20 gallon long journal

[filefishfinatic]

I am making a journal for my 20 gallon aquarium, my diy inventions, and my success and occasional failure in the hobby. to start the thread, i will get everyone up to speed on exactly what happened with my reef tank. I dont test anything. I let my lfs buy the test kits and if i have a problem then i go have them test for me. only thing i check is salinity and temp. i assume my peramaters are good because im not getting much intense algae growth and i have a very healthy colorful neon green/blue long tentacle anenome.

 

• Start date: June 12th 2021

On this day, i got my distilled water. i filled my tank with 20 pounds of fiji pink and i added my rockwork. i used biospira to skip-cycle along with my live rock/sand.

 

• 1st fish, coral, and clean up crew: June 13th 2021 

After my water cleared, i went to my lfs. at my lfs, i got a blue leg, a black leg, and a red leg (Burnt by heater) hermit. i also got a green star polyp rock and a bicolor blenny that was missing its yellow in its tail, its very happy and gluttonous to this day and i assume its just due to genetics. not much happened during this time, all the inverts were healthy. i got a explosion of sea lettuce which turned to dinos. i cured the dinos pretty quickly by raising my temp and not dosing and water changing. 

 

• 2nd and 3rd fish: July 8th and 12th 2021

I got a  arc- eye hawkfish (Paracirrhites arcatus) from petco and i got a scorp (Neovespicula Depressifrons, acclimated to marine salinity) from aquatic arts' warehouse store because they were incompetent at sending me my order a few months prior.

 

• 4th fish July 17th 2021

At this time, my tank started to take off. I got a pair of sand sifting starfish for my mom. I also got a aptasia eating filefish, (Acericthys Tomentosus) he is greedy and dosent touch any of my inverts besides the occasional nassarius. thats to none of my concern because every fish does that. I got a cuc from reefcleaners sometime in august, i totally forgot when i got it though.

 

• 5th fish July 24th 2021

I got a peaceful clarkii clown, nuff said. 

 

• Gave scorp to friend september 3rd 2021

I gave my friend my scorp as breeding stock. he wants to try to breed them in his brackish tank.

 

• 5th fish: September 5th 2021

I went to my lfs and got a Long tentacle anenome (macrodactyla dorieensis) along with a sinulara leather, a zoanthid colony, and an acropora eating "harlequin" filefish. he was trained to eat brine but unfortunately, he died of cyanide posioning or internal bleeding. if i wouldve gotten the avant-garde aquarist any earlier, i wouldve realized it and asked them to order me a captive bred one in the future. the anenome is great. zoa is opening also.

 

• 5th fish: september 6th 2021

On my birthday, i went to petco. i got a lid, an acclimation box (my mom didnt want a repeat of what happened to my acropora filefish) and i also got a BEAUTIFUL melanurus wrasse. they are only a juvenile but i believe they are a primary male. he is even acting like a cleaner wrasse.

 

• yesterday+today: sep 7th-8th 2021 

I got my light (relassy 300w) its funny because it folds but it gives my tank good lighting and my anenome has gotten brighter, probably due to the zooxthallae inside it. clarkii is starting to hoste the nem and overall good day. this morning, i noticed some damage to my clarkii's slime coat/some parasites mabye. i am not going to have a excorscisim of my fish because parasites are normal in the wild and every fish probably has 4 or 5 parasites. it is probably due to the fact that his slime coat is damaged from the anenome. i expect the problem to sort itself out though. no fish in the tank appears to be stressed or anything. after i get a whiteworm culture, some fish oil, and a auto brine shrimp hatchery target feeder that keeps the eggshells in the bottom, all my fish should be in breeding condition. i have noticed my clarkii cleaning off my anenome and feeding it so possibly its in breeding behavior. i doubt it will actually breed though because its a lone male. 

[filefishfinatic]

i am planning to move my filefish and eventually when i get my scorp back he will move, they will go together in a 10 gallon fish only tank with caleurpa. its going to be ultra low budget, i will spend less than 50$ on it hopefully. i want to try my hand on spawning dragonets because paul b said they are low maintnence and hardy if you have a worm feeder/ pods/ brine shrimp target feeder. 

[filefishfinatic]

i might start dosing baking soda, epsom, and road salt (mentioned in avant garde aquarist) he has been doing it to his tank to keep up his calc alk and mag and stuff. i have to calculate the amounts for it but that takes just a few mins. 

[filefishfinatic]

when i get home, i am going to build a brine shrimp auto feeder. 

[M. Tournesol]

Could you please use the bullet for your topic first post?

This will make your post easier to read and less intimidating 😉.

• This
• Is 
• An
• Example

[filefishfinatic]

oh thanks 

[M. Tournesol]

1 hour ago, filefishfinatic said:

I want to try my hand on spawning dragonets because paul b said they are low maintnence and hardy if you have a worm feeder/ pods/ brine shrimp target feeder. 

Quote

you can (and should) hatch brine shrimp every day. Newborn brine shrimp are, in my opinion, better for mandarins than real pods anyway . (link)

I wouldn't call that easy😅 but Paul is not a noob like me. Easy for him may not be easy for everyone.

[filefishfinatic]

Just now, M. Tournesol said:

I wouldn't call that easy😅 but Paul is not a noob like me. Easy for him may not be easy for everyone.

In his book he talks about that. he says they are easy because they are very resillient to disease and dont care much about water perams. also, they spawn pretty readily. it can be hard to feed them if you are used to just dropping some pellets in your tank but he isnt like that and soon, neither will i. when i get fish oil and brine shrimp (Im soaking my dry food in reef plus for now) i am going to exclusively feed live and frozen and when im on vacation, i will autofeed brine and my tank sitter will feed a bag of soaked food and some brine/mysis. i still need to research what is better for them (brine vs mysis). but paul says that if you give a fish good food, they will get a good slime coat and they will be hardier to disease adnd if they are hardy to disease, they will be able to focus energy on making eggs. then they are in breeding condition. 

[filefishfinatic]

if i ever see someone with water spots on their glass i will have an anyserum

[M. Tournesol]

16 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

when i get home, i am going to build a brine shrimp auto feeder. 

4 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

i will autofeed brine and my tank sitter will feed a bag of soaked food and some brine/mysis

Yes but the auto feeder will have to be pretty complex (your will surely need a pump) since PaulB mandarin feeder is at the bottom of is tank.

Quote

Feeding newborn brine shrimp to a mandarin is not as easy as dispensing the shrimp into the tank. That won’t work for a mandarin because mandarins are bottom feeders and rarely swim up to their food. Brine shrimp are attracted to light, so as soon as you put them in a tank, they swim towards the light and will congregate on the water surface and have a hoedown there as they get swept into your overflow and get lost. I devised a mandarin feeder (discussed in the DIY chapter) that keeps the shrimp at the bottom where the mandarins can suck them out all day long. (link)

 

[filefishfinatic]

thats exactly what im going to do 😄  i am going to modify it though by sticking a  auto feeder above the funnel and it will have brine eggs inside. it will hatch the eggs inside the tank. then the babies swim up thru the mesh and get stuck for the mandarins to eat. it will be good food for my wrasse also 

[filefishfinatic]

im considering what dragonet i should get. i was considering mandarins but they are a lot more shy then the other species. i like the red (not ruby red) scooters and the psychadelic dragonets. 

[filefishfinatic]

i want to do all of paul b's projects except the chiller and the diy leds because i havent learned how to solder. 

[M. Tournesol]

Could this work? you could have a problem of stagnant water.

[filefishfinatic]

Just now, M. Tournesol said:

Could this work? you could have a problem of stagnant water.

what im gonna do is have a funnel, it will either flow into the tank or just be empty air and then it will fall down into the shrimp releaser then hatch. that was my idea. 

basically that but no water outside of the area that the fish come out of. 

[M. Tournesol]

9 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

im considering what dragonet i should get. i was considering mandarins but they are a lot more shy then the other species. i like the red (not ruby red) scooters and the psychadelic dragonets. 

I just want to specify that I am not encouraging you to have a mandarin/dragonet.

But if you take your time (maybe wait 3-4 months before adding the fish), you are ready to feed it yourself if your auto feeder doesn't work, and you have ready a number of articles of how to keep a mandarin/dragonet (not only PaulB that have them in a very old, stable and established tank), why not 🤷‍♂️.

 

[M. Tournesol]

4 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

then it will fall down into the shrimp releaser then hatch

You will need too often remove the brine egg of your mandarin feeder and since the eggs may float funneling them inside the mandarin feeder may not be easy.

[filefishfinatic]

i have to get them on the 18th if i want them. i cant get to my lfs otherwise. i will do lots of research on them. i have sponges and bivalves reproducing in my tank consistently. i put a brand new rock in my tank and within 2 weeks there was a mussel under it. i tried this a few times and within 2-3 weeks, i would have msusels 

[filefishfinatic]

1 minute ago, M. Tournesol said:

You will need too often remove the brine egg of your mandarin feeder and since the eggs may float funneling them inside the mandarin feeder may not be easy.

the unhatched eggs sink though dont they?. i am going to use a deep tupperware as a feeder so i can get more time without changing it out. i am going to also run it so i will have the nylon inside a tupperware lid so they will get to eat the shrimp then when i awnt to rinse out the hatching zone, i will just pop off the lid. 

[M. Tournesol]

18 minutes ago, filefishfinatic said:

i have to get them on the 18th if i want them. 

This is one of your bigger problem for me. Be more patient.

1.  Do lots of research (you could even look at breeding journal)
2. Build your auto feeder and test it, if not try to ash brine shrimp and think about the possibility to have to do this every day.
3. Verify that your stock is good for a mandarin (have no fish/invert that can be aggressive for example).
4. verify that your are not over stocked. Less is better than to much, A species-only tank may be more enjoyable than a tank filled with stressed fish.
5. and then, after all the above is positive, look at the stock of mandarin at your LFS.

Edited September 8, 2021 by M. Tournesol
adding a link to a breeding article

[filefishfinatic]

i think everything checks out. after i rehome my filefish to the fowlr i plan to make , i will have 4 fish. a melanurus, a clarkii, a arc eye, and a blenny. all are very peaceful to one another. only small concern would be that the melanurus might get boisterous as it grows and i cant keep some of the more sensitive dragonets wiht them if they get boisterus. i do plan on making a paul b method tank where all the fish will be spawning or breeding condition with a rugf with crushed coral and using all of his diy projects except chiller and diy led. 

[Murphs_Reef]

Post pictures of your tank as well.

[M. Tournesol]

9 hours ago, Murphych said:

Post pictures of your tank as well.

I will just want to reiterate this comment as an aquarium journal without some aquarium photos is a very sad aquarium journal 😢.
The best would be for you to post different photos at different stages (every 1-3 months) of it live.
This gives us the possibility to see its chronological evolution 👍.

[filefishfinatic]

i plan to take some dslr of my tank tonight. also, i just started an aquarium club at my school!

[filefishfinatic]

my clarkii is 100% in his nem now. whatever was on him is now gone.