Nano Tank Sunday

Yes, another Nano Tank post. Feel free to click away as fast as you can if this stuff bores you. I’ll never know!

The aiptasia pest is weirding me out. AND the hairy algae is back. UGH.

So, I’ve spent about an hour looking for solutions that don’t make me feel like a housewife with latent desires to hurt other living organisms. And I think I found some solutions. (I can pass off the guilt if another creature eats it, right?)

First up: Peppermint Shrimp. These little guys will take out the aiptasia as seen in the clip below.

From my reading a Peppermint will get along fine with Rudy the Skunk Shrimp as long as they are about the same size and I introduce the new guy after dark.

Next. A gwoss one. A Hairy Sea Hare. This guy should take care of the hairy algae. Okay, I don’t actually feel badly for getting rid of the hairy algae, I am just having problems getting rid of it. Auuuuurrrrghhh! But aren’t these guys… well… BUTT ugly?! I heart them.

So, hopefully I’ve found the answers to the issues.

Guess we’ll see once I secure the little guys.

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On non-tank related news. I have pretty much nothing.

The kids and I made 8:30 Mass. I am impressed, even if you aren’t. Usually we do CCD and then 11:00 Mass. So, it was really nice to be back home by 11:00.

We’re having a lazy cold Sunday now. Well, I wish it was lazy for me. After worrying about the tank infestations  for a while, I got back to chores. I think I’m on the 8th load of laundry in 2 days. Eye… twitching. Today I’d prefer nothing more than some hot tea, a big blanket and the beach. Alas… not going to happen.

TJ is doing better, well, sort of. The steroid meanies are in FULL swing. And he can’t even play the Clone Wars Light Saber Battle game on the Wii without starting to cough and wheeze. But the meds are doing what the should. He only did his recue inhaler twice yesterday. So, we’re getting there. And I’m fairly certain we cut pneumonia off at the pass this time. Guess we’ll see by late next week.

Oh look, it’s another cute feather duster in the Nano Reef!

Hmmm…or not.

Yeh, I go to take some pictures of the tank. (It’s a sadly pathetic tank. But I’m working on it!) We have a few Asteriniid stars that the boys really like. I was looking for them for a picture. (No never found them today.) And then I noticed a darker ‘feather duster,” so took a picture.

“Hmmmm, look at that… no tube. Weird.”

So, being a modern girl (ahem, fine, woman) of course, I hop online for an id of the little bugger(s) and find out I have Aiptasia in the tank. This is considered an ugly harmful pest for the salt water hobbyist. <– Did I spell that right? Anyways….Lovely. They obviously sting the beejeesus out of you (they are, after all, anemones) and can take over the tank. And remember:  I have a nano tank. TINY. Yeh, I really want something to take it over. NOT.

{==Sigh==}

Now I get to figure out how to kill off that. (And not have SPCAPETA come after me, thanks for the guilt there, J!)

In the mean time: a REAL feather duster. (Boy I feel dumb for thinking the other was for even a second!)

Notice the tube that the feeders come out of. Der.

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And some other mystery item I’ve yet to identify.

See that circular orangish reddish thing? Yeh, NO clue what that is.

Aliens, perhaps?

Trip to Fat Fish

Kids love the name of our local fish shop, Fat Fish. For the longest time it made Tommy giggle just to say it. Well, we had venture out today to get some water for the tank. Yes, I know… lame. The adventure for the day was an errand to get water.

Note:  I could premix the salt water myself, true. But I end up having to get RO fresh water to mix the salt with anyways… in the end it’s just easier to get the premixed from the store for our tiny tank. So there you go.

Tori is off at K’s house to spend the night. (Thank goodness, we all needed a tween break!)  So it was just me and the boys. They enjoyed checking out the coral tank. I was sorely tempted to use some of my Christmas money to get a new piece, but with the move coming up figured I would wait until we were settled in the new place first.

TJ is convinced he NEEDS this fish. Hmmmm, we’ll see… AFTER the move.

New critters

So, haven’t done an aquarium update recently. I had a hairy algae outbreak after the cruise and have battling that for a few weeks. Finally I gave up and took out all the live rock and scrubbed it all off. The used suction to pull all the clumps up off the bottom. Ewwww.

So, we have had a clean up crew with various snails, hermit crabs and a cleaner shrimp, Rudy, for almost two months. The lights are on timers full time now. Makes it ever so much easier. Tim and I also relocated the tank to a corner that got less light as I was getting a fair amount of ’scum’ on the sides. Say it with me, “Ewwwww!”

I was going to buy a clown fish yesterday but the shop has had bad luck with recent supplies of clown fish (from SIX different suppliers) and she wasn’t selling any currently. (I got the whole ‘lecture’ about clown fish being over-bred due to ‘Finding Nemo’ which makes sense, but hey I have always loved clown fish and I’m going to get one soon, darnit!) The boys and I ended up picking out a Green Blue Chromis. He was promptly names ‘Flashy Cham Lander’ (cham is said like ‘cam’) because Tommy liked ‘Flashy’, TJ liked ‘Chameleon’ and Tori just wanted ‘Lander’ on the end. Tim hates the name. I love it.

*I did NOT take this picture as these fish are CONSTANT swimmers and I just couldn’t get one of him!

Then I got my very first piece of soft coral. Hooray! These are just simple Zoanthids. Good for a beginner like me. I’ll probably stick to the really hearty things in general.

*I DID take the rest of the pictures. Seeing as these critters aren’t going to zoom around the tank!

Our feather dusters are doing great. Growing really well. There are probably about eight total. Two are getting to be a great size. We love to watch them.

And finally, a full tank shot for today.

And that, my loyal readers, is my tank update.

Oh, and little K in Atlanta… I’ll make sure to do some hermit crab shots for you next time. I know you love them!

Critters!

We now have a Skunk Shrimp, hermit crabs, and various snails in the tank. Tori also discovered a Feather Duster attached to our live rock. And I think there may be a few more on the back side. We’ll see…

The Feather Duster. Isn’t it cool? It goes in and out of it’s tube.

G’ama named the shrimp ‘Rudy’ the Christmas Shrimp.

The red stuff. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad. I’ll be researching and let you know!

We have live rock.

I know no one else is impressed. But it’s a big step in the aquarium world. (And a wee bit hard on the wallet too, ouch!)

Meet the new baby

Or, as Tim calls it: the really pricey night light. And no, our’s has nothing in it yet. Well, that’s not true. It has sand and water!

Santa came a bit early this year (from over the Green House way) and set us up with a really cool Oceanic BioCube 14. Thanks PP and GM!!!!

So, it’s in place, live sand and salt water in, pump running.

And it’s mocking me. So I’ve been reading and reading and reading and reading… and reading some more. Too many choices. People tricking out their tanks. Freaking me out.

Finally, some kind soul on a nano reef forum took pity on me and is mentoring me, so to speak. They are sending me great info on a step by step basis. So, I feel MUCH better.

My first big step is to go pick up some live rock in the morning. I’m supposed to set it up the way I want, then plop in a raw shrimp and walk away for the next two weeks.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Sounds good doesn’t it?!

In this time frame some fun stuff is supposed to start growing on the live rock. I can’t wait to see what shows up!!

Then we get to start adding fun stuff like snails and crabs and a LIVE shrimp.

When we return from the cruise we’ll finally get our clown fish, Fred (and possibly George).

If I could dream up a tank I’d love it to look similar to this:

His tank is the same size as mine. So I have high hopes, but plan to take it ONE step at a time.

So, welcome to my NEWEST obsession.