Shadow's 16G Disaster. Fumigation Poisoned the Tank and Crashed It.

[Snow_Phoenix]

We only have mosquitoes them in summer. I am not a huge fan of winter though but spring and fall are relatively bug free

 

Lucky you!

 

I just decided that my crab will need more land than water, although he prefers dunking himself in the water more often. Also realized he's quite the pooper, so I'll try to scavenge around nearby LFSs to see if I can pick up a mini sponge filter or something equivalent.

 

Scrubbed the glass of the 15G today, will take a blade to the glass tomorrow to scrape off the more persistent coralline. Nothing new added, except my macro is growing like weeds lol. Also, my largest Rhodactis shroom decided it'd be time to skip town and shifted somewhere to the bottom of the tank. Sigh. Usually when my shrooms do this, it means they're about to split and give me more babies, but I could be wrong.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey guys, I saw this nice green GSP rock for sale at my LFS. Usually I'm way past getting anymore coral, and I admit this might sound crazy, but I'd love to have a GSP mat on my rocks and walls. So far my Green Grape Caulerpa is taking over some parts of my tank, and it adds such an amazing color to the 15G, that even my mom told me to never get rid of it (as if, it's a haven for pods and my Mandy sleeps in the macro-bed) so I decided some more green stuff would look cool.

 

Should I go for it?

 

The only other corals I have are mixed mushrooms, Red Bali Brain, Red Lobed Brain, Purple Goniopora, a few odd Zoas and Palys, and a Green Pagoda.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Do it

[FlowerMama]

if it's cheap yeah, it grows fast on back walls and on rock. slower, when it's just on the sand.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey guys, just wanted some quick advice - is 6000L/Hr too much flow for a 15G tank, or is 4000L/Hr better? Thinking of upgrading my wavemaker to promote more flow (less algae and detritus buildup) in my tank. I think the reason why the algae grows in certain areas, such as the left back corner and nowhere else, is primarily because of lack of flow in the tank. Thoughts?

[Tamberav]

Does it actually do waves? Waves are kind of crappy for flow.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Does it actually do waves? Waves are kind of crappy for flow.

 

Lol, nah, not waves - they call them 'wavemakers' over here, but they're basically cheaper versions of the WP-25.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Something is wrong. I'm getting another mini GHA and what-looks-like-but-I'm-hoping-Dear-God-is-not Dino in my tank. Do I switch out my GFO? It's barely been in there for 1.5 weeks.

 

Also, I'm vaccumming my sandbed, and keeping up with regular WCs. So what gives? Is it part of the tank-aging process?

[Dr.Brain Coral]

I could be wrong but don't new tanks go through algae stages?

[Snow_Phoenix]

I could be wrong but don't new tanks go through algae stages?

 

Funny thing is in the past two years, I've gone through at least five marine tanks and not a single one of them went through a massive algae bloom like this one did (sheer dumb luck now that I think about it). I'm just wondering why this tank is different from the others.

[FlowerMama]

I dunno. I have cyano bad, lost 2 flowers now over the salinity changing too w/ the ATO having broken and I've been going to my father's house everyday after work so I haven't been able to fill up until I get home later. And I'm getting some phosguard and probably a gfo reactor. Maybe i'll just try phosguard first, see if that fixed it and not go w/ the reactor. I'm still learning about all those things. How long do you have to keep the GFO before you trade it out?

[Tamberav]

Dino is never normal. Kill it, KILL IT NOW!

 

Different tanks are different... some people can have a million fish and the next person has zero or 1 and constant battle with cyano/GHA, ect.

 

I have had bryprosis show up when I set up a new tank and used rock from my existing tank that had no algae. Where the heck did that come from? I think these nasty algaes/bacteria just lay dormant waiting for the opportune time to strike and make us want to set our head on fire. The bryprosis was probably always there but since it was in my macro tank, it never grew because the macros were large and dominating what was available. New tank, no macro, a mini cycle to feed it. BAM!

 

I know some dino's encyst and will show up when conditions become favorable. You can have 100% dry rock and during the cycle it can get GHA just like the bacteria populations will show up. Even though we never added either. It is always there or coming from somewhere. It now just has the conditions to grow.

 

I certainly would not add any more livestock that creates bioload while the tank is unstable. Do you have a skimmer? Sounds to me like whatever you're doing isn't enough for the bioload OR stuff on the rock was disturbed in the tank move and still working itself out.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I dunno. I have cyano bad, lost 2 flowers now over the salinity changing too w/ the ATO having broken and I've been going to my father's house everyday after work so I haven't been able to fill up until I get home later. And I'm getting some phosguard and probably a gfo reactor. Maybe i'll just try phosguard first, see if that fixed it and not go w/ the reactor. I'm still learning about all those things. How long do you have to keep the GFO before you trade it out?

 

Not sure about the GFO change either tbh. I guess it depends how bad the outbreak is? I'm honestly not sure.

 

Dino is never normal. Kill it, KILL IT NOW!

 

Different tanks are different... some people can have a million fish and the next person has zero or 1 and constant battle with cyano/GHA, ect.

 

I have had bryprosis show up when I set up a new tank and used rock from my existing tank that had no algae. Where the heck did that come from? I think these nasty algaes/bacteria just lay dormant waiting for the opportune time to strike and make us want to set our head on fire. The bryprosis was probably always there but since it was in my macro tank, it never grew because the macros were large and dominating what was available. New tank, no macro, a mini cycle to feed it. BAM!

 

I know some dino's encyst and will show up when conditions become favorable. You can have 100% dry rock and during the cycle it can get GHA just like the bacteria populations will show up. Even though we never added either. It is always there or coming from somewhere. It now just has the conditions to grow.

 

I certainly would not add any more livestock that creates bioload while the tank is unstable. Do you have a skimmer? Sounds to me like whatever you're doing isn't enough for the bioload OR stuff on the rock was disturbed in the tank move and still working itself out.

 

I have a feeling the tank is stabilizing and I disturbed the rocks too much. I think I should stop basting for a while, and wait for the grape to grow out a little more. I'm hoping it's not Dino, but it's brown, stringy and has bubbles at the tip. That is definitely not normal for an algal outbreak.

 

I've cutback to only dry food, and nope, I've been good and haven't added any new livestock. I think this tank will take a while to stabilize. Honestly this is going to sound weird but there are no adequate skimmers for a tank of my size. Still, I'll try to source out a mini HOB one and see where that takes me. Obviously the WCs aren't enough. Hmm.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Video update!

 

Watch Cherry in action as she goes bonkers for Hikari Marine S pellets.

 

 

Sorry for the crappy vid quality. Am working on getting a new camera with better/sharper focus, more Megapixels and quicker shutter speed.

 

Oh, and guess what I found whilst trifling through my aqua-cupboard? A very old HOB skimmer!!! I used it for my very first marine tank and then kept it locked up and completely forgot about it. So I gave the skimmer a vinegar bath, and then hung on the back of the 15G and watched it cough up a lot of froth. Also, the thing is noisy as a motherflower and releases tons of microbubbles into my display for some reason.

 

I gave the glass a good scrub today, fragged some shrooms, removed two pieces of LR that was collecting/trapping detritus at the back of the tank and also cleaned the salt film on the plastic casing of my light. That, and I did a whooping WC. I'm exhausted, but happy lol.

[Tamberav]

If the HOB skimmer is annoying you could just run it when you're not sleeping or whatever on a timer.

[Snow_Phoenix]

If the HOB skimmer is annoying you could just run it when you're not sleeping or whatever on a timer.

 

Thankfully the skimmer and tank is in the artroom downstairs, and my bedroom is upstairs lol. So I can't hear it from my bed, thank God. Right now I'm just waiting for the skimmer to 'break in' again. Expecting a lot of gunk in the future!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Hey everyone, just wanted some advice - should I upgrade my PS-2012 skimmer to a BM NacQQ? I think a larger one can't fit at all in my tank, but the NacQQ seems like a better option. I'll be actively saving up for a better skimmer for my tank size, but I also need a new bucket of salt for the tank, so it's going to be a bit rough on the wallet for the next few months.

 

Also, meet my Polypterus teugelsi bichir baby! He's 2.5" long, officially the most expensive fish I've purchased in my whole life (up to three figures, this boy) and is imported from Vietnam:

 

 

 

 

 

He's already this lovely shade of golden-bronze. Hope he colors up to a nice golden red in time!

[Tamberav]

Really cute fish! Especially that second pic, he looks like hes smiling. Plan on getting a big tank for him?

 

I had to google that guy. I don't know jack about freshwater fish. It said no gravel though as they can ingest it and die?? Don't lose that guy! He is a spendy cute little fella!!

[Snow_Phoenix]

Really cute fish! Especially that second pic, he looks like hes smiling. Plan on getting a big tank for him?

 

I had to google that guy. I don't know jack about freshwater fish. It said no gravel though as they can ingest it and die?? Don't lose that guy! He is a spendy cute little fella!!

 

I plan on beefing him up a bit and once he hits 6", I will transfer him to the 30G and then transfer all my fish to a 120G (special upcoming project) sometime next year.By then he should be big enough to play along with my other four bichirs - right now he's a bite-size treat for my other bichir babies.

 

Don't worry - that gravel-ingestion thing is a myth. These fish have poor eyesight and sift through the gravel in search of sinking pellets/wafers/food particles using their barbels. Their sense of smell is so keen that they usually never eat anything they're not supposed to.

 

Oh, and the gravel in the pic is actually Grade 3 aragonite sand - it's actually not that large, it's just that this little guy is so tiny! I still can't believe I scored him for only 3 figures.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Nice!!. After I gave up on my 55 reef tank project I switched over to a 55 gallon freshwater. I had planned on a senegall bichir or a armored bichir. But I got my lovely parakeet blu instead.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Nice!!. After I gave up on my 55 reef tank project I switched over to a 55 gallon freshwater. I had planned on a senegall bichir or a armored bichir. But I got my lovely parakeet blu instead.

 

Pics of your parakeet please!

 

I currently have four bichirs in a 30G - 1 Ornate, 1 Albino, 1 Senegal and 1 Endlecheri. All of them are approximately 6". This little fella is in my 12G tank since he's not up to size yet. Once all the fish hit around 8" or so in the upcoming months, I'm thinking of getting a 4' x 2' x 2' FW tank (120G). Most of my Cichlids would have outgrown my present 30G display by then anyways.

[Dr.Brain Coral]

wow. I love endlecheri bichirs with there little gill things.

wht should I use to post pictures?

[Snow_Phoenix]

wow. I love endlecheri bichirs with there little gill things.

 

wht should I use to post pictures?

 

Yep, they're awesome.

 

Maybe upload it on Photobucket/Tinypic and use the 'Image' icon to key in the URL and paste it here?

[Dr.Brain Coral]

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b570/Dinoking11/IMG_1366_zpsa585eb88.jpg

maybe that worked

[Snow_Phoenix]

http://i1292.photobucket.com/albums/b570/Dinoking11/IMG_1366_zpsa585eb88.jpg

maybe that worked

 

That's amazing! Love the snowy-blue coloration that he/she has!