Samnaz's 20L (upgrading to IM Nuvo Black 30L)

[Nixperience]

11 hours ago, samnaz said:

I was referring to the large black growth protruding out from the left side of the base. I don't think it's a Frogspawn. In fact I'm quite certain it's not... it's just a black stump that seems dead, yet it keeps growing larger and larger. On the other side of this same frag there are 3-4 similar black lump growths.

Oh lol! That's a type of sponge. 

[samnaz]

1 hour ago, Nixperience said:

Oh lol! That's a type of sponge. 

OH! Duh. How did I not think of that? I've been wondering what that gosh darn thing is for months. Thank you!

[Nixperience]

39 minutes ago, samnaz said:

OH! Duh. How did I not think of that? I've been wondering what that gosh darn thing is for months. Thank you!

Ya I found the same thing a few weeks ago. Not sure how good of a sponge it is though. Usually black things aren't good. 

[samnaz]

I told myself no more frags until I transfer everything to the new tank. I obeyed that rule for months, and today I caved. I mean, I seriously cannot resist 50% off aquacultured Euphyillia plus free shipping! It's a no brainer. I snatched this beauty:

 

 

I really, really want a teal torch but I just can't swing $80 for a single frag.

[samnaz]

And these....

 

 

[Nixperience]

8 minutes ago, samnaz said:

And these....

 

 

?

[samnaz]

Someone stop me!

 

[yungKitten]

LPS sanctuary.

[samnaz]

My Emerald crab died.

 

I don't know why. I hope it wasn't my fault. Everything else in the tank is fine, and there is nothing I can think of that could have caused his death. I like to think the cause was "old age" but I don't think 1.5 years is very old for crabs. 

 

RIP Crazy Mofo.

[Sharbuckle]

32 minutes ago, samnaz said:

My Emerald crab died.

 

I don't know why. I hope it wasn't my fault. Everything else in the tank is fine, and there is nothing I can think of that could have caused his death. I like to think the cause was "old age" but I don't think 1.5 years is very old for crabs. 

 

RIP Crazy Mofo.

Could have been a molt? Sometimes I find emerald molts that look damn near perfect. 

[samnaz]

1 minute ago, Sharbuckle said:

Could have been a molt? Sometimes I find emerald molts that look damn near perfect. 

 

That was my first thought. But he wasn't in his hole home, and he almost never leaves his hole. 

 

Plus, the body had eyeballs and meat goo inside.

[Lula_Mae]

RIP Crabby

[samnaz]

My orbit pro controller just decided to reset all of my saved settings and changed everything to completely random intensities and times, like on/off at 43:43 o'clock. Wtf how is that even possible.  

 

The controller/programing is so unintuitive, it's the worst. Now I have to redo it all and I don't even know what my settings were exactly. 

 

Orrrr... I say screw it and setup the Nanobox QUAD instead.

[samnaz]

My bunch of Euphyllia frags came today!

 

IMG_0122 by Sam Naszradi, on Flickr

 

 

They have only been in the tank for a few hours, so they're obviously not fully adjusted and acclimated yet, but here's some pics anyway.

 

Orange Octospawn

IMG_0173 by Sam Naszradi, on Flickr

 

Teal Torch

IMG_0176 by Sam Naszradi, on Flickr

 

Gold Hammer

IMG_0185 by Sam Naszradi, on Flickr

 

Gold Torch... which actually looks more like purplish/brown with lime tips.

IMG_0190 by Sam Naszradi, on Flickr

[samnaz]

Something's wrong. One of my sexy shrimp died yesterday. No deaths for over a year, then two deaths just a week apart... leads me to think something is up, I have no idea what, but I must try to figure it out NOW before I lose anyone else. I feel terrible. 

 

Are there any common causes of death for crustaceans? I know they cannot tolerate salinity swings, but salinity has remained relatively stable.

 

What else could it be? Any ideas? Tests I should run? Help!!!!

[Sharbuckle]

Hmmm sounds like something is up. I wish I was of more help. Please fill us in when you find out. 

[samnaz]

My best guess is Iodine deficiency. Due to protein skimming on top of lacking water changes (once every 2 weeks, sometimes 3 weeks). 

 

I've always been pretty bad at keeping a steady weekly water change schedule, so that alone couldn't be the cause. I added a protein skimmer about 2 months ago, perhaps the combination of both eventually depleted the iodine levels. Of course Iodine is the only test kit I don't have.

[Sharbuckle]

I think its super hard to test for iodine. I actually dose Iodine in my tank, few drops daily. I find it really helps for softy growth, especially shrooms and xenia. 

 

I'm a shitty reefer though, minimal testing and water changes. I actually suck. 

[samnaz]

20 minutes ago, Sharbuckle said:

I think its super hard to test for iodine. I actually dose Iodine in my tank, few drops daily. I find it really helps for softy growth, especially shrooms and xenia. 

 

I'm a shitty reefer though, minimal testing and water changes. I actually suck. 

I don't think that makes you a shitty reefer at all. Sometimes tanks can thrive despite less than perfect water change schedule and lack of testing.

 

In the past 4-5 months I've tested ONE time. For Nitrate. I check salinity when I do a water change, and that's it. Nothing else. Do I suck too?  

[yungKitten]

3 hours ago, samnaz said:

My best guess is Iodine deficiency. Due to protein skimming on top of lacking water changes (once every 2 weeks, sometimes 3 weeks). 

 

I've always been pretty bad at keeping a steady weekly water change schedule, so that alone couldn't be the cause. I added a protein skimmer about 2 months ago, perhaps the combination of both eventually depleted the iodine levels. Of course Iodine is the only test kit I don't have.

This was my first guess as well. Doubly if the deaths occurred during molting.

[samnaz]

4 hours ago, yungKitten said:

This was my first guess as well. Doubly if the deaths occurred during molting.

Hard to say if they were molting at the time. The bodies seemed to be fully intact when I found them. I suppose they could have been in the very early stages of a molt.

 

I have a bottle of Iodide. Basically the same as Iodine, isn't it?  

[Lingwendil]

2 hours ago, samnaz said:

Hard to say if they were molting at the time. The bodies seemed to be fully intact when I found them. I suppose they could have been in the very early stages of a molt.

 

I have a bottle of Iodide. Basically the same as Iodine, isn't it?  

Which particular type of Iodide do you have?

 

Not that I'm saying Iodine is the problem, but I'm a fan of Lugol's Solution for new purchase dips and supplement, or if your tank is heavy on Crustaceans, or especially if you grow a lot of Xenia or leathers, as it almost seems like they suck the stuff dry... I would not dose it unless you confirm it is low though.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/lugol-s-solution-advanced-iodine-brightwell-aquatics.html

 

^free shipping on all orders too...

 

 

Best thing I recommend in situations like this is to check salinity, PH, and Alk/KH. If you find you are getting swings that can take stuff out quick. It seems that PH especially will swing low at night (especially with heavy skimming) and that can hurt otherwise hardy corals pretty hard at times, with torch, elegance, and flowerpot types getting hit especially hard...

 

 

[mitten_reef]

On 7/24/2017 at 11:07 PM, samnaz said:

Orrrr... I say screw it and setup the Nanobox QUAD instead.

^ This, you should do this. 

 

And following a fellow MI nano reefer. 

[Lula_Mae]

23 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

I think its super hard to test for iodine. I actually dose Iodine in my tank, few drops daily. I find it really helps for softy growth, especially shrooms and xenia. 

 

I'm a shitty reefer though, minimal testing and water changes. I actually suck. 

Lol I haven't owned a test kit in like 7 years.  And I forget to do water changes...Guess I suck too!

[samnaz]

On 7/31/2017 at 6:57 AM, Lingwendil said:

Which particular type of Iodide do you have?

 

Not that I'm saying Iodine is the problem, but I'm a fan of Lugol's Solution for new purchase dips and supplement, or if your tank is heavy on Crustaceans, or especially if you grow a lot of Xenia or leathers, as it almost seems like they suck the stuff dry... I would not dose it unless you confirm it is low though.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/lugol-s-solution-advanced-iodine-brightwell-aquatics.html

 

^free shipping on all orders too...

 

 

Best thing I recommend in situations like this is to check salinity, PH, and Alk/KH. If you find you are getting swings that can take stuff out quick. It seems that PH especially will swing low at night (especially with heavy skimming) and that can hurt otherwise hardy corals pretty hard at times, with torch, elegance, and flowerpot types getting hit especially hard...

 

 

I believe it is sea chem brand Iodide, but I'm not sure as I have put it in a eye dropper bottle. 

 

The reason I suspected low Iodine is because everything else in the tank is doing great, all my corals look perfectly healthy. If it was Alk or PH or something, I suspect the corals wouldn't be doing so well. So that leads me to believe whatever it is/was is bad enough to kill two crustaceans yet it has no effect on corals or snails. 

 

I will run some tests tonight. Gotta dust off the old test kits. 

 

On 7/31/2017 at 8:56 AM, micoastreefing said:

^ This, you should do this. 

 

And following a fellow MI nano reefer. 

A fellow MI reefer, awesome! Nice to meet you.

 

23 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Lol I haven't owned a test kit in like 7 years.  And I forget to do water changes...Guess I suck too!

In my eyes you don't suck, unless you're constantly killing livestock due to negligence.