DGibster's Waterbox 10g

[DGibster]

13 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Good luck with the fish. When ever I can instead of a net a use a plastic cup or container that way I don't have to worry about the fins getting stuck in the net.

Yeah I ended up having to poor him into a bowl and then get him to "jump" out of the bowl and into the tank. 

 

He's still alive and still the same spot. I could have sworn I noticed some movement in his corner when I got back from work so it's possible he did some exploring while I was gone. I have tomorrow off and I'll try and spend most of my time by the tank to see if he comes out. I tossed in some crushed algae wafer to see if he would go after it but to no avail. I'm not to worried about him starving though, he's not being very active and there's plenty of film algae and pods for him to feed on if he is so inclined. 

 

I'm now looking for tips on how to encourage and coax out a shy fish so feel free to post below if you've had any experience.  

[rough eye]

1 hour ago, DGibster said:

I'm now looking for tips on how to encourage and coax out a shy fish so feel free to post below if you've had any experience.  

i dip my fingers in the water to release the food, and at this point my clown has been coming up to my fingers to nibble the food off. my tailspot is still wary but he come up close enough i think he'll be doing the same before long. i think that main thing is don't try to coax them. just be present now and then and let them decide.

[DGibster]

2 minutes ago, rough eye said:

i dip my fingers in the water to release the food, and at this point my clown has been coming up to my fingers to nibble the food off. my tailspot is still wary but he come up close enough i think he'll be doing the same before long. i think that main thing is don't try to coax them. just be present now and then and let them decide.

Noted. I wonder if getting shrimp might encourage him. I've heard of "dither fish" being used to encourage shy fish and I wonder if shrimp might have a similar effect.

 

On the other hand I have read a couple threads about other people having difficulty with shy blennies. Apparently they do occasionally waste away from shyness. From what I was reading people seem to have 50/50 shot on whether the fish eventually gains confidence or starves itself to death. We'll see, its only been a day and only time will tell; for now the tank still looks fishless. I'll probably get a cleaner shrimp tomorrow, I recall seeing a nice smaller one at the LFS yesterday. 

 

In a more general tank update, things continue to go well. I snagged another trochus snail with the blenny and its already hard at work on the glass. With any luck it will procreate with the other snail and I'll get a nice population of trochus. The hermit crab continues to do his things and the corals are all mostly healthy (my hammer coral hasn't looked happy for the past week, but no tissue recession though). I have noticed some hair algae taking root in the substrate and a bit of bubble algae on a couple of the frags. I'm hopping they don't grow into plagues, at least not yet, fortunately I've been able to avoid many of the "uglies" so far. The feather dusters seem to be getting bigger and slowly procreating, I've noticed a few appear in the sump. Still pleased with how things are generally coming along. 

[DGibster]

I got my water tested today and Phosphates read .37! LFS sold me some Chemi Pure Elite to help bring it down a bit but I'm still shocked at how high they are. That might explain why the hammer and candy cane have not been happy lately. I'm thinking it might be coming from the crushed algae wafer that I've been feeding my fish so for now I'll be switching to mysis only. 

 

Speaking of the fish, he's been slowly getting more and more brave. I've gone from basically not having a fish to having a fish sometimes. He still gets spooked easily, goes and cowers whenever I feed the tank and later comes out and wonders where all the food is. Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of algae left to pick at so I hope he's not starving. I try and make sure there's stuff for him to scavenge but I'm going to be cutting back due to the phosphate reading. 

 

I got a skunk cleaner shrimp and it has quickly become one of my favorite purchases. It absolutely loves my hand and its neat having a creature that will actually interact with me, in addition to the color and movement it adds. 

 

FTS taken today

 

[jarviz]

how are your phophates so high with only 1 fish? have you been overfeeding like crazy or not doing water changes? 

[DGibster]

1 minute ago, jarviz said:

how are your phophates so high with only 1 fish? have you been overfeeding like crazy or not doing water changes? 

I've been overfeeding a little to make sure he got some stuff but I didn't think I was over feeding that much. And I've been doing my regular 1-2 gallon weekly water changes. 

[jarviz]

any idea where these phosphates are coming from? are you using tap water?

[DGibster]

22 minutes ago, jarviz said:

any idea where these phosphates are coming from? are you using tap water?

I get all my water from the store, saltwater for weekly water changes and RODI that goes into the ATO. So unless somethings wrong with their RODI unit I highly doubt that's where its coming from. 

[debbeach13]

Nice to hear the fish is getting comfy in the tank. I have had my shrimp Charles for years now and it is still one of my favorites. It never hurts to check the stores water every now and then. Maybe next time you get some check the phosphates before using it just to make sure.

[jarviz]

14 hours ago, DGibster said:

I get all my water from the store, saltwater for weekly water changes and RODI that goes into the ATO. So unless somethings wrong with their RODI unit I highly doubt that's where its coming from. 

 Still a little suspect.  0.38 is ridiculously high. i measured mine to be at 0.12 and i have a 10g with 2 fish. and i'm using tap water (NYC). 

[Reeferadicto13]

Check your rodi water !sometimes lfs sell u water with tds I know mine does so I got my own rodi unit 

[DGibster]

Photo dump time. 

 

The little guy finally let me get a photo of him.

 

Hermit crab chilling with the hammer, which has been looking real full and happy today. 

 

Blastos are growing a new polyp 😀

 

Acans with some feeder tentacles out after I fed the tank and a bit of GHA I should clean up.

 

And a final FTS for today 🙂

[DGibster]

Phosphates down to .19! Yay! Also I finally got a flipper nano so my glass is clear for once.

[DGibster]

I've got a couple big things to talk about since the last update. First off, coralline algae has started to take root all over the tank. This tells me I'm doing something right, though it seems a little soon on the general timescale. From what I've read coralline usually doesn't grow in most tanks until a year in but seems like I lucked out. I remember being told that coralline algae is an indicator that the tank can support SPS and it has got me thinking. A small plating Montipora would look good growing over the gap between the two islands and a branching SPS would be great on top of the taller island. I'll definitely keep that in mind as things progress.

 

Today I finally received what is now the centerpiece of the tank, a War Paint Scollymia that I ordered from Austin Aqua Farms a few weeks ago (delayed due to the Texas coldpacalypse). It looks amazing and fills the gap between the two islands quite nicely. On top that, I visited family in San Jose last week where I took the opportunity to look at Neptune Aquatics, an aquarium store that dwarfs anything we have here in Northern California. I ended up picking a trio of frags to take home with me, including a large polyp Blasto, a green and pink striped Acan, and some Eagle Eye Zoanthids. I moved a few corals onto the rocks and glued them in place so the tank has started to fill up nicely. Photo blurb below:

 

War Paint Scollymia, the new star of the tank

 

Pink/green Acans which provide a pleasant contrast to the dark colors of the Scoly

 

Eagle Eye Zoanthids

 

Large polyp Blasto

 

Duncans and Candy Canes at their new spot with bonus Blenny

 

FTS 3/11/2021

[debbeach13]

Fantastic additions. I hope they all do well in your tank.

[DGibster]

I tested my water this morning and found the Phosphates to still be fairly high. I have an API test kit, so nothing precise, but it was above .25, possibly even over 1 (depending on the light). Not sure what to do next. My Nitrates have been almost zero so I'm wondering if increasing them will encourage growth that will bind more phosphates. I could also start running filter floss. I don't want to install a protein skimmer and a refugium, even a small one, would be a tight fit in my current setup. Or I could accept that my Phos is just high in this tank, the corals don't seem to be bothered by it and whatever algae growth I'm getting is being pretty well controlled by my CUC. 

 

In other news I ended up with a few new corals yesterday, most of them encrusting and going on the tall island. I got a Jack o' Lantern Leptoseris, a sunburst Leptastrea, a pink Goniopora, and a fuzzy green encruster which looks like a Leptastrea but I'm not certain. That honestly leaves the tank pretty well filled up and, short of adding some floating islands in the back, there's not really room for much else. Only think I am waiting for is a pygmy wrasse of some sort but they've been fairly elusive. Every place I've gone to says they get them in regularly and says they'll have them soon but none have borne fruit.

 

[DGibster]

Managed to get a Banded Possum Wrasse yesterday! She's settled in nicely and has been out and exploring the aquarium this morning. Definitely adds a nice splash of color to the tank and a bit more personality. That leaves the tank about fully stocked. I could add in a third fish if Nitrates stay stable but I think I would rather upgrade the tank and keep it understocked if at all possible. I'm about to start up another tank anyways so most of my energy will start going to that. Will keep this page updated as things grow in. 

 

[ａｗａｋｅｄॢ]

hmmm,,,🤔 is the LED lamp working good???

[DGibster]

3 minutes ago, ａｗａｋｅｄॢ said:

hmmm,,,🤔 is the LED lamp working good???

The LED isn't on in the above photo but it works just fine. The corals are all happy and have grown a bit. Its at 80% strength right now but I might bump it up to 100% to see if I get better growth. As I've stated previously, my only complaint is the finicky controls. I do regret not getting and AI Prime to some extent and will be using one for my next tank (which I hope to be SPS dominant). But it works and that's about as good as you can hope for at 80$.

[DGibster]

Hello, its been a while! Tank is still running and doing well (bar a couple of speed bumps). There are a couple of issues which I am currently tackling right now; first of all is the bubble and hair algae which have taken root all over the tank. Fortunately it doesn't look too bad at a glance but it will get there if I don't do something. My current plan is to reduce the amount I feed and add in a couple more snails. I'm also planning on converting one of the rear filtration chambers into a refugium; I have an old Aqueon planted tank light from my freshwater days and I figured it could work as a refugium light in a pinch, the only issue is that my LFS is out of Chaeto. 

 

The second issue I have is low Alkalinity. I brought my water in for testing at my LFS and was told my alk was only 5! It seems my corals growth has overtaken my capacity to refill elements with water changes. The corals don't seem too bothered by it, however, and have actually increased growth in the past couple months. Fortunately, my solution arrived yesterday in the form of a bottle of All-For-Reef. I dosed a couple ml yesterday and today my dkh was up to 7. My plan is to dose approximately 2 ml every day until the dkh hits 9-10.

 

 

Some other drama since I last posted:

• My wrasse went missing a few weeks ago. A week later I found her in one of the rear filtration chambers and had to go through the very difficult process of getting her back into the main display. She is now safe, sound, and happy once more in the main display.
• My nano flipper scraper blade went dull and I had to wait a month to get new blades while algae pilled up on the glass. This is honestly the main reason I haven't posted as its difficult to take photos with cloudy glass.
• Added in a couple Astrea snails to compliment the Trochus snails but I've not been very impressed, especially when they started eating some of the coralline algae. Thinking of moving them to the sump or feeding them to my elegance coral in my other tank. 

Photo dump bellow

 

 

[rough eye]

looks great.