12 gallon Mr Aqua.... Lessons learned.... 🤓

[JcSH2o]

6 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

No problem. Sometimes in this hobby you just need someone to tell you you’re ok.   

Lol ain't that the truth! Seeing how this is my first reef I'm going nuts trying to figure out every little change. It's a lot different than freshwater, even a water change is a whole new experience again. 

 

And then the water flow.... Hahaha

 

10 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

You may have released some stuff that has thrown the balance off.........I know you had a long crazy cycle too. Change that pad at least once a week and twice once you get more dudes in there. 

 

You should be ok, just let it all settle back down before doing anything else. Everything you do and every change you make affects everything else. When the tank is new just take it slow.   

Okay thank you so much! I feel better already. I really appreciate the help! 

[holy carp]

I just went back and looked at your photos.  The skin on that torch coral looked pretty bad right from the start.  It should definitely not have been so weak, thin, and peeling.  

 

Since you had ammonia, then I'm guessing that pad may have contained a significant portion of your nitrifying bacteria.  So removing it may have let your small bioload temporarily overwhelm the remaining bacteria populations.  How are the ammonia and nitrite levels today?  You might want to get some Prime to neutralize the ammonia if it increases any further.

[JcSH2o]

2 hours ago, holy carp said:

I just went back and looked at your photos.  The skin on that torch coral looked pretty bad right from the start.  It should definitely not have been so weak, thin, and peeling.  

 

Since you had ammonia, then I'm guessing that pad may have contained a significant portion of your nitrifying bacteria.  So removing it may have let your small bioload temporarily overwhelm the remaining bacteria populations.  How are the ammonia and nitrite levels today?  You might want to get some Prime to neutralize the ammonia if it increases any further.

Thanks for responding! My ammonia and nitrite are again 0. The BioSpira did the trick. In the future I will definitely pay more attention to changing the pad... Even if it "looks clean".

 

Interesting to know my coral was weak to begin with. I had my suspicions but was not able to confirm it so I thank you. I'm thinking at this point that I won't be getting much through LiveAquaria, save for maybe some hard to find inverts or something like that. 

 

Thanks again for the help. I really do appreciate it!!

[JcSH2o]

Update: The remaining corals are doing great! No brown sludge has been passed on from my grape coral, so I will chalk that up to being a coral received in poor condition. The Green Bay Packers zoas are open, the hammer is obviously happy in it's flow, and oh my the Duncan is the real surprise. I feed it 3 times a week and have watched it grow already. The stalk is turning green and repairing the damage it received before it arrived to me. My params are good, with Cal and Mg still high but I think if I drop the salinity from 1.026 down to 1.024 that might work. I'll continue mixing fresh saltwater at 33ppm instead of 35 and let the tank come down slowly that way.

On LiveAquaria; perhaps others have positive experiences or perhaps the facility in the Midwest is better than the CA facility I received my purchases from, but my opinion of them is totally meh. I received 2 blah corals, one of which was sick from the start and the other was damaged. Lost one and recovered the Duncan... I received 1 healthy pom pom and 1 DOA cleaner shrimp. I reported the DOA immediately, and was told to call back at the end of 14 days to claim a replacement. The 14th day was Thanksgiving so I did not call. I called Friday afternoon and was told I was a day past the 14. He then stated he wouldn't "give me too much grief over the one day", and told me they were out of stock of small cleaners and I would have to pay the difference for a large one. I found this irritating, and told him first this was DOA and then I had to wait 14 days after I reported it initially, and now he tells me snidely that I am a day late and I will have to pay more money. I asked for a refund, to which he then replied "Well we don't do this often but in this case we will send you a large replacement for free." So WTH, I took it. The shrimp arrived today packaged much better than the last and only marginally bigger... So for a less than 50% success rate on a first order and shoddy customer service I'm left feeling quite meh about this company. God only knows what would have happened if I called last week to report the coral melting. 

In the future I will speak to my LFS about bringing in special inverts etc, and I will view LiveAquaria as nothing more than an online Petco. Happy reefing friends! 

[JcSH2o]

I just received a phone call from LiveAquaria customer service. They were responding to a Bizrate survey I completed in which I basically I reposted the above post concerning my experience with them. 

The rep apologized and admitted that the agent should not have responded in the way that he did considering the shrimp had already been reported as a loss and the company does not place a time limit on replacements. 

He then went on to state that they would also be refunding the cost of the grape coral, even though at no time did I request it nor did I ever report it. 

Bravo to them for reaching out to me and making this right. My expectations of quality coral still are not very high, but I commend their customer service in this situation. I really didn't expect this level of concern on their part. 

Cheers all, and happy reefing! 

[teenyreef]

I'm glad LA followed up and took care of things! I have ordered corals from them a few times but wasn't impressed, I've gotten far better corals for less money from other online vendors. But their fish selection is great especially for ones I can't find at the lfs, and the fourteen day guarantee is so much better than anyone else offers. They've always been very good about honoring the guarantee for me too.

 

Do you have a recent fts? How are things going now?

[JcSH2o]

3 hours ago, teenyreef said:

I'm glad LA followed up and took care of things! I have ordered corals from them a few times but wasn't impressed, I've gotten far better corals for less money from other online vendors. But their fish selection is great especially for ones I can't find at the lfs, and the fourteen day guarantee is so much better than anyone else offers. They've always been very good about honoring the guarantee for me too.

 

Do you have a recent fts? How are things going now?

Hi! Yes I can agree with their critter selection... It is the best I've seen so far and I'd be lying if I said I'd never grab something from their Divers Den... 

 

I haven't been taking any FT shots but maybe I should! I've been meaning to start a build thread, but the holidays are upon us and I find less and less time... That and I only have a small hammer, some zoas, and my Duncan. My plan is to let things settle in, and not get caught up in the holiday rush. (Black Friday was sooooo enticing though) I finally am getting used to the tests, and completed my first spill free water change yesterday. 

 

Hahaha Funny story: First water change I had shut off all pumps etc.... Syphon water out, double check everything is good... As I walk away to go retrieve my bucket of new saltwater I hear this WHHHHHHIIIRRRRRR and the sound of water splashing. I run back into the room and see water flying out of the tank. Apparently, there is some sort of glitch in the Aqamai app, and turning off the wavemaker that way only does so for a handful of minutes. So it randomly kicks back on full speed, even though the app says OFF, and is flinging water everywhere while I have one hand over the tank trying to block as much splash as possible while the other hand fumbles to reach the phone and reconnect the app. I ended up one hand disconnecting the pump itself.... What a messy lesson that was! 

 

If I get time I'll post a FT shot this evening. I feel like everything is going well and I can see visible growth in just a few weeks as each coral gets comfy. Oh and I just discovered copepods yesterday so that got me all excited!  

[JcSH2o]

 

 

Here we are... I'm horrible with my camera phone by the way... Still trying to get used to "actual photography" ?

 

 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, JcSH2o said:

 

 

Here we are... I'm horrible with my camera phone by the way... Still trying to get used to "actual photography" ?

 

 

 

 

 

Looks nice and clear.   

[JcSH2o]

 

[JcSH2o]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/157780654@N05/38080452174/in/datetaken#

 

Um... Trying to link a video from Flicker... How the hell? Lmao 

[teenyreef]

The fts looks nice, I love the scape! And after going to see the video on Flickr, it looks nice too

 

Unfortunately you can't autoembed videos from Flickr, which I hate because I'd much rather put my tank videos there. I have to upload the videos to Youtube instead so they can be seen here.

[Lula_Mae]

On 11/28/2017 at 3:26 PM, JcSH2o said:

Update: The remaining corals are doing great! No brown sludge has been passed on from my grape coral, so I will chalk that up to being a coral received in poor condition. The Green Bay Packers zoas are open, the hammer is obviously happy in it's flow, and oh my the Duncan is the real surprise. I feed it 3 times a week and have watched it grow already. The stalk is turning green and repairing the damage it received before it arrived to me. My params are good, with Cal and Mg still high but I think if I drop the salinity from 1.026 down to 1.024 that might work. I'll continue mixing fresh saltwater at 33ppm instead of 35 and let the tank come down slowly that way.

On LiveAquaria; perhaps others have positive experiences or perhaps the facility in the Midwest is better than the CA facility I received my purchases from, but my opinion of them is totally meh. I received 2 blah corals, one of which was sick from the start and the other was damaged. Lost one and recovered the Duncan... I received 1 healthy pom pom and 1 DOA cleaner shrimp. I reported the DOA immediately, and was told to call back at the end of 14 days to claim a replacement. The 14th day was Thanksgiving so I did not call. I called Friday afternoon and was told I was a day past the 14. He then stated he wouldn't "give me too much grief over the one day", and told me they were out of stock of small cleaners and I would have to pay the difference for a large one. I found this irritating, and told him first this was DOA and then I had to wait 14 days after I reported it initially, and now he tells me snidely that I am a day late and I will have to pay more money. I asked for a refund, to which he then replied "Well we don't do this often but in this case we will send you a large replacement for free." So WTH, I took it. The shrimp arrived today packaged much better than the last and only marginally bigger... So for a less than 50% success rate on a first order and shoddy customer service I'm left feeling quite meh about this company. God only knows what would have happened if I called last week to report the coral melting. 

In the future I will speak to my LFS about bringing in special inverts etc, and I will view LiveAquaria as nothing more than an online Petco. Happy reefing friends! 

I'm pretty shocked the rep treated you that way, especially since they were NOT OPEN on Thanksgiving...seriously?  Sadly sometimes things don't do well in transit, though they usually do a good job with packing, and are usually very good on refunds.  I had a blasto and porcelain crab survive four days in transit (thanks UPS ) the blasto is still gorgeous--they were Diver's Den selections.  I was also happy with the xenia I got from regular LA.  Did you report the corals melting?  They will refund if it's within the 14 day window, and if it's a captive grown one it should be 30 days.  So sorry you had such a yucky experience.

 

Ironically they are now owned by Petco lol.

[JcSH2o]

1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

The fts looks nice, I love the scape! And after going to see the video on Flickr, it looks nice too

 

Unfortunately you can't autoembed videos from Flickr, which I hate because I'd much rather put my tank videos there. I have to upload the videos to Youtube instead so they can be seen here.

Well that's strange! I was sure I've seen videos embedded through Flickr... Though maybe that is a whiskey muddled memory... ?

Funny enough I went through all the trouble to sign up for Flickr just to post videos here; and all the while I already have a YouTube. LMFAO well isn't THAT a muthrFlickr....

56 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I'm pretty shocked the rep treated you that way, especially since they were NOT OPEN on Thanksgiving...seriously?  Sadly sometimes things don't do well in transit, though they usually do a good job with packing, and are usually very good on refunds.  I had a blasto and porcelain crab survive four days in transit (thanks UPS ) the blasto is still gorgeous--they were Diver's Den selections.  I was also happy with the xenia I got from regular LA.  Did you report the corals melting?  They will refund if it's within the 14 day window, and if it's a captive grown one it should be 30 days.  So sorry you had such a yucky experience.

 

Ironically they are now owned by Petco lol.

Mmmm..... Blasto....  Definitely on my list! 

 

I'm stoked LA reached out to me like they did. It was certainly worth at least a few brownie points. I do enjoy reading their site facts, and the Divers Den is often full of curious goodies like that little Squat Lobster of yours. Very cool.

 

Owned by Petco?! That's crazy! 

[teenyreef]

You can see the image placeholder, and then click through to Flickr. But you can't play it in an embedded window within the N-R post the way you can with Youtube. It's a nice video either way though

[Lula_Mae]

5 minutes ago, JcSH2o said:

Well that's strange! I was sure I've seen videos embedded through Flickr... Though maybe that is a whiskey muddled memory... ?

Funny enough I went through all the trouble to sign up for Flickr just to post videos here; and all the while I already have a YouTube. LMFAO well isn't THAT a muthrFlickr....

Mmmm..... Blasto....  Definitely on my list! 

 

I'm stoked LA reached out to me like they did. It was certainly worth at least a few brownie points. I do enjoy reading their site facts, and the Divers Den is often full of curious goodies like that little Squat Lobster of yours. Very cool.

 

Owned by Petco?! That's crazy! 

Yep, LA and DFS were bought out a few years ago by Petco.

 

I love blastos so much.  Gena's got some fabulous ones in her 10g.  I have...8 varieties.  Seven in my 5.5 and one in the jar.  I may have a problem.  Haha.  The ones from DD are purple rim, bright neon green center merlettis.  My Pederson's shrimp likes to harass them.

[JcSH2o]

42 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

You can see the image placeholder, and then click through to Flickr. But you can't play it in an embedded window within the N-R post the way you can with Youtube. It's a nice video either way though

Thanks! I've been tinkering with the idea of doing a vlog as I learn the ways of the reef... Mayhaps....

 

36 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yep, LA and DFS were bought out a few years ago by Petco.

 

I love blastos so much.  Gena's got some fabulous ones in her 10g.  I have...8 varieties.  Seven in my 5.5 and one in the jar.  I may have a problem.  Haha.  The ones from DD are purple rim, bright neon green center merlettis.  My Pederson's shrimp likes to harass them.

DFS? 

 

And oh my yes I have a special fondness for Blastos... It's funny, growing up it was a word I used ALL the time without ever knowing about the coral. And now I find it as a beautiful creature and it just makes it that much better. ?

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, JcSH2o said:

Thanks! I've been tinkering with the idea of doing a vlog as I learn the ways of the reef... Mayhaps....

 

DFS? 

 

And oh my yes I have a special fondness for Blastos... It's funny, growing up it was a word I used ALL the time without ever knowing about the coral. And now I find it as a beautiful creature and it just makes it that much better. ?

DFS = Doctors Foster & Smith, of which Live Aquaria is the live animal division.

[JcSH2o]

I awoke this morning to a panic as I thought Skittles the shrimp had died... 

 

Turns out he just molted! Very cool! I imagine this is a good sign? Are there any precautions I need to consider shortly after a molting? 

[Biglex]

30 minutes ago, JcSH2o said:

I awoke this morning to a panic as I thought Skittles the shrimp had died... 

 

Turns out he just molted! Very cool! I imagine this is a good sign? Are there any precautions I need to consider shortly after a molting? 

Lol my mife thought the same thing when my fire shrimp molted. “Omg spot is dead” then I told her what happened 

[JcSH2o]

16 minutes ago, Biglex said:

Lol my mife thought the same thing when my fire shrimp molted. “Omg spot is dead” then I told her what happened 

Yes easy to do... The lights were off and as I walked by I saw his "carcass" rolling in the current like a tumbleweed... ???