Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[Kindanewtothis]

11 minutes ago, Tired said:

On second thought, how much rock is in the 10gal? If you've got a lot of rockwork, it might work okay. I wouldn't put a tiger pistol in a 10gal with a lot of negative space, like people sometimes have, but one with a lot of rock might be fine. Pistol shrimp use the space under the rocks to live and burrow in, so need plenty of space to do it. 

 

Also, are the rocks set directly on the bottom of the tank, or on the sand? You don't want rocks on top of the sand if you have pistol shrimp, their undermining makes the rock shift. 

I have 10 pounds of rocks and they are directly on the glass.

[Tired]

Not ideal, but it could work. I'd still shoot for a candycane if you can get one, their smaller size means less of a mess. 

 

Break some shells up into small pieces and toss a handful or two of that in. Pistol shrimp use small materials to shore up their tunnels and build tunnel extensions. Also, don't put any corals on the sandbed, and don't put any loose frags within the bottom few inches of the rockwork. Things on the sandbed can get buried, and loose frags can be stolen and shoved in a tunnel somewhere. 

[Kindanewtothis]

7 minutes ago, Tired said:

Not ideal, but it could work. I'd still shoot for a candycane if you can get one, their smaller size means less of a mess. 

 

Break some shells up into small pieces and toss a handful or two of that in. Pistol shrimp use small materials to shore up their tunnels and build tunnel extensions. Also, don't put any corals on the sandbed, and don't put any loose frags within the bottom few inches of the rockwork. Things on the sandbed can get buried, and loose frags can be stolen and shoved in a tunnel somewhere. 

Thanks for the advices, they are appreciated.

 

I went to my lfs and I took my chance with the tiger pistol. Got the last one they had. Will get a goby later.

[Kindanewtothis]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

Hmm... let me think. 🤔

 

You must have read about it in this thread.   Don't expect miracles or immediate results.  It might help some to support more competition.

 

I recommend that you dilute it in some top off water instead of dosing it directly into your tank.

 

Got some spongExcel but they did not have the hanna checker for silicate and I did not want the salifer one.

 

Only place a saw the test (hanna) was on amazon and it was expensive.

 

In my situation (with dinos but without a test kit) would you dose it?

 

I still give a chance for a while to the "easy" method but I got some information about dino-x. The opinion of the product was more than positive (they used it themselves). They told me it was less powerful and killing everything than vibrant. The feedback from their costumers were all positive.

[seabass]

5 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

In my situation (with dinos but without a test kit) would you dose it?

I do and don't have a silicate test kit.  I know, the rule is not to dose anything you aren't testing for.  However, I'm not that worried about silicate.

The instructions say 1 drop per gallon per day (I think that's pretty safe).  I'm not sure if it's helping, but I feel it's worth a shot.

 

Here's an article you might want to read: https://reefs.com/magazine/silica-in-reef-aquariums/

[Kindanewtothis]

2 minutes ago, seabass said:

instructions say 1 drop per gallon per day

They say to begin with 1 drop per 20 gallons.

[Melfy77]

2 hours ago, Tired said:

Not ideal, but it could work. I'd still shoot for a candycane if you can get one, their smaller size means less of a mess. 

 

Break some shells up into small pieces and toss a handful or two of that in. Pistol shrimp use small materials to shore up their tunnels and build tunnel extensions. Also, don't put any corals on the sandbed, and don't put any loose frags within the bottom few inches of the rockwork. Things on the sandbed can get buried, and loose frags can be stolen and shoved in a tunnel somewhere. 

Yeah...mine would use zoas as doors...🙄

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

They say to begin with 1 drop per 20 gallons.

Yes, you're right.  Sorry, I wasn't paying attention when I posted that.  Although 1 drop per gallon would only raise silica by 0.2 ppm.  You could certainly dose that much, but maybe not everyday.  I think it would be interesting to see just how much silica is in my tanks.  I think I'll go ahead and order a Salifert test kit.

[Kindanewtothis]

7 hours ago, seabass said:

Yes, you're right.  Sorry, I wasn't paying attention when I posted that.  Although 1 drop per gallon would only raise silica by 0.2 ppm.  You could certainly dose that much, but maybe not everyday.  I think it would be interesting to see just how much silica is in my tanks.  I think I'll go ahead and order a Salifert test kit.

Went ahead with 1 drop per 2g so 25 drops (I know I don't have 50g of water)

[Kindanewtothis]

10 hours ago, Tired said:

Not ideal, but it could work. I'd still shoot for a candycane if you can get one, their smaller size means less of a mess. 

 

Break some shells up into small pieces and toss a handful or two of that in. Pistol shrimp use small materials to shore up their tunnels and build tunnel extensions. Also, don't put any corals on the sandbed, and don't put any loose frags within the bottom few inches of the rockwork. Things on the sandbed can get buried, and loose frags can be stolen and shoved in a tunnel somewhere. 

Will break some shells as suggested but should I add more sand?

[Kindanewtothis]

Hey @seabass, I once asked how it takes for a mushroom to split in 2 and your answer was "it depends". Well it seems that it depends on what is present in my tank because it was one mushroom, then it rapidly (only a few weeks after I got it) and I think it's spliting again. Easier to see when it's fully closed with the lights off. 

 

It really seems that my corals do not care for dinos at the moment (I must say that I blow the dinos away from the corals)

[Kindanewtothis]

My LFS seems to have understand that I could be a good customer as they just called me to offer me a fish to go with my pistol shrimp... 

 

They have yellow watchman goby. I know live aquaria says 30g but I see people keeping it in 10 gallons tank. 

 

Is 10 gallons too small? I feel like it is.

[seabass]

While possible to keep it in a 10 gallon, a 20 gallon long (30") would be better.  I'd hold out for a smaller shrimp goby.  Buying something on impulse leaves you stuck with it for years (often wishing you waited for what you really wanted).  Just my 2 cents.

[Kindanewtothis]

4 minutes ago, seabass said:

While possible to keep it in a 10 gallon, a 20 gallon long (30") would be better.  I'd hold out for a smaller shrimp goby.  Buying something on impulse leaves you stuck with it for years (often wishing you waited for what you really wanted).  Just my 2 cents.

It would not be that of an impulsive choice, from what I've seen reading on it since someone here proposed a shrimp/goby pair, yellow watchman seems to be the classic choice for a symbiotic relationship with a pistol shrimp. I only considered other gobies because of the tank size. 

[Kindanewtothis]

Pods are in, going in the tanks tonight. Supplier delivered for free as his home is 3km from mine.

 

I'm getting the watchman goby tomorrow morning. They are holding on to it for me.

[Kindanewtothis]

[Melfy77]

YWG get bigger but IME they are not nearly as reclusive compared to other gobies. I had a pair paired with a pistol shrimp and they would just chill in the tank, always out. With a tiger pistol shrimp options are more limited for gobies (typically the bigger ones like the wheeler and yellow watchman)

[Tired]

You probably shouldn't put a yellow watchman in a 10gal. Just wait and get a smaller shrimpgoby. A pistol shrimp will be fine on its own, though you might not see it as much until it has a goby for security. 

[Melfy77]

Easier to get more variety of fish in the US I'm afraid. Here it's mainly the yellow watchman or wheeler's, both of which get big. Hi-fin will randomly show up but I wouldn't feel comfortable pairing it with a tiger pistol shrimp. I've seen dracula once...yasha is really expensive, but still cheaper than a dracula lol. Not ideal to put a YWG in a 10g, but options are somehow limited 😕

[Jakesaw]

3 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

What are you using to strain DINO's .  

 

I've been cleaning them off periodically and tossing water which isn't ideal since it's lowering my nutrients.  Today I'm doing my first filter and return water.  My bucket with Dino water has a lot of settlement to bottom of bucket.  I'm using a cup and coffee filter + dripper and it's taking a while.  Plus dino's quickly clog filter to stop the drip drain.  

 

Any suggestions of what may work better?  

 

< but maybe I'm asking wrong person looking at your sandbed...  > lol

 

Thanks

 

 

[seabass]

You know, an UV sterilizer would be good to kill the dinos in the removed water.  Maybe a 5 gallon bucket with UV like: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Machine-Internal-Replacement-Sponge/dp/B08ZBJWNYK/

 

Or maybe a micron filter like: https://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Polishing-Internal-Canister-ML90770/dp/B01C8PH0OI/

 

IDK, just spitballing some thoughts on how to better/easier filter the water before returning it.

 

[Jakesaw]

19 minutes ago, seabass said:

You know, an UV sterilizer would be good to kill the dinos in the removed water.  Maybe a 5 gallon bucket with UV like: https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Machine-Internal-Replacement-Sponge/dp/B08ZBJWNYK/

 

Or maybe a micron filter like: https://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Polishing-Internal-Canister-ML90770/dp/B01C8PH0OI/

 

IDK, just spitballing some thoughts on how to better/easier filter the water before returning it.

 

Thanks,

 

I'm running my 10 gallon ( and later to be 20 L ) on Shoestring budget.  I don't want this hobby to turn into a vacuum for my wallet.  It either works naturally - on the cheap for me, or I migrate back to planted FW tanks and chalk nano-reef up to an interesting learning experience.  

 

 

[Kindanewtothis]

2 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

What are you using to strain DINO's .  

 

I've been cleaning them off periodically and tossing water which isn't ideal since it's lowering my nutrients.  Today I'm doing my first filter and return water.  My bucket with Dino water has a lot of settlement to bottom of bucket.  I'm using a cup and coffee filter + dripper and it's taking a while.  Plus dino's quickly clog filter to stop the drip drain.  

 

Any suggestions of what may work better?  

 

< but maybe I'm asking wrong person looking at your sandbed...  > lol

 

Thanks

 

 

I syphon the sandbed and then I use a kind a sock which I full with filter sponges. I filter the water 3 times and then I return the water. My sandbed stays clean for about a day. I rinse the sand and return it.

 

It doesn't seems to really work.

 

For the last week, when I clean the walls with a sponge, I now throw away this water (about a cup a day) and I think the tank walls look "better" this way.  That might actually be a much better idea than filtering (still might have to filter the dead dinos)

 

I like the idea of the UV for the removed water that @seabass gave and I see how I could do it in a bucket and sterilize 2 gallons at the time.

[Kindanewtothis]

1 hour ago, Jakesaw said:

Thanks,

 

I'm running my 10 gallon ( and later to be 20 L ) on Shoestring budget.  I don't want this hobby to turn into a vacuum for my wallet.  It either works naturally - on the cheap for me, or I migrate back to planted FW tanks and chalk nano-reef up to an interesting learning experience.  

 

 

If you are willing to stop saltwalter, why don't you try dino-x... way less expensive than pods and phyto

[Tired]

It's entirely possible to beat some strains of dinos with no pods or phyto at all, just nutrient increases. Adding competition is helpful, not necessarily mandatory.