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Scotty Amen's Evo 13.5: 1st Saltwater Journal


Scotty Amen

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I got a nice little Duncan on Saturday.  A good beginner LPS for me to keep in the nano reef.

 

A friend told me about a shop near me called Aquarium Show (weird name) in Plantation, FL.  It's beautiful!  Clean, bright, tons of both fresh and saltwater fish, very friendly (but not pushy) staff, and a really nice coral display.  I had to pick up this cute Duncan there.

 

 

 

 

 

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7 month update. The tank is 212 days old.

  • Caribsea arag-alive sand is just fine, stays clean & white.
  • Caribsea life-rock, doing well, I like this stuff. It's pretty.
  • First diatoms appeared in about 2 weeks.
  • Cycle took 5+ weeks using Dr. Tim's ammonia & occasional food.
  • My 2 original nassarius zombie snails are still doing their thing.
  • My 2 original trochus snails are still working, although their shells are somewhat covered with green algae sometimes, then it clears off and I can see their purple shells better.
  • The first shrimp, a 
  • Stock pump replaced with 
  • Hydor 240 adds additional flow.  I had tried the 425 but that was to much power.
  • The army of blue-legged hermit crabs from reefcleaners.org are still munching away. I've lost a few along the way.
  • The first  little emerald crab, from Blue Seas Aquariums in Sunrise, FL. is still working hard.  When I got him home I noticed that he only had 1 of his 4 legs on one side, so he's disabled. :) 
  • I added another emerald crab from PFK in Coral Springs as well, they get along and keep to themselves and eat the green hair that shows up.
  • At 3 months  I ordered a bonded pair of juvenile snowflake clownfish from liveaquaria.com.  The little one was DOA, they replaced it.  The new one took to the tank just fine and they've paired up nicely.
  • I also added a peppermint shrimp.  He did okay for a little while, molted a few times, but then one day he was just gone. I've never seen him again and I couldn't find his body anywhere, not even in the rear sump.
  • At 4 months I added two zoa frags, they're doing well.  
  • Near the end of month 4 I added another zoa frag.
  • Month 5 I added a cleaner shrimp.  He's doing fine and has molted a couple times since.
  • Midway through month 5 I added a yellow clown goby, who to this day still doesn't like to eat where I can see him, and a red leg hermit for his looks, and a bunch of little cerinths.
  • Month 7, I added the Duncan coral and he's still doing well,I think he's not quite 2 weeks in my tank yet.  He closed up a lot for the water change but seems to have opened up okay again.

Sometimes I get a bunch of red hair sprouting on the rock, I clean it off with a brush and it goes away.

Sometimes I get a carpet of red on the sand.  I assume all this is cyano.  Again, brush / net it away and flow helps.

That's all for now.

 

 

 

 

australian duncan 8-19-2019.jpg

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17 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Try to get a photo of that red hair algae if it comes back, cyano isn't usually hairy.

Sorry, that was meant to be two different thoughts. Sometimes I get a carpet of red on the sand.  I assume all this is cyano. Unrelated to the red hair.

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Sad news, the yellow clown goby didn't make it. 😩

Found him floating up against the powerhead. Poor little guy just would not eat.

 

I could tell he was getting super thin, and he just never ever showed any interest in eating anything.

 

RIP.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I got these guys (well, a gal and a guy) Saturday from @aquariumshowusa in Plantation FL. It’s a bonded male/female pair of watchman goby + a pistol shrimp. They are already working together nicely in my tank. They spent the first few hours swimming around like they didn't all know each other but by bedtime the shrimp had started burrowing a cave under my rocks, and by the morning both fishies had joined him in there. Super cute with their angry frown faces.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/19/2019 at 12:07 PM, Scotty Amen said:

I assume all this is cyano. 

Looks like it.

 

What is your filtration and maintenance like?  What are your nitrate and phosphate levels like in testing?

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On 9/30/2019 at 2:53 PM, cameron678 said:

Hate to say this but isn't that tank a little overstocked? 2 watchman gobys and 2 clown fish and a clown goby in something slightly bigger than a 10 gal? 

No, see the post from Aug 29, the original clown goby didn't make it, he just refused to eat anything at all. RIP.  I didn't add the watchman family until after the clown goby passed.

So it's 2 clown and 2 watchman in 13.5.

Params have stayed the same for the past several months, ammonia nitrite and nitrate 0, pH 7.

Not adding anything new from now on except more zoas.

Let me know if you see any potential problems here.

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On 9/30/2019 at 2:56 PM, mcarroll said:

Looks like it.

 

What is your filtration and maintenance like?  What are your nitrate and phosphate levels like in testing?

Lots of seachem media and carbon in the 2 intank media baskets in the back. Intank filter floss at the top of chamber 1 where the water flows in.

Maintenance is a 2-gallon water change every Saturday without fail, & change filter floss every 3 days, clean the glass daily.

Test parameters a few hours after water changes, they have stayed the same for the past several months, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 0, pH 7.

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On 9/30/2019 at 2:56 PM, mcarroll said:

Looks like it.

btw the cyano on the sand is almost completely eliminated now, with the watchman & pistol shrimp turning over the sand so often now.

On 9/30/2019 at 7:48 PM, Wonderboy said:

Looking good - I would say that the tank is fully stocked, but not over. Those watchman gobies are so cool! Do you plan on trying to breed them??

Thank you!

I did not plan to breed them, no.  I'm not really set up for that.

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17 minutes ago, Scotty Amen said:

I'm sorry Ratvan, I do not.  The shop here near my office had them but had no names and no idea what they might be called.

I got them from http://www.aquariumshowusa.com/ 

That's cool. I like a bargain frag too. Pretty much just buying mixed rocks at the minute, kinda half interested in named ones but most are a little blah. I dont seem to like popular colours

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