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Arson's Fluval Spec V


Arson

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Hi everyone!

 

I registered for nano-reef.com a loooooong time ago, but never did get into it until now. I'm new to saltwater and reef aquariums, but a very experienced freshwater aquarist. I decided to dip my feet into keeping a nano reef and settled on the Fluval Spec V. I've had my aquarium now for a little over a month and have begun to have some questions, so I thought I'd share what I have and get going.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

Display: Fluval Spec V
Lighting: Current USA Orbit Marine LED 18-24in
Filtration: Stock basket with filter floss, Purigen, carbon

Heater: Cobalt NeoTherm 25W
Circulation: Stock filter (Minijet 606s all gone :( ) with Hydor 240 powerhead

Fish:

  • Clown Goby RIP 04/14/15

Corals:

  • Green Star Polyp (which is not doing well at all)
  • Zoa colony (recovering from the SG crisis, hopefully)

Invertebrates:

  • Scarlet Reef Hermit
  • Pom Pom Crab RIP 04/14/15
  • Snails: Ceriths, Dwarf Ceriths, Nassarius, Nerites
  • Sea Scallop (apparently!)
  • Emerald Crab

Wishlist

  • InTank Media Basket w/Skimmer
  • Goby/pistol shrimp bromance
  • ATO

Current FTS (04/14/15)

16665434033_8642f7ba66_c.jpgFTS 04/27/15 by jeztor, on Flickr

Beginning FTS (02/28/15)

16923499159_294d6feff1_c.jpg

My plans for this aquarium are pretty open, though I already know I will probably add a pistol shrimp very soon. I'm pretty terrible at aquascaping since this is something I'm new at, so I feel there is much to be desired there.

Any input is much appreciated, thank you.

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cmccorkle2005

I was the same way - I kept freshwater tanks for years but just started dabbling in salt tanks for or 5 years ago and then took a break. The tank is looking good!

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A bittersweet day. I woke up this morning to find that my Yellow Clown Goby has died. I have struggled the last week with getting him to eat. I didn't dig deep enough on them before I discovered that they are often picky eaters in captivity. Lots of folks recommend Cyclop-eeze, but unfortunately that's darn near impossible to find now it seems.

 

I tried everything I could think of and read about: Oyster Feast, Emerald Cuisine, Mysis Shrimp, cut up pieces of fresh shrimp. He would often go after pieces, but would stop short of eating it. I found that he would drift out into the middle of the tank from his perch if I turned off the pumps for feeding, so I figured maybe he didn't like the flow. I moved around my live rock right before I did a water change. I'm unsure if I upset the chemistry, or if he just finally succumbed to starvation. :(

 

The good news is that I received my Current USA Orbit Marine LED. I plan to set it all up tomorrow. I'll provide new pictures of the light and rockscape then.

 

As far as replacing the YCG, I'm looking at getting a pistol shrimp/goby bromance pair.

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Sorry to hear about the goby man. That sucks when they die and you don't really know why.

 

On the other hand those lights will be much better then the stock spec lights. Stock is barley enough to grow medium light freshwater plants under so I imagine that's why your GSP isn't doing too hot.

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Yeah, I knew that light wouldn't do long-term. I came home from work and it looks like I lost my pom pom crab too, so something is definitely up. I'm testing all my water parameters right now. Best I can surmise I must have really upset things when I moved around the rocks. Sadly, might not have been starvation that killed the goby.

I'll report back soon. :unsure:

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Ammonia and Nitrites are both zero, Nitrates are <5ppm. Salinity is 1.026 and pH is 8.1. I'm thoroughly confused as to what may have happened. I know I could test a few other parameters, but I can't think of anything that would have killed off two critters in less than 24 hours. :(

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Sorry to hear about your bad luck :( My very first fish was a YCG too, but he didn't last more than a week. I had the same problems, a newly cycled tank and he wouldn't eat anything.

 

Are you sure the pom pom is dead? If he molted, the molt really does look just like a dead crab. And pom poms are really really good at hiding, especially after a molt. I've had a couple of them and I only see one out and about every week or two. Fingers crossed...

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Sorry to hear about your bad luck :( My very first fish was a YCG too, but he didn't last more than a week. I had the same problems, a newly cycled tank and he wouldn't eat anything.

 

Are you sure the pom pom is dead? If he molted, the molt really does look just like a dead crab. And pom poms are really really good at hiding, especially after a molt. I've had a couple of them and I only see one out and about every week or two. Fingers crossed...

 

The thought had occurred to me, absolutely. I examined what I found and if it was just a molt it was very convincing. Then again, I've never seen a crab molt before. If only the goby actually died, then I'm back to starvation and my world make a lot more sense. As it is right now I'm questioning if maybe something was wrong with the water I got yesterday from my LFS. It was RO/DI water, but I remember it smelling strange. They're a good store, I seriously doubt they'd do something like pull the water from somewhere else. I got fresh this time and added my own salt to 1.025.

 

If you've any experience with molting pompoms I rarely see mine except at night. When I woke up this morning and found the dead goby the pompom wasn't too far away sitting on a rock. When I came home I could see him in the same spot, only this time a good bit more pale and lifeless. You think this could still be a molt? I can hope!

 

Thanks very much for your reply!

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Only time will tell! I can tell you that when I've found molts before, I was convinced it was a dead crab until I pulled it out of the tank, checked it carefully, and then found the real crab back in the tank :)

 

Was he still holding his pom poms?

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I don't know specifically about pompom crabs but when most crabs molt they have a long slit on the back of their shells that breaks open and allows the crab to slide out of the shell. It should be fairly obvious once you are looking for it. The molted shell will also be a more pale color then usual.

 

Also your crab if he did molt will be hiding so he feels protected while his shell is hardening. If you try looking for him look in small crevices and he will be much more pale then normal, more so then the molted shell.

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The carcass was definitely more pale than usual and in a unusual pose. The legs were raised, but there it was still stuck to the rock. Does that sound like a crab that died? I am unsure.

Teenyreef, he lost his pompoms in the first few weeks for mostly unknown reasons. I suspect it may have been scuffles with the hermit crabs which I have evicted now. The scarlet hermit that remains is a carebear compared to the others. Doesn't bother a soul. Hardly even moves! I admit I didn't inspect the carcass carefully, even though it occurred to me at that moment that it might have been just a molt. My husband was very disappointed as he really enjoyed the crab. I flushed it before giving it a firm look, but it sure seemed real to me. I'll keep my eyes peeled in hope.

 

The only thing striking me is that the scallop I inherited is a lot more open than it usually would be. Wide mouth. I actually thought it too was dead, but when I prodded it snapped shut. It may be that there's less flow where it is now and it's trying to filter more. I'm still learning. I'll shine a flashlight around tonight to see if I can peep the pompom crab. That would really put my mind at ease.

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So I installed my new Current USA Orbit Marine LED. I took some before and after photos for comparison. Also shows the new scape I created, for better or worse. Hoping I can salvage the Green Star Polyps. We'll see. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks for looking!

 

 

Before new LED 04/14/15

 

17150584991_18e3afa0ab_c.jpgOld Stock Spec V LED by jeztor, on Flickr

 

 

After new LED 04/14/15

 

17150586321_74d240a2d6_c.jpgNew Current USA Orbit Marine LED by jeztor, on Flickr

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Looks like a real reef light! :D

My gsp didn't come out at all for the first month after I got it. Once it finally opened up, it became the hardest thing to kill in my whole tank. As long as it's not disintegrating, it's still alive.

 

It closes up like clockwork every time the lights go off, so my guess is that there wasn't enough light for it under your old light.

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cmccorkle2005

A bittersweet day. I woke up this morning to find that my Yellow Clown Goby has died. I have struggled the last week with getting him to eat. I didn't dig deep enough on them before I discovered that they are often picky eaters in captivity. Lots of folks recommend Cyclop-eeze, but unfortunately that's darn near impossible to find now it seems.

 

I tried everything I could think of and read about: Oyster Feast, Emerald Cuisine, Mysis Shrimp, cut up pieces of fresh shrimp. He would often go after pieces, but would stop short of eating it. I found that he would drift out into the middle of the tank from his perch if I turned off the pumps for feeding, so I figured maybe he didn't like the flow. I moved around my live rock right before I did a water change. I'm unsure if I upset the chemistry, or if he just finally succumbed to starvation. :(

 

The good news is that I received my Current USA Orbit Marine LED. I plan to set it all up tomorrow. I'll provide new pictures of the light and rockscape then.

 

As far as replacing the YCG, I'm looking at getting a pistol shrimp/goby bromance pair.

Man I hate that - It stinks losing a fish and especially one where you have tried everything to get them to eat and they just wont :-/

PS - The lights are looking sweet. I have just the stock CF fixtures in my Biocube tank right now. Going to see how far I can get with those but I figure at some point I will want to upgrade to LED.

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Looks like a real reef light! :D

My gsp didn't come out at all for the first month after I got it. Once it finally opened up, it became the hardest thing to kill in my whole tank. As long as it's not disintegrating, it's still alive.

 

It closes up like clockwork every time the lights go off, so my guess is that there wasn't enough light for it under your old light.

 

One half of it has begun to have some pieces fall off. The other half seems firmly stuck still. I've read the comments about GSP growing like a weed, so I'm pretty confidence it'll make it out of this one way or another. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

Man I hate that - It stinks losing a fish and especially one where you have tried everything to get them to eat and they just wont :-/

PS - The lights are looking sweet. I have just the stock CF fixtures in my Biocube tank right now. Going to see how far I can get with those but I figure at some point I will want to upgrade to LED.

 

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised with the lighting. I knew it would be an improvement, but it's SO much brighter, and I felt like I got a lot of bang for my buck. It comes with a really nice controller. I'm using one of the presets at the moment until I learn enough about lighting that I develop a preference.

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You're off to a nice start man, keep at it! Your scape looks nice and the light really brings out the purple in those rocks.

Is that your GSP on the square frag plug? Not opening yet eh? Mine will close sometimes for a few days then open up again occasionally.

 

Anyways, will keep an eye in here. Feel free to PM me if you have any urgent questions on Spec V stuff.. I don't know everything but I can reply pretty quick usually! :)

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You're off to a nice start man, keep at it! Your scape looks nice and the light really brings out the purple in those rocks.

Is that your GSP on the square frag plug? Not opening yet eh? Mine will close sometimes for a few days then open up again occasionally.

 

Anyways, will keep an eye in here. Feel free to PM me if you have any urgent questions on Spec V stuff.. I don't know everything but I can reply pretty quick usually! :)

 

Yeah, the GSP is on the square plug. I've moved it to the rock on the left to put it in a bit more light and out in the flow from the 240. It seems like it was sort of two frags placed on one plug. One side is starting to disintegrate, so I think that one may be gone. The other is still firm, but looks pretty sad and shriveled. I'm not surprised since it was in crappy light for a good 30 days or so. Since everyone says it grows like a weed I'm going to let it alone for now. Perhaps just a small bit will survive.

 

In other news I'm headed to the LFS today to pick up a few pieces of coral and/or my goby/pistol shrimp bromance. We'll see what they have. I'll post pictures later.

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Well, I found pretty much what I was looking for at the LFS. I was looking at a tiger pistol shrimp, but the only one they had was missing his "pistol" claw. They moved him to a tank where he would no longer be picked on by what looked like a clown that was being a total ***hole to him. I asked what they wanted for a "pistol-less" shrimp and they offered me another, pricier one for the same price of their usual tigers.

 

Help identifying him would be much appreciated!

 

17191706955_eab73ae7b7_c.jpgNew Pistol Shrimp by jeztor, on Flickr

 

I also found a nice Ricordea that was a brilliant orange. Doesn't look so brilliant at the moment, but under more blue light it's amazing.

 

17165786086_3125f44e5b_c.jpgNew Ric by jeztor, on Flickr

 

Finally, I found myself a decent sized zoa colony. When the polyps open up I'll post another picture. They're a nice green which you can just barely see here.

 

17191133791_6abbc7dbd9_c.jpgNew Zoa by jeztor, on Flickr

 

 

Thanks for looking! I'll post more pictures in the coming days as the new critters settle in!

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Well, I just watched my new pistol shrimp die in minutes. I mean not even 30 minutes and it's lifeless on the bottom. I don't understand what could have happened. I always use drip acclimation, it got a good hour of that. Everything was fine in that container. I made sure to float him before releasing into the aquarium. I'm beginning to suspect something with the water. There aren't a lot of things that could kill something that quick. Ever since I lost that yellow clown goby and pompom crab in the same 24 hour period I've suspected something may be wrong. The aquarium has never had any medications put into it or anything of that nature. What's confusing is that the scarlet reef hermit is still in there alive and well, so I'm not thinking it's something like copper that would kill inverts.

 

Sigh, this is very frustrating. I'm testing my water again now to make sure all the parameters are fine. I'm just at a loss. The LFS is a good store, so I'm sure they'll help me out with this. :tears:

 

 

Update: water parameters all seem fine. Ammonia, Nitrites at 0, Nitrates <5ppm, Salinity the usual 1.025, pH at 8.0. I'm going to take some water to my LFS tomorrow to have them test it to rule out something wrong with my kit. So very frustrating :(

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EUREKA! My mysterious problem of dying everything has been solved! I took some water today to my LFS and asked them to test it. Before the poor guy could even get to ammonia, nitrites, etc he called me over to have me look at my salinity in their refractometer: 1.040!

 

Unbelievable! I had brought mine along with me to the store and checked my water: 1.025. Apparently, my refractometer was nowhere close to properly calibrated. :angry: It's remarkable anything in my aquarium is alive at all! As terrible as this is I'm extremely relieved. I was out of my mind trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my aquarium. It had occurred to me it could be something like this which is why I had them test my water. This even goes back to the death of my yellow clown goby and pompom crab. They died within 24 hours of me using RO fresh with salt I mixed myself. Before that I had been using RO salt from my LFS.

 

I was so ready to throw in the towel racking my brain to figure out what the heck was wrong. My LFS is going to credit me the pistol shrimp that died, and gave me a free hydrometer until I can buy a proper new refractometer. We tried calibrating this one and it's just not working properly. The guy even offered to give me some frags of coral from his personal aquarium at home to help buffer my losses. I told them it wasn't necessary since this is completely my fault, but well...they're awesome. So grateful for Tideline Aquatics in Charleston, SC (they deserve the plug!)

I am going to be slowly adding fresh water over the next few days to bring the salinity back down from Dead Sea levels. I'll keep this post updated.

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cmccorkle2005

EUREKA! My mysterious problem of dying everything has been solved! I took some water today to my LFS and asked them to test it. Before the poor guy could even get to ammonia, nitrites, etc he called me over to have me look at my salinity in their refractometer: 1.040!

 

Unbelievable! I had brought mine along with me to the store and checked my water: 1.025. Apparently, my refractometer was nowhere close to properly calibrated. :angry: It's remarkable anything in my aquarium is alive at all! As terrible as this is I'm extremely relieved. I was out of my mind trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my aquarium. It had occurred to me it could be something like this which is why I had them test my water. This even goes back to the death of my yellow clown goby and pompom crab. They died within 24 hours of me using RO fresh with salt I mixed myself. Before that I had been using RO salt from my LFS.

 

I was so ready to throw in the towel racking my brain to figure out what the heck was wrong. My LFS is going to credit me the pistol shrimp that died, and gave me a free hydrometer until I can buy a proper new refractometer. We tried calibrating this one and it's just not working properly. The guy even offered to give me some frags of coral from his personal aquarium at home to help buffer my losses. I told them it wasn't necessary since this is completely my fault, but well...they're awesome. So grateful for Tideline Aquatics in Charleston, SC (they deserve the plug!)

 

I am going to be slowly adding fresh water over the next few days to bring the salinity back down from Dead Sea levels. I'll keep this post updated.

Oh geez man - yeah that would have wiped everything out. At least now you know :-/ I bought premixed RO Saltwater from my LFS and nearly did the same thing. I happened to check it before it went in and my hydrometer was pegged at the top of the scale. That is crazy that you are using a refractometer and it was so badly off - the whole reason to buy them is for the accuracy :-/

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Oh geez man - yeah that would have wiped everything out. At least now you know :-/ I bought premixed RO Saltwater from my LFS and nearly did the same thing. I happened to check it before it went in and my hydrometer was pegged at the top of the scale. That is crazy that you are using a refractometer and it was so badly off - the whole reason to buy them is for the accuracy :-/

 

It's my fault, really. I work in a hospital laboratory and I used one of our refractometers we had sitting in a drawer that I assumed was just an extra instrument. All our instruments are calibrated regularly, but clearly this one was not up to par, which may explain why it wasn't in use. I only tested it myself by looking at distilled water to make sure it read 1.000 (and it did). I usually try to make sure I have a second method for everything I test regularly, particularly temperature and salinity since they can change quickly in such a small volume of water.

 

This was a pretty harsh way to learn this lesson. I feel bad for the loss of life, but at least now I know what the problem was. It's a huge relief.

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Just a quick update. I've been slowly bringing down the specific gravity of my aquarium back to appropriate levels. I didn't want to bring it down too quickly, but I also didn't want to risk what bit of life was left in the aquarium by keeping the SG at 1.040. I've been adding RO fresh water bit by bit. I have the SG down to 1.028 after just over 48 hours now. I'm keeping an eye on all the other parameters, particularly pH. I plan to mix in new RO saltwater once I've got the SG back at 1.025 to help keep the pH buffered and introduce some nutrients back. I'm still hoping to save the zoa colony pictured above, but I'm unsure if it's too late for that.

 

In any case, everything should be back on track in the next day or two and life as normal can resume. Still so relieved that it was a simple fix, even if it was rather severe in nature.

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Looks good, how's the light going

 

Tough to say. I'd like to think it's doing its job, but since I've been having this other SG issue I haven't had any corals really flourish. I'm hoping this zoa colony will open up in the next few days. When I get home from work this evening I'll take another FTS with the light on.

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