30G Bow Tank.....Leaping into the darkside

I love to octopus skimmers, the ASM skimmers are a little less quality vbuilt but work well

Got up this morning and of course checked the tanks, looked at the Dark One, "What the H*** is that!"

On the front glass near the top was a pale white thing, which I realised was the underside of something. Open the lid, it's a tiny baby Sea Hare by the look of it.
Mrs Y tells me its spent the day trucking around the glass all day, and is now squatting in the top corner.


Looks like a minute one of these, it's about the size of my little finger nail when squatting.

So, erm Jason, sorry if you realised you are missing a sea hare baby, if you want it back, say so. Otherwise Mrs Y is the proud owner of the first real live tank occupant.

Either way, the question is with the tank being so new, is it fair to leave it in there.
My ammonia test is useless and I need to get a new one, I tested last night and I had a pale green gunk, not liquid, so I guess it's out of date.
I did a paper strip test, which doesn't show ammonia, but said Nitrites are zero, and Nitrates about 20ppm. Which seems strange on a tank that's only 5-6 days old. I could see Nitrites high, maybe, but not zero Nitrite and 20ppm Nitrate.

I'll have to get a test kit tomorrow before I go into work.

Also, should I think about seeding the tank, and should I put some dried sea weed in there for the critter to munch on, or is the rock algae sufficient?

Yeti
Leave it in there, I don't think its gonna be a baby sea hare probably some type Nudibranch, we need a picture. You are probably not going to run much of a cycle useing cured liverock and dry sand. It has been living on the liverock up till now so that is probably enough for it, besides it may be something you don't want, I believe the saying if you didn't put it in there it probably shouldn't be in there.

Donnie this is what it looks like, just very very small.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f262/hairy-sea-hares-are-back-hair-algae-eaters-112477.html

DonnieP wrote:Yeti
Leave it in there, I don't think its gonna be a baby sea hare probably some type Nudibranch, we need a picture. You are probably not going to run much of a cycle useing cured liverock and dry sand. It has been living on the liverock up till now so that is probably enough for it, besides it may be something you don't want, I believe the saying if you didn't put it in there it probably shouldn't be in there.

Solid advice right there. Get a pic of it if you can. You don't have any corals yet so if it's a nudi then it will hopefully starve and die before you start collecting corals. There are a couple of nasty nudis that eat Montiporas and Zoanthids. Again a pic of it is a very good idea if you can get one.

Does it look like this?

http://reeffarmers.com/tracygraynudi01.htm

Sea hares go real fast if there is no algae to eat so if that's what it is then it probably won't make it either.

or this,

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS347US347&gcx=w&q=zoanthid+eating+nudibranchs&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=685

Does it look like this?


or one of these?

Not sure about the first one... but the others would cause problems in a reef tank. Especially the last one.

Again, solid advice. If you find the black lab in your tank then I will come remove it for you. If you find the meth lab then that is your problem.

[url=]yeti/TankEnt.jpg[/url]

This is the Tank Ent side view



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Tank Ent Mouth, belly and antennae

I don't think it's a Chocolate Meth Lab, but I bet that would sell!

Oh, and it's been eating some Nori Seaweed I have for the Mbuna's.

Stomatella snail is my guess. Harmless algae grazer.

Good call Ritter, looked it up on google, and it's looking very much like that. I was just watching it eat the Nori, and it has the lateral breathing tube, and what looks like a back plate shell.
Thanks everyone for their input.....especially Jason's, I was looking at the possibility of adding a Chocolate Lab to the tank to add water movement.

Good call on the nori. :-) I'm in the 1 snail per 2 gallons of water club. When the tank matures a bit and starts to get some algae growth, I'd go with a few turbos and nerites. I'm a nerite fan for some reason. They keep my glass pretty well spotless! They do seem dang near useless for my rock though... maybe someone has a suggestion for a rock snail.

ritter678 wrote:Stomatella snail is my guess. Harmless algae grazer.

+1 ^^^^

ritter678 wrote:Stomatella snail is my guess. Harmless algae grazer.

+1 dead on.

I'd get the smallest Mexican turbos

+1 on the Mexican turbos, best snail available!

As I lie back on the psychologist's couch....

Zo Herr Yeti, how iz it goink thiz veek?

Well Herr Doctor, life is calmer, and yet more stressful.

Und how iz that zo Herr yeti, iz thiz vork zat iz givink you der stress?

No Herr Doctor, it's my latest project tank, I'm establishing a Reef Tank.

Und vy iz zis creatink the stress, und yet you zay you are calmer, thiz iz un interestink dichotomy of feelinks.

Well Herr Doctor, the problem is that in creating the reef I am trying to copy nature, but in only 30 gallons of water, plus sump of course, to do this requires that I initially try and create a mini ocean, then I have to add life to the ocean, stage by stage, in the correct order.

Ack ja, I understand, you can not be havink zer blue vale, vithout zer krill.

Erm yes Herr Doctor, but lets say I'm going just a little smaller than that.

Zer Dolphinks perhaps, oder perhaps zer barracudas?

Nein Herr Doctor, much smaller.

Ack, you English just never could see der Global Plan!

Ahem Herr Doctor.

Ack I am zorry Herr Yeti, so as you ver sayink.

Yes Herr Doctor, I am spending time sitting and looking at rocks in water, I get excited when I spy yet another Bristle Worm, that's 3 so far. I post on a forum when I see a new unknown critter, where similar affected persons respond swiftly, Frau Yeti will sit on the floor with me and spy copepods, that's little water flea like critters, shining a tiny LED flashlight into crevices within the rock and with glee show each other what we have found.
In my free time I am researching water flow, skimmers, powerheads, sump designs, and where to source a clean up crew, and then I can't decide which I should get... the stress is dreadful.

But you zay you have also the peace finded? How kann this zo be?

Well Herr Doctor, watching these small critters also induces calm, watching a Bristle Worm slowly trundle across a rock, scavenging for food, the Ent Snail trucking across the glass as it scents the Nori Seaweed, small feather like anenomes appearing from thin tiny white calcified tubes, spreading their super fine fingers to catch anything edible that passes, well Herr Doctor, it's so relaxing.

ACK! Your problem is an easy one to diagnose, you have zer Reefers syndrome from which zer is know known cure, infact it can only get vorse, it vill start viz der 30 gallon und lesser signs, und it often vill become der full syndrome... hundreds of gallons of zer Reef.
Herr Yeti, Gut Afternoon, and be gone from here, you are beyond saving und redemption, you vill not darken my door again, you have been contaminated wiz der disease for vich zer no cure.
You vill not play zer golf, because you vill not vant to spend the 4 hours hitting a white ball around zer field ven you could be doink zer vasser change.
Ze idea of spendink der dollars on beer un der partyink vill be reprehensible, as you vill see dat as a vaste, ven you could be spendink ze dollars on ze Chroma Clam or ze Feather Duster.
Your Tennis shoes will do for another 6 months, ven you zee the sexy Gorilla Nipples available.
Yu vill not realise der time has passed as you vatch a hermit crab vork the sand und gravel looking for ze food.

No Herr Yeti, I think you have bekome der lost cause.

.....OH!... OK Herr Doctor..... well in that case I guess I won't have to pay you, and well after all, you will understand, it's you or this really sexy pair of Black Clown fish. Ich bedanken Sie, und Ich bin off to the fish store.

Guys I fought it, Oh how I fought it, I knew that it was an addiction. As I sit here watching my Peacock Cichlids mature, showing their Electric blues, and on the other side my salt water tank with the purple coraline almost glow. Forget Crack Heroine I have Cichlid Reef syndrome, far more addictive...and it's legal! But now I fully understand it. I've also become a Reefer.

Did you write zoolander?

Just curious...

Lol. Hilarious post, and yet filled with truth!

Don't feel bad , Yeti. I've stared for hours at a new tank with only water in it. Those air bubbles are mesmerizing.

OK, internet satalite was kaputt today... I had a call from Wild Blue satalite Internet service (Yeah life in the sticks) recorded message saying that "the satalite was having problems and they hoped to have it fixed by Friday morning"..

I'm sorry but somehow my mind then saw this happening

"Hey Bob, yo copy? It's brad here in Ops, we got a problem with the southern US satalite."

"Yeah Brad I copy"

"Yeah Bob what's your 20?"

"Yeah Brad I just left SpaceLab PetBoys, had my flux reactor serviced and I'm just over New Zealand, catching the Rugby World Cup."

"Well Bob, we need you to get to the satalite covering Texas for Wild Blue Internet, how long?"

"Oh no problem Brad, subject to space debris, about 3 hours, but I gotta tell ya, I'm out of those little 50 cent blue fuses"

"Oh %#@*, I bet that's all it is"

OK on a more SW note.
I added my two Koralia 550 powerheads at lunchtime, and darn it, I now have brown algae blooming over 50% of the upper facing rock.... guess that's the cycle underway.

Also the Asterina starfish have split, one s still looking complete, but the other has now split into 3 parts.
The Bristle worms and Pods are multiplying like mad, I guess when the first fish are introduced they will have a great time.
Also saw for the first time what looks to be a tiny brittle starfish, maybe at the most diameter of a penny, black and brown bands down the legs.
And finally, another snail, not the "Tank Ent" but a normal looking snail, tiny, but trucking across the back glass of the tank.

Sorry if I'm boring you guys, but darn it, we find it so interesting.
I wonder when we can add the first crabs and shrimp! I'll test Nitrite and Nitrate on Saturday, and if it's zero and extremely low (Nitarte 0.5 and under), then is it time to add snails and other clean up crew?

Thanks Siber, I did a liquid test when I got home, and I'm reading between 5 and 0 ppm of Nitrate, so no fish for a while, and not even sure about adding snails or crabs yet.
I'm hoping to get more live rock soon, so hopefully that will help the process.