300 litre with sump

[ying yang]

 

[ying yang]

 

[ying yang]

Got a big halloween hermit in a conch shell thats like close to 3 inch big and the little bugger already climbed maybe 10 inch up the silicone on the overflow.i hope to god he doesnt damage silicone to overflow ( i know it got glass under plastic and siliconed on inside) but if he damages it i flick him in his head the cheeky little bugger,
When lights go out the tank comes alive on sand bed/ glass/ up silicone and everywhere lol.very interesting ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Video of halloween hermit ^_^

 

[Downfall]

Looks like a fun tank, following along. I’m just getting started on a Red Sea reefer xl 300, similar in size to your tank.

 

[ying yang]

Yeah only early on for me.but enjoying it with lights on and probably more when lights are out when all the little critters come out ha ha.
Good luck with your tank and hope you enjoy it as im sure you will ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Finding lots bugs/ critters on this gsp frag.its unreal lol
Not sure what these 2 bugs are maybe chitons or some kind isopod but i think all appendages on isopods are same as iso = same and these 2 guys got antenna at front abd 2 kind feelers at back.like ocal roynded shape and wider at frint than back .anyone know please tell me ^_^

 

[ying yang]

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Here video again as having trouble with my youtube videos going in private mode lately but sorted it i think.
Well ended up starting a thread and couple said they indeed isopods but unsure the type but some are beneficial but some can be parasitic or just in general troublesome so made decision take all the rock that the gsp and teaming with life,which now regretting tbh as 5 years ago when started researching i came to decision to qt everything that goes in tank and dont introduce no pest at all. But in last 6 months research when set tank up i started leaning more in favour of as much bio diversity as possible but if had massive problems and had to strip tank down then wouldn't be cool.but i often hear its near impossible to keep ampripods and the such out of reef tanks so on that note if its so hard to keep 1 thing out of tank then could be same on other lifeforms so then its like you just lowering risk not eliminating it.and read stories of people doing months qt of corals/cuc only to get the pest they didn't want so im still in confused state of which direction to go ,but like all things in life ( all is well that ends well ^_^ )

 

[ying yang]

Well just sat down eating my tea and catch out corner my eye my urchin on front glass at bottom and my new halloween hermit crab next to it so think the worse as read crabs are opportunistic and some model citizens for years but some turn rogue and eat cuc for their shells or just for fun lol.
So anyhow im watching it eat tentacles or spines ( definately pulled something off few times) so quickly take hood off ,move lights back and used my coral feeder to push hermit off tuxedo urchin and think i will feed hermit as not fed it today ( i have algae and diatoms and other stuff it can eat and also give it frozen food on end of foral feeder 2 times a day a largish shrimp out the frozen cube food) never had no deaths for over 5 months in tank but very first morning after buying this halloween hermit i notice an empty mini hermit shell and suspect halloween eaten it but also thought no proof as mini hermit could just changed shells as few spare,so another 3 days go by and i wake up and look tank and notice halloween hermit hanging off back off 1 of the tuxedo urchins so i think urchin just picked it up like it often does to other smaller hermits then see halloween turn around and start eating urchin ( or could been eating urchin poo that not fallen off so give it benifit off the doubt and knocked hermit off urchin) then just now seen it eating urchin spines/tentacles and knocked it off then go to target feed hermit and the nassarius snails come alice from under the sand and the halloween flips snail over and starts eating away so again get coral feeder in tank and knock the snail away from the hermit ha ha ( i laugh now but at the time i wanted to remoce hermit from its shell and tie its legs and claws up and let snails eat the crab lol ( joke i wouldnt do that if anyone thinking lol ) but the crab goes darting after snail and starts eating again so just spent last 30 minutes re-arranging the small rocks in the sump so crab can climb up and over 5 of the 7 chambers but then thought umm i dont really want it in return pump chamber incase climbs up the power lead then onto ledge at top and climbs down onto my ato and makes ato open and salinity goes down and everything dead lol
So put crab in centre section where protein skimmer is and hopefully doesnt climb up the powerlead to skimmer and up and over to other chambers till i decide if keep it as a sump crab or give back to lfs ( my tank full lots tiny particles from sump now and got an oily skim on surface of water in dt so maybe need do bloody water change tommorrow now,i got no saltwater ready but will test for amnonia before bed and decide if going make some water for tommorrow.
First 2 pictures are of few days ago when seen hermit on back of urchin then other as target fed hermit and snail tries taking sone the food from him and hermit tries eating him for his actions lol and aw just forgot as seperated snail from hermit 2nd time it scarpers and then gets attached to the bloody urchin so was chaotic 10 minutes ^_^ and hermit in new home the sump

 

[ying yang]

Come to think of it,i not seen my 2 and nearly 3 inch conch's today and maybe yesterday.they usually always cleaning sand and bottom of glass,and occasionally partially buried with top of there shells above sand with just eyes showing.
Halloween crab best not killed them or i slowly pull crabs legs off ha ha
Again this is joke i wouldnt do that

 

[ying yang]

Well found the smaller of the conchs near enough under the sand so prezume still alive,which is unlike them to go under sand so early.cant find other but hopefully still alive .
And nearly bed time and just looked in sump and looks like halloween hermit crab trying to pick the silicone off inside of sump and i got thoughts of waking up to living room full of water as crab caused a leak lol

 

[ying yang]

After 2 hours in sump halloween hermit still near enough continously chomping on the silicone and he largish at 2 inch so claws can do some damage,slim chance cause leak but didnt want to risk it,so started making eggcrate jail then remembered had 1 of them 10 inch nursery/aclimination box from freshwater tanks so put him in there with some nori and pellets.will take him back lfs first thing in morning and see if they take him.

 

[ying yang]

Well went to sea side today and bought some crab line and little chunk of bacon as bait.
Within 10 seconds of line being in water it latched onto mesh bag with bacon in it but as soon as pulled line out water it dropped off so needed go buy a long handle net and black crab with orange in was over 4 inch big so 2 kids was made up

 

[ying yang]

Well came home today and urchin kindly eating one of my gsp frags that stuck to the back overflow.looked like it dying anyway as bits of it just dropping off so guess it eated the dead bits and just decided to eat it all lol

 

[ying yang]

Well had a heatwave here in england for last week so had to freeze 8x2 litre bottles of frozen water and put in sump and changing every 2 hours or so from 12 midday till 8 pm and remove the 2 covers/flaps on hood and turn t5 lighting down from 10 hours a day to 8 hours a day and sliding the 2 glass lids and ordered a 4 fan piece equipment that came yesterday so heat will be less for next few weeks it says but another heatwave in auguat apparently but i know can keep heat down so im prepared and ready lol.
Only 5 corals in tank which are softies and 1 lps torch which retracted a couple times before started putting frozen water in bottles in sump and removing hood etc so probably was due to the heat but been extending nicely last 4 days so im happy ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Well everything still going ok with tank but had first death in tank yesterday.from what i can make out a mini hermit crab got its shell stuck in rock at night before lights went out but just left it,next morning i noticed it still alive but upside down and still looked stuck.went back little later and another hermit on top of it and looked luke attacking it so got my coral feeder to try knock hermit off it and try dislodge the other but hermit wouldnt let go off it and both fell to the sandbed then next thing i know 2 nassarious snail plus the hermit on top of this other hermit but was under a overhang and be hard to get in there so just watched and after 10 minutes the hermit swapped shells and ran away up the rocks followed by one the nas snails ( which often dont see them on rocks but it fell off lol) then a cleaner shrimp came over and pinched the dead hermit off the other 2 nas snails.

And hopefully above link can be seen and not on private ( still struggling when uploading to youtube for others to see my videos as says private even though i put on unlisted or public but just changed this back to unlisted so hopefully all ok,anyway i think these little tiny black worms came in on a largish gsp frag i bought other week and see these tiny black worms in substrate and on one of my rock structures,hopefully my silver belly wrasse will eat them so extra food and worms meant to be very good for our fish.i will start thread to ask what they are unless someone reads tbis first and can tell me good or bad.

Edit: a very experienced guy on r2r reckons they detritus worms which was my initial thinking or i also thought baby bristle worms but read dont get black bristle worms so thought best get more opinoons incase a little off baby bobbit worms or some mad thing like that lol

 

[ying yang]

Well other day seen my cheap torch ( yellow tentacles and cant remember tips colours under lfs mainly blue leds and green tentacles and white tips under my 2 white t5 and 2 i think actnic blue t5 lights) bought it about 3 weeks ago i think and seems to be doing very good,started it on sand bed for over a week and last week and a bit raised it up 8 inches onto rocks with moderate flow on a ledge im planning having little euphylia garden.
Seen it retracted through the day so i think umm what going on tjen mrs says its dying it got stuff coming out off it so anyone interested seeing a torch coral poo here ya go lol

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[ying yang]

And my tank at 6 month mark.

Fish in order stocked =
2 common clowns
Gold streaked blennie
Ywg
Silver belly wrasse
Bi colour blennie
Blue streaked cleaner wrasse
Coral beauty

Fish to add = 2-3 more maximum

Possibly copperband butterfly fish as there loving fish,i read can be finicky eaters but i at home most days and can dedicate alot time to tank,done lots research,can make feeder only copperband can eat from if needed,will buy fresh clams and freeze them and cut slivers off.so time for me get new fish this weekend so need decide fast lol.will be next fish added if get one ( i know should added earlier on in stocking but did decide wouldnt get one as put off with expert care label.

1 spot foxface
Then thinking when tank 1 year old get a sand sifting goby or even a mandarin or some kind fish that needs an established tank/sandbed with micro fauna but undecided as of yet apart from definately foxface.

Corals=
Plain old orange zoas that added 3 polyps so far.
2 heads of neon green palys that not added any as off yet.maybe. they need go higher as only 2 inch from sandbed and i got a deep tank.
Large 8 inch x 6 inch gsp frag that had lots lots hitch hikers even though dipped and ended up seeing some kind isopod that the more experienced guys on here couldnt identify but one said some can grow big and be a menace so he doesnt have any isopods in his tank so cut off what gsp i could and stuck eventually glued to back overflow as kept falling off back glass but last 2 weeks nearly only few polyps coming out and some off it looks like melting away plus tuxedo urchin ate 2 of the frags off it ( think already dying) .
And 1 green tentacle torch with neon green mouth which doing extremely well so far after 3 weeks or so in tank.

Cuc and inverts =
3 red legged scarlet hermits.
13 assorted mini hermits,one with extremely hairy legs lol.
2 skunk cleaner shrimp that molting every few weeks.
1 tiger pistol shrimp that ywg extremely protective over. ^_^
6 nassarius snails.
6 trouchus snails.
2 conchs
2 tuxedo urchins that 1- 2 times a week pick my hermits up and take for a ride till i save them lol.
Did have a nice large 2 inch halloween hermit crab but seen him eating tuxedo urchins tentacles and spines and a nassarius snail got little to close as target feeding halloween and halloween flipped the nas snail over and started eating it so put in a freshwater nursery box i had for baby fish fry and took back to lfs

Think thats everything and will be getting new fish this weekend ( maybe copperband) and maybe a cheapish torch if they got any nice ones in but dont fancy paying £ 3-£400 for some fancy name one but saying that i do like look of a rainbow coloured torch i seen at lfs for £ 250 but will stay sensible and see how i go for little while looking after cheaper torches as mine only £ 45 and other corals and basically gain more experience and confidence before spending few hundred on one coral i think best ^_^

 

[ying yang]

First 2 pictures are off the very hairy mini hermit i mentioned above and 2 more pictures off what looks like same kind hermits minus the hairy legs, all the hermits seem to be ok and just go around all day eating from the rocks,well except the 3 red legged scarlet hermits,they seem little lazier

 

[ying yang]

Well went to lfs today with intent on getting a cheap torch coral and a copperband butterfly fish,i got a nice healthy cbb eating frozen at lfs but they only had cheap torch's same colour i already got.they did have a nice 1 head very small £ 150 4 different coloured tentacles ( very beautiful) but about 25% tentacles missing and only skeleton showing on that part. It was in the cheap £ 45 section of torches so said ia it £ 45,guy says we wouldnt sell you it as it going through a bad patch ( did mention something about moon lunar cycles and affecting the corals ) not sure if this just a total blag or any truth to it as can imagine in ocean it happenning but in a none windowed lfs idk but they do say on full moons on friday nights there more violence in town centres so who knows lol.
Anyway i digress ^_^
I did tell myself that didnt want to get a leather coral at all for my tank due to grow rather large and can release toxins but as got there today at 3.40 pm and shuts at 4pm i was rushing trying pick up corals so picked up a toad stool coral and a red lobo under lfs blue leds but rusty orange under my leds lol.
Cbb pacing along front glass but all fish apart from cleaner wrasse leaving it alone.hopefully cbb works out thats just what the cleaner does ( silver belly wrasse went under sand bed as i turned lights out so less stressfull for cbb) but he very peacefull so far so dont expect problem.
Leather polyps came out straight away and lobo looks ok and tentacles out at night so all good so far.