Tank birthday, 47+ years

[mcarroll]

Today I went to my favorite LFS because they were getting ...a couple of porcelain crabs. I want a mate for mine.

I love these guys.

When I first noticed their little lobster tail I was instantly intrigued!!

Carcinisation they call it – when one critter evolves from its form into a crab-like form.

It's a successful model and mother nature loves her patterns!

Amazing.

 

[Paul B]

That's a Citron gobi. They are a type of clown gobi

 

[dre7606]

That is a green clown goby...

 

[Paul B]

Green clown gobi, citron gobi, Manta ray, what difference does it make.
Today I picked up a couple of corals. One is about 6" and the other two are small. I had to cut about 6" of my blue sponge so it has some light. I will give that away, hopefully someone wants it.
It isn't easy to glue frags because I am still in a sling and can't raise my arm. I got them in there, a little sloppy, but that's the way it is.
I can't find those two green crabs I accidently got and don't believe I will ever see them.
I ordered a new small LED light for my algae scrubber because the red water cooled one I built is just a little to Thick even though it is less than one inch thick water drips on it. I will use the one I bought while I design a thinner LED light.

Everything else is good except due to the drought in California, I am having a hard time getting blackworms. I still have some but I am rationing them.

 

[dre7606]

My apologies Paul didn't see your post when I posted the name.

 

[locito277]

That's a Citron gobi. They are a type of clown gobi

That's a super cool looking goby! Are they hardy? With the supermodels all the fish seem hardy!! :-)

 

[Paul B]

Dre7606 you never have to apology on my thread. I am probably wrong about the name. I am married 44 years and I still forget my wife's name as I am terrible with names. :)

That "Green" clown goby is not a very hardy fish. The yellow ones are and they spawn constantly, too much actually but the green ones are very secretive, stay hidden in a coral and need more tiny feedings than most fish.
They do better if a Supermodel feeds them because they eat like Supermodels.

 

[lewis.maryann08]

I would be interested in the sponge

 

[edinphilly]

Paul, I know your tank is unique in that the reverse undergravel filter you run is not the norm, so you may have different needs, but was wondering your thoughts on determining the appropriate clean up crew. I tend towards small because when I started I overstocked my CUC which in a clean tank leads to their death, nutrient spike, algae blooms, more CUC, repeat. These days the tank is more established, high bioload, and heavy feeding.

 

[Paul B]

Two people PMed me already about the sponge. If they don't take it you can have it. Where do you live?

As soon as I can move my shoulder I am going to expand my live blackworm keeper so I can raise them as I doubt the drought in California will get any better and I don't see anyone building a pipe from the Great Lakes to the west coast.
I realize people need water to drink before they give water to the worms. The worms can drink RC Cola.

Edinphilly actually my tank is not unique but every one else's is, because when I started my tank, that was the only type of tank there was. All you guys changed it. :rolleyes:
I don't need A cuc. there is no detritus visible in my system and my gravel stays very clean. That is one beautiful thing about a reverse UG filter. I have a bunch of crabs just because I like them. I got them tiny but they grew as large as a ping pong ball. They are so big that I have to target feed them because they would not get enough food even though I over feed to keep everything spawning.
I feel a CUC crew is interesting but won't do anything for fixing nutrient spikes, algae blooms etc because the food you put in a tank stays there no matter if a crab eats it or not. What goes into a crab, comes out of a crab changed slightly but it still comes out. Bacteria cleans our water, not crabs. If you can train your crabs to poop outside the tank, then you will have something.
I know that is opposite of what you heard and people rely on CUCs but it is all in their heads. :cool:
This pair that I think was spawning lived for 12 years. The female is the cute one with the above the knee shell.

 

[Paul B]

Today I went to my favorite LFS again. While there I say this beautiful lipstick tang and the way she was looking at me with those pouty lips, I almost went home with her. But then I thought, this thing will probably live for 20 years. At that time I will be in my 80s, probably senile, blind and have a weak bladder. How am I supposed to catch her then because I will want to give her away before I croak.

So I didn't buy her. Instead, I got another crab. He waltzed over to my existing crab, carefully put his arms around her, pulled her closer, and tried to rip her face off.

But now that they have been formally introduced, they settled down to share filter feeding next to each other.

 

[Rybren]

You're a hoot! You always lighten up my day.

 

[Paul B]

Rybren, I feel it is my quest in life to lighten up your day. I try to buy interesting creatures so I can relate the story for your enjoyment and you alone. I set up my computer so that my posts only go to you. Everyone else just sees a picture of Christie Brinkley eating a bagel in front of a butcher shop. :D

 

[Rybren]

You are The Man and I do appreciate your efforts; however, I do have a complaint - I'd like to see those pictures of Christie Brinkley too.

 

[Paul B]

So would I. :D

 

[Paul B]

One of the pitfalls of having shoulder surgery is that it is difficult to do any tank maintenance that requires two hands. I can feed the tank, clean the glass and the skimmer cup but that's about it.

My algae scrubber is so full that the algae is sloughing off the thing and falling into the tank. In my set up, there is a pump in the tank that supplies water to the scrubber, then the water flows into a pipe that feeds my reverse undergravel filter.

The amount of algae is preventing the water from traveling into the UG filter as it is overflowing that pipe and going straight into the tank.

I can't raise my right arm right now to clean it but I managed to clear some of the algae with a screwdriver.

I won't be able to reach up to it for a few weeks when my shoulder gets better so I will have to live with this for a while. It is not the end of the world, just a little annoyance.

This is an older picture of the scrubber.

 

[Rybren]

Bring it over to my place and I'll clean it for you :rolleyes:

Oh wait, that won't work, you can't bring live plants into Canada. Sorry, I tried.

 

[Ljaus]

I thoroughly enjoy reading your updates Paul. Get a good giggle or two out of them. I hope those supermodels are behaving

 

[Paul B]

I like the Supermodels better who don't behave. :rolleyes:

 

[Chasmodes]

I'm not sure how you'd do it with one hand, but maybe have some sort of collection device at the base of the ATS, perhaps more mesh zip tied to catch falling algae? Sounds like a great assignment for your son-in-law or someone ;)

Or maybe just lay a whole sheet of mesh across it...then dump it now and then so you don't have a flood.