lanman

I want to thank everyone that made suggestions for my tank move. Especially good were 'leave the old tank running, and move it bit by bit', and 'use a bowl, and a plastic bag on the sand to keep from stirring it up when you add water'. I am trying to give away the left-over sand in the old tank, and hope to have it drained and moved in a day or two. Thanks again! bob

I zoomed; it just gets blurrier... I was unaware that the images on the foto site were compressed. The original is 1.3MB. Now that my tank move is about done - I'll have some time to chase the elusive hitchiker. This morning he has his door shut. I'm going to move the rock slightly, so I can get a perfect angle on his hole. Let me know if you want the original image - I can e-mail it. But once I have time to set things up, I'll be able to get some pictures that are in focus. I'm still learning the camera - and it has three completely different modes with Normal, Macro, and Digital macro. I just wish it had manual focus - the auto-focus guesses wrong more than it guesses right on macro photos. All else fails, I'll use my daughter's *ist - it has manual focus. bob

She looks fairly happy already in there! I hope Steve's baby recovers from a very tough trip. bob

No problems at all so far; I just ended up with a bunch of rock in my sump after the tank move. As I work on my aquascaping some of it may get back into the main tank. But while looking the situation over, I wondered if one could build a system with very little rock in the display - and most of it in the sump, and still accomplish the job of maintaining your water. Of course now you have me wondering if I shouldn't find something else to do with that rock. i.e. - it may have a negative impact on my water quality. Or perhaps I should put a light over it. Right now I'd estimate my 58-gallon display has about 70 pounds of rocks in it. And about 40 pounds in the sump. The frag tank and the refugium/sump are still connected to the 45-gallon system. I hope to empty that tank tomorrow, at which time I'll have the frag tank and sump/refugium as a separate system, until I get it plumbed into the new one as a frag tank and refugium. I'm going to make some changes to those as well; in particular I don't think I want caulerpa in my refugium anymore. I keep reading how toxic it CAN be. And there are plenty of other macro-algae that are not. So it was just a hypothetical question until you said it might be a BAD thing. bob

First photo! I put a piece of silverside outside his hole; but this was as far as I saw him go out of the hole. Does it look like a mantis? bob

No as in no value added? bob

The poooor little baby! She's been abused! Fedex guy doesn't understand FRAGILE?? It's a decent sized frag, so with pampering, maybe she will come back to life. And maybe the mini-frags will grow. bob

Grats!! Now the WORK begins! bob

Do rocks in the sump, without any lights on them, contribute to the de-nitrification process the same as the rocks in the display tank? Less? None? bob

99% mark! The 45-gallon tank is empty - except for 1 Sally Lightfoot, and some cleanup crew members, and a bunch of little feather-dusters. Presenting my new 58-gallon RR tank. Aquascaping courtesy of 'Accidental Aquascapes'. Okay - so that's just where everything ended up when I moved it. But I think it has potential! Suggestions? bob

Oh - it's blue... even in its deflated, somewhat disheveled state, I could see that it's blue, and has the little sparklies in it. I gave the 'good piece' to Eve; the one that was still floating upside down attached to styrofoam. To Steve, I gave the piece that fell off the styrofoam, and lost half its water. It also lost a few mini-frags - polyps that were broken off from the piece of rock bouncing on the 'xenia'. But basically, they are both very nice sized frags. We are of course expecting pictures as soon as they are acclimated and re-inflated. If Steve puts the mini-bits in a cup of rubble with bridal veil, maybe we'll have a couple of extra 'starter colonies' growing. bob

Eve is on the way, so I opened the box... one of them looks great. The other one has a) fallen loose from the styrofoam, and b) leaked half the water out. Despite double-bagging. I'll discuss it with whoever arrives first - but I'm thinking perhaps Eve with her 1-hour trip home, and Steve with 15 minute... perhaps Eve should get the one that's in better shape. bob

5 gallons out of a 16 gallon tank? The fish must think the sea has parted. 5 gallons out of my 24-gallon tank would leave some corals basking in the sunlight. I do 2.5 gallons each week. bob

It's not at Steve's house - and I'm guarding it with my life! bob

I read a post from one guy that even though it grows slower than regular xenia - it's still a fast grower. Of course - happy xenia grows like weeds. bob You are coming all the way here from Gaithersburg? Wow... that's almost as bad as me picking up a coral from NAGA... which I did... okay - we're all nuts. I'll send a phone number, so you can make sure it's actually HERE. bob

Clicking? a) I'm hard of hearing. b) The tanks are NOISY. There is a chance he escaped from that hole in the rock. But I don't think so - he seemed very hesitant to leave the hole; all I ever saw was his face. I'll be watching for him again tonight. The rock is now in the sump. I checked over the empty snail shells (all in a neat pile); and found no holes. If I can keep track of him long enough to rebuild my old sump/refugium into a refugium - I'll just put him in there. If I lose interest, I'll give him away. bob

The rock came from BRK about February. The hole he is in is about 1/2" in diameter - and he fills it up. I've still only seen his face. I sat there with camera ready for an hour, and he never came out enough to shoot a picture of him. Just two little oval things that look like big fly eyes. I put the rock in the sump for the night. I'll try again tomorrow evening. If I don't have a picture, he doesn't really exist. I've been blaming my red emerald crab for killing all those snails. Now I'm going to have to dig out the shells and see if they have holes punched in them. Maybe the shrimp was killing them, and the crab was just cleaning up the remains. Of course, if he's a 'stabber' instead of a 'puncher', he probably stabs them as they crawl over his hole, and I won't see any holes in them. bob

After tonight's moves: The old tank is 3/4 empty. Some of the rock I moved went into the sump. I figure I can pull it out if/when I need it for the aquascaping in the display. While moving rock, I found that there are a few more frilly mushrooms than I used to have. They've been spreading. Not much left... bob

Yes - no school on Friday; and she will be going to her mother's house after I get home (to celebrate an early Mother's day). PM coming with address, etc. bob

I think I have a mantis shrimp living in a hole in a rock... never would have found him - but while moving rock, I put a piece of rock in the new tank with his hole facing the front glass. I have only seen the front end of him, but I'm watching now... If it is indeed a mantis shrimp - would you suggest putting him in the sump - or just flushing him outright?? bob

I have a little pump in my 24-gallon tank that is on for 15 mins, off for 30 mins; just to break up the water flow a bit. I don't mess with that tank much - it's always clear, clean, and the corals grow nicely. I just adjust the ALK and monitor the pH and CA. bob

That's what throw-rugs are for. bob

Mine mostly died out naturally - I got brown algae instead... and a tiny patch of cyano that refuses to go away. But while moving rock last night from 45-->58, I found a small patch of it that had been between rocks. I put my turbo snail on it - and now there's just a fingernail size patch left. I'll hunt him down again this evening, or sic my queen conch on it. Both seem to enjoy the stuff. In fact, if you can mow it short, the little pointy-hat snails will take care of it - but they don't like it long. The queen conch is best at the longer stuff. Now that I'm halfway moved into the 58, and it looks SO nice and clean and pristine - I'll probably get some hellacious bryopsis or bubble algae infestation. It's not reefer madness - it's reefer masochism. bob

If I understood what you're asking - maybe I could... when is the delivery day? I'm only 15 mins down the road from you, and my daughter's college classes have become 'spotty' with finals this week, so she's going to be home most of the time. Just need the day and I'll see if she's going to be here all day. bob

Yes - 1-3" frag is $110. bob