Nobby's S-650

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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
It's one thing being part of the clean-up-crew, but I suspect that this monster can create the need for a clean-up on his own ! I am going to try the old shrimp in a glass trick.....I still can't believe the size of those claws. Almost had a nightmare last night ! I'm thinking of renaming the tank the 'Black Lagoon'.

In other news, I'm off to visit a new LFS this afternoon..........
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

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SPR said:
Get a crab line! Lol

Or just leave him alone. He’s just part of the clean up crew and will be very useful to dispose of any fatalities you get and can’t reach.

Just be careful when your in the tank with your hands and maybe tie your feet to something !
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I know you are joking and I know it makes little to no sense as no matter how big that crab is I'm a lot bigger, but a big crab hiding in my live rock really freaks me out when I'm doing tank maintenance with my hands.

In my old tank, where my live rock was basically one glued together giant piece with dark caves I couldn't see into, I wouldn't put my hands where I couldn't see what was going on because of an issue like that.

I know logically it can't REALLY hurt me, but ewwww!!!!

It's one of the reasons I went with man made live rock this build. Theoretically, there shouldn't be anything in the tank I don't put in there.
 
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Nobbygas

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That's right Pat. I didn't put the bloody creature in the tank. The fact it hides as soon as I approach it means that it's up to no good. I will track it down. I will find it. I will trap it, and then I can identify it ! If it's a good 'un, it can stay. If it's a bad 'un, it will go in the Sump !

The new LFS........Eureka !
The place is fabulous. More corals on offer than I've seen anywhere else, from frags to full colonies.
Loads of fish tanks, but not that many fish for sale, and the reason why became apparent when the owner showed me around. They have a quarantine room. All fish they buy/import go into the quarantine room for six weeks before they go on sale. I've never seen this in any other shop before. There were more fish in the quarantine room than in the shop! The guy explained that they do all they can to ensure the fish are healthy before they sale them. They do not treat the fish in quarantine with anything as he felt that doing this weakens the fish. Why treat them with Meds if there is nothing wrong with them? They only get treated if a problem occurs.
I have the option to reserve any fish in quarantine, but I cannot have them until the quarantine is finished. In my experience this is a fantastic way to treat the fish. Before I've even bought anything from them I get the feeling that what I am buying has already been well cared for. There are cheaper places, but sometimes it is worth paying a bit more if you know the quality is good.
The place is only a 25 minute drive from home as well !
 
SPR

SPR

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That’s good news, and when the shop won’t sell them until they know there healthy is a very good sign that they look after the fish and their customers who they want to come back.

Were i am both shops are like this, not 6 weeks but a while, and they will let you reserve things until there ready.

What you need to do now is go shopping and fill the beast up!
 
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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Yesterday, my credit card was jumping around like a mad thing in my wallet ! However, yesterday was one of those weird days in Germany. The problem was that I had crossed from the state of Hesse into the state of Bayern, and yesterday was a state holiday in Bayern. It's like everybody having a Bank Holiday in Somerset only ! So, although the shop was open, they were not allowed to sell anything ! This is a strange place at times.
This means I have to go back today ;)
I have already seen at least three corals that will return with me, plus some Green Chromis. I shall also reserve a Yellow Tang, Flame Dwarf Angel and a Coral Beauty that are in the quarantine room.

Onwards and upwards......to infinity and beyond !
 
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Nobbygas

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Anyone feed their tank with 'live' food? I mean things like Brine Shrimp or Copepods. If so, what do you do?
I noticed at the LFS they have bags of 'stuff'. I think the 'Atemis' is Brine Shrimp (understanding the labeling is always difficult over here). Is it possible to just dump them into the Sump and just wait for them to eventually get lifted into the DT by the Return Pump? Or is it best to just dump them into the DT?
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Nobbygas said:
Anyone feed their tank with 'live' food? I mean things like Brine Shrimp or Copepods. If so, what do you do?
I noticed at the LFS they have bags of 'stuff'. I think the 'Atemis' is Brine Shrimp (understanding the labeling is always difficult over here). Is it possible to just dump them into the Sump and just wait for them to eventually get lifted into the DT by the Return Pump? Or is it best to just dump them into the DT?
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With brine shrimp specifically, I always just dump them in the display.

One thing to remember with them is they are attracted to light, which means they may very well swim away from where you want them to go, for example, I doubt your return pump in your sump is lit up, so they’d probably swim away from it and never make it in your DT.
 
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Nobbygas

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I forgot to say that I bought six Blue Chromis last Friday. All are looking ok.
Yesterday, while on a recce to a fish shop, as you do. I bought back a pack of live Brine Shrimp. I strained them through a tea strainer, and popped them straight into the DT.........and the critters went wild ! This was a success :)
I will now buy more live food, as I think this must be the most beneficial food available for the fish.It just has to be better than flake or frozen.
In the past I have grown/bred live Copepods. At the time I only had a 60 liter Nano, so it was just a bit of a 'let's see if I can do it" exercise.
If I remember, all I had was a plastic tuppaware box, an airline with an air pump (which I still have). Just buy a pack of Copepods, pop them in, feed a couple of drops of Photoplankton, and off they go breeding like...well, breeding like Copepods ! They require no special heating as room temperature works. I remember I had the tuppaware box on a windowsill for lighting, and it was very easy to do. I think I'll start this again.

I also saw a beautiful Green Wrasse in the shop. Now, green fish are pretty rare. There are just not that many. There are loads of Yellow, Blue, Red fish etc, but not many Green. He was cheap at about 30 euros.........I think I have to bring him home later this week.
 
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Nobbygas

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Ha, ha, so I managed to get the Green Wrasse yesterday. After putting her in the tank she was a bit pale, as fish go when a bit stressed, but hopefully she'll be back to her normal colour today. I say it's a she as she has a white belly, which I believe is normally the sign of the female.
I also got a bog standard Cleaner Wrasse. Slowly increasing the stock.
 
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Nobbygas

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The Green Wrasse is still not...um...err...well, Green ! It is still a pale yellow colour. It was Green when in the shop, but it still hasn't coloured up. It seems to be eating well, with loads of frozen food put into the tank over the weekend.
Over the weekend I brought home the Flame Angel and the Yellow Tang. I also got a small Orchid Dottyback, mainly because you see them so often when diving in the Red Sea, and I just love their deep blue/purple colouration.
This week I shall be looking for a Kole Tang, Coral Beauty and some Anthias. At that point I'll stop stocking for a while.
 
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Nobbygas

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Kole Tang and a Coral Beauty are in the tank, and yesterday I got a really nice small Tomini Tang. As fish are being added there isn't any aggression whatsoever.
The Green Wrasse is still not Green !

I've had to cut the NOPOX down to just 2ml in total per day. My Phos is barely registering, and my Nitrates are down below 1, despite more fish being added.
 
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SPR

SPR

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Nobbygas said:
Kole Tang and a Coral Beauty are in the tank, and yesterday I got a really nice small Tomini Tang. As fish are being added there isn't any aggression whatsoever.
The Green Wrasse is still not Green !

I've had to cut the NOPOX down to just 2ml in total per day. My Phos is barely registering, and my Nitrates are down below 1, despite more fish being added.
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What you may find is that as your adding new fish and feeding, the nutrient levels will start to rise and you just need to balance the NoPox dose as they do. Just keep an eye on phosphate as well as I found if that goes up you may get algea outbreaks and I keep mine locked down with Rhowaphos As NoPox couldn’t handle it on its own.

I’ve found that my coral beauty seems to be the bully of the tank whenever I add new fish. He is always the one that tends to bother new arrivals and I now always add 2 fish at a time to help with this.

I think I need to get a green wrasse they look really nice. I don’t want one like yours though if it’s still not green lol!

Basically I’ve had my sunny break and I now need to go shopping again and you my friend have filled me with inspiration and fishy ideas!
 
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Nobbygas

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Yeah, my Green Wrasse is more like a Puke Yellow Wrasse. I've got a photo on my phone that I took of the Green thing in the shop, and the colour was fantastic. I feel like a victim of a Tommy Cooper trick ! Luckily, I don't seem to have any bullying in the tank at the moment. I think this is down to the fact that most of the fish are still very young, plus the fact I tell them off in a very strict voice if they try to be aggressive. That seems to work.

Funny thing with my Nitrates/Phos. Even though I am adding fish and increasing the feeding, the numbers keep heading South! I have no algae outbreak/problem, so the test numbers are not being affected by that, y'know, algae feeding on the Nitrates/Phos and so producing a false test reading.
Funny hobby eh? One minute you're fighting to keep the numbers down, and the next they go into freefall, and it's a fight to keep them up !

I am now on the lookout for a Royal Angel. For me, this will be the Queen of the tank.......oh, and some nice Anthias.
 
SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
Nobbygas said:
Yeah, my Green Wrasse is more like a Puke Yellow Wrasse. I've got a photo on my phone that I took of the Green thing in the shop, and the colour was fantastic. I feel like a victim of a Tommy Cooper trick ! Luckily, I don't seem to have any bullying in the tank at the moment. I think this is down to the fact that most of the fish are still very young, plus the fact I tell them off in a very strict voice if they try to be aggressive. That seems to work.

Funny thing with my Nitrates/Phos. Even though I am adding fish and increasing the feeding, the numbers keep heading South! I have no algae outbreak/problem, so the test numbers are not being affected by that, y'know, algae feeding on the Nitrates/Phos and so producing a false test reading.
Funny hobby eh? One minute you're fighting to keep the numbers down, and the next they go into freefall, and it's a fight to keep them up !

I am now on the lookout for a Royal Angel. For me, this will be the Queen of the tank.......oh, and some nice Anthias.
Click to expand...
I’m going to get some more Anthias as well. I’ve got 7 already but I was watching the new Blue Planet II the other day and some of the shots from the Red Sea were stunning with the shoals of anthias. I think I’m going to get another 3 or 4 to make more of a ‘shoal’. Made me want to go diving actually!! Lol

I’ve got a Regal/Royal Angelfish if that’s what you mean and it’s stunning. I got him very small and he’s grown and is the most friendly of fish and just minds his own business.

The best thing I’ve done on nutrients it to keep phosphate locked down at 0-0.03ppm with Rhowaphos so just keep an eye on it because with all the feeding and pooing it will start to build up. Having said this, I have ‘a lot’ of fish including Tangs which have grown so you will probably be ok for a while as you restock. My tank has looked it’s best at 5-10ppm Nitrate (currently 16ppm after my week away) and <0.03ppm phosphate so you definitely don’t want 0 nitrates otherwise you can get cyno bacteria issues and general bad things!
 
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Nobbygas

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Nothing to do with our tanks, but..............

If you are going to lead a dive group down, the first thing you do when on the surface is to look down, particularly at the Anthias. They always face the direction that any current is coming from, therefore it is easy to work out which direction, and by looking at the swimming action of the fish, the strength of the current (the current may well be different 10 or 20 meters down compared to the surface). This is important information to pass onto the dive group before descending.
 
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