Should I be panicking now?

[lona]

Tanzy> I looked at some zooanthids online..they seem to grow in colonies? Mine seems to be a lone ranger. And also, I notice the zooanthids I see, their discs (or mouths?) seem to be a light brown..mine's a dark leaf-green..and its tentacles are white. The ones online seem to be either reddish brown or light green. Possble mine is the juvenile stage?

If anything, the shape of the zooanthids are very closely resembling mine..very very close..just the colour different..

[lona]

ok thanks eprouve..

Tanzy> I also noticed some aiptasia looking things..but honestly don't think they are..cos they don't retract when I touch them..prob some algae or grass?..ok to keep right?

If the zooanthids are ok..(and I'm beginning to think they are..)..I hope I didn't damage the little fella last night..cos I first thought it was aiptasia and was trying to dig at it..

[pospeh]

Tanzy,

Most of the LR available in Singapore are of poor quality, in terms of beneficial organism that are present. They are also usually lumped shaped, and not very porous. They are mostly covered with macroalgae, sponges, tube worms, and the typical cast of sessile organisms. You are hardly going to find any polyps, soft corals or other good stuff on them. Even good coralline covered LR are hard to find nowadays. And whatever good organisms on it (sponges, tube worms, soft corals) will have died during the poor collection/shipping process you see in rocks from Indonesian. Their quality simply doesn't compare to the good quality rock you find overseas that are from Fiji and other Pacific Islands.

As to the beneifical organisms we all want, the vast majority of those organisms are going to come attached to the corals we puchase. They are going to be found on the polyp rocks, the mushroom rocks, the rock attached to soft corals, and on the skeleton of LPS corals, etc. -- for the simple reason that these items are shipped in water, so the beneficial organisms survive. Very little are going to come from the LR purchases that are shipped dry, and at best covered in a wet newspaper. And if the conditions in the tank are right, the organisms multiply and colonize the former poor quality LR we buy.

I would much rather have control over the nutrients that I place in my display tank for cycling purposes. If I put a piece of shrimp meat or some damsels (which I dont recommend) in my tank to cycle the sandbed, I have control over how much nutrient I put into the tank to promote bacteria growth. If you put 10 kg piece of uncured LR in a 2 foot tank, you don't know how much decaying matter you are potentially putting in the tank, and risk fouling the entire tank and the sand bed. If you tell a new hobbiest to put a small piece of shrimp in a new tank to cycle, you know the tank is not going to be fouled.

For this reason, I just feels safer to cure LR separately in a different environment, where I have more control, and check the curing process, clean off obviously dead areas, make partial water changes, and clear off the deitrus.

These are just generalizations for new hobbiests. For an experienced hobbiest who knows how to spot dead organisms on newly purchased LR, and how to handle the curing process, and how to handle algae outbreaks, then, Yes, they can do it in tank.

[Tanzy]

Pospeh,

I've got goniopora, porites, pocillopora, acropora, favites, zooanthids from local LR before. If you give them a chance, then you'll see them in the tank. I think detritus is great food to start off the sand bed fauna.

The LR we get come by boat from not too far away compared to US or Europe where all they get is a rotting mess after sitting around in the freezing weather or hot tarmac awaiting transfer at the airports. What we get is still pretty decent. LR from Fiji is very light and looks nice, definitely of superior quality to local LR but after the shipping it needs a long time to recover. Local LR arrives in pretty good shape.

For cleaning, the only thing that needs to be scrapped off are the dead sponge that look whitish, other than that they are good to go straight in after a rinse. When curing in tank, if given good circulation, no anaerobic spots should occur and the cycling will go on without adding any more nutrient. It might longer but to me the longer the tank is left to cycle, the less trouble you will get later. For my next project, when I get back, my plan is to cycle the tank until all problem algae die off and the sand bed is fully matured before adding livestock, hopefully it will take less than a year.

lona,

Never ever ever ever dig at anything you suspect is an aiptasia! You might cause it to spread. The broken off tissue will get distributed all over the tank and grow into more aiptasia!

[lona]

Tanzy> *gulp*..point taken.. ..thankfully, I don't think it's an aiptasia..I'm beginning to think it's a zooanthid. But, I can't be sure, and the pictures didn't turn out at all..

What do you think? Do you know of any aiptasia shaped like zooanthids?

[Tanzy]

Can't really confirm. If in doubt just nuke it. I hate zooanthids too. They spread very fast.

[lona]

But they look quite pretty leh..I've seen the pictures online..why do you dislike them?

[Tanzy]

Cause they grow too fast and my tank is in the danger of being covered by them if I don't remove them regularly.

[lonaman]

OH YES!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! I CAN POST!!!!

the JOY!!!

the RAPTURE!!!

the BLISS!!!!

but now plankton again...

ok ok..some updates on my tank..(in case anyone doesn't know..should be quite obvious, I'm still Lona here..hope everyone hasn't forgotten me.. )

I've bumped up the LR weight to about 12kg or so already..water level has already gone up. Will post some pictures soon.

NH4 is 0

NO2 is 0

but somehow NO3 is still very high..something like 10 or 15 is that strange?

My cycle seemed to complete in a week..which is quite fast right? I mean everyone here usually talks about months? Total time tank has been running is about 3 weeks already..maybe next week the NO3 will drop? hope hope..

[Creetin]

I agree wif Wei n Tanzy - IMO, since the tank is new, i tink adding the cured/uncured LR is good since the die-off from the rock will start off the cycle. besides, its a little inconvenient to get a few pails to put the smelly LR to 'cure' them... in addition, more LR shld help speed up the cycling process...

a small shrimp may not be enuff to start the cycle too.

just mi 2 cents