afgun Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 Aha!!! My wife and I were looking at the tank today and who should poke his head out but one of our pests! He was in a large rock that I had relocated on top of the remains of what I broke apart the other day... I grabbed a bucket while my wife made sure he was still in the rock and I yanked it out. This time I tried something different. I plucked all of the snails and crabs that I could off of the rock and tossed them back in the tank, then took the bucket and rock to the back yard, where I filled it with fresh water. The mantis was not at all pleased with his sudden trip out of the water followed by no salinity, and promptly left the rock. The rock went back into the tank and the mantis... let's just say that he won't be troubling us any more unless this is more than just urban legend... We're keeping our eye out for the other mantis that we suspect is still in the tank, along with an opportunity to nab "great white" as we've dubbed the large light colored crab (rock?) that also might be predating the tank, before we start adding more vulnerable livestock again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted August 12, 2011 Author Share Posted August 12, 2011 I will help you take out the live rock to catch the predators and then help re stack the rock. It should not take that long with a few people working together. Just let me know. Lamont I appreciate the offer, Lamont. The issue is determining which rock the thing is hiding in... I really don't want to kill off all of the live rock in my hunt to catch the other mantis. Let you know if we decide to get radical though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lamont Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Thats cool! Im glad you caught one of them though! Good luck with the next. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Last weekend we bought a couple of condi, a LTA and BTA and 3 feather dusters. One feather duster seems to have been eaten, but everything else is doing well a week later (pretty good record for this tank given its history of predation). And this morning I found a brittle star! We got 2 with the order from TBS and one ended up getting chewed up by something. The other hasn't been seen in 2-3 months. Well, surprise surprise, he's still around! We got 2 black spiny sea urchins with the TBS order and shortly after things settled in we noticed that we had a baby urchin. He's grown to almost as large as the 2 adults, and last week we also noticed another new baby urchin! We have dozens of porcelain crabs (good!), several red mithrax crabs (unsure) and a bunch of teeny gorilla crabs (not so good) and an EXTREMELY healthy copepod population in the tank. Thinking about getting a mandarin goby... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 little off topic, were you able to reproduce the knockdown texture on your walls? If so, how did you do it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 It's been a while since we've had any pics. How is everything going/growing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 (edited) Well, funny you should ask, Chris... We recently placed an order with an online vendor for a number of fish. Unfortunately, most of them didn't make it due to mortality or predation. We had a couple of carpet surfers AGAIN, and some simply disappeared! We think that the main culprits were the goby that I recently gave away (after the "incidents") and a sizeable white crab with pointy brown claws, possibly a gorilla or stone variety. We've pulled a number of smaller gorillas out and dumped them in the refugium and continue to hunt others. So today our stocked inhabitants are: 2x true percula clowns 1x blue/green chromis 1x zebra striped bar goby 1x yellow tang 1x powder blue tang 1x coral beauty 1x blue mandarin goby 2x royal gramas 3x red (not blood) shrimp 2x skunk cleaner shrimp 2x sally lightfoot crabs 4x hawaiian feather dusters 1x hard tube feather duster 3x rock flower anemone 1x h. magnifica anemone (not terribly happy, but hanging on) 1x long tentacle anemone 1x brittle star 1x big orange starfish 2x serpent star 4x spiny urchins (2 came from TBS; the other 2 have bred!) 1x not so spiny urchin (I don't know this one's name) 2x small sea cucumbers various sponges (came from TBS) which are slowly dying a few acros and fans (came from TBS) numerous hermit, porcelain, mithrax and gorilla crabs (we're trying to get the last ones OUT) numerous snails numerous pistol shrimp (hitchers) Unfortunately we've lost probably an equal number of inhabitants to carpet surfing and plain ol' disappearance to unknown predators. The closed loop system has worked out well, but I've determined I'm not happy with my experimental deep sand bed/benthic/refugium, and am considering having a new sump system built. I do dread taking everything out, but I think it needs to be done in order to be effective... Edited October 28, 2011 by afgun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Looks good! Did you change the overflow covers or did they just get darker with stuff growing on it? It blends in much better now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 The overflow covers have just darkened with algae. It definitely blends much better now, but I still would do an external overflow had I the opportunity to build it over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Where did u find those power strips?! I have been searching for similar ones! So I think it's mold not stain... I did have a fair amount of water leaking during the first test, and a bunch likely got under the stand in the carpet I will initiate mold remediation procedures today. Wish me luck. On a more positive note, I made some more progress yesterday. Got a board mounted with the lighting power supplies: And I mounted my power strips (found these really cool ones with individual switches for each outlet): My barrel for the RODI is supposed to be delivered today, so I need to start setting that system up, and of course I have a little trimming to do on the rock wall before attaching it to the back (silicone I'm thinking). Slow but steady progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 Tiger direct! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 What was it called? I tried a search but didn't see anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 apparently they're only available in the stores now... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=914023&CatId=5313 http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4823710&CatId=5313 I'm guessing that the manufacturer has discontinued them, or TD has decided to stop carrying them You could try calling the DFW or Houston TigerDirect retail stores to see if they have any. There's this one that has 5 switched outlets: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10907&cs_id=1090705&p_id=7988&seq=1&format=2 Otherwise you're limited to an American DJ rack-mountable power bar... That's all that I could find when doing my searching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 The DJ one was the only one I was finding. Was there something wrong with that or something? apparently they're only available in the stores now... http://www.tigerdire...4023&CatId=5313 http://www.compusa.c...3710&CatId=5313 I'm guessing that the manufacturer has discontinued them, or TD has decided to stop carrying them You could try calling the DFW or Houston TigerDirect retail stores to see if they have any. There's this one that has 5 switched outlets: http://www.monoprice...&seq=1&format=2 Otherwise you're limited to an American DJ rack-mountable power bar... That's all that I could find when doing my searching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Not at all. It's just bigger and bulkier; the switches and plugs are on opposite sides of the case, too. Maybe that's a good thing for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 These are pricey but bulletproof from what I have read. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/WIREMOLD-Electric-Outlet-Strip-1A944 http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/POWER-FIRST-Deluxe-Control-Plugin-Outlet-1A945 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Picked up a couple of nice rocks from TBone yesterday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBone Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Picked up a couple of nice rocks from TBone yesterday! Gorgeous tank! That condy looks really happy too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 We got the great white out !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBone Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We got the great white out !!!! Not at all sure what that means... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 We believe that this crab has been eating fish and other desirable things in our tank... he was a hitcher on the LR from TBS: And for my friend who wanted a recent FTS... Chad, I had to take out a lot of rocks after the debacle with great white today, so the tank looks different than when you saw it only a few hours ago! Sorry about the glare; I was in a hurry and didn't bother to shut the blinds first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Recently acquired some frags, and we ordered up some sponges and other colorful life from TBS this weekend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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