Alex's Biocube 29

[Weetabix7]

The first coral is an Acan, your guesses were right on everything else. 

 

Those eggs look so decorative.

[xAyanex]

Just now, Weetabix7 said:

The first coral is an Acan, your guesses were right on everything else. 

 

Those eggs look so decorative.

Thanks for the ID! I thought it looked like the acan (meaning the other one I bought recently), but the guy at the store said something about it being a blasto (which I've never seen that I know of). 

[Weetabix7]

That guy is an idiot!!

Don't listen to him, it's an Acan.

[xAyanex]

Just now, Weetabix7 said:

That guy is an idiot!!

Don't listen to him, it's an Acan.

Lol. He acted like he owned the place and kept talking about how he was still deciding on the discounts they were giving today for the frag swap, but when we asked him the store hours he didn't know them and had to ask his cashier! Also, the discounts were already posted!

[Weetabix7]

:FACEPALM:

[xAyanex]

And as promised, here is a better picture of my RFA:

 

[teenyreef]

Nice pickups! It's hard to tell for sure but the sps looks like birdsnest, or maybe a stylo. It'll be easier to tell when it gets a little bigger.

[xAyanex]

Earl thinks he can fit just about anywhere, and shoves himself onto the tiniest of ledges in the rock:

 

 

Also, there are more snail eggs on the glass today. They are Cerith snail eggs!:

 

 

Speaking of snails eggs, my dad asked me an interesting question. My mom has a freshwater aquarium that was practically overrun with snails reproducing. Will these snails potentially reproduce into nuisance populations in my aquarium? Gonna go research that now, but if anyone has experience with breeding Ceriths, please let me know!

So far it seems most people see the eggs on the glass, but the eggs dissolve away or are eaten too quickly to hatch.

[xAyanex]

A lot of people report the eggs should take 1-2 weeks to hatch.

 

Several people mentioned having tons of baby ceriths (like 100+) and just mentioned how cool they were. No one complained about how many there were.

 

And the survival of the baby snails sounds like it really depends on the type of Cerith. I don't plan to interfere or cater to any needs; I will just let nature take its course.

[Thatoneomahaguy]

Oh snap. Thats exciting! 

[xAyanex]

5 minutes ago, Thatoneomahaguy said:

Oh snap. Thats exciting! 

The Ceriths already laid eggs once already, but it was months ago and I didn't know what it was so I peeled them off and siphoned them out!

[Thatoneomahaguy]

8 minutes ago, xAyanex said:

The Ceriths already laid eggs once already, but it was months ago and I didn't know what it was so I peeled them off and siphoned them out!

 Well at least you are getting a second chance!

 

[fishfreak0114]

Early on I had loads of baby dwarf ceriths appear.  We're talking hundreds!  I gave two hundred away, and the remainder still live in my tank.  Free CUC!  Just the other day I saw a really tiny snail, it makes me wonder if they're breeding again!  That's neat that yours are laying eggs, I hope they hatch for you!  

[xAyanex]

19 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Early on I had loads of baby dwarf ceriths appear.  We're talking hundreds!  I gave two hundred away, and the remainder still live in my tank.  Free CUC!  Just the other day I saw a really tiny snail, it makes me wonder if they're breeding again!  That's neat that yours are laying eggs, I hope they hatch for you!  

Wow, that's awesome!!

 

So last night I got home and noticed the snail wasn't finished with the second batch of eggs. Here is the snail caught in the act (the one on the right). The snail on the left is just cleaning the glass:

 

 

Here are the snail eggs the next day, after the snail was finished. Sorry for the blurry phone pictures, but that's all I take:

 

 

Now I know what you're thinking: Wow, two batches of snail eggs, that's a ton!! Welp.... today a third batch is being started!!:

 

 

Again, sorry for the blurry picture (looks like the camera focused on the background instead of the snail). But wow, three separate "snail trails"!! Surely I'll get some snails out of them! 

[Weetabix7]

That's cool!!

I've never heard of SW snails reproducing to pest proportions. 

[xAyanex]

Just now, Weetabix7 said:

That's cool!!

I've never heard of SW snails reproducing to pest proportions. 

That is good to hear!!! I figured the lack of food sources would eventually control the population.

[teenyreef]

I get snail eggs all the time but I never see baby snails. Hopefully yours will hatch! 

[HIppieRose]

Mine never hatch.

[teenyreef]

1 hour ago, HIppieRose said:

Mine never hatch.

But you do have bugs 

[xAyanex]

Snail Trail #1 is mostly gone, but there are a few white dots left on the glass that may be eggs.

 

Snail Trails #2 and #3 are still there.

 

This morning I woke up to Snail Trails #4 and #5:

 

 

 

In general, the tank is doing great with most corals super happy. There is a tiny bit of cyano appearing back on the sand, but nothing I feel like I can't keep under control. The SPS is even doing surprisingly well! I will move it from the sandbed to the top rock when I do a water change in a day or two.

 

There are two corals that aren't doing well. One is the plate, which has basically never done well since I bought it, but it is still hanging on (has a few tiny bits of green tentacle flesh that I can see, and still opens/closes its mouth responding to feeding). I am hoping the new lights will slowly help the plate make a recovery. The other is the torch. Ever since I changed my lights, the torch coral was never happy and has never fully extended it's tentacles or whatever they're called. I've read torches are finicky and lots of people haven't had the best luck with them, so I've decided against playing with the lights. If I only lose that one coral, it is better than potentionally upsetting many others/losing them just to try and make the torch happier.

 

The torch only acted this way two other times: when I first put it in the tank, and when it was splitting. So either way waiting is my best option.

[Pjanssen]

I find my torch is happiest when it's not getting so much flow. It can be temperamental to salinity and alkalinity swings, so try to keep those stable. I lost my beautiful golden torch to a salinity swing that I didn't pay attention to. That's when I finally added an ATO. Since then it's been much easier to keep the tank stable. Light changes don't seem to affect mine so much.

[xAyanex]

23 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

I find my torch is happiest when it's not getting so much flow. It can be temperamental to salinity and alkalinity swings, so try to keep those stable. I lost my beautiful golden torch to a salinity swing that I didn't pay attention to. That's when I finally added an ATO. Since then it's been much easier to keep the tank stable. Light changes don't seem to affect mine so much.

Mine is in a lower flow area of my tank. Good point on stability, I ought to check my parameters before/after my water change tonight. I check salinity more often than anything, so I'm not really worried about that, but alk may be a factor.

[xAyanex]

Oh yeah, found Snail Trail of Eggs #6 today.

[xAyanex]

Did a water change and testing last night. I was looking for my previous values to compare to-looks like that last time I tested was 2/20/17. Wow, I'm a slacker.

Testing performed 4/1/17 before the water change:

 

Temp: 79 degrees F

Salinity: 35 ppt/1.025 specific gravity

pH: 8.0

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 10 ppm

Alkalinity: 9.6 dKH (up from 8.6 on 2/20/17)

Magnesium: 1500+, approximately 1620 ppm (always runs high)

Calcium: 460 ppm

Phosphate: 0-0.03 ppm

 

I want to check my alk, mag, and calcium again tonight when I get home to see what they are after the water change.

[teenyreef]

Looks great other than high mag! What test kit do you use for magnesium? I've had trouble recently with two different Salifert kits reading way too high. I was freaked out for a while until I tried Red Sea Pro, which read almost exactly the same level with new salt water that my salt manufacturer says it should be. 

 

It was a good 200 ppm higher with Salifert