Photo Shoot

It was such a nice day.

Drop the Bucket

I finally couldn't stay away any longer, I had to set up a saltwater tank. The only room I had left was the little ledge next to the 29, which of course has reef lighting over it, so it was perfect. I had a 5.5 that I had been keeping crickets in, an extra 10g filter, a tetra or whisper or whatever,some crushed coral and a 50 watt heater.

Since I've bought the live rock as pieces I don't know how much they weight but I guess I have about 3 pounds of base rock and 4 pounds of live-rock. The two smaller pieces are well cured and well populated with tube worms and sponges and a few nice colors of Coraline algae. The larger piece on top came in uncured but was apparently well taken care of on its trip, because it has three pieces of life leather coral still growing on it and hopefully some other live corals, but since they are stony corals it will take longer to see any growth.


Its been set up about a month and has 2 emerald crabs, 1 blue dwarf hermit crab, a margarita snail, half a starfish and two Christmas tree coral frags. At least they are supposed to be christmas tree corals, they don't look like any pictures I've found online though.

The starfish and frags were donated by a coworker.

The coraline algea is spreading nicely and the entire tank has been taken over by red algea but the crabs and snail are taking care of that nicely.




The 29 has filled in amazingly well also since the addition of the light, and this is after a trim.

Blogs

My mother has started a blog about her paintings and other things, its just in its beginnings but she is rather poetic don't you think?

Texas Treasure Journal

Memorial for a Mouse

Now I feel bad, but I did what I had to do. I'm sure my karma will suffer as a result. For six months I've been finding little nests, and holes chewed in left over lunch bags, the downfall of the mouse was finding a large hole chewed in my favorite hoodie. It had gotten out of the box on the way home from work. A guy caught a nest of pinky field mice and one juvenile. I took them home hoping to feed them to my frog, so I suppose I gave hm 6 more months then he would have had. Despite all the evidence I never actually once saw the mouse, there are nests in the trunk and glove box, as well as in every inch of the cab of the car. So heres to you mouse, hope you had a good time chewing up my stuff, and dont hold it against me that I knew your weakness was peanut butter.

APC Post

Having some problems with my large tank, so I posted a question on APC.

The pictures are kind of embarrassing because I didn't wipe algae off the inside of the glass or water spots off the outside, but hopefully i got my point across.

APC Post

Some things I have noticed:

I used to get large piles of mulm around the plants and sometimes just everywhere. I don't anymore but don't know whether to thank the MTS or the YoYo Loach. (mts= Malaysian trumpet snails)

Botia almorhae

(pic borrowed from www.tropicalfishco.com for reference, its not mine....mine wont stay still long enough)


(pic borrowed from badmanstropicalfish.com for reference purposes)

When I added all that extra light, it didnt really increase my algae all that much, I get a lot more green spot algae on the glass (just like it says, little bright green spots that are a bugger to scrub off and nothing seems to eat it).

crypts

i have at leave 4 species of crypts and now i know what two of them are
wendtii-the big brown one with the wiggly leaves
and undulata- the little bright green one with the chain sword like leaves

Crypt Identification Post

New acquisition

I now have a Chillian rose tarantula....

Once more

Upgraded the ball python to a 20 long, he is much happier now:
His former tank had an undertank heater, so I put the giant millipede in it. He was in a 10 with some frogs and skinks before and I was using a heat lamp for heat, so he will be better off without the light drying him out. I'm putting the heat lamp over the snake because he needs it more then the native animals which can handle colder weather.

The 29 after adding new light and pulling up a lot of the swords and dwarf sag on the right hand side:
I also moved my one gallon under this light since I had extra room. I've been fogetting to turn the light on since the betta died, most of the dwarf sag is still alive. Amazing what that plant can handle:
And the 20H after doing all those waterchangings and planting it:

Endless Task

Adding additional substrate to 20g ofter realizing I didn't have enough to plant in.

Lessons we have learned from this experience:

1. Do not use Pavestone Brand Sand in the aquaria.
2. Wash all substrates before putting them in the water.
3. Test all substrates in a jar BEFORE putting them in aquaria.
4. Do not leave an open bag of sand on the floor when you have dog that likes to eat...well everything.
5. Drain tank to less then four inches before adding substrate.
6. Do not add 30 guppies to the tank with the idea of culling them later, only the ones you want to keep will want to be caught.

I'm sure there is more, but those are the ones that are sticking out in my mind. I have completely changed the water more then three times, and now it looks about like the picture of it with the plate still in it a couple of posts ago.

29 gal update

I have no pics today, I've misplaced the camera.

I have acquired a 48 inch Coralife light fixture for a rock bottom price, my tank is only 30 inches long so there is a bit of hangover. The fixture creates 130 watts of light but there is no way of knowing exactly how much effects the aquarium, either way its a LOT of light. I will need to get some more floating plants and emersed plants to help compensate for the extra light, but the design of the light will make that easier since the brackets hold the fixture 3 or so inches above the top of the tank.

My platys have been experiencing a plague recently. The sunset fire I had for so long was growing deformed, with a bent back and sunken belly and looking in general rather gross. When she finally weekend and looked about to die I put her out of her misery, and mine. I added more platys but they have all died except two , one of which is getting deformed and has a fungus on its head.

Strangely though, the green corys that I have had for about four years now are unaffected, as well as 3 ottos, a yo-yo loach and the ghost shrimp.

I did a 80% water change after adding the light to reduce the nutrients in the water, which are evident by the amount of black algae I have beginning to grow. I'm going to have to monitor this more closely then I'm used to to keep it from growing out of control.

Once I did the water change it apparently reduced the tannins enough in the water to let more light through and the plants are exhibiting signs of false pearling. In high tech tanks plants will pearl , most usually in the morning. It is the natural process of oxygen production amped up enough to make it visible to us.

False pearling is somewhere in between, the oxygen is created faster then in lower light situations, but isn't coming from the pores of the plant, it is escaping from damaged and broken areas of the leaf. You see it as a tiny stream of bubbles coming from on point in the plant, instead of allover little bubbles that sit on the plant.