Auto Midnight Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 I am pretty sure I broke the internet today reading about coral. I am officially obsessed with ricordea. My wife says I'm stressing her out by staring at my "water rocks" as she likes to call my live rock. I know most people are only here for the pictures so here you go... My current dream tank, i http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg1-6.jpg.html'> Link to comment
Amy Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Just curious as to why you would do a 100% water change?? Oh that is one nice tank, I too dream of a nice Ric garden but still having troubles with them no matter what I do. Best of luck to you and if you find that magic touch for growing them please pass it along Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 Just curious as to why you would do a 100% water change?? Oh that is one nice tank, I too dream of a nice Ric garden but still having troubles with them no matter what I do. Best of luck to you and if you find that magic touch for growing them please pass it along I chose to do 100% water changes because all of the pico tank threads that I like seem to agree that on a tank this size 100% water change is the way to go. While I admit I am out of my element, it makes sense to me that clean water is better than dirty water. I am also convinced that their is way too much information on this site and I have found that almost every thread on here starts with someone saying definitively that "this is the best way to do (insert something about reef tanks)". Then the thread ends with 10 other people saying why that is not the best way to do it. Essentially I am experimenting with what some have said works on tanks of a similar size. I would love your input on water changes and any other feedback as well would be awesome. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 Quick update, got a buzzillion snails in my 3 gal clean up kit from reefcleaners. Hopefully they get to work as gha is getting out of hand. Also I am experiencing power outages today due to high winds, not sure I am ready to buy a generator yet but would a battery back up from a computer work in a pinch? Guess I could plug it in and see what happens. Oh and I also received a surprise in the mail from my dad he found a 3 gallon bow front mr aqua glass tank at a garage sale and thought I might want it. Not sure what to do with it maybe I will plant it with the mangroves I bought from reefcleaners as well. Link to comment
Amy Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Well I have never done a 100% water change in my little tanks, my problem is usually they are to clean and therefor my corals are not growing well. But everyone has to find what works best for them. I do a water change every 2 weeks, 8 cups of water is done. I also do not dose anything in these small tanks, learned the hard way in the past what a mess they can make of the system. Regular water changes will replace all you need. Now I did read you want sps corals I have never kept them but know they do use a lot of calcium do your homework there so you know what to do in such a small tank before you get them. They do require much different care than just an all softie tank. I love the look of corals as there are so many very neat ones out there today, if I had to do it over again without hesitation I would do a FOWLR and have some nice fish. I don't know anything about back up power to help you out, many folks here can better help with that. I am not a whole lot of help to you but don't mind sharing what I have encountered from my end. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 12 hours after cuc added and all is well Water parameters are perfect as far as I can tell pH 8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Phosphate 0 Ca 400 KH 143ish http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg1-7.jpg.html'> Going to wait till Friday to do a 100% water change, then I'm adding coral on Saturday as long as water is stable. Probably won't post much until then. Happy Reefing Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 Snail madness, I literally have snails all over the room my tank is in, I am 100 percent over the nerite snails. They essential make a huge mess of my tank at night and I end up picking them up off the floor in the morning. Also the nassarius snail are eating the cerith snails. It is full on snail warfare in my tank. The nerite are going to my buddy or the LFS. The Nass snails will have to go too if they don't calm down. In other news. My water is pristine and a few frags are going in tomorrow. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 In both my tanks the nerites took a month or so to learn the limits of the tank. It was a pain to keep tossing them back in but they did eventually learn to stay put. In my older tank, they never come out. In the one that's a couple months old, I still have to toss one back once every week or two. I've never seen nassarius eat ceriths. Are sure they aren't just going after dead ones? You will probably lose a bunch of the little ceriths in the first month or two since Reefcleaners sends so many. Also, keep an eye on your parameters as you will probably do a mini cycle after adding all the snails. In my tanks the nassarius are the best scavengers and sand movers of all the snails. Link to comment
Amy Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Wow sounds like you have quite the rodeo taking place. My tank is a 3 gal I have 2 Nassarius snails, never bother a thing always in the sand unless they know I have added some food to the tank for the porcelain crab and green clown goby. I also have 2 margarita snails, many don't have luck with them but in my opinion they have been the best snail for me so far. But my favorite is the money cowrie I have always had the best luck with them of them all, love these guys. Maybe you just have to many in your little tank, my 2 margarita and 1 cowrie is way over in my opinion so I always drop in a couple spirulina pellets at night for them and they are gone in the morning. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 So after adding coral I have moved a few things around. The xenia stopped pulsing and looked droopy so I moved it up into more light and this morning it looks a lot better. The zoas closed up tight where I put them and were still closed this morning so I moved into more direct light but still low in the tank. The ricordea seems super happy with the high light and flow and I swear it has doubled in size overnight. The stylophora and acropora both seem happy where they are. The plate moved himself so I assume he is happy. Love that the tank has life in it. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg3-2.jpg.html'> Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 So all the coral seem to have adjusted well since Saturday. The ricordea is doing especially well and believe it or not has eaten two dwarf ceriths that have wandered too close to his mouth. It just pulls them in then an hour later spits out the empty shell. I tested my water today and everything is spot on except calcium which has dropped from 400 ish to 340ish. I'm not super concerned about it. I assume this is normal now that coral are in the tank. I assume Friday's water change will replenish the missing calcium. I will test it again tomorrow and maybe do a partial water change if it is super low. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Wow, that's the first I've heard of a ric eating a snail. My snails never go on my rics so I've never seen anything like that Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 So since adding the frags I have had an explosion of algae which unfortunately appears to be bryopsis. Oddly the tank I got the frags from has no bryopsis to be seen. Perhaps it is poor timing especially since I decided to glue my frags onto my rock. I assumed it was just hair algae when it was small and that my snails would handle it. Going to gets some phosphate remover type stuff tonight and scrub like crazy during next water change. As you can see from the pic I posted above two days ago it has spread pretty quickly. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg2-4.jpg.html'> http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg1-9.jpg.html'> Link to comment
dingusplease Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 So since adding the frags I have had an explosion of algae which unfortunately appears to be bryopsis. Oddly the tank I got the frags from has no bryopsis to be seen. Perhaps it is poor timing especially since I decided to glue my frags onto my rock. I assumed it was just hair algae when it was small and that my snails would handle it. Going to gets some phosphate remover type stuff tonight and scrub like crazy during next water change. As you can see from the pic I posted above two days ago it has spread pretty quickly. Algae blooms are common in new tanks, based on nutrient issues from the recent die off. What are your params at? Do you test for phosphate? Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Algae blooms are common in new tanks, based on nutrient issues from the recent die off. What are your params at? Do you test for phosphate? I have been testing every other day since starting the tank, including phosphate. However, after more research it appears that the general consensus is that API phosphate test are inaccurate. But I bought a Red Sea test kit yesterday and it also reads zero phosphate. But clearly there is an adequate supply since I have gha, bryopsis, sargassum, neomeris, lettuce algae and halimeda a growing off my rock. I was running lights 10 hours a day but have cut back to 8. My parameters are as follow Temp 78-80 pH 8.2 Kh 8 (sorta low) Ca 340ish (I know it's low) Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Mag 1290 Link to comment
Amy Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Don't know if this will help you any, but I have 2 margarita snails and 1 ring cowrie in my tank and was getting some nuisance algae starting, between the 3 of them they have done a great job. Is it gone completely for the most part yes. Most don't like margarita snails as they need cooler temps, of all the snails except for the cowrie the margaritas for me are the best snail I have ever had the other kinds were useless and died to quick. I love the ring or money cowries and always have these guys do a great job of the tank, I only keep softies and never had any issues with them touching my corals at all. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Don't know if this will help you any, but I have 2 margarita snails and 1 ring cowrie in my tank and was getting some nuisance algae starting, between the 3 of them they have done a great job. Is it gone completely for the most part yes. Most don't like margarita snails as they need cooler temps, of all the snails except for the cowrie the margaritas for me are the best snail I have ever had the other kinds were useless and died to quick. I love the ring or money cowries and always have these guys do a great job of the tank, I only keep softies and never had any issues with them touching my corals at all. I hesitant to add anything new to the system until I see how bad this gets. Worst case scenario I can try to remove my coral from my live rock and put them in a different tank while I recycle the tank...this time in the dark. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 It could be bryopsis but I wouldn't panic yet. Everybody gets these outbreaks in the first month or two. I had very similar algae to yours in the first month in my 10g IM Fusion, and it sure looked like bryopsis, but two weeks later it was completely gone thanks to snails and crabs. I would concentrate on removing big chunks by hand to help the snails out, keep feeding to a minimum and change your filter media frequently while your tank adjusts to your new bioload. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 It could be bryopsis but I wouldn't panic yet. Everybody gets these outbreaks in the first month or two. I had very similar algae to yours in the first month in my 10g IM Fusion, and it sure looked like bryopsis, but two weeks later it was completely gone thanks to snails and crabs. I would concentrate on removing big chunks by hand to help the snails out, keep feeding to a minimum and change your filter media frequently while your tank adjusts to your new bioload. Thanks for the suggestions and encouraging words. My wife is officially sick of my new hobby, not because of the tank itself but because of the massive amount of time I spend researching on the web. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Quick updates, I have added some phosphate removing type stuff into my cannister filter, regardless of the Red Sea and API test results reading zero phosphate. Also after monitoring Kh, Ca, and Mg for 4 days my results are somewhat surprising. I have been using NSW from my LFS. Out of the bucket it reads KH: 11.2, Mg: 1600+, Ca: 400. After running in my system for four days my test results show KH at 7, Mg at 1480, and Ca at 350. As a side note to people who say API test as not accurate, my API test results matched my Red Sea results for Ca and KH. After my next water change I am going to discontinue using NSW and and start mixing Red Sea coral pro salt. I plan on introducing the new salt mix via partial water changes throughout the week. I am hoping the mix will not have the huge KH loss and have a better starting point for Ca. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Overall it's been a pretty crappy day and I have learned very little about Reefing. During my water change yesterday I decided to scrub the algae off my rocks as well as glue my frags onto the rock. I also hit up the local fish shop and bought a neon goby and two sexy shrimp. Everything seemed fine but when I cam home on my lunch break today the goby was dead on the floor (yes I had a lid but there is a small gap where the hob fuge flows back into the tank), my xenia was a brown dead ooze and one of my sexy shrimp was being eaten by one of my nassarius snails (pretty sure the same one that's been cannibalizing my dwarf ceriths). I immediately tested my water and everything is spot on. Super discouraged to say the least. Link to comment
dingusplease Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Very sorry to hear about the losses! Sounds like some semi-common tank accidents all happened at once, from jumping fish, melting xenia, and sick livestock. Did you acclimate the fish and shrimp? If so, for how long? Snails are scavengers, there must have been something wrong with the shrimp, from the lfs or acclimation. Also, how did the algae scrubbing go? If that's done then it sounds like you'll have a good place to put the corals. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Very sorry to hear about the losses! Sounds like some semi-common tank accidents all happened at once, from jumping fish, melting xenia, and sick livestock. Did you acclimate the fish and shrimp? If so, for how long? Snails are scavengers, there must have been something wrong with the shrimp, from the lfs or acclimation. Also, how did the algae scrubbing go? If that's done then it sounds like you'll have a good place to put the corals. Thanks for the condolences. I drip acclimated the fish and shrimp for about an hour. It seemed to go well. The fish jumping is my own fault for being lazy and not cutting the acrylic lid to fit around the overflow from the hob fuge. The rock scrubbing went well other then I assume keeping the xenia out of the water for too long. A couple of pieces of bryopsis have already popped back up but it looks a ton better then it did. I'm hoping the phosphate remover helps keep it from getting out of control again. I know that snails are scavengers but I swear this one Nass is a big bully. Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 Quick update, scrubbing the rocks and adding the phosphate junk to my filter seems to be keeping the bryopsis from spreading as fast. After losing the xenia I was pretty discouraged but since the it seems all my other corals are doing well. I am having trouble getting the flow right. The koralia nano 240 turns the tank into a whirlpool, so I replaced it with a small pump which was not enough flow. Now I have two small pumps but I hate the way they look as there is no way to hide them. Pretty sure I will be buying an all in one tank sometime in the near future, really wish I would have done more research before I bought my current setup. You can see what I mean in this FTS http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/imagejpg1-11.jpg.html'> Link to comment
Auto Midnight Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 I rearranged my scape and although I don't like the way it looks as much as the previous scape is is way more functional for several reasons, one, I can clean almost all of the glass now, two, my coral are getting more light which has improved the way all of the look, and three, the flow in the tank is the best it has been, with zero dead spots that I can see. Here are a couple shots of the new setup. http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/image.jpg6.jpg.html'> http://s53.photobucket.com/user/Againstmebomb/media/Pico/image.jpg3.jpg.html'> Link to comment
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