Zer0's 25G Rimless Cube Reef

[Zer0]

The LFS i go to was good a year ago.. it turned to crap and they don't really care about their livestock. I can say that because i've been there several times in the past few months and everytime i go there.. i see things labeled wrong, ridiculous prices, and dead livestock in almost every single holding tank. The goby dying was not my fault. When i saw it, it looked ok, not great, but not as bad as the others. I did everythng i could to try and rescue it, and i target fed it every day for two weeks. It still died.

And are you going to say that my water conditions aren't good? What are your water parameters? I read zero across the board, my pH and Salinity never swing, and my calcium is on the high side. But last i checked, calcium doesn't effect fish. Right? Not to mention that everything else in my tank is thriving... tons of pods, worms, a couple asterina stars.. chaeto has grown ridiculously and my rescue polyps are making a great recovery. They a redish color now, as before they were a clearish brown color.

 

[Zer0]

Update..

Got 5 frags.. but two of them have lots of mushrooms on them.. so it was a pretty good deal..

Here's a chalice frag i got.. no clue what it is though.. but i've suddenly fell in love with it. The colors in person are frikkin awesome. It's like redish.. purple.. and a little tint of green and orange. I can't wait until it fully grows out.. if it ever makes it that far lol.. If anyone knows what kind of chalice is this let me know.

Here's a nice chunk of live rock i got with a few cool mushrooms on it.. and lots of feather dusters and brittle stars.. it's awesome.

Here's one with flash.. just thought the blue dots on the mushroom looked cool.

Thought this was kinda funny..

And here's a rock with a couple assorted mushrooms.. green, blue, and red.

 

[Zer0]

A couple more pictures of some coral that needs ID. I think it's favites.. but idk.

And here's a shot of my not-so-happy duncan frag. Hopefully he'll puff up a bit later on. I took shots of the corals an hour after i acclimated and dropped them in.

 

[Jimbo7]

My duncans take 2 days to open if i move them even a hair, every time. Took them two days when i put them in.
You could spend your whole life specializing in chalice ID's and still probably wouldn't know all of them, they are really unique and there are tons of common morphs. If you could get a better shot of the color mixing as it colors up, might help.
I agree on the brain coral/favites/favia ID.
Edit: Possibly some sort of encrusting porites as well.

 

[mdaniel2882]

The LFS i go to was good a year ago.. it turned to crap and they don't really care about their livestock. I can say that because i've been there several times in the past few months and everytime i go there.. i see things labeled wrong, ridiculous prices, and dead livestock in almost every single holding tank. The goby dying was not my fault. When i saw it, it looked ok, not great, but not as bad as the others. I did everythng i could to try and rescue it, and i target fed it every day for two weeks. It still died.

And are you going to say that my water conditions aren't good? What are your water parameters? I read zero across the board, my pH and Salinity never swing, and my calcium is on the high side. But last i checked, calcium doesn't effect fish. Right? Not to mention that everything else in my tank is thriving... tons of pods, worms, a couple asterina stars.. chaeto has grown ridiculously and my rescue polyps are making a great recovery. They a redish color now, as before they were a clearish brown color.

I don't think he ment that personally. The truth is how many jokers DO blame their LFS for everything. I was in my LFS today getting my return pump and a guy was trying to return a dead maroon clown....Water test was the worst I have ever seen nitrates 160+ and salinity was at 1.032 (he was toping off with salt water) when they asked him how he aclimated he said "put the bag in the tank for about an hour and then dumped it in. he was VERY mad when they said they could not refund his money. The truth is that for everyone like us who care about the fish and the hobby their are 10 out there that just want the look and are to STUPID to put in the work.

 

[Zer0]

Jimbo, yep, i figured as much. So until anyone can provide me with an ID and proof as to exactly what the name of this chalice is.. i've named it a Purple Haze Chalice.. Only since it's mostly purple.. with a little tint of red.

mdaniel, i get what your saying.. but if you went to that LFS i was talking about.. i can honestly say that you would not want to buy anything from them. However, the new place i went to to get these frags, called Absolutely Fish, is AMAZING! If anyone is looking for nice cheap frags, expensive coral colonies or really nice clams and amazing inverts and fish, and is in the Clifton, NJ area, DEFINITELY check this place out. They have the nicest fish, inverts, and coral i've ever seen. Huge colonies of tabling acros, huge chalices, tons of acan lords.. etc.. They also have some amazing freshwater tanks and a huge selection of cichlids. All the fish are healthy and prime. Not a dead piece of livestock throughout any of their store. Simply amazing.


A little update on the tank.. Last night i noticed my duncan opened up QUITE a bit.. and once the lights came on, it shrunk back down so clearly this MH is too strong for me to place the duncan where it originally was.. which was in the top half range of the tank. I put it more towards the bottom, and in an area with a little more flow.. so we shall see how he likes it. If not.. then i'll move him lower and more out of direct flow. I hear they like low light and low flow.. so we'll see.

Also, i'm almost positive i have a mantis shrimp. I heard a few clicks last night, and there's this hole the size of a pencil eraser in the new big piece of live rock i got that extends from one end to the other. I doubt it's a pistol shrimp, since i'm pretty sure pistol shrimp don't burrow through rock. Anyone care to chime in on whether i'm right or not? Also.. the hole is pretty small.. so i'm guessing this dude is pretty small. Should i go to great lengths to remove him? Or just let him be until i see some mayhem occurring in the tank?

 

[thincat]

Best to remove him now. That mayhem most likely will be your most prized Fish.
Be careful...they are not called "thumb splitters" for nothing...

 

[Jimbo7]

ruh roh. Mantis are nasty buggers. I would take the whole slab of rock out and put it in its own tank. Try and lure it out to see if it is one, and what kind. I have seen people swear up and down that they have a mantis, then it turns out to be a peacock or a nice green one and they make a pretty penny on it. If they didn't creep me out so much, I might have one in his own tank.

 

[capj64]

My tank is loaded with amphipods (all sizes and colors) and they're diggin' holes all over my liverocks. Some of the holes are now about a 1/4". I've got rock dust laying under the holes and floatin' in the water. It's crazy watching them at night.

 

[Zer0]

Alright.. thanks to my retarded hermit crabs always having to check things out, i found out it's a pistol shrimp. I really small one lol. Stupid hermit went near the hole in the rock and i hear three loud clicks.. then a few seconds later when the hermit runs away, i see a little shrimp looking thing sticking half way out of the whole. Has one small claw, like the claw of a cleaner shrimp, and then one bigger claw that looks exactly like the claw my old pistol shrimp used to have. I didn't get to see exactly what color it was.. or if it had any markings and such.. but i know it is NOT a mantis and that it is a pistol shrimp. Will try and lure it out at night and see what i can make of it. For now.. he's staying in his network of tunnels within that baseball sized slab of live rock. I avoided a pistol shrimp this time around because i didn't want tons of piles of sand all over the place. If he starts to move all around my tank.. he's going in the refuge. Done and done.


And now that that's dealt with, i have a couple pictures. And yes, i know my sandbed is uber dirty.. but i don't know what animals to get that will clean it up nice and good. Nassarius are out.. and i haven't considered ceriths yet.. I do try and siphon some out during my water changes(that's why there's patches of white all over the place..) Any suggestions are welcome.

Here's a pic of some weird blueish feather duster that came on that piece of rock. It looks weird and is almost as if it can see me because everytime i walk by to look at it.. it sucks back in it's tube. This nice piece of live rock i got also harbors some awesome critters i've never seen before. Little worms, some white and some clear, a couple types of pods and reef bugs i've also never seen before. Lots of little feather dusters.. and a couple mini brittle stars since i've seen their arms waving around in the current.

Here's a one of my rock structures that are inhabited by TONS of pods and weird bugs that look like miniature slinkies.. Pretty cool. Won't be able to see the slinky ones.. but you could probably make out the regular sized pods.

Can you see the asterina?

 

[mdaniel2882]

Diamond goby!!!!!!

 

[Zer0]

For? To clean the sand?

 

[mdaniel2882]

For? To clean the sand?

Yes. to clean sand. We have talked about Cyano before and a said I clean my sand everyday to make it look good....I have not touched it since I got my goby and it is better than I ever did. make sure the one you get is eating. Mine eats EVERYTHING. pellets, frozen...whatever. The big problem with thiese fish is they are difficult to get to eat. make sure he is eating before you take him home and you are golden.

 

[Zer0]

Alright what the hey.. i'll give it a shot. I neeeded to get a fish anyways since there is none. Thanks for the suggestion dude.

 

[mrg02d]

Are you sure the goby isnt just sifting the sand near the cyano and dispersing it? I couldnt see why he would be eating the stuff...

Matt

 

[mdaniel2882]

Are you sure the goby isnt just sifting the sand near the cyano and dispersing it? I couldnt see why he would be eating the stuff...

Matt

He is keeping the sand bed stirred and getting rid of excess nutrients.

 

[Zer0]

Well either way.. i wanted to do get one.. but they're for 50G+ tanks. I have a 25G. I also don't have a live sand bed upon which they feed on mainly.. Yeah you can supplement the diet with such.. but still.

Guess i'll just have to figure something else out.. :'( Maybe it's time to try some juvenile ceriths.

 

[mdaniel2882]

I thought you had sand in your tank. I don't think mine gets too much food from the sand. he comes off the bottom and eats anything he can find when I feed the tank. I think one would be ok in the 25 gal cube.

 

[Zer0]

Yeah, maybe. It is a pretty open tank with lots of sand and ample swimming room. Meh.. maybe i'll give it a go.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Nice going Ziggy. Good to see things are going along well. Sorry I haven't been here for a while. I was on holidays.