paneubert Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Cleaner Wrasse and other fish under observation in the QT tank seem to be doing well with no signs of distress or parasites. The wrasse did seem to pick at or eat some of the 50/50 mix I fed the tank. So lets hope he/she is getting enough nutrition from that! We will see what happens when I feed again tonight. In other news, I got my recently purchased AquaC Remora Skimmer with a Maxijet 1200 up and running. Breaking it in right now....so the collection cup is as high as I can get it to avoid any sudden flood if the skimmer starts working when I am at work or asleep. Even with the cup all the way up, I woke up this morning to find a little cap of bubbles balanced on the top of the vertical tube that leads to the collection cup. It was sort of weird since there were no bubbles in the rest of the tube.....just way down at the source where the water is all turbulent and bubbly, and then way up at the other end at the collection cup. Who knows.....but lets hope I do not come home to a flooded house! Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 .....but lets hope I do not come home to a flooded house! Not AGAIN! your wife just might have an issue Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 Well.....I assume it will all stay behind the tank. Out of sight, out of mind. Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Well.....I assume it will all stay behind the tank. Out of sight, out of mind. Let me know how that works for ya Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) Let me know how that works for ya Worked out ok! Sorry for the "Purple Haze" This is with the collection cup all the way up......score for getting a good skimmer! Broken in within 24 hours. Edited February 25, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 At the request of my buddy, some Android Phone pics of my Ebay Corals. But not the Sun Coral or the other one that never opens during the day....not even worth posting those Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Oh hi there! Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Dunno exactly what that is, but is sure looks cool !! Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 Some sort of ray. I thought it looked cool. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 Crazy Snail.... Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 Big Update! I just transferred the 3 Chromis, 1 Cleaner Wrasse, and one SixLine Wrasse to the main display tank. They had been in the QT for a week and never showed any signs of issues. Fingers crossed that they do not get any new ich or anything into my main tank. I guess time will tell. The three Chromis look so small in there! The wife is already talking about us needing to up it to 5 instead of 3 . Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Second trip to the Seattle Aquarium for some water. If you read about my first experience, you know I was going to use the "big" hose this time since it has a ball valve on the end versus the smaller hose that is just a hose with no way to stop the flow besides kinking the tube. Turns out that the big hose's valve does not seal all the way......hahahahaha! I just cant win! I tried to throttle down the overall flow/pressure back at the source (there is a valve close to the holding tank as well as on the end of the hose). But it still leaks a small flow of water even then. Ohh well. So my plan for trip 3 is going to be bringing my own valve so I can screw it on the small hose. I am pretty sure it was threaded/sized like a standard garden hose and I can just bring anything that would fit on one of those. We will see. Worse comes to worse I will just continue to stop the flow by kinking. It actually works pretty well and I am just a complainer. Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Second trip to the Seattle Aquarium for some water. If you read about my first experience ....... It actually works pretty well and I am just a complainer. Jeez - what a uber-whine-er !!! Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Jeez - what a uber-whine-er !!! Haha. Naw....I am just documenting the experience. If it was really that bad then I would just buy water from the LFS. On a good note, the dock was totally empty this time and I got to drive right up to the pumps . Guess it might pay off to go during the day when I assume they police the dock parking. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 (edited) 5 days of skimming with the collection cup set at random heights. Now I will clean it out and then leave it where it is and see what another 5 days look like. Funny thing was that I thought the stuff would smell nasty. It actually smelled a lot like "earth" or a greenhouse. Sort of like wet dirt. Edited March 2, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
gutterguy Posted March 2, 2011 Share Posted March 2, 2011 Ebay corals look great. My skimate smells horrible. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 Ebay corals look great. Thanks. They did work out pretty well for being off Ebay. I would probably not do it again though since it was stressful to not know the final price until the last second. I think I would probably just go for a different WYSIWYG type retailer. There was one dendro frag that still looks like it did when it got here.....so I think it is either dead or just taking a ridiculous amount of time to acclimate. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Someone decided to host my toadstool.....it is the same size as her Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 That's some fun-looking hosting right there ... Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Ignore what looks to be either cyano or diatoms...... They are either a result of adding that new rock (since that is where most of it is showing up), or........there are silicates in the saltwater I am getting. EEEEEEEEKKKK! I am hoping it is just "new tank syndrome" since I added some base rock. The other theory is that since I have added fish back in to a system that was coral only for a month and a half, the bio-filter is just catching up. We will see what happens with time. Now that I have a skimmer on there, I might try carbon dosing to see if I can cut down on my algae. I do feed my tank heavy since I spot feed each coral and also feed the fish every second day. I do not want to have to cut down on the feeding since it is helping the corals grow. Especially the Sun Coral. There is not really an option not to feed that heavily. The funniest part is that the algae really started growing AFTER I added the skimmer. Fun times.... Quote Link to comment
Gort Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Ignore what looks to be either cyano or diatoms.... There is not really an option not to feed that heavily. The funniest part is that the algae really started growing AFTER I added the skimmer. Fun times.... I still say there a large percentage of alchemy involved in this addiction - er, "hobby" Quote Link to comment
SpringFever Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 What are your Nitrate and Phosphate reading? You might be able to achieve the same results without the learning curve... Just a thought. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 What are your Nitrate and Phosphate reading? You might be able to achieve the same results without the learning curve... Just a thought. They read zero or close to it depending on when I take the reading as compared to how long it has been since I fed the tank. I would think I am seeing low readings since the algae is consuming it. So the carbon dosing would be to compete with the algae. Remove the Nitrate and Phosphate via bacterial bloom rather than by growing algae. If I go for it, I am not going to use the standard recipes. I have read about some people around here who saw just as much success with limiting their dose to a drop or two per day consistently over time as compared to the standard of jacking it up higher and higher for weeks and then dropping down to a smaller dose long term. So if I do experiment, it will be limited in the damage it can do and I will stick to only a drop or two per day. If the algae remains, I might add an extra drop per day or 2 days until it reduces. We will see. I am not even sure I want to go the carbon dosing route. Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Went down to deliver some frogs to Vancouver (Washington). Stayed with my buddy and we went to check out some of the local stores since he had just moved there a few weeks ago and so neither of us knew if there were any good saltwater places. Found an amazing place! Used to be an online only retailer who also ran a members only club for locals. But he sold it all and the new owner has opened it up to the public. If you are ever around Portland/Vancouver, check out. "Ocean in a Box". Amazing selection of corals that you would normally only see online. Full colonies as well as tons and tons of frags. LPS, SPS, zoa's, etc.... He is also expanding his fish and invertebrate selection as much as he can since it was only coral sales when he bought it. Long story short, I finally got what I have been wanting for quite a while......a long tentacle torch. It is a light purple/green tentacle with a hot green tip. I also picked up a shorter tentacle torch that looks a lot like what you see advertised as an "Australian Golden". Fairly dark purple tentacles with a white/gold tip. So now I am up to three torches. My original pink torch that seemed to bleach out and keep short tentacles, and the two new ones. Pretty stoked! Photos will come tomorrow after things have settled in from being tossed all around. I had to rearrange a lot of the other corals to make room for the new guys! Quote Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) My brain hurts. So only a short update. 1. Added some lace rock to make more of a back wall/vertical structure. Did it smart this time and hand picked flat pieces from the LFS so they could go more vertical than horizontal. Also smart since I got lace rock that was only around 2 bucks a pound. And dry....so no water weight. Ended up with one really awesome extra piece that is really textured but flat.....but nowhere to put it. So I am going to hold onto it for a future tank and use it for a nice wall. 2. Seriously thinking about dosing vodka and "Microbe-Lift Nite-Out II". Only doing .1 ml per day of the vodka and do not plan to really increase that past .2 or .3 per day unless I see absolutely no results. Do not think I will go with the classic "increase it every day/week higher and higher until you see results" approach. I am going to limit myself and just see what happens with low daily doses for now. Should be fairly safe since I am keeping my dose low. As for the bacteria, I am not sure how much I will dose daily. The bottle says 5 ml per 10G every water change. I think I might just go with 1 ml each day. That would actually end up being less than I would be dosing long term if I followed the bottle instructions. Does anyone see an issue with using "Nite-Out II" instead of MicroBacter7? It seems like half the successful vodka dosing people are not even dosing bacteria to being with. They are relying on the tank to produce its own base stock for multiplication. I just wonder about the apparent brand loyalty since most articles I read where someone is dosing bacteria, it always seems to be MicroBacter7 and never any other product. Edited March 8, 2011 by paneubert Quote Link to comment
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