24 gal Water of Life - Alexander

[aquarium]

Sound like you got some great live rock! It's always great to see what hitchhikers you get. Be sure to keep posting!

[uisge-beatha]

Thanks! It looks like a few people are following this thread, so I'll keep posting updates. I know that a lot of people are interested in what life arrives (and survives) with the Florida rock.

[uisge-beatha]

Here are a few pics of the LR after about 2.5 wks.

 

FTS - I'm going to rearrange the left side to get a more open structure and some more height when I get a chance.

 

 

Feeding tentacles of HH cup coral, next to skeletal HH manicina (brain coral).

 

 

Colour variation of coralline & sponges, and HH siderastrea radians (star coral).

[uisge-beatha]

Day 18: I'm still working on raising the salinity to 1.025 by doing small 1 gal WC with water that's at about 1.030. Otherwise, the tank seems fairly stable so far. I'm doing daily manual top-offs, but that's not really a big issue because the evaporation is minimal with this tank.

 

I've been working on a stocking list for the tank. All of the fish will be tank-bred, in keeping with the tank's theme. Here's what I'm thinking, and the order in which I'm planning to add them:

 

1) 2 ocellaris clownfish

2) 1 yellow watchman goby

1 tiger pistol shrimp

3) 2 bangaii cardinalfish

4) 1 orchid dottyback

 

This might be too many fish for the tank. I also realize that it would be optimal to add the goby before the clowns, but the kids are clamouring for the clowns. I'm hoping that this won't cause too many problems. I'd also like to add a skunk cleaner shrimp. What's the likelihood of the tiger shrimp murdering the skunk?

 

I'm keeping the water level in the back chambers quite high to minimize the trickling noise that happens when the level drops below the intake to the back chambers. This is largely because my better half is irritated by the sound - he's accommodating the tank, so I figure I can accommodate his need for peace and quiet. However, I'm a bit concerned that the tank isn't getting enough oxygenation. The water falls slightly through the surface skimmer, but there really isn't any other turbulence in the system. The tank is mostly covered, but is open to the air over the back chambers. I tried pointing the return powerhead closer to the surface of the water, but the turbulence at the surface (ironically) caused big sand dunes on the bottom. Does anyone have an opinion on the oxygenation issue?

 

temp 78.3 deg F

sp. grav. 1.0235

ammonia 0.0 ppm

nitrite 0.0 ppm

nitrate 5 ppm

phosphate 0.25 ppm

calcium 440 ppm

alkalinity 10 dKH

magnesium 1260 ppm

pH 8.1

[uisge-beatha]

Day 19: With all the goodies on the Florida LR, you also get some headaches. Today I noticed 6 or 7 little anemones, which are probably in the aiptasia family.

 

My understanding is that the aiptasia species from Florida aren't as invasive as the Pacific "glass" aiptasia, but may become a problem over time. I'm going to watch these guys for a bit, and see what they turn into before I decide on a course of action.

[uisge-beatha]

3 weeks: The tank is going well, but it's still looking pretty empty - it needs some fish. I rearranged the rocks to create a more interesting and open structure, and to create more space on top for corals that like light. I also moved the manicina (rose/open brain coral) to a lower flow area to see if he responds a bit better.

 

Old FTS

 

 

New FTS

 

 

New rockscape, from the left side

 

I've got the fish QT set up with an old 10 gal tank and fluorescent light, an AquaClear 20 HOB, and a 50 W heater. I also stuck some black paper to three sides of the tank and added some ABS fittings for hiding spots. I'm hoping to pick up two ocellaris clowns over the holidays and introduce them to their temporary home.

 

temp 79.9 deg F

sp. grav. 1.026

ammonia 0.0 ppm

nitrite 0.0 ppm

nitrate 5 ppm

phosphate 0.15 ppm

calcium 440 ppm

alkalinity 10 dKH

magnesium 1230 ppm

pH 8.1

[uisge-beatha]

The past two weeks have been somewhat eventful - I took advantage of the Boxing Day sales at my LFS to pick up some critters, at long last. Sadly, they didn't all make it, which has me feeling very badly for the poor little guys who perished in my care.

 

 

This guy was drip acclimated for 1 hr after a 10 min temp acclimation, and was swimming and eating in the DT, but he didn't make it through the night. When I added the shrimp, the DT parameters were fine: 78.3 deg F, 1.025 sg, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate 5 ppm (Salifert), pH 8.1.

 

I'm not sure why he died - it could have been that the acclimation process was too fast, or maybe the nitrates were too high? The LFS had him in 73 deg F and 1.025 sg water, but the acclimation should have taken care of the temp difference. There's never been any copper near the tank, so we can rule that out. I suppose he could have had an accident, or been sick or injured. At least Eric the Emerald Crab got a nice meal out of his carcass.

 

 

I had these two in a bare-bottom 10 gal QT with a piece of ABS pipe for a hiding spot. They were doing beautifully for three days, but the following morning I found the little guy wedged between the ABS pipe and the tank wall. Water parameters were fine (78 deg F, 1.025 sg, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, nitrates 5 ppm) and the larger fish was swimming happily, so I think the death was just an accident.

He was a beautiful little fish, and I feel awful knowing that it's my fault he's dead. He and his buddy were my first SW fish, and now I'm a little hesitant to bring another healthy fish home from the store to an uncertain fate in my care. It's only been four days since I lost the smaller fish, and I'm still heartbroken about it, but I'm going to pick up another little guy tomorrow - I don't want to wait too long to introduce another fish to the survivor of the first pair.

The only saving grace is that I had explained to my kids how the larger fish would become female while the smaller would remain male - my daughter immediately claimed the big fish as hers and decided the little fish was her younger brother's. When he noticed the little fish was missing, he said "Oh no, Mama, where da baby? It okay, I feed da BIG fish!!"

Speaking of "da big fish," she's been giving me heart palpitations because she insists on sleeping behind the heater, and I'm worried that she's going to get wedged too! Silly fish!

[uisge-beatha]

Everyone, meet Sunset & Stripes. Sunset, Stripes, Everyone.

 

 

I got another small ocellaris yesterday to replace the one we lost. I was a bit nervous about the two fish bonding, so I also introduced a super-ugly plastic plant as a hiding place. It seems I needn't have worried, because the little guy was clearly deferential to the bigger fish, and they've paired up nicely.

 

Let's hope we have better luck with these two. The kids have decided to name the larger fish Sunset and the smaller one Stripes. I believe that Stripes' middle name is Nemo, but we won't mention that again.

 

I've also had a bit of a diatom bloom in the DT. I had delayed my weekly water change a few days because Eric the Emerald Crab had just molted, and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to do a WC at that point. The nitrates went up a few points, but I think it's more likely that the algae bloom was caused either by a dead snail or possibly just the tank maturing. Either way, it seems to be under control.

 

My next project - get the coral QT up and running!

[Bossy]

nice little setup you have there!

 

i hope you have more luck than me...

my 2 occelaris don't eat anything... gave them everytihing but no, they won't eat

 

hope they survive. would love an acanthops dwarf angel but my tank is a bit too small

[uisge-beatha]

Thanks, Bossy! I have big plans for this setup over the next year or so, including a DIY biopellet reactor, skimmer, LED upgrade, and Arduino-based controller, so stay tuned!

 

Sorry to hear about your problems getting your ocellaris to eat. I'm a complete novice, so I'm the last person who should be giving you advice, but.... maybe find out what the fish store was feeding them, and start with that?

 

Mine have all been tank-raised ocellaris, which I chose partly because they're known to be less finicky eaters, but mostly because I'm attempting an aquacultured-as-much-as-possible tank. They're currently eating Omega One Marine Flake with Garlic as their staple food (once per day, about 3-4 days per week), but I also feed them Omega One Super Kelp flakes, frozen mysis shrimp, and frozen spirulina-loaded brine shrimp for variety. I soak the flakes in Selcon a couple times a week for the extra nutrition. The fish get fed once a day, as much as they can eat in a few minutes. They're little piggies, though - they come to the surface looking for food every time they see me.

[uisge-beatha]

Behold, the coral QT in all its glory!!

 

 

I still need to add some eggcrate on small stilts to hold frags, but we're almost ready for the first batch of coral! Here's the QT setup:

• 2.5 gal glass tank, open-top
• AquaClear 20 HOB
• Visitherm 50 W heater
• thermometer
• Hydor Pico Evolution 400 powerhead
• Current-USA TrueLumen actinic/white LED strip on timer

The idea is to have a tank where I can hold coral for observation for 1-2 weeks. The filter sponge for the HOB lives in the rear chambers of the DT, so that it's ready for action at a moment's notice. The lighting is very weak, but is intended mostly to allow me to see the coral, not to foster growth. I'll be feeding the coral in the tank, so hopefully the food will offset the lack of light. The Pico powerhead is there to provide extra circulation, because I didn't feel that the AquaClear 20 was moving enough water. The nice thing about the Pico is that its output is adjustable up to 100 gph (which is a lot, on a 2.5 gal tank! ). I've got the output of the powerhead bouncing off the glass, since I think a direct blast it would be a bit strong in such a small tank.

 

The LED strip is being supported by custom-fitted cellulose matrix struts (no, they're not just paint stir sticks - use your imagination a bit! ) The whole tank sits in a pull-out tray, for easy observation and access. Please excuse the half-finished cabinet. The drawer front and doors still need to be fitted and finished - hopefully, this will happen in the next few weeks.

 

 

 

[uisge-beatha]

Aargh!! I'm such an idiot!!

 

The smaller clownfish was acting unhappy in the QT - clamping his fins. I immediately started searching for symptoms of different illnesses, to figure out what was wrong with him. After a while, I had decided that he was in the early stages of... something... but before I started broad-spectrum treatment for an unknown illness, I thought I should check the water parameters in the fish QT.

 

Ammonia: trace

Nitrites: 0.50 ppm

Nitrates: 20-50 ppm

 

The fish QT had been running with just one fish for a week, and I had forgotten to keep tabs on the water chemistry after I doubled the bio-load on Saturday by adding another fish! I did an emergency 20% WC with water from the DT, added a 5x dose of Prime to detoxify the nitrogenous compounds, and started making more water for an additional change later today.

 

I just hope I caught it in time.

[uisge-beatha]

Quick update - did a total WC of 50% yesterday on the fish QT. Both fish survived the night, thank goodness. The little guys is still clamping his ventral and dorsal fins. Will test chemistry after I increase my caffeine level a bit.

[uisge-beatha]

Finally got around to testing water chemistry in fish QT:

 

ammonia: 0 ppm

nitrites: 0 ppm

nitrates: 5 ppm

 

Temperature, salinity, and pH were also at normal levels. Hopefully, the fish won't suffer any lasting effects from my carelessness.

[uisge-beatha]

Oh, these poor fishies!

 

The larger ocellaris was exhibiting signs of a parasite (isolated small white lump near the gills and on the opposite flank), so I decided to do a fresh water dip, since this should make external parasites drop off. I prepared a fresh water bath that was temperature and pH matched to the fish QT (using baking soda), and scooped him into the bath. He didn't exhibit any signs of stress other than clamping his fins, so I kept him in there for 5 minutes and then transferred him back to the fish QT. That's when he decided to do the "Gah!!" c-curve and sink to the bottom. He came to quickly, and recovered back to his normal self within 30 minutes, but I'm still worried he's going to pass away in a few days from the shock. Anyways, the marking didn't change, so I'm guessing they're not due to external parasites.

 

The smaller ocellaris has been looking unhappy since I got him - clamped ventral and dorsal fins, and very skinny. Today, I saw some white stringy poop coming from him, so I'm guessing he's got some internal parasites too.

 

I dosed the tank with prazi-pro to treat the internal parasites, and I'm still hoping for the best. Both fish are eating well, but they prefer flake (Omega One Marine Flake w Garlic or Omega One Super Kelp flake) over frozen (mysis shrimp, spirulina-loaded brine shrimp). Silly fish.

 

In other news, I've been planning my first coral purchase(s). I'm thinking of getting a few mushrooms and zoa frags, and maybe push my luck with a hammer coral frag. Not very exciting for all you experienced reefers, but very exciting for me!!

[uisge-beatha]

Bad news - the little ocellaris didn't eat all day today, and was pale, lethargic, and breathing fast. He passed away tonight.

 

I really hope that he was just weak, and didn't have something contagious.... like brooklynella. The LFS I got him from had some wild-caught clowns in another tank, but the water is shared between all the marine fish tanks. They run copper, though, so hopefully no nasties got passed around.

 

Sigh. My adventures in SW are not going very well, so far.

[uisge-beatha]

It's been just over a week since the second small ocellaris passed away, but the larger one is still doing fine. She never showed any signs of illness other than the larger-than-ich white lumps. The one on her flank disappeared after a few weeks, but the one near her gill is still there and unchanged after a month in QT. I've decided that the spots likely a local immune reaction to some sort of skin injury or infection, and not likely a problem.

 

However, I was having trouble keeping the water quality high enough in the 10 gal QT. I think the AquaClear 20 HOB on the QT might need more than one sponge to host enough de-nitrifying bacteria to handle the ammonia produced by the fish, since there's really nothing else in the QT that will host these bacteria. I was also concerned that the HOB might not be oxygenating the water enough, because the larger clown was showing some signs of low oxygen (hanging out near the surface almost exclusively). I temporarily added the Hydor Pico powerhead from the coral QT to stir the surface, and this seemed to improve the clown's behaviour. For future use, I think I'm going to add an airstone to the fish QT, since salt creep is not a huge issue.

 

Given the issues with the fish QT, I decided to move the large ocellaris to the DT a few days early. There's a small risk that she's hosting a pathogen that killed the smaller fish, but I think it's more likely that the fish was just weak.

 

So, let's welcome Sunset to the DT!

[uisge-beatha]

Life has been busy lately, but I’ve been keeping an eye out for new reef denizens. I’m expecting a shipment in the next week containing a contingent of snails, a captive-bred yellow watchman goby, and my first batch of coral frags – a green leather, a green ricordea, 6 zoas, and a branching hammer. I also picked up a candy cane pistol shrimp today, which I’m hoping will become friends with the YWG.

 

I've noticed a few new hitchhikers, including peanut worms, spirorbid worms, and clams! I can't believe that some of the clams survived but took almost 3 months to open, but they did! The siderastera radians are doing well, as is a nice little cup coral, but the manicina is still nearly all skeleton. Sadly, none of the lovely macroalgae survived (so far). However, nitrates are at 0.5 ppm and phosphates are at trace levels, so I'm not surprised the macro isn't growing! I need more fish.

 

I’m looking forward to posting some more pictures soon, but here’s one of the candy cane pistol during acclimatization. Name suggestions have included Rudolph (the 8-year old), Fwiendly (the 3-year old), or Lazy (me – he seems to have decided that a live rock overhang makes a pretty spiffy cave).

 

[uisge-beatha]

My shipment was delayed due to a snow storm, but arrived safe and sound yesterday.

 

 

The YWG is actually pale grey-blue, which is common among captive-bred YWG. He’s been a little hesitant to eat so far, but it’s been less than 24 hrs. Apparently, he had been eating spirulina brine shrimp, calanus, and micro-pellets. He did nibble at some frozen spirulina-loaded brine shrimp, so that’s something.

 

 

 

 

 

The coral isn’t very impressive compared to the amazing stuff on this site, but I’m pretty excited about it! All the coral frags are larger than what I ordered, which is a nice surprise. I haven't seen any pests so far, but I plan to QT them for 2 weeks with a re-dip in a week. The leather is a nice green colour, and the hammer has two large heads. The ricordea is a beautiful green colour, with two mouths. I also got a variety of zoas and palys, some of which are showing decent colour even under the “viewing only” lights in the coral QT.

 

The hammer has been giving me hourly panic attacks, because I’m not familiar with coral behaviour – “Why is it all stretched out?!? Oh, okay, maybe it’s going for that zoa… better move him…” “Ack!! Why is it curling in on itself?!? Oh, right, it’s eating that mysis I gave it…” “What the hell is that gaping hole?!? Hmm, okay, I guess that’s it’s mouth… that’s really cool…” “I’m seeing brown!!!!! Why am I seeing brown?!? Well, I don’t know, but it’s still nice and fluffy so maybe it’s normal….” Sigh - this is why I'm starting small and simple.

[uisge-beatha]

Time for an update... my new GWG (heh, that's grey "yellow" watchman goby) got bumped from QT to DT after only a week because she was looking very stressed/pale. She also wasn't eating very well, despite showing no signs of disease, so I figured there wasn't much to lose by risking moving her to the DT early.

 

She settled happily into the sand in the DT, was a better colour, and was eating much better. She still hasn't found the Randall's (candy cane) pistol after two weeks, but I'm hoping they'll eventually pair up.

 

However, she's been behaving really strangely for the past 3 days. I temporarily took apart the rock structure under which she liked to sleep so I could epoxy the rocks together. Now she won't go near the sand bed, and hangs out in the upper back corners of the tank, bobbing vertically in the water. I think she saw Sunset the Clownfish sleeping this way, and decided it was what all the cool fish were doing.

 

I've also mounted my new coral frags in the DT - I'll post a FTS tomorrow when the lights are on. Next on my shopping list:

• more fish:
  • a couple of CB Banggai cardinalfish and/or a CB canary blenny, followed by
  • CB orchid dottyback, then
  • another small CB ocellaris clowfish
• more zoas & mushrooms
• maybe some pulsing xenia
• more LPS
• DIY automation supplies

[vlangel]

Hi, I just read through your thread. You are too hard on yourself. I know you are new to saltwater but I just wanted you to know that even those of us that have been in the hobby a long time lose new fish. They just a very vulnerable the 1st 2 weeks. Generally if I can get them past that then I will have them for years.

Your tank looks very nice and I look forward to following it.

[uisge-beatha]

Thanks, vlangel - I really appreciate the feedback! You're right, I am too hard on myself. It's just tough to see little creatures suffering. I've changed to a different LFS since my first few fish losses, and I'm much happier with the health of their livestock. Hopefully, it will help to start with specimens that are in better shape.

[uisge-beatha]

As promised, FTS:

 

 

 

Close-up of some coral

 

 

 

Hammer and leather. If you look carefully in this shot, you can see macroalgae re-growth at long last - halimeda in one place, and maybe ulva in two other places. There's a nice little hitchhiker cup coral just behind the manicina skeleton which has been "in hiding" since I added the hammer. I suspect the new coral isn't playing nicely. I may have to move it a bit.

 

 

 

The "GWG" in her hiding spot.

 

[uisge-beatha]

It’s been too long since I posted an update, so I have a few things to report:

• The hitchhiker manicina didn’t survive the introduction of the hammer coral (about 2-3” away). It’s interesting, because I’ve never seen the hammer send out sweeper tentacles. Maybe some chemical warfare was at play as well.
• Most of the corals from the first batch are growing nicely, with the exception of two zoanthid specimens. I’ll try moving them to a new spot to see if they’d be happier elsewhere. I also have a new coral shipment on order, with more zoas and LPS. Yeah!
• I got a hitchhiker nuclear green paly with one of my zoa colonies. I was planning to avoid this guy since I have little kids and it’s highly toxic. However, now I can’t decide whether it’s safer to leave him alone or try to remove him. I can probably pull the frag he’s on off the rock to remove him, but I haven’t decided what to do yet.
• My candy cane pistol shrimp lost his snapping claw, and then lost his other claw too!! I was very worried about him not being able to eat, but he’s regrown both his claws in about 2 months. I just heard him start snapping again last night.
• The YWG was getting skinnier and skinnier, so I pulled him out of the DT and put him into QT where I could feed him more easily. I only saw him spend one day in the burrow with the pistol shrimp, and I don’t think he was eating very well. He spent all his time hiding out by the overflow, and there was no food for him up there. Once he was in the QT, he was eating better because he was down on the bottom of the tank where he should be. Unfortunately, he got too close to a powerhead the second day, and got stuck to the grating. He was so weak, I don’t think he could swim away. By the time I found him, he was pretty badly injured, and passed away. RIP little guy.
• In happier news, I picked up a skunk cleaner shrimp, and he’s quite the character. I swear he knows that I feed the tank, because he heads for the surface everytime he sees me approach the tank. He also steals food from the coral, which isn’t so cool.
• I also got a pair of captive-bred banggai cardinals, whom we named Tomaz and Zamot. Tomaz made it safely through quarantine and has been living in the DT for a month or so. Sadly, Zamot didn’t survive very long – he seemed to have a wound on his side that I didn’t notice in the store. He may have been injured in transit, or I may not have noticed the injury. The lesson here is not to shop for fish with a squirming 3-year-old in your arms.
• I've been battling a bad breakout of red cyanobacteria on my sandbed. I think it occurred because I was overfeeding to try to get the YWG to eat, while at the same time experimenting with changing water less frequently. My phosphates are up around 0.25 ppm (API test), so no wonder I'm having problems!

FTS at feeding time

 

Tomaz and some coral

 

[uisge-beatha]

Got an order from Digikey today

 

 

 

Testing the menu interface