What Did You do With Your Tank Today?

[54seaweed]

ok just turned on the lights my Vlaningi tang is giving me dirty looks , he knows I'm ready to start the next phase of sand removal , he just hangs in his corner watching my every move. I forgot what my rock scape really looked like I didn't realize how much of it was buried .
my wife is like eww black going to look so dingy . I pointed to predator tank I said look black sand . wow now that's going to pop , going from eww to wow is amazing for my wife .

 

[Autumnsky]

We are all so funny. Glad you got the wow!

I guess I could just ask about the tank. Frankly that amount is beyond what I would choose to or should spend but with all the rest of the stuff I wouldn't need to piecemeal the build. Birthday Christmas Anniversary, see? Such a low cost if averaged out. More Autumnsky fuzzy math for Delepool!

And that is a really great quality tank and wouldn't really need another for a long time... *talking myself into it.
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Back to the actual fish life.


In my 12G PRL tank, I have Rotala Macrandra Red Mini Butterfly which I have floating it made a ball of stems bigger than a golf ball now, as they tumbled in the filter outflow and tangled and now rest at the top edge of the plants about an inch from the top.

They have nice red /tank needs some red in there (for not having high light and CO2 or iron supplements aren't the true bright pure red they could be if kept with all that) but wouldn't get enough light down at the substrate but thought I could use a aquatic plant pot and put it a little dirt and substrate with a bit of something to protect the soil from all falling out.

Then "plant" or really just set potted plant mid water behind some Java Fern and DW.

Also Junglefowl has some red moss I have been wanting to order for years now.

Also had in mind a way to camouflage the same kind of aquatic plant pot with cork or glued on shredded bark? or something and use a suction cup attachment to put it in a back corner area mid way up - for reef plugs holders people use magnetic options to hold them instead of suction cups. Much more reliable...like a magfloat idea.

Probably don't have time to make that right now with all that is going on. Too many projects in the hopper.

Seems that would be a great thing for a paludarium too. Why, why, why do I want to do so many fun projects, and have so little time for them!?!

 

[54seaweed]

Really went to town today got a good majority of the sand out along with a 45g water change

before I started tons of sand

now after day 2 still have lots to do but its getting there

tomorrow day 3 will be concentrating on the remainder of sand and remove all those tub shoots that are dangling off the rocks , tomorrow is another full day all my water is premixed the night before glad I ordered another box of salt this ones about done lol.
it should be here tomorrow

I encountered 1000's upon 1000's of dead spinoid tubes through out the sand , probably be a good day getting the rest of the sand out along with another water change , as for day 4 I'll spend time scrubbing off all those dead tubes off the bottom of all the rock and suck them all out ,
day 5 will start adding the new black sand ,

 

[Autumnsky]

Wow, Seaweed, you look like you uncovered 4" of rock there. Kinda exciting!

 

[54seaweed]

forgot I had so much rock I think I uncovered between 6/8 inch of rock , just found another large mound of sand on the back wall hopefully I can get it with out dismantling the rocks . everything is locked in tight and if I start messing with it nothing will go back together right .

I forgot about my lobster haven't seen him forever well he didn't forget about my finger , he reached out from under the rocks and got my pinky finger good , boy he got big he has got to be at least 12inch

 

[Autumnsky]

forgot I had so much rock I think I uncovered between 6/8 inch of rock , just found another large mound of sand on the back wall hopefully I can get it with out dismantling the rocks . everything is locked in tight and if I start messing with it nothing will go back together right .

I forgot about my lobster haven't seen him forever well he didn't forget about my finger , he reached out from under the rocks and got my pinky finger good , boy he got big he has got to be at least 12inch

OUCH!!!

What kind is the Lobster. I passed on a purple lobster even though I really wanted to bring him home for my Refugium/macroalgae tank.

 

[TMaier]

forgot I had so much rock I think I uncovered between 6/8 inch of rock , just found another large mound of sand on the back wall hopefully I can get it with out dismantling the rocks . everything is locked in tight and if I start messing with it nothing will go back together right .

I forgot about my lobster haven't seen him forever well he didn't forget about my finger , he reached out from under the rocks and got my pinky finger good , boy he got big he has got to be at least 12inch

That’s about dinner size at most restaurants. Lol

 

[TMaier]

Took a day off today and cleaned the 29 and the 20. Cleaned the canisters too. Wanted to get that done and stretch the next big one out until after New Years.

 

[54seaweed]

OUCH!!!

What kind is the Lobster. I passed on a purple lobster even though I really wanted to bring him home for my Refugium/macroalgae tank.

he's a purple lobster not supposed to get over 6/7 inches well he forgot how to follow the rules .
Yup those claws are strong sharp too.

That’s about dinner size at most restaurants. Lol

he don't have the meat that one of those New England lobsters have he's mostly shell

unfortunately didn't get anything done on my tank today as I was side tracked ,
fish needed a break anyway hopefully I can get something done tomorrow
guess got to wait and see ..

 

[54seaweed]

well over night the fish all discovered new caves that were covered over with sand .
today I finished the removal of the old sand , replaced with the black sand only to find out the black sand is far from black not very happy it's a mix of black and white sand,
over the last few days the total amount of water changed is close to 200g ,

so now its like basically starting over all my parameters are now spot on and I intend on keeping up on maintenance schedule , even if I have to do it in the wee hours so I'm not disturbed .

I can not get over on how much rock is exposed and caves I forgot about , I went from a 4/6 inch sand base to 2 inch and even though the sand isn't what I wanted it will do .
as I don't intend on going through that again any time soon . once the tank clears which it already looks like it is I will get pictures . the inverts are not happy there under world no longer exists ,

 

[Autumnsky]

Wow, done so soon!

Yes that seems large for a Purple. I am glad, I think that I didn't buy one especially if they get so large.

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Had an email the other morning about Algae Barn getting in captive raised Mandarins but they were sold out with in a couple hours of the email - when I actually opened it up to read it!

Fed everyone BBS and Spirulina Brine. Plus an assortment of things to day.

Friday will be ordering a few sample packs from different manufacturers for shrimp and other foods plus some minerals and a few misc. things. Will need to scout all the corners and check and double check options. Have a couple already on the list in my mind so far. Busy mid week time.

 

[54seaweed]

Ok few pictures of the ugly looking sand that is supposed to be Hawaiian midnight black looking at the tank next to the big one it looks like a light gray . the other tank is black I'm writing the manufacturer as its the same # and color and upc of the sand in my other tank. not even close not by a long shot.
catch the corner of the other tank now that's black that was my next project to change out that sand too. now just got to hold out see what the manufacturer is going to do ,
not happy that Ill be doing another sand change sometime soon .

sorry dont look black to me looks like a purplish gray and I don't like it not happy at all , atleast I was able to get glass and stuff cleaned up .
I have 4 new power heads coming for the smaller tank 1 in each corner and 6 for the 90g 1 in each corner 2 in center rear facing opposite directions

 

[Fresh2o]

Did a water change on my tanks. Typically not worth mentioning but after a week of no hot water and holding off on water changes (yes, I could have boiled some water) it was long overdue. BBA appearing in the Planted tank. Only doing daily 10% changes for now rather than the usual weekly 30-50%. Next week back on schedule.

 

[TMaier]

Ok few pictures of the ugly looking sand that is supposed to be Hawaiian midnight black looking at the tank next to the big one it looks like a light gray . the other tank is black I'm writing the manufacturer as its the same # and color and upc of the sand in my other tank. not even close not by a long shot.
catch the corner of the other tank now that's black that was my next project to change out that sand too. now just got to hold out see what the manufacturer is going to do ,
not happy that Ill be doing another sand change sometime soon .

sorry dont look black to me looks like a purplish gray and I don't like it not happy at all , atleast I was able to get glass and stuff cleaned up .
I have 4 new power heads coming for the smaller tank 1 in each corner and 6 for the 90g 1 in each corner 2 in center rear facing opposite directions

Definitely not black but it’s pretty. I’m a sucker for purple.

 

[TMaier]

Taking a few weeks off work so the Baby Biorb made the trip home and will get some TLC.

 

[Mebbid]

Big day in aquaria for me

1: Got my new shrimp in. Could barely be happier with my order of high grade Red Cherry Shrimp. I ordered 10 sadly 2 were DOA they all look excellent though!

2: I got the light for my hex tank and put my fancy dragon rock to use. I put the other 2 in there just because, but they are gonna go away to make room for plants once I get them.

 

[Autumnsky]

Seaweed, that is for sure not the Hawaiian Black we are all accustomed to seeing. I thought you were bummed about the few white colors/flakes in the black, but that is a medium light grey, not black.

On a positive note, should hide poo really well and makes the rock work pop a bit more than white sand. It is a kinda interesting combination of colors, I say I like it but maybe not as what one would expect for a SW tank.

I have the Garnet sand in the little 6.6G SW nano and really like it in there. I know it doesn't do me any favors in keeping SW but it is kinda purplish.

TMaier, you get some time off, what a lovely time of year for some relaxation (or projects, hehehe).

Why no hot water Fresh2o?

BBA argh! I got it in my PRL tank because I switched out a pre filter sponge from the other tank and it was growing on that, and initially didn't see it - or wouldn't have used it. :|

Mebbid, those are some dark red shrimp! That one looks near purple! And quite good sized!

Too tired the last few days to do much, just give them a quick look and feed. Going to run through all my options for shrimp foods tomorrow.

Rock flower anemone moved on its rock, forgot to turn on the light all day one day til the eve. and it had moved to the top of the rock then after the light was on that night (not all night), and then the next eve. it had moved over to the side and now it is down and to the rear of the rock.

Hoping to buy some new varieties of pods this weekend too.

 

[Barliman]

Discovered one of my platys is presenting dropsy, and this happened in the grow out tank, the fish from which i was hoping to take to the store, soon. Time for the antibiotics...

 

[Angellove78]

I did a water change and moved a few things around. Looks OK for now. After thanksgiving I'll be cleaning up some driftwood and more slate rock and adding that in soon. I put a new black background on too.

 

[Fresh2o]

Finally got a new hot water heater. Cold showers are no fun. Nonsense went on for over a week.
Did another daily mini water change. Spot treated BBA with H2O2; firm believer that excess inorganic waste contribute to the increase in BBA.
Going to unload some plants next week. Really not sure what I want to do with this tank.