beefytang

This should be cool. T5 lighting might be a good way to go. Catalina has some nice fixtures...maybe give them a look. Not sure what length your tank is but they have great prices on their 60" and 72" fixtures. Since you won't be stocking coral you can probably do ok with just two bulbs?

http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/index.php?..._136&page=3

Those reflectors are really cool....never seen anything like them. I'm guessing they're designed that way to reflect light in random directions? And yeah PFO lighting has some nice stuff. Seen the prices on their 72" Solaris? Whoa...

Call in the firebats. I feel a zerg rush coming on!

My wife threatened to hit me with a shoe if I didn't stop playing it.

hah yeah. the dreaded maxi jet kills em every time i bet.

Has anyone ever tried to keep a lemon peel angelfish in their reef tank?

It's a great looking fish. But I hear they're tough to keep. From what I understand, they often eat coral, are prone to dying (often caught using cyanide) and many suggest if one does keep them, not to house them in tanks smaller than 55 gallons.

I can spare a few if you really want some.

One of the first saltwater creatures I was ever given was a striped serpent star. Still have it. It's very peaceful but rarely shows itself. I hand feed it shrimp about twice a week.

Funny, I just found this starfish link a few minutes ago. The eight-legged starfish is really cool.

http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Marine-B...the-Seas.371893

Is it just me or is there a black hole in the second pic?

That's exactly what it is. All sorts of stuff just vanishes right into that thing. Chromis, hermit crabs. My sanity. ;-D

Nice shots. I really like the wall pano. I noticed you mentioned on the notes you wanted to fix the seam on it, near the top. Easy to do in Photoshop. Invoke your rulers. Using the lasso tool or marquee tool, start a selection from the top left at 350 pixels, draw down just above the antennae (about 75px down), go to 750px, and close the loop. Feather the selection about 10 px then give it a horizontal motion blur of about 295px. Takes it right out.

I think that's what i have . Man those little suckers can move !!

Hehe yeah they're pretty swift. If you have any small rocks or frag plugs on your sand bed, try lifting one up...you'll probably see a few underneath.

Are those stringy things those snails that throw out the spider web nets?

Yes, that's what they are. If anything bugs our zoas, it's those things. I'll try your technique, although most of mine are burrowed in the vugular pores of the live rock. Makes it tough to get at them.

Got new shots of the nudibranch. Hot off the camera. Found it on the rock it came in on. I think this one eats algae or clove polyps...thats what was on the LR when I bought it. Didn't buy the rock for the polyps, though so I don't mind it cleaning them off. But I think, as some have suggested, that they may pose problems later once the cloves or algae is gone. Gonna have to ball up and make a decision to get rid of them I guess.

Good question. I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen them anywhere locally. LFS should start stocking them...from what I hear they're among the best.

the clam kinda looks like the ones I have, the nudi doesnt look like a zoo eater to me but I would keep an eye on it. Look at your zoo colonies carefully the nudis will take on the color of whatever type of zoo they are eating

Hey Mike! Yeah I've been through the pest nudibranch stuff when I first started keeping zoas...it really sucked. I do have some irritators, though...the micro-stringy sort that extend over 3-4" out of live rock etc. Not sure exactly how to deal with those yet. But as for the nudibranchs...fascinating little creatures. I hate to get all John Wayne on any of them before I know they're detrimental to our corals. Someday I'd like to make a nudibranch pico with some of the more exotic varieties. Saw some nice ones at RCA awhile back...tempting!

If they look like these you're fine:

They're scavengers, beneficial to your substrate. I have a larger set of starfish that hide in one particular rock of mine. I've never seen the whole thing but whenever I feed the tank, it will gently extend it's legs out for some food. So I'll hand feed it a little something.

From the causal name "dime clam" and "jewel box clam" I was able to track down some more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spondylus

http://www.conchology.be/en/availableshell...ylus&page=7

Since I don't know squat about clams, etc this is really interesting stuff. I think the ones I have are Spondylus varians.

Very impressive. I've never seen one of these before. Kudos on your ninja octopus-keeping skills.

I was always told that the "mussel" was a jewel clam or also known as a dime box clam. Not sure if it's the same.

Thanks Mike. I'll dig around and see what I can find.

My wife bought me a pair of rics. Each one had three mouths. Thrill! =D

It was a great sale. Don't miss the next one, Robb. Lots of people there but they managed to get us in and out really fast with no waiting.

The RCA crew is awesome, as always.

Here are the pics of the mussel and the nudibranch. The nudibranch seems kind of bunched up in this shot, a little more dirty than the last time I saw it. As you can see, it doesn't have all the frilly effects as the zoa eaters. The mussel is really small. About the size of a pinky nail.

An interesting observation. A shame you didn't find a watch or some pirate booty while you were at it.

On this page, a lot of the companies are open about the iron content in their sand: http://www.azgardens.com/newsubst2.php

They claim it isn't harmful to saltwater setups. I suppose if you have lingering concerns, maybe contact the company that markets/distributes it? I used black sand in a pico and liked the appearance but had doubts about the viability of it as a substrate in the long run. It's nice for contrast, no doubt. Makes coral colors pop out like crazy.

Why risk your awesome collection? I have the opposite opinion. If I don't know what it is, I remove it.

I understand. But I kind of have a fascination with studying these things in an informal way, I suppose. But mostly, I'm queasy about killing things in the tank that I'm not 100% sure they're going to wreak havoc. Same approach I take when going to HEB. =) I'm looking for them now...they don't seem to be in the familiar places (side of the glass). I really like nudis, mostly the ornate ones with the vivid colors. As I mentioned, mine are mostly pure white and very smooth. If they had the surface features of known nudi-eaters, I would have acted by now. I'm mostly curious if anyone else has had similar nudis before. I know pics would help...working on it!

The Nudi will either starve or start eating something you don't want it to. They have very specific diets.

True. On average, nudibranchs have monolithic diets. Typically eating only one specific thing, like you mentioned. What they're eating I'm unsure of. I'll try and get a picture of the nudis and mussels today. They've (nudis) been in the tank for at least 15-30 days. That's the amount of time that I last introduced anything in the tank that they could have hitched on. The mussels came in on the piece of rock that I've had for months. Amazing I missed it. I spent a good deal of time hand-picking some bubble algae off the rock. Never once saw it.

That's probably a zoanthid eating nudi. I would remove.

Hey there!

I thought of that possibility at first but they don't resemble any of the known zoanthid predators I've seen before. All the zoa eaters I've seen have surface effects and textures that mine lack. You've probably seen these before: http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384

The nudis in my tank resemble this one, only mine have a small elliptical pattern of black dots behind their antennae:

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=cadllaev

Not dismissing your concerns or anything. You may be right and they might indeed be a zoa eater that isn't well documented. I just hesitate to kill anything before I determine if it's friend or foe. I haven't noticed any decline in my stock so far. From my observations, this one nudi isn't too bright (or it's a thrill-seeker). It climbed towards one of my korialas, got sucked in, shot across the tank and landed safely on the other side of the tank. Didn't seem to injure it. It was pretty funny. But I'll keep an eye on things to see if any zoas start disappearing.

Yeah they are pretty cool looking. At first I thought I was just seeing things. I haven't read anywhere about this kind of hitchhiker before so it was unexpected. Doing a search I came across this article from NOAA and then got a little concerned.

http://www.noaa.gov/features/earthobs_0508/zebra.html

I just spotted another hitchiker...a white nudibranch. Really small, about 3/4" long. Wish it was a Berghia but it's completely smooth with a small sprinkle of black dots behind it's antennae. Seen anything like that before?