Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[Tired]

You don't need much sand for a tiger pistol, since they build underneath rocks. As long as it has space under the rocks it can go into, and enough sand to hide it, it'll be fine. An inch of sand should do it, and you'd be fine with less in some areas. 

 

Pistols don't burrow like worms do, they dig tunnels under solid surfaces. Sometimes they construct their own solid roofs out of shells. 

[Kindanewtothis]

I should have think about it before, but eh, that wouldn't be me....

 

Are my hermit crabs and snail at risk with the pistol shrimp ?

[Tired]

It won't kill them, but it may try to use them in building. Usually they extricate themselves, often to much snapping by the shrimp, which is probably annoyed at having some of its building materials walk away. 

 

Make sure the shrimp gets food. Feed the goby, and use a turkey baster or tweezers to put some of whatever the goby gets near the burrow entrances. Gobies will sometimes bring food to their shrimp, but it's still best to make sure the shrimp is eating well. 

[rough eye]

pistol shrimp sounds fun. kind of wish i had one. i had considered adding a 3rd fish but not sure a goby could hold its own given how rambunctious the 2 i have are.

[Tired]

You can get a pistol without a goby. You're just not likely to see it as much, since it won't have a lookout. 

 

Also, watchman gobies living in pistol burrows are generally left alone by bullies. They mind their own business, puff up and look threatening if bothered, and can retreat if they need to. 

[rough eye]

41 minutes ago, Tired said:

You can get a pistol without a goby. You're just not likely to see it as much, since it won't have a lookout. 

 

Also, watchman gobies living in pistol burrows are generally left alone by bullies. They mind their own business, puff up and look threatening if bothered, and can retreat if they need to. 

think a 13.5 Evo tank with a clown and tail spot would be too crowded adding a pistol/goby pair?

[Tired]

An antenna goby would maybe work, but is pushing it. You could absolutely get just the pistol, though. It's the cooler of the pair anyway. And when one of the other fish eventually dies of old age, you can add a goby. 

[Kindanewtothis]

7 hours ago, rough eye said:

think a 13.5 Evo tank with a clown and tail spot would be too crowded adding a pistol/goby pair?

Haha I'm having a bad influence on you 😉

 

[rough eye]

8 hours ago, Tired said:

An antenna goby would maybe work, but is pushing it. You could absolutely get just the pistol, though. It's the cooler of the pair anyway. And when one of the other fish eventually dies of old age, you can add a goby. 

think i'll wait and focus on corals in the near future. there's plenty of activity in the tank as it is.

[Kindanewtothis]

I started dosing Disney Finding Nemo bubble bath 😜

 

[Kindanewtothis]

[Kindanewtothis]

No filtering this anymore.

[Kindanewtothis]

There is something on my rocks in the 10g. Rocks look "dusty".

[Kindanewtothis]

On 8/2/2021 at 7:47 PM, Kindanewtothis said:

Phosphate is down to 0.05 

Nitrate is 7.9

 

Where is my phosphate going? Does it has something to do with the cyano?

Phosphate 0.21

Nitrate 5.1

 

5.1 seems low in a dinos infestation, is it?

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

5.1 seems low in a dinos infestation, is it?

Most people shoot for at least 10 ppm; so yeah, maybe a little low.  However, I believe it's probably most important for it not to zero out.  2 ppm is low in a non-dino tank.

[Kindanewtothis]

[Kindanewtothis]

There seems to be more dinos in the 10g today. Stll located on only one rock.

[seabass]

IDK, I suppose the shrimp might be stirring them up some.   However, that rock doesn't look so bad at the moment.

[Kindanewtothis]

1 minute ago, seabass said:

IDK, I suppose the shrimp might be stirring them up some.   However, that rock doesn't look so bad at the moment.

It was always only located on that rock that spent a few days in the 50g. It's dinos, confirmed with the microscope. I don't know the reason. Will test nitrate again and if it's still under 5 I might start dosing nitrate in that tank too.

 

Added pods 2 times now, enough to seed 90 gallons according to the supplier. Dosing phyto everyday. Dosing silicate too even if I have diatoms on the sand bed, I don't want this tank to become a dinos problem too.

[seabass]

When reading Randy's article, I see that diatoms might actually compete with microalgae (the green film on the glass).  IDK, I'm not sure if you we want green algae, or just any algae that isn't dinos.  Just something I was thinking about when reading that article.

[Kindanewtothis]

3 minutes ago, seabass said:

When reading Randy's article, I see that diatoms might actually compete with microalgae (the green film on the glass).  IDK, I'm not sure if you we want green algae, or just any algae that isn't dinos.  Just something I was thinking about when reading that article.

On Mack's reef dinos support group on Facebook, dosing silica is highly recommanded idk.

[Kindanewtothis]

@seabass realy interesting that article on homemade phyto. Simpler then I thought it was.

[seabass]

Haha, that's what I've been trying to tell you.    Seriously, you should try it.

[Kindanewtothis]

Just now, seabass said:

Haha, that's what I've been trying to tell you.    Seriously, you should try it.

I know...

 

And I got at least eight empty 4L (from the distilled water, would use 2) and I got empty pods bottles for the phyto I would use. I have a spare lamp, might even got a daylight led bulb (but it might be cool white, gotta make sure). I don't have an air pump.

 

I got to read it all over again. Not sure how your start it, directly from phyto? What is algaGen, is it just phyto? And what kind of phyto to I want to dose in my tank? Currently I use phyto feast which is a blend, and also some phyto that I get localy but I don't know what it is.

[seabass]

You can use any live phyto.  Phyto Feast will work just fine; although over time, one species will probably become dominant.  The more you use, the faster you'll have a deep green culture.  However, it doesn't take much to get it going.

 

I feel like a cool white bulb would also work, but I'd use a daylight spectrum bulb if possible.