The Clean-Up Crew Arrives...

[Rue]

They're acclimating right now! Woohoo!

1 Emerald Crab...female we think...
3 Bumble Bee Snails...
5 Astrea Snails
3 Halloween Hermits!

There's also one bristleworm hanging out on an Astrea...and some other little guy hiding with one of the Hermits in his shell...

I also bought a jar load of shells just to get some appropriately sized extra shells for the Hermits :luxlove:

I was also going to get a Peppermint Shrimp...but in all the excitement we forgot to bag one...:laugh1blue:

[kkyyllee]

:19: cuc!!!!!!!!

[RobbieG]

Congrats - the critters are my favorite part

Hopefully I will be starting mine this weekend!

[Rue]

Again...poor pics with my digital...not sure what I'm going to do about that...no new camera in the works at the moment...unless I pull out my 35mm again...I have all the lenses I need...what I don't have any more is a scanner...

Acclimating!

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/SWcuc180707Accl.jpg

Ms. Em, the Emerald Crab

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/CUC180707EmCrab.jpg

The others:

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/CUC180707HermSnails.jpg

All the shells I had to buy to get the ones on the left!

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/Shells180707.jpg

[RobbieG]

Love Ms. Em - extremely photogenic!

[kkyyllee]

those are gonna be some happy cuc, and fat :)

[troy]

Cool crab. That makes me want to set up a saltwater tank.

[Rue]

Ms Em is kinda cute, ain't she?

One of the hermits already took a new shell...lol...it's like a brand spanking-new pair of sneakers...bright white and shiny!!! Now I feel justified spending that small fortune on all those shells...

[RobbieG]

Walmart has big bags of shells in crafts for $10 if you need more

[Rue]

I didn't think of Walmart! Thanks for the reminder...hopefully I'm good for a while!

[salman]

Your tank looks amazing!!! Is SW hard to keep? I have always wanted to have a small tank like a 20-30 gallon with SW.

[Rue]

Thanks!

I don't know if it's harder...so far it's been 'fussier'...and I'm doing it the easiest way possible with my 'plug-n-play' aquarium...it comes ready to go for the most part...

Let me do a few water changes and some more maintenance and I'll let you know...

[salman]

Thank you rue. SW fish look soo much better and they are soo bright!!

[Rue]

I like FW tanks...I think they're beautiful if set up 'naturally'...planted tanks especially...but many of the cichlid rock tanks are incredible when set up properly as well...

With SW though, you get all the improbable colours...

...my tank is too small for many fish...I want my pair of clown fish and an anemone...and then a couple of other small fish...the rest of the tank will be corals and such...

[salman]

If a SW tank is easy to maintain, then i might get one and put different kinds of corals and a few puffers. I know there are FW puffers but none of the fish stores ive been to sell them. I've seen a few SW puffers and i fell in love with them, but i dont want to buy a SW tank and then throw it away days after. Can you like update me on how things go with your SW tank?

[Rue]

Sure! I'll be posting here regularily as things progress! SW is all new to me!

BTW...you can't have puffers and a reef...puffers eat snails and corals...

But I agree...puffers are very cool!

[salman]

Oh i didnt know that.. See im learning! lol

[2manyfish]

Love your clean up crew Rue!! :41: How are they doing today?
You know those shells that the hermits can't use, you could always place them in your tank for decor....switch them out from time to time if you wanted...or you could put them in a glass jar and display them near the tank. :c3:

[Rue]

Thanks Barb...everyone seems to be doing fine this morning as well! Yay!

For some reason though, my one temperamental powerhead is spewing out bubbles again...doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it...I'll have to go fiddle with it again later...

Great minds think alike! LOL...I do have the extras in a glass dish I bought along withthe shells on Tuesday...paid as much for the dish as I did for the shells...

...but I didn't think of changing them out...wonderful idea!:19:

[Drumachine09]

Is the powerhead near the surface, or did you keep the airline in it?

[Lady Hobbs]

Nothing wrong with those pictures at all. Nice job.

[Rue]

Is the powerhead near the surface, or did you keep the airline in it?

They're built in...I haven't adjusted them since I got the tank since the flow seems quite good in the tank positioned as they are...

[Rue]

Thanks Hobbs! As much as I like the convenience of my little point and shoot digital...

Sometimes I miss the pics I used to take with my 35mm and all the accessories...but I'm too lazy to get back into that again...plus, I have no scanner at the moment...

[2manyfish]

Is the powerhead completely submerged? If so try moving it around underwater, you know upside down and sideways too. Sometimes you can get an air bubble lodged in there or it builds one up for some reason. If the powerhead is partially out of the water it could be sucking up air on occasion (although that's pretty obvious with the noise!) or you could have a hairline crack somewhere allowing air to enter into the chamber.....


Got anymore pics? :c5:

[cocoa_pleco]

Your tank looks amazing!!! Is SW hard to keep? I have always wanted to have a small tank like a 20-30 gallon with SW.

saltwater tanks arent hard. the only thing is you need to research more than FW. im in the process of my 3rd salt tank soon


i completely submerge my powerheads. when i had the nanoreef setup, i heard a snorting noise once. i thought there was a pug in the basement or something. the powerhead moved up and was getting air inside it

[2manyfish]

i thought there was a pug in the basement or something.



:hmm3grin2orange:

[cocoa_pleco]

lol, i actually thought one was in there

[RobbieG]

Why a pug?

[cocoa_pleco]

it was early morning and i just opened the door and heard a snorting. a pug was the first thing that came to mind. after like 10 minutes i grabbed a knife and jumped downstairs and the powerhead was screwed up. how embarrassing that was!

[salman]

How's your tank goin Rue?

[RobbieG]

it was early morning and i just opened the door and heard a snorting. a pug was the first thing that came to mind. after like 10 minutes i grabbed a knife and jumped downstairs and the powerhead was screwed up. how embarrassing that was!

Hope nobody saw you - I just have this picture of you running around in your underwear with a knife!

[salman]

I hate it when that happens. Mine always does that when its really dirty and needs me to clean it out.. kinda like a baby crying after he/she wet his diapers.

[RobbieG]

For a second there I thought you meant your pug!

[cocoa_pleco]

lol, i dont even have a dog

[Rue]

Tanks fine! Thanks for asking!

The powerheads are built in...and under water...I can adjust the flow, but not the location of them...

Had a big microbubble issue again today...but I rinsed out the filters, turned everything on and off...and no more bubbles! If it was a leak somewhere, that shouldn't 'fix' it, I'd think...

AND got my Peppermint Shrimp AND 2 Pajama Cardinals.

I luv Pajama Cardinals...and I've been debating and debating what to get, since I can't have many fish...but when I went to the store, these were the only fish available from my list currently in stock, so I brought them home!

The other 2 fish I know I'm getting are a pair of clowns. But I want to get my anemone first...and my tank needs to mature a bit more before that happens...so it'll be a while before I get clowns.

Having the cardinals in the tank...make it look more like a tank...if you know what I mean...

[Rue]

...btw...Cocoa...even if a pug did infiltrate the homestead...isn't going after it with a knife overkill? A nice tummy rub would've been a better choice of weapon...