365 Day Challenge: First Coral- Pulsing Xenia

[jservedio]

15 minutes ago, Seea said:

I feel like I made a mistake. thanks @jservedio for opening my eyes. I got a damsel and my plan was to give the damsel back to the LFS but I am getting attached to that damsel. I wanted to see if two clowns and the damsel can coexist but it might be a recipe for disaster.

I have no memory of what help I gave you, but thanks!

 

An azure damsel and ocellaris or percula clowns can be just fine together - lots of people keep them together. That doesn't mean every clownfish will be fine with every azure damsel, but in general they can be just fine together. You've got a 30" tank with lots of hiding places, so that definitely makes it much easier. The clowns don't venture very far for bullying purposes and are vicious so they will have absolutely no problem fending off an aggressive damsel.

 

I'd get the clowns sooner rather than later while the damsel is still small. You will probably have more clown on clown issues as they establish their hierarchy than clown on damsel issues. 

 

The damsel, and frankly the clowns too, can be a an issue if you wanted to keep smaller peaceful fish in the tank (like a firefish or something). But with those 3 fish, you'll have no room for more fish, so that's not a problem!

[Chadicus Meridius]

5 minutes ago, jservedio said:

I have no memory of what help I gave you, but thanks!

 

An azure damsel and ocellaris or percula clowns can be just fine together - lots of people keep them together. That doesn't mean every clownfish will be fine with every azure damsel, but in general they can be just fine together. You've got a 30" tank with lots of hiding places, so that definitely makes it much easier. The clowns don't venture very far for bullying purposes and are vicious so they will have absolutely no problem fending off an aggressive damsel.

 

I'd get the clowns sooner rather than later while the damsel is still small. You will probably have more clown on clown issues as they establish their hierarchy than clown on damsel issues. 

I thank you because I was reading a post you did on a different thread for noobies staying on the forum for a year and leaving and that people are afraid to admit their mistakes. So I felt that I should update you guys on a mistake I feel I made because I want to learn how to correct them.

 

The tank is still Pretty new 6 weeks old and If I were to add the clowns in the same month I don’t know if my system could handle it I was thinking of getting the clowns on April 30

[Chadicus Meridius]

Update 5 days in with Azure Damsel

 

[Ratvan]

5 minutes ago, Seea said:

Update 5 days in with Azure Damsel

 

Has it picked a cave yet? 

[Chadicus Meridius]

Just now, Ratvan said:

Has it picked a cave yet? 

Yea it has 😞 . Is that a bad thing? He might be confused because I think he might of picked 2-3 caves I see it in the main one. And some days he will sleep in a different one.

[Chadicus Meridius]

I’m tryna get a better picture

this is better than before imo

[Ratvan]

8 minutes ago, Seea said:

Yea it has 😞 . Is that a bad thing? He might be confused because I think he might of picked 2-3 caves I see it in the main one. And some days he will sleep in a different one.

No not at all establishing a territory, are all the caves in the same section of the tank? Just thinking would make life easier if the damsel took one side and the clowns took the other

[Chadicus Meridius]

10 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

No not at all establishing a territory, are all the caves in the same section of the tank? Just thinking would make life easier if the damsel took one side and the clowns took the other

Yea a lot of the caves are on that side but I got a small section on the other side of the tank I plant to give to the clowns but I want to get more dry rock for it.

[Chadicus Meridius]

I did not have any algae until now its brown stuff in the sand which leads me to believe it’s diatoms.

[Chadicus Meridius]

Another question I have is a 1-2 degree temperatures change ok in a reef tank?

[banasophia]

On 4/15/2020 at 2:54 PM, Seea said:

Another question I have is a 1-2 degree temperatures change ok in a reef tank?

Love your azure damsel. Mine gets along fine with all my fish in my 32 except for my pink streak wrasse... the wrasse is very timid so it gets chased away from the food by the other fish sometimes. 
 

As for the temp fluctuations, I think it’s probably fine... mine vary that much depending on the house temp... what is the actual temp range? 

[Chadicus Meridius]

4 hours ago, banasophia said:

Love your azure damsel. Mine gets along fine with all my fish in my 32 except for my pink streak wrasse... the wrasse is very timid so it gets chased away from the food by the other fish sometimes. 
 

As for the temp fluctuations, I think it’s probably fine... mine vary that much depending on the house temp... what is the actual temp range? 

77.6-79.8

[Chadicus Meridius]

 

is this cyano it is red 

 

ill get a better picture when the light cycle permits.

[Chadicus Meridius]

I think I caught my heater malfunctioning 

 

temperature is usually 77.8 when I wake up but today it was 79.3 and slowly rising it could be the light but it’s only been on for 40 minutes. Should I just unplug heater and plug it back in??

[debbeach13]

I also doubt it is the light. I have the same light and Have not seen it warm the tank up much even after hours of being on. Not sure if unplugging the heater will do any thing but it shouldn't hurt it either so go ahead and try it maybe it will reset? It so new it will be a shame if it is already not working properly. If it continues to over heat return it. Amazon or the manufacturer may want to replace it but If you can return for a refund and consider a heater with a controller.

[Chadicus Meridius]

26 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I also doubt it is the light. I have the same light and Have not seen it warm the tank up much even after hours of being on. Not sure if unplugging the heater will do any thing but it shouldn't hurt it either so go ahead and try it maybe it will reset? It so new it will be a shame if it is already not working properly. If it continues to over heat return it. Amazon or the manufacturer may want to replace it but If you can return for a refund and consider a heater with a controller.

I’m looking into the inkBird controller. My light tends to heat the water up during the bright part of day however unplugging the heater and plugging it back in seems to have worked the temperature has not changed in 30 minutes. It is at 79.9

[debbeach13]

Sounds good

[banasophia]

That temp range is totally fine. My tank temps are very dependent on my house temp. This is a challenging time of year for mine because we go back and forth between using the heater and the ac... my Evo has been getting really warm, up to 82, in my home office because I like to use a space heater in there to be toasty warm while I work. 

[Chadicus Meridius]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

That temp range is totally fine. My tank temps are very dependent on my house temp. This is a challenging time of year for mine because we go back and forth between using the heater and the ac... my Evo has been getting really warm, up to 82, in my home office because I like to use a space heater in there to be toasty warm while I work. 

So if the temperature is 80.8 we should be good? Also I’m blind I though the algae/diatoms was red but it’s a light brown. So probably diatoms.

[banasophia]

11 minutes ago, Seea said:

So if the temperature is 80.8 we should be good? Also I’m blind I though the algae/diatoms was red but it’s a light brown. So probably diatoms.

Yes, I think that temp is fine... my tanks seem to develop more algae/cyano/diatoms when the temps stay up higher around 82 (or more), so I find 77-80 to be ideal.

 

I agree, with the age of your tank, and being light brown not red it seems most likely to be diatoms at this point. Posting a pic under white lights is very helpful for identifying stuff, when possible. If you have a good cleanup crew (snails) they will eat it. It will likely get worse for a little while before clearing up. 

[Chadicus Meridius]

22 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Yes, I think that temp is fine... my tanks seem to develop more algae/cyano/diatoms when the temps stay up higher around 82 (or more), so I find 77-80 to be ideal.

 

I agree, with the age of your tank, and being light brown not red it seems most likely to be diatoms at this point. Posting a pic under white lights is very helpful for identifying stuff, when possible. If you have a good cleanup crew (snails) they will eat it. It will likely get worse for a little while before clearing up. 

Do you think my tank is ready for a CUC?

 

I will get a picture after this class almost done.

[Chadicus Meridius]

here is the picture 

 

 

 

[Chadicus Meridius]

I’m mixing the water today and doing a WC tommorow so the salt can dissolve through out the night.

[banasophia]

I usually order a snail only custom cleanup crew from reef cleaners once the cycle is complete and I start to get diatoms, here’s some info:

 

https://www.reefcleaners.org/when-to-add-a-clean-up-crew

[Chadicus Meridius]

4 minutes ago, banasophia said:

I usually order a snail only custom cleanup crew from reef cleaners once the cycle is complete and I start to get diatoms, here’s some info:

 

https://www.reefcleaners.org/when-to-add-a-clean-up-crew

Well this article lead me to believe my tank is ready for cerith snails. So if I can convince my parents to take me to the LFS I’ll buy some.