markalot Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Not the greatest pipefish pics but I am trying. Great pics, great color. Red, pink, blue, a little orange. Link to comment
BRN Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Thanks BRN, that is very helpful and I will definitely keep it in mind. With my NO3 and PO4 numbers going down with each WC now that I am using RO/DI, I don't think I will be dosing just yet. I need to see where it is all going to settle at first. I am nervous about starving my clam, corals and macros so I won't make too many changes at once. Yea i wouldn't do anything to quickly, good call. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 Great pics, great color. Red, pink, blue, a little orange. I have a little tiny piece of rubble with about 4 little yellow polyps on it....if that would take off I'd have a splash of waving yellow on the lower right to add to the colors. And slowly the red from cyano on the sand is receding, yea! Link to comment
BRN Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I have a little tiny piece of rubble with about 4 little yellow polyps on it....if that would take off I'd have a splash of waving yellow on the lower right to add to the colors. Super jelly of your horse aquarium, whats the smallest tank you can keep a horse? just curious. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 29, 2015 Author Share Posted August 29, 2015 Super jelly of your horse aquarium, whats the smallest tank you can keep a horse? just curious. I think 29 or 30 gallons for a pair of the greater seahorses, that is at least 19" high is the standard recommendation. Seahorses are pretty high maintenance needing better water quality than most reef tanks in terms of dissolved organics and yet they are extremely dirty and put a heavy bioload on their tank. They are such charming sweet creatures though. They greet me every morning so I consider them worth the trouble. Link to comment
BRN Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 I think 29 or 30 gallons for a pair of the greater seahorses, that is at least 19" high is the standard recommendation. Seahorses are pretty high maintenance needing better water quality than most reef tanks in terms of dissolved organics and yet they are extremely dirty and put a heavy bioload on their tank. They are such charming sweet creatures though. They greet me every morning so I consider them worth the trouble. Awesome information didnt know the height standard, cool! Link to comment
Felicia Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Love the newest photos. Everything is looking great! Nice to see some more photos of the pipefish too! They're fascinating creatures. Not quite as cute as seahorses, but still really interesting Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Awesome information didnt know the height standard, cool! The height is necessary for their courtship dance. Even same sexes dance. Also it aids in their digestion. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 I am getting in the habit of connecting my portable RO/DI up after supper and letting it make water over night so I am ready for a WC first thing in the morning after the seahorses have had their breakfast. I had thought I would move the unit downstairs after our house guests leave but now I don't know. Using the kitchen sink at night isn't really all that bad and I don't have to lug the water up the basement steps. I was nervous about it running at night in the kitchen without supervision but no problems so far. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 I had not seen the bridled goby in at least 2 weeks and was getting ready to post that I thought it was probably no more and then tonight when I dropped some spectra pellets in for the peppermint shrimp lo and behold there it was. It seems to look healthy. I should probably name it, what do you think? Link to comment
teenyreef Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I am getting in the habit of connecting my portable RO/DI up after supper and letting it make water over night so I am ready for a WC first thing in the morning after the seahorses have had their breakfast. I had thought I would move the unit downstairs after our house guests leave but now I don't know. Using the kitchen sink at night isn't really all that bad and I don't have to lug the water up the basement steps. I was nervous about it running at night in the kitchen without supervision but no problems so far. This is your best friend if you ever worry about forgetting to turn off the RODI. I couldn't live without it http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-float-valve.html Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 This is your best friend if you ever worry about forgetting to turn off the RODI. I couldn't live without it http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reverse-osmosis-float-valve.html Thanks teeny. I can't forget to turn it off as I never go without my morning coffee but I have to disconnect the RO/DI to make my coffee. If I set a unit up in our basement I will have a float switch on it however. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 I make all my coffee/tea/ice cubes with RO/DI. Try it sometime. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 I make all my coffee/tea/ice cubes with RO/DI. Try it sometime. I know I should fill up a pitcher with RO/DI for home consumption. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 I had not seen the bridled goby in at least 2 weeks and was getting ready to post that I thought it was probably no more and then tonight when I dropped some spectra pellets in for the peppermint shrimp lo and behold there it was. It seems to look healthy. I should probably name it, what do you think? Ok, I have decided, the goby's name is Gobbles. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 That's a great name! Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 That's a great name! That name came to me when I saw him but I asked Dave, my husband what he thought would be a good name. Dave likes my tanks so I involve him in them whenever I can. He didn't seem to have any suggestions and Gobbles the goby just kind of rolls off the toungue. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 One thing continues to puzzle me about my system...how can 2 tanks sharing a sump and water develop different tank conditions? Right now the cyano in the seahorse tank is gone but the sand in the reef tank still has a rust color on the surface. It actually looks more like diatoms than cyano. Both tanks should be equally experiencing the benefits of the RO/DI since they are hooked together, right? Maybe what is on the sand in the reef never was cyano to begin with? It is a much older sandbed and it's a DSB. I have been kicking around adding new argonite sand, sugar size on the surface for added buffering capacity. I guess I should try that and see what happens. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 The top pic is the seahorse sand and the bottom pic is the reef sand. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 One thing continues to puzzle me about my system...how can 2 tanks sharing a sump and water develop different tank conditions? Right now the cyano in the seahorse tank is gone but the sand in the reef tank still has a rust color on the surface. It actually looks more like diatoms than cyano. Both tanks should be equally experiencing the benefits of the RO/DI since they are hooked together, right? Maybe what is on the sand in the reef never was cyano to begin with? It is a much older sandbed and it's a DSB. I have been kicking around adding new argonite sand, sugar size on the surface for added buffering capacity. I guess I should try that and see what happens. Could be the biological diversity of the DSB, Anerobic bacteria play a larger role than I think we nano-reefers like to believe. Still in the opinion that everyone should have a 2" deep dead zone that goes untouched somewhere in the tank. That being said it could just be the lighting/water movement is different or any host of other things. If you think about it the two tanks do share water but are in fact very different ecosystems. Just spit-balling here. Link to comment
markalot Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Probably feeding off of detritus in the sand rather than in the water column. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Could be the biological diversity of the DSB, Anerobic bacteria play a larger role than I think we nano-reefers like to believe. Still in the opinion that everyone should have a 2" deep dead zone that goes untouched somewhere in the tank. That being said it could just be the lighting/water movement is different or any host of other things. If you think about it the two tanks do share water but are in fact very different ecosystems. Just spit-balling here. I too believe that DSBs are beneficial if the hobbyist doesn't crap them up with overfeeding. Most of the tanks I took care of had DSB and everyone of them worked great the years I was servicing them. Mine is really old. Foolishly I used the same sand as was in my 90g that I set up in 2004 but it smelled of fresh clean salt water. I know it had to re-establish in Dec 2012 when I downsized to my current reef tank but until the seahorses I had 0 nitrates, so i think it was working. Both tanks have a 4 bulb Coralife T5 on them but you are right. The reef is considerably closer to the sand. I just measured it and there is 6" more height to the sandbed in the seahorse tank, therefore more diffusion of light by the time it hits the sandbed. Doh, I should have thought of that! Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Probably feeding off of detritus in the sand rather than in the water column. Considering the age of the DSB you may be right. Like I said to Pinner reef, the DSB I think was working before I got the seahorses. That's not to say that it is not working now but the bioload is much heavier now and may exceed the capacity of the the reef to keep up with the nitrates produced. Although my WC schedule seems to be helping a lot. So if the cyano or whatever it is is feeding on detritus, I wonder if the detritus is only on the surface? I am hoping that is the case or I am in for a tank overhaul of the entire sandbed and don't relish the thoughts of that! I guess I will proceed with adding new sand to the surface and see if that helps. I know I should only do small portions at a time too so as to not disrupt the biological filtration. Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 September FTSs of the tanks. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I know I should fill up a pitcher with RO/DI for home consumption. Pretty sure thats not good for you, read a few articles on that before. Both tanks look awesome though Link to comment
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