Clean up crew

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by Peredhil, Oct 2, 2008.

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  1. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    I'm really starting to see a difference. The flooring looks a lot better and most of the strands of hair are gone (the longer ones anyway). Fewer limpets needed flilpped back over today and several moved to the back wall. The Chitons are on a roll.

    You can see some trails and clean spots in this pic. Notice the Chiton on the wall.

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    Here's a close up of the Chiton. I should point out, this is the Chiton I mentioned yesterday that hadn't moved yet. It dived from the top to the bottom and I got to watch it go from the ground to the wall here and then start blazing a trail. Neat!



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    Here's the other side. You can see several clean spots here. The big clean spot on the right, I did so I could see what I was flipping over. The rest are made by various snails.



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    Last edited: Oct 4, 2008
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  3. johnmaloney

    johnmaloney 3reef Sponsor

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    Fun Fact: Chitons have no eyes, and are completely blind. (Most snails are basically blind, only able to see the difference between night and day, but the Chitons are 100%). Yet they can tell the difference between night and day in the wild, as they only search for food at night, taking cover during the day. This gets thrown off in aquariums, but is still a pretty good fun fact.
     
  4. abraKADAV3R!

    abraKADAV3R! Feather Duster

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    Ive heard that a good glass cleaner is any sea hare or sea slug, I have a black sea hare i caught and hes the best i only clean the corners where he has trouble scraping, also be care full as the hermit crabs love to pull snails out of their shell just for fun!
     
  5. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Looking cleaner every day. I did a 'full spectrum' of my tests today. Everything checked out. Phosphates at pointfive - slightly concerned on this. My Nitrates have dropped even further to 5 - hurray! Calcium down to 360 (it hadn't changed at all in the past couple of months, so I attribute this to the new CuC). Kh at 8. Going to do a water change this week to get Ca and Kh back up. Probably needs it anyway.

    Also, I changed the media filter pads on my two Aqua-Tec 30-60 today. They were nasty dirty.

    Today's Pics.

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    And remember the Chiton on the wall? Look where he is now. I didn't know they'd do that...



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  6. johnmaloney

    johnmaloney 3reef Sponsor

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    He will go back in. They, like Nerites like some time out and then they return to the tank. They usually do it less than Nerites but it depends on the organism, and if your fish pick on it. Whatever you do, don't try to scoop him off the top. If his underside is damaged, he will die. If you decide you want to move him, (and it is not recommended you do), give him a little splash first, to see if that gets him going and wait. Then use a credit card to move him sideways, and do this gently. If he is being stubborn, leave him be.

    Did you figure out how to right the limpets? They usually stay righted once they get setup. Try placing them in a live rock crevice so they take hold when their is no current beating them up. A great cleaner when they get going, but the placement is a bit tricky.

    Like the thread, keep it going! By the way, tell the snails to get to work on the glass, we can't see the results if dirty glass is in the way.
     
  7. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Thanks! I read about the credit card trick on your site. I tried it and he moved a millimeter. So I left him be. He's now under the lip, but still above the waterline. He's my best glass cleaner so far!

    I'm thinking about cleaning one side wall (the one I've been taking a pic of), just to see better interior results in the pics. But I do want to leave most of it to really give a true documented timeline.

    I only had to flip 2 limpets today. They're getting better. About 4 have become shell only. I'm not sure why they're falling off. Several haven't moved at all since they first went in (or just moved a little). It's the ones that keep traveling that end up falling and landing on their backs. I have one that went straight for the very top corner of the glass. Hasn't moved from there in 2 days! The crabs have been clipping the hair free for my filter to pick up. That's always fun to watch too.

    With my ever watchful eye, I am really seeing a difference.
     
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  9. Phayes

    Phayes Aiptasia Anemone

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    lol, I still say you invest in a magfloat and get the algae off your glass. Let the CUC do the work on the sand and rock instead.
     
  10. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    But that misses the whole point of this thread. The idea is to see how long it takes the CuC to do it. But then again, they're barely paying the glass any mind at all!
     
  11. johnmaloney

    johnmaloney 3reef Sponsor

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    One the rock gets clean they will pay attention to the glass. But why go to the restaurant across the street when the buffet is in front of you?

    The Chitons are strong for such a small animal huh?

    As for the limpets, send me your real name and I will credit them for you. Once the rest get the hang of your tank, as the other ones did you won't have to right them again, they can just be a little tricky at first.

    It might be worth cleaning off a spot just to get a look at the rock, but it does kind of ruin the experiment. They will eventually clean it, but at that point there is no before and after rock shots.

    By the way, try to turn off your house lights and turn on your tank lights for full effect.
     
  12. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Thanks JohnMaloney.

    As an update, the Chiton is still holding strong under the lip of the tank above the water line (when I top-off, he's back in).

    I now have 3 Limpets holding firm, up and over the lip, well over the water line. They got there somewhere between 1pm and 6pm today. Crazy! I have several more in appropriate spots. I only had to flip ONE today though, so that's an improvement.

    You can see in the pics, tons of cleaned spots on the glass. Or you will be able to see when photobucket's 'choose files' button starts to work again.

    It's weird, it's not as thick on the glass as it was, but it's harder to see through, in a way. Checked my params, everything seems tip top.

    Anyway, I'll update with pics when I figure out why photobucket isn't working.

    EDIT: Figured out PhotoBuckets problem. Here's the pics:

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    Last edited: Oct 6, 2008