My First Aquarium and DIY Skimmer

[wontonflip]

I had maybe 2 or 3 when I first started....dumb things kept landing upside down and becoming crab chow LOL

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow, I missed all the fun here. I'll add one comment by saying I have a 50 Gallon tank and I have 4 turbo snails in there. I had full algae coverage on my rocks. Now, about 2 weeks into haveing 4 turbo's, I have no algae at all! I just put one turbo in the fuge, but I can tell he'll be done eating in about a day down there. Looks like the pet store may get two of these guys back:)

Good call. I assume you have Mexican turbo snails since you say they cleaned up your rocks? If so, two should be sufficient for a 50 gallon tank, and if you don't have a lot of algae, one would be good.

 

[hachadwick]

here's a pic of the turbo snail I placed in the fuge.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, that is a Mexican turbo snail, not an astraea turbo snail. :) You definitely should not have 1 for every 5 gallons for those guys. They are wonderful at destroying almost all types of algae.

 

[hachadwick]

Here you go everyone. Things will look better with the new lighting:)

 

[hachadwick]

Here are my other corals:) Can anyone give me a psotive ID on the little toadstoll looking things. I am not 100% of the actually name.

 

[Bifferwine]

The first picture are zoanthids. The second picture is a Florida ricordea. Ricordeas are probably my #1 all-time favorite soft coral.

 

[hachadwick]

Thank you, but I meant the first one. Sorry if I wasn't clear.:frustrat:
I do like the ricordea and it will look really cool under my new lights when they get here.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah I got that, then went back and edited my post. The corals in the first picture are zoanthids.

 

[hachadwick]

Sweet, thanks. Now I can read ALL about them:) hey, will that feather duster worm eat frozen brine shrimp from the water when I feed the fish??

 

[Bifferwine]

No. Feather dusters are filter feeders. They don't eat things as large as brine shrimp; they eat planktonic and microscopic foods.

 

[hachadwick]

When I place the brine shrimp mix in the water it acts like powder almost with some small chunks. A lot of it is a dust in the water. I'll see about picking some smaller stuff at the LFS though:) Thanks again

 

[Bifferwine]

You really don't need to add anything to feed it. Odds are, if you start adding that type of food, you won't have enough in your tank to eat it, and your water quality will just end up suffering. The feather duster will get what it needs from what is already in your water.

 

[hachadwick]

I see. Good advice! Save me a lot of trouble. i'm just getting my water clear now as it is:)

 

[hachadwick]

So, I bought a second fire fish today and added him to the tank. The two now are acting like best buds:) It thought maybe they would feel safer together and I think it worked. Also, I bought a peppermint shrimp.
In the bag with the fire fish, I noticed a bunch of orange egg looking stuff. What do you think it is?

 

[little_fish]

Interesting, im not really sure. It could be eggs, but that is quite a few for such a small fish/shrimp and the look rather large

 

[hachadwick]

He used a net to pull the fire fish from the tank so I know he didn't scoop something up from the tank. The shrimp was pulled from a separate tank so he said he would put him in a separate bag. I wonder if I keep then in a 1 gallon container with water if they may hatch or something crazy:)

The pic I sent is really up close, from about a foot away, they are not individually noticeable. They are about the size of the ball in a ball point pen.

 

[Kelz88]

It almost looks like cooking oil... i really have no idea, But thats what it looks like, how water and oil separate.

 

[hachadwick]

hmm, I think I am going to discard them. I not putting them in tank for sure:)

 

[slwedge71]

hmm, I think I am going to discard them. I not putting them in tank for sure:)

That's a good idea. You don't want unknowns in the tank.