N8ster's Place

Let's try this again. . .

2007-09-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

I ordered 2 more pyramid butterflies. These arrived in great condition.

These are pretty cool--at night most of the white pyramid turns black.

Update

2007-07-22T12:19:00.001-07:00

Lest you think nothing is happening in the tank, I will provide an update.

I managed to kill 2 additional fish this week, before I even got photos. I had them shipped, and most of the water leaked out of their bags. They were alive, but in horrible shape. Full refund from the vendor.

If they have the same fish in stock, I will reorder tomorrow.

DEPRESSING

2007-04-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Came home from church today, and all of my fish in quarantine were dead--4, including the two flame angels. Makes me want to cry.

Parasites.

Spotted

2007-04-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

So my little shrimp finally decided to dig an entrance to his tunnel on the front of the rock where we can see him come out. Here is the goby and his shrimp buddy. Nice to know they are still alive. Have only seen them a couple times over the past few weeks.

More fish

2007-04-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

I need to get a few more pictures, but here is one of my new fish, commonly known as a flame angel. I plan to have a pair of these, which can be a bit tricky. We will see how it goes.

Fish is in quarantine.

Newest Additions to the Tank II

2007-03-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

My goby has been added to the main tank, and now has his pistol shrimp buddy. They hit it it right off, and now share a nice tunnel the shrimp has dug under one of the rocks. They don't venture out much yet, so it may be hard to get a photo. I got another cleaner shrimp, and now Pepe is carrying around a bunch of eggs. Isaac also spotted the mystery crab hiding in a hole in the rocks. We have heard the crab for 6 months now, but have only seen it once.

I have a new fish in quarantine--blackcap basslet. It actually appears much more purple than it looks in this photo.

Newest addition to the tank.

2007-02-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

The fish store had this great looking starfish, and it has been there a while, so I bought it. I also got another shrimp and a couple more snails. I was going to order my pistol shrimp to pair up with my fish, but the weather was too cold for shipping this weekend. Maybe next Saturday.

First Fish!

2007-01-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

My first fish is currently doing his time in the quarantine tank, prior to being admitted to the main tank. He is a highfin goby. I have ordered his sidekick, and pretty soon, he will be hanging out with his new buddy, Mr. Pistol Shrimp.

New and Improved! Now with more rocks!

2006-11-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

Click for a closer view.

No Peanut Butter, but. . .

2006-11-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

Newest official member of my fishtank--hydroid jellyfish. I have seen 6-7 of these in the tank. This one is one of the largest, and is only half an inch, including all of the tenticles. These will most likely disappear in a couple months, never to be seen again.

The first picture is from other other side of the glass, where it is attached. The second is a side shot.

Tank Update

2006-10-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Here is an updated photo of the tank. Everything has cleared up nicely. Most of the cyanobacteria is gone. I have tons (thousands) of amphipods--tiny little bugs that are too small to photograph. The coralline algae is turning nice and red and purple. I have a patch that was neon green a couple days ago, but it is starting to turn purple.

(These are all good things that indicate that things are progressing nicely)

BUW!

2006-10-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Big Ugly Worm

Found this a couple weeks ago. Apparently they can get 7 feet long and eat everything in your tank, or simply eat garbage and go unnoticed for years. I am betting that I have another one somethere in the tank.

Hermit

2006-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of the blue-legged hermit crabs I added this past weekend. The blue coralline algae has colored up nicely. If you look just to the left of the hermit crab, there is a little red tuft--it is a tube worm of some kind. They extend little fans out of the tube to catch particles of food floating by.

Foraminiferans

2006-10-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

Interesting little spikey red patches, about 1/4 of an inch in size.

Are they plants? Animals?

No, and no. They are in the third category, Protists, which includes amobeas, chlorophytes, and slime algae (which is also growing in my tank).

More rocks.

2006-10-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a close up of the tank.

Rocks in the Tank

2006-10-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I added salt, sand, and some rocks.

The whole thing.

2006-09-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of the whole thing.

2006-09-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Most of the guts have now been installed.

It's what's inside that counts. . .

2006-08-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, a couple of people have been asking how the tank is coming. I haven't updated the pictures in a while, because it doesn't look that different on the outside. Inside however, I have been doing quite a bit of work. I had a small delay while I was waiting for my diamond coated drill bit (for cutting inch and a quarter holes through aquarium glass) to arrive from Hong Kong--eBay is a wonderful thing. Most of the plumbing is hooked up. I just need to get a couple more PVC elbows from the Depot, and I should have the plumbing up and running. I need to sort out a few electrical issues (so that it doesn't look like Chevy Chase's Christmas lights all plugged into one socket in Christmas Vacation).

The 20-gallon tank which is divided into three sections will hold the refugium (houses plants which pull phosphates out of the water, but don't look real pretty; heaters, which also don't look pretty; and other small critters that swim to the display tank and get eaten), and the skimmer (filters out organic materials from the water by creating massive amounts of small bubbles--the junk in the water sticks to the surface tension on the little bubbles). The Homer bucket will be full of sand. In an anaerobic environment, there are bacteria whose metabolic processes break down nitrates (harmful) into nitrogen (harmless). The clear bucket on the bottom will hold the return pump, which will push the water back up to the main tank.

Finally, an update.

2006-07-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

The doors are on, the stand is inside, and yes, that is water in the tank. It will take a couple days to fill up, as I am using the drinking water from our RO unit.

Stained stand, and sand

2006-04-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

I used teak oil on the birch plywood. It brought out the grain nicely, and I think it looks fantastic. I just need to finish the cabinet doors, and the stand will be pretty much ready to go.

I bought salt and sand for the tank on Friday. I am just waiting for one more shipment of supplies (water testing kits, heaters, etc.), and I should be about ready to order the rock for the tank.

Water, water everywhere . . .

2006-04-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Wise man once say, better to have leaky tank with fresh water on back patio, than have leaky tank with saltwater in living room.

The tank checked out.

, , , in the place where you are.

2006-04-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

I skinned the stand with 3/4 birch plywood--clean, simple, and I don't mind that you see the end grain of the plywood. So far so good--the tank fit on the stand nicely.

So Stand. . .

2006-04-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

The first order of business is to have a place to put the tank. I have been building my own stand. The guts are modeled after this stand, but mine will not be nearly as fancy:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=787189
Have I mentioned that Reef Central is the best resource ever.

In the beginning. . .

2006-04-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

So, I have been talking about doing a saltwater tank for several years now, and for my birthday in early March, I got a 90 gallon aquarium. I am going to capture the progress of my tank on this site.