MR.FEESH’s Biological Filtration NC6

[MR.FEESH]

My humble CUC is doing a great job of keeping everything spic and span. The hair algae is getting its ass kicked. I almost don't understand how some people have such bad of algae issues, but I know it's for different reasons. I've broadcast fed the feather dusters a cap-full of Marine snow once, and spot fed the Phyco Pure once as well. Phosphates are zero, and A-N-N all zero. Looks like keeping water quality in check is going to be a complete non issue. Which is nice because any SPS I add down the road should thrive. Any zoas I add should stay healthy, but I know they do like slightly dirtier water--they can just deal with it I'm actually wondering if the chaeto I ordered is going to stay alive very long with all of my levels reading zero!

[MR.FEESH]

Two porcelain crabs ordered! I purchased from That Fish Place, which has them as being purple and thus should add some nice color to the tank. I decided not to go in for a ball sponge for a few reasons. First and foremost is the whole not being able to be exposed to air thing. I did a little research and it can take weeks after being exposed to air for you to be able to tell that a sponge is dying. Giving that it's being shipped instead of me picking up in the store, I don't think it's worth a $25 risk despite how neat they are. At this point, I'd rather just get a $25 frag of some red coral in a couple weeks. Speaking of which, once the porcelain crabs come in, that should be all the inverts the tank will have. I'll wait a solid two week period and then get a gorgonian and my first coral frag pack--either zoas or ricordea/mushroom.

[MR.FEESH]

Everything is going super well so far. The porcelain crabs are soooo coooool. They can actually swim, too! Who knew? CUC is a wrecking ball, everything is spotless. The feather dusters have already built noticeable extensions to their tubes, and two hermits have molted--a sign the water quality is really spot on. I regret not going fishless when I first started as a beginner, it eliminates so many common issues. With no excess nutrient build up, algae is a non-issue, everyone is healthy...I can't wait to add my first frag pack to this tank. The coral are going to be so happy.

[MR.FEESH]

I'm very sorry to report one of the two porcelain crabs passed in the night. I found the other nearby this morning, happy as a clam. All other inverts remain active and appear healthy. I've made no recent changes to the tank set-up, and the porcelain crabs were the most recent additions.

 

Test yesterday after work:

 

NH3: 0

N02: 0

N03: 0

PO4: 0

pH: 8.2

Salinity: 1.026

Temp: 79 F

 

Test this morning:

 

NH3: 0

N02: 0

N03: 0

PO4: 0

pH: 8.1

Salinity: 1.026

Temp: 78 F

 

I'm stumped on this one. The only feasible thing I can think of is something like starvation, but I spot-fed both crabs marine snow and phycopure on their first night in the tank, so I really don't think it's that. I don't have a copper test, but have no reason to believe there is copper being introduced to the system in any way--especially given the health of the other inverts. From everything I've read, the species get's along perfectly with itself, so I also have no reason to believe the other crab was involved. If anything else in the tank were to die before this weekend's water change, I'll definitely be in panic mode.

 

Any ideas guys?

[debbeach13]

sorry to hear about the loss of one of the crabs. I have no ideas except that even when every thing is fine with the tank the livestock we buy goes through holy hell getting to our tanks and sometimes it is just too much. I hope evey thing else stays healthy.

[MR.FEESH]

sorry to hear about the loss of one of the crabs. I have no ideas except that even when every thing is fine with the tank the livestock we buy goes through holy hell getting to our tanks and sometimes it is just too much. I hope evey thing else stays healthy.

 

 

Thanks. I drip acclimated too, which surprised me, but perhaps you're right.

[MR.FEESH]

I did my water change and cleaned the algae off the glass, and the porcelain crab was like "AWWW YISS"

 

Snapped this pic, video with the tank lights on to follow soon!

 

[MR.FEESH]

Had no idea what to do for music, so the obvious choice was Missy Elliot

 

[.Newman.]

I did my water change and cleaned the algae off the glass, and the porcelain crab was like "AWWW YISS"

 

Snapped this pic, video with the tank lights on to follow soon!

 

 

Keep a good eye on this species of crab. I used to have many of these in a pico tank (these are sold as micro porcelains by reef cleaners) and they did not do well in a reef setting. after a few months they all dropped off. right about when they tried to molt, before then everything was fine but as soon as one was ready to molt I usually lost it. They eat just about anything you give them. and they also don't restrict themselves to filter feeding. they pick up sand and work through that.

 

my conclusion was that something in a reef setting is not right for these crabs. i figured it was the water chemistry. either not enough of something or too much of something. maybe the salinity is too high or some element in the water is too high idk.

My pico was being dosed by C balance, i did weekly 80% water changes and also dosed tiny amounts of Reef+. I am sure the crabs had everything they needed to molt. yet they still failed. must be too much of something.

[MR.FEESH]

Keep a good eye on this species of crab. I used to have many of these in a pico tank (these are sold as micro porcelains by reef cleaners) and they did not do well in a reef setting. after a few months they all dropped off. right about when they tried to molt, before then everything was fine but as soon as one was ready to molt I usually lost it. They eat just about anything you give them. and they also don't restrict themselves to filter feeding. they pick up sand and work through that.

 

my conclusion was that something in a reef setting is not right for these crabs. i figured it was the water chemistry. either not enough of something or too much of something. maybe the salinity is too high or some element in the water is too high idk.

My pico was being dosed by C balance, i did weekly 80% water changes and also dosed tiny amounts of Reef+. I am sure the crabs had everything they needed to molt. yet they still failed. must be too much of something.

 

 

It's really interesting you say that. Right before the one that died passed, the last time I saw him, it looked like he was either in the process of or about to molt! Very curious!

[.Newman.]

a few of mine survived their first molt, but the second one usually got them. my white anemone porcelain crab fared much better.

[MR.FEESH]

a few of mine survived their first molt, but the second one usually got them. my white anemone porcelain crab fared much better.

 

Those look neat too, although I've heard mixed reviews of how they fair without an anemone host. [i'm not interested in keeping any anemones]. If it were a sure bet, I'd get one, but I don't want to gamble with an animal's life if I can prevent it.

[.Newman.]

my white anemone porcelain liked to host all sorts of corals. most commonly he was seen around my blastomussa welsi.

 

you can see a pic of him in my sig.

[MR.FEESH]

Looks good to me! I'm a little worried still, but it's something to think about.

[MR.FEESH]

LiveAquaria Nano Polyp 5 pack coming tomorrow!

 

[MR.FEESH]

Things seem to be going really well:

 

1) All four hermits have molted

2) Any algae I've seen crop up has been eaten by the CUC by the next day

3) The porcelain crab jumped onto the turkey baster full of microplankton (like a cleaner shrimp does to you finger) and fed himself

4) I spotted my first group of pods since adding them to the back refugium chamber with the CUC

5) All three dusters built extensions on their tubes

6) I think one of the snails laid eggs

 

Water quality should be spot-on for some nice coral. These 6 things certainly indicate life is good in the biological filtration 6. After the frag pack that comes tomorrow, I'm going to make a move on 2-3 ricordea from Aquascapers!

[MR.FEESH]

Acclimating! Looks like one frag came with a stomatella!

[MR.FEESH]

Does anyone know of a good zoa list with pictures where I could look up my five frags to identify their common names? All 5 frags opened yesterday before the tank lights went out so I have a good idea of what the Drs. gave me. They did a fantastic job by the way--one frag isn't a frag at all, it's a full on colony with like 30+ heads of radioactive dragon eyes--super vivid color, very healthy! Other highlights are: one frag with a green skirt and red/orange center, one frag with mixed RDE and canary yellow zoas, and one frag with steely blue/purple polyps. Really happy with what I received, just need to identify them now! Pics to come this weekend.

 

Edit: I found a list from the ID forum sticky. Holy crap, there are waaaaaay more zoa names/types than I anticipated. I really have to set up my tripod and look through the macro lens to get an accurate ID on some of these. The silvery blue/purple ones could be any of like 25 different types.

[MR.FEESH]

Some really bad top-downs of the first zoas:

 

 

 

 

 

The teal-ish zoas aren't pictured. They've been angry for a while, I think I saw a hermit picking at them when they were first added.

[MR.FEESH]

Just witnessed my stomatella spawning! So crazy! Guess I'm about to have a lot more. Also, my tank is literally crawling with pods. On the rocks, in the sand, on the back panel, and on the glass. Everywhere.

[MR.FEESH]

So I had to make a pretty tough logistical decision for the overall health of the tank that ended up costing me one of its inhabitants this weekend. The 'scape I had been going with since the beginning had an awful lot of rock, and although I liked the feel it gave the tank, there was definitely not enough room to get my hand between the rock and the glass to scrape algae very easily at all. The result was that, instead of cleaning as soon as the glass got dirty, I'd do it once a week during the water change, and there was so much of it, it would float around the tank and rest on the coral or worse rest on the rock and start growing there. I knew in the long run, this was not sustainable for the overall health of the tank. I removed the fairly large top-most rock on the big island, and then pushed the two islands closer together towards the middle of the tank. I can now clean the glass every day or so without worry that the algae will cause any problems. Unfortunately, in the move and chaos, my porcelain crab couldn't take the stress and passed shortly after everything was rearranged. He was a good little fella and while I'm sad to see him go, it was a tough choice I had to make for the longevity of the tank as a whole. He will forever be immortalized in my sig. I'll upload a picture of the new 'scape soon. Everyone else seems happy as a clam.

[MR.FEESH]

So the zoas have been pretty angry for whatever reasons recently and I'm still trying to get that sorted out.

 

A bit of good news though, I found a solid black feather duster today. So cooooool. Can't wait til he gets big!

 

Will post a pic of the new scape and black duster tomorrow after water change and glass cleaning.

[debbeach13]

Please do solid black sounds cool.

[MR.FEESH]

Well, the zoas are still pissed about something, but here's the gist of the new FTS:

 

 

 

And one of the first real shots of the RDE:

 

 

 

The black feather duster is in a very awkward place so I'm still deciding how to take a snap of it. It's getting bigger quickly though, as are all the other baby ones in the tank, so I'm really excited so see how everything looks once the tank is mature.

[MR.FEESH]

So I took a pretty close look at the zoa colonies in my tank and it looks like in addition to some sort of pod/bug that may be bothering them, one of the colonies has zoa pox. Thus, all four frags are getting iodine and Furan-2 dipped this weekend in an attempt to nuke everything that's been bothering them recently. Cross your fingers for me...I want to add some more coral to the tank but definitely won't move forward until these guys are healthy and the system is stable.