MaeganWink

So I just found these all over the glass of one of my tanks. To be fair, it's a tank I plan on breaking down, but I still would like to know what it is and if it's something I should be worried about in terms of hitchhiking to another tank when I move rocks and such. At least a dozen on my glass, all moving.

A bit far out from Arlington, but I love Capital Aquarium in Manassas!

Yes, I meant sea hare. The reason is my current system doesn't handle the nitrate load well enough. The new system will, as it's not just a simple hang on the back like I've got now. But again, I don't want to bring over the hair algae to the new system. Found someone to lend me one, so this can close now, thanks guys.

Odd question, but anyone have a nudibranch I could borrow? I have a ton of hair algae in one my one tank I'm having a hard time getting rid of. I know I'd get rid of it eventually, but I wanted to tackle the issue before I moved everything into my new tank and new system. I'd rather not have the hair algae take root there if I can help it. I'd buy one, but I'd be worried about keeping it alive longterm...don't want to starve it.

Hey everyone! I'm getting the last pieces of my new classroom setup and the one issue my Uncle was unable to help me with was a good idea for how to mount the lights. I'm going to be using two LED lights (like the one shown in the attached pictures), with one hanging over each 55 bowfront tank. However, I'm not sure what the best way to hang the lights is. I can't hang from the ceiling because a) it's a fire hazard for the school and b)the ceiling tiles are super flimsy anyway I wouldn't trust them. I'll attach the pictures of my LED lights and the setup.

I mean, I have a 14 gallon setup that is currently empty. It used to have a mantis shrimp but I left it all running after he passed because I wasn't sure how quickly I'd get a replacement...So if you're desperate there's that, but it's not set up specifically for that sort of thing. Hopefully there's someone with something more specifically tailored for this that can help you, though!

Super sad, found my mantis shrimp dead this morning. Water parameters fine, snail and hermits that were in there as food were fine. He had already completed a molt recently, so I don't think it was that (unless they molt like once a month). He was eating silversides fine, even if he wasn't actively hunting the things I offered him. I'm assuming it was just some sort of invert disease or condition...but if anyone has ideas, let me know. RIP Mike Tyson.

Nah, the snails are nassarius I got from the shop. It's not the snails I was trying to identify, it was the anemones xD

It looks like this one http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/cnidaria/actiniaria/snail.htm Buuuut I can't find anything else on it. I guess I should remove them. Very sad. xD

Found these cute snails with little anemones attached to their shells! I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of anemones they are? They don't look like Aptasia to me. I just want to make sure they won't infest the tank before I let them loose. Right now they're in a critter carrier in my tank, so separate but still getting the same water through tiny slots. Any ideas?

Mantis shrimp pictures, since they wouldn't fit in the last post.

First I want to say I appreciate all the encouragement. It's certainly been a crazy process and probably not something I would do if it weren't for my class. Updates: The Clown n' Friends tank sprung a leak a few months ago. I tried to fix it (as I originally had when it first leaked), but the leak was too great to accomplish with organisms inside. SO instead I had a back up 55 gallon that I swapped out with it. This meant I had to move all the fish to other tanks temporarily (I couldn't get the new tank in that same day but the old tank wouldn't hold enough water overnight) so that was chaotic. Got the new tank set up and moved most of the fish back, though a few decided they were going to live in new homes and refused to be caught. Also have lost a few fish, all new additions that didn't pan out. One Talbot's damsel got into a fight and died of his injuries, and two different species of file fish passed due to not eating well (at least that's my best guess). Also one out of my Benggai trio disappeared over spring break. I'm assuming maybe the other two paired up and then beat him into the grave, but not sure, never found him or a body. New balance of organisms is as follows... Clown n' Friends Tank Ocallarius Clowns x 2 Pajama Cardinals x 3 Spotted Hawkfish Royal Gramma Fanged Striped Blenny (snuck over in a rock from puff tank) Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x a lot Turbo Snail x a lot Green Sea Urchins x 13 (will be finding new homes for some of these) Xyenia Green Star Polyp Fighting Conch Some other unidentified coral Invertebrate Friendly Tank Peppermint Shrimp x ??? (haven't seen them all since the chaos of the leaking tank) Longspine Urchin Chromis x 2 Firefish Benggai Cardinal x 2? Aptasia Eating Filefish x 2 (bonded pair, captive bred) Engineer Goby Molly Miller Blenny (refused to be moved back to clown tank) Emerald Crab Fighting Conch Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x 3 Turbo Snail Puffer Fish Tank Valentini Pufferfish Tiger Pistol Shrimp Watchman Goby Talbot's Damsel Yellow Chorus Wrase Rainford Goby Coral Beauty The new urchins are all from a Urchin Embryology Lab I just did with my students. Very fun, plus we get to keep them. I also have a smaller acrylic tank (I forget the exact size) that houses a Mantis Shrimp! He's super awesome and the students love him. He's a quirky little guy. Still working on my getting the 55 gallon bowfronts set up in a whole system. My uncle plans on helping me with the plumbing since he used to build tanks for a living. I am still looking for a light that I can use over the two bowfronts to grow hard corals, but that's a lower level priority. Here are some pictures.

Interested in the bubble tip anemone, the cleaner shrimp, the serpent stars, snails, and hermits all depending on price.

So the one tank in particular is still giving me problems. I'm still getting readings of about 80 with nitrates. All fish seem fine, though some of my corals seem unhappy. Last week I added purigen to all my filters, which helped the other tanks but didn't seem to make a difference for this one. I rearranged rocks looking for anything rotting, haven't seen anything. All fish are accounted for. I'm honestly at a loss for the source. Aside from a couple of small corals, I haven't increased the bioload from the past 4-5 months when everything has been fine. Could excess algae cause a nitrate spike? Not sure what else to do. I plan on doing a larger % water change once I get my R/O system in (should be any day now), but until then it's not feasible for me to go to the store to get that much water. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

So I had my students do a 20% water change today. How soon would I be able to get accurate readings for nitrate and salinity levels?

Not the best picture, but we've got a pair of clowns in one of our class tanks. There are no anemones in the tank at the moment, since the water isn't really stable enough, but the one clown LOVES to nest in this one coral. It's rather hilarious...and luckily it doesn't seem like the coral is any worse for the ware so.

I am working on grants, it's just there is redtape on my end (school has procedures I need to go through) to apply for grants, so I haven't completed any yet, including the one through WAMAS. But it's definitely on my list, especially for equipment, since WAMAS would actually understand the need, while other grants might go "but you already have equipment even if it's subpar" xD

Yes, they are all similarly stocked. I know the HOB filters aren't the best, but they're all I could manage to start, considering my school only gave me $250 to do all three tanks...I've gone well into my own pocket money at this point xD Grants are an option I'm working on for improving equipment, but it is what it is at the moment.

It is possible, but these are highschoolers. They know if they are caught messing with the tanks it's an immediate referral. So I would hope not, but...

Went from under 15 to as high as 60-80. Each has an HOB powerfilter. I only changed the filters after I got the off readings, not before, so I I doubt that's it. Also, if that were the case, wouldn't it have affected the other two tanks? All three have the same HOB powerfilter on them. The other two are getting readings of less than 10.

So one of my classroom 55 tanks has had a Nitrate spike. At first I thought it might be the test kits, but I've used three separate pairs of test bottles and all gives high readings, so at this point it's probably the water. My biggest concern is determining why the spike happened. I've added no new organisms aside from one coral, none of the fish have died (I had a head count and all are accounted for), I've only added buffer and Prime to the water, and I even changed the filters. This first came up Friday (when I initially thought it was a testkit issue), but today is still presenting the readings even with additional kits. None of the fish or coral seem to be in distress...I plan to do a water change as soon as I can, but I obviously want to prevent this from happening. My two other tanks have had no issues. Thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

It could be like Houdini...we overturned every rock and bit of sand and couldn't find him. Then one day, poof! There was the Raineford goby.

I'm a bit of an unusual example, but my saltwater tanks are in my classroom. I teach Marine Science and we don't live close enough to the ocean to reasonably go on trips; so the only way students get any kind of hands on experience with Marine Science is through my tanks. It also opens the door to discuss the issue of how the hobby effects the environment, what we can do to reduce our impact, etc. It allows students to be more aware and invested in an environment that some of them may never visit, but can still impact.

That's very sweet, thank you! We have two ocellaris in one of the tanks now, so I think for the moment we're good. Here's a big update, including pictures~ Marine Science Saltwater Tanks Liberty High School Introduction: I teach Marine Science (among other things) at Liberty High School in Fauquier County. As a semester-long project I have students manage 50+ gallon tanks. This is the first semester, so my 3 small groups of students are setting up our first 3 tanks from scratch. The tanks will be passed on and maintained by the next class of students when the new semester starts. This is a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work falls on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot. Funding: $250 from the school, all else out of pocket Tanks: Two 48 x 13 tanks guessed to be 50-55 gallons One 36 x 12.5 tank guessed to be 50-55 gallson All were donated. One has a leak we hopefully managed to patch. Patch successful! Off to the side in storage I have another 50-55 gallon A 40 gallon breeder tank with holes for plumping someone used to top off freshwater A refugium (seems about the same size or larger than the 40 gallon, different dimensions) Current stage: 3 complete tanks Need 1 additional due to increase in students in January, in planning stages for that tank Needed Materials: Sump, piping, heater, coral light Incoming donations: None Previous Donations from: Kyle Gustafson Ms. Merrek (coworker), Overklok, and Waterworld Special thank you too Megan Hill at Capital Aquarium for all her help throughout the process! Invertebrate Friendly Tank Organisms: Peppermint Shrimp x 6 Longspine Urchin Chromis x 2 Firefish Banggai Cardinal Emerald Crab Fighting Conch Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x 3 Turbo Snail Puffer Tank Organisms: Valentini Pufferfish Tiger Pistol Shrimp Watchman Goby Fanged Striped Blenny Rainford Goby Coral Beauty Clown n' Friends Tank Organisms: Ocallarius Clowns x 2 Pajama Cardinals x 3 Spotted Hawkfish Molly Miller Blenny Scarlet Red Hermit Nassarius Snail x 2 Turbo Snail x 2 Peppermint Shrimp x 3 Xyenia Green Star Polyp Some other coral that was donated that I haven't identified... I've only had 2 casualties since I first set up. The first was a turbo snail that was munched on by multiple nassarius just a day or so after I got him. The other was the original Coral Beauty lasted about a week and a half before she mysteriously died. Water quality was all fine, but she her body was stuck to a rock when my students tried to remove it. They had to yank pretty hard to get her free. Don't know if she died before or after. Now pictures! I don't have pictures of everything, just snapshots of things I thought my students would fine interesting. The rainford goby, for example, was literally missing for about a week. We upturned everything and couldn't find him. Then he just started showing up on a whim.

My peppermint shrimp seemed to have made short work of them. Thanks everyone! I found some bristleworms as well. I don't think they are fireworms, though, but could anyone offer a second opinion?