Fish Tank

[Fishey fishay]

 

Equipment

• Nuvo Fusion 20 Pro
• Red Sea ReefLED 50
• 2 IM Spin Streams
• 75watt Eheim
• AutoAqua ATO
• 2 inTank filter floss holders
• Chem Pure Blue
• Xport BIO blocks 1.5
• 7lb Caribsea fake purple rock with a side cut flat
• 10lb Caribsea Fiji Pink live sand
• Aquavitro Seed
• Tropic Martin Bio-Activ salt
• Marinedepot.com TDS/Temp/Salinity Probe
• New Life Spectrum Probiotix
• Aquarium Cam iPhone App
• Walmart Distilled Water

 

Livestock

 

Two lightening Maroon ORA clowns.  Although one looks like a gold x lightening.

 

 

Tank has been up and running for a month or so.  Bought fish 10/4/19.  Eating pellets already.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Fishey fishay
gaertgerger

[Fishey fishay]

$1,272.46 is total cost thus far.  Without any coral.  I suspect I’ll need another:

 

$200 for a nice centerpiece Euphyllia

$400 for Zonathid frags

 

i want to cover both islands with different Zoa and put one nice Euphyllia above/between them.  Possible I might go RBTA instead of Euphyllia but cost should remain the same.

I plan to keep the tank pretty empty with a “islands in the sand” theme layout.  The only additional rock work I’ll consider is a Tunze frag rock to add some depth.

[Tired]

Yep, that looks like a fish tank. 

 

You may want to add some rockwork or chaeto, even temporarily, so that your fish have somewhere to hide if they feel they need it. Also, IMO, given that fish don't have eyelids, it's best to give them shady places where they can rest when the light is on. 

[Fishey fishay]

9 hours ago, Tired said:

Yep, that looks like a fish tank. 

 

You may want to add some rockwork or chaeto, even temporarily, so that your fish have somewhere to hide if they feel they need it. Also, IMO, given that fish don't have eyelids, it's best to give them shady places where they can rest when the light is on. 

 

I thought about what you said and added a 6" clay pot for temporary shelter.  Thanks buddy.

 

They wont be without natural hiding places for more than a month.  I could add the coral now but just want to get the tank used to an actual bio-load first.  Slow and steady wins the race!

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by Fishey fishay
agergrefafre

[Fishey fishay]

 

Estimate 1.5-2.0cm both same size.  One with less dots seems to be the girl, or will be.  Both fish almost identical patterns on both sides.

[j.falk]

The larger, more aggressive one will end up being the female.

[Fishey fishay]

4 minutes ago, j.falk said:

The larger, more aggressive one will end up being the female.

Yeah she seems to be more dominant, they def in love!  I’m just happy she isn’t beating him up too bad.  I have to crush up the tiny pellets into powder for them to eat.

[Tired]

At that age, they're likely both male. The more dominant one will develop into a female, but probably isn't yet, I think they need a bit more size on them to switch to female. They're sequential hermaphrodites. 

[j.falk]

1 minute ago, Tired said:

At that age, they're likely both male. The more dominant one will develop into a female, but probably isn't yet, I think they need a bit more size on them to switch to female. They're sequential hermaphrodites. 

True...but even small, it's usually obvious which one is going to be the bully. 😉

[Fishey fishay]

2 minutes ago, Tired said:

At that age, they're likely both male. The more dominant one will develop into a female, but probably isn't yet, I think they need a bit more size on them to switch to female. They're sequential hermaphrodites. 

 Yeah for sure, but even at this size they're trying to figure out who's boss.  The dotty one seems to be more submissive.  It'll be exciting watching them grow! 

 

They're defiantly gold x lighting I was looking at the ORA website just now and it's spot on.  I really want to focus on getting everything aqua-cultured this time around.  The hardiness is apparent, eating 3-4 hrs after they're in a new tank is such a relief!

[Tired]

Oh, I'm not saying there's no way to tell which will be the female. I'm just saying there probably isn't currently an actual female, in terms of internal organs. Just in terms of personality.

[Fishey fishay]

Wow the fish have grown a lot in just 10 days.  Their body shape has changed from a circle to an elongated oval.  I bought an ORA hammer and ORA torch, 5 Scarlett Hermits & 5 nass snails.

[Fishey fishay]

2 hours ago, Fishey fishay said:

Wow the fish have grown a lot in just 10 days.  Their body shape has changed from a circle to an elongated oval.  I bought an ORA hammer and ORA torch, 5 Scarlett Hermits & 5 nass snails.

ORA hammer

ORA Torch

 

The torch appears to be 1-2" in diameter with 3 heads.  The hammer appears to be 4-5", wall type, but it has a new side bud growing off the main wall that's 4-5".  The torch is listed as yellow tips, seems like the standard darkish purple with pink tips under my light.  The hammer appears light green throughout with purple tips.  They were very expensive for such small frags ($150 total), but I'm excited for the aquaculture durability.  The hammer is defiantly 2x bigger than listed.  These photos are from 2-3hrs after acclimation.

[Fishey fishay]

Cow

Spot

 

Cow is mean to Spot.  Poor baby got nip fins.  You cant see it in person they're so small, i just noticed in the photo.

 

 

[Fishey fishay]

[Fishey fishay]

Best irl color representation I could get of the anemone.  It's really a striking BTA, especially to be a green.  The Torch from ORA looks very happy and puffy.  The wall hammer from ORA got beat up in shipping, probably 30% of it died, but the tissue loss has stopped and it appears to be recovering.  Euphyllia just don't ship well.

 

Added a mp10.  Because waves.

 

Keeping up with the 5g every Friday routine water change.  Tank's "new-ness" seems to be gone, no more cyano or dyatoms are forming anywhere anymore.  I've never tested for anything but salinity and temp, just using my experience thus far and it seems to be spot on.

[Fishey fishay]

Happy fishy happy nemomomomnie

 

The clowns have went host crazy, one is on the euphyllia the other is seen here.

[mcarroll]

Moving very quickly on this tank.  Unless you're pretty well an expert (can't tell), I would slow down.

 

Things NOT to use/do on a new tank:

On 10/5/2019 at 9:11 AM, Fishey fishay said:

Equipment

• Chem Pure Blue
• Xport BIO blocks 1.5
• Tropic Martin Bio-Activ salt

On 10/24/2019 at 5:58 PM, Fishey fishay said:

Keeping up with the 5g every Friday routine water change.

You don't need:

• nutrient removal media
• extra bio-media (that will leach aluminum...making it a double-negative)
• salt that carbon-doses your tank
• ...or excessive water changes.

There is nothing inherently good about any of that stuff.  Your tank needs the opposite of those things.  Do water changes when needed.

 

The last thread I just commented on is coming out of the scenario you're in the process of creating -- a tank with blooming dino's.

 

Please test your water (or get the store to test for you) and post results for at least nitrates and phosphates.  If you find them at, or close to, zero you'll want to fix the situation ASAP while they tank still appears to be healthy. 

 

Either remove all the extra stuff noted above and switch salts (the smartest move) or acquire some nitrate and phosphate fertilizer, such as Seachem's or Brightwell's, and dose up to the recommended levels (will work, but you're fighting against your own setup....better to remove the causes of the problem).

 

I'd recommend checking out this thread.....avoid going down that road and stop doing this stuff while you're ahead.  👍

On 10/24/2019 at 5:58 PM, Fishey fishay said:

Added a mp10.  Because waves.

Good choice to add a second pump. 

 

Because bi-directional.

 

[Fishey fishay]

I've got maybe 15yrs experience, but was out of the game for a couple years.  I just kind of monitor visually.  Slight sign of anything negative i stop feeding for a day or so and water change.  Anything pretty much, the answer is water change.  5gallons is so easy and a 33% change. 

 

Being that my tank is still new doing so many frequent water changes lets the bacterial build up slowly and keeps the parameters smooth.  I have had slight brown blooms but i just water change it out and run micron pads which i change up to 2x a day.  Slight cyano blooms are always too much food, so for that, you just crank up the flow and again filter it out; with a water change.

 

Of course I'm super scared of failure but I remain super diligent and constantly monitor.

 

 

[mcarroll]

I think you want to reconsider the tank's overall trajectory.....in particular your testing.   

 

I suggest being aware of the tank's progress (or lack of it) by testing for nitrates and phosphates.  Everything from bacteria on up require dissolved nutrients to develop.  If your tank is without  dissolved nutrients, then you're going to develop critters that will thrive in THAT environment. 

 

Dino's, which were nearly non-existent 15 years ago, thanks to "improvements in methods" these days, are the "most popular" example.

 

Check out the way this thread went:

I Think My Dinos are gone! (No Jinx)

 

This is what I'd like you to be able to avoid with your tank.

 

[Tired]

Pest algaes are the super hardy ones that can live on the tiniest scraps of nutrients. To keep them in control, you need biodiversity. Lots of other algaes to compete with them, and lots of things that eat them directly. Both of those need nutrients. Micron pads are probably removing a lot of things that you want, too. Hell, look around a bit- you'll see people with cyano blooms who have 0 nitrates. It's not always too much food (though that can cause it), it's often lack of competition.

[Fishey fishay]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Pest algaes are the super hardy ones that can live on the tiniest scraps of nutrients. To keep them in control, you need biodiversity. Lots of other algaes to compete with them, and lots of things that eat them directly. Both of those need nutrients. Micron pads are probably removing a lot of things that you want, too. Hell, look around a bit- you'll see people with cyano blooms who have 0 nitrates. It's not always too much food (though that can cause it), it's often lack of competition.

 

I really want to avoid any hair algae, bubble algae, string-worms, bristle worms, those little pesky unwanted anemone, etc. this go around.  So I am def starting with a far more sterile environment than normal.  I only used maybe 1lb of actual live rock to seed the dry LR.  Then i used the "bacteria in a bottle" approach to seed the tank for 4-6 weeks before i started this thread.  During the "bacteria in a bottle" phase I used tap water to provide some nutrients for a cycle to actually take place.

 

I do realize it's a very atypical approach I'm taking but everything has been great so far.  The reason I haven't added a skimmer yet is sort of in line with what you're mentioning...I want the tank to get a little dirty.

 

 

My previous system I had was a 125 with a 240 refugium and a 40g frag tank.  So this is my first experience with a stand alone nano.  I appreciate and consider all advice given.

[Tired]

Sterile environments aren't the best plan. If and when any of that gets in, it will spread like wildfire. Plus, your corals won't do well in a sterile environment. They need food and bacteria. If algae can't grow (and it frankly almost always can), how do you expect anything else to get anywhere? Even SPS tanks are run with some amount of nitrates, though not much. 

 

Bristleworms are beneficial detritivores. String worms are harmless unless there's a ton or they're right by corals. Aiptasia anemones are easily dealt with in small numbers. Hair and bubble algae are harmless, and often never notably appear in an established tank with plenty of competition. For a stable tank without an outbreak of pests, you want to have things in place already as competition for those pests. All the non-pest-potential algaes will crowd out and compete for nutrients with the pest ones, but the non-pest ones need more nutrients to grow than the pest ones. If you make your tank a harsh place for life, which it will be with no available nutrients, only the most durable of life will thrive. And that life will run roughshod over the stuff you want. There's no way to keep pest algaes out of a tank, not if you add anything from other tanks ("anything" in this context being corals, shelled inverts, and anything that may harbor spores in its digestive tract), so you need to have something in place to help keep them from going out of control. Which, they'll grow with functionally 0 nitrates, so starvation won't work there.

 

Also, if you want controlled, don't use tap water. Tap water is the opposite of controlled. Decaying fish food or some sort of fertilizer (made for aquariums) would have been a better nutrient option. 

[Fishey fishay]

At 1.5in my clowns are now monsters.  I've owned Maroons in the past, I expected aggressive, but my dominant one is on a whole new level.

 

Any snail or crab that gets near the anemone, is getting seriously attacked.  Like I'm trying to kill you attacked.  Then randomly the dominant one 'Cow', will just leave the anemone, swim to other side of tank and take a swimming charge to the euphyllia tentacles and 'flash' against them.  Then she goes back to her anemone.  She tries to attack my hand anywhere and everywhere so viciously I'm afraid she's gonna hurt herself.  She wont even let her BF into the anemone yet.

 

One neat thing is the dominant one actively feeds her anemone everyday.  It's so cool to watch.

 

[Tamberav]

On 10/26/2019 at 5:50 PM, Fishey fishay said:

 

I really want to avoid any hair algae, bubble algae, string-worms, bristle worms, those little pesky unwanted anemone, etc. this go around.  So I am def starting with a far more sterile environment than normal.  I only used maybe 1lb of actual live rock to seed the dry LR.  Then i used the "bacteria in a bottle" approach to seed the tank for 4-6 weeks before i started this thread.  During the "bacteria in a bottle" phase I used tap water to provide some nutrients for a cycle to actually take place.

 

I do realize it's a very atypical approach I'm taking but everything has been great so far.  The reason I haven't added a skimmer yet is sort of in line with what you're mentioning...I want the tank to get a little dirty.

 

 

My previous system I had was a 125 with a 240 refugium and a 40g frag tank.  So this is my first experience with a stand alone nano.  I appreciate and consider all advice given.

Just FYI.... You could start with 100 percent dry rock and sand and artificial sea water but if you add light and nutrients. You can still grow green hair algae.. diatoms..etc. Some of these 'pests' are literally in the air around us.

 

I have found the most success by doing the opposite and completely embracing diversity. Spaghetti worms...bristle worms...sponges.. starfish... Micro algaes... Macro algaes.. I even bought a bag of pods because it was advertised as being on the ocean just hours before. I wanted that bag of ocean plankton and bacteria. This life has made some of my tanks so stable I can practically ignore them and go months between water changes now.