chickpea's 20 gallon *Very* tall

[hinnenkm]

1 hour ago, chickpea said:

Thank you !! I thought I was being virtuous by avoiding known jumpers like firefish and gobies. I definitely do not want any of my live stock jumping, I'll look into a lid solution immediately. Thanks for the advice. If I can figure out how to keep my mangroves emergent over the water and the tank fully covered, a jaw fish, or a pair might be my fourth / fifth final fish.

Sixlines are jumpers too, but really any fish can jump. There's got to be a way though to make a cover and keep mangroves, I've tried to do some brainstorming on the idea because I'd like to do some mangroves if possible too, just haven't actually tried making a cover that works with them 🙂

[chickpea]

1 hour ago, hinnenkm said:

Sixlines are jumpers too, but really any fish can jump. There's got to be a way though to make a cover and keep mangroves, I've tried to do some brainstorming on the idea because I'd like to do some mangroves if possible too, just haven't actually tried making a cover that works with them 🙂

I have a ton of plastic hardware cloth with quarter inch gaps leftover from a chicken coop run I'm building. I don't want to make something ugly for my tank because I already have an exposed hang on back filter and my heater is in the display but I might makeshift something of the cloth just to safe guard my live stock. 

[Lypto]

Quarter inch black plastic mesh is great! I've used it before.

[chickpea]

11 hours ago, Lypto said:

Quarter inch black plastic mesh is great! I've used it before.

oh good !! it shouldn't affect my tanks lighting too too bad , no ?

[chickpea]

I am starting to grow a bit of algae. No big deal, except I forgot to get my cerith snails the past two local fish store visits, so it's really accumulating. I hope it will reach equilibrium with my vigilant water change schedule and eventual addition of pest algaevores. My freshwater experience tells me that algae growth is a consequence of excess nutrients , and this is undoubtedly true, but algae growthin saltwater set ups seem slightly more...inevitable? Than fresh. I'd reason thats what clean up crews are considered mandatory by most.

 

My ricordeas are extending like crazy, they look fat and happy. The zoanthid colony under the ricordea rock is now fully open, but the bad news is that they're UGLY ! As a red-green color deficient, I suspect that I'm not appreciating the nuances in the different strains of zoas as much as the rest of you, but I can tell these are brown, and not nearly as nice as the green ones I bought. 

 

even with the algae marring the beauty of the tank a little, I'm thoroughly enjoying this set up. All my live stock looks healthy and happy and I'm eager to have my parameters shift to accommodate less pest algae. 

 

Have any of you acclimated freshwater nerite snails to full 1.025 salt ? I've always read that the snails only breed in saltwater, so I assume they're fully salt tolerant? This would be a really handy fix for my current issue, my local fish store is quite far and I'm trying to limit my contact with others.

[chickpea]

I hope you'll join me in wishing our brave hero "god speed". I am drip acclimating a fully freshwater thorned nerite in a drinking class to full salinity 1.025 saltwater. Should for whatever reason the nerite not tolerate this shift in salinity, I reason that they don't have brains or central nervous systems enough for this to be cruel. I really am an animal lover, but being practical, I shouldn't mourn this brave snail's passing. BUT I THINK HE'S GONNA MAKE IT.  

 

I absolutey love the cross over between this set up and my planted tank. both are going to have mangrove trees and the same species of nerite, how cool is that ? I will say my freshwater mangroves are doing far better than my salt. The smaller ones that I placed in my planted tank were substantially healthier looking initially, with greener waxier leaves than the longer specimens that went in my reef. I trimmed all the unhealthy leaves on the aformentioned saltwater trees, I'm hoping they make a come back. 

 

 

Another 25% water change today. I have noticed a significant decline in the pest algae already. I have also been running my lights more blue than white as I believe algaes do not utilize this spectrum quite as readily. 

 

[billygoat]

22 hours ago, chickpea said:

 

Have any of you acclimated freshwater nerite snails to full 1.025 salt ? I've always read that the snails only breed in saltwater, so I assume they're fully salt tolerant? This would be a really handy fix for my current issue, my local fish store is quite far and I'm trying to limit my contact with others.

I know that most of the species of Nerites available in the saltwater side of the hobby are distinct from those that are found in freshwater systems, but I have heard of freshwater Nerites being adjusted to saltwater. I've also heard of these attempts failing miserably, so I hope yours goes over well! 😂 Godspeed you, brave snail!

 

22 hours ago, chickpea said:

I am starting to grow a bit of algae. No big deal, except I forgot to get my cerith snails the past two local fish store visits, so it's really accumulating. I hope it will reach equilibrium with my vigilant water change schedule and eventual addition of pest algaevores. My freshwater experience tells me that algae growth is a consequence of excess nutrients , and this is undoubtedly true, but algae growthin saltwater set ups seem slightly more...inevitable? Than fresh. I'd reason thats what clean up crews are considered mandatory by most.

I'm unfamiliar with the freshwater scene, but I can tell you that in saltwater aquaria algae growth is not only inevitable, it's desirable. There are a tremendous number of different species of marine algae (as well as other, similar photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates), each of which is specially adapted to take advantage of a specific combination of nutrient, lighting, flow, and water quality conditions. No matter how carefully you begin your system, the chances that you'll end up with some sort of algae that eventually blooms like crazy are close to 100%. These "ugly phases" are considered a normal part of a new tank's life, and I'd say that the fact that they you are seeing them happen in your system is a sign of progress. 👍

 

[RedCrow]

4 hours ago, chickpea said:

 

I hope you'll join me in wishing our brave hero "god speed". I am drip acclimating a fully freshwater thorned nerite in a drinking class to full salinity 1.025 saltwater. Should for whatever reason the nerite not tolerate this shift in salinity, I reason that they don't have brains or central nervous systems enough for this to be cruel. I really am an animal lover, but being practical, I shouldn't mourn this brave snail's passing. BUT I THINK HE'S GONNA MAKE IT.  

 

I’ve always thought it’d be funny to set up a saltwater planted tank with minimal live rock, and acclimate zebra nerites, bumblebee gobies, mollies, etc to make it look as freshwater as possible, then stick an Ocellaris clownfish in there 😂

[chickpea]

2 hours ago, billygoat said:

I know that most of the species of Nerites available in the saltwater side of the hobby are distinct from those that are found in freshwater systems, but I have heard of freshwater Nerites being adjusted to saltwater. I've also heard of these attempts failing miserably, so I hope yours goes over well! 😂 Godspeed you, brave snail!

 

I'm unfamiliar with the freshwater scene, but I can tell you that in saltwater aquaria algae growth is not only inevitable, it's desirable. There are a tremendous number of different species of marine algae (as well as other, similar photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates), each of which is specially adapted to take advantage of a specific combination of nutrient, lighting, flow, and water quality conditions. No matter how carefully you begin your system, the chances that you'll end up with some sort of algae that eventually blooms like crazy are close to 100%. These "ugly phases" are considered a normal part of a new tank's life, and I'd say that the fact that they you are seeing them happen in your system is a sign of progress. 👍

 

Our nerite is still moving at a salinity of ~1.018, we will see!! Your words about saltwater algae growth is reassuring. My tank is MUCH better today, my nitrates and phosphates probably just ticked a bit high. 

[chickpea]

1 hour ago, RedCrow said:

I’ve always thought it’d be funny to set up a saltwater planted tank with minimal live rock, and acclimate zebra nerites, bumblebee gobies, mollies, etc to make it look as freshwater as possible, then stick an Ocellaris clownfish in there 😂

That is an incredible idea lol. I've always wanted to acclimate a molly over to saltwater but reasoned they're not worth the bio load and there are much more worthwhile salt species. I would love to see the tank you described

[Lypto]

I'm going to be converting a few endler or fancy  guppies once quarantine ends to full saltwater in a macroalage reef, and they can be quite beautiful. 

[RedCrow]

1 hour ago, Lypto said:

I'm going to be converting a few endler or fancy  guppies once quarantine ends to full saltwater in a macroalage reef, and they can be quite beautiful. 

I’ve been tossing around the idea of a few male endlers for my contest pico. We shall see 🤔

[A.m.P]

11 hours ago, chickpea said:

That is an incredible idea lol. I've always wanted to acclimate a molly over to saltwater but reasoned they're not worth the bio load and there are much more worthwhile salt species. I would love to see the tank you described

Some distributors keep them around as they seem to really love eating hair and film algae in saltwater setups.

[chickpea]

FULL TANK SHOT BABY 

because the algae cleared up

 

 

 

 

p.s the nerite did not survive acclimation after all. I feel bad truncating a snail's life like that.

 

 

 

 

[DNR88]

Personally I would put the ricordeas low to the sandbed, but looks nice nonetheless! 

 

How do you like the six line? 😊

[A.m.P]

8 minutes ago, DNR88 said:

Personally I would put the ricordeas low to the sandbed, but looks nice nonetheless! 

 

How do you like the six line? 😊

Ric's like a bit more light and with the depth of that tank I don't think they'd be too happy too far down.

Maybe cyphastrea, blastos, NPS, hairy mushrooms and other low-light animals.

[DNR88]

2 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Ric's like a bit more light and with the depth of that tank I don't think they'd be too happy too far down.

Maybe cyphastrea, blastos, NPS, hairy mushrooms and other low-light animals.

I would try it lower in the tank first, I think it looks more natural.

[chickpea]

23 minutes ago, DNR88 said:

Personally I would put the ricordeas low to the sandbed, but looks nice nonetheless! 

 

How do you like the six line? 😊

I absolutely adore my six line ! So much personality and they're striking. I appreciate the feedback about the ricordea placement, I reason that they're fine because my light is mounted really high above the tank for my mangroves. 

[chickpea]

I noticed a new zoanthid ON. MY. LIVE. ROCK.

I just about lost my shit... I know the nature of coral is to grow and multiply but oh my god this is so cool. I had a 29 gallon system years ago and the best I could do was maintain corals until they slowly bleached.... 

 

I'm on a shoe string budget right now but I'm hoping to spring for a torch coral and a red Monti cap. I think my LFS does Monti's for ten which is so very reasonable in my book and I'd settle for a hammer if the torches are too precious. I also want to remove the poop brown zoas on my ricordea rock but I do not want to poison myself. Much to consider.

 

What would be overpaying for say, a standard green torch, single head?

 

I wish restaurants were open still, I'd be covering shifts left and right to fuel my live stock purchases. 

[chickpea]

Can someone clue me into why my clownfish is blowing a bubble nest ? It's really cute but my mind immediately goes to poor oxygenation or water quality issues. I doubt he's gasping for air as I have a hang on back filter and an oversized power head for surface agitation and flow. I haven't been testing my water but I've been nothing if not thorough with my water changes and conservative with my feedings, and my tank has been fully cycled since adding the fish. Any ideas ? Everything in the tank looks really healthy and happy, corals to fish to inverts... A decent bit of algae but I run my lights probably more than I should because I love observing the tank. 

 

only one clownfish is participating in the bubble blowing, and as I have a mated pair, I wonder if this is a sex specific behavior?

 

Is this something to worry about ? I would hate to have any harm befall my clownfish. I am very fond of them. 

 

Working on a diy lid right now in other news : )

 

[Lypto]

I had a clown that loved to play with bubbles and would frequently use the powerhead stream as a water slide, clowns are funny fish. Does he look stressed? Might be a good idea to test, especially in the early days of a tank. 

[chickpea]

14 minutes ago, Lypto said:

I had a clown that loved to play with bubbles and would frequently use the powerhead stream as a water slide, clowns are funny fish. Does he look stressed? Might be a good idea to test, especially in the early days of a tank. 

I just topped of the tank with RO, and the behavior stopped. I think the reduced water level was creating bubbles and my fish was having fun popping them or something. Definitely would be wise to test, I'll pick up a test kit next time I go to my lfs

[A.m.P]

19 hours ago, chickpea said:

I just topped of the tank with RO, and the behavior stopped. I think the reduced water level was creating bubbles and my fish was having fun popping them or something. Definitely would be wise to test, I'll pick up a test kit next time I go to my lfs

Mine do this all the time, clowns are just weird fish, I think they see one bubble and make a ton more trying to pop it - then they just catch on and play around for a bit.

 

[chickpea]

day 31

 

I bought a couple snails from my local fish store and was going to leave. but then I remembered that a torch coral was in the budget.

 

any euphyllia corals, like the torch, were out of my range of what I'd like to pay for a single frag, so I opted for instead

-Star polyps, 

-A mushroom, not endeared with this species but I've seen them quite often, ID?

- red Monti cap

- galaxea

I could not find any gorgonians : [ 

[chickpea]

I think I killed my clown fish . I am thankful for the user that suggested a lid for fish even that aren't known to jump and I wish I hadn't put off making a lid. I cannot find him anywhere in or out of the tank and I feel really really bad about it  . I can't believe I would compromise an animals care in such a major way