Neb’s diary

[pricewayne]

3 minutes ago, Neb said:

My no3 is 0.10 mg/l. Quite low but I don't want it any lower than that. Xenia might suffer. 

Ah, yes which is science for nitrates 🤦🏼‍♂️

Sweet, looks spot on.

[billygoat]

Looks great as usual Neb! Thank you for writing such detailed and hilarious posts. It's always a pleasure to read your journal. 😁

 

Now if only I could teach my hermits to ride elevators too, they might finally be able to reach the hair algae on my return nozzle...

[Neb]

Hey, dropping by with a very quick update.

remember the magnificent 3 for £40 corals I got? I didn’t, really get 3, it was more like 30. Can’t really count all the aiptasia, but the ones I see are about 7. Panic ordered aiptasia x which I now have, but I don’t intend to use at this point. Instead, I will return skunk shrimp and replace him with a peppermint for awhile to try deal with it in a more natural way. I am not happy about it, but I prefer having my shrimp safe in a display tank for a few weeks, rather than dealing with 10000 aiptasia anemones. It seems aiptasia x doesn’t eradicate the anemones. Peppermints do. 

A good note to self and everyone out there - don’t read instructions only. Read description and very thoroughly too. Just figured out why my magnesium and calcium levels are abnormal (in a sense, they’re higher than they should be based on salinity and amounts on the salt mixing calculator). What I missed until now is the “BOOSTED” part in my salt mix. They have added extra calcium and magnesium to help replenish any consumed. I didn’t pay much attention to that if I’m honest. Well, until 2 weeks ago I didn’t have any stony corals, did I? 

Day 2 with my AI prime HD - goniopora needs to be moved to a lower level as it really doesn’t like the levels of light. I am running  a very dim low light mode as I am planning to introduce more light. Yesterday it was fine because I kept the light on acclimation at 50% reduction rate. It seemed a bit too dim, so I lowered to 30% and Goni said “NOPE” and closed as soon as sunrise ended and light went on. 

I took a very quick 30 seconds video during sunrise which I will post in a bit. I am growing fond of az camera and even planning on purchasing. Only drawback is the lack of 4K support which I really want. 

 

Today I also fed the yellow goby by hand. It’s so sweet. 

Here’s photos of my photoperiod. Experimenting still and trying to work slowly and not incinerate everything because I WANT MOOOOOOOOAR.

also, trying to find a balanced period and light intensity to not have algal growth with biblical proportions

Note light emitted is at %50 efficiency for the next 10 days and it will gradually reach the levels shown. After that I intend to increase levels further and acclimate with 100% reduction which will gradually increase light with no stress. 

 gobies getting along well.

Acan not getting along with anything. Sweeper tentacles are out all the time. I think it senses aiptasia at its base and is responding aggressively. Every other coral has been evacuated out of its reach. Will think of proper placement for all corals on Thursday. All I know is mushrooms are so going to the left corner where flow is low and light slightly dim due to rockwork shade.

shrimp photobombing again.... not even there.

 

Note that’s a quick update. Imagine how much I speak in person when I have something to say 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🧙‍♀️

 

[Gravity]

Pretty sure the acan is just trying to capture food. 

[Neb]

Friday, 7th of June:

last update before my holiday. I should probably update my first post, but then there’s no reason for anyone to read. All must suffer!

Flying to Bulgaria on Sunday. I am dreading every second of my absence. My roommate has jelly fingers, or so it seems. Yesterday we did a training on the very basics. Which food, how much food, what additives (decided to enforce a Prime and bacteria law), how much and when to add, how the skimmer works, cleaning cup, resetting in case of failure. This morning he had to feed on his own. I was there. He did something in the kitchen, went to the tank and fed. I went to the tank, looked in - fish swimming around angry.... no food whatsoever. “I don’t see any food in” “well, you said don’t overfeed “ “But you’ve just added it, they can’t eat it THAT fast” “I don’t kurwa know”. Went to the kitchen to investigate further - idiot has added krill Pacifica - there’s like four in each cube. So he’s fed them with brine. I was like “Pawel, I told you to feed mysis and copepods” “Label it” “IT’S ALREADY LABELED.. IT SAYS MYSIS SHRIMP.. COPEPODS, KRILL PACIFICA, BRINE SHRIMP” “put a label I understand” “they have different colours... Feed yellow and dark blue” “no-no, put labels”. What an idiot 🤕😡😡😡😡

Tomorrow I will make a list of what needs to be done, how it’s done, what colour it is, what it smells like, what it looks like. Might as well taste the food and describe it. 

Yesterday I have returned the cardinal. He was looking at me from the bag in the store. He knew his new daddy/mommy won’t give him a brine shrimp treat JUST FOR HIM. I wanted the whiteband possum wrasse and did not want to have 5 fish so the one with less personality had to go. It was him and he knew it. He resisted. But I was cleverer - put a shrimp between my hands that was free swimming and when he attacked it, the trap snapped. WITH MY BARE HANDS! 

I transported the new fish in one of the corals containers and added two heat packs.

It worked really well. 

She was very shy yesterday and earlier today, but has since realised “this house is clean”. 

I have also purchased a hydro smart system (ato). I did not have a container so I had to go to Tesco..

 

King of DIY!!!!!! 

Decided to test it, attached everything, turned on and made sure sensor is dry. It started filling up so I put the sensor back into the sump area. Sat down to read the instructions (once I was done, of course). A few minutes later I looked and the toilet brush container was overflowing. It seems the pipe got submerged and once pump stopped working, it sucked just enough water to create a reverse reaction. Water was coming OUT of the tank onto my precious cheap carpet. Decided ato will stay off for the duration of my holiday. If I did such a n00b mistake, god knows what Pawel could do. Might as well flip the tank and spill it myself. 

Speaking of Pawel, he’s been instructed to add 2 ml of Prime, half a cap of Stability and Pristine. I take no chances. Also added a bag of purigen. That should keep everything relatively safe for a week. 

 

and now to the more exciting news. I ordered two corals online. 

The montipora is so pretty. Turned acclimation on at 60% light reduction till the end of the month. Will be closely observing tomorrow and readjust light if they refuse to open. Will feed all corals on Sunday before I leave and dose iron and vitamins. They’ll be alright. 

Corals were “pest free” as described by the seller in a piece of paper. I decided I want to test my new coral dip from Maidenhead aquatics anyway. Contains natural ingredients only, perfectly safe for all corals. Causes serious skin irritation, if in contact with eyes - rinse immediately. Remove contact lenses if possible and easy to do so, continue rinsing and seek medical advice.

again, corals were truly pest free. I guess whatever these ungodly creatures are, they’re not on the seller’s list of undesirable invertebrates. They were on mine though. I peed in the toilet and spilled the bowl. I assumed their last wish was a proper meal. Granted.

 

Remember the aiptasia infestation I had? Neither do I - shrimp ended it on its first night. 

Upon inspecting in the morning I discovered something else tho:

Two feather dusters. They’ve been happily purifying the water since. 

I have downloaded one of these aquarium notes apps. It was about time to start documenting my readings, observations and stuff.

works really well, actually. 

 

I am am pretty sure that’s not all of it, but it’s getting late and I have a pizza to attend to. 12" hope you’re jealous.

 

 

Edit: I looked closely and one of the feather dusters looks a lot like hydroid. Decided to seal it with glue. Entomb! 

[Neb]

Thursday, 27th of June:

I bring bad news. Very bad. Hydor smart system is shit. Like, proper bad. I am starting to distrust my lfs. You would surely know how the product you push in your customers' hands works, yes? Guess not. It's a 13.5 gallon tank. Not much water. The way the ato works is as follows:

Three sensors - min, max and alarm. Quite the gap between them too. I would say a good 6 litres of water between max to min. Max needs to be touching water in order for the system to boot. Once it reaches below min water is quickly being dispensed via a pump in a small container into the tank. Now, in order for the system to kick jn and start dispensing, water needs to drop from max to to below minimum. That increases my salinity to approx 1.028/9 from 1.026. It's a slow increase so no I'll effect. Dispensing water back in on the other hand fills up the tank so quickly (system pumps water jn for exactly 10 minutes), it shocks all inhabitants by lowering the salinity to 1.026. All corals stayed closed the one time I waited for it to do its job on its own. Skimmer had to be readjusted every few hours as water level kept dropping. Once system filled the tank up, skimmed started overflowing. It's obviously designed for tanks with a much greater water wolume than what I've got. What a piece of garbage. I've since gone back to hand topping off and Duncan seems to be the only one still recovering from the trauma. He's grown. Still single head, but I think it has got more tentacles now. Time, patience. 

No fish or invertabre has been harmed during my holiday. 

The other day I decided to rescale as I have ordered two new corals (that I shall not yet name) that require high light and strong current. The flexi brackets on the jump guard were creating a shade at the spot I wanted corals to be mounted on, so it had to be done. Lift rock, syphon as much dirt as possible, rescape. Ran purigen for 24 hours afterwards directly into the tank. 

I quite like what I landed with. Tank looks full of rocks yet current is strong enough to keep corals clean without rock disturbance. 

 

I still don't know what the three mystery corals are. I think I will consult with the identification forum

 

I also had a bit of an impulsive purchase 

Acan or micromussa, idk. But I like it a lot. 

 

I also had an argument with an ebay seller who argued it's my responsibility to dip corals against pests upon asking if they quarantine and maintain their corals to ensure they're pest - free. Why is it my responsibility to buy a whole laboratory, dip my corals in harsh chemicals, have a quarantine tank, have sixty bottles against ich, velvet, Brook, flatworms exit, aiptasia x, mejanos rods, algae out you name it? Fish stores and sellers have the facility to quarantine their livestock, medicate, treat against parasites and sell the final product pest free. Why should it be my responsibility to make sure the stock THEY sold me is not harmful before introducing to my tank? 

I have ordered an ordinary thermometer for my aquarium as the digital, magical that also tells me fish are hungry, my laundry is ready etc 15 quid one says my tank is 28° Celsius while jn fact its only 25.

Decided to ditch the stock heater too and went for a fluval magical heater with a led display and precisely adjustable temperature. 

 

Oh, I have also ordered a small hang on refugium because I don't know why. No, I do know. I will break mantis block in it to increase bacteria level, add cheato, remove phosphate removal media, add more porous bio media on its place, and dump copepods and amphipods in it and use it as a Breeder. Wrasse and bumblebee are always hungry. 

 

My crab has decided his shell is not big enough and picked the largest one I have up.. He can not climb the rocks, walk, and can barely lift it, but refuses to give up in it. 

Also got a random flow generator I got off of fb coming in tomorrow. Idk why I got it 😂😂😂

Some more photos as usual 

Oh, the mushroom that was suffering. Both now happily growing. 

And so are these two

[Neb]

[billygoat]

Holy cow Neb, everything looks incredible! I love the 'scape reboot, and all your corals look very happy.

Sorry to hear about the Hydor ATO system though. It sounds like an extremely ill-conceived design... I wonder what they were thinking with that one.

How many fish do you currently have in there? Just the firefish, wrasse, and goby?

[Neb]

10 hours ago, billygoat said:

Holy cow Neb, everything looks incredible! I love the 'scape reboot, and all your corals look very happy.

Sorry to hear about the Hydor ATO system though. It sounds like an extremely ill-conceived design... I wonder what they were thinking with that one.

How many fish do you currently have in there? Just the firefish, wrasse, and goby?

Well, I don’t think the design is necessarily awful, but I do think it would work properly on something like 400 ltr tanks plus. 

I have a yellow coral goby, the wrasse, firefish and a blue neon goby. Thinking once I add the Refugium and more bio holding media , I might be able to squeeze in a fifth small fish. Definitely not rushing. I will make that decision in about three or four months time. Or never. I feel like I’m near max capacity on the coral department as well.