THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[albertthiel]

Albert, my blue lights are coming on.. cannot wait for the white lights. I'm thinking about ordering another quick crew from johny + a couple assorted snails from johny @ reef cleaners. I think that will be a valuable option now that this is pretty close to under control. A lot of people have told me that the regular snails dont have the mouths big/strong enough to chew through stalks of 'living' thicker type algae.. fortunately mine is not so thick anymore.. A pic will be coming here in a bit going to be like 2 hours before white lights are on

 

Sounds like a good plan indeed ... Ask John for advice based on what remains to be eaten/ consumed and I am sure he will tell what it best for your tank to order ...

 

I would not go overboard on lighting till the problem is solved as more light = more photosynthesis and possibly more growth so solving the problem totally is probably best before you add more light.

 

And on the CUC ... John will give you real good advice as long as you tell him what you still have to get rid off ..

 

Albert

[eitallent]

well done!

 

Thank you!!

[Trogdor447]

Sounds like a good plan indeed ... Ask John for advice based on what remains to be eaten/ consumed and I am sure he will tell what it best for your tank to order ...

 

I would not go overboard on lighting till the problem is solved as more light = more photosynthesis and possibly more growth so solving the problem totally is probably best before you add more light.

 

And on the CUC ... John will give you real good advice as long as you tell him what you still have to get rid off ..

 

Albert

 

My light schedule remains at the same place since I got the sunrise/sunset controller.. I'm not going to be 'adding' any lights.. in the future I will add a few banks of different colors just to get an idea. Yep I have been in contact with john, he is the man and this will be the 3rd purchase from him!

 

Light schedule: 9:30am - blue lights start coming in - 6:30pm blue lights fade out

10:30am - white lights come in - 5:30 - white lights go out

 

This has worked pretty darn good so far everything is growing fine and healthy. The algae doesnt seem to be able to make a come back!

[albertthiel]

Yes the feeding reaction is really strong. I kept the juice that came out of the clams and mixed it in with the chopped oyster and clam meat. It turns the water in the feed cup really cloudy and that must be the "smell" in the water that drives everything crazy to eat.

Skipper is such a clown! :0)

 

Yes I could see that indeed ... And thanks for sharing those feeding moments with us !

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

Paul, do you test for phosphates in your system?

 

Your high nitrate readings just have me wondering about things I've been reading and I've experienced. As far as I can tell, my SPS corals don't seem to care at all about nitrates either but are much more sensitive to drops in alkalinity.

 

 

That would assume that I have a test kit. Actually the only test kit I do have is phosphate. I found it by accident a couple of weeks ago and someone must have given it to me as I am not a fan of testing anything as long as all seems well. My test kit (and I don't know if it is any good)reads no phosphates. None, zero, so the kit is probably wrong or my tank is leaking phosphates someplace.

I know virtually every post on every forum states that nitrates have to be as close to zero as possible as well as phosphates. And virtually every one of those posters has trouble of some type with their tank. The people who constantly test and tweek while adding kalk and vinnegar through reactors have the most problems.

Just go to any forum and read about all the problems. Just like the people who meticulously quarantine post the most about their fish getting ich.

I am not saying to let your tank become a sewer, of course not. Clean, unpolluted water is something to strive for but it is not the end all thing to be concerned about in this hobby. If it was, this would be easy and all we would have to do is change the water every day and everything would be fine. But guess who has the most problems? The people with new tanks with all new water, or old timers who are more relaxed?

Why do new tanks have so many problems with algae, cyano, ich etc? In theory new water should be the best thing, but is it? Aparently not as they have all sorts of problems. The health of the fish through proper nutrition is IMO the ultimate most important thing. You can not keep a fish in great, spawning condition if you don't feed it correctly even if the parameters are perfect.

When someone has a sick fish, without a doubt, people will ask: What are your parameters? Parameters, with in reason will not cause disease.

I also feel that adding the correct bacteria from the sea is also beneficial even though, like blackworms, many people can't get it. I can't help that, I just report on what has worked for me, and believe me I have killed more fish and corals that a sushi shop in midtown Manhattan.

So, yes try to keep your nitrates and phosphates low, not zero but low, but while you are doing that, feed your fish properly, and live food, if you can get it will almost guarantee success.

I do everything wrong and according to experts, my tank should not be here and my fish should not be alive. They are correct except for one detail. I know what fish need to eat. That allows me to cheat a little on other aspects like quarantining, nitrate readings and some others.

If I can keep such a screwed up tank and have success with it for so many years, one of two of my theories must be correct.

[albertthiel]

My light schedule remains at the same place since I got the sunrise/sunset controller.. I'm not going to be 'adding' any lights.. in the future I will add a few banks of different colors just to get an idea. Yep I have been in contact with john, he is the man and this will be the 3rd purchase from him!

 

Light schedule: 9:30am - blue lights start coming in - 6:30pm blue lights fade out

10:30am - white lights come in - 5:30 - white lights go out

 

This has worked pretty darn good so far everything is growing fine and healthy. The algae doesnt seem to be able to make a come back!

 

Well that sounds good indeed and if you see good growth then I would not change too much and remember that if you make changes in lighting doing it slowly is best so the corals can adapt to the new spectrum slowly and not get shocked ...

 

Good to read John has been helpful .. but then he always is IME. Great Customer service for sure.

 

Thanks for the update ..

 

Albert

[eitallent]

Yes I could see that indeed ... And thanks for sharing those feeding moments with us !

 

Albert

 

It is my pleasure to share these moments with you. I feel privileged to contribute to your thread and this forum. Thank you and all the members for making my enjoyment of this hobby so much more interesting and rewarding.

[Paul.b]

Hi! I will be feeding the PaulB Live from NY! Diet at 10 am EST/ 9 CST and broad casting it on Ustream.tv .

 

 

 

Thank you Paul for drumming the live foods mantra into my head!! My fish, Skipper, Marty Feldman, Zig & Zag, thank you too...

 

 

Your welcome. But don't let the secret out. I think the vast majority feel that if a fish lives 2 or 3 years that is a success. I read it all the time. How many people will say something like: "I got a Moorish Idol two weeks ago and it eats everything, I don't know why so many people think this is such a hard fish to keep as I have great success with it"

 

You can keep a Moorish Idol alive in damp sawdust for two weeks, that is not a success. I keep them for 5 years and that is an ultimate failure. It is always a failure if a fish dies before it's normal lifetime which in most fish is at least 15 years. Clownfish live well over 20 years and if it dies in 5 or 6 years, we failed.

If you lived in a village where everyone died at age 5, and no one lived to 60, I would not want to live there and I would assume that something was wrong. But that is what the comparative age is when a fish dies in 2 or 3 years. Fish are not like us. We can eat potato chips and drink beer every day for years and still live and maybe if we find a really stupid mate, reproduce, fish can't. Their entire being depends on nutrition and flakes won't cut it.

[albertthiel]

It is my pleasure to share these moments with you. I feel privileged to contribute to your thread and this forum. Thank you and all the members for making my enjoyment of this hobby so much more interesting and rewarding.

 

You are more than welcome and you are definitely a very dedicated and conscientious Nano-Reef Keeper that is for sure, not that there are no other ones, there are , but from what you do and how you do it and what you report ... all I can say eitallent is power to you and thanks for all your posts and bits of information you share on your own findings.!

 

And your tank look looks real good ! Thank you

 

Albert

[eitallent]

Hi! I will be feeding the PaulB Live from NY! Diet at 10 am EST/ 9 CST and broad casting it on Ustream.tv .

 

 

 

Thank you Paul for drumming the live foods mantra into my head!! My fish, Skipper, Marty Feldman, Zig & Zag, thank you too...

 

 

Your welcome. But don't let the secret out. I think the vast majority feel that if a fish lives 2 or 3 years that is a success. I read it all the time. How many people will say something like: "I got a Moorish Idol two weeks ago and it eats everything, I don't know why so many people think this is such a hard fish to keep as I have great success with it"

 

You can keep a Moorish Idol alive in damp sawdust for two weeks, that is not a success. I keep them for 5 years and that is an ultimate failure. It is always a failure if a fish dies before it's normal lifetime which in most fish is at least 15 years. Clownfish live well over 20 years and if it dies in 5 or 6 years, we failed.

If you lived in a village where everyone died at age 5, and no one lived to 60, I would not want to live there and I would assume that something was wrong. But that is what the comparative age is when a fish dies in 2 or 3 years. Fish are not like us. We can eat potato chips and drink beer every day for years and still live and maybe if we find a really stupid mate, reproduce, fish can't. Their entire being depends on nutrition and flakes won't cut it.

 

This makes so much sense and seems so obvious but until I read your articles it really did not dawn on me.

 

I like fresh veggies, meat and fish better than processed foods. All the experts say that fresh whole foods are better for us than processed food. So why would it be different for any other animals?

 

Your sharing this information may meet with resistance from a few self-proclaimed "experts" only becausse it is so simple a concept that it is an embarrassment to them that they did not think of it first!

 

Again thanks for beating the feed live foods drum! I agree wholeheartedly with you and since seeing the fish colors becom so vivid and bright I am a true believer too.

[rick12]

My LFS will feed zucchini, lettuce, kale, etc to fish but mention worms for salties and they freak out.

Say it's bad

[eitallent]

My LFS will feed zucchini, lettuce, kale, etc to fish but mention worms for salties and they freak out.

Say it's bad

I guess that is why live worms are used by fishermen? If fish like or prefer them to other lures it gives us a clue that it may be because worms are good for fish! I guess if you get worms from a sewage pond it maybe dangerous for fish in aquariums. Some people are just stuck in a rut and like it there. Change is scary for them so they would rather say it is bad without evidence than change their mind set. Oh well, life goes on and they get left behind.

[albertthiel]

Paul, do you test for phosphates in your system?

 

Your high nitrate readings just have me wondering about things I've been reading and I've experienced. As far as I can tell, my SPS corals don't seem to care at all about nitrates either but are much more sensitive to drops in alkalinity.

 

 

That would assume that I have a test kit. Actually the only test kit I do have is phosphate. I found it by accident a couple of weeks ago and someone must have given it to me as I am not a fan of testing anything as long as all seems well. My test kit (and I don't know if it is any good)reads no phosphates. None, zero, so the kit is probably wrong or my tank is leaking phosphates someplace.

I know virtually every post on every forum states that nitrates have to be as close to zero as possible as well as phosphates. And virtually every one of those posters has trouble of some type with their tank. The people who constantly test and tweek while adding kalk and vinnegar through reactors have the most problems.

Just go to any forum and read about all the problems. Just like the people who meticulously quarantine post the most about their fish getting ich.

I am not saying to let your tank become a sewer, of course not. Clean, unpolluted water is something to strive for but it is not the end all thing to be concerned about in this hobby. If it was, this would be easy and all we would have to do is change the water every day and everything would be fine. But guess who has the most problems? The people with new tanks with all new water, or old timers who are more relaxed?

Why do new tanks have so many problems with algae, cyano, ich etc? In theory new water should be the best thing, but is it? Aparently not as they have all sorts of problems. The health of the fish through proper nutrition is IMO the ultimate most important thing. You can not keep a fish in great, spawning condition if you don't feed it correctly even if the parameters are perfect.

When someone has a sick fish, without a doubt, people will ask: What are your parameters? Parameters, with in reason will not cause disease.

I also feel that adding the correct bacteria from the sea is also beneficial even though, like blackworms, many people can't get it. I can't help that, I just report on what has worked for me, and believe me I have killed more fish and corals that a sushi shop in midtown Manhattan.

So, yes try to keep your nitrates and phosphates low, not zero but low, but while you are doing that, feed your fish properly, and live food, if you can get it will almost guarantee success.

I do everything wrong and according to experts, my tank should not be here and my fish should not be alive. They are correct except for one detail. I know what fish need to eat. That allows me to cheat a little on other aspects like quarantining, nitrate readings and some others.

If I can keep such a screwed up tank and have success with it for so many years, one of two of my theories must be correct.

 

Yes indeed Paul, over tweaking is IMO never a good idea ... and often leads to more problems IME. Going by the "look" is a better way to go and I usually recommend a " reference " coral that allows one to gauge how the tank is doing. Once that one is doing well, any change in it may indicate that something needed to be adjusted and that should not happen a lot in a well maintained aquarium,

 

Now as to your nitrate and phosphate levels ... I do not have an explanation for that but it does not seems to affect anything in your tank so it is hard to figure out what is really going on.

 

Adding the right foods and adding the NSW and what comes with it does IMO build up a level of health that is not seen in tanks where that practice is not used so part of the explanation may be there ... but explaining why is not all that easy if at all possible without lots of addl data and that is not practical at all.

 

BTW ... got all the pieces for the worm keeper now I just have to put them all together and let it cycle as keeping a large quantity of worms in the fridge is not really the easy way to go ... so far they are still doing OK but I have been changing the water they are in twice a day. They seem kind of sleepy I guess due to the cold temp, and the water I removed was not really that polluted, in fact it was pretty clear and not brownish tinted but I did change a good part of it anyway. Will probably give a good deal of the worms to my LFS this afternoon when I go there. So far so good ... and what I feed gets gobbled down in no time ....

 

Thanks for that long post on your tank

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

 

 

 

I like fresh veggies, meat and fish better than processed foods. All the experts say that fresh whole foods are better for us than processed food. So why would it be different for any other animals?

 

 

Foods are processed for two reasons, to make them cheaper and last longer. All good fresh foods go bad. They go bad because vitamins have a shelf life as does fish oil. You can keep flakes and pellets for months, why? because there is either nothing in them to go bad or they have preservatives in them.

Preservatives are not poison but they take up space where nutritious things could be.

Commercial food manufacturers can't very sell live clams, you could buy them for practically free in a fish market.

[Trogdor447]

Here we go albert!!!

Last night before the lights went out - my phone was dying so i did not take close ups I was able to snap this.

 

And the rest from Left to Right taken this morning! Lights arent fully on.. but that white tends to wash out any camera Corals are still opening up, you can see the acans on the 2nd picture... that colony loves it high in a lot of flow and close to the leds

 

 

[Paul.b]

Now as to your nitrate and phosphate levels ... I do not have an explanation for that but it does not seems to affect anything in your tank so it is hard to figure out what is really going on.

 

]

 

Albert I depend on you to figure these things out. I am just an electrician with a fish tank, you know how all this comes together and interacts with regard to chemistry.

 

I think I am going to send you a little of my water, maybe you can test it and see if my readings are all that screwed up.

 

 

 

 

 

[albertthiel]

This makes so much sense and seems so obvious but until I read your articles it really did not dawn on me.

 

I like fresh veggies, meat and fish better than processed foods. All the experts say that fresh whole foods are better for us than processed food. So why would it be different for any other animals?

 

Your sharing this information may meet with resistance from a few self-proclaimed "experts" only becausse it is so simple a concept that it is an embarrassment to them that they did not think of it first!

 

Again thanks for beating the feed live foods drum! I agree wholeheartedly with you and since seeing the fish colors becom so vivid and bright I am a true believer too.

 

+1 and wow skipper looks like a Champ !

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

My LFS will feed zucchini, lettuce, kale, etc to fish but mention worms for salties and they freak out.

Say it's bad

 

I think it has to do with the fact that they believe you are referring to Tubifex and because there used to be so many problems with them and can still be depending on where they come from, they used to bring in parasites and disease and that is probably why they react that way, not knowing about the real Blackworms ... could be IMO

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

 

I like fresh veggies, meat and fish better than processed foods. All the experts say that fresh whole foods are better for us than processed food. So why would it be different for any other animals?

 

 

Foods are processed for two reasons, to make them cheaper and last longer. All good fresh foods go bad. They go bad because vitamins have a shelf life as does fish oil. You can keep flakes and pellets for months, why? because there is either nothing in them to go bad or they have preservatives in them.

Preservatives are not poison but they take up space where nutritious things could be.

Commercial food manufacturers can't very sell live clams, you could buy them for practically free in a fish market.

 

Indeed Paul ... not that, as you say, that preservatives are bad, but such foods are not nearly as good in nutrition as real natural foods ... and as you say manufacturers could not sell foods without preservatives because they would go bad real quickly and stores would not carry them.

 

And on Clams ... so true .. I can get them for less than 40 cents a piece ... and 1 of them lasts and lasts, and has the nutrients we are looking for ...

 

Hopefully a lot more hobbyists will pick up on using clams and mussels and worms etc .... and when they see the results they too will become advocates of them, and keep using them ... for fish and corals like eitallent is doing and like I do too and I am sure you do the same.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

I guess that is why live worms are used by fishermen? If fish like or prefer them to other lures it gives us a clue that it may be because worms are good for fish! I guess if you get worms from a sewage pond it maybe dangerous for fish in aquariums. Some people are just stuck in a rut and like it there. Change is scary for them so they would rather say it is bad without evidence than change their mind set. Oh well, life goes on and they get left behind.

 

So true ... because they have not tried it or because it is not what they do or practice, they will tell you it is dangerous or not good etc ... but as I said they may be going by what they have read about other worms and not the true Blackworms that we are using or talking about.

 

And sometimes rather than willing to try they keep a closed mind and are just not willing to look at alternatives that may be better ... a closed minds don't make a lot of progress do they ... :-)

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Here we go albert!!!

 

Last night before the lights went out - my phone was dying so i did not take close ups I was able to snap this.

 

 

And the rest from Left to Right taken this morning! Lights arent fully on.. but that white tends to wash out any camera Corals are still opening up, you can see the acans on the 2nd picture... that colony loves it high in a lot of flow and close to the leds

 

Thanks for the updates and yes it is starting to look a lot better and things are getting under control and those pesky algae will soon be all gone ...

 

IMO not much longer anymore now before the tank is back in top shape.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Albert I depend on you to figure these things out. I am just an electrician with a fish tank, you know how all this comes together and interacts with regard to chemistry.

 

I think I am going to send you a little of my water, maybe you can test it and see if my readings are all that screwed up.

 

Sounds like a plan Paul ... do that and I will see what I can come up with for you ... you have my address ... Thanks ... I will try to determine the real levels using several different tests .. and let you know.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Random Pages from the new Book from the Fishes section

 

 

 

Pages are white of course, not sure why the pic makes them look yellowish ... iPhone I guess

 

Albert

[flypenfly]

Hey Albert, I ordered the book on Feb 28, do I receive both a printed and e-copy?

[albertthiel]

Hey Albert, I ordered the book on Feb 28, do I receive both a printed and e-copy?

 

Yes you get those and also a free 1 year subscription to the Newsletter. The book comes first and the e-version and Newsletter about 2 weeks later ...

 

And for those who have not ordered yet, the last day to get the book etc. at the low price is tomorrow up to midnight ... after that the price goes up.

 

Books are coming in in a few days and shipping will start immediately and orders will be filled based on the order/date on which they were received but there are plenty of books to fill orders and then some ...

 

Albert