sharuq1

Looks wonderful. I wish mine looked even half as nice as yours. Now I am completely jealous.

Still algae and yeah I know the zoos and stuff look ridiculous on their little frag disks. Right now just hoping I don't kill anything. The close up on the rock is supposed to show those coral-thingies I was looking for an id for, but as you can see I am not really capable of getting a close-up, hehe. I know it doesn't look real great right now, but I have hopes it will at some point. 14 g biocube Silly clownfish is always bugging that zoo, lol

Prime

I have a small saltwater tank with zoos, xenia, clownfish, sponges, frogspawn and other tiny things (everything is small). It is quite new (6 weeks I think), so have been doing weekly water changes (5g/change on a biocube 14) and I am very worried about water quality as I would like to keep these new additions alive and healthy. Just bought the xenia/frogspawn/zoos yesterday and the green zoo is most definitely looking a whole lot less green. I am unsure whether this is due to the upset of just having been moved from the LFS or my water, and of course me being the worry-wort that I am, I'm immediately worried. Does anyone know if the red deer water quality is good enough for these things to thrive? I have been using the tap water. Keep in mind I have a very tight budget, and I cannot at this time buy an RO/DI unit. Sooo.....----> ----->If the water is not good enough can you recommend the best place to buy water from in Red Deer?

Not sure if this is a coral or an anemone or what. Anybody know? I have several of these growing on a rock in the corner. This photo is not my tank, but what is pictured is what I'm talking about. The link has a few answers but I would prefer a deinitive one, 'cus I am way to inquisitive. Look at the tiny thing beside the whatever it is large corallish thing. (Sorry, I am a newb, don't know names for most things yet) ID?<--bigger picture TY for your help **Also, I have noticed what appears to be some hydroids, (some white, some brown) will they go away on their own eventually or am I to keep upsetting the tank by taking it apart every single bloody time? <frusterated> Tank is ~ 6 weeks old, no nitrite, ammonia seems to be ok (I am new to reading test kits), doing 5 gal water changes every week (tank is biocube 14), salinity 0.22, nitrate-there must be some due to some algal growth but don't yet have a kit for it.--- They are very very small, too tiny to take a pic of and way to small to inject with anything. On a side note just added xenia, frogspawn and zoo frags and 2 clownfish and I really don't want to kill them by upsetting the tank or poisoning anything if possible.

They make no noise, I hardly ever see them. (Have not seen them in a week but I knwo they are there because I saw 2 sheddings) Brown eyes, not hairy. I have not been able to observe other behaviors now as I can't find the little buggers lol.

Nope, it is small, seems to grow in little clusters, but not always. Too small to take a pic of with my crummy phone camera (lol). I have tried manual remover with tweezers but it comes right back It seems to be spreading.....and ...ah crap I accidentally popped some. Arrrgggggg!!! I still think it must be some algae bubble thing, and I am guessing my tank is going through the expected nitrate spike, because nitrites are finally at zero. Lots of other algae growing too on the top rocks, looks like tiny fern leaves and very fine "grass". -- i hate algae

My sw tank (2 weeks old now) seems to be getting alot of things that look like they might be algae bubbles attached to the LR. What can I do to stop them from appearing? Does it have something to do with water? They look like little light green-transluscent balls on a single stalk??? Anybody???

well I am just a sucker for a weird critter. I put him back in my 14g nano. He is just so darn cute. Hope he doesn't eat my tube worms..... Those are my favorite LR freebies so far. Hey Jonah, you can only have him if he murders stuff or if he keeps getting bigger maybe we can eat him :rofl: Till then I think I will stare at the lil bugger. (The times I can see him, lol). If there is more than one though..... :shifty: I'll think about it If anyone knows what he is please get back to me. -------------------------------------- bleh the ugly brown algae stage is starting, bleh bleh bleh lol It's not gonna stay....is it??

A red emerald crab?? I didn't know they had those fan dealies... SO is it a danger to a reef tank that may eventually house a fish or 3/shrimp, coral, etc??

I recently found a couple of crabs in my LR (I believe it is Indonesian LR, it came from Golds) and I would like to know what they are. FYI I do not have anemones, I just started this tank. I managed to catch one, (I believe there are 2 or 3 in there I think the same type but I am unsure) but he is tiny so it is very hard to get a good picture. The smaller one I saw has stripes on his legs, the larger one also has stripes on his legs but they are darker both on the light stripes and the dark ones (which are a ruddy brown) He has large reddish claws, a brownish body, two long brown antenae, two mandible looking things for when he is eating and this is the interesting part.... I took him out of my main tank today (I was worried he might be a bad guy) and put him in a little 1 gallon that I threw a bunch of brine shrimp eggs into that morning. I put in a tiny piece of LR which he immediately went to sit under. I then put in some frozen brine shrimp to see what would happen. He took out these arm things and on them were large fans and began fanning the water like crazy. If he got ahold of a large piece of shrimp he stuffed it in his mandibles to munch. Is this a porcelain crab?? I thought they were the only ones with the fan dealies. I have a pic but it is terrible. However on the off chance you might know what he is, here goes. If he is eating brine shrimp does that make him a bad guy? I do not want anything eating my inverts, coral or anything else in there that isn't algae, aptasia or any other bad stuff (lol) But if he some version of porcelain doesn't that make him a good guy?? In the main tank he was ALWAYS in holes in the rock. Why on earth do they need those big claws for anyway? Why would he need the pointy things on his claws? Is he going to destabilise the rock like it says in some of the articles I have read? Could the big claws be for offense or defense?? the small crab (caught him once and I put him back in the main tank All of the larger crab I took today with my crappy cam phone. **edit: there are most definite hooks on this guys claws, they are not a different color than the claws themselves**

What is sps? Over at Gold's they said a small pseudochromis would be fine and had that in the display cube in the fron t of the store. (gorgeous cube, full of corals *drool*) What is a very tiny goby that might be interesting and get along with the clown etc? Where is a good spot to buy frogspawn. I was enchanted by the pink stuff they had at Gold's but it was not on sale (display tank). Any special things I need to do to keep it alive? Does it require light or food drops or shrimp to eat? For goby choices....What about: Amblygobius rainfordi (court jester goby) red striped goby catalina goby Elacatinus oceanops (neon blue goby) Hi-fin red banded goby Nemateleotris helfrichi (Helfrichi firefish) Other ideas: Fridmani Pseudochromis - Tank-Bred Any other ideas for brainstorming what to keep in here? The only have to is the clownfish, the frogspawn and hubby requests a purple fish I would love a blue fish that is not a damsel, are there no tiny peaceful blueys? What about a clam? I have seen some very cool ones. Ones with red tentacles, ones that look like big purple lips, etc.

If I ditch the sponge and the bio balls, what should I put back there besides carbon (and how often do I change the carbon?). Floss?? Rubble of some kind??

After almost dying from sticker shock I decided to go nano at least until I own my own house. I bought an oceanic biocube 14 in the hopes I would be able to do this. Fish I was thinking of: false or percula clownfish (1 or 2) pseudichromis (sorry if I can't spell) and.....well I am not sure yet, something flashy that would get along with those 2 fish, suggestions? anything blue? Corals I was thinking of: frogspawn anything I can put with frogspawn in the tank (suggestions? pretty please??) Inverts: red and blue legged hermit crabs porcelain crab? peppermint shrimp or fire shrimp? cleaner shrimp? Suggestions very welcome, anyone with SW in red deer who can mentor me along would be a godsend!!

I was not sure where to put this post as there is so much stuff in it, so moderators if you move it thanks I recently purchased a 14 gallon oceanic biocube. I like the fact it has the lights included, the area at the back for filtration and looks aesthetic. However, what on earth should I do about not having a protein skimmer? There is not room to fit a skimmer inside (unless anyone has seem some sort of uber small one that is GOOD? You cannot hang anything on the back due to the hood, and I do not want to wreck or mutilate the hood either. Anyone know something that would work? There are 2 little slot deals in the back of the hood for cords, fyi. Also, how many water changers should I be doing once the tank settles down? I have heard everything from 50% once a week to 20% bi-weekly to 10% a week. The tank is presently holding about 12 lbs of live rock (not cured), one piece of travateen (sp?) (I had heard it was good for Calcium) and I also picked up a red legged hermit crab, a blue legged and there is a very tiny hitchiker crab I have so far been unable to ID (like will fit on my pinkie tip tiny). It is brownish, has striped legs, no pointy things on the pincers, reddish on the claws and I have not seen it on any of the id sites so far. There is a bit of purple coralline algae, and 3 red tube worms. I was not going to put any critters in it, but did the crab thing on advice from someone who took care of tanks for a living. My water is too acidic, is that normal when you are curing rock? Will it settle on its own or should I be doing something to correct it? Another question: I have heard you should keep lights off while curing from some people--and others say keep them on during the day so your coral doesn't die, another said just to keep the actinic on during the day. Opinions? Stuff: -SEIO M620 (recommended by Albert @ Golds) -~12 lbs live rock with god knows what on it (lol) -10k coralife (came with it) -actinic coralife (came with it) -back filter (right now has bio balls in it, charcoal, sponge filter and filter insert that it came with) --what should I put in the bio ball place after those are gross?, do I keep that sponge? if so when should it be replaced? --what filter media do you recommend? is there a teeny skimmer that would fit back there that does not suck? -50 watt submersible heater -salinity presently 1.022-1.023, nitrite etc is of course terrible due to cycling -79 F right now do to problems with a new heater (trying to fix that) -1 red legged hermit crab, 1 blue legged crab, 1 hitchiker crab -bare bottom tank Thanks for your help folks, this newb needs all the help she can get. PS: is there a small non-predatory starfish that can be put in this set-up (when cured of course) that won't die of starvation?

Does live rock need special lighting? I have one strip (just an aqua-glo) but it is not enough to even keep live plants alive in that tank, lol. How is it that live rock stays alive? What do the critters in there eat? How slow is slow enough to bring up salinity? How often would I need to WC? I am guessing the tank is around 100g, but I really don't know for sure. Is one Rena filter enough (it is the larger canister filter, I can't remember what it was called) if it is 100g? What media do you recommend in the filter? I would like to try a FOWLR tank. What about putting in tuffa rock as BR and just getting a bit of LR? How long do I have to run the tank "naked" before putting in the LR? How long do I have to keep it free of fish after putting in LR? Where is a good place to buy LR? How much is it? I am thinking of starting off slow (mnostly due to lack of $, lol), maybe putting in a couple clownfish and whatever else you guys would recommend for a beginner. I'm very grateful for all the info. you can pump into me. TY! PS: Thank you for being so patient with me in answering all these noobie questions

I don't know much about salt water, but I would like to learn.. I have heard you cannot just turn a fresh into a salt water. But why? Why can you not use the same plastic plants and gravel? I know you need a protein skimmer, but what else do you need to set up a simple SW tank? Special lighting? Special chemicals?

I bought an I. sperangerae at the CAS auction but it is SO MEAN! I had it in with my red zebra, my blue "whatever he is" fish, female dempsey, 2 baby jewels and he has made the whole tank go into hiding. The blue has a bloodied mouth and refuses to come out of hiding. I put the rusty in another tank to seperate him. I don't know what to do with him... *sigh* He is so pretty but so mean.. Suggestions? Anyone wanna buy him, lol?

I second that, great idea! Thanks

Is it safe to used a copper based snail treatment in a planted tank? There are some pretty delicate ones in there and I'd be choked if I killed them.

I was having the same problem in my large cichlid tank so added some apple snails, now it is clean as can be.

I agree, what about a members list where we can pm each other stickied up?

I have a ton of ramshorns and know what they look like very well and this definitely is not a ramshorn. (Was feeding puffers )

It was from the local Wal-Mart in Red Deer (lol, I know what a great lace to buy fish hahaha). They had it listed as a Kenyan or Kenyi or something. Well it is not a Kenyi lol. It gets a bit bluer when colored up but not by much, certainly nothing like the moori. Stays pretty much the paler color for the most part as he has not been dominant in the tank for quite some time.

I bought many plants recently and now have lots of MTS, but that is not my question. I see another snail on there. It has a curled shell, like a ramshorn, but more circular, it is almost clear in color and appears to go along with the circle shell perpendicular to the surface it is on. I don't have a pic as it is just too small to get one. it is maybe 3 mm? Anyone have a clue?? I dunno whether to leave it in the tank or not, or if more came in. I would prefer not to kill off the MTS, but I will if this turns out to be a pest.