I've thought of more flow but I don't think that little tank can handle it. And if I did put more flow in all the corals would grow in one direction haahaa!

I've been thinking of some kind of splash guard so I could run air in the tank to keep it oxygenated but to keep the bubble "pop" splashing down. That would also break any surface film I had. It could just turn my tank into a protein skimmer haahaa. Mind if I swing by your shop and grab a small piece of acrylic to try a splash guard?

Maybe it would be as simple as a small lid that could cover the back section?

Darn it, Colby said you had it haahaa.

He mentioned his B'Day was coming up. He said he may have been doing something with Kim. Can you find out and I'm in for going out tonight.

Give me a shout on my cell when you figure something out!

Cheers,

Scott

You can swing by but it's a mess again, all these little glass tanks and broken glass :neutral:

I think introducing any air bubbles in a small tank would be a mistake but no harm in trying.

I just dropped of the trap the other night so Colby didn't know, but it's there. He said he'd call me if he goes out so I'll let you know.

Ok I fixed the surface aggitation issue with a small Fluval 1 plus submersible pump positioned near the surface of the water.

Used Hagen Fluval 1 Plus submersible filter $23.95 x 0.75 = $17.96

I have a problem though. I got called out to work today (a 6 hour drive) and I will be away for ~3-4 weeks. It totally sliped my mind to take a picture of the tank as I was packing up & getting ready to go. Either I will need someone to go by my place and take a picture of the tank or I can get an exemption on photos until I get home.

Can I get a ruling from the judges please?

Thanks,

Scott

Pretty sure this little guy will make this tank his home. And we will find it a couple of playmates, they act totally different when they are in groups!

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...arlequin-2.jpg

I can take it, it will give me a chance for some good old fashioned sabotage :twised:

:wink:

Thanks Steve, Wendy will be home tonight and tomorrow I think if you could swing by and just take a quick shot.

Just no chlorine pucks lol! Sabatoge me with beauty SPS corals or something equally as frustrating haahaa.

Thanks. :)

Oh I'll think of something, maybe I'll put a regal tang in there before I take the picture and see if anyone says something :razz:

Haahaa no one will notice... maybe that will count as a freebie! I don't think the emperor angel Colby has would be able to turn around in the 10g haahaa.

Thank you once again Steve. I have a chalice or two you can choose dibs on first frag when they grow up!

i miss my harlequin shrimp, i had my gf take care of them till i gota tank set up for them but she liked them so much they are no longer mine haha. awesome shrimp cool with the pair to see them hunt together if you can call it that and you can tell the female wears the pants haha

Go
 

How hard is it to take care of a harlequin shrimp? Does it feed on anything other than starfish? In order to have one/two, would I need some sort of tank where I breed starfish ( they are kind of expensive to keep buying as food ).
________
ios games

Harlequin shrimp are very easy to take care of. Clean water, a good overhang and/or cave for them to hide in when neccesary, and a steady supply of starfish. I have never seen any I've owned eat anything other than starfish. I've fed linkia, chocolate chips and astrea. I've heard if you get a large population of astrea's (little ones in sumps and on the glass of many established tanks) they can survive on just those. I've fed my old pair a 6" linkia and they would have found it, flipped it, and started eating it within 5 minutes. I used to feed every two weeks when I first had them but I think that was too far apart. I had them for almost 2 years before they died (within a week of each other) but I was fairly new at the game back then and didn't look to see if there was a cause other than maybe starvation. I've felt bad about that ever since.

For the new batch I have 5 chocolate chips in my mantis tank and we cut off a leg every week to feed the shrimp. So in theory one starfish can last a little over a month, but we are trying to give the starfish enough time to regrow their limbs before the next limb harvest. I don't know if that is enough so we may supplement the Harlequin with a full starfish once a month. They can finish off a leg in a matter of a day. Right now mine is in the frag tank and I am concerned my nutrients are getting too high (new algae growth) so I'm looking forward to getting him into the 10gal. But we do have a BK mini 180 coming for the frag tank to help control the nutrients as well as large water changes for now.

Watching a group of the Harlequin shrimps march along through the tank hunting is hilarious. Their cryptic movements and camoflauge make them a beautiful addition to any tank that you don't mind them killing every single starfish in. I tried adding many at once hoping that the shrimp would only take one at a time..... nope, they piled them up and started eating them all.

They can breed in reef aquaria, though it can be very difficult to rear the young through metamorphosis and get them to a juvenile size. just having a successful mating pair is a sign that your providing a stable environment for the critters.

I hope that answered the question!

P.S. thank you Colby for the constant food supply!

Here is my first pair in a 5gal with a single NO T5, and an aquaclear mini filter... that's it. I had them for over two years.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...s/IMG_0085.jpg

im going to be setting up a 5.5gallon in the future and i would really like to have one or two of these.i am going to do the false wall, so instead of 16 inches of length i'll have12. would this be ok for a harlequin, and also is there any advantage to having a pair other than mating

They can get a good inch long so you won't want to crowd them. A 5g would be tight but as long as you keep the water quality up you should be fine. Water quality will be an issue since you're throwing in starfish which are being consumed... pretty messy process.

But then again who am I? I'm not claiming to be any sort of expert and I'm sure there are people out there that could give you much more reliable info than I can.

the 2 i have are in a 10 gallon with a fale wall works out to about 8 gallons of water space and they are with a sexy shrimp a cleaner shrimp and a pepermint shrimp the olny realy major movement they do is for hunting. they polish of sandsifters like there is no tomorow. the olny real space you need in a tank for them is enough floor space to lay a satrfish on dont worry about room for it to move around they dont last that long the harlequins are preety efficent hunters. well my female is haha the male just hopes she lets him have a bite

okay, kool. i think i will just get 1 then if i get them.
and i do have another tank with a sump so cutting of a leg weekly shouldnt be too hard if i get maybe 3 chocolate chips

Contest Reminder:

**Updated FTS and Budget Required today (Nov 15/08) to remain in the contest**

FTS Update
 

Thanks Buddy!

Looks like I have a small cyano outbreak I need to deal with! I'm not going to get livestock in it until I get home from work and that may be well into December... damn.

Did you notice my false wall moved back some. I don't know why it let go but it shifted back some. Doesn't really matter though, it 's still doing its job.

I can't wait to get some life into there!

Very nice looking setup.

Dude you should add you Nov 15th shot to your first post

mmm nope, I'm lazy.

ahaha I think stubborn would be a far better word selection than lazy... just saying it's not that easy to find when your looking for it.. I know :)

This just makes you appreciate the entire thread, since you have to read the whole thing to see the progress LOL.

Just kidding... kinda. Once I get home from work and add the livestock I will take my Dec 15th shot and then I will clean the thread up and have everything relevant to the competition on the front page.

Im just hoping to be home before the dec 15th deadline. I'm supposed to be coming home of the 14th eeep.

Ok Wes, you made me feel bad, so I fixed it up a little for you.

ahaha thanks Scott... I'm just hoping to get everyone in the habit so when I make the poll next month month I can just grab them all from the first post

December 15th Update
 

Tank parameters tested well tonight. I did a 40% water change and should be throwing some livestock in tonight. But I thought I'd get the pictures up and post the gooders later once I'm satisfied with the tank.

I am pretty satisfied with the rockwork though.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0072edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0076edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0077edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0082edit.jpg

Any suggestions on changes for the better?

Cheers,

Scott & Wendy!

Looking good folks, my recommendation is some photoshop skills :mrgreen:

Bring out the true colors and get rid of those lines, now you're in space!

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...C_0072edit.jpg

Sorry Steve, but I am not a big fan of the high contrast look of your rendering. I seen a pretty off looking picture for your Dec. 15th update shot. Come on Steve... just get more colourful corals, that way you won't have to artificially enhance them lol!

I'll go adjust my WB and and take some new ones just for you!

All I did was adjust your white balance by selecting both a neutral and black control point, no enhancements. In my mind if it's still really blue the white balance is off.

What you call artificially enhance, I call digital photography, the colors pretty accurate in my pics, a little brighter but I like it. Am I detecting a little jealously there buddy? :razz:

Heehee, I am jealous of the D300!

Like they say Film photography is science, digital photography is art!

My WB was still set for the basement tank, I didn't change it before shooting the nano.

Of course I am jealous! Look at your brain sized brain lol!

Cheers buddy!

You gotta start shooting in RAW and get yourself some Capture NX2 software, camera WB is a thing of the past, get with the times geez :lol:

Even my D300 is old technology now with the D90 and D700, I haven't even had it for a year yet.

On a side note does your D200 have the sensor for the wireless remote? I just found out mine doesn't have it so the remote is useless to me, I must of spent a good 3 hours trying to get it to work :lol:
Anyway you can have it if you want.

I have the D80 but for me it's more of a glorified point & shoot:redface:. I need someone to come teach me how to utilize it properly.

When I shoot weddings I shoot RAW and work it in CS3. The NX2 is good as well. When I bought my D200 the D300 came out two weeks later.... bastards!

I use a tethered Nikon MC-36 remote. It works well. Maybe Colby's camera can use it?

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0108edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0093edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0119edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0113edit.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k9...C_0124edit.jpg

Will it work with my new camera??

Looking good Scott! But you better be careful.... if you put much more coral in there you'll hardly have any water volume left ;)

I've been going slowly; I don't want to lose coral just to have the tank look full. I will be adding some more stuff once I see how this stuff does for a month. I won't win the competition since my tank won't look filled out.

I still have my harlequin shrimp which I am waiting for a mate for it before I add it to the tank. I will still add more zoos and maybe some more chalices and something wavy. I'm just nervous to lose nice corals senselessly.

As far as I know my D200 will use the Nikon ML-3 wireless controller. But I prefer the wired MC-36 with all its bells and whistles.

Yes but I already gave it away.

Looking good Scott! Slow and steady wins the race :wink:

I'll have to get Wendy to take some shots of the tank. I'm stuck out at work. Nothing much has changed. I added my Harlequin which I'll put on the updated budget once I get the picture up. Oh, and there is no way in hell I am counting the starfish in my budget haahaa (food item). There are plenty more corals I want to add, I just want to take my time. It will probably lose me the competition but that's ok.