DBrinson's 280G Odyssey
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DBrinson
Member
Hach has been around for 60 years, but maybe. I remember using Tetra test kits 25 years ago, it was the only kind available in my LFS then. They had a little cylinder test tube you had to look down through and match to color circles on paper as I recall.
jpsika08
Well-Known Member
David, I see you haven't placed the curtain above the tank, how's that project going?
Also, I see your chromis are schooling, did you do something to achieve this? My chromis are just in one spot in the tank, (mostly on the sandbed) and not even close on swimming together, they are eating and look healthy but very passive.
thanks.
Also, I see your chromis are schooling, did you do something to achieve this? My chromis are just in one spot in the tank, (mostly on the sandbed) and not even close on swimming together, they are eating and look healthy but very passive.
thanks.
DBrinson
Member
Thanks Val! The corals, clams, and rock were moved in together from an established tank, so I can't take all the credit for the quick results. It has been a pretty desperate task to get it all moved over. I haven't lost a fish yet, and aside from the corals I didn't keep, (in particular one large leather) all of the corals appear as healthy as they were before the move.
I am going to wait two weeks on that, I have a quote in hand from a maker of tracks but I want to be sure I have time to install it when it arrives.
My whole strategy with this tank was to add a large number of fish all at the same time, to give the tank a "schooling" effect before any of the fish can become territorial.
Note: This is not a strategy for everyone, you really have to know what you are doing, and be able to recognize signs of stress and monitor the water quality carefully.
Fish on the reef have two "modes", they can guard a tiny piece of the reef for themselves, or they can school in well-populated feeding areas. I tried hard to simulate the latter, and so far it has succeeded. In the tank I moved most of my fish from, many of these fish were so reclusive they were never seen. The same fish are socializing in the tank with the best of them.
He's doing well, though he probably wonders where all the other fish came from haha. He has a well established routine of nighttime prowling, so we try to feed him when he is on the move.
Part of my "social" fish strategy involves the eel, the other fish can't tell a zebra moray from a snowflake, and he is the king of the rockwork.
Couple of updates:
• Between my lawnmower blenny and orange spotted goby, much of the hair algae in the tank was quickly eaten. This influx of nutrients caused an algae bloom in my seagrass tank that threatened to overrun the Thalassia, and in fact still does.
It has been a maddening race to harvest the algae from the seagrass tank, at one point the overflow actually clogged to where the tank began to overflow. I filled a 1-gallon bucket with the goop the day after introducing the blenny.
I don't expect this kind of problem in the future, as there won't be a month's worth of hair algae for the blenny to consume in a day.
It has been a maddening race to harvest the algae from the seagrass tank, at one point the overflow actually clogged to where the tank began to overflow. I filled a 1-gallon bucket with the goop the day after introducing the blenny.
I don't expect this kind of problem in the future, as there won't be a month's worth of hair algae for the blenny to consume in a day.
• I tweaked the back overflow risers until they run silent. Very silent. Bubbles almost undetectable in the main tank. I'm pumping the full 4000 GPH smoothly since this morning.
I'll post pics over the weekend, and a list of fish next week. List of inverts ... you are going to have to give me two weeks on that one. It has been crazy the last week, hence my slow reply to the posts. (could use a bit more sleep also :blueoh
DBrinson
Member
Hitchhiker alert!!
Looks to me like a Xanthid crab, black eyes, black pincers, oval body shape.
He was chowing down on a Pocillopora, when I was finishing up my aquascaping last night I found him clinging to it.
Here he is in a SOLO cup:
I moved him to my seagrass bed, not only for the corals' sake, but because he's poisonous to Barry.
My wife's favorite tank occupant is Barry as well.
Got some more stories I'll save em for the chatroom if I ever find it on this new forum.
Zebra morays are very different individually, I would take the time to tame one before putting it into the tank, they are very sociable and friendly if treated well by humans, they are very sensitive, much like a dog or cat. They are also usually reef safe (except they like the taste of emerald crabs).
Easy to keep, I used mine to balance my aquarium, they can handle ammonia and nitrites in the water with relative ease.
Thanks!
Now for the latest FTS:
Link to the "full res" FTS: http://www.brinsonfamily.org/images/FTS_20110203.jpg
Looks to me like a Xanthid crab, black eyes, black pincers, oval body shape.
He was chowing down on a Pocillopora, when I was finishing up my aquascaping last night I found him clinging to it.
Here he is in a SOLO cup:
I moved him to my seagrass bed, not only for the corals' sake, but because he's poisonous to Barry.
Thanks Eric! I plan to make some videos, I promised the guys at Aquarium Currents (Sea Swirl) I would haha.Man I love that eel, the zebra's are handsdown my favorite eels.
How about some video
The tank is looking better as well, very nice!
My wife's favorite tank occupant is Barry as well.
Got some more stories I'll save em for the chatroom if I ever find it on this new forum.
Zebra morays are very different individually, I would take the time to tame one before putting it into the tank, they are very sociable and friendly if treated well by humans, they are very sensitive, much like a dog or cat. They are also usually reef safe (except they like the taste of emerald crabs).
Easy to keep, I used mine to balance my aquarium, they can handle ammonia and nitrites in the water with relative ease.
Thanks!
Now for the latest FTS:
Link to the "full res" FTS: http://www.brinsonfamily.org/images/FTS_20110203.jpg
Hi David - the FTS looks awesome! Could that crab have been a commensal coral crab? Pretty crab, but when in doubt the sump is the best place for him.
Coral Crabs
Coral Crabs