Nano reefer from TX. Help me ID?

[ismaellobato]

Hi guys! I'm new to the forums here.
I purchased a 15 gallon colum tank from Petsmart Mid September. I added Live sand and the saltwater to start. Waited about a week after to bring in the live rock. No fish yet. I want to let the tank cycle for about a month or so before I bring any fish in. I am going to purchase a peppermint shrimp to get rid of the aiptasia in my tank. I had a few hitchhickers when I got my live rock but I need help identifying so I can maintain them. Let me know if you guys identify anything. Any pointers will help too!


Thanks.

 

[Ahruk]

Very nice little tank. Some pretty cool looking hitchhikers too. Looks like you got some red grape macroalgae which is beautiful and I think that coral is an acan. Make sure you're using reef salt mix to keep it alive because it needs calcium to live (if you haven't been you may want to consider dosing and definitely switch over your salt mix for the future ).

 

[Ahruk]

Also those white tube things are probably sponges don't worry about them. Not sure if there was anything else you were concerned about.

 

[brandon429]

hey where in tex are you im in Lubbock

agreed on the above, that's among the nicest original purchase live rock sets ive seen. You have something particular on that rock that dates it fresh off a real reef=old soul rock

a siderastrea radians colony


that one that looks like a dead brain, those are not currently aquacultured I know of. it signifies truly live ocean rock and with that array of hitchhikers I bet it was in the ocean two weeks ago.

I mean that rock is dang good.

*this is not the kind of aquarium one adds a rotting shrimp to, all the bacteria were ready on day one for you as they will be 200 yrs from now, neat details just off one pic eh

Id kill that aiptasia anem even if it means lifting up the rock and using a screwdriver to chip up under it so it will fall off then flush it.

 

[brandon429]

some people have to successfully age their tanks ten yrs to get rock w that diversity and quality, im jeal.

 

[Ahruk]

Rather then using a screwdriver, bonecutters work much better... But I believe you already said you had plans for a peppermint shrimp?

 

[ismaellobato]

Forgot to post these pictures up earlier.

One of the pieces of live rock came with 4 Clams on it. I have seen only 3 of them move. In this picture you can see two open. Need information how to care for them.

I also need help ID-ing this little guy.

 

[ismaellobato]

Very nice little tank. Some pretty cool looking hitchhikers too. Looks like you got some red grape macroalgae which is beautiful and I think that coral is an acan. Make sure you're using reef salt mix to keep it alive because it needs calcium to live (if you haven't been you may want to consider dosing and definitely switch over your salt mix for the future ).

Thanks for the information. I'll make sure I switch to the reef salt. I also need help identifying another little guy. I posted picture above.

 

[ismaellobato]

Rather then using a screwdriver, bonecutters work much better... But I believe you already said you had plans for a peppermint shrimp?

Yes, I will be purchasing a peppermint shrimp sometime this week.

 

[sawdonkey]

The bottom pic looks like a mostly dead torch coral, although the the bottom head looks to be alive.

 

[ismaellobato]

hey where in tex are you im in Lubbock

agreed on the above, that's among the nicest original purchase live rock sets ive seen. You have something particular on that rock that dates it probably over 100 yrs old, a siderastrea radians colony. the bleached dead one, the one to the left looks like a living trach that can come back.

that one that looks like a dead brain, those are not currently aquacultured I know of. it signifies truly live ocean rock and with that array of hitchhikers I bet it was in the ocean two weeks ago.

I mean that rock is dang good. it was skip cycle rock, this is not the kind of aquarium you add a rotting shrimp to, all the bacteria were ready on day .5 as they will be 200 yrs from now, neat details just off one pic eh?

that being said, you have two targets you must kill. any green hair algae, kill it, and kill that aiptasia anem even if it means lifting up the rock and using a screwdriver to chip up under it so it will fall off then flush it.

Im in the North Houston area.
The store i went to had just received a new shipment of live rock so i was the first to pick from the batch. Thanks for the information about the siderastrea radians colony, never heard of them before. I do plan on getting rid of the aiptasia sometime this week, i plan on purchasing a peppermint shrimp.

 

[Ahruk]

I actually think that might be something related to a suncoral (a non-photosynthetic coral) as it looks a little small for a torch. Also it's lacking pigment which further suggests that it's probably non-photosynthetic (or just really sick and on it's last leg which based upon the picture seems equally likely)... Might want to look into feeding some small particle food for NPS (ask your LFS for recommendations) if you're really committed to keeping these critters alive. Target feeding would be best. It would also probably help with the clams as well. However, I'm not sure how good the chances of these creatures surviving the transition to aquarium life is and this type of feeding could result in an algae bloom.

 

[brandon429]

Ill end up using this thread in a cycling thread written for the new tank keepers, your live rock yields further detail, its the nicest Ive seen that still had living benthics on it.
sure others have seen better but Im landlocked here near Amarillo and that for us would be the nicest. mostly we just get plain purple. never seen an embedded hitchhiker trachyphyllia in 15 yrs online reefing. we normally have to pay fifty bucks for that.

In our cycling thread we talk about two typical kinds of rock for a new tank, one is gray and has no verifiable bacteria, and the other has coralline and life forms on it and certainly does. We know the presence of filtration bacteria where coralline algae is seen, by rule and not by exception, so its fun to infer various things about live rock solely off pics and it doesn't look like we're way off base so far


Your live rock is a third form in that it surpasses simple coralline rock to include such animal diversity that having free ammonia around that live rock is bad, not good, and we want to keep ammonia at zero in a tank housing that kind of live rock. You have a type of live rock that is referred to as uncured, but not for lack of bacteria. Its carrying animals expected to die when transitioned long term into a marine tank, and your ideal goal is arresting that process and finding the feed and procedures that keep that rock looking like it does, with some unidentifiable animals on it, diversity, vs just going to all purple no diversity.

This type of rock above represents something opposite we commonly think about tank cycling, that we must add or support bacteria each time we bring rocks home, not the case here. Most common cycling is about adding bacteria to barren rocks, but see these pics above...nonbarren, and all the bacteria arrive better loaded and more diverse than our tanks will support.

We don't have to add bacteria to these rocks above, nor provide direct food to keep them alive, the rocks alone in a nonfed tank would support nitrifiers via slow dieoff for X no. of years, the bacteria are that firmly seated.

we have to change water enough or negate the ammonia leaking so that other benthics wont die from that, which might normally live.

This kind of rock is actually put into a tank and the ammonia is attempted to be kept low to zero, the reverse of typical tank cycling where we use a dead rotting shrimp. The rot here is coming from the animals on the rock and it feeds the inherent bacteria.

Your rock is a fine example of when we do the -opposite- of typical tank cycling, keep ammonia out at all costs and wait for the death phase to stop, that's when its time to reef. In your case, the pics indicate this live rock was handled pristinely and came to you in great condition

I know you didn't ask about any of this im just typing the details we can review off simple pics and no test kits, and because its in line with our cycling thread which is here:

http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-ta...d-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/

 

[brandon429]

do you care if I take one of those pics Ismael above and post it direct in that thread, ill always give credit if so. your pics are really helpful

 

[ismaellobato]

Hhjj

 

[ismaellobato]

do you care if I take one of those pics Ismael above and post it direct in that thread, ill always give credit if so. your pics are really helpful

Go ahead and post. I will post some high resolution pictures of my tank and live rock here shortly.

 

[ismaellobato]

Here are high resolution pictures of my tank.

 

[brandon429]

Heckuva momentum start for a new member eh

I'd say thats an opening similar to the entry flight scene of ironman two. When they were on stage dancing to acdc I was dang near cheering ha


Fun exercise anyone can verify. Google image up any tank of the month from any site and look at the live rock, not the corals, search for these benthic identifiers above.

Nil
Maybe 4% if lucky, we tend to homogenize LR animals over time in the captive reef to some sponges, fanworms and planted corals from plugs

Having growth where the entire base of an LPS emerges from a rock resulting from decades growth is rare rare

Your LR is currently of higher quality than any on the board amazing huh. Sounds to me like a special diet plan is needed to maintain it and prevent status quo from creeping in

The degree that you diversify your live and frozen feed additions and the degree of free ammonia suppression is directly related to how long you can preserve the amazingness on that rock

 

[Reefing Madness]

Halameda
Aiptasia
Brain Coral
Dead Trumpet
Botryocladia- Red Grape Algae
Dead Favite coral

 

[ismaellobato]

Tank Update.
Purchased more LR. I currently have about 23-25 pounds. I'm satisfied with my aquascape. I also upgraded the hang on filter to the Marineland Penguin 150, purchased a Kessil Ocean Blue 15000K. I got a few Zoas in this week from eBay auctions I won. Still no fish but I plan on purchasing a couple of clowns sometime this week.