THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[albertthiel]

This article is what inspired me to create my nem garden!

My system is 24x24x18h

20g sump, tunze skimmer, eheiem return pump, CPR fuge

http://db.tt/nC9HFwTw

http://db.tt/g3QTR2kf

http://db.tt/2z0Bc0Tl

http://db.tt/hhONVdOW

http://db.tt/1NYQPLyc

 

rick12:

 

Very nice indeed. I love the look and health of them.

 

Glad that article is what inspired you probably some time ago when you first saw it.

 

Great looking tank ... can we get some full view pics posted directly here so we see what the overall looks like?

 

Thanks

 

Albert

[gobyguy123]

Im ordering vietnam ones off evay on a really good store called Pearl Harbor or something. One hour left till bidding is over. I hope i win it!!!

[rick12]

.. can we get some full view pics posted directly here so we see what the overall looks like?

Albert, not sure i understand the question?

you mean full tank shots?

R.

[albertthiel]

Albert, not sure i understand the question?

you mean full tank shots?

R.

 

Yes that is what I meant rick12

 

Thanks

 

Albert

 

 

Im ordering vietnam ones off evay on a really good store called Pearl Harbor or something. One hour left till bidding is over. I hope i win it!!!

 

Good luck, I hope you get them.

 

Albert

[rick12]

More pics, that will be my project for the long weekend

R.

 

Yes that is what I meant rick12

 

Thanks

 

Albert

 

 

 

 

Good luck, I hope you get them.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

That does look more like it even that appears to have a short feathery appearance from the pic.

 

Update:

 

John replied to my email and states that because of the branches' look, it would be B. plumosa, but adds that it could be B. pennata, but because the specimen is not fully grown out that it is hard to tell which one exactly it is/was.

 

Anyway I removed it, as was needed, regardless of what species of Bryopsis it was. Hopefully none will show up anywhere else.

 

 

This post also gives me an opportunity to thank John for the wonderful customer service he provides and how responsive he is to questions one asks him.

 

reefcleaners.org deserves more than just a few KUDOS for what John does, and what he does so well.

 

Thanks John (I hope you read this)

 

Albert

 

 

 

 

More pics, that will be my project for the long weekend

R.

 

Thanks Rick12.

 

I appreciate it ....

 

Albert

Edited September 1, 2012 by albertthiel

[albertthiel]

Oh man I agree. even if not peroxide, take whatever action. before peroxide I took a terrible and unique course: toss the entire rock and frag. man I didn't play around with algae of any kind, lost/wasted terribly but at least I admit it lol. now with the bubbly all is preserved lol

 

Brandon :

 

That, or use potassium permanganate on it ... that would do the trick as well IME.

 

But as you have stated so often "now" we have peroxide and that seems to do "the job" with less possible issues than the use of permanganate, although in the 80's and 90's I used it when needed and because of the care I took, I never had any issues with potassium permanganate.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

From a PM received from an NR Member on what to do about a 20G that he just bought

 

Albert, I bought a small tank of 20 some gallons (20 G long), from a friend of mine who had to take her tank down due to losing her job and as a result not being able to maintain it correctly, so she decided to take it down and sell everything in it rather than not being able to take care of it and probably losing it because she does now not have the money to maintain it properly.

 

When I spoke to her and asked her how much she wanted for it, the price was too good for me to pass by the opportunity to get a smaller tank, and a reef one on top of it, as I now have a fish only one, saltwater, but have never tried running a reef type tank. I paid less than $100 for the entire system and the equipment and another $75 for all the fish and corals in it (3 fish and about 14 types of corals and a bunch of rock). They are not large I would say but a fairly good size. I could not identify them but she told me what they were, and looking them up on the net I think they are all fairly easy to take care of. She also told me that her water quality was high and that she would give me all the test kits she had as well.

 

What recommendations do you have for me, and should I add anything to the tank to make the filtration better, if anything in your thinking should be added to improve it.

 

Right now what came with the tank is a Marineland single wheel filter that is placed on the side , with quite a bit of space inside I see, and she also had a hang on skimmer from Instant Ocean (that’s what she told me) that seems to be in good working condition, as I saw the tank running and I was able to observe that the animals were doing well.

 

Also can you tell me how to move this tank from her house to mine (I live about 15 miles away from her in the same town),

 

Thanks for your help Albert, I appreciate what you do on your thread, and have already gone through quite a few pages, and read quite a few articles that you give links to, and I have already gotten a lot of information and made notes of what I thought was important.

 

The thing however is that your thread has so many pages now that I have not been able to read all of them but plan on reading some more especially on the fish and corals in the tank.

 

I saw that someone suggested that you should create an index it and I agree as there is a ton of useful information and links to articles that would benefit from in my thinking having some sort of main page that one can go to to see what at least the major parts are that others may want to go to. Just my thoughts and I realize that as you answered that getting such an index together may be a difficult thing to do at this point, well maybe not difficult but probably very time consuming, Anyway that is just my thought as well on your 160 or so pages in this thread. Hopefully you can find a way to maybe export it all (no sure that you can do that) and then find a way to index your thread.

 

It’s amazing how much info there is on the thread and it must have taken you a lot of time to post information and answer questions for sure. Thanks for what you do.

 

Sorry for the long number of questions above but I thought that the more info I gave you the easier it would be for you to reply.

 

James ….

 

Well, James, let me start of by saying that $175 for a tank with the equipment you list, and with all the live forms in it that you state, that it is certainly a very good price, and that I am glad you could get all of that for just $175. If I were the one who had been offered that system I would have bought it for sure as well. The corals in it and the fish by themselves are probably worth more than what you paid for the entire set up, and so you got the tank and the rock and the equipment for free basically, that is sort of the way I look at it. You were lucky indeed as getting all that equipment and all the fish and corals would have cost you a lot more IME.

 

Now should you add anything to the filtration? I think that really depends on how well the tank is doing, and what the water quality parameters are, but since you say that they all look in real good order, the water quality is probably fine but to be sure, since you have the tests (and I hope they are not too old and that the chemicals used in the tests are still active and able to give you accurate results) I would definitely run a batch of them and make sure that NH3 and NO2 are zero, that NO3 and PO4 are as low as possible (say < 2 ppm for nitrates and < 0.03 ppm for phosphates). pH should ideally be in the 8.0 to 8.2 range or a bit higher, salinity 1.024/1.025 since it is a reef tank, dKH between 8 and 11, calcium 420 ppm or a little higher, magnesium if you have a test for it, 1250 ppm or so, and temperature between 78 and 82 max. After you run the tests you can let me know if you wish what the are.

 

To move the tank should not be that difficult since you are only 15 or so miles away. Remove about 1/2 of the water and keep it by storing it in a large bucket or two that you can close properly (old salt buckets with a good tight lid on it usually do the trick quite well). Remove the equipment that is on the tank and empty it (you will need to clean it and replace whatever is in it anyway). Just store that in your car or truck.

 

Now that the tank has a lot less water in it (maybe 10 gallons) it should be a lot lighter and the two of you should be able to move it to your trunk or the back of your truck. Because you took out all that water you will need to make sure that corals that were high up in the tank are now not out of the water. Just lower them in the tank, or if they are attached to a piece of rock, you can take that rock and put it in the buckets in which you stored the water. Do not worry about the fish as they will go to the lower areas of the tank.

 

Since the trip is not going to be long, there is IMO no need to aerate the water in the buckets, and also not the water in the tank, but you will need to cover the top of the tank with some material, as during the drive the water will slosh around and you do not want it to spill out of the tank and end up in your trunk or elsewhere for that matter. So what can you cover it with so it is tightly closed?

 

Since this is a short trip, I think that using Saran wrap (that film that is used in kitchens to put over food containers) and that clings to the glass. To be safe though, put a strip of wide tape all around it to hold the saran wrap in place. Make sure that it is really tight over the top of the tank, and sticks well to the rim. Alternatively use one of those large black garbage bags and tape that around the aquarium in the same way.

 

Put the tank on some towels so that if there is some spillage that it gets caught by the towels. Keep the temperature in the vehicle at about 78 degrees. If it is in the trunk, the temp should be ok at typically trunks will be warmer than the inside of the car.

 

Have the area where you are going to place the tank ready, so you can set it back up quickly without having to lose time in finding a spot, making sure you have enough outlets available, etc.

 

So what to do with the equipment? First I would clean out the Marineland filter and replace the compounds that are in it. Ideally and that is what I do, it should contain a good quality GAC, a phosphate and nitrate removing compound, and floss or a spongy material to act as a mechanical filter to polish the water and trap particulates that are possibly now floating around in the water.

 

Once you have the tank set up at the new location, gently pour the water back in, reposition the corals if you moved any, and try not to stir up too much dirt as you do all of that. Have your Marineland running and let it trap any detritus or dirt that is floating around in the water. Set the skimmer up and watch how it is running so you do not have a lot of wet foam being generated. Adjust the level of the skimmer as needed. Put the heater back in the tank (you should have removed it before you put the tank in the vehicle).

 

You may need to do some re-arranging of the rock in the tank as during the trip it may have moved around. Note: make sure that as you drive that no pieces of rock can “fall” from higher up and hit the glass of the tank and possibly break it. If you removed rock, place it back in the tank and if you had to move corals try to place them back where they originally were. In that respect it would not hurt to take some pictures of the tank at your friend’s house or apartment so you can use the pics you took to set the tank back up the way it looked at her place.

 

After you have done all of that, the tank should be up and running and although the water may be cloudy (especially if there is sand in your friend’s tank), you now just need to wait for the water to clear up and do some more re-arranging of rocks if that appears to be necessary.

 

On the question of should you add any equipment: probably not, especially if the tank looked in fine shape and the corals were open and looked healthy at your friends. The HOB filter and the skimmer should be all you need.

 

Can you add more, of course, one can always add more in this hobby, but IMO unless conditions warrant it after the tank is running at your place, I think you have all what you need. At some point if you feel that you want to do so, adding a hang-on fuge may be something you want to consider, but that is up to you. One that I have read good reviews about and that quite a few hobbyists seem to use is the Finnex one and you can see it at -> http://tinyurl.com/clc7zlu

 

As I said after everything settles, run some tests to make sure all parameters are where they should be and if not, adjust them.

 

Since during the trip, and with the sloshing of the water, detritus that was stuck to the rocks may have come loose and may decompose. So watch ammonia and nitrite to make sure the tank does not go into a mini-cycle. If it does you will need to do some water changes to keep both as low as possible or down to zero ppm ideally.

 

Hopefully I have covered what I suggest you do but if you have more questions just let me know, either here or via PM.

 

On the thread, I agree that it is getting long and that finding info can be an issue. One can use the search box on the bottom left of a post screen and type in a search word and anything related to that will come up, but I agree that an index would be a lot simpler. I am looking into it and trying to figure out how to come up with one.

 

Well I hope all of the above helps you James.

 

Albert

[atoll]

Hi Albert sorry for the late reply as I have been busy of late as you know.

I have just taken 2 pic's of a couple of what I believe are yellow encrusting sponges out of the light and growing on the live rock. I had problems photographing them as they are only 1" across approx and a good 6" from the front glass.

 

[albertthiel]

Hi Albert sorry for the late reply as I have been busy of late as you know.

 

I have just taken 2 pic's of a couple of what I believe are yellow encrusting sponges out of the light and growing on the live rock. I had problems photographing them as they are only 1" across approx and a good 6" from the front glass.

 

 

 

Les: yes because of their location usually out of the light they can indeed be hard to get a good picture of.

 

In the first pic I see what looks like a white one on a rock to the left below the Candy Cane and in the second one I see yellow growths below and on both sides of the Candy Cane.

 

I assume that those are the ones you are referring to right?

 

Since our aquariums can end up with both regular and boring sponges, since the ones I see are growing on the rock are they growing upward and outward, or do you think they are boring into the rock and not growing very much on the outside.

 

Note that based on reading up on them, unless they are boring and attached to a coral's skeleton, I have not found reports that they cause any damage, but they can start appearing in other locations and kind of become a nuisance that way, as competition for space with other life forms in those areas can then become an issue.

 

As far as I have been able to determine they are not known to cause any damage (unless as I said they are boring and grow on a coral skeleton).

 

Some say that exposing them to air will kill them off, or injecting them with air using a syringe, will kill them off as well, but this may be just anecdotal as others state that doing so does not kill them at all.

 

I guess we do not really know a lot about sponges as it is often just about impossible to determine what type we have and therefore finding specific information is not possible.

 

Looking at the pictures what you could have could be a "Chicken Liver" sponge (Chondrilla nucula) but I cannot be sure. Do the ones you have feel rubbery?

 

I'll try to dig up some more info from some of my books and see what I can come up with.

 

Thanks for the post and let me know on how they seem to develop and what they feel when touched.

 

Thanks

 

Albert

Edited September 1, 2012 by albertthiel

[atoll]

Les: yes because of their location usually out of the light they can indeed be hard to get a good picture of.

 

In the first pic I see what looks like a white one on a rock to the left below the Candy Cane and in the second one I see yellow growths below and on both sides of the Candy Cane.

 

I assume that those are the ones you are referring to right?

 

Yes that's right, in the first pic I took it without flash in the second with flash.

 

Since our aquariums can end up with both regular and boring sponges, since the ones I see are growing on the rock are they growing upward and outward, or do you think they are boring into the rock and not growing very much on the outside.

 

I can't be sure but I suspect just growing on the rock. I have seen these appear if other tanks before and I have had them as well in previous tanks I believe.

 

Looking at the pictures what you could have could be a "Chicken Liver" sponge (Chondrilla nucula) but I cannot be sure. Do the ones you have feel rubbery?

I have not tried to touch them esp as they are not easy to actually get at in the position they are in.

 

I'll try to dig up some more info from some of my books and see what I can come up with.

 

Thanks for the post and let me know on how they seem to develop and what they feel when touched.

 

Thanks

 

Albert

 

Thanks Albert appreciate it.

[albertthiel]

Yes that's right, in the first pic I took it without flash in the second with flash.

 

I can't be sure but I suspect just growing on the rock. I have seen these appear if other tanks before and I have had them as well in previous tanks I believe.

 

I have not tried to touch them esp as they are not easy to actually get at in the position they are in.

 

Thanks Albert appreciate it.

 

Thanks Les for the additional info and yes sometimes it can be hard to get to them as they are often in difficult to reach spots as you rightfully state.

 

So they are yellow then ... I will do some searches in a few books I have to see what I can come up with.

 

Sprung and Delbeek, in their books, do not cover them in great detail other than pointing out that if they die close to a coral and in their second book, close to a Zoanthid colony, that the decaying sponge can cause damage and die-off of the Zoas, and in another section the damage that a dying one can inflict on Tubipora musica (Pipe Organ coral).

 

I do have a number of other books though, and I'll look through them to see whether I can find any other information that may be useful.

 

I have a few growing on one of my live rock pieces but they are branched and not flat looking like the ones you have, and mine are white, looking like the ones shown below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both looking quite different from the ones you have.

 

Have btw not been able to find an ID for mine either. The branching is what is odd, and reference sites do not show anything that looks anywhere near what those look like, that is if they are sponges, which is also not established for sure, although from close by that is what they look like.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Robert Worst's 400 Gallon Reef Video

 

This tank is heavily skewed towards SPS corals, and looks spectacular.

 

© Robert Worst, “The Diving Butcher’s”, 400-gallon aquarium and Advanced Aquarist

 

© also By Shane Graber - Article Posted Aug 27, 2012 03:00 PM

 

The Dutch Hobbyists have some beautiful and amazing aquariums and Robert’s 400-gallon tank is certainly one of them.

 

This is an amazing tank. Robert upgraded to this 400-gallon aquarium around New Year's Eve 2010 from a 130-gallon tank and it certainly shows that he has a "salty-thumb."

 

It is mainly an SPS-dominated aquarium measuring 250 cm x 80 cm x 80 cm (~ 8 ft x 2.6 ft x 2.6 ft).

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/rober...-aquarium-video

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

The Mystery of the Atlantic Sightings and Capture of Pterois Lionfish

 

© Anthony Calfo and wetwebmedia.com

 

Lionfish off the North Carolina Coast and off Long Island areas

 

For more than a few years now, people have reported seeing various non-indigenous marine fishes along the Tropical Atlantic coast of the United States of America.

 

In most cases, they have been isolated specimens in isolated locations. In some circumstances, private homeowners would occasionally see ornamental specimens living in their quiet “backwater” canals.

 

Other times, the exotics have been observed lingering around patch reefs, or in lagoons. The source of some of these fishes was suspected to be release from hobbyists or a rare escape of commercially-held specimens from wholesalers of imported fishes during hurricanes or severe storms.

 

But such small numbers of fishes (usually single specimens) cannot form founding populations easily, if at all. And so, the establishment of the Indo-Pacific Pterois Lionfishes in Atlantic waters has been quite a mystery.

 

This is not unique, as I have seen posts from hobbyists on this and other forums who found and sometimes captured fish that an non normally living in the colder waters off Long Island and off North Carolina, but "Lionfish" ?

 

LINK:

 

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_2/cav...tic_Pterois.htm

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Magnificent Fluorescence in Corals and Methods used to increase it

 

© Anthony Calfo and reefkeeping.com

 

Article includes some gorgeous pictures of corals fluorescing

 

 

"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we have been taught."

 

Baba Dioum, In Nature

 

 

 

LINK:

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/ac/index.php

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

And What Is the Craze About Acanthastrea Corals and their High Prices ?

 

© Eric Borneman & Anthony Calfo and reefkeeping.com

 

The article analyzes the craze that suddenly came about with Acanthastrea Corals and why at one time their prices were so incredibly high.

 

Very interesting reading!

 

A few days after reopening my Coral Forum, I was greeted by an email from a member who rightly pointed out to me that while he enjoyed my book Aquarium Corals, several corals that had become popular since its publication were not well-covered.

 

He specifically mentioned Acanthastrea.

 

I cringed a bit, but admitted he was right and promised an article on this genus of coral in the near future.

 

In fact, mere days later I was visiting a local pet store in Houston where a six to eight inch colony of a rather ugly brownish-gray color had a $1000.00 price tag on it, and was labeled as Acanthastrea.

 

LINK:

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-08/ebac/index.php

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Identifying Parasitic Diseases in Marine Fish - Some Common and some not so Common

 

A Hobbyist’s Guide to Identifying Some Marine Aquarium Parasites. Deals with some parasitic diseases that are not so common but do occur in fishes

 

© By Terry D. Bartelme and Advanced Aquarist

 

Awareness of the symptoms and treatments for other common parasites can save aquarists from disappointing setbacks, unnecessary expenses and the loss of livestock.

 

Most saltwater aquarists are acutely aware of the subjects of Cryptocaryon irritans (saltwater ich) and Amyloodinium ocellatum (velvet) infections in tropical marine fish.

 

However, these are not the only external parasites that are problematic in the hobby.

 

Awareness of the symptoms and treatments for other common parasites can save aquarists from disappointing setbacks, unnecessary expenses and the loss of livestock.

 

This guide is intended as a tool for hobbyists and not as a substitute for properly identifying parasites or other pathogens with the aid of a microscope or other laboratory diagnostic tools.

 

LINK:

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/10/aafeature1

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Toxins, Venoms and Inhibitory Chemicals in Marine Organisms

 

© By Aaron Sewell and Advanced Aquarist

 

Competition and the requirement to kill prey quickly means that venoms in marine species are far more powerful than similar venoms in terrestrial organisms.

 

Coral reefs are seen by humans as tranquil places full of peaceful fish and colourful corals.

 

This, however, is not the way the reef is seen by the many species that inhabit it, the reef is a dangerous, highly cutthroat place where predators are plentiful and competition is fierce.

 

Due to the capabilities and diversity of reef predators and defense mechanisms, many organisms have developed a range of chemicals used both in attack and defense.

 

These chemicals may be as mild as herbivory inhibitors in marine algae or as lethal as neurotoxins produced by Hapalochlaena spp. octopuses or Conus spp. snails.

 

Chemical production may be widespread within a clade such as polyphenol production in marine algae or more species specific such as the venom gland found in the single genus of blennies, Meiacanthus.

 

LINK:

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/9/aafeature1

 

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

A great Nature and Ocean Video from the BBC

 

 

A stunning commercial from the BBC!

 

 

BBC Video

 

Albert

Edited September 1, 2012 by albertthiel

[albertthiel]

A Few Pictures of my Tank taken today

 

 

Looks like the Lantern Basslet likes all corals when he needs a "rest", or hangs around one coral after the other. What an interesting fish to watch indeed.

 

And ... ... what a gobble down any food he can get, he is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert

Edited September 1, 2012 by albertthiel

[albertthiel]

Randi H's Ricordea Garden

 

 

 

 

Very Nice Randi !

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Julian Sprung on Using and Growing Mangroves

 

Article is © Julian Sprung and Two Little Fishes

 

 

You will need Acrobat Reader as this is a PDF file.

 

LINK:

 

http://www.twolittlefishies.com/images/mangrove_manual.pdf

 

 

Albert

[gobyguy123]

Albert how big is your tank?

[albertthiel]

Albert how big is your tank?

 

It's a 20 Gallon high with a few fish and a few corals but basically a light load.

 

I use an HOB filter and an HOB Skimmer.

 

If you look at this page and the previous pages of this thread you will find a lot of pictures of the tank gobyguy123

 

Albert

[gobyguy123]

Oh nice. Mines only 14 gallon biocube.