Squatch's Continuing Adventure with a 40g breeder

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Thoughts and ramblings 07-27-2015

After almost 3 months of slight tweaks, I have moved from 1.022 to 1.024sg. I have been using a mix of evaporation and top off to slowly increase. I have no data to back up any reason why I would or would not want 1.024, however when I ran my reef years ago this was my spot.

The way "Kitty Cat" acts, she seems happy to not bother corals....however I will not not place anything small without super-glue. I will be keeping her tank for zoas. I may add some mushrooms. No pulsing xenia. Never.

I expected a molt right after acclimation. It seems typical in the species, and I did not want to fiddle with rocks or anything.

I would like to make a decision in the next few weeks, but I have 3 large pieces of homemade agrocrete in the tank now. I have a cure tub full of some more pieces. They were designed to interlock and basically be impossible to topple. All in all Id wager my agrocrete is more than 70lbs, but it is very dense.

"Pussy Cat" cannot damage the agro with her beat-stick. She has shaped a few pieces near her burrow(s) that are real reef rocks, but the agro is very hard.

It was over 10 years ago when I made it and I used argonite sand, crushed coral, and portland type I. I used a 4 parts "binder" and 1 part portland. Each piece has a different mix...some even have bio-balls added to their mass (Blue spots in some photos).

The rock was built to really fill up a 29 gallon, and through random circumstance I have found a 38 gallon. My "design" would fill up the same space, but allow for some nice void spaces around and above. Initial design at that time was DSB, and I would do that. the rocks are designed to be uncovered and to have niches under the substrate.

Im still pondering the second more family friendly tank.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
So after a discussion on the specialty forums regarding mantis, I decided to overstock on small crabs. I had at least 15 hermits last weekend. I have the same estimated amount today....but that was after a 10 pack restock. They gave me some bigguns this visit. I think like this. Small hermits and snails are food. $1.69/item.

I feed Kitty Cat with fresh frozen shrimp pieces. I try to feed her every day. It is comical. Its a chopstick fight to the death with the noise to boot. My inlaws were shocked by the sound of a peeved critter bashing a bamboo chopstick. I do everything I can with one hand to keep her from getting the food. It is just plain hilarious. My kids and wife love seeing the monster out trying to kill my chopsticks.


I use large turbo snail deaths to judge stocking. It is hilarious watching the mantis. I think that she is watching me more than I watch her.


I have not talked about the fish. Its hard to photograph. That sonofagun is fast

I am going to take your moment, and talk about the fish. The fish is what I know to be a bi-color chromis. There was nil thought on the "fish". the tank was not for a fish, but a fish was destined to exist here.

The fish came in first. It is a pretty sharp black/white chromis. I figured that if it was half as mean as any ciclid I owned than she may have a chance to survive. After the mantis showed up I noticed a few weird marks. The opinion is that this fish got a love tap from 2 hammers and lost 3 scales. It is a great part of my clean up crew. I am thinking about getting one or 2 more useless and expendable fish. I got an idea this chromis will kill anything smaller than it. I don't know its sex, but it has really survived some things. He/she/it may not tolerate any other tank mates. It could be funny.

It loves shrimp that the mantis discards.




aside from adding 10 more hermits to the clean up crew, I added an urchin.

Heres the kicker.

Within 1 hour of adding it to the tank, I have a photo of a hermit crab with a turbo snail on top of it with an urchin atop of it. I yelled bingo when it happened.

And then we cheeched.

After it was all said and done, Kitty Cat showed up. She was not happy with the party going on.



What a negative Nancy.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Also, I refer to the Mantis Shrimp as Kitty or Pussy cat. I do not name pets, but my kids do. keeping track of the hermits names is a horrible thing. Kenneth died yesterday. Pussy cat is happy though.

I manually clean glass with a scrubber so I don't get hands wet. Pussy Cat is not thrilled that I blow up her entrance because it is near the glass.


I have a tub full of 10 year old agrocrete cubes. Cubes. They were made for a filter, but I imagine that the fun can start.

When the cubes are cured, Im yanking every piece of rubble from my tank. I will replace with cubes and see how the construction happens then.
 
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Blue Space

Well-Known Member
Within 1 hour of adding it to the tank, I have a photo of a hermit crab with a turbo snail on top of it with an urchin atop of it. I yelled bingo when it happened. And then we cheeched.


You're right. She has a better view of you than you do of the mantis with those amazing eyes! In regards to any cheeching going on.... Please do so responsibly! :D
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
n regards to any cheeching going on.... Please do so responsibly!
This is NSFW/offtopic/etc, but at about 48ish seconds in you will see where I got that jargon from. I watched a bit of that channel this weekend....and boy did I laugh. Rednecks are funny no matter their nation of origin.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Finally ordered some overhead hangars for the lights. I am tired of having to relocate light bars every other day for feeding and cleaning. While I was burning cash, I got some selcon to beef up frozen foods, and a bottle of an iodine based coral dip. I haven't had time to post the photos, but the algae issues that I normally shrug off to new tank have subsided over the past 2 weeks. I am wondering about feeding my turbo snails or starting tank #2 and keeping them there. The rocks for that tank have been in cure since 07-04. The cure tub has gotten weekly water changes of 5 gallons of DT waste for the past 5 weeks. This week Im going to change out 5 gallon for new clean water and let it cycle a few days. Should be ready by next weekend.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
I got my light hanging kit last night. The problem was that I would have to mount the brackets not to wood or ceiling, but to exposed duct work. Its just a man cave, and It came out pretty slick. I had time today at work to "design and build" a pair of brackets from metal stud wall. I will be adding a link to my hole, and running the hangar wire through it. The bracket I made has a bit of an edge.




Then I got to hating on the black plastic hinge creating a shadow. I removed it totally. It seems that the glass is much more fragile. I may reinforce the ends with clear car door protector....I would like to break a new piece of glass to use for a lid, and just move the hinge somewhere else.

No more shadow, and a bit of gas exchange.


Here is a photo of the late "Square Shell" (as it was named). Date of death 08-13-2015.



Possible brittle star hitchhiker


It has been hanging out there (literally) for a few days.

Here is my botrylloides "infestation" as it is. I plan on more corals in the near future, and am not concerned about theses. It is what it is. I will however dip this frag again when I do get more.


I got this random clam that has been around since I first introduced my 2 corals. I thought it was simply part of the rock until it closed up and started migrating around the tank. It has a few feather dusters attached. I don't know what to do to make it happy, but if the lady of the tank sees it move, it will be a really nice treat.


Now that my lights are hanging, I can get a decent photo of the back side of my rockwork. This is where it is clear that there is a 3" pipe running under the substrate. I left enough room to run the cleaner back there.


*EDIT*
I forgot to add this yesterday.

My skimmer situation.....I have a generic knock off sea clone. It is identical as far as I can tell, but simply a knock off.



I can't complain about the quality of what it is doing. Its a really thick sludge. It took about 5 weeks of doing nothing, than last month it started doing this. I actually can't complain about this skimmer one bit. The way its built (same as a sea clone) I would NEVER use it as a HOB ever. Its bound to fail where pieces connect with a coupling made from vinyl hose.
 
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Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
I got my bottle of coral dip in the mail. I am looking forward to adding a few more in the coming weeks. I just ordered a few ATI bulbs:
2x Blue Plus
1x Aquablue Specia
1x Coral Plus

I figure with the 2x actinic and 2x 10k I have in now, we can get a decent amount of coral color and light.

The next thing is finding a way to keep the light from spilling out.
 
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Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
I did some work on the man cave this weekend. It looks less like a storage room, and more like a disorganized mess. It needs a tv to be upgraded to a man cave. I need to make or find someone throwing out a small entertainment center.

Heres half of the tank wall.



The other half was leak tested and seems to be solid.


Haven't made decisions yet....Have yet to figure out if the bottom is tempered...I may make it reef ready....

I am being forced to install shelves in the kitchen before any more projects involving a hacksaw or drill. This puts the DIY canopy on hold.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Picked up some new zoas last weekend. I am a sucker for $6 frags that have a few odd polyps/dying corals. I got a plug that came with a really slick colored zoa all over the plug....except the top part that had the rock glued to it with an aptasia. If the lemon juice did not kill it, the super glue coffin may. I glued the plug then upside down to a rock as to keep the cuc or mantis from relocating it. With an urchin EVERYTHING need to be glued down.



I fragged off 2 full polyps yesterday that seemed not even connected to the colony. they did not peel as easy as I thought. 24 hours later they are opened fully and still connected to their new frag rock. Its the middle frag in the picture




The other frag was a piece from the colony in the foreground. It was grown onto an old hard coral, and it is quite easy to relocate. A few branches have already been relocated randomly in my tank to spread out that color. I was able to get a few polyps, so I just rubber banded it over a divot in the rock. this one wants to be fragged.



I have a HUGE colony of the foreground one. It is a larger boring-ish looking polyp.....but under moonlight it glows a neat green color.

the one behind it also is boring looking, but glows pink with a brighter ring. They were also a "dying" coral bargain. That is just where they grew off the side of the frag plate onto my rock. no glue or anything.

behind that I found some hot orange number that just happens to come with another color. Ill be trying to isolate the oranges from the blue/blacks for further fragging and decorating the rocks.

This is where I currently sit for full tank friday. This was the most clear shot I could get.

 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd In another strange turn of events: (It all makes sense by the end...or so I hope)
Lots has happened in my few weeks of not posting.

I moved into this home in mid March in a "Rent-to-own" understanding. By early June, I had advised the seller that I was in no way interested in spending any time here more than necessary. The condition of things like shingles, roof, furnace AND the central air are poor at best....the roof currently has up to 4 layers of shingles in places.....I don't feel comfortable that the roof will not collapse under snow.

The discussion came up again last week where I reiterated that I had no desire to live here longer than I have to......


Little does the "Landlord" or her "realtor" know that I have purchased a home, and closing will be in 3 weeks.....It is a much nicer home with working things like plumbing valves (current home has none that give positive shutoff) and doors that are correctly hung. After a few minor details, we should be moving in in 5 weeks.

Then the weight of moving a 40g breeder and contents sinks in....followed by a few days of silence....

The solution was simple. Move the tank and its inhabitants as quickly as possible. Transfer at least half of the water from the current setup. I am only moving a few miles, but I think I could have it set back up and running in 4 hours....

Which is way too long. WAY WAY too long.

This is where my logic got so far off track.

We are "Here" until March OR the landlord sells the house.....she is asking way too much for a handy-man's special, so I figure I have the entire lease.

I have a cure tub in my garage since march with a few pieces of agrocrete still curing. It has gotten the weekly "waste" water from my tank as change water. I would feel comfortable adding them to the current tank (they won't fit), and would be surprised if it caused any re-cycle.

So I did like any addict/reefkeeper would do. I got on craigslist and shopped around the last 3 weeks. I eventually settled in on a very very odd sized tank that tickled me to death.

I scored a 90 gallon tank for less than my 40b sold for new....but it is no ordinary 90g....Its a 1994 vintage All Glass w/faux wood trim.....AND it is only 3 foot long. This means that my current lighting will work.

The tank is 3'x2'x2', and will have a stand built to sit level where ever I choose it.....right now the new and improved man cave looks to be where the "Ministry of War and Finance" has approved it.

I figure that I set it up and get it running, and then the transfer of the items will be drag and drop. It will give me a better opportunity to make some changes to the current setup.

I did months of research on mantis shrimp, and did what I consider an excellent job at creating a habitat that she enjoys. However I certainly would change a few minor things....One major one is changing where her burrow exits are. I will be shortening the pipe length as to put her exits more central. The additional 6" of width will allow me to make (This is the plan at the moment) a half moon shaped rock pile. This will get her burrow out of the sides, and into the central viewing area.

This one will be getting a coast to coast diy overflow with the beananimal 3 pipe redundancy. I will use my previously photographed 38g as the sump.

Then I will be left with a 40 breeder and sump........as others have pointed out it will make a great frag tank. I haven't decided if I will use it as such, or just liquidate it.

I am about 6-7 weeks out from moving my livestock. I have never heard of anyone having a good time trying to catch a mantis shrimp, so I will take my time and make sure I can get her safe. I think she will enjoy the extra real estate.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Congrats on the new home & new tank ! Look forward to seeing the new build & great to see you back on RS we all know how busy life gets sometimes... :nessie:
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
I will have to post a photo of this 90g tank. I cannot find ANY info at all that it was even ever produced. I found no references on the net, and nothing about a 3' long 90g tank that was not a plastic storage container. My "sunglass" check seemed to indicate that the bottom is not tempered. I will have to try with my other lenses to verify. IF I can drill the bottom of this one, I will.
 

Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member




I am not familiar with logos, and thought that this was an AGA tank. I recognize the logo as name brand, but not the brand name. Any help?

*Here comes another edit*

Tank may be a perfecto OR marineland. Seems as both are the same company.

Inside measurements of the tank is 35.25"x23.5"x23.5" which comes out to 85 gallons.

This was sold as a 100g, and I assumed from outside measurements that it was 90g (It was a few gallons off) but it is darn near exactly 85g on the inside measurements. I still have yet to find any information confirming that this is what it is.....I just would like to find another one to verify that I don't have a unicorn fish tank.
 
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Squatch XXL

Well-Known Member
Oh heck (that is not what I said, but it sounds similar). It just got way more complicated.


This is the 2 I caught in a shot glass.. I had to "unmount" one of my zoas to get one as it was running away.
I was literally peeking at the tank before bed. The last 3 weeks my zoas have been intermittently closed up. I have been on the lookout for anything, and suspected some sort of thing like this. I believe it to be a nudibranch.
 

SaltNoob

Active Member
My man cave is adjacent to our mechanical room. Within a 2" space from the back of my tank is a unused drain for an old sump setup. Basically I may never have to get wet hands again on a water change.

I will edit in some photos of how my day went.









The last picture shows what I am almost done with right now. LETS DO THIS!

45 minutes later:



Today I believe I can confirm via the website and by the bottom of the tank that it is not tempered. Bonus find is that I have a drain line for water so close. I may end up drilling it myself. I will have to do a bit of research to see if this would affect the integrity of the bottom.

Later this weekend its a trip to get me another rough-neck trashcan. I'm going to do a garage cure with the base rock and sand. I highly doubt that I will have any "live" rock introduced ever. A single mantis system could be overrun with the wrong hitchhiker fast, and most if not all biological removal methods are lower on the food chain than her. If I can find a piece that I trust to not have aptasia or some calerpa I may pick one up, but nothing more than to seed some coraline. I want full control on conditions.

Note to self:

Order hydrometer
I love me some Taxis! Fun fish to watch "blackout".
 
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