peety Posted July 23, 2003 Report Share Posted July 23, 2003 Well I was out again getting stuff from the beach so thought someone might be interested. I brought home four different types of snail this time. The ‘catseye’ type again, plus 3 conical types. The little conical laid eggs and seem to be ok. The really pointy one died and the larger more rounded type had some die, and some still remain… the one that does the most work cleaning up though is the original black catseye, the nerite. I also brought home some more seaweed but nearly two weeks later all 3 species appear to be dieing, so far that’s 7 species that don’t appear to like the tank. I introduced a powerhead this time and created a turbulent aerated zone, which is why I think they are lasting longer. The best thing with the seaweed was the number of small living things that came in on it, some weird thingies out there! I also found a bright yellow star which doesn’t appear to move and is still alive, I’m a bit confused as to what they do! I also brought home four kina (sea urchins) of various sizes. Thanks to Pies advice I kept an eye on them and two promptly died, fouling my sump . After a bit of surfing I found out they need to be acclimatized slowly. The other two (the larger two) are still fine. They are really quite cool, and have long feelers that probe suck and feed. They eat the algae from the glass, sieve the sand, and I also feed them fish food, and carrot peelings (as suggested on a web site). They also eat the coralline from the rock but at such a small rate that you hardly even notice. I also brought home a huge worm casing but unfortunately it was empty, I will look for some more again next time. For those thinking about marine, I say go ahead!! I spend more time on my marine tank and less money than I expected! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted August 4, 2003 Report Share Posted August 4, 2003 Peety you are by far my favorite kiwi reefer. I am very interest in the longlevity of the kuna. And sea urchens are bad for eating corline algae, but hey 1 in a tank can't hurt? I want one! On another note. I have added quite a few 'glass shrimp' from the local rock pools. Many have done just fine, most death caused by skimming One of my shrimps has lots of little brown eggs under it! Awesome to think they can be taken out of the cold water here and still be able to breed in my warm water reef! Also about the snails. Check my web site for an awesome pic of a snal eating algae just to see how good at it they are! Go PEETY! Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peety Posted August 4, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2003 Yup thats the good snail!! The others are definately living though and the eggs are growing on the side of my tank.. wonder how long I have to wait to hear the pitter patter of baby snails The other snails have those weird trunks that come out and sniff around (I have a couple of those too) The kina rocks!! I wish the smaller ones had lived instead of the bigger ones, I reckon a couple about the size of 20cent peices would be the go... mine are just about at eating stage!! A commercial diver friend was amazed to see the tenticles coming out of them, they are easily twice the length of the spines. They also sift the sand!! really good at cleaning it!! They also eat the red algae that grows beneath the sand!! they bury themselves and suck it. They climb vertical glass so can get anywhere, they can also move pretty big rocks so may move your tank around a bit, instead of going around a rock they just lift it and pass underneath. I have found a weed that may be worth trying.... it is growing but slowly, in my tank, it looks like an oakleaf lettuce so is quite nice to look at. I tried it at all depths in my tank, and reckon it grows best lower down. It has definately got new growth around its edges three weeks on. Found it on rocks not in rock pools, its brown, flat, and has thin lighter white line around its edges. My aerated zone around the weed didn't help, and caused probs with my passive sypthon (air bubbles that entered the syphon got stuck, and eventually caused it to stop working). One of my fish was also eating my coral !! I have moved the coral to other tank and its recovering, I may be feeding too little since they weren't doing this before... I threw a cray in my tank too but they go blind if out of water too long... when i found out he became dinner, but he adapted really quickly, I want a small one from that cray farm.... I've also got some white chrysalis things growing on the rocks that I have no idea what they are. Good pics pies!! Yup, plenty of things at the beach to keep me busy in my tank... (my readings are all shot at mo cuz of rotting weed and mushrooms are spewing so trying to stabilize conds before my next trip to beach ) peety Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted August 5, 2003 Report Share Posted August 5, 2003 Those weird snails that have the trunks I don't think are snails. I think they are conches. Is the shell is 'very' ;) similar to the green one my hermit crab is wearing in that photo? very similar? ;) Peety I wish you would invest in a camera or borrow one Would love to see some better pics and some closeups of your 'weird' life. You said a fish ate your coral? What type of fish??? ate what type of coral???? At least you have 2 tanks! From what I understand crayfish are monsters of the deep, they also get massive! Not sure if i'd bother... Hehehehe you really need to add things slowly. OR! If you insist on poluting your water all the time, get more water! Maybee you should look at a monster resivour. Like a 44gal plastic drum just cirulating water, wold help with tank params and poultant levels. I am also keen for this as resivours like this make LARGE water changes EASY PEASY. Photos! Keep on trucking Peety Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peety Posted August 7, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 Pies is a mind reader.... The room with marine tanks has the garage behind it. Unfortunately I rent (I would bang a hole in the wall quick fast otherwise), so I'm trying to figure out a way to get plumbing in without damaging anything. I have found out you can get 1000 litre tanks from resene that held acrylic paints...they can be cleaned easy and cost about $150 !!! I figured as long as the surface levels were the same I could plumb it with small hose, and wrap it in batts to reduce heating cost. Now thats an upgrade !!! Yup the snail is a conch then... (I assume they are OK since its happy just running around) The coral is one of those plate ones, I got given it free from LFS since it was dying. It has gone from about 12 polyps to 50 + I don't know what fish was doing the damage I have one I cannot identify (another unwanted item from LFS) My aiptasia is back I must have missed some and now its in my concrete rock, its impossible to move that stuff now... bugger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted August 7, 2003 Report Share Posted August 7, 2003 What about drilling a small hole and using John Guest fittings. I love those John Guest fittings! Great Minds think alike! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Hey Peety, I picked up a 1000L square tank in the T&E the guy delivered it for about $125 i think, it had a mild glue in it but washed out sweeeet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peety Posted August 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 That sounds like the kind I saw for sale. Thats a good price... are you using it for reservoir ? I'll check T&E when I'm ready in case there are more..... Just imagine if you could stick a glass window in it somehow.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 Peety how's the tank going ? What do you have in it at the moment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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