Fluval 13.5 - Intro to the Hobby

[bomerst]

7 hours ago, Sapman said:

I have a RBT in a fluval Evo my clowns host and feed it , not the best vid , however the light has just come on 

  

Glad to hear that its working for you!  Are you ruining stock lights?  How long has the RBT been in there?  Did you say you have a video?

[asting]

13 minutes ago, bomerst said:

yeah, introducing that much ammonium was a beginner's mistake, and created a crazy algae bloom that took me a week to get under control even after a 33% water change.  But that was well over a month ago now: between the low-ish bioload, weekly waterchanges, and agae/CUC its been stable at 1ppm or less for the last month

No problem, just wanted to share info.

 

Water changes and algae removal can work just fine. 

[bomerst]

1 minute ago, asting said:

No problem, just wanted to share info.

 

 Water changes and algae removal can work just fine. 

I appreciate you sharing!  There is always more to learn in this hobby, and I have already learned a great deal since when I started this thread.

And yeah, water changes are so easy and seem to go a long way into keeping a tank healthy and easy to care for.  Big believer in regular water changes

[bomerst]

My clown is out of quarantine!

 

He was in there for 2 weeks in total due to his popeye, and was given Kanaplex to fight the infection and epsom salt to fight the swelling.  his eye looked to get worse for a few days before it slowly got back to normal size, and cleared up.  Unfortunately though it looks like he is blind in that eye now, kicking myself for not getting him in a hospital tank sooner.

 

But he is back in the comfortable display tank, and now that he is back my Yellow Watchman Goby comes out again: 

 

 

One thing I am having trouble with is the remaining bit of algae.  I've got a CUC of 2 trochus snails, 2 astrea snails, 1 emerald crab and 2 hermit crabs.  They keep the glass absolutely spotless, but haven't made a dent in the rock.    Whatever algae i have is stuck on quite well: it takes a lot of scraping with my fingernail to remove any of it.  If any of you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

 

Algae problem: 

 

[asting]

Just now, bomerst said:

My clown is out of quarantine!

 

He was in there for 2 weeks in total due to his popeye, and was given Kanaplex to fight the infection and epsom salt to fight the swelling.  his eye looked to get worse for a few days before it slowly got back to normal size, and cleared up.  Unfortunately though it looks like he is blind in that eye now, kicking myself for not getting him in a hospital tank sooner.

 

But he is back in the comfortable display tank, and now that he is back my Yellow Watchman Goby comes out again: 

 

 

One thing I am having trouble with is the remaining bit of algae.  I've got a CUC of 2 trochus snails, 2 astrea snails, 1 emerald crab and 2 hermit crabs.  They keep the glass absolutely spotless, but haven't made a dent in the rock.    Whatever algae i have is stuck on quite well: it takes a lot of scraping with my fingernail to remove any of it.  If any of you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

 

Algae problem: 

 

Hard to tell from the photos,  but are you sure it isn't just green coraline?

[bomerst]

1 minute ago, asting said:

Hard to tell from the photos,  but are you sure it isn't just green coraline?

 

Yeah, sorry about the photo quality:  my spending money is going into the tank, not a camera, so im trying to make do with my phone.

 

I suspect it is coraline as it is stuck on well, it isnt slippery feeling, and the snails blow right over it. But am still trying to find a good ID guide to figure out for sure.  Will pink coraline eventually win over? 

[asting]

Usually the green stuff shows up before the purple.

[bomerst]

2 minutes ago, asting said:

Usually the green stuff shows up before the purple.

Thanks!

[Firefish15]

Hey, looking good so far! Always good to find another college reefer. I've got a simple 10g softy tank right now.

 

Tip: See if your campus chemistry or biology lab has a tap for RO/DI water! Mine does, and they let me take all I need. It's probably the best option for evaporation top-up and mixing new saltwater.

 

As for coral on a college budget, hunt around your LFS. You might be surprised at what you can pick up for $10.

[bomerst]

1 hour ago, Firefish15 said:

Hey, looking good so far! Always good to find another college reefer. I've got a simple 10g softy tank right now.

 

Tip: See if your campus chemistry or biology lab has a tap for RO/DI water! Mine does, and they let me take all I need. It's probably the best option for evaporation top-up and mixing new saltwater.

 

As for coral on a college budget, hunt around your LFS. You might be surprised at what you can pick up for $10.

Yeah, there are not many of us that get into the hobby.  Which really is a shame.

 

That is a great idea for the RO/DI!  I have been buying gallons of distilled water, that is a much better solution.

 

As far as corals go, now that the tank has been up for nearly 2 months I think its time to give them a go.  There is a frag swap locally this weekend, so expect a post sometime after that showing off what I pick up!

 

 

[Firefish15]

28 minutes ago, bomerst said:

That is a great idea for the RO/DI!  I have been buying gallons of distilled water, that is a much better solution.

Yeah, it's worked out really well for me. I take two 5g buckets about every 2 weeks. One gets turned into SW, and the other is top-off. I evaporate a lot though, open top tank with dry air. Around 3 cups a day.

 

31 minutes ago, bomerst said:

There is a frag swap locally this weekend, so expect a post sometime after that showing off what I pick up!

Do you have some stocking ideas you'd like to share? 

[bomerst]

13 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

Yeah, it's worked out really well for me. I take two 5g buckets about every 2 weeks. One gets turned into SW, and the other is top-off. I evaporate a lot though, open top tank with dry air. Around 3 cups a day.

 

Do you have some stocking ideas you'd like to share? 

Im considering a zoa, an xenia, or some SPS as far as corals go.  Also thinking about a feather duster or a BTA, but im thinking its a bit early for that.

[bomerst]

Im really quite a fan of this thread, and am taking some ideas form it:

 

 

[asting]

I did a similar lighting upgrade to mine, but using offbrand LEDENET bars. Was about $60 to add two extra white and two blue bars. Seems to add quite a bit to the coloration. I put the whites i added to a dimmer and pretty much run them at 10-15%, blues at 100% (plus stock lite).

maybe it would have been more cost effective to just get two PAR38 bulbs...

 

[bomerst]

1 hour ago, asting said:

I did a similar lighting upgrade to mine, but using offbrand LEDENET bars. Was about $60 to add two extra white and two blue bars. Seems to add quite a bit to the coloration. I put the whites i added to a dimmer and pretty much run them at 10-15%, blues at 100% (plus stock lite).



maybe it would have been more cost effective to just get two PAR38 bulbs...

 

Wow, beautiful tank you have there!

 

Yeah, I think I still want to go with upgrading the stock lighting though just because of the benefits of the stock lid.  With it I get barely any evaporation or salt creep, and it keeps my goby (who has demonstrated a deep love of jumping) where he is supposed to be.  Lighting upgrade will need to wait till summer though, when I can work for a bit more spending money.

[bomerst]

Mild update:

 

Coral News: 

     Good News:  Attended my first frag swap and picked up my first corals! Pics will come soon, but rn I have the frags stuck in the sand bed until I can pick up a dremel to cut the plug back.  I picked up 5 frags that I was told were relatively hardy: a zooanthus, a GSP, a Torch, a Duncan and a Green Implosion Palyp.

 

     Bad News:  While placing the corals in the sand bed my Emerald Crab took a swing at me, and I dropped the Torch coral on the Duncan.  Idiotic mistake, and because of it the poor Duncan appears to have been nicely stung.  Fingers crossed he makes a recovery

 

Clownfish News: 

     Good News: The last if the swelling and cloudyness has gone down in Claude's eye, and visually he appears to have made a good recovery.  He is acting energetic and exploitative as usual, and now that he is back Toby the Goby feel comfortable coming out of his hole again.  It is really neat to see how Claude's presence effects Toby's behavior.

 

     Bad News: My clownfish has not been eating recently, and his stomach has become slightly concave.  When I put food into the tank he swims right over, but seems unable to find it once he gets there.  He seems equally uninterested in the Ocean Nutrition Formula Two pellets and the Mysis Shrimp I feed him.  I am worried that his eye injury may have permanently affected his vision, and he is having trouble adapting.   If he doesn't start eating soon I will make a post on the disease forum asking for help, i would really hate to loose him at this point.

     

 

[Garf]

Hey Bom-

 

Sharing my experience, I have a clown that suffered through much the same thing, she ended up pulling through. Her eye remained cloudy for a bit, but a few years later, they look pretty much the same. I am sure it affected her eyesight though, by comparing her behavior to my other clown. Today, I noticed she couldn't see the pellets I was feeding when I had just the blue lights on. The other clown was feeding fine. Once I turned the whites on, she was able to see them easily. If the food dropped on her right side, she wouldn't move towards it until ut dropped below, or she turned towards it while swimming around looking for it. Hope your guy pulled through.