My First SW Tank

S

ShaggNastee

Guest
I am about a month into my first saltwater tank and already I am amazed with all the living organisms in my tank without me even introducing corals or fish. I will be posting pictures and things as they happen on this thread to help me document my progress.
23D541C5-B8E4-4D20-BFCF-EE9B933E4693.jpeg
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
So my 40 gal breeder has alot in it without me introducing very much to it. Have tried to identify these things myself...tried. If I am mistaken please don’t hesitate to correct. Here are my many creatures thus far.
E8B0AF89-C1A7-4A62-B33C-448FD6A73BE3.jpeg
This was my first creature a bristle worm and at the time of this post I have at least 5 known ones.
70D25438-EC8B-4160-9ADC-B6AA25B33F38.jpeg
13ED6450-D6E3-4FA7-8E2C-AC92BE932BC3.jpeg
496EE217-592E-41CC-88BE-8FB64046E151.jpeg
Flatworms...yay...probably will need to nuke my tank before fish or corals. Ordered Flatworm exit online, but trying to wait it out till the tank is a bit more established.
608FC2FE-D6F9-4129-A84D-E65AB07626FE.jpeg
Spirorbid Worm I thought it was a calcium speck the first few weeks but once the spiral started to appear I was pleasantly surprised.
B4F39C22-E1B4-46A0-BD4D-6F2429256690.jpeg
Ok still on the fence with these guys. They look to be Hydroids Jellyfish but they stay latched and don’t move so hopefully it will make fish food and disappear later.
7E4E6235-F7CC-4526-986D-6E806ABE7470.jpeg
E9B78967-4EB9-43EF-80E7-8D39CA58824D.jpeg
Not the best pictures but I have thousands of these little bugs all over my tank. Best I could find they may be Munnid Isopods. I know they eat green hair algae like mad crazy so I like em a ton.
3F603330-DB1B-4FE6-B56C-2B0D72BE3065.jpeg
Has got to be Spaghetti Worm. My son found this guy last night and he’s my favorite addition so far.
94FEC0B2-B513-42DC-8BAA-1D8D8B8B0D0B.jpeg
Not sure if it’s really alive(it is alive) It has 2 feeder antennas and 2 fang like appendages. I hope it grows to be a feather worm(highly doubtful). Worried it might be a pest, but I will keep an eye on it. It’s attached to live rock and is quite hardy.
Just an update on this post, this is a Verminted Snail. If you see one, remove it. They are a horrendous pest to rid yourself of. Use a knife or a scalpel to extract them. They form a callous shell that they attach themselves to.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
Sorry for some reason my last few pics posted sideways. IDK why it did that but I couldn’t fix it and it wasn’t worth it so my bad.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
5D2C510A-4712-4690-9EB2-A8ABE89D934F.jpeg
Not too sure what algae this is but it’s not being eaten by either the bristle worms nor the skitter bugs so next water change I’ll try sucking it up.
CBB9C0BC-87A1-4BE2-9038-F4E89EB7C633.jpeg
I bought a bottle of purple coralline algae directly from ARC. Since the time algae started appearing I figured I’d get it and see if all the nutrients in the water would boost its seeding process. This was right at a week ago and already I have these purple splotches appearing on my dead dry rock. I’m stoked about it. I’ve just kept my salinity at 1.026 and my light intensity at half mass. Really excited to see it cover my tank :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
C88EC51E-4FAC-440F-85C6-D17FA7EA3699.jpeg
Dinoflagellates coming up in low flow areas of my tank. Gonna wait it out since there’s a lot of green algae peeking out and the coralline is spotting out more and more. There’s quite a few small speck of it in that picture too.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
D22BFF56-A086-41DF-BCF0-148099293623.jpeg
Finally able to find one of the bugs as an adult. You can see it munching on dinoflagellates. I also have a video that is much clearer that this pic. After a bit more research I believe they are gammarus. I have also been feeding the spaghetti worm and have a video of it going to town on flake food.
442BCAF5-8AD5-4848-9154-41D5E285446B.jpeg
Here is a picture of a gammarus laying eggs and I have a video where it is attaching egg sacs together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
654AF27F-539C-4062-B27A-9CEE20500C46.jpeg
Now this is an actual munnid isopod. The many legs can differentiate them from your average pod. Just noticed it scurrying on my glass. They are beneficial to the ecosystem.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
9B6054C8-7209-40ED-9A59-A20E18283020.jpeg
Newest addition. A small green copepod of some kind just chilling in the spaghetti worm and bristle worm burrow.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
FE070AF0-6B75-4B9F-94DD-267F6673E4CB.jpeg
No idea what type of pod this guy is, but he is definitely different than the other ones I’ve seen. It has a broad mouth and there are 2 variants in my tank. This guy, and one that is larger with two white stripes that is quick to spot.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
D121FD90-14BC-4279-A15D-B6C683BCDB58.jpeg
Finally said f*** it and bought my 1st invert. $20 for this common white fan worm. I’m loving it in my tank and I’ll post a pic of my bangai cardinal I got today too.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
2755F6C0-FE98-4DEA-8DA4-239320977CE3.jpeg
My 1st fish, bangai cardinal. My wife wasn’t happy to find out they do best in pairs, and I only got one. However due to my Dino outbreak and this being my 1st time acclimating, I wanted to be sure that both creatures survived. Probably going to get another next week.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
10F41A88-DF86-4585-9021-0C0874A4CB3E.jpeg
My tank is officially 2 months old now. There has been quite a bit of aquascapeing in the last month, but my tenant told me this is last time moving rocks because this is the best set up yet.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
568B0518-8264-4A7F-91D8-63FBE69A0703.jpeg
44977AC5-D57E-4154-9DA8-A4BEAFDF671E.jpeg
These are apparently pineapple sponges growing on my live rock. They are usually a harmless filter feeder, so until I hear otherwise they will stay.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
View attachment 4603
537010CD-174B-4CD4-A48B-2A79CC66CEA7.jpeg
Got a 2nd fish today. They are quick little boogers.
Unfortunately, the first Cardinal bullied this second one to death. RIP Ghost…
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
So I found out I have one of the rare feather duster worms that can radiate the color of it’s feathers. It will radiate a green hue in the center. Also, I believe it does this to help lure plankton. I have fed it a small portion of reef chili every day, and as such it craps for about an hour after it withdraws it’s self. Another interesting fact, it will twist within it’s tube to adjust it’s feathers to accumulate more debris.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
5D56D9B3-6890-4637-9FA9-F6827588D9C8.jpeg
I got my first order from SWF today. 10 crabs, 10 snails, a clam, a peppermint shrimp and this mini maxi anemone.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
So I overfed my anemone today. I was sooo happy when it took the prefozen catfish a 2nd time, but it expelled the majority of it back into the tank. I’m not going to remove the excess waste since it has attached near the spaghetti worm/bristle worm burrow and I know what they don’t devour, the hermits will.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
FYI I purchased phytoplankton to harvest. My fan duster has retracted a bit since it’s first feeding, but I believe it’s due to over feeding. My hermit crabs haven’t seemed to bother it yet. I think it is just over fed and needing less feeding. Also I have been bullying the larger cardinal fish back to it’s cave to give the smaller cardinal time to feed on pods, since neither will take flake or pellet foods. Also the peppermint shrimp has found a hidey hole beneath the lion king shelf, and has a tendency to bully the cardinals away from his domaine but I believe he’s still finding his comfort zone.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
P.S. if anybody is actually reading this please reply. I don’t want to be spinning my wheels here.
 
S

ShaggNastee

Guest
An update on the tank... I had an electrician come in and add new breakers and plugs for my tank. When he was attaching the wires he had to cut the power for most of the day. Then the next day the power went out again and my lights were off that day as well. The result was my Dino bloom died. The 2 day long blackout killed the bacteria and now my water quality is FANTASTIC!!! Now the anemone isn’t as healthy as I’d like but it isn’t any worse than before, and I think now with the Dino gone and me keeping better tabs on my salinity, it should get much healthier over the next few weeks... fingers crossed.
 
Top