Kijho's Fluval Spec V - Retired (almost)

[TheDude324]

It's possible to do I guess.. But hermits + snails usually means the hermit will kill the snail for its shell as the hermit outgrows his shell. I've seen it at the lfs a few times, and snails are so helpless...

Haha yeah i know what you mean i had 3 Astraea snails in my tank when i added my hermits almost immediately one made his way over to one of the snails flipped him over and climbed in. Definetly not a good combo.

[Kijho]

My plans for the coming week(s) - This may happen fairly quickly or might be a bit more spread out. I may try to spread it out however to prevent any potential problems, and to keep the excitement up haha!

 

- 3 bumblebee snails. Haven't seen these done much in other people's reefs? Reading up on them, they're good burrowers in the sand, and also because they're so small can get into smaller crevices in the liverock to eat detrius. I'll start with 1 snail first however, because they can potentially be aggressive towards other snails.

Reading more on this - they may or may not be reef safe. I'm not sure...

 

- 1 new acan frag. I'd like something totally new/ different color scheme

- 1 new ricordia. Again, something new to put in my Ric garden.

 

- Last thing I'm thinking of is the small small frogspawn frag to go on / in that "cave" on my right rock, beside my hammer.

I'd like a purple one if I can find it. However, we'll see how this goes.. may change this idea.

 

 

[Kijho]

Some recent problems:

-This weird green stringy algae. I just want something to eat it...my trochus don't care lol. They just sit / sleep on the glass all day.

-Dirty sand, I want something sand sifting.

-4 tiny aiptasia's appeared overnight. Damnet. I'm worried to use aiptasia-X with my clowns in there but I have no other option really unless I wanna just bury them in coral glue perhaps.. one is a bit too big though.

 

Gonna maybe try to find a small acrylic with suction cups to quarentine them in-tank while I do the procedure..

[NorthGaHillbilly]

take and get some kalkwasser, pickling lime, and some syringes with needles from a friend with diabetes or the local feed and seed. make some HEAVY kalk mix, suck up a tiny amount and inject it directly into the aptisia. nothing weird in the tank and as direct of a treatment as possible.

 

And for that sand... take it out and go barebottom

[TheDude324]

What's making the sand dirty?

[Kijho]

What's making the sand dirty?

Just some brown algae in some places, mostly around the Ricordia's. For now I just stir it up a little to get rid of it.

 

 

take and get some kalkwasser, pickling lime, and some syringes with needles from a friend with diabetes or the local feed and seed. make some HEAVY kalk mix, suck up a tiny amount and inject it directly into the aptisia. nothing weird in the tank and as direct of a treatment as possible.

 

And for that sand... take it out and go barebottom

This sounds awfully complicated, never heard of this stuff to make the paste.

I wanna find a LONG syringe so I don't have to dunk my hand into the bottom of the tank..

[NorthGaHillbilly]

You can buy it at the grocery as pickling lime or from a reef store as kalkwasser, it is used to raise alk and calcium, and also has a ph of 12. Many people use it in their top off water or with a drip system, myself included.

 

You can buy it at the grocery as pickling lime or from a reef store as kalkwasser, it is used to raise alk and calcium, and also has a ph of 12. Many people use it in their top off water or with a drip system, myself included.

[ETucc]

It's possible to do I guess.. But hermits + snails usually means the hermit will kill the snail for its shell as the hermit outgrows his shell. I've seen it at the lfs a few times, and snails are so helpless...

 

I won't put hermits in my tank either for the same reason. I'm gonna get another Emerald Crab for sure. I just don't know if I'd reccomend one with your Pistol. I'm hoping my next Emerald doesn't quarrel with my Peppermint Shrimp, but my last Emerald was fine with him, so...

[Kijho]

I won't put hermits in my tank either for the same reason. I'm gonna get another Emerald Crab for sure. I just don't know if I'd reccomend one with your Pistol. I'm hoping my next Emerald doesn't quarrel with my Peppermint Shrimp, but my last Emerald was fine with him, so...

 

I wanted a peppermint for a while but heard they will pick at hammer's

Though - I didn't know you had a peppermint in there!! Sheesh, been so busy haven't been fully keeping up haha

[ETucc]

Some recent problems:

-This weird green stringy algae. I just want something to eat it...my trochus don't care lol. They just sit / sleep on the glass all day.

-Dirty sand, I want something sand sifting.

 

Get a Fighting Conch if you can. Mine eats hair algae that is 2 inches long; he just sucks it down like a cow, dude. He moves around the tank more than my two fish do. He sifts the sand, cleans the rock, and even gets on the glass when he wedges himself in a corner. They eat EVERYTHING in my experience this past month; algae, detritus, and leftover food. Nassarius Snails are great sand sifters too, along with Cerith Snails, though Nassarius do NOT eat algae.

 

- 3 bumblebee snails. Haven't seen these done much in other people's reefs? Reading up on them, they're good burrowers in the sand, and also because they're so small can get into smaller crevices in the liverock to eat detrius. I'll start with 1 snail first however, because they can potentially be aggressive towards other snails.

Reading more on this - they may or may not be reef safe. I'm not sure...

 

Bumble Bee Snails are carnivorous hunters. They eat no algae and will eat other inverts if you don't feed them enough (that means whenever they feel like killing something, even each other, in my dictionary...) Look into that Conch as your first bet. If you can't get one, get a couple Nassarius Snails. They're harmless and beautiful. They're actually a type of Conch!

 

[TheDude324]

Get a Fighting Conch if you can. Mine eats hair algae that is 2 inches long; he just sucks it down like a cow, dude. He moves around the tank more than my two fish do. He sifts the sand, cleans the rock, and even gets on the glass when he wedges himself in a corner. They eat EVERYTHING in my experience this past month; algae, detritus, and leftover food. Nassarius Snails are great sand sifters too, along with Cerith Snails, though Nassarius do NOT eat algae.

 

 

Bumble Bee Snails are carnivorous hunters. They eat no algae and will eat other inverts if you don't feed them enough (that means whenever they feel like killing something, even each other, in my dictionary...) Look into that Conch as your first bet. If you can't get one, get a couple Nassarius Snails. They're harmless and beautiful. They're actually a type of Conch!

 

Agreed.

[Kijho]

Need to find a fighting conch then. How big do they get? Will they plow things over?

I don't think any of my LFS will have them Gonna be hard to find.

 

I guess revised plans are:

1 fighting conch

1 cerith OR nassarius

1 ricordia

1 acan

 

possibly - frogspawn

[ETucc]

I'm gonna get a Frogspawn too! I hear YCG's host them often.I would absolutely love it if mine did...

[ETucc]

Fighting Conchs get about 4" long. I don't have any corals but I don't think they would mess with your Rics or Hammer. Mine is on/in the sand 80% of the time. If you can find one, they're worth every penny. They're amazing and efficient creatures.

[Kijho]

Fighting Conchs get about 4" long. I don't have any corals but I don't think they would mess with your Rics or Hammer. Mine is on/in the sand 80% of the time. If you can find one, they're worth every penny. They're amazing and efficient creatures.

 

So I called 4 LFS's here - no fighting conch.

I don't wanna order online, too fearful of death during transport! (Plus I'm not home during most business-hours.)

 

I did however find Turban and Nassarius snails.

I'm thinking 2 Turban's and 1 nassarius?

[NanoClown]

I have 4 nassarius snails in my tank b/c I feed small amounts everyday. They do a great job cleaning up whatever gets leftover after my fish are done eating. It's funny to watch them go crazy during feeding time.

[Kijho]

52:

 

Not much happening lately, just letting things be and enjoying it. Have some aiptasia I need to take care of on water change day, either today or tomorrow.

Running 8 hours of light a day.

 

 

[Kijho]

Didn't get around to my LFS today, however am hopeful to head to a few tomorrow. Hopefully picking up some Turban snails, a Nassarius, and maybe maybe maybe a frag. Ric or Acan, I'd like a Ric the most.. or if I find a really nice Frogspawn I like that will fit perfect then I may bite the bullet on that.

 

Here's a video from today for your viewing pleasure in 720p !!

 

[Tropi]

I've been hitting my tiny aiptasia with a syringe of boiling water and it works fine, I've just been taking care of them one at a time as I spot them, takes a few squirts to get it while the tank is full but gets the job done and my chromis are fine.

[edavis402]

52:

 

Not much happening lately, just letting things be and enjoying it. Have some aiptasia I need to take care of on water change day, either today or tomorrow.

Running 8 hours of light a day.

 

 

you have the best pics

[JaceR]

I really like your tank, your water looks crystal clear!

[NorthGaHillbilly]

Its sunday, I know you went by the LFS and have something to show for it, cough it up man

[Kijho]

Its sunday, I know you went by the LFS and have something to show for it, cough it up man

 

hahahaha. I've been so lazy all day.. did my WC this morning about 15% this time. Also manually pulled out some of the long stringy green algae. Then I zapped out 5 small aiptasia's - which worked very well because I did the WC right after zapping them and it kept my water super clear.

 

Day 60:

 

I picked up two Turban snails today to hopefully combat that green string algae I have growing. It looks like GHA but it's not dense or fuzzy, it's long and stringy. Anyways, they seem to be grazing over it when I put them in. Only have a dark shot of one of them..

 

Also picked up two Nassarius snails. Dropped them both in the tank the one of them immediately dug down under the sand. No idea where he is now.......... hahaha. (Here's the other though. I want them to clean up that algae growing on the sand near the Ric' garden.)

 

A shot of my Acan's and my misbar clown in the frame. Have a new head growing on one of them!

 

What's this... ??!!

 

Stumbled upon this HUGE Ric' frag at the LFS for such a good price. I dunno if they had it priced correctly haha, because all of the other Ric frags were much much smaller. This one was the same price as the small ones and the girl asked which one I wanted I obviously took the biggest haha..

 

That's all for today! Tomorrow is a holiday up here in Canada so I'll be doing my usual in-depth water tests then.

Hope the Turban's and Nassarius's do some work overnight!!

[Kijho]

Found some small golder torch frags too, but I don't think I want a torch in that cave on the right rock.

Really wanting a nice purple frogspawn, but I haven't found any small frags at my LFS.. only big ones. I want to start it small.

 

Will continue looking.

 

More Acans, Ricordia, and if I find the right frogpsawn in the future!

 

Checkout these BABY Clowns at my LFS. I'm kinda bummed out because if I had waited 2 weeks I could have gotten one of these. The picture doesn't even do justice - some of them were only 1cm in length!!!

However - I realized after a small clown like this would probably fit through the slit in the false-wall behind the filter/ pump area. Probably couldn't swim against the 240ghp in such a small tank.

[cswan19]

Tank is looking awesome Kijho! I love the idea of a ric garden and plan to be doing something similar in the future. I'm so close to being able to stock my tank! The anticipation is killing me!! ugh lol When did you do your first water change after your cycle? My nitrate is still at 5 ppm, should I change water or wait?