Ratvan's Fluval Spec 3 - [THREAD CLOSED - LEAK]

[Ratvan]

Starting to notice small splotches of growth on the rocks and eggcrate now, spotted a couple of largish pods shrimping around so that's nice. 

 

Decided to look closer at the rocks from the back of the RSM, as well as hair algae and Xenia looks like either Zoa polyps or GSP on the end of the second rock

[karisma]

Love the rock wall. Very sharp looking!

[Ratvan]

On 2/8/2020 at 1:18 PM, karisma said:

Love the rock wall. Very sharp looking!

Thank you, going to be testing Nitrates and Phosphates tonight, see if they are around about the levels that I want the tank to be at.

I have made a shopping list of the livestock that I want to include in this tank and have someone nearby who I can pick up a couple cheap/free frags from once my water is ready, just waiting to see some pineapple sponges before I make any additions

[karisma]

51 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Thank you, going to be testing Nitrates and Phosphates tonight, see if they are around about the levels that I want the tank to be at.

I have made a shopping list of the livestock that I want to include in this tank and have someone nearby who I can pick up a couple cheap/free frags from once my water is ready, just waiting to see some pineapple sponges before I make any additions

What kind of livestock were you thinking? I really want a pom pom crab!

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, karisma said:

What kind of livestock were you thinking? I really want a pom pom crab!

Coral wise, it will be announced shortly. Fish wise, if I can catch them my Redheaded Goby Pair

 

If not then either a Pair of Trimma Cana (again - love them although short lived)

 

 

[karisma]

7 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Coral wise, it will be announced shortly. Fish wise, if I can catch them my Redheaded Goby Pair

 

If not then either a Pair of Trimma Cana (again - love them although short lived)

 

 

Both are gorgeous fish bud. Good luck trying to catch the redhead goby pair! Gobies can be fast little nuggets.

[Ratvan]

Just now, karisma said:

Both are gorgeous fish bud. Good luck trying to catch the redhead goby pair! Gobies can be fast little nuggets.

Well, they have a certain little rock that they hang out in, they hitch hiked to me in that rock and everytime i move that rock to another system, bang there are the gobies. 

 

Just have to remember which one it is, and where i put it

[karisma]

11 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Well, they have a certain little rock that they hang out in, they hitch hiked to me in that rock and everytime i move that rock to another system, bang there are the gobies. 

 

Just have to remember which one it is, and where i put it

Well that would be nice if they just hid in the rock and make it easy for you! That trimma cana looks cool..

[Ratvan]

Right so been thinking about testing parameters, I am looking for a Alk, Mag and Cal test kit and currently leaning towards the Salifert or Columbo test kits. Apart from teh Hanna checkers and Red Sea is there a brand that I have missed.  

 

Additonally I spotted this, 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-ProScan-Water-Analysis-smartphone/dp/B00R5S9EQ6/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=reef+tank+water+kit&qid=1581418239&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-6

 

anyone tried this before?

[ef4life]

I never heard of that jbl sounds pretty cool though. It looks like it mostly for fresh water though?

 

i use Red Sea pro kits. They work ok. Imo alkalinity kit is harder to read if you keep your levels on the low side under 8.5, the higher the level the easier to read. The calcium test goes from pink to blue, but if you wait too long the blue starts to turn back to pink, it seems like I get the most inconsistent reading with this kit, 10-40 different each test sometimes. Mg works really good for me, the rs pro phosphate and nitrate test also work pretty good. They just take a while to do. 15min and 9min each. Phosphate has been pretty easy for me to read, nitrate is a little harder all different shades of pink that don’t seem to match up 100% to the color chart.

[Ratvan]

7 minutes ago, ef4life said:

I never heard of that jbl sounds pretty cool though. It looks like it mostly for fresh water though?

 

i use Red Sea pro kits. They work ok. Imo alkalinity kit is harder to read if you keep your levels on the low side under 8.5, the higher the level the easier to read. The calcium test goes from pink to blue, but if you wait too long the blue starts to turn back to pink, it seems like I get the most inconsistent reading with this kit, 10-40 different each test sometimes. Mg works really good for me, the rs pro phosphate and nitrate test also work pretty good. They just take a while to do. 15min and 9min each. Phosphate has been pretty easy for me to read, nitrate is a little harder all different shades of pink that don’t seem to match up 100% to the color chart.

I'll use a Freshwater Kit for anything apart from PH. Freshwater is standard PH and Salt is High Range, other than that and the colour cards don't see an issue

I'm debating whether to get the tests at all or just go with regular water changes instead 

[jack1978]

Love this little tank! 

[Smurf]

11 hours ago, jack1978 said:

Love this little tank! 

Is that yours?

 

Do you have a link to the thread?

 

[Smurf]

 

On 2/10/2020 at 3:51 AM, Ratvan said:

 

 

Awesome looking fish - and great options for the stocking. I am still mulling over what I want as far as fish go. You're on a great path considering a mated pair. I think it would be something cool to watch. 

 

[Ratvan]

Strange fuzzy growth on macro

[SaltyGallon]

Most strange growth haha! Not a clue what that is. What test kits did you end up going for mate? I like the Salifert ones a lot, they often have them discounted on Swell UK. The phosphate test is naff for low levels though (it will say you've got 0 even when you obviously have phos in the system).

[Ratvan]

5 minutes ago, Azur said:

Most strange growth haha! Not a clue what that is. What test kits did you end up going for mate? I like the Salifert ones a lot, they often have them discounted on Swell UK. The phosphate test is naff for low levels though (it will say you've got 0 even when you obviously have phos in the system).

Not got one yet, I have a Salifert phosphate kit still from the last Pico contest. Want to try out one of those Hanna checkers. 

 

I thought that was a pineapple sponge to begin with

[Ratvan]

Sponge.?

 

[SaltyGallon]

1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Not got one yet, I have a Salifert phosphate kit still from the last Pico contest. Want to try out one of those Hanna checkers. 

 

I thought that was a pineapple sponge to begin with

Yeah that was my first thought too, pretty funky though. Those Hanna ones are supposed to be the dog's danglies!

[kimberbee]

Cute lil fuzzball!

[Ratvan]

So after spotting the fuzzball, I noticed that the c prolifera is throwing out for want of a better word lots of tiny roots throughout the rock. So that is now tainted with that. 

 

Still no real diatom bloom, but lots of GHA taking off all over the Rockwall where the light catches the tip of the ledge

I am taking this as a good sign of where I plan to mount my corals. I have a lot of microbubbles in the top 3rd of the tank so need to look into that. 

 

I never seem to get film algae, not cleaned the glass since fill up 🤷‍♂️

 

[debbeach13]

I've got some beautiful fluorescent green film algae if you want some. Well I scraped with a razor blade yesterday so you might have to wait a week or two for it to return.

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

15 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I've got some beautiful fluorescent green film algae if you want some. Well I scraped with a razor blade yesterday so you might have to wait a week or two for it to return.

I wanna see a picture of this pretty film algae. My film algae is just a ugly brown green color😂

[debbeach13]

If / when it comes back I will try to post a picture. I hardly ever cause they come out so bad.

[IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut]

Wild, wild guess. But the fuzzies could be some kind of preliminary root system for the growth?