Haha, I've always loved them in spite of their quirks. I'm glad yours hasn't gone after your nassarius. This is a first for me. I've lost a lot of astrea turbos, and even smaller conchs.For now .......
You are right, it probably wasn't Cold bloody murder. My murder hermit has yet to go after my nassarius snails. It was probably opportunistic like you said, and now it wants to wear its victory.
I mean Astreas are just asking to be eaten. Falling over and not being able to right themselves. It's easy picking.
Haha yeah, the odds really aren't in their favor. But I don't blame you with the murder hermit - I get attached to all of the little creatures in the tank, even the cleanup crew.I mean Astreas are just asking to be eaten. Falling over and not being able to right themselves. It's easy picking.
I do love my murder hermit despite its quirks. I would love to add it to my DT, but I'm scared it will kill my scarlet hermit, and then I will be upset.
StunningJust a quick top-down shot before lights out and just after a water change:
you should see me try to sneak up on my watchman and pistol pair for photos and videos. I usually drop to the floor, well before I get over to the tank. I then crawl (below their view) to the tank. I then raise my phone up (VEEEERY slowly) while keeping myself still on the floor out of site. I hold the phone up like this for pictures and videos. My husband used to asked "what the heck I was doing". He is used to it now, and either completely ignores me or just rolls his eyes with affectionMy Yellow Watchman Goby ("Goober" - thanks to my fiancée) is pretty active (along with his buddy, "Randy" the pistol shrimp), but he seems to hate the camera (same, little buddy) and isn't the easiest to get photos of. He bolts for the cave every time I bring the phone anywhere near the tank. But he's slowly getting more comfortable with it. I have to say, I love the Goby/Shrimp combo in these little tanks. It's so much easier to see them. Hopefully the shrimp lets me get a couple of snaps.
Also, that hammer above Goobs has been one of the more infuriating pieces in my tank. I've had it since around the New Year - it came from a local reefer who has had the mother colony in his system for about 3 years. It looks and acts healthy in my tank, but it hasn't shown even a hint of growing. In the meantime, I have 2 different frogspawns go from 1 to 4 heads and 1 to 2 heads. I don't know if I've ever had a coral remain basically neutral for almost 7 months before. Usually by that time you'll see some growth or signs it is struggling. Hopefully it starts to grow.
On the positive coral note, this PC Rainbow is growing into one of my favorite pieces in the tank. I got it as a freebie back in February from a guy I bought a few other frags off of. At the time it was a solid brownish/red color and VERY small. It's really taken off over the past few months and the color is getting pretty impressive - lots of yellow and green mixed in. I can't wait to see how it looks as it gets bigger.
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Haha I can relate. My fiancee thinks I'm nuts (in an endearing way, I think/hope). But I may have to try some sneakier tactics like yours.you should see me try to sneak up on my watchman and pistol pair for photos and videos. I usually drop to the floor, well before I get over to the tank. I then crawl (below their view) to the tank. I then raise my phone up (VEEEERY slowly) while keeping myself still on the floor out of site. I hold the phone up like this for pictures and videos. My husband used to asked "what the heck I was doing". He is used to it now, and either completely ignores me or just rolls his eyes with affection
Sorry about the hammer frustrations. I cant really help in that department. You saw what happened to mine and I am still too timid to try again. I have heard people say that some corals just grow well in some tanks and don't in others. Ive seen multiple posts from people claiming that just cant keep a certain kind of coral in their tank no matter what they do. Hopefully that provides some solace.
Happy 1st Birthday to my reef! One year ago today I put water in the tank and it’s been wet ever since.
It’s been a pretty wild reintroduction to reefing after over 5 years out of the hobby. And while I’m not new to reefing, this tank marked a lot of firsts for me (which I’ll go over below). And while my experience has largely been positive, there have been ups and downs which I’ll get into below as well.
Fist off, here’s a before and after photo. Day 1 vs. today:
Then:
Now:
Firsts! Some things that were new to me this go around:
The Bad. It wasn’t all good, here are some of the lowlights from year 1:
- This is my first “small” nano (my prior smallest was nearly twice as big at 26 gallons)
- This is my first “rimless” tank
- I’ve got my first pair of “designer” clowns
- I also have my first pistol/goby pair
- This is my first time using seawater I collect myself rather than a salt mix
The Good. Ok, now for the highlights:
- Ich - The single worst experience I had with this tank was a deadly ich outbreak last fall, and it was entirely my fault. I impulse bought an orchid dottyback in November from a source I didn’t know very well and I dropped it in the tank. Eventually, all three fish (including my blenny and clown) were symptomatic. I did not have a QT ready to go, so I had another reefer do it for me. The blenny (my favorite fish) died within days. The dottyback also didn’t make it. The clown is healthy and lives with the guy who quarantined it. But this event had me questioning whether or not I want to leave the hobby again.
- Parameter swings - These tiny tanks can swing rapidly. I lost two acros after a salinity swing (forgot to plug my ATO in after a water change).
- Space - I love my EVO, but man is it small! There’s not a ton of space in the display and rear chambers are even tinier. I know this is stating the obvious and I knew it was small when I started, but running it as a peninsula (and having to keep the aquascape away from the glass on 3 sides) makes it feel even smaller.
- Planning - In my first post I said, “Eventually, I plan on upgrading the light and growing some SPS. But… baby steps.” I wish I had focused more on those baby steps. I pieced together a patchwork collection of live rock which I don’t regret. But I do with I had planned my aquascape a bit more and I wish I had planned it for SPS on top. I’ve done fine with winging it, but I still get jealous of the tanks with the really nice, thought out aquascapes.
- Collecting seawater – It’s COLD here in the winter and collecting 5 gallons from the jetty at the beach could range from chilly to downright treacherous. I expected this, but it did involve several days of walking down, looking at the rough surf or snow/ice covered rocks and “noping” right out of there. I only missed one week of water changes though.
What’s next? Honestly, not much. Maybe a clam (I've saved a spot for a Crocea), but I've never kept one before and I'm nervous about it. But apart from that, it'll be most growing out for the foreseeable future. We’re planning a wedding for the fall of 2023 and we’re watching the market to see if we can grab a single family home in our budget just outside the city (Salem – even closer to the beach!). If we do, we’ll be moving out of the condo, so I don’t want to make any big changes. If we do move, I’ll look at getting a bigger tank. I’ve been eyeballing spaces in the houses we’ve looked at so far. But either way, the plan for now is to keep my fish/inverts happy and healthy and continue to grow out my coral. Of course, I expect that I’ll continue to see and learn new things.
- Natural Sea Water! – It’s been better than expected. A lot, actually. Between the live rock and the seawater, there was no cycle (literally never tested ammonia in this tank). And between the bacteria and the little microorganisms in the water, water change day is like a feeding frenzy for the coral which extends polyps rather than contracts when I’m adding the new water. I’ve also had minimal algae issues – some slight hair algae early on which went away quickly as well as a brief bit of cyano. But the bacterial diversity has largely been beneficial in my opinion. It’s nice not worrying about screwing up the salinity since it’s 1.024 by default. Finally, it’s also been cheaper. I have not bought salt mix.
- Inverts – One of the perks of the small tank is that you can see the small stuff more. I’ve never bothered with sexy shrimp, pom pom crabs, pistol shrimp, etc. in bigger tanks because you never see them. But I seem my tiny inverts all the time and in many ways, they’re the stars of the show.
- Upgradeability – I’ve never had a tank before that has so many custom-made components. Between lids, media baskets, nozzles, plugs, lifts, etc. there are a ton of off the shelf upgrades you can do with this tank.
- Pest busters – maybe it’s because the tank is so small, but I actually have been able to see my bumblebee snails munch on vermatids and watch my peppermint shrimp pick at aiptasia. One year in and I haven’t seen an aiptasia anemone in months and the vermatid population is on the decline. It does take months, however.
- Coral growth – Most of my coral is growing exceptionally well. Some of the SPS is growing slower than I’d like and one hammer is sort of stagnant. But I’ve only had a couple of corals not make it and I’ve had some surprise me with how well they are doing.
- Collecting seawater – Yeah, this is on both lists. The cold wasn’t fun, but collecting has given me an excuse to get out to the beach at least once every week. I’ve really enjoyed that. I had the beach to myself from about November through April, and now I’m a little salty about sharing in the warmer months!
Anyway, thank you to everyone who has dropped in to share some advice, feedback, a kind word, or just throw me a “like.” I really appreciate all of the feedback. Here are some one year old tank shots (and a video):
I feel like most my posts are a bit extra. At least yours was on topic for the forum.
