Tank Journal Archive

Nov 15, 2012
441
107
WOW... It has been a long time since I have looked at this. Went on a holiday... busy with work etc etc...

So. Rocky... Did not make it (My coral Goby :( )

I still have 1 percula clown. BTA is loving the tank. Clown... well loves the golf ball coral. calls that home.

I have a Spotted Mandarin Goby well 2 but I have not seen 1 of them for a day now... not really sure where the other is but in his defence every now and then 1 disappears but then re appears.

2 chromis and an anthias.

Picking up hopefully another 2 anthias tomorrow if they are still there.

1 Coal tang. Larry. He is aswesome :):)

other than that nothing new except a bit of an issue with cyano algae in the sand. bit of an ass hole that is what i am currently trying to get rid of.

Still trying to keep my alkalinity normal but it drops of really quick. not sure the Easy as 123 stuff is working. once i finish this bottle i might change to something else. any suggestions???

Tomorrow I will also be getting an MP10WES (Finally) hopefully it is in stock.

I will try post some photos in the next few days :):)
 

ViralEntity

Member
Feb 13, 2013
148
81
Warragul
Nice tank mate, great to see a RSM with coral in it - if I squint real hard when I look at my tank I can almost picture it with coral lol .

How do you find your choice of fish? I just grabbed a couple myself and two of the suggestions were a couple chromis/anthias or a kole tang. Do you have any issues?
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
Nice tank mate, great to see a RSM with coral in it - if I squint real hard when I look at my tank I can almost picture it with coral lol .

How do you find your choice of fish? I just grabbed a couple myself and two of the suggestions were a couple chromis/anthias or a kole tang. Do you have any issues?
Kole Tang is great at cleaning algae. At first i was scared he would be hard to keep. But Larry has been in the tank for a while and he smashes frozen foods now and is really sociable with the clown and others in the tank. I do supplement his diet with seaweed (just from asian grocer for sushi $1-$2/pack)

I think I read you want things at different heights in your tank. So did I. Anthias Great colour and mine luckily gets along with everything else. both the Anthias and the Chromis are mid to top tank dwellers. easy to keep.

Anthias and chromis like Red Plankton frozen food to keep them super happy small amount twice daily.

I make food once a week. in a little tupperware I put a bit of tank water, then a tablet off Lobster Eggs, Fish Eggs, Red Plankton, Marine Mix and Brine Shrimp (Hikari Bio-Pure) in it. Crush 4 cloves of garlic into it. I feed the fish a few teaspoons of this daily.

All the food is Ocean nutrition apart from Brine Shrimp.

Every fortnight I get some live Brine Shrimp which I put into Tank. The Mandarin fish need the live food. However, mine have started chasing frozen (not really frozen as my mix lives in fridge)

I feed once a week (probably not ideal) Reef Roids. I feel my Corals get enough from the Fish and Lobster Eggs.

My BTA I use an pipette with brine shrimp and pump it next to it. Loves it. The thing is twice the size it was 3 mths ago when i got it.
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
Alright. So today Did a water change and cleaned heaps of the glass.

Still running 0.00ppm of Nitrate. Tested 4 times now (last 2 days) but have had no readable Nitrate for about 2 mths.

Phosphate 0.146 Not bad I suppose.

Right So I have a massive crab in my tank. he has been in there from the beginning I suppose but has clearly gotten bigger.

What do they eat? I am hoping not my fish. I will post a photo up soon. I really want to ID this thing and get peoples opinion if I should get rid of it.

And How I would catch the thing... without getting bitten...
 

Priscacara

Member
Jun 19, 2012
2,017
794
Lara
With crabs most will recommend to get it out just in case using a bottle trap or even a plastic cup thats tilted on a slope so it can get in but not out can work but will take patience. Usually if it is hairy or has 1 claw bigger than the other people get rid of them too. As bait you can use a piece of prawn or similar. With your fish and other incerts the coke bottle method might be the best way but you will maybe catch your shrimp as well a few times :)
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
With crabs most will recommend to get it out just in case using a bottle trap or even a plastic cup thats tilted on a slope so it can get in but not out can work but will take patience. Usually if it is hairy or has 1 claw bigger than the other people get rid of them too. As bait you can use a piece of prawn or similar. With your fish and other incerts the coke bottle method might be the best way but you will maybe catch your shrimp as well a few times :)
Some great ideas there.

But in terms of his size it is now bigger in diamater then the bottom of a Stubbie... both claws are the same. not hairy at all. I was thinking like a blue swimmer but it has bright burnt orange coloured tips on its legs.
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
I don't recognise that crab at all, certainly doesn't look like your 'standard bad quick get it out of there crab'.
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
I don't recognise that crab at all, certainly doesn't look like your 'standard bad quick get it out of there crab'.
I remember there being a 5c sized blue crab on the rock when it went in. but 3 months later (and potentially the reason for no longer having any coral gobies nor 1 of my Mandarins...) his body is approx. 60mm across. Amazing color's though...

No idea how I would get him out if I had to though without pulling the whole thing apart :(
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
Just want to get peoples thoughts on dosing. As a noob I have been somewhat relying on LFS advice. Hence, I have been using Easy As 123.

I dont find it to be all that effective. So I am putting it out there for ideas on what is better... I have been looking at Red Sea additives aparently coraline grow is good for an alkalinity substitute....

What are peoples thoughts???
 
Nov 15, 2012
441
107
here is a closer photo...

Bastard is eating my corals :(

Stupidly this photo is also upside down :( I wonder if a moderator would be able to rotate them for me :D @MTG is it possible :D

photo-17.JPG
 

chimaera

enjoy the little things
May 13, 2012
5,473
2,295
Sandringham
If you right click and open in a new tab, it turns it the right way. Go figure.

Cool looking crab, shame it is eating your corals.