Live rock added..... New life !!

Apollo

Apollo

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Hello to all,

Trusting that you all had a fantastic weekend.
Ok, so on Saturday I seeded my substrate with some live sand ( Thanks Crispin, was great to meet you and share some beers).

On Sunday I eventually added my live rock. Bought approx 7.5 kg of Kenyan LR (Thanks Horst).

This is going to be a long post with LOTS of pictures. Sorry, but I am actually very excited about finally getting the nano started and with the LR addition.

LR added on Sunday morning. I haven't actually done any aquascaping. Just sort of positioned the rocks a bit. I actually quite like the look though, with lots of crevices and small caves so I'll leave the scaping as is until I decide otherwise . Comments, suggestions ?

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The same live rock a few hours later.
Already signs of new "life"

First pic shows what looks to be a coral "tree" of some sorts. (Brownish object in foreground). I'll try to get some better pics for ID purposes.

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Any ideas what this is ? Looks like there is a skeleton of some sort on the outside, with tentacles on the inside.

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And this ???

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Not bad at all Apollo - just make sure of 4 things:
- you have enough "caves" and hide-away places for the fishies
- your rock does not have "dead spots" where detritus can accumulate
- your rock does not lean against the glass....
- your rock is not packed TOO LOOSELY - else it might fall and either kill some of your lifestock, or crack your tank's glass.....
 
Right. So then night fell on the tank and even more life started appearing. Most of the unidentified objects in the previous photos started expanding their tentacles. The coral "tree" expanded its tentacles which look like fine threads in a star shaped pattern.

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And then this little nocturnal fellow made an appearance. Nudibranch ??

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Looks good Apollo, yeah, sure looks like a nudi. Some nudies have special diet needs and will die in captivity if not enough food for them. Find out what nudi that is and it's needs, some nudi eat corals and nemmies as well - and you don't want that :p
 
Then after a fairly sleepless night ( Way too excited about the "new life" on my rocks), I took these pics this morning.

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Even had some barnacles waving their comb like tentacles at me (Couldn't get a shot quick enough to capture this though)

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Another new life form. Looks like a white "coral tree" like object. Tentacles are very fine in a star shaped pattern.

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More new life (orange body and tentacles at the bottom of pic)

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Some red tentacled like polyps ?

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And this ???

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jacquesb said:
Not bad at all Apollo - just make sure of 4 things:
- you have enough "caves" and hide-away places for the fishies
- your rock does not have "dead spots" where detritus can accumulate
- your rock does not lean against the glass....
- your rock is not packed TOO LOOSELY - else it might fall and either kill some of your lifestock, or crack your tank's glass.....
Click to expand...


Thanks jaquesb,

IMO there are more than enough little caves & crevices at present. It's difficult to see this from the photos as the pictures do not do it justice.

I have checked and the flow appears to be OK , even in the crevices & caves. I actually have a bit too much flow due to the powerhead directing a solid stream instead of a more spread out "wave".
Some pieces of LR appear to be "blowing away".

The LR pieces are not stuck down, but I've checked and they appear solid. Will perhaps stick down some of the top rocks just in case.

No rocks are touching the back or the glass, as far as I can see. :thumbup:
 
Right, so that's all the pics for now.

Will post water parameters tomorrow and then every week thereafter.

Just one question : Since I have so much "life" on the rocks, will this not die off during the cycle phase ? Would be a real pity :(

Also, the types of polyps which I have on the LR presently will presumably also dictate how and where the LR should be positioned (i.e. Flow , lighting requirements ?)

Sorry for the millions of questions, but I want to be sure that I provide the correct requirements (wherever possible) to sustain the life on the LR.
:thumbup:
 
The critters in post 8, pics 5 and 8, are definitely some type of anemone. The critter in picture 7, is some type of sponge.

Not too sure about the "orange tentacled polyps" though....
 
Tobes said:
Looks good Apollo, yeah, sure looks like a nudi. Some nudies have special diet needs and will die in captivity if not enough food for them. Find out what nudi that is and it's needs, some nudi eat corals and nemmies as well - and you don't want that :p
Click to expand...

Thanks Tobes. I'll do some research to identify the Nudi. I'm almost certain I will not be able to keep him, since I don't think there would be much for him to feed on at present.

Anybody want a Nudi ?
 
nice apollo:)
great that you have LR in there and better that you have things showing so soon:)

was nice to meet and i hope the critters in the sand get going nice and fast for you:)
 
Apollo said:
Right, so that's all the pics for now.

Will post water parameters tomorrow and then every week thereafter.

Just one question : Since I have so much "life" on the rocks, will this not die off during the cycle phase ? Would be a real pity :(

Also, the types of polyps which I have on the LR presently will presumably also dictate how and where the LR should be positioned (i.e. Flow , lighting requirements ?)

Sorry for the millions of questions, but I want to be sure that I provide the correct requirements (wherever possible) to sustain the life on the LR.
:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Don't worry - ask as many questions as you need to.

You should only perhaps have absolute minimum "die-off"...... Seeing that the rock is now already in the tank, and everything else is now "up-and-running", I would say no. None of these critters should automatically die-off any longer....
 
Apollo said:
One more question , if I may:

With so much "life" on my LR should I cycle the tank with the main lights on for a longer period ( 8 hrs + ) ?
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No - you don't need more than 5 hours of light, even with the critters/life you see on your live rock....

Only when you actually start getting corals, and the tank has completed cycling....:thumbup:
 
Wow u guys get some nice live rock up there, mine sure wasnt streaming with life like that when i got it. Took a few weeks to see a fan worm.
 
Kunhardt said:
Wow u guys get some nice live rock up there, mine sure wasnt streaming with life like that when i got it. Took a few weeks to see a fan worm.
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Kunhardt,

Yes, I was indeed very fortunate to come across this LR. Had a good look around at many different types of LR before buying. In my humble opinion as a newbie this is some of the best Kenyan LR that I have come across.

Hopefully most of the new critters will stay alive. Now I'm off to try and ID some of these lifeforms. :p
 
Just thought about the following:

There are many lifeforms on the LR at present . What will they feed off while the tank is cycling ?
Do they need to be fed at all ( Anemones , polyps - not sure what type)?

Sorry, may seem like a really daft question but I thought I'd ask in anyway.
 
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