Laura Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Collin...the rock looks great!! They palys will color up nicely...they are actually a deep teal color,,,just give it time...and thanks for meeting me yesterday...our timing was just a little off!! I am SO proud of you and successfully raising these fry!! You and Brooks will be retiring before I do...remember ole Mama when you are both wealthy from the seahorse rearing industry... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Laura: thank you!! also - i have gotten my toadstool. it is rediculously awesome, ill post pics when its happy. also picked up a giant green mushroom as big as a persons face gotta love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Yay!! Where did you get your Toadstool? Is it green or tan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 toadstool is tan with long dark brown "hair" on the cap, its quite the sight. but its still mad and wont open. also it doesnt help i only have 2/4 bulbs on my fixture running due to my ballast breaking last week so 48watts at 18" instead of 96. thinking of buying a new fixture tomorrow afternoon, suggestions???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 toadstool is tan with long dark brown "hair" on the cap, its quite the sight. but its still mad and wont open. also it doesnt help i only have 2/4 bulbs on my fixture running due to my ballast breaking last week so 48watts at 18" instead of 96. thinking of buying a new fixture tomorrow afternoon, suggestions???? Go for the LED's like I have! PAR38 all the way! Good for your corals, too! By the way, everything looks great!!!! How are the babies doing, Collin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 OK heres the pic i promised! ok brooks ::::: WHERE DO I GET THE FIXTURE! do i go with 12k bulbs? whats the price? i will eventually be upgrading one day. probably a 55g tall ONE day. and when im all growed upp who knows haha! ALSO!!!! ----- i had TWO crabs get thrown into my brothers reef for BITING MY "ALPHA" MALE! WHAT THE HECK!?!?!?!? advice? should i switch to all snails? what are some GREAT and i mean GREATTTT detrituvores (poop and leftover eats). i think a cucumber would be "overkill"? unsafe? idk. BROOKS & others - the fry are GREAT. had some chomp down on some very finely cut mysis. didnt even look like mysis,,,,just a juicey eyeball substance really. they devoured it. i think im doing great and i have NO clue what im doing. honestly i think rearing seahorses is OVER complicated to be completely honest, ive changed the water TWICE! i just keep the bottom clean, by using an airline to siphon that way i dont have to do big water changes. even with the no water change policy i seem to be doing, i am running 0 ammo 0 nitrate 0 nitrite. one thing i AM doing is running a low salinity....mine is around 1.018ish. i have noticed by doing this nothing...but i havent lost any so it must be good. the temp is room tempature + a big home depot light right over the tank. i am still feeding enriched bbs mostly to just get rid of the things, i hatched WAY to many when i had my no food crisis. the fry will literally chase them down and gulp them. there is constantly an "orange" spot on their stomach, which i like because it means theyre 1) alive and 2) eating! i am finding ZERO leftover cyclopeeze on the bottom of the tank, and i feed them a decent sized ammount. my luck COULD be from losing SOOOO many in the filters, mouths of my other critters, and mostly just around the DT....but they are doing fantastic. the growth is rediculous, it seems every day they look different. i have about 9 that are growing Cirri....not sure if thats possible but i swear they are. they are already developing personalities....some are voracious eaters that swim at the top ALL day to eat, others like to hitch and hunt, and i have others that will literally chase things around for no reason (even bubbles). i have none that are "sliders" and none that are "floaters" so it seems the natural selection worked...even though i'd rather have 500 but i have counted 17 at one time....there HAS to be around 30, because i can see them in the plants its just very hard to count. so far ZERO deaths! THIS WAS WAY TO LONG! APPOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE! thanks to all the people that have helped me so far!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 New lights!!! Pics to come. lOVE it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 New lights!!! Pics to come. lOVE it WOOOOOO! Was just about to respond to your pm. What'd you get??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 brooks just look then i'll tell !! ....yes i did rig it with duct tape into the spot where my lightbulbs from my broken ballast are for now. my two males! the lights are the panoramic strip 8k & 432nm blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 the plan is to replace the ballast and get another panoramic, build a suitable canopy and display with all actinic and purple/pink bulbs in T5 with those + stunners. we'll see how long it takes. right now combo is 2 actinics with the LED's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 the plan is to replace the ballast and get another panoramic, build a suitable canopy and display with all actinic and purple/pink bulbs in T5 with those + stunners. we'll see how long it takes. right now combo is 2 actinics with the LED's Wow! That looks great! And your plan sounds great, too! Nice job on the lights, Collin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Those are the stunner LED strips, right? I have 4 of them over my 75g as dawn/dusk lights and I love them. I was thinking they would be a good thing for seahorse tanks, and you are proving it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Brooks : thanks, they are doing great. i actually turned the t5's off this morning and i am loving the shimmer. the 25g nano display at aquatek is made of these btw. James : no. the stunners strips are for shimmer, and although they CAN help with supplemental growth/shimmer/extra lighting they won't do to "light" the tank. This is the "Panoramic Strip". it's i think 12w...stunners are 6 per. also since i rigged it into my t5 system with duct tape, the reflectors are working for it as well. so far it looks fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Gotcha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Everythings great today. Still none dead. Trying to get some H2O mini mysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 The Fry are going under some neat developement. The adults don't seem to be pregnant at the moment, which doesn't concern me at all. but i am not sure if i like the setup of my fry tank. may have to figure out some ways to adjust... meh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 been a couple days so here it goes... added two of these bad boys to help with the sand the fry...well i had my first deaths, leaving me with around 10-15 fry. the reason i lost them is i am having a VERY hard time with the bottom of the fry tanks, sucking stuff off with an air line tube is NOT getting it done. if ANYONE has any recommendations about a suction brush or something please let me know, because the water quality is what killed some of my fry. granted i only had around 19-30 of them to start with, i dont like losing things. on the bright side, both of my males are BULGING again. got to see the act done, it was really cool. i have a 15g eclipse that i will move the fry i have now to, when the next batch comes. i just need to look for a closed system sponge filter to implement...not sure how do DIY on that. other than the deaths, everything is great. my Panoramic Strip somehow came off the place it was LATCHED onto, and fell into my DT but nothing was harmed but the light, which is a bummer. theres the recent news! let me know your thoughts, please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 they fight over each other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 NEW FRY TANK SET UP! PICS TO COME!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Pretty sure I saw your brother at RCA today! :S Can't wait to see pictures of the new set up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 you did, i got there RIGHT after him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 here's the new setup! i am thoroughly cleaning the 20g tall, so for now this is my "grown up baby" tank. there are only a few left...i lost 6 today. not sure what's doing it. anyways here it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Looks good. I think they will be good in there for a while. Since there is no filtration you're going to have to really keep up with WC's until you get the 20 set up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cMidd Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 i put the Emporer 400 on the DT tank....the two Quietflows i have will be used for other things...the smaller 15g one i will put panty hose on and use it for the pico over grown tank until i can get a closed circuit filter built and drilled in, and the 30g one will obviously go on the 20g tall when its back up. i noticed immediately once i got them into the Pico that they fed MUCH easier, i think the water quality was compromised in the 20g....the filter sponge was REDICULOUSLY disgusting. cleaned it in the 20g after i took the babies out... Lesson Learned :: CLEAN your tank! Even if things APPEAR fine for the first week or two, they will PROGRESSIVELY DETERIORATE. if you are going to try and raise these successfully, like Brooks and myself and Laura before us, PLEASE don't procrastinate like me and CLEAN!!!! make sure to siphon the bottom ATLEAST twice a day! i had only done TWO water changes on the 20g in three weeks. that is why i lost fry, even though the Ammonia levels measured low....my nitrates which i wasnt consistently testing were sky high. so please just do the daily cleaning like everyone says. also, try not to overfeed....its hard to tell, but two mini shot cups of bbs + cyclo is TO MUCH. sorry that was a lot, let me know what you think!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 i put the Emporer 400 on the DT tank....the two Quietflows i have will be used for other things...the smaller 15g one i will put panty hose on and use it for the pico over grown tank until i can get a closed circuit filter built and drilled in, and the 30g one will obviously go on the 20g tall when its back up. i noticed immediately once i got them into the Pico that they fed MUCH easier, i think the water quality was compromised in the 20g....the filter sponge was REDICULOUSLY disgusting. cleaned it in the 20g after i took the babies out... Lesson Learned :: CLEAN your tank! Even if things APPEAR fine for the first week or two, they will PROGRESSIVELY DETERIORATE. if you are going to try and raise these successfully, like Brooks and myself and Laura before us, PLEASE don't procrastinate like me and CLEAN!!!! make sure to siphon the bottom ATLEAST twice a day! i had only done TWO water changes on the 20g in three weeks. that is why i lost fry, even though the Ammonia levels measured low....my nitrates which i wasnt consistently testing were sky high. so please just do the daily cleaning like everyone says. also, try not to overfeed....its hard to tell, but two mini shot cups of bbs + cyclo is TO MUCH. sorry that was a lot, let me know what you think!!! One giant +1!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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