Pictures

Electric Blue Hermit crab (calcinus elegans):



Colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), along with colony of polyps (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids)



Stalks of pulsing xenia (Xeniid):



Hitch hiker stripped Brittle/Serpent Star, perhaps 1" wide.



Two Ricordea mushrooms (Corallimorpharia Ricordea):

Reef Traders Outpost is back!

Some of you may remember RTOP.COM? RTOP was a very popular Reef Aquaria site from Oct 1995 through Nov 1998, until I let it go to cob-Webs. I just started the new Reef Traders Outpost blog and am getting the old content loaded, so check it out!

Current Tank Inhabitents list has moved...

The inline contents at the sidebar of this bog was inconvenient and no one wants to mess with their IE settings. So, it's moved to an "old" page so it's not going to show up in the blog proper, but will be easily accessible. There's also a link in the sidebar.

Front view of tank"

Purchases, and more tending...

Brought the algae to Jims and received about $5 credit for it.

Purchased:

• Kent Pro ScraperM (Stainless Steel)
• Aquarium Systems/Marineland HoldFast

Used the HoldFast to anchor the Ricordea mushroom rock as it fell again.

Finally was able to clear the glass front and sides of all the pink coralline algae.

Tending the tank...

Cleaned up about 1 pt. of C. Racemosa, and another pt. of the brown kelp. Will bring it to fish store later today.

Repositioned the rock holding the two Ricordea Mushrooms, as it had been knocked over; probably by a snail. Will have to get some epoxy.

Performed 2.5g water change.

pictures

Fromia (milleporella?) sea star:



Stalks of pulsing xenia (Xeniid):

Picture

Side view of my Nano Cube tank, showing the brown kelp and pulsing xenia (Xeniid):

Water change, and pictures

Performed 2.5g water change.

Purple algea:



Bumble-bee Snail (Family: Pusiostoma):



Two Ricordea mushrooms (Corallimorpharia Ricordea):



The stalk of pulsing xenia (Xeniid) has finally separated, stuck on the brown kelp:

Pictures

Stalks of the pulsing xenia (Xeniid), one of which is separating:



Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai):



Empty husk of Indo-Pacific White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis):

The Cleaner Shrimp is gone...

I fed my tank a 1/4 cube of Mysid shrimp and was watching all the inhabitants "get excited", then I noticed I didn't see my Indo-Pacific White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis). He was under the overhang of a rock low to the sand (which would be uncommon) and he didn't look right. He was moving but his shell seemed odd, and he seemed to be reacting to the food but wasn't going after it.

I left and returned about 30 minutes later and found two Narsarious Snails (Family: Nassariidae), a hermit crab, and a Bumble-bee Snail (Family: Pusiostoma) all over the remains of the cleaner shrimp.

Within an hour or so all that remained was an empty husk.

Was the shrimp mid-molting and was vulnerable? Or could it be a change in salinity (I had let my fresh make-up-water lapse a bit and added quite a lot at the same time)?





Here's a picture of a hitch hiker Brittle/Serpent Star, perhaps 1" wide.

Add more livestock...

Bought from Jim's Exotic:

• 1x 1" Electric Blue Hermit crab (calcinus elegans)
• 1x 1" Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai)
• 1x 1/2# Tonga branch for the back filter section (almost full now)
• 1x 1/2" Scarlet Hermit (Paguristes cadenati)
• 5" x 2" rock with colony of 2-3 dz Zoanthids polyps, and 1 colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), and 2 small stubs of sponge (possibly)

Brought in the qt. of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) to Jim for which he gave me the Tonga branch for free!

Porcelain Anemone crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai):

Scarlet Hermit (Paguristes cadenati):



Rock with colony of 2-3 dz Zoanthids polyps, and 1 colony of some "globe"-ish SPS (possibly Porites?), and 2 small stubs of sponge (possibly)



This is how my tank looks now:

"Weeding"

Cleaned up about 1 qt. of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) - will see if fish store is interested, or will donate to Josh at work for feeding to his tangs.

Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) encroaching the top of some live rock:



Kelp, Sargassum (probably):



The ziplock bag of Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa) and other algea:



My tank of "Weeding"

Algae mis-identification, maintenance, and baby shrimp?

I'm fairly certain that what I thought was "Halimeda goreaui - Green small bulbs in sets of three along long vine" could actually be Caulerpa racemosa, which seems to be universally considered not only a pest but possibly a significant hazard to my tank. "Halimeda species are crusty, calcified algae that look like a bunch of small platelets strung together in a chain" - wetwebmedia.com So, I'll have to thin it out greatly.

Good news is that I've seen what appear to be 2-4 tiny (< 1/4") baby shrimp in my tank, over the last two days.

I also noticed that my main circulating pump was not operating that well - I took it out and thoroughly cleaned it.

Added 2 Ricordea Mushrooms, and pictures

Bought from Jim's Exotic:

• 1 1" Ricordea mushroom with orange ring
• 1 1/2" Ricordea mushroom - all blue

Here's a good shot of the Sand Sifting Star (Astropecten polycanthus):

A picture of the a star Polyp colony (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids) surrounded by Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa):

And a picture of the pulsing xenia (Xeniid) as it grows on the kelp:

Water change, and and Xenia is climbing the Kelp!

Performed 2.5g water change.

The single pulsing xenia (Xeniid) stalk is already 3 stalks, and is climbing the kelp (look at the lower right leaf - the xenia stalk is growing around it) :

The Kelp is starting to get "air sacks", and pictures of some sort of algea.

The Kelp is starting to get "air sacks" to make it float:



And here's an Algea I can't identify (is it good?, is it bad?):

Water change, and a picture of the split mushroom.

Performed 2.5g water change.

Picture of the split of the green hairy mushrooms (Order Corallimorpharia) :

The male Maroon Clown was found missing today

No known cause of death. Will have to do another water change.

Extra dose of additives.

Because the calciferous algea looks like it needed it.

Algea Identification

10/7/05 - This has been superceded by the my Current Inhabitants list.

• Neomeris annulata - Calcified green on top half, white on bottom half, 2-3" sprouts.
• ? - Brown, leaves on branches from central holdfast.
• Halimeda - Calcified green discs attached together as if a chain.
• Halimeda goreaui - Green small bulbs in sets of three along long vine.
• Bryopsis - Short spiky green algea - pest.
• Valonia macrophysa - Shiny silver balls around 1/2" - pest.
• Coralline - various forms.

Water change, and picture of mushroom starting to divide

Performed 2.5g water change.

Picture of green hairy mushrooms (Order Corallimorpharia) starting to divide:

Fed them 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp (and forgot the Selcon, again)

New inhabitants...

Purchased from Jim's Exotic Fish:

• 1.5" Red/orange Fromia (milleporella?) sea star
• 2" single stalk pulsing xenia (Xeniid) on a 6" tonga branch - this could be Red Sea or Fiji white fast-pulse/pop-pom species

Josh at work gave me:

• ~8x 1-3" peices of sponge

Here's a picture of the pulsing xenia:

Here's the Red/orange Fromia (milleporella?) sea star:

Here's a bunch of the Sponge:

Post-vacation chores....

Performed 2.5g water change.

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp with 5ml of Selcon.

Trimming & Weeding:

1. Removed 5 Shiny silver balls (Valonia macrophysa) (without breaking them)
2. Removed 1/2 cup of hair algea
3. Removed 1 cup of large brown macro-algea (mostly as it was covering some of the polyps)
4. Removed 1/3 cup of medium-small brown macro-algea, Kelp, Sargassum (probably)
5. Removed a couple pieces of grape calurpa {corrected: Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa)}
6. A couple stalks of the green/white algea, Caterpillar Weed (Neomeris annulata)

Gave 3, 4, and 5 to Josh at work for his tank and Tang. While looking at it we found a 3/4" star stow-away; lucky Josh

Here's the "clean" tank:

The Indo-Pacific White-Striped Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis), green hairy mushrooms (was 5 on one rock) (Order Corallimorpharia), and a Star Polyp colony (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids):

The other Star Polyp colony (Order Zoanthidea/Zoanthids), Green Grape Algea (Calurpa Racemosa), and Kelp, Sargassum (probably):

Back from vacation... (pictures)

Tank looks good - the algea is a bit overgrown, and there's more calciferous algea on the glass:



Here's a pretty good picture of (what I believe to be) an Orangeclaw Hermit Crab (Calcinus tibicen):

Performed another 2.5g water change (in preparation for 2 week vacation).

Extra dose of additives, and feeding

Also in preparation for vacation, gave an exta dose of:

• 1/2 cap each: Kent Tech*CB (A) and Kent Tech*CB (B)
• 1 drop: Lugol's Solution (Iodine)

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp with 5ml of Selcon.

Added light timer

Purchased from Jim's Exotic Fish:

• Newtek 1 outlet, grounded, 24 hr 7 day digital timer.
  

Set the lights to on from 06:00 until 21:00 (15 hrs).

The disadvantage with a light timer and the Nanocube is that the moonlight bulb is on the same plug as the main lights. I'll have to get one of those mod kits after the vacation to "fix" this.

Performed 2.5g water change (in preparation for 2 week vacation).

Water test results

Using Salifert Profi Tests:

• KH = 8.4, Alk Meq/L = 3.0 (NSW = 8 KH and 2.9 Meq/L)
• Iodide = > 0.03 ppm (NSW = 0.02-0.03 ppm)
• Iodate & Iodine = > 0.00 (essentially none) (NSW = 0.03-0.04 ppm Iodate)
• Calcium = 395 ppm (NSW = 400-425 ppm)
• pH = 8.2 (NSW = 8.1)
• Nitrate = 0.5 ppm as Nitrate Ion (NO3 Ion)

The female Maroon Clown was found dead this morning!

No known cause of death. Did 2.5gal water change, and removed another 1/2 cup of algea - mostly hair.

Safety, and feeding.

Added a child-proof latch to the tank stand door.

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp without Selcon.

Performed 2.5g water change.

New 'shrooms & feeding

Purchased from Jim's Exotic Fish:

• 5 green hairy mushrooms (on one rock)

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp with 5ml of Selcon.

Removed about a half-cup total of green hair algea, and the brown macro algea.

Moved one clump of star polyps to a new location as in previous location they didn't seem to be growing onto nearby rocks. See for yourself:

Performed 2.5g water change.

Fed 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp with 5ml of Selcon.

Performed 2.5g water change.

Feeding, and one star polyp colony is falling/clinging/fallen off its perch (pictures)

Fed them 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp. (and forgot the Selcon, again)

I thought this colony of star polyps was positioned securely, and it had even attached to the rock it was against. I'm guessing some clumsy snail bumped into it. So, the tissue streched; see for yourself:



It left a small patch of 5-7 polyps on the top of the rock where it was attached. Here's the main colony after the fall:



And here's a picture of the other half of the colony (on the other side of the rock):

Maintenance, and some new Pix

Performed 2.5g water change.

Picture of a Bumble Bee Snail (Family: Pusiostoma) in my tank:



I believe this to be either Bryopsis, or Derbesia, both pests:

Importing, Feeding and "Weeding"

Added four clumps of 3-5 1"+ pieces of either a stalk-like calcerous macro algea or it's a sponge; either way its cool. I think it's a macro algea, but the donor, Josh A from work, thinks its a sponge.

Fed them 1/2 cube of Mysis shrimp.

Removed about a half-cup each of green hair algea, and the brown macro algea. Also moved the rights on the right side about 1" further in to facilitate the use of the magnet glass cleaner.

Here's what the tank looks like now:

Valonia macrophysa - Shiny silver ball Algea:

Removed carbon rods from tank.

Performed 2.5g water change.

RIP LTA!

Well, the LTA looked like it was "melting" and I removed and disposed of it right after work. I added a brand new bag of the carbon rods that come with the Nano Cube to the filter area. A couple hours later I had time to do a 2.5g water change.

Here's a picture of the dying (dead?) Long Tentacled Anemone:

Water change, and picture of the Long Tentacled Anemone

Performed 2.5g water change. SG 1.027 @ 80F - a bit high.
The LTA looks terrible - last night I "rescued" it from half-way under the rocks.
Added 5 drops of Selcon.

Picture of dying Long Tentacled Anemone: