10g2.0

[exodave]

So, after humping my 10 gallon reef in the back seat of my car from Los Angeles to Detroit, losing my toadstool and most of my polyps in the process, the Striped Damsels and the one nasty Aiptasia on the rock seemed to be the only critters in the tank really flourishing. I began to get a little sick of them, both. A month and a half of cycling later, with a new fabulous LFS (way better than the one in LA), I've torched the Aip, beefed up the lights, and traded in the enourmous, brutish, and well-fed Damsels. The current residents (pics below) include:

-peppermint shrimp
-a handful of colorful small snails which don't plow over coral but which seem to be hermit crab snacks
-some other snails which bury themselves and clean my sand
-a perc clownfish
-a banggai cardinal
-a GBT Anemone
-button polyps
-hermit crab
- 6-12 tiny dot snails (I assume from eggs in the live sand) which emerge at night
- stowaway bristle worms

I'm now feeding frozen mysis shrimp, 1/3 of a capsule in the morning. I gently shot one into the anemone with a turkey baster, we'll see if that works at all. The LFS told me to expect the GBT to just float limp around the tank for a few days after acclimation. Strangely enough, he just plopped himself immediately in the center and plumped way up, showing his mouth while I blew all the sand off of him, then he proceeded to climb straight up my tall rock. This morning, he was wedged in between the rock and the polyps. I'm still pretty much overwhelmed by this thing. I'm considering whether or not to offer him larger pieces of raw shrimp, as I've read about on here.

current hardware setup:
-biowheel 200 stripped down assembly without wheel or filter
-50watt heater placed in the biowheel filter box
-Coralife 20" quad lamp 96watt 6700K with legs on a timer
-(coming soon) led lunar lights

I've taken to an approximated daily top-off with feeding along with the regular water changes. I expect to be able to just adjust the amounts by watching how the level grows or falls on average. But wow, this is way easier to manage in the relative humidity of Michigan compared to SoCal.

Temp is 80, Nitrites, Nitrates, and Ammonia all read zero, and the PH is 8.0-8.2, which I'm guessing is only slightly acidic because I'm continuing to use the stripped Biowheel pump and assembly for convenience (I also like to keep the heater where the filter used to go) and I imagine the falling water dissolves a small amount of CO2. If I have reason to expect a flow issue, I will gladly upgrade, but it's worked well for the last 8 months.

I'm always looking for tips, and now especially involving the GBT, not exactly sure what to expect from this guy.

Ok, so I can't post photos, but just go to flickr/photos/exodave

[Loverotties]

Sounds like a pretty full tank.

[BEELZEBOB]

that nem is doomed dude.

[exodave]

awww beelze! no faith! and no info! what good is posting here if the Reward is depression with no hope for education? I'm guessing you are addressing one of two major concerns: 1. There is something wrong with my Setup. 2. The speculation that only 5% of hobbyists with 2-5 years of experience are able to keep a captive anemone (with no defined Natural Lifespan) alive for more than 2 years.

in the case of #1: Of possible equipment oversights, which is going to kill 'em?? The volume, the light, the food, the other livestock, or my relative Inexperience?

of #2: Maybe we should make a case for the value of this site and find out the stats among active members of this community? I'd certainly be interested.

So how long is this little guy gonna live?

Oh, here's some pics of my perc hosting with him. Just happened tonight, w00t! And some more of the rest of the crew. Their names: Pep Shrimp - Pepe, Hermit - Rizzo, Anemone - Gonzo, Clownfish - Camilla, Cardinal - Sweetums, Snail Crew - "The Electric Mahem"

[Lance M.]

Originally Posted by exodave

The LFS told me to expect the GBT to just float limp around the tank for a few days after acclimation.

Hahahaha. First time I've ever heard that.

Bta looks fine.

[exodave]

Yeah, so far so good with it. It's settled on a nice hole on the side of the rock. It gobbled up a chunk of shrimp I fed it, and now it has Camilla the clownfish as its new crazed erotic massage therapist of some kind. I'm picking up some brine shrimp at the LFS tonight to see if the clownfish will eat that. She seems less than interested in anything but the nem, let alone food anymore.

I'm noticing a general slow bloom of green hairy algae over the rocks since adding the new critters. There isn't anything in the tank very dedicated cleaning the rock since getting rid of my turbo snails. I think I'll just keep an eye on it for now. Its not bad yet.

Wow, bringing out the flashlight at night, you can really see the peppermint shrimp at work swimming all over the tank and getting into everything. Once I caught it taking a slow ride up the glass on a small snail, but dancing up and down like it needed a horse whip.

[fox2589]

im not sure if u were looking for better ways to keep ur tank topped off or not but on my ten i just filled it where i wanted it at the salinity that i wanted it and made a line,and i put top off water up to that line every day....hope that helps if u even needed it..later

[exodave]

Originally Posted by fox2589

im not sure if u were looking for better ways to keep ur tank topped off or not but on my ten i just filled it where i wanted it at the salinity that i wanted it and made a line,and i put top off water up to that line every day....hope that helps if u even needed it..later

Hey fox! Yeah, thanks, I used to do that in LA where I would go through at least 2 gallons a week of topoff, but in MI, it is so humid it is real hard to keep track of the daily difference. I'm just adding half a juice glass daily and watching it relative to the bottom of the bevel on the top of the tank.