Turtle's Fairy Tale

NY_Caveman · Apr 9, 2019

Robin Haselden said:
nerites... Nope. They all sit at the top of the waterline in the corners of the tank. Big groups of 10+ sometimes in one spot. Never move, I can pull them off and dump them into the sand, and the next day they are back in their spot.

Nerites are obviously small and are good at getting into tight spots and eating detritus. They will also go after green film algae. My Nerites often bunch around the top of the glass as well. I always suspected they were going after the green film algae up there near the light before I could even see it.

SashimiTurtle · Apr 9, 2019

NY_Caveman said:
Nerites are obviously small and are good at getting into tight spots and eating detritus. They will also go after green film algae. My Nerites often bunch around the top of the glass as well. I always suspected they were going after the green film algae up there near the light before I could even see it.

You must have a different nerite than I do. Mine are in 1" shells. The ceriths do a much better job of tight spaces.

I have something in my tank demolishing snails. I think it's my emerald crab... there are lots of empties now. I had three of those crabs for some bubble algae I wanted to head off. It worked, but now I've only been able to spot one of the three, and it's gotten hungry. Lost all but one of my remaining astreas, the tiger conch, and loads of others.

SashimiTurtle · Apr 22, 2019

Looong time, no post. Turtle has been slacking. Sooo, I have a treat for y'all. Enjoy!

Fudsey · Apr 22, 2019

Good to see the golden out looking for food when you feed

SashimiTurtle · Apr 22, 2019

Fudsey said:
Good to see the golden out looking for food when you feed

Aku went a few nights without food last night shift rotation. My girlfriend said he ended up swimming after the sapphire damsel. Left the rock out in the open chasing the damsel. I taught her how to and how much to feed him the next day so she can handle things when I'm working night shift.

He eats that much every night. Absolutely the most voracious eel I've owned.

crusso1993 · Apr 22, 2019

Robin Haselden said:
Looong time, no post. Turtle has been slacking. Sooo, I have a treat for y'all. Enjoy!

Happy everything looks like it's eating well. 1/2 way through watching I stuck a chopstick in each eardrum to end the the torture my ears were experiencing!

SashimiTurtle · Apr 22, 2019

crusso1993 said:
Happy everything looks like it's eating well. 1/2 way through watching I stuck a chopstick in each eardrum to end the the torture my ears were experiencing!

Awe come on that was the happiest most up beat music I could find... any preferences for next time? Maybe some heavy metal?

crusso1993 · Apr 22, 2019

Robin Haselden said:
Awe come on that was the happiest most up beat music I could find... any preferences for next time? Maybe some heavy metal?

Really? "Happiest most upbeat music I could find?" Apparently, you should stick with rebuilding hubs and what not! Lol

SashimiTurtle · Apr 22, 2019

crusso1993 said:
Really? "Happiest most upbeat music I could find?" Apparently, you should stick with rebuilding hubs and what not! Lol

Well I can't exactly use every song out there because of copyright laws and what not. Lol, I'll stick to working on the truck and crappy upbeat canned YouTube music ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

crusso1993 · Apr 23, 2019

Robin Haselden said:
Awe come on that was the happiest most up beat music I could find... any preferences for next time? Maybe some heavy metal?

On a more serious note; I'm a little bit of a music dude. I started collecting, memorizing and cataloging music before I was 10. By the time I was 20 (1988) I had catalogued more music than anyone I had known. By 2005, I had started converting the 7,700+ cds/albums I had to pure digital. Took me almost 2 years but I finally got them all on hard disk. Then, wouldn't you know it, they came out with streaming music! Nevertheless, if you truly want musical input, I may be your man.

SashimiTurtle · Apr 23, 2019

crusso1993 said:
On a more serious note; I'm a little bit of a music dude. I started collecting, memorizing and cataloging music before I was 10. By the time I was 20 (1988) I had catalogued more music than anyone I had known. By 2005, I had started converting the 7,700+ cds/albums I had to pure digital. Took me almost 2 years but I finally got them all on hard disk. Then, wouldn't you know it, they came out with streaming music! Nevertheless, if you truly want musical input, I may be your man.

I will definitely consult with you on the next video.

dantimdad · Apr 23, 2019

Great video. @crusso1993 can sit on it! The music was fine. LOL!

Next time though try some Khalid.

HairyGary · Apr 23, 2019

Tank looks great! Guess I should update my thread soon. Been slacking in that regard! Keep it up!

SashimiTurtle · May 25, 2019

Long time, no update. Turtle, where oh where have you been!?

Sheesh, last update in April! It's almost June! What was I doing all May long? Well, mostly on autopilot. Work was, well crazy in May. I haven't added anything or changed anything up since the last update. I did do a water change somewhere in there. It needed it. I have another one coming up Sunday evening. The girlfriend and I will be doing both of our tanks.

Speaking of water changes, I've been thinking on why if I miss my water change at the 4 week mark, my tank starts to look like poop quickly. Only a two things came to mind. Nutrients, and pollutants. The first, I can rule out because algae growth is limited to select areas(I'll divulge in part deux) the rocks and sand are 99.9999% algae free. I feed heavy, my fish are fat, and my chaeto is thicc. I haven't tested, and I don't see a reason to.

The second issue is pollutants. I have a two fold theory on this. Part one is environmental. Cleaning products, scented candles. We(Turtle and the girlfriend) try to keep the house clean. At the same time, we also live in our house and we have 2 dogs. One of which is a chow mix and sheds fistfuls by the hour. I doubt it's the dogs, but rather keeping the house clean, and smelling NOT like a pound. We do not use aerosol cleaners, but instead use spray bottles and spray into a rag to avoid any airborne cleaning products. We do however enjoy the smell of a scented candle on occasion. I do not think this is the reason for a tank to look bad after sparing use and not in such short time.

My second theory, is my frag racks. You see I mentioned algae growth earlier when talking about nutrients. I have 3 places that 2 different types of algae grows. The first is green hair algae on the racks. Lots and lots of hair algae. So much, that Warrant, Def Leppard, Poison, Twisted Sister AND Motley Crue would be jealous.... it strikes me as odd, that hair algae would only grow there and not on the rocks or sand where one would think detritus would settle. The second type of algae and location is on my aging PP-8, around the where power cord enters the motor. This is the weak point on the pump. It's where dry meets wet. Electricals meet corsive salts. And it HAD a huge clump of bubble algae growing all around it. I removed the bubble algae but the pump needs to be addressed.

So before this gets too long...(too late for that) I tossed the frag racks. I know, I had frags on them. I didn't toss the frags. We upgraded. The LFS had a sale going and I couldn't walk out without a new rack. Not after deciding the old ones had to go. We got a 45 hole Zen Reef rack. Imagine a M1A1 Abrams tank, that holds corals. That is what this rack feels like.

Katrina71 · May 25, 2019

Gosh...whatever will you fill it with? Lol.

SashimiTurtle · May 25, 2019

Katrina71 said:
Gosh...whatever will you fill it with? Lol.

I can think of a few things.

It may have 45 holes but they are super tight and really close together. You can't use them all at the same time unless you have the narrow frag plugs and tiny coral.