64g Tokyo tank

[Anonymous]

The way I was picturing it was with corals on the left that would be tall enough to nearly reach the water line (e.g., colts or finger leathers, gorgonians, toadstools,that sort of thing) and topping the right side with short-growing stuff like the blastos and acans etc. But from the species list it you gave it doesn't look like you're planning on keeping anything that grows very tall, which trumps what I was picturing.

Hmm, you've got me thinking now. That sounds like a pretty effective balance (and you're reminding me of your Amano-esque knack for scaping). I hadn't thought of putting some soft corals there, but there would be a few that might work pretty well (though I absolutely detest toadstools, so it won't be one them - I know it's a bit odd, but for some reason I've never liked them). I had a sinularia that came as a freebie with my last tank and it had a lovely metallic green glow to it that made it interesting. If I found a softie that were similarly colorful, I might give it a go. I'd never really considered Gorgonians but maybe, just maybe they might be an option. Whichever way, thanks, as you've given me another option to consider as this develops (I doubt this is the final 'scape).

On a lot of things the prices aren't too bad; redspot cardinals for around 1700 yen is pretty comparable to what they go for in most places here, for example. But one species that caught my eye, the goby that looks like a dart fish whose name I can't recall offhand, they have for 35,000 yen. On the rare occasions when those are actually available here I've seen them go for around 3 for $120.

My impression is that most places here almost always sell the same range of species and it's very hard to get hold of species rarely available locally. For example, it's very easy to buy all sorts of Anthias, but you see far fewer cardinal fish. Flasher wrasses are notable by their absence. There's just not the broad selection there is in the US. However, certain species that are recognised "collectors' items" will do sell for enormous sums of money, as that mentality is strong here (which is why Japan has a reputation for getting all the unusual species, I think, despite the otherwise inferior selection). I think I know the Dart fish you mean (Ptereleotris grammica grammica?). It's price is no doubt inflated artificially by its accepted status as a "collectable".

Reef biotope tanks are always hard to pull off, it seems. I wonder what soft coral species are found in okinawan waters? Not what you're looking to keep, I know, but I'm curious.

For interest, here's the page from the same Okinawan vendor. Not terribly exciting, but let me know if anything catches your eye. My untutored eye might have missed something quite interesting.

http://www.umibose.com/onlineshop/products/list.php?category_id=49

 

[Anonymous]

Well, nothing that's a jaw-dropper, but...

http://www.umibose.com/onlineshop/produ ... uct_id=387 looks to be "thick stem xenia", heteroxenia, which is decidedly uncommon here in the US.

http://www.umibose.com/onlineshop/produ ... uct_id=299 is the "fluffy" kind of colt coral. Used to be very, very common here but for some years now nearly all the colts I've seen have had shorter, darker, less feathery polyps that make them (to me, at least) far less appealing. I realize the color is about as bland as it gets, but in a tank with a fair bit of flow they can't be beat for adding texture and movement. And if there's one coral that will completely disguise whatever it's in front of as it grows, it's this one.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks really nice Tom. Watching with lots of interest since that is about the size I want to get.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking great. I hope the light works out better than the MP3 player. I don't know if the T5s work with OSX though. :wink:

That snail does look similar to a Nassarius. But outside of the handful of common LFS snails, my eye for snails gets blurry fast. There are pictures of a few species here, or if you have lots of time here. You don't have that much time, do you? I'm with CJ, send it to the sump.

The Cowrie I recognize. I've had two for about a year. It's the first time I've kept any cowrie; it was suggested by an LFS friend. I love them. They're relatively active, small, and beautiful. They're also very agile, covering all the rock's nooks. Covering? I don't know what they eat, just that they're always scavenging on the LR. And, with two exceptions there's no algae for them, so I'm assuming (hoping) that like so many other cool benthic inverts they eat something too small to see. (They don't touch the Valonia or Dictyota, but nothing does.)

Have you considered sliding the Tunzes up and towards the corners a little more? Not to change the flow, but to make them less conspicuous.

That rock looks excellent. Nice aquascape, too. I'm looking forward to seeing what corals you pick up.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, nothing that's a jaw-dropper, but...

http://www.umibose.com/onlineshop/produ ... uct_id=387 looks to be "thick stem xenia", heteroxenia, which is decidedly uncommon here in the US.

http://www.umibose.com/onlineshop/produ ... uct_id=299 is the "fluffy" kind of colt coral. Used to be very, very common here but for some years now nearly all the colts I've seen have had shorter, darker, less feathery polyps that make them (to me, at least) far less appealing. I realize the color is about as bland as it gets, but in a tank with a fair bit of flow they can't be beat for adding texture and movement. And if there's one coral that will completely disguise whatever it's in front of as it grows, it's this one.

Thanks CJ. I actually found a page with much more colorful options and aquacultured, but they appear to be sold out. :x

http://www.cpfarm.com/shop/cultured/softcoral/

Actually, thanks to you, I'm now moving towards the idea of having one signature soft coral for the tank, providing the sort of movement and height you're talking about. I'm also, as a result, starting to seriously consider your earlier aquascaping preference, which might lead to me moving the rock now on top on the left to the right. But I'll give it a while to see if I change my mind before starting to move things again! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Looks really nice Tom. Watching with lots of interest since that is about the size I want to get.

Many thanks Mark. It's really nice to have you visit. Your previous build was a vicarious pleasure for me to follow, so I hope to provide some inspiration in return (even if it's simply along the lines of "well when I get my tank, I know I won't do it like that!").

 

[Anonymous]

Looking great. I hope the light works out better than the MP3 player. I don't know if the T5s work with OSX though. :wink:

Hey, I never meant to imply that was in any way your fault! It still sounds great btw, it's just not as synched in terms of usability with the Mac. :wink:

That snail does look similar to a Nassarius. But outside of the handful of common LFS snails, my eye for snails gets blurry fast. There are pictures of a few species here, or if you have lots of time here. You don't have that much time, do you? I'm with CJ, send it to the sump.

Useful links, thank you! I might browse them later when I have a bit more time (about to take 7 days off work without going anywhere in particular - I might well have the time!). I relegated the suspicious giant space hamster snail to the sump's refugium and it has since buried itself in the sand (or levitated out, one or the other), so it might well be a pinkish Nassarius.

The Cowrie I recognize. I've had two for about a year. It's the first time I've kept any cowrie; it was suggested by an LFS friend. I love them. They're relatively active, small, and beautiful. They're also very agile, covering all the rock's nooks. Covering? I don't know what they eat, just that they're always scavenging on the LR. And, with two exceptions there's no algae for them, so I'm assuming (hoping) that like so many other cool benthic inverts they eat something too small to see. (They don't touch the Valonia or Dictyota, but nothing does.)

Thanks for info! I had one in my last tank here that was a hitchhiker at some point. As they're nocturnal, you don't usually see that much of them, but I used to love spotting it, particularly when it had its mantle fully extended over the shell. I'm hoping they do at least eat some of the more obvious algae, as I've just ordered four of them! I went for 3 Cypraea annulus and 1 Cypraea moneta (both deemed to be herbivores by Dr Ron). They didn't have the mini-mini maki shells (sold out), so if the cowries don't do some sort of job on the algae, I might have to invest in a Turbo from a local LFS. Or maybe even a hermit, though I'd decided I wasn't go to get any, given their omnivorous, destructive tendencies. I also ordered 2 Nassarius and 2 small Strombus. Along with the plankton pack (the plankton and worms etc sifted out from 10kg of seabed). Let's see if it's snake oil or a great buy...

Have you considered sliding the Tunzes up and towards the corners a little more? Not to change the flow, but to make them less conspicuous.

I hadn't, but now I'll go and have a look and do just that! I was relatively pleased with how little they stand out (remember my last tank had two of the old style Tunze Streams in it, so my reference point is not a stealth Vortech!). I imagine they'll be less prominent once there is coral in there as well and it starts to grow. But that's not a bad idea either, particularly as it might turn down the slight sandstorm I have at the bottom right-hand corner.

That rock looks excellent. Nice aquascape, too. I'm looking forward to seeing what corals you pick up.

Thank you! Not as impressive as yours (no-one's going to compare mine to the Yellow Mountains :wink: ), but I'm not too unhappy with the first steps.

 

[Anonymous]

So, the latest update is that I caved and ordered a clean-up crew (as mentioned above). Hopefully not too much for my size tank. But I've realised that my tolerance of the usual new tank algae is more limited than I thought.

In terms of latest hitchhikers to be spotted, it looks like it was too early to have claimed I had no crabs. I've since spotted 3! However, they are minuscule, with bodies maybe the size of a grain of rice and claws that are the moment are tiny little scissors, rather than looking like big nutcrackers. I'll keep an eye out for what they develop into - might have to trap them at some point.

The other discovery (aside from continuing to spot more feather dusters bit by bit) is a small group of almost transparent, tiny polyps that look like baby Clavularia polyps (I was worried initially that I'd found Aiptasia, but each tentacle has tiny pinnules coming off at regular intervals off each tentacle, unlike the smooth tentacles of Aiptasia).

 

[Anonymous]

Looks really nice Tom. Watching with lots of interest since that is about the size I want to get.

Many thanks Mark. It's really nice to have you visit. Your previous build was a vicarious pleasure for me to follow, so I hope to provide some inspiration in return (even if it's simply along the lines of "well when I get my tank, I know I won't do it like that!").

I've been watching for a while. You have done things differently than I would have done, but it is just preference things. I think it is comming along nicely.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mark! Personal preference is such a key part of decisions made when setting up a tank. With enthusiasts for every method out there, in the end it becomes a personal decision which way to go. Interested to hear you're interested in setting up a similar sized tank - hopefully we'll get to see it set up down here! I like the dimensions - not as limiting as a nano in terms of space and not as hard work as a bigger tank in terms of water changes etc.

The good news is that I've just tested for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. All tested zero, which is pleasantly surprising. I expected the ammonia to be very low at least and hoped the nitrites to be well under control by now, but am rather chuffed that the nitrates are reading zero.

I put this down to one of several things. One, which I'd rather not admit, is that the test kit may be a bit rubbish (Seachem's marine basics kit). On the other hand, I would have expected to have to make allowances for a kit being a bit off, but not 100% wrong, so perhaps reading zero means that at the very least levels are low! Second is that the rock went in in two batches. So the first batch of 22lbs went in about 10 days ago, followed by the second batch 3 days ago. Also both batches were very, very fresh. Transported within 24 hours of being taken out of the water in all likelihood (I know that the second batch of aquacultured rock reached me at 9am on Saturday and from e-mail they sent me, the boat went out to pick the rock out of the ocean at 6am on Friday morning!). The second lot of rock was also packed in water, which must have helped reduce die-off. The third possible factor of course is no bioload and a decent skimmer that's now working well (though not pulling out much thanks to the low bioload, I am regularly removing a modest amount of thick grey scum from the skimmer neck).

 

[Anonymous]

I am quite long-winded, aren't I?

 

[Anonymous]

But exquisitely literate

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tracy!

Looking great. I hope the light works out better than the MP3 player. I don't know if the T5s work with OSX though. :wink:

Hey, I never meant to imply that was in any way your fault! It still sounds great btw, it's just not as synched in terms of usability with the Mac. :wink:

No, you didn't imply that at all. I was just teasing.

(About to take 7 days off work without going anywhere in particular - I might well have the time!).

Nice!

I went for 3 Cypraea annulus and 1 Cypraea moneta (both deemed to be herbivores by Dr Ron). They didn't have the mini-mini maki shells (sold out), so if the cowries don't do some sort of job on the algae, I might have to invest in a Turbo from a local LFS. Or maybe even a hermit, though I'd decided I wasn't go to get any, given their omnivorous, destructive tendencies.

Thanks the Cowrie species names. I'll take a look and see which ones I have.

As for the hermits, I agree about their destructive tendencies. Troubled childhoods, I'm guessing. I have found though that the smaller they are, the safer. If you ever have a chance to get some very tiny ones, shells under an inch, I'd say they're probably safe. Easy to catch if they turn out not to be.

Actually, and this might be remotely relevant to you, the best hermits I ever had I caught myself on the NE coast of Taiwan. It was in a sort of "beach resort" town where the local snack specialty is a stir-fried heavily spiced snail dish. Each of the shells has a small hole drilled or punched int the pointy end from which to push out the "meat" with a toothpick.

Most of the empty shells get tossed back in the ocean and then the hermits move in. So for a while I had a small army of hermits with telltale holes in their shells. But they were excellent algae grazers, and seemed to leave everything else alone.

Keep up the great updates!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Tracey - you're too kind.

Craig, we're not as far south as you were, so my harvesting opportunities might be limited! Was it really tropical in Taiwan? Until recently, I just had this image of it being vaguely urban and fast-moving, but hadn't really thought about its climate/wildlife etc. It's only just west of the Yaeyama islands south of Okinawa main island, so does it have reefs?

I've kind of regretting not buying a small hermit at the same time now. The place I ordered from has a whole selection, including ones with dainty little scissor-like claws, as opposed to bruiser-style crab pincers. But my LFS I think just has a tank of random common hermits. :?

By the way, I tried raising the nano-streams last night, but when I got back from work just now, the sand bed had rearranged itself over some of the rock, so I've returned them to their original position. However, I might try it again later once the sand bed is a bit more settled.

 

[Anonymous]

BTW, someone's helpfully identified my mystery snail as a collumbelid snail, possibly a juvenile Euplica scripta. Apparently a harmless grazer and having returned him to the tank, he's now helpfully eating some algae on the tank glass. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tracy!

 

[Anonymous]

Clean-up crew arrived today. Not much to report other than I appear to have lost one of the Cypraea annulus behind the rock work, knocking one of the rocks over on to it in the process. After I retrieved the rock, there was no sign of it, but then it was in a bit of the tank that's quite hard to get a good luck at. And, judging from the behaviour of the other C.annulus, it's probably gone into hiding as they're nocturnal. The C. moneta on the other hand, is pretty active.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010595.jpg[/rimg]

The Nassarius snails did just what they're supposed to do - immediately burrow into the sand. I can just see the tips of the their proboscises. The Strombus snails are slowing grazing on the algae growing on the sand bed. The plankton pack seemed to be about 2 oz of powdery sand and some tiny critters, but I have no idea whether they'll make any difference to the tank. Probably a waste of $40. :?

Here's a picture I tried to take a few days ago of the baby polyps. Not clear enough, I know.

[rimg]http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab238/TheEscapedApe/Long%20awaited/P1010594.jpg[/rimg]

 

[Anonymous]

My wife is really earning her title of top hitchhiker spotter. She spotted a nudibranch earlier! 8O

It was in a position that made it really difficult to get a photo, so all I have for you at the moment is a description. It was very small - maybe less than 1cm (quarter of an inch?), almost completely black but for a purple stripe (couple of thin stripes?) along it's back. It was definitely a nudibranch rather than a flatworm because it had clear antenna rather than mimicked versions of antenna (at least I think that means it's not a flatworm?). If anyone knows a good site for IDing nudibranchs, let me know!

 

[Anonymous]

8)

 

[Anonymous]

Took the nudibranch out of the tank to properly ID it. I think it's a Thuridilla flavomaculuta, order Sacoglossa, which means it's a herbivore, algae grazer. Given I don't have somewhere to keep it, I've put it back into the tank (it seems to roam quite openly with the lights on, so I should be able to remove it later if need be).

Here's a pic from the internets. Just loading some blurry shots of my own, which I'll post as well. The body is black with orange speckles and antennae with white bands, but tipped in black (when I got it out of the tank, it was clear it had no purple on it - I don't know if that was just the actinics or pink T5s playing tricks).