Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I think I've seen parts of worms like that moving through the rocks, but never in the open. Worms that big can take out small fish and snails. I've found these guys by accident too many times. I end up as bristly as they are. The bristles dissolve in vinegar, thankfully.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My bristle worms are red and little. Maybe an inch long and real skinny.
If they were 8 inches long and scary like that one, I'd be afraid to sleep.

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God I hate bristle worms.
I hat the itch!!!

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I think the grow up into these big ones. Maybe not. There are a lot of different species.

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They've been in there for a long, long time. I watch the critters at night all the time, I leave a flashlight near the tank. If there was a Bigfoot in there I'd have discovered him by now. hehe

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

There are a couple different types of bristle worms, or fire worms. First there are the normal ones you see in your tank that are red have hints of blue. They can be anywhere from 1" to 7" then there are what is called polychaete worms that can grow much longer and fatter. Eucinid worms are more of a night time predator than the bristle worms that just scavenge for the most part.

A word for the wise, If you do get stung by a bristle worm get a large bowl and fill it with tap water. Then heat the water to as high a temperature as you can handle. The heat of the water will dissolve the spines as well as the poison. Their poison is a heat soluble protein that if exposed to high temperatures soon enough will lessen the effects. Although you bay stilll be tingly for a few days.
(this technique also works well with lion fish stings too. But it still hurts like a mo fo)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

NEW LIVE ROCK!!!! :D :D :D

Old stuff reading bubkis on parms, moving that over to the main tank tonight, new stuff in main tank as well, was fully cured already. :D:D

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Awesome to hear! Make tore to transfer the rock quickly to avoid any more die off. Sponges when exposed to air almost always die because air gets trapped inside them. I will be ecpecting a picture of your rockscape.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My tank has bristle worms that are orange and you can see a blueish vein that runs down them. They're pretty fun to watch at night. They never harm anything, but when I'm cleaning and see them I generaly pull them out. They're quite the clean up crew though, when my shimp shed, they eat the shell. When a fish dies, they eat the body.

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Is this the stuff you got shipped? If it wasn't submerged you might still get a little die off. Give the tank a week to be sure testing every couple days. Getting close!

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Yup standard bristle worms are great reef scavangers. In my experience they dont harm anything unless they over populate the tank which could lead to a nitrate problem. But all in all they are a GREAT cuc supplemented with snails (and SOME crabs)

For enyone interested here is an article identifying different types of polychaete worms.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Interesting article on fireworms. The picture I took looks like it was the first kind and I also have thousands of the second kind. Who knows what else is in there. I have seen them spawn a few times.

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Here's the worms I have. Dunno what they are. Any idea?
I read the article, but I still don't know.
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/bristle.jpg

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Regular bristle Scott. Only time I remove them, is if there is way too many or they start getting big. Then they just go down to the basement sump.

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Bristle indeed.
If they are all over, grab them with with something and get them out of there.
They will multiply like crazy.
If not often visible, let them be.
They can itch for some folks.

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Scott those are the same type I have. They never even touched my shrooms, very neat little critters

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so funny story time...

Was playing with the LR I just got in the tank and a snail started crawling on my hand. It freaked me the hell out. Freaky little buggers. Jeebus, Kasha is still laughing at me at this was an hour ago! Its not that funny, Ok maybe it is, but still...

Anyways, This is great rock too. Lots of Coraline. :D

Pics to come, but water has to clear up a bits

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Yup those are the normal kind Scott. There are quite a few but if you aren't having any water quality issues then dont worry about them. Just don't pet them they don't like that :ss

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aquascaped today, but its too cloudy to see in there, pics when it settles, which it should be by tonight! :D

Big cave in the middle, looks nifty. Got my refactometer today as well. sweet.

I have some calabration fluid for it, Pinpoint Salinity Monitor, 53.0ms Calibration Fluid,+-1%@77*/25*C

What should i be setting my refratometer to when i use that to calibrate?

Brad

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http://inlinethumb01.webshots.com/60...425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/40...425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/49...425x425Q85.jpg

cloudy pics...better ones laters!

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http://inlinethumb02.webshots.com/43...425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/43...425x425Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/43...425x425Q85.jpg

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Won some corals this weekend in lansing! A Texas Junk Zoa, and a devils hand. Now I just gotta get my tank balanced... and find a spot for the corals so i dont kill them :(

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Coming along nicely there.

Spent four hours this Saturday cleaning mine.
That is what stinks about the type of corals I have.
They get filthy and are a pain to pull out, bleach, dechlorinate and put back in.
Did a 50% water change.
Dropped the temperature 6 degrees in one shot.
Nobody felt a thing.
Took a couple of photos of Mr. Eel to post but from inside his "man cave".
Will try to get some when I feed him later this week.

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Bleach! I was wondering why they didn't get overgrown.

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your tank is awesome Carlos, Id love to do that as well as a reef tank, Both have thier ups and downs but both are uniquely suited for what you want to do!

Brad

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Looks like the 53.0ms is 1.0259 so basically 1.026:D

Great looking rock work. Wish I would have know you were going to the swap, I may have went to it then. Anytime you come down to the 'south' let me know. I'll get you some frags and we can maybe we can light one up.

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Yeah, but you didn't feel my pain in that post.
That was four hours I will never get back, multiplied by monthly.
That type of decorating is a popular thing in Florida but what a pain it is.
I wish sometimes I had just live rock but don't want to deal with the parasites.
Parasites prevention on such expensive fish is the only reason I have it set up that way.

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I actually went down to spend time with Kasha but she wanted to go to pruess and i talked her into spending time at the swap. :D shes pretty dandy, but next time im in the area ill let you know tho for sure!

Brad

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I feel your pain, really, pain. It takes me four hours to do a proper cleaning in my tank, too. That involves a lot of scraping coraline off the sides, picking anemones, cleaning filters and skimmers...all while leaning over the tank with one arm in. I pinched a nerve in my neck or back yesterday doing this. Pain.
My wife was at the LFS Sat. and she picked up a little Dottyback, put it in the tank and it seemed to be all right, but the next morning it was totally gone without a trace. ??? I never saw it. I still keep looking but this is the second day with no sign. Tough little fish. I don't think it died from being introduced to my tank. Maybe it found a one way hiding place. I lost a fish that way once.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

cave collapesed. :( Rebuilt it, lot more stable now, but looks different. Added one of those wave things too. Tank gets better flow. Pics of new aquascape soon

Brad

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

readings at 0s for the last 4 days! if still there monday putting in a green chamois or what ever its called, or some other hardy fish. Clean up crew went in today :D

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Coming along there.

I finally go some shots of Mr. Eel to upload.

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Well Where are they!! :ss

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My missing fish is in there, just afraid to come out. The hawkfish chases it. I have been basting food into it's hiding place in hope that it will survive long enough for it's tankmates to accept it.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Some very sweet looking setups there! I would absolutely LOVE to get a reef tank going someday (on my list of "50 things to do before I die"). I need to get a little more disciplined and experienced with my fresh water tank first, as the reef tanks are so much more delicate... and mistakes less forgiving than fresh water.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I started with a 7 gallon nano-reef. Much more difficult to get going than a big tank, IMHO. $20 rock here, $30 coral there, $20 fish, ka-ching.

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Say hello to my little friend, Mr. Eel.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...DSC_0031-1.jpg

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Carlos, do you feed your pets live stuff or frozen or what? Beautiful eel, looks capable of taking off a fingertip.

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You won't believe it if I told you.
I only feed them one thing mainly, which is Spectrum granules.
I met the guy that invented that stuff many years ago and got to know him via my son's place of work (large exotic importer where my fish came from).
We all began at that time to use his food exclusively and quickly learned how all fish, even finicky eaters took to it right away.
Since then, that is the only processed food I buy for them.
Even the eel loves that stuff.
He goes nuts every night when I feed the tank.

About three times a week, I feed the eel fresh shrimp and also shred some for the rest of the tank as a treat.

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Yesterday I took my daughter to the doctor, and on the way home discovered a new fish store down in Reynoldsville.
The discovery cost me 100 bucks. :D
I picked up a harlequin sweetlips, 3 banghai cardinals and a big purple feather.
My daughter picked out the cardinal. After I got one she said "Dad, you gotta get at least two more so they stick together like that. (pointing at the shoaling cardinals)"
So we got two more.
She's really good at this fish thing. :D

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She's pretty good at the Daddy thing, too. :D

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She's Pro Series 3.0.
I screwed the first run of kids up pretty good. This one turned out real well despite her Dad. She's Daddy's girl to the max. :)
Definately my pride and joy.

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If you get a male/female cardinal and they breed, let me know. I used to raise them and they are super easy to breed/raise.

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Monday morning my tank sprung a leak. It was squirting a tiny stream out of a front seam. The floor was soaked and now all my stuff is still in a big rubbermaid tub on the floor.
The tank is resealed, cured, and I'm ready to put the stuff back in.
What a pain in the butt this was. :)
On a good note, I found my blue coral that's been lost three times.
Hopefully this time I'll be able to keep track of it. :tu

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Exactly the reason why my tanks is acrylic.
That will last longer than the Pyramids.:r

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I got a good 15 years out of this thing. 3 moves and a freeze-up.
I can't even believe it's still in one piece. :r

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OK, so here's my 90 Gal. It's been up and running for about 8 or 9 years.

http://i39.tinypic.com/t8mfbm.jpg


I have had these little guys in there for years and they don't bother me, but what the heck are they? There's probably well over 100 of them in there...

http://i42.tinypic.com/kcdniw.jpg

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Gorgeous, Marc. :tu
I'm not from Canada, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think those are Quarters. Maybe nickels. ;)

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Astrina starfish Bear! Great addition for clean up. Had hundreds of them in my 120. Lots in my 50.

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That's a quarter all right.:D