarin Gobys that were starving because they were wild caught (I asked)& they were searching fruitlessly for non-existant copepods. Their little tummies were pinched & thin & i badly wanted to rescue them

I have no suitable home or food or even finances soooo....they had to stay.

After finding some trisulphate for my guppies (& educating the apparent 13yr old serving me on the fact that there ARE ways to remove nitrates from the water), i decided some of the morphs were coming home with me.

I bought these green morphs for $8 each. They charged me $16 because apparently they cant count either....
20131012_060507.jpg
 

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
I'v never kept Favia before either & since they just had a shipment in & the good stuff goes quick, decided to grab this 1. There was another 1 with it that was pale green & blue-ish but this 1 was the nicer, i thought. It was $25 & has 10 mouths.
20131010_200134.jpg
 

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
I also scooped up this little waif - the shop assistant told me it was dead. I said i would take it anyway. He said i could just have it. So that was free too
20131010_200126.jpg
 

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
Since i am battling cyno still, i have looked into vodka & vinegar dosing. Some ppl swear by it, others are "meh" & others say it made things worse. I suspect the last 2 groups didn't do it properly since the 1st group rave about it.
 

MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
I have worked out that a 34L nano will need 1.2 (erring on the side of caution) mills per day. I have kalk to keep the ph right so i'll see how this goes.
I also got, from my LFS excursion, a free snail.
20131011_071754.jpg

My book tells me its a "Mulberry Snail" & google tells me it hunts inverts. So i think he can be released into the wild again (they are endemic here) - i want to keep my mussel/oyster thingys!!
 

Sarg

Member
Dec 11, 2011
2,559
926
Cheltenham
I tried vodka and it didn't work vinegar is worth a shot! Also those two little bubbles above the crab might be Valonia (spell check) its its easy to get the rock out I'd get them off the rock or even try and syphon it out with a bit of 6mm hose. If its is Valonia it could soon take over your tank.

Those little morphs are a good colour too!!
 
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MichelleShocked

Moderate ;)
Jan 7, 2012
2,310
1,021
Gladstone
[\quote
Those little morphs are a good colour too!![/quote]

Yeah they looked dull greeny-brown under the shop's lights - nothing interesting at all. I bought them hoping they would look better under my own (awesome *grins*) lights.They DO!! I wanna go back & buy some of the 1s that were dull brown-ish with pale green splotches - i reckon they'd turn out to be amazing too!