THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[ny300z]

Well if you have a slight amount of ammonia then I suspect that it is going to increase before it goes down to zero ...

 

Yes do some testing and let me know this evening ...

 

Thanks

 

BTW the diatoms come later ... and will go away but you can siphon them out easily if you wish

 

Albert

 

 

Hey Albert,

 

I did testing for Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite last night and had 0 on all. Same thing today.

 

The tank has been set up since last sunday.

 

I remember when i set up my nano with only live rock i had a algae bloom by day 8. Should i just be patient and let it be until i get some sort of algae so i can add a CUC?

[albertthiel]

Hey Albert,

 

I did testing for Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite last night and had 0 on all. Same thing today.

 

The tank has been set up since last sunday.

 

I remember when i set up my nano with only live rock i had a algae bloom by day 8. Should i just be patient and let it be until i get some sort of algae so i can add a CUC?

 

Well I would imagine that your tank as finished its cycle and that you can start adding CUC's to it but, as you say, you do not have any foodstuff for them yet, so that may be counterproductive as they will not have anything to feed on.

 

So I would add a few more flakes to the tank to keep the bacterial colony growing and alive, and then in a day or two, say by Monday, you should IMO be ready to add the CUC's, as I suspect that by then there will be diatoms and maybe some other growth that they can feed on.

 

Since the tank has only been set up for 6 days or so it may be a bit early to add anything to it. Of course you added that piece of seeded rock and that may have allowed bacterial growth to spread to the other plain rock that you added.

 

By waiting another day or two, and checking your levels and observing whether you have any diatoms etc .. you should be able to determine whether the time is right to add the CUC's.

 

Let me know how the tank is doing, say tomorrow afternoon and we'll go from there. If all goes well and after adding the additional flakes and if the ammonia and nitrite are still zero on Sunday afternoon, my guess is that the tank is ready for life forms.

 

Let me know tomorrow what you see and what your tests tell you .... thanks

 

Albert

[ny300z]

great, thanks Albert

[albertthiel]

great, thanks Albert

 

You are welcome. Glad to help when I can

Albert

[rick12]

Albert I think those are Yuma babies. I have purple ones and I am always surprised when I see new ones. I always look and go what is that? It takes a couple to three weeks before they look like yumas.

R.

[albertthiel]

Flatworms and Other "Bugs" That Make You See Red

 

© Tom Murphy, reefkeeping.com and Joseph Weatherson

 

 

This article covers Flatworms in great detail, including Convolutriloba retrogemma, Pseudoceros rubroanus and others that are often discussed in posts dealing with Flatworms and Red Bugs.

 

Great Info.

 

Link: http://tinyurl.com/8sfggjv

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Albert I think those are Yuma babies. I have purple ones and I am always surprised when I see new ones. I always look and go what is that? It takes a couple to three weeks before they look like yumas.

R.

 

Yes I do think they are and I do hope that they make it even though they are not getting much light. I have a few more on the left side of the tank, right between the rock that is there and the tank's glass, and those are in the semi-darkness too so we'll have to see what happens.

 

I had some babies that one of them just threw off but one of the fish thought they were food, picked them up and then spit them out in little pieces unfortunately.

 

This however looks like the base has split off a small pieces that is now growing underneath, rather than the other way where little pieces of the large one are dropped on the sand.

 

Thanks for confirming though that what you see is indeed a new growth.

 

Albert

[rick12]

I'm watching LOL, that means you will have to take a lot of pics

[albertthiel]

A Load of Learning About Mantis Shrimp

 

© James Fatherree and reefkeeping.com

 

I read a little about mantis shrimps while taking invertebrate zoology and had even seen a couple of T.V. shows that featured them years ago. I thought they were neat little beasties to say the least, but admittedly I never paid too much attention to them in the subsequent years.

 

When perusing general literature on the subject, what I invariably picked out was that they hide a lot, they can be very aggressive, they cannot be trusted with other "meaty" invertebrates or small fishes, and they can even be dangerous.

 

In addition, I very rarely saw them in stores, and never knew anyone personally that had one (that they wanted), either. So, as much as I like cool critters, I never felt the need to buy one and bring home yet another pet that might need it's own tank.

 

 

Link: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-03/jf/feature/index.php

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

I'm watching LOL, that means you will have to take a lot of pics

 

:-) indeed ... here are some pic just before the lights are going out ...

 

 

 

 

As I said .. we'll have to see what happens in the next week or two ...

 

Albert

[nwin]

Per the request of Albert, I've included some info on my current red bubble algae problem. I have a 14g biocube that's been up and running for about 7 months now. I noticed some red bubble algae on one of the pieces of LR about 2-3 months into owning the tank...not much, maybe only 10-15 small bubbles. I siphoned them off and played a game of tug and war over the next 2 months seeing some grow and siphoning them off. Recently, about one month ago, I noticed a new explosion of bubble algae on the same piece of LR as well as on my frogspawn, seen here:

 

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but there are many tiny bubbles on the frogspawn. I increased the water changes to twice a week for the last week and plan on continuing. It seems the growth rate of the bubble algae has slowed significantly. One interesting part is that during one of the last water changes I got in the back chambers and really siphoned everything out...I was surprised how much gunk was in there...I'm thinking this might have been a nitrate factory for things to grow...though I've heard bubble algae doesn't need any nutrients to grow, so not sure on that...

 

Here's a pic of the bubble algae on the substrate removed from the tank:

 

 

There were a few more small bubbles on the sand bottom yesterday that I spotted, which I removed by hand...just taking out the whole piece of gravel.

 

My main concern now is the frogspawn. There are some pieces of bubble algae on the LR that are just too tiny to get at, as they are in nooks and crannies of the rock. I figure I'll wait till they get bigger to attack them. But the frogspawn, there's just so many little bubbles that I can't get at. Would it be possible to remove the frogspawn from the LR (It's attached to the LR with some epoxy putty right now) and dip the frogspawn in something to kill off the bubble algae? Or maybe remove the frogspawn and extract all the pieces of bubble algae by hand, then rinse it in some fresh RO/DI, then place back in the tank?

[albertthiel]

Leather Coral Surgery .... done this evening as mentioned earlier today

 

As I looked at the back of the "arch" piece of LR on which I have that double Leather Coral, I noticed that there were some growths on the Leather coral (I had seen them before but they seemed to have gotten really larger), and I also noticed a green Bubble algae.

 

I decided that after the lights went off this evening that I would remove that LR piece, and put it in a vessel that was large enough to hold it and put some tank water in it.

 

So I did, and placed that piece of LR in it. I then took out a scalpel type tool and gently cut off, and pried out the growths that were on the back of the Leather Coral.

 

The growths are brownish and are attached to the outside of the Leather, but when removed one can see a piece of whitish growth that is embedded in the Leather itself, and is very pointy, in fact if I pushed it on my finger it would pierce the skin, that is how pointy it is.

 

It is not a snail, and my best guess right now is that it is some kind of boring sponge perhaps, but what the purpose of that white hard very pointy piece is I cannot figure out (I will have to do some research on that unless someone recognizes it in the pictures below, or has seen something like it before). It looks crystalline and is very hard.

 

Anyway the "surgery" was performed, I pried off the Bubble Algae (you can see it in the picture) and put a tiny amount of peroxide on the areas of the Leather where the growth had been (no bubbling was seen) and then placed the Leather back in the tank after brushing the areas with a soft toothbrush (new one).

 

As I look at the Leather now it does not seem to have reacted negatively to it all, it is not droopy or looking odd, but as is to be expected it is closed, and my guess is that it will develop the slime coating that Leathers do, but I am not even sure of that. We'll have to see in the morning.

 

All of this took maybe 3 minutes maximum. The last picture shows what it looks like right now (used a flashlight and my iPhone)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A member PM'ed me and asked me to give a short description of the tank again so ...

 

- 20 gallon High

- 2 100 watt equivalent CFT bulbs, 6500 K

- HOB filter with floss, GFO and GAC and some Poly Filter material

- HOB skimmer (Red Sea Pro Prizm)

- Sand on the bottom but only a thin layer and I have been thinking about removing it

- Totoka Live rock (I estimate that after I have taken some out, that I have about 15 to 16 lbs in there)

 

So, matter taken care of, and hopefully the Leather will be back in its usual shape by tomorrow sometime.

 

And of course ... since I removed one Green Bubble algae, there are probably more ... but I will have to look for them and then manually remove them.

 

Since I posted that I was going to remove those growths, I decided that I would post an update and some pictures of what I took off the Leather.

 

Should you have any questions just post them here and if anyone knows what it was that I removed that had that very pointy white piece that was stuck inside the Leather, do let me know. Thanks.

 

Albert

Edited October 7, 2012 by albertthiel

[rick12]

Per the request of Albert, I've included some info on my current red bubble algae problem. I have a 14g biocube that's been up and running for about 7 months now. I noticed some red bubble algae on one of the pieces of LR about 2-3 months into owning the tank...not much, maybe only 10-15 small bubbles. I siphoned them off and played a game of tug and war over the next 2 months seeing some grow and siphoning them off. Recently, about one month ago, I noticed a new explosion of bubble algae on the same piece of LR as well as on my frogspawn, seen here:

 

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but there are many tiny bubbles on the frogspawn. I increased the water changes to twice a week for the last week and plan on continuing. It seems the growth rate of the bubble algae has slowed significantly. One interesting part is that during one of the last water changes I got in the back chambers and really siphoned everything out...I was surprised how much gunk was in there...I'm thinking this might have been a nitrate factory for things to grow...though I've heard bubble algae doesn't need any nutrients to grow, so not sure on that...

 

Here's a pic of the bubble algae on the substrate removed from the tank:

 

 

There were a few more small bubbles on the sand bottom yesterday that I spotted, which I removed by hand...just taking out the whole piece of gravel.

 

My main concern now is the frogspawn. There are some pieces of bubble algae on the LR that are just too tiny to get at, as they are in nooks and crannies of the rock. I figure I'll wait till they get bigger to attack them. But the frogspawn, there's just so many little bubbles that I can't get at. Would it be possible to remove the frogspawn from the LR (It's attached to the LR with some epoxy putty right now) and dip the frogspawn in something to kill off the bubble algae? Or maybe remove the frogspawn and extract all the pieces of bubble algae by hand, then rinse it in some fresh RO/DI, then place back in the tank?

I get green bubble from tome to time. I am not sure if it is much different?

Removal is IMO fairly simple. I wait for it to cluster and just remove it by hand.

In areas where it can't easily be reached, I use a 3/4" siphon and I attach a sewing needle to the end with glue and zap straps. When I do a water change, I poke the bubble and siphon it out.

I know a lot of people fret over the idea that you pop the bubble and spores will contaminate the tank, but, if you have bubble algae then the tank is already contaminated. So don't sweat the small stuff. Just remove it the best you can. Constantly basting your rock with a turkey blaster or power head will help to keep this pest und control.

R.

[Weetabix7]

Interesting Leather surgery results.

Can you post a link with info on CFT bulbs, since many ppl here won't be familiar with them? Also, what made you choose those for your lighting?

[albertthiel]

Per the request of Albert, I've included some info on my current red bubble algae problem. I have a 14g biocube that's been up and running for about 7 months now. I noticed some red bubble algae on one of the pieces of LR about 2-3 months into owning the tank...not much, maybe only 10-15 small bubbles. I siphoned them off and played a game of tug and war over the next 2 months seeing some grow and siphoning them off. Recently, about one month ago, I noticed a new explosion of bubble algae on the same piece of LR as well as on my frogspawn, seen here:

 

It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but there are many tiny bubbles on the frogspawn. I increased the water changes to twice a week for the last week and plan on continuing. It seems the growth rate of the bubble algae has slowed significantly. One interesting part is that during one of the last water changes I got in the back chambers and really siphoned everything out...I was surprised how much gunk was in there...I'm thinking this might have been a nitrate factory for things to grow...though I've heard bubble algae doesn't need any nutrients to grow, so not sure on that...

 

Here's a pic of the bubble algae on the substrate removed from the tank:

 

There were a few more small bubbles on the sand bottom yesterday that I spotted, which I removed by hand...just taking out the whole piece of gravel.

 

My main concern now is the frogspawn. There are some pieces of bubble algae on the LR that are just too tiny to get at, as they are in nooks and crannies of the rock. I figure I'll wait till they get bigger to attack them. But the frogspawn, there's just so many little bubbles that I can't get at. Would it be possible to remove the frogspawn from the LR (It's attached to the LR with some epoxy putty right now) and dip the frogspawn in something to kill off the bubble algae? Or maybe remove the frogspawn and extract all the pieces of bubble algae by hand, then rinse it in some fresh RO/DI, then place back in the tank?

 

nwin:

 

I think that what you are doing for the ones that are easy to remove is what needs to be done, and make sure you do not get the spores that are inside the bubble in the water as I am sure you know.

 

I think that a drastic cleaning of the rocks and the tank would be in order too to remove as much detritus as you can so that the nutrient level goes down as much as you can. I posted several messages about what I do: blowing off the rock on a frequent basis and trapping the dirt and detritus and whatever else, and cleaning the mechanical filters often.

 

That should get possible nutrient sources out of the water and reduce the incidence of regrowth, although they can grow even at low nutrient levels but at some point they have to diminish in growth rate as you keep removing them.

 

Now on the frogspawn: if you can remove it from the rock that it is on then I would do so and put it in a container with enough tank water and then scrub the bubbles off with a strong bristle toothbrush, and after you have done that, rinse it in another container with tank water to get any residue of the bubbles off it. You may want to rinse it a few times in clean salt water each time (from the tank).

 

The key is to scrub and scrub in all the crevices and get all the bubble algae material off that rock and that is going to take really scrubbing hard and making sure you get it all off.

 

After you have done that you can replace it in the tank and epoxy it back on.

 

For other bubbles just do as you were doing, manual removal and eventually you will have them all out of the tank, but you may have to continue to watch what goes on as some may re-appear.

 

That is basically what hobs who get them do and keep doing for as long as they re-appear and eventually they will go away, it's like a cycle and the cycle ends IME.

 

And yes do not let the sump or the tank accumulate detritus as they will just keep the cycle going ....

 

Hope this helps ... if not let me know what other questions you have

 

Albert

Edited October 7, 2012 by albertthiel

[albertthiel]

I get green bubble from tome to time. I am not sure if it is much different?

Removal is IMO fairly simple. I wait for it to cluster and just remove it by hand.

In areas where it can't easily be reached, I use a 3/4" siphon and I attach a sewing needle to the end with glue and zap straps. When I do a water change, I poke the bubble and siphon it out.

I know a lot of people fret over the idea that you pop the bubble and spores will contaminate the tank, but, if you have bubble algae then the tank is already contaminated. So don't sweat the small stuff. Just remove it the best you can. Constantly basting your rock with a turkey blaster or power head will help to keep this pest und control.

R.

 

Yes rick that is what one can do and yes you need to be really careful not to get the spores in the water as that will just make things worse but you knew that.

 

The way you get the difficult ones to reach out of the tank is interesting indeed and if the flex hose you use is wide enough when you burst the bubble the fluid should be sucked out as well but do you get the base of the bubble out as well, as if you do not IME it will just regrow there.

 

I guess based on what you wrote that you are doing so though.

 

Bubble algae issues can go on for a long time IME but it seems that it goes through a cycle and eventually they do not reappear. Hopefully that will be the case for you and also for nwin, and for me since I removed one today as well and I am sure there are more, I just have not seen them yet.

 

thanks

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Interesting Leather surgery results.

Can you post a link with info on CFT bulbs, since many ppl here won't be familiar with them? Also, what made you choose those for your lighting?

 

Those bulbs are available at the Big Box stores and in various K degree ratings. I use the 6500K ones.

 

They are the ones that may say something like 23 watt and 100 watt equivalent (which are the ones I have)

 

Here is a pic of what they look like :

 

 

There are various brands and those are the bulbs that are recommended for replacing regular incandescent ones nowadays. Cost is around 8 to 10 dollars for a 2-pack I seem to remember.

 

I choose them because I do not need LED's (yet) and they can be inserted into one of those inexpensive shoplites ($8-10 or so). and then give a great deal of light and can be placed close to the water as they do not heat up the tank, and do no shatter if a little water from a bursting bubble at the air water interface burst and sprays a little H2O on the bulb.

 

Hope that clarifies it but if not let me know

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Had not seen my Stomatella for a few days .....

 

But here it is ... as I finished the cleaning up of the Leather coral and took that last picture with my phone and a flashlight, I suddenly saw it ... of course as I look now it is not to be seen again ...

 

oh well ...

 

 

 

Albert

[Weetabix7]

I stomatellas.

Thanks for the lighting explanation.

[albertthiel]

I stomatellas.

Thanks for the lighting explanation.

 

Me too, problem is one hardly ever sees them :-)

 

NP on the light... they seem to work well for me and the tank !

 

Nite

Albert

[atoll]

Those bulbs are available at the Big Box stores and in various K degree ratings. I use the 6500K ones.

 

They are the ones that may say something like 23 watt and 100 watt equivalent (which are the ones I have)

 

Here is a pic of what they look like :

 

 

Albert

 

 

Hi Albert,

Oh how times have changed since we entered this hobby of ours.

I well remember my first halide lamp which cost me £300 back in the late 80s with a 250watt 4300k lamp in it. Later I bought a 5400k lamp then 6500k lamp. 5400k and 6500k were considered very white daylight lamps. These were all Osram powerstar lamps and double ended. Now we have all manner of K lamps and to be honest its all become very confusing for many as to which K lamps to use.

 

With LED's we are seeing some units with a few red LED's in them along with a selection of various K LED's. ranging from 6000k to 20,000k and even more I am hearing. Seems LED's are a bit like PC's in that no sooner will you have bought one than it will be out of date within months. Some manufacturers have realised this and now produce LED's that can be easily replaced and are retro fixable.

 

There are still many who are yet to be convinced by LED's and are not giving up their HQI or T5s as yet. However we live in interesting times lighting wise and I keep hearing rumours of plasma lighting being the next best thing but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

[albertthiel]

Hi Albert,

Oh how times have changed since we entered this hobby of ours.

I well remember my first halide lamp which cost me £300 back in the late 80s with a 250watt 4300k lamp in it. Later I bought a 5400k lamp then 6500k lamp. 5400k and 6500k were considered very white daylight lamps. These were all Osram powerstar lamps and double ended. Now we have all manner of K lamps and to be honest its all become very confusing for many as to which K lamps to use.

 

With LED's we are seeing some units with a few red LED's in them along with a selection of various K LED's. ranging from 6000k to 20,000k and even more I am hearing. Seems LED's are a bit like PC's in that no sooner will you have bought one than it will be out of date within months. Some manufacturers have realised this and now produce LED's that can be easily replaced and are retro fixable.

 

There are still many who are yet to be convinced by LED's and are not giving up their HQI or T5s as yet. However we live in interesting times lighting wise and I keep hearing rumours of plasma lighting being the next best thing but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

Oh, do I remember those times well Les. Very well actually. We were content in those days, and to some degree amazed at what those original Osram double-ended Halides would do, but little did we know that they were actually only 4600K. Of course not much literature was available on what the K really meant or did.

 

And yes, then higher K degree ones came on the market as you say, and eventually the Iwasaki ones arrived here in the US, which were not AS expensive when they came on the market in even higher K ratings ... and we used them for years, mixing them with Actinic which soon appeared, and we thought we were doing it all in the right manner, based on some of the article that came out at that time, and the "great" reviews we read about the "benefits" of using MH's.

 

And of course it you kept Clams you had to have the high powered ones (like 400 Watt versus the lower wattage ones we started off with). And since if I remember well, there were no 2 inch clams available in those days, so we had to "max" out the amount of light over those tanks.

 

Then T5's came back in fashion, and then the T5HO's, and we started using a combination of all of them ... adding to the cost not only of the Bulbs, but the ballasts, and the fixtures that were needed.

 

Not to mention the "chillers" we needed, as the MH's would raise the tank temps so much that we needed them, and in those days there were no "inexpensive chillers either" ...

 

Times have changed indeed and now everyone or a lot of hobbyists are in LED's and LED's mixed with T5HO's and as you say, just about every few weeks something new and "supposedly better" comes on the market, at additionial cost and higher cost too ... Just take a look at the cost of a good, large Radion fixture ! I saw one at Pure Reef (LFS) the other day over one of their displays for SPS and when I enquired about the price, the son of the owner told me that with the mods and the brackets to hang them and the regulators to start and stop and dim them etc ... cost well over $1,700 for that fixture alone.

 

Go figure ... that is actually even more than what the original MH's with Osram bulbs cost, although those went up in price as well ... If I remember well we used to sell the 4 250 watt ones from Dupla for over $2,000 and that was in the late 80's.

 

Change and more change .... I just wonder what is next: "Plasma Lighting" as it already exists and is used at some Public Aquariums.

 

Advances in this hobby never seem to stop and every so often something new comes out, especially as you say about lighting ... and we are still not IMO sure about the long term effect of using LED's ... as the manufacturers keep changing the types and strengths and colors.

 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens and what direction the hobby is going for lighting ...

 

IMO it is going to be like you also suggest a mix of LED's and T5's / T5HO's and maybe some actinic ... time will tell.

 

Thanks for the thoughts ...

 

The interesting thing to watch for will be what else changes :-)

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Hi Albert,

Oh how times have changed since we entered this hobby of ours.

I well remember my first halide lamp which cost me £300 back in the late 80s with a 250watt 4300k lamp in it. Later I bought a 5400k lamp then 6500k lamp. 5400k and 6500k were considered very white daylight lamps. These were all Osram powerstar lamps and double ended. Now we have all manner of K lamps and to be honest its all become very confusing for many as to which K lamps to use.

 

With LED's we are seeing some units with a few red LED's in them along with a selection of various K LED's. ranging from 6000k to 20,000k and even more I am hearing. Seems LED's are a bit like PC's in that no sooner will you have bought one than it will be out of date within months. Some manufacturers have realised this and now produce LED's that can be easily replaced and are retro fixable.

 

There are still many who are yet to be convinced by LED's and are not giving up their HQI or T5s as yet. However we live in interesting times lighting wise and I keep hearing rumours of plasma lighting being the next best thing but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

And yes, with all the changes that are being made in LED lighting understanding it and figuring out what is best is indeed getting more and more complex ... but I guess we'll eventually figure it out ... at least I sure hope so Les.

 

Of course lighting is not the only thing that changed .... DSB's, a lot less LR, new products for chemical filtration etc ... are also part of what has been changing, not to speak of all the newer foods that are now on the market ...

 

Are things getting simpler ... not so sure with all the decisions we have to make and all the choices that are now available.

 

Albert

 

 

 

 

I stomatellas.

Thanks for the lighting explanation.

 

 

On the Stomatellas : did you at any point have some to ... and how long did they survive if you had some?

 

Just wondering

 

Albert

Edited October 7, 2012 by albertthiel

[albertthiel]

I stomatellas.

Thanks for the lighting explanation.

 

Here is a link where you can find more information on the CFT/CFL bulbs

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ecosmart+bulbs

 

Find the 6500 K ones as those are the ones I use

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

A few more Pictures of my Tank taken Yesterday

 

Forgot to post these yesterday ...

 

 

 

These never seem to open a lot but do well, may have to place them in more light maybe

 

 

 

And here is a good reason to make sure you clean the bucket or container in which you prepare fresh saltwater every time after you use it .... this was a white paper towel before starting the clean the bucket.

 

Look at the color now after I cleaned the bucket I use with it ... as you can see a lot of slimy material accumulates in the bucket, and if not removed it will pollute the new water you prepare for sure:

 

 

Albert