Jake's 150 Gallon Cube Build

[jcarlilesiu]

Major issue! So, me and my wife discovered another aptasia following our new aquascape the other day. We have been using aptasia X to kill quite a few of them, and I got to tell you, this stuff really seems to work.

Anyway, my wife went on another killing spree tonight, which requires that we turn off all pumps and power heads for 15 minutes. Following treating the aptasia, she witness what seemed like some legs feeling around out of a crevis of a rock. The legs had brittles on them and appeared white and black.

Curiosity got the better of us, so I lifted up the rock that was hiding what ever the creature was that was under it. HOLY $@!*, it was what appears to be a huge brittle star. I don't know where it came from, and didn't get a real good look at it before it fell down behind the rocks and disappeared, but it was big. The diameter of the creature including the legs spread out appeared to be about 3 or 4 inches.

I have been trying to do some research, and it looks like brittle stars are pretty well recieved. Anything that I should be worried about? Will this thing show itself under normal (lights on) circumstances or will it hide until night. I know it is a nocternal feeder.

I never expected a hitchhiker this big. The thing actually scared me when I saw it.

I obviously don't have a picture since it disappeared... but any help on what I might have seen would be appreciated.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Bristle Stars you don't normally see the full body, just an arm waving from you LR. Don't worry, they are completely reef safe and are a great little hitchhiker. Lucky you.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

So I have already been thinking of fish stock. There are so many fish that I like, but had a question about one in particular.

A blue hippo teng needs a big tank and alot of swimming room. I have seen that a minimum of 125 is needed, and it has been mentioned that a 6 foot long tank should be used.

Is that to mean that a 3'x3' 150 gallon like in this thread would not work?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Stock has arrived. After nearly a week of tests showing zero, we have got the following animals:

15 Blue Hermit Crabs
5 Scarlett Hermit Crabs
20 Astrea Snails
3 Emerld Crabs
1 Sally Lightfoot
2 Tank Raised Percula Clowns.


Everything is acclimating now. Pictures of the stock to be posted shortly as they investigate their new home.

 

[austinsdad]

Swimming room for a tang means left and right I believe. That is best for'm at 6'. They don't get that in your tank.

Get some peppermint shrimp too. They'll keep the aptasia you can't see yet trimmed.

 

[Mitchell0605]

Yep. But if you see more big ones you'll have to zap them, Pep's don't go for big ones. Although you could get a Copperband Butterfly.

 

[jcmelski]

jcarl
I like the wife's aqua scape better. One thing I noticed was that you had no union on the suction of the pump.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

jcarl
I like the wife's aqua scape better. One thing I noticed was that you had no union on the suction of the pump.

You are correct. There wasn't enough room to allow for a union at that location. I have to remove the bulkhead from the sump if I need to remove the pump.

Unfortunate, but will have to be that way. This limited space thing is starting to stink. I am going to throw my back out trying to get in and out of the stand.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Updates!

So, its been awhile and alot has happened. First off, I am really happy with how all of the equipment is working out. The sump that I built is working great with the filter sock. It needs to be cleaned out about once a week, but I have found a great way to do it. I fill up about a 1/2" of water in the bathtub, lay the filter sock in the bottom, and tap on it. The brown nasties come right out.

The protein skimmer is pulling quite a bit of skimmate out of the tank, which I didn't expect. I have only fed once, so I know I am not overfeeding but I assume some of the live rock die off was contributing originally.

WE HAVE FISH! We purchased two percula clownfish over the weekend. The wife used to have some ocellarius and loves these guys. They are doing great and loving 150 gallons to themselves.

When we originally fed them, we found a crab come walking out of the live rocks. He must have been hungry. Ugly guy too, brown with red eyes and big pinchers. Wife screamed "gross" and he quickly moved back into his cave when he saw us. Here is a picture of the ugly guy:

As you can see, we caught him. We tried with some food in a long shot glass first, but we woke up the next morning to all of the shrimp being gone and the crab fat and happy in his cave.

The larger glass above did the trick. I would have felt bad killing him so we dropped him off at the LFS and they were happy to take him.

Unfortunately we also know that we have a mantis shrimp. He is about 2" in length and was looking for food the first time we fed too. We haven't seen him since, but the wife is constantly claiming she is hearing clicks. Gotta work on catching him.

So here are a few shots of the tank as it stands now.

So how long should we wait before getting a lether coral or something?

 

[Mitchell0605]

You could get one now. I personally reccomend doing deciding, research and planning your corals before you get any. This way you can accomodate for the coral growth and where your gonna put everything.

 

[jcmelski]

I agree with Mitchell0605. Do your research on the coral first. I made some newbie mistakes with some of the corals that I bought and wish I didn't purchase them now. The clicking could be your clown fish. I've read that clown fish snap their jaws and make this sound. Do you have the Koralias on timers or are they on at all time? I've read they can make clicking sounds if put on a wave controller.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I agree with Mitchell0605. Do your research on the coral first. I made some newbie mistakes with some of the corals that I bought and wish I didn't purchase them now. The clicking could be your clown fish. I've read that clown fish snap their jaws and make this sound. Do you have the Koralias on timers or are they on at all time? I've read they can make clicking sounds if put on a wave controller.

Koreilas are on full time.

We saw the mantis, so I am sure I have one. I still haven't heard any clicking.

 

[Zer0]

You probably haven't heard any clicking because he hasn't found a rock that he wants to burrow into yet. The only time you hear the clicking is when he is digging in to something.. Pistol Shrimps are the shrimps that can make the clicking noise regardless of what they aim their claw at, not Mantis'

 

[Mitchell0605]

Also Mantis' can click in rapid succession (click,click,click) whereas Pistol Shrimp can only click once. That's another way to tell them apart.

 

[Etunes]

I would also hold off on fish and stuff until you get the mantis shrimp as he might find some fish/inverts/corals tasty.

 

[cmor1701d]

Mantis shrimp use that claw to kill prey, not to burrow into rock. It is possibly the fastest motion of any animal and takes a truly high speed camera to capture it so we can witness it,

 

[Mitchell0605]

Although if the sucker gets you the pain comes pretty fast too.

 

[csnpaul]

I have this same tank and want to tell you its an awesome tank and very nice to show. I had the spray problem on the return as well. I used a small piece of filter between the wall and return line which doesn't break the siphon. It was a huge distraction and messy until I got something small enough to fit in there.

Your tank looks great and good luck!

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I have this same tank and want to tell you its an awesome tank and very nice to show. I had the spray problem on the return as well. I used a small piece of filter between the wall and return line which doesn't break the siphon. It was a huge distraction and messy until I got something small enough to fit in there.

Your tank looks great and good luck!

Thanks paul.

Well, your post reminded me that I haven't updated for awhile. So here goes.

We have started to aquire corals. We picked up some GSP and a leather coral on our first trip. They opened up with in about 1 hour of putting them in the tank. We have had them for about a week now, and they are almost constantly open and look great.

On the second trip, we got two ricordias, one with large "bumps" and somewhat pale blue in color, and the other orange with a green mouth.

We also got a toadstool

Coraline is coming in nicely and really developing even on rocks that were dead.

Diatoms are finally starting to fade. They were driving me crazy. I am about to test the water as I haven't done that in a while. I am happy to say that I was able to change out 10% of the water last weekend, in about an hour and a half, not including water RO time.

Here are a few overall tank shots.

Thanks for looking!
https://www.aquariumadvice.com/atta...093826_3_0cf5e126446217e4ad8d894527e258dc.jpg

 

[SnowZz]

very beautiful. +1, i just picked up a brain today myself. I cant wait to get a toad leather next