Kijho's Fluval Spec V - Retired (almost)

[NorthGaHillbilly]

I'm not sure what type of pellet would be best, but any of them would likely have more nutrients as mysis are pretty bland, tho the ones that are gut packed are better I'd expect.

[evanski]

Concerned that non-zero nitrite levels indicates that significant over feeding has overwhelmed you biological filtration.

 

Hope this condition is short lived and that the bio filtration has grown to manage larger bio load.

 

Any updated test results?

[Kijho]

Concerned that non-zero nitrite levels indicates that significant over feeding has overwhelmed you biological filtration.

 

Hope this condition is short lived and that the bio filtration has grown to manage larger bio load.

 

Any updated test results?

Hey Evanski,

 

I posted the most recent from last night, are those the ones you're concerned about?

Looking at the tests, I believe my levels are as follows:

 

Ammonia: 0 - 0.10ppm

Nitrite: 0 - 0.25ppm

Nitrate: 5 - 10ppm

 

Temp: 78*F

Salinity: 1.023-1.024

 

Will do some further testing tonight.

 

In terms of my filter media, I currently just have the stuff that came with the Fluval Spec. I think I posted some pics of this on the 1st page of the thread, a little black cloth bag, and some white filter media. Any suggestions on changing this? I've read about Purigen being pretty good? I only have two spots for media in my stock filter setup, and don't have much plans on changing it at this stage except for the media perhaps.

 

 

 

(I love the auto-save feature on this forum, just saved me re-typing all of this!!!)

[Kijho]

Anybody have any suggestions as for my next steps? I'm thinking of taking that rock out tonight to get rid of some aiptasia once and for all.

My light should ship tomorrow to be here Monday or Tuesday next week..

[dmasterx1x]

I think if you keep that rock out of the water for long enough you'll kill that aptasia eventually. Maybe use a hair dryer on it then smother it with table salt

[Kijho]

I think if you keep that rock out of the water for long enough you'll kill that aptasia eventually. Maybe use a hair dryer on it then smother it with table salt

 

Is it acceptable to just pull the entire rock out of the tank, and kind of "clean" it I guess? I could use some scissors and snip off the aiptasia at the root, and then epoxy the little crevices that it seems to keep coming back in..

 

Would this be bad, I mean.. in terms of putitng it back INTO the tank afterwards? Could it kill my water condition etc. ?

 

Any way of getting rid of the GHA I have?

 

Is using a lighter to burn it off an actual method? haha..

[dmasterx1x]

i've pulled plenty of rocks out of my tank and had em out for hours, then back in with no negative results. I think chopping then gluing would work fine too. GHA... there's a thread about that floating around here. It involves peroxide and baking soda me thinks.

[Kijho]

i've pulled plenty of rocks out of my tank and had em out for hours, then back in with no negative results. I think chopping then gluing would work fine too. GHA... there's a thread about that floating around here. It involves peroxide and baking soda me thinks.

 

Thanks mate!

[Cameron6796]

Yep you will want to weaken then smother so is take a lighter to it then apoxy

[evanski]

Hey Evanski,

 

I posted the most recent from last night, are those the ones you're concerned about?

Looking at the tests, I believe my levels are as follows:

 

Ammonia: 0 - 0.10ppm

Nitrite: 0 - 0.25ppm

Nitrate: 5 - 10ppm

 

Temp: 78*F

Salinity: 1.023-1.024

 

Will do some further testing tonight.

 

In terms of my filter media, I currently just have the stuff that came with the Fluval Spec. I think I posted some pics of this on the 1st page of the thread, a little black cloth bag, and some white filter media. Any suggestions on changing this? I've read about Purigen being pretty good? I only have two spots for media in my stock filter setup, and don't have much plans on changing it at this stage except for the media perhaps.

 

 

 

(I love the auto-save feature on this forum, just saved me re-typing all of this!!!)

Your nitrite vial was purple...which is 0.25 ppm. This is a spike, ANY number other than zero is a bad thing and an indication that bio load exceeds bio filtration capacity.

 

My vote is an InTank media basket with floss, CPE, and Purigen in that order top to bottom.

[Cameron6796]

Some nitrates aren't bad but since this is fish only lower the better

[Kijho]

Your nitrite vial was purple...which is 0.25 ppm. This is a spike, ANY number other than zero is a bad thing and an indication that bio load exceeds bio filtration capacity.

 

Some nitrates aren't bad but since this is fish only lower the better

 

Day 18

 

 

Nitrite seems to have leveled out over the past 24 hours.. looks good to me! Definitely can see a difference in last nights levels. I fed him less shrimp yesterday so there was only 2 or 3 left-over at the bottom which he cleaned up today. He was waiting for food when I got home.

 

Unfortunately, the pellets were a failure. He didn't like them, he ate one and then didn't touch any of the others. (There's about 3 pellets now at the bottom.)

[NorthGaHillbilly]

Just remember, one of those pellets is equal to ~5-10 mysis. So he just got the biggest meal yet

[Cameron6796]

^^ yep so remove them

[Kijho]

Oh really???! Haha he ate only 1 pellet, the mysis are so much bigger than the tiny pellet!! I fed him some mysis after the pellets.. he ate about 4 or 5 mysis, I spot fed and he's doing super well with eating those.

 

Shoot. Removing the pellets in the sand now!

[evanski]

Some nitrates aren't bad but since this is fish only lower the better

 

I was looking at the NITRITES, which were not zero and therefor of concern. Absolutely agree with your comments about nitrates.

 

You seem to be looking good...but clearly such a small tank (mine is the Spec II) has minimal biofiltration, so keeping up with the water changes and removing excess food is going to be critical.

[Kijho]

I was looking at the NITRITES, which were not zero and therefor of concern. Absolutely agree with your comments about nitrates.

 

You seem to be looking good...but clearly such a small tank (mine is the Spec II) has minimal biofiltration, so keeping up with the water changes and removing excess food is going to be critical.

 

Thanks for the feedback mate!

 

I'm thinking of doing a change up to my rock scape. The one right on the far right has just been proving to be an endless problem. I took it out last night to see if I could get some of that auptasia gone but it all went inside the rock and was still difficult to get to. I tried and then put it back in the tank. Woke up and there's still some, and smaller ones too beginning. It's ONLY one this ONE rock!! (Farthest right)

 

This rock has: aiptasia, green hair algae, and also the most weird unknown hitchikers. 3 - 4 weird worms poke out every night but I swear they don't do anything.. I wish they cleaned the GHA or something lol.

 

Anyways, I thought about it last night and came up with an idea. As unfortunate as it is, I think the "arch" I have right now just isn't gonna work. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the top middle rock of the arch actually touches both the front and rear parts of the glass it's so big. It's difficult to use my magnet cleaner around this as it doesn't physically fit. Ontop of that, once I get my coral LED light next week I think that rock is going to shade nearly 50% of my real-estate space on the bottom of the tank!! I know some corals might not need direct sun light, but this seems to be quite a lot.

 

I've come up with a solution: remove the "problem" live rock (far right) completely, and put in it's spot the top middle rock. Probably placing it vertically, or propped up on one of my smaller rocks to give the Goby a nice little area to go beneath it.

 

I think this might be a positive impact and solves multiple problems at once.

[Kijho]

Day 19

 

 

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: <20ppm ??

 

Water Temp: 77*F

Salinity: 1.023

 

Things look healthy in the tank, I came home and my water was SO cloudy! The Goby kicked sand up EVERYWHERE. My sand bed is super uneven now haha. He's literally made a mountain in the middle of my tank... crazy guy...

 

As per my above post, I'm going to possibly be removing the farthest rock on the right of my tank as it's become very problematic.

Some examples include: Many unknown hitchhikers within this actual rock that I've seen poke our once or twice in the past 19 days, a repeating aiptasia problem despite being hit with joe juice / aiptasia-X, a fairly decent size patch of green hair algae which I don't want to spread.

In addition, I think I've used too much rock in my tank. I feel like a future fish may need more room to swim. I'd also like to add my additional power head in there. Although small, the middle rock prevent flow.

 

Unsure what this little orange spot is, but it's living... (retracts under the rock when startled.) ID ?
Good photo of the green hair algae ...

 

You can see the aiptasia that is literally within the rock and very hard to get to without taking the rock out and scrubbing...

 

Kind of difficult to see, but there's these clear tiny worms in the MIDDLE of the photo.. ID?

 

Also hard to see, but JUST SLIGHTLY ABOVE MIDDLE there's an unknown "flower" that's popped up today.. ID?

 

FTS Day 19

 

Goby wan Kanobi literally owns this space under the rock. Sadly he's going to most likely need to re-burrow into a different rock once I take this out. (I'll be placing the rock that is currently the middle of my arch where this rock currently is.)

[Kijho]

Anyone!

[Cameron6796]

Are you permenently removing the rock

[Kijho]

Are you permenently removing the rock

 

I think I might... I didn't get around to it last night and eventually the Goby tucked in for sleep so I didn't wanna disturb him.

But, I just don't think there's enough room with it in there..plus it's got several problems with that rock.

 

Remove it and dry it out, if I ever need to use it again I'll do the bleaching and cleaning it all up...

[Cameron6796]

Yeah I understand why risk putting it back with out it all being dead and coming back to ruin the tank. Good luck keep us updated this little tank is cool.

[Kijho]

Yeah I understand why risk putting it back with out it all being dead and coming back to ruin the tank. Good luck keep us updated this little tank is cool.

 

Thank you mate, I really appreciate the feedback!

What do you think of the water params from yesterday? Are they beginning to look better? Going to be doing a water change today after removing that rock..

[Kijho]

Day 20! (Can't believe I've made it this far!)

 

Alight - as per my above posts I was having some problems with the one rock on the right side of my tank. Scroll up and you can read some of my reasoning behind the removal of that rock. That rock is currently going to sit for a week to dry out entirely. I will then give it a bleach bath, then a distilled water baking soda bath, and lastly a distilled water rinse before putting it into a air-sealed vacuum zip-lock bag.

 

Here is my new rock setup. The photo doesn't really show the depth to the setup unfortunately, but the biggest thing to note is that the rock on the far right is actually pushed back behind the middle rock. The middle rock is now on a "slant" and hooked in on the far left rock. This new arrange gives the goby several new "spots" to go under, between, and around. He was definitely a little startled when I took "his" rock out.. he shot around very erratically. I was very fearful that he was about to go carpet surfing. I then covered half the tank with the lid to hopefully prevent that. He calmed down right after though.

 

Here's the new setup!

 

Again, the above photo really doesn't do it justice.

 

Here's Goby, he's already back digging the sand out of his previous spot, just under a new rock!

 

He adapts better to change than I do lol....

 

My LED light is currently ordered and should be here next week! Once arrived I'll begin the planning and research for my corals!

I'm really interested in frogspawns and hammer/ torchs!

 

Right now I'm waiting for the water to calm down a bit before doing a good 25% water change.

After that I'll do some water testing and post the results!

[Kijho]

https://flic.kr/p/n35gV2'>https://flic.kr/p/n35gV2'>IMG_0089 by https://www.flickr.com/people/28981829@N05/'>Shpixx, on Flickr