JoJo's No Funny Business Office Tank Thread

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Super productive day at Anaheim Coral Farmer's Market! Nice haul, too, thanks to @TangerineSpeedo and another local reefer!

Here's the happy couple of tiny clams!

The german blue digitata looks awesome next to the other montis. Much better than the camera catches.

That's the small frag. This massive frag is mounted and on a sand frag rack. Still thinking of best placement.

Pink birdsnest has its own spot. @TangerineSpeedo does this piece do OK in medium light?

And my favorite so far (besides the clam, of course), the pink branching cyphastrea!!! This thing is stunning. Didn't get a great shot, but it looks awesome. I'll probably have to keep that area well-pruned, because the cloves are a bit out of control (but super fluffy and look good) and the green encrusting cyphastrea won't appreciate the other cyphastrea touching it.

Last but not least, the dragon lady bounce shroom! First bounce shroom. Hopefully a sunkist or neptune bounce next.

Fingers crossed they have a good Sunday. I'm always nervous coming into the office on Mondays!

I wish we had a stronger, more close knit reefing community here. We had two clubs about 15 years ago when I first got into the hobby. One of the clubs was created by disgruntled ex-leadership of the other club. Lots of petty fighting and crap talking between the two and it ultimately led to the downfall of both clubs. One still exists, but there is very little activity on their online forum anymore, and I don't have social media, so I can't follow them on their FB group (So it may be more active, and I am just missing out). Have a co-worker that had a tank (an IM40L, ironically enough) about 2 years ago, and shut it down for a move. I have been showing him all my build progress and dragging him to local shops on our lunch breaks...lol he says he will be setting up another tank as soon as he buys a house and gets moved in as he doesn't want to have to move a tank, but we'll see. This hobby is just more fun when you can share it, and your spoils with one another.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

This post right here says it all. Tailspot is picking at the clams. Now I have to think of what to do fast.

Healthy clam?

Yeah, I would only order a clam from someone I trusted or had a really good track record of providing healthy clams. Also, John has given some weird advice about clams that seems contradictory sometimes, but you can easily spot the healthy clams when he’s at shows. I have two croceas that I...

www.reef2reef.com

Have a fish trap? Do you follow Inappropriatereefer on YT? He also had issues with a Blenny going rogue and start picking at his clam. He trapped it and either rehomed it or banished it to his sump.

Found the video...

 

[JoJosReef]

The blenny may be picking at algae or other crud. I've been keeping an eye on him and he's not going crazy targeting the clam. He's been picking on most surfaces here and there all day. Maybe overreaction--still working on a clam shield now.

 

[JoJosReef]

Have a fish trap? Do you follow Inappropriatereefer on YT? He also had issues with a Blenny going rogue and start picking at his clam. He trapped it and either rehomed it or banished it to his sump.

Found the video...

I can probably get him out by shooing him into the enormous acclimation box like I did with the clowns. He's got seniority though, so not sure I can evict him!

 

[dansyr]

how much does the blenny roam? might be able to move clams from territory if that's it. I think that maxima (?) might like rocks eventually and the hippo can be in a condiment cup of sand pretty easily given how tiny they are.

 

[JoJosReef]

Before and after series: JoJo's engineering skills

Before: rigging up the Kessil + mis-sized reflector
Materials: Kessil a160we, Kessil 35 degree reflector, black and white vinyl tape

Let's make this more functional.

Materials: mini screwdriver set, silicone

1. Pop off the reflector

2. Pop off the glass lens of the a160we

3. Silicone edge of reflector and stick to internal reflector of a160we, flush; let it sit overnight

After:

Taking PAR measurements at 11:40am Peak of schedule! These clams better live!

 

[Reefer Reboot]

...and the PAR is....

?

 

[JoJosReef]

...and the PAR is....

?

A lot higher than expected. The Kessil is on the lowest power setting and PAR was over 500 on the sand where the clams were. Moving the reflector another half inch closer to the LEDs and catching all the light raised PAR by about 100. Had to redirect the beam and raise it a bit to not fry everything. Fingers crossed it works. The crocea doesn't seem to mind in the least. Hippo, not so sure.

 

[Stang67]

A lot higher than expected. The Kessil is on the lowest power setting and PAR was over 500 on the sand where the clams were. Moving the reflector another half inch closer to the LEDs and catching all the light raised PAR by about 100. Had to redirect the beam and raise it a bit to not fry everything. Fingers crossed it works. The crocea doesn't seem to mind in the least. Hippo, not so sure.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

A lot higher than expected. The Kessil is on the lowest power setting and PAR was over 500 on the sand where the clams were. Moving the reflector another half inch closer to the LEDs and catching all the light raised PAR by about 100. Had to redirect the beam and raise it a bit to not fry everything. Fingers crossed it works. The crocea doesn't seem to mind in the least. Hippo, not so sure.

How are things looking today? Have you caught the blenny?

 

[JoJosReef]

How are things looking today? Have you caught the blenny?

I have not caught the blenny yet but will get started trying to catch it. Mostly to check its eye for potential flukes, than to remove. I haven't seen him milling around the clam lately, but who knows?

 

[JoJosReef]

FTS:

Need to work on the glass and, as always, rearranging the sand bed. That black widow keeps not splitting and it is enormous. Way too big!

Set the hippo clam up on its butt. It kept falling over when I tried to "cradle" it, and looks like most people have theirs sitting in this way:

Not looking so good.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

FTS:

Need to work on the glass and, as always, rearranging the sand bed. That black widow keeps not splitting and it is enormous. Way too big!

Set the hippo clam up on its butt. It kept falling over when I tried to "cradle" it, and looks like most people have theirs sitting in this way:

Not looking so good.

The crocea is looking fantastic though! Hopefully it will settle in and turn around.

 

[JoJosReef]

The crocea is looking fantastic though! Hopefully it will settle in and turn around.

It put byssal threads down in its current position, so I'm just leaving it for now.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

It put byssal threads down in its current position, so I'm just leaving it for now.

That's excellent news!

 

[JoJosReef]

Real kick in the jubblies when your best is just not enough. Looks like my hippopus clam is not long for this world :-(

I'll need to work something out to make the tank more hospitable for clams, as I really love Tridacnas and would also love a healthy Hippopus.

I'm also in the process of losing an RFA, but that one developed a prolapsed rectum months and months ago and never managed to tuck it back in.

Otherwise everything else looks healthy and well. Knock on head.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Real kick in the jubblies when your best is just not enough. Looks like my hippopus clam is not long for this world :-(

I'll need to work something out to make the tank more hospitable for clams, as I really love Tridacnas and would also love a healthy Hippopus.

I'm also in the process of losing an RFA, but that one developed a prolapsed rectum months and months ago and never managed to tuck it back in.

Otherwise everything else looks healthy and well. Knock on head.

Hmm...I'm a clam newbie...what do you think went wrong. That's really too bad...

 

[JoJosReef]

Hmm...I'm a clam newbie...what do you think went wrong. That's really too bad...

It wasn't in the best shape when I got it, and I may have made a couple of mistakes along the way.

I was pretty quick at getting adequate lighting on it, so I don't think lighting was an issue unless I needed to give it less or acclimate it.

Nutrients maybe? The tank runs super low nitrates, but I run under the assumption that the nitrates are just consumed continuously since I feed heavy and have lots of fish. PO4 sits nicely around 0.06ppm

Possibly overhandling. It kept getting knocked on its side, I think by an overzealous cerith, and I had to keep repositioning it every day.

On that point, it never established itself anywhere with byssal threads, which also was not a good sign.

Wish I knew what the problem was or if it was just a goner from day 1.

 

[CBonito]

It wasn't in the best shape when I got it, and I may have made a couple of mistakes along the way.

I was pretty quick at getting adequate lighting on it, so I don't think lighting was an issue unless I needed to give it less or acclimate it.

Nutrients maybe? The tank runs super low nitrates, but I run under the assumption that the nitrates are just consumed continuously since I feed heavy and have lots of fish. PO4 sits nicely around 0.06ppm

Possibly overhandling. It kept getting knocked on its side, I think by an overzealous cerith, and I had to keep repositioning it every day.

On that point, it never established itself anywhere with byssal threads, which also was not a good sign.

Wish I knew what the problem was or if it was just a goner from day 1.

One of the things I've learned with clams is unless they look amazing, I resist the urge to buy them.
Usually if they are already on a downtrend, putting them into yet another system does them in.

Sorry about the loss. The other one looks pretty nice! They are calcium hogs, but they clean up the water nicely if you have a group of them. They seem to do better in groups too.

 

[JoJosReef]

Clam died today, so that's sad. On the brighter side, the Euphyllia are doing better with more feedings and some movement into slightly lower PAR spots!

Planning on getting that glass cleaned up real soon!