MatthewDVM's Fluval Edge - Happy Birth-tank-day

[Matthewdvm]

Been a while since I posted an update. Not really sure how to feel about all that is and is not going on in my tank. Went away at the beginning of March for a week. Didn't have a chance to follow up with getting a fish before then. Came back and the Bird's Nests that were doing so well weren't looking so hot. The Zoas that weren't opening still weren't opening. The Shrooms still all looked awesome, and the Nuclear Green and Purple Death Palys looks great. Duncan was still growing exrta heads, and the Acan was doing it in spades.

 

When I got back from vacation, I went to a few LFS. First one suggested a Yellow Wrasse, but had none available (and I later learn wanted a 50 gallon tank, and might grow to 5 inches), so I just came home with 4 sexy shrimp (which are awesome).

 

The next LFS I went to (which wasn't so local) told me if I wanted pods eaten, the only choice was a Mandarin. They were beautiful, and I got the hard sell, so ended up coming home with a wicked beautiful Psychedelic Mandarin (Name Jimi, of course). I have since learned that Mandarins are a big challenge in a nano tank, and am desperately trying to feed Jimi frozen shrimp, lumpfish eggs, etc, to get him to eat. I've seen him take a few frozen shrimp, and he looks plumper than when I bought him, so I am hopeful. But I don't think I'll be going back to that LFS!

 

Anyway, enough of the backstory, time for a photo dump...

 

Happy Acan:

 

Jimi in the Mushroom Garden:

 

Bird's Nest not looking so hot (especially at the stem):

 

Sexy Shrimp hanging out on Tubb's Blues (with Duncan in the foreground and Yuma in the background):

 

Nuclear Green Palys starting to attach to the live rock!

 

Duncan looking hale and hearty, beside the Zoa of Death!

 

Sexy Shrimp on the pitiful remnants of my Hammer:

 

Very Happy Very Hairy Green Mushroom:

 

 

Finally found a place where the GSP seems happy!

[Slowtwitch]

Nice photos Doc. Glad to hear most of your tank is doing well. What are you feeding your birdsnests?

[Matthewdvm]

Right, I forgot the other details of things that I have changed a bit. My water parameters are still showing mostly 0s (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, phosphates) so I thought I would take out all the filter media except the filter floss (the guy I bought the tank from had carbon, purigen and something else I forget the name of right now). So far everything is still at 0.

 

As for feeding, I am doing about 1/2 ml of Acro

Power and 1/2 ml Marine Snow daily, a pinch of reef roids or Spectrum Micro Feeder powder every couple of days and the big guys (Duncan, Acro, green hairy shrooms, sexy shrimp and (hopefully) Jimi get some combination of Brine Shrimp, Lumpfish Roe and Spectrum pellets most days. I added the reef roids, Acro power and marine snow after things all started looking crappy.

[Slowtwitch]

Sounds like you're on the right track. SPS tend to react quickly to bad conditions but slowly to good (so I've read). Hopefully it will respond soon.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Sounds like you have a good variety of foods going?

[Matthewdvm]

A few new pictures from last night. I did a water change and moved a few things around. My snails are being pushy, so things needed to be stuck down. My fabulously happy acan was on its side yesterday morning, as was the long suffering hammer:

 

Hammer has been slowly shrinking. It's stony stalk is quite friable these days. I cut it back a bit and fixed it high and in indirect light. We'll see if it makes it...

 

The Happy Happy Acan Family was being bulldozed by the snails, so I brought it up off the sand, still off to the side, and slightly shadowed. Hopefully it keeps growing and reproducing...

 

A couple of my favourite 'Rics/shrooms

 

 

My green hairy mushrooms were some of my first corals. Wasn't sure I should buy them when I was buying my first corals, but they are awesome. Getting big and fluffy, and I love watching them envelope brine shrimp.

[Matthewdvm]

PHOTO-DUMP!!!!

 

First FTS in a while:

 

 

Jimi Lives! (Coming up on 3 weeks, and he ate some frozen brine shrimp today)

 

 

 

Sexy Time:

 

My hairy green mushrooms - one closed up post eating, the other two still open

 

Top down view of the Green People Eater, with a few other beauties!

 

Two mouthed Purple People Eater

 

GSP is growing nicely:

[Sk8n Reefer]

Nice shots! tanks coming along great

[Matthewdvm]

Nice shots! tanks coming along great

Thanks sk8er. I'm generally pleased with how things are going, frustrated by the dying Zoas and the suddenly languishing birds nests, but just waiting to see how things do so I know where to focus my attention in the future. Right now it is trying to get things multiplying and keep ping Jimi fed and alive.

[Matthewdvm]

Just had the most successful feeding of Jimi tonight! After 3 weeks of trying, with minimal success, to feed him brine shrimp and lump fish roe, tonight he ate several brine shrimp straight out of the feeding pipette.

 

Here's hoping he keeps eating, and I can keep him going, cause he's awesome.

 

I'll see if I can get a video of him eating in the next few days.

[markalot]

Howdy,

 

tank is looking good, but I did not see any KH or calcium testing which might explain the birds.

[Matthewdvm]

Howdy,

 

tank is looking good, but I did not see any KH or calcium testing which might explain the birds.

 

Just did a water test this morning. Currently these are the parameters (historical range in parantheses)

 

Temp: 78.4 (78.3-79.7)

SpGr: 1.025 (1.023-1.027)

pH: 7.7 (!) (7.7-8.3)

KH: 8 (6-10)

Ca: 320 (320-380)

Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate all 0.

 

So, I suspect I should be raising my pH a bit, along with my Ca and KH, correct? Suggestions for best products for dosing? And ideal ranges?

[markalot]

Don't touch PH, that will get you into trouble because it causes big KH swings.

 

SPS need stable Alk so if it's 8 now that's good, try and keep it right at 8.

 

I would prefer to see Calcium at 400 or above, 320 is pretty low.

 

You're probably at the point where you need to start doing some minor dosing of a good 2 part solution. Find out your KH usage and then dose both parts 2 part based on that usage. This will keep KH stable and bring calcium in line. It probably wouldn't hurt to use just a calcium supplement a couple of times to get calcium up to 400 before you start.

 

If PH is an issue, probably due to elevated co2 in the house, you can run KH a little higher and it may help. KH from 7 to 10 is generally a good range, but whatever you pick, if you have SPS, you need to be fairly stable.

 

These are basic instructions, you can go a lot further reading online about the relationship of Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium, and how lower nutrient tanks do much better at lower KH levels, etc etc.

 

I use salifert test kits.

I use Two Little Fishes C-Balance 2 part which I really like and can buy in gallon concentrated mixtures but my usage is approaching 100ml a day and will keep climbing, so eventually I'll need a cheaper solution. You'll probably need maybe 5ml every couple of days, or less.

[smeagol108]

I have been maintaining pretty good levels in my edge use rscp salt and no dosing. just 1-2 small water changes a week. Dosing in a small tank was more than i felt like dealing with. What salt mix are you using?

[markalot]

I have been maintaining pretty good levels in my edge use rscp salt and no dosing. just 1-2 small water changes a week. Dosing in a small tank was more than i felt like dealing with. What salt mix are you using?

 

I think this is a good idea as well. Small water changes with a good salt is kind of like dosing, however you need to know how much the KH is swinging or the SPS will never really be happy.

[smeagol108]

Mine has remained stable at higher levels due to rscp having such a high alk/kh. I havent tested in a while but i believe its normally around 11. I have Birds of Paradise, Blue Stylophora (cats paw) and some acros. The acros just survive cause i dont have very good lighting, but the birds of paradise and stylophora are flourishing with great PE. I was having big PH swings in my tank at night when i used INstant Ocean salt, but since switching to RSCP, my PH stays much more stable through the lights off hours, and i can only attribute that to the higher buffering capabilities due to the high alk.

[Matthewdvm]

I have been maintaining pretty good levels in my edge use rscp salt and no dosing. just 1-2 small water changes a week. Dosing in a small tank was more than i felt like dealing with. What salt mix are you using?

 

 

Don't touch PH, that will get you into trouble because it causes big KH swings.

 

SPS need stable Alk so if it's 8 now that's good, try and keep it right at 8.

 

I would prefer to see Calcium at 400 or above, 320 is pretty low.

 

You're probably at the point where you need to start doing some minor dosing of a good 2 part solution. Find out your KH usage and then dose both parts 2 part based on that usage. This will keep KH stable and bring calcium in line. It probably wouldn't hurt to use just a calcium supplement a couple of times to get calcium up to 400 before you start.

 

If PH is an issue, probably due to elevated co2 in the house, you can run KH a little higher and it may help. KH from 7 to 10 is generally a good range, but whatever you pick, if you have SPS, you need to be fairly stable.

 

These are basic instructions, you can go a lot further reading online about the relationship of Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium, and how lower nutrient tanks do much better at lower KH levels, etc etc.

 

I use salifert test kits.

I use Two Little Fishes C-Balance 2 part which I really like and can buy in gallon concentrated mixtures but my usage is approaching 100ml a day and will keep climbing, so eventually I'll need a cheaper solution. You'll probably need maybe 5ml every couple of days, or less.

 

Great advice, Mark and Sméagol! I have been using Instant Ocean salt. I was hoping to get by without dosing in a 6 gallon tank, but I don't like how the SPS are looking (except for the red monti cap). I presume RSCP is Red Sea Coral Pro? If so, perhaps I will pick some up tomorrow and see how that changes the parameters. If it is not getting the Ca up, then I will start dosing next weekend!

 

I have Salifert for pH and am using API for the others (bought it before I knew better, but seems to give repeatable results). As they get used up, I'll probably replace with Salifert - I like the pH kit a lot.

[smeagol108]

When you switch to red sea coral pro do it slow. Small water changes. 1-1.5 gallon tops. The alk is way higher than what you have now so you don't want to cause a big swing. If you do a few over the course of ten days that should raise it nice and slowly. I really think that will help with the sps and keeping ph more stable. A lot of people like the instant ocean cause it is a great base salt that allowed dosing however you like. If you are changing water regularly with rscp it should keep your nutrients at pretty stable levels.

 

Also, not sre if you have tried yet and I definitely wouldn't suggest until after salt change is done, but have you done any close to 100% water changes? These also once a month or so can be very beneficial as long as your temp and salinity match up. I have done two now in my fluval edge and it has been great for nutrient export

 

What kind of lights are on your edge?

[Matthewdvm]

Lights are Stock LEDs, plus:

TrueLumen LED Strips 2X12,00K White, 1x453nm Actinic, 1x50:50 Actinic:White

 

Began the switch in salt. I have a bit of the Instant Ocean left, so I am starting with 1 Gallon water changes of a 50:50 mix of IO and RSCP every day or two until I have used up the IO (or get impatient), and then do just RSCP.

 

Of course, I couldn't resist looking at livestock while at the LFS, and came home with a Green Clown Goby and a Pom-Pom crab! I had been hoping for a Green-Banded Goby, but the guy at the LFS said they didn't have them and never got them in. Bummer.

 

I'llmpost pictures of Clive (Goby) and Buffy (Pom) when they come out from hiding. If nothing else, the arrival of another fish has made Jimi more active.

[Orangutran]

Where are you getting your livestock from? Like the sexy shrimps and green clown goby? I'm in t-dot too, so it's always nice to find good LFS's! Btw, you gotta tell me which LFS sold you the mandarin, even PM me. That's pretty bad on their part. At least it's working out for you.

[Matthewdvm]

Where are you getting your livestock from? Like the sexy shrimps and green clown goby? I'm in t-dot too, so it's always nice to find good LFS's! Btw, you gotta tell me which LFS sold you the mandarin, even PM me. That's pretty bad on their part. At least it's working out for you.

I got the sexy shrimp at Reef Boutique at Dufferin and Lawrence. The Green Goby came from Big Al's on Kennedy (which blew me away - far better than any other Big Al's I've ever been to). It is hard finding a good place for things other than coral in TO. I'll pm you about the other place.

 

Nice to see a fellow TOer on here!

[neuf]

I kinda want to hear who recommended the mandarin for a 5G also. I have a few guesses, but I'll keep them to myself.

 

You should check out Canada Corals. They don't have a large selection of fish, but they do have a number of ORA species including some of the smaller gobys suitable for nanos. I've picked up 2 from there (tiger goby and yellow assessor) and they're both thriving in my tank.. Along with all the frags I've bought too (their frag tanks are truly awesome).

[Orangutran]

I got the sexy shrimp at Reef Boutique at Dufferin and Lawrence. The Green Goby came from Big Al's on Kennedy (which blew me away - far better than any other Big Al's I've ever been to). It is hard finding a good place for things other than coral in TO. I'll pm you about the other place.

 

Nice to see a fellow TOer on here!

Cool, been itching to check out Reef Boutique. They are relatively new, and I hear good things about them. I like how you can special order fish. BA on kennedy is one of the better franchise for sure, I used to work in that part of the city and I would stop off after work to get my fix. lol You need to get a maxi mini or RFA for your shrimps!

[Matthewdvm]

I didn't know you could special order fish through R.B. I'll check it out, cause I'd love to get a Green Banded Goby. I bought my most recent mushrooms (a few months ago now), from Canada Corals. I liked their tanks, but didn't buy much because I was in the mood for mushrooms, and they didn't have many.

[Matthewdvm]

It's time for some new pictures!

 

First off, Clive the Green Clown Goby soon after introduction to the tank. Since this shot, he has been hiding at the back of the tank. I get glimpses of him, so I know he is still alive, but I haven't been able to get a good picture of him.

 

My Yellow and Green Yuma, happily being pretty

 

My Unknown Acan under actinitcs:

 

Green People Eaters and Forest Fire Digi

 

Terrible iPhone picture of Buffy the Pom-Pom Crab, who also likes to hide out at the back of the tank