24 gallon Atlantis

[tinyreef]

What else could be lacking? I don't want to oversimplify, but seriously, we keep whale sharks in captivity. If I feed them often enough, what would they be missing to die of malnutrition?

 

The small tank is a great idea. I'm no good at customizations, so a little tank would be easier. I'll check out that website too. Great tips!!!

glad to be of help!

 

the only other thing i would suggest is to keep an eye on the wastes. what you put in is going to be converted to fecal matter and needs to be removed or converted further (i.e. algae absorbed, further fueling the food chain, etc.).

 

when you do your waterchanges, make sure you siphon out as much of the feces as possible (mandarins are prodigious poopers!). since they seem to take the food, you might want to start target feeding them (if you haven't already) to limit the waste.

 

good to hear they're accepting the prep food. that's often the biggest hurdle with these fish.

[megan]

glad to be of help!

 

the only other thing i would suggest is to keep an eye on the wastes. what you put in is going to be converted to fecal matter and needs to be removed or converted further (i.e. algae absorbed, further fueling the food chain, etc.).

 

when you do your waterchanges, make sure you siphon out as much of the feces as possible (mandarins are prodigious poopers!). since they seem to take the food, you might want to start target feeding them (if you haven't already) to limit the waste.

 

good to hear they're accepting the prep food. that's often the biggest hurdle with these fish.

 

Thanks Tiny. I am feeling good about it now. Everyone is eating and so now I just have to keep everything clean. That, I can control myself. Hey-I checked out your profile and stuff. Where in Florida did you go?

[tinyreef]

i went to tampa, my dad's retired in the clearwater area.

 

he's got a house right on the water, so the kids got a chance to boat, ski, etc. and i had a chance to decompress.

 

but his town's changed a lot just since he moved in a few years back. it was a vacation-home type of town (i.e. not many year-round residents) but nowadays it's a booming town with loads of year-round residents/families.

 

it was very nice. not like this crappy rain/weather i'm staring at today. bleh.

[megan]

So I have some great stuff in my tank now and I am waiting a while until I add anything else. Maybe some soft corals here and there, but there is definitely enough livestock for now. Here are my first pictures. Basically, I have placed a 4 oz baby bottle in one corner, tilted slightly so the food doesn't bob out of the mouth of the bottle. The benefit here is that I can tell if the mandarin really is eating the food because I can't tell what he is getting when he is just picking at the rocks, and when I see him hanging out there, I can tell he is hungry. He is not having any problem with packaged food. My fire shrimp never comes out. I can't believe I got a picture of him. Are they all this shy?

[tinyreef]

that looks great! that's exactly like melev's idea with his mandarins! he finally got them to eat pellet food and has that vid on his site (melevreef.com?). glad to see they're acclimating well.

 

as for the blood shrimp, yes, they're naturally shy (nocturnal). but you can train them just like the mandarins to come out for food.

[alexmurovec]

how about a full tank shot?

[megan]

Here we go! I had reached my photo limit last night, but here's one.

[megan]

So I took a trip to my lfs today and found out that the red algae is bad. Whoda thunk? It means I'm overfeeding. I am so worried about the damn mandarin that I feed too much. He is plumping up fine, so I think I'll slow down. Today I got some Xenia and a serpent star. She said he'd help eat all the left over junk I did about a 20% water change to try to clean it up and everything looks really good now. I should be able to get some more and better pictures in the next couple of days.

 

The fish store has 2 mandarins that are seriously obese. One has fat rolls. I am going to ask if I can take a picture next time I'm in. It is sick! They are literally twice the size of regular one and they are ROUND!

 

BTW, my man is on American Idol. I am very upset, yet I understand that sometimes we have to sacrifice our coolness for a greater cause.

[tinyreef]

Today I got some Xenia and a serpent star. She said he'd help eat all the left over junk

just remember that the star also poops all that junk back out.

 

what goes into the system either needs to be filtered out, siphoned out, or biolocked into some organic mass. very little (relatively speaking) will "disappear" via the nitrogen cycle.

 

keeping a mandarin means aggressive filtration or siphoning/vacuuming of detritus. as long as the mandarin seems plump, you can cut its rations. but expect the cleaning and maintenance to always stay at a significant level (imo).

 

BTW, my man is on American Idol. I am very upset, yet I understand that sometimes we have to sacrifice our coolness for a greater cause.

[firstimereefer]

OK I made it through your thread, looks like a great start but I am going to throw my 2 cents in. I have a pair of clowns in my tank and they always look hungry. Every time I come up to the tank they swim to the top even putting their mouths out of the water begging like dogs for food. My advice is resist the need to over feed. I know you have these wonderful looking fish that look like they need more food all the time, but less can sometimes be more if you get my drift.

[plyr58]

I also wanted to toss in MO to the lot. As far as the Mandarins go, it seems like you are off to a great start. Now that he is filling out nicely, I would recommend scaling back to feeding once every other day for a while and see how his Body Mass holds out. If he stays well proportioned you could even try scaling back to every 2.5-3 days. The biggest problem with our nano tanks really is overfeeding b/c there isnt enough water/bacterial mass to run the Nitrogen cycle wide open all the time and keep your nutrients under control. Inevitably you will end up with elevated ammonia and nitrites and nitrates that will cause problems like the red hair algae. Don't worry though, because it is a delicate balance of feeding too much for your biomass to handle vs feeding too little for the fish to stay well proportioned that you have to learn through experimentation. It sounds like you are well on your way though!

 

It doesn't sound like it is a problem, but make sure that your mandarin is in fact eating the food. They are notorious for sucking food into their mouths and then spitting it out (it looks like they are eating like pigs when they aren't) but since your little guy is packing on the pounds it probably isn't an issue. Just didn't know if you had heard this and wanted to give you a heads up.

 

Finally, do you have a turkey baster? They are invaluable for target feeding, and also quite useful in tank maintenance. Invariably you will end up with some dead flow spots where waste accumulates, and you can fill the baster with tank water and blast the waste out of those spots and into the water column for your filter to take care of.

 

As far as fighting off your nuisance algae, what filtration do you use (I may have missed it)? Let me suggest Purgen and PhosLock. They will help keep your nutrients under control and curb the algae growth. Just a friendly suggestion.

 

A two part additive system such as Kent Marine Nano-Reef Part A and B will really help with your coral growth (by maintinaing trace elements at their proper level) and to maintain a steady calcium and alkalinity level. You can get this for about 10 bucks for both parts, and it makes keeping all your tank levels at the right place quite easy.

 

Keep up the good work!

[firstimereefer]

plyr is right about the trace element and using kents nano A&B, but if you aren't testing all of your elements dont over due it. I use my A&B like every 3 days or so, you can over supplement too.

[plyr58]

Amen

[megan]

You guys are awesome!!! And your avatars scare me into believing you-Ha! I think one of the next things I need to do is get a baster. I do notice stuff on the bottom that seems to just hang out, so I will try to attack that next. I forget what my filtration is called. It is the sheets that you cut to size with the white on one side and the black on the other. I lost the packaging!

 

I was going to just feed a small amount once per day, but I think I am going to wait a day or two before I add anything as I just restocked the copepods yesterday. Now, I am just trying to keep track of what food to feed to who? I have the madarin, a starry blenny, a blood/fire shrimp, misc. cuc and the mushies and rics. The blenny seems to want to eat anything. I have seaweed sheets and frozen for him, but he also likes the brine and mysis. I figure I have enough algae right now to satisfy his need for green, so I haven't put any plant matter in for a few days. I also have the A & B (mine is 1 & 2) and I already do it every 3 or so days.

 

I can't believe how much I have learned, just from the friendlies like you guys! I actually had SW tanks when I was in high school and I do not know how I managed. I had none of this info and never any additives even live rock! It was back in the day when you mixed the salt in the bath tub and burned the crap out of some damsels for 6 weeks. These were standard 20 and 60 gal tanks with crappy lights and pumps. My local fish store was this gross guy who sold any animal he got his hands on. I remember a few crashes, but I don't remember what ultimately happened to my tanks. I think I sold them all back.

 

This is so much more fun! Here are a few shots from this morning (see next post)...

[megan]

So I have finally figured out my camera settings. Just another perc to this hobby!

 

Happy Pink and Green Ric

 

Out of space, I'll add more

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a happy mushroom...

 

 

 

What do you think is up with these guys???

 

[Reef Gator]

Looks like you're off to a good start. I'm glad to see you've been getting good advice (rather than getting yelled at about the mandarin). So here's my 2 cents to add on the pile. 1. The goal of all fish stores (even the "good" ones) is to sell you as much as possible. They are always going to suggest that you buy something. Try to decide for yourself whether or not you need what they suggest. 2. Starfish in nanos are generally a bad idea. Serpent stars (when they get big enough) can trap and kill small, slow-moving fish. Keeping them in the confines of a nano makes this more likely.

[firstimereefer]

So I have finally figured out my camera settings. Just another perc to this hobby!

 

Happy Pink and Green Ric

 

Out of space, I'll add more

Here's a happy mushroom...

 

What do you think is up with these guys???

 

 

Its hard to tell if that is the insides of the mushroom coming out Which = bad news. Can you get a better pic?

 

Also they shrimp will act as a scavenger and eat food bits that are left over so you reall shouldn't have to worry about feeding him directly.

[megan]

Yeah, I gotta watch my LFS. They seem so great and preach conservation all day long and keep so many of their fish as pets. BUT, they have sold me a lot of stuff I don't think I need. I don't plan on getting any more live stock at this point. I just want to bulk up on my corals and inverts.

 

I tried the turkey baster today. Man it is great! I sucked out a bunch of the red algae and some poo that was lingering.

 

I'll have to watch the star fish, although at this point he is in hiding. So is my shrimp! Everyone says he will start to come out, but I forget he is there sometimes.

 

Should I be worried about the red algae? What do you think?

[plyr58]

There are some additives and stuff that you can get to kill off the red algae, although it will eventually clear up as you scale back on the feeding. My suggestion is to watch it and if it starts to spread, then go get something to kill it off. I tend to be anti-chemicals as much as is feasible, but this is not always possible. Do you have hermits? I forget. My scarlet hermit is an algae eating machine, though he can't eat stuff that is too short to clip with his claws. I know alot of people are anti-hermit as well, and I definitely agree as far as blue hermits go, but the scarlets and red legs won't bother snails and mine do a great job with longer algae. I really is hit and miss with how helpful they are, but they can be a great natural algae eating machine.

 

As far as corals go let me make a suggestion, especially seeing as LFS can be pushy when they sell. See if you can find the book, CORALS A Quick Reference Guide by Julian Sprung. It breaks down corals by type, and gives you information about their feeding and placement in the tank. I have found to to be really helpful in selecting new species and in tank placement.

[firstimereefer]

The red algae is called cyano (search it and you will find a bunch on it), it means two things are going on in your tank.1. YOur phosphates are too high and 2.Your nitrates are too high. There is a great product that removes cyano aka red slime I have used it on my tank and it works great and is reef safe. I would first I hate to sound like a machine, but cut down on your feedings and then try to suck it up wwith the turkey baster. I don't believe there is a lot out there as far as live stock goes that will eat it, but even if you found something that did eat it once it ate it all it will probably die off from lack of food.

 

 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...p;N=0&Nty=1

[megan]

So have the two of you thought about getting together and opening your own LFS!?! That is good stuff-Thanks. I have 2 red legs, they don't seem to notice it. I haven't done any feeding and I sucked up a lot of it today. I am doing my additives and hope that may help restore some balance.

 

I see peoples tanks where the rocks look smooth and the water is so clear. My rocks are all covered in green algae and my water seems to have constant particles floating. At my LFS, it is as clear as can be. The tanks are so pristine. I wonder if I'm fiddling too much or not enough. Is it bad to stir up my substrate, or does that help get stuff to the filter?

 

And as for my mushrooms, I have two that have just been spitting gutts out and in, out and in. I took on in to the store and they said his color was still great and not to worry about it. I almost think that one of them is splitting. Its very messy.

 

Did ya'll watch my man on American Idol?

[plyr58]

Our FS would probably fail because I couldn't push stuff people dont need on them.

 

As far as the algae on your LR goes, don't sweat it. Not to sound like a broken record, but once all nutrients are under control, it should clear itself up pretty well. Your CUC will also help here immensely. Algae blooms are part of the natural maturing process of a tank, and as long as all your perams are under control and you have a good diverse CUC it will clear itself up. But like all things in the aquarium world, it will take time (I hate those words, can't believe I just said that) .

 

Could you post some new pics? Check out photobucket.com for image hosting (its free, yay) and then just paste the IMG link on the picture into your message. That way NR doesnt have to host your pics and you have no limit.

 

Oh, and I didn't catch American Idol, but I DVRed it against my better judgment specifically to see Bono.

 

How's the mandarin? Still plump and happy I hope.

[firstimereefer]

Mushrooms spitting out their guts isn't a good thing and should be an indication of something wrong in the tank. Can you give us your params? Mushrooms should never spit out their guts IMHO, the only time I have ever seen mush room guts in my tank was last week when one of them split and I could see the new one forming it guts and what not.

[spanko]

And it is not a good idea to stir your substrate.

[tinyreef]

My rocks are all covered in green algae and my water seems to have constant particles floating.

i forgot, what kind of water are you using? the particles can be from the mushroom issues or something else (like food, bacteria, gametes, etc.).

 

The tanks are so pristine. I wonder if I'm fiddling too much or not enough. Is it bad to stir up my substrate, or does that help get stuff to the filter?

lfs do hella waterchanges and very aggressive filtration. you might not want to run your tanks as such for the amount of work required (they do it because it is work for them).

 

you might be fiddling too much. that's a common problem. sometimes you need to wait a week or more to see the result of one change. at the same time, bad things happen quickly, so you do need to be vigilent. sounds paradoxical, sorry.

 

hmm, on stirring i'm not a big believer. you can do an occasional cleanup but stirring shouldn't be something you do regularly. that's more for fw imo. the natural processes and detritvores should take care of most of the problems. obvious large chunks of poo and piles of bleh should be removed though.

 

suspending the particles does help it reach the filters but those need to be changed or cleaned very regularly then (multiple times a week in that kind of situation).

 

And as for my mushrooms, I have two that have just been spitting gutts out and in, out and in. I took on in to the store and they said his color was still great and not to worry about it. I almost think that one of them is splitting. Its very messy.

find a new store. i'm not liking how he's been leading you from what i've read so far. those "guts open" shrooms are not a picture of health. they're likely stressed from some excessive nutrient/chemical in the water.