Ocean Live Rock 25 Gallon IM Lagoon

[jabberwock]

I will be undertaking a tank move in the next two weeks to accommodate new hardwood floors.

Should be interesting. The flooring company has been great to work with, accommodating. We shall see how it goes.

 

[jabberwock]

The porcelain crabs were showing off again today.

 

[FishRFriends!=Food]

The porcelain crabs were showing off again today.

Rather intimidating sight, do they ever demand some sort of tribute? Don't want them to start a crab uprising or anything...

 

[JoJosReef]

Tank looking great! I love how this TBS rock keeps sprouting interesting creatures months and years after going in--this sprung up a few weeks ago on mine 1.75 yr after getting it.

 

[jabberwock]

Tank looking great! I love how this TBS rock keeps sprouting interesting creatures months and years after going in--this sprung up a few weeks ago on mine 1.75 yr after getting it.

Cup coral I think. Amazing

 

[jabberwock]

Tank move update.

Flooring company arrived promptly at 8 am. I had been up since 7 am starting the tank breakdown process. I was actually up late the night before positioning equipment and water. Did a 5 gallon water change and used the "waste" water to start a small holding tank for the yellow watchman and the tiger pistol shrimp. Here is the beginning.

Note that the crew was slinging a lot of 80 pound boxes of materials in close proximity of my tank, and had removed existing flooring around it. This was pretty stressful. I also covered the tank with plastic wrap to block out dust intrusion. This was very important. There was a good deal of dust.

 

[jabberwock]

The crew "cut the line". They used the longest most continuous wall to establish the baseline of straight. They obviously knew what they were doing, and did it well. They worked their way to the back of the house and day 2 would be tank day.

 

[jabberwock]

Day 1, there was a lot of noise and chaos. Hammers, nail guns and saws. LOTS OF NOISE. My hammer coral reacted immediately by pretending to die.

This guy is usually the size of a softball, and just shriveled and wilted to almost nothing immediately. I was concerned, but did nothing. Midday, when the crew moved to the back of the house, he started to bounce back.

By the end of the day, i was feeling better about his condition. The next day was tank break down, so guarded optimism.

 

[jabberwock]

The next morning is when I really started the tank move process. I already had my temporary holding tanks in place, so bright and early I started draining water. I moved rocks and netted fish into their temporary homes. I scooped crabs, starfish and shrimp into small plastic containers.

There is the urchin in the back left corner. I left about 2 inches of water, all the sand, rock flower anemones and several porcelain crabs in the tank, and then moved it to the kitchen island.

 

[jabberwock]

There were heaters, bubblers and pumps in the temporary holding bins. Temperatures did get scary low (70 degrees), but everyone seemed to pull through despite the improper temperature acclimation situation.

 

[jabberwock]

I found pets I never see (except their arms), and pets I never knew I had.

And pets I never knew I had (what the heck is that?)

And I finally caught this pesky Gorilla Crab. I guess I have to keep the Sin Bin up for a little while longer.

 

[jabberwock]

Then the floor is in enough to set it all back up. Tear down was done at 8:30 am. Started reconstruction at 12:30 pm. 4 hours of limbo, not too bad. Insert a "proper" APS stand which I really love due to its increased height for viewing and ease of maintenance.

Priorities were to get the heater and return pump up and running first. Lights came later.

 

[jabberwock]

Then a good glass cleaning, still need to finish set up of skimmer, ATO, PC-100A and controller board, but it appears that all livestock survived! The urchin was not very active for an entire day, but has now started to move around a bit, and does not seem to be loosing spines. Fish are active and eating! All in all, I feel very fortunate for the outcome!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Looking good! Moving tanks sucks. Even little tanks.

 

[jabberwock]

Looking good! Moving tanks sucks. Even little tanks.

It did, but it went really well. The urchin was unhappy for a couple days, I think it was the temperature swing. I managed it the best I could, but went from 78 to 70.8 during the rebuild process. Everyone is fine as of now.

 

[jabberwock]

Yesterday I got the controller board installed. I am pretty happy with it. Not perfect. Have one more device to mount.

 

[jabberwock]

A little update, 13 months in...
After the "move" the tank and all inhabitants are doing really good. I am over the moon with the new APS stand. I also have a 3 inch APS pedestal on top of the stand, and the taller stand is sooooo much better for viewing and maintenance.

Porcelain crabs are a really interesting part of my CUC. Sometimes I think i might be feeding too heavily, and then I see them working their butts off to catch every stray particle of food that they can. (maybe crabs don't have butts?)

This one has taken up residence with my light bulb anemone (both are OG hitchhikers from my TBS live rock). The nem started out the size of a dime, and now is the size of a billiard ball.

My RFAs have not reproduced yet, but behavior like this makes me go, "hmmmm".

The odd corner for today, mushroom, limpet, YWG, red brittle star, RFA.

And finally, Flasher Wrasse flashing, the consensus from people smarter than me is that it is a Carpenter's flasher wrasse. I think that is probably correct.

Thanks for looking!

 

[jabberwock]

Should I burn the house down?

 

[JoJosReef]

Should I burn the house down?

I wouldn't, they'd be the only survivors.

Only one? I'd boil water and blast it.

 

[jabberwock]

I wouldn't, they'd be the only survivors.

Only one? I'd boil water and blast it.

More than one. I have had them for over a year. They don't seem to be multiplying. They pretty much all live on this rock.

Should I invest in Berghai Nudibranchs?