Chipz's Downside of Distraction Tank

[chipz]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:26 AM, mcarroll said:

"...like butter scratched across too much toast."

I'm always here for a LOTR quote!

 

On 11/2/2022 at 1:26 AM, mcarroll said:

Given your situation, I'd sell off this tank and either integrate the livestock into one of your other tanks, or let it go too.  

 

Dividing your attention and sucking your capacity like this isn't helping your other tanks OR your free time OR your enjoyment level.

 

I'm not into "giving up" but I am definitely into being realistic.  👍

This is very solid advice. But I am also kind of stupidly stubborn. Or when I am trying to spin it as something  positive such as while interviewing for a job it's "consistently persistent." Also, I still love the little fish that are still living in the tank, and I think that they might not make it in the big tank.

 

While I haven't been posting, I have been continuing to chip away at the renovation of this tank. Things seem to have settled down. The highlights to date: No further deaths, mysterious or pistol shrimp-induced, of the fish or corals. The new skimmer (Tunze 9004) is thankfully quite quiet. I've only let it over flow just a tiny bit once (whoopsies!), and am now in the habit of emptying it at the start of the day before I sit down at my desk. I might add a skimmer monitoring switch if I turn forgetful again.

 

Nitrates and phosphates and hair algae weren't magically cured by the protein skimming, so I started adding NoPox after getting frustrated and Nitrates are down to almost 0 (from about 30 ppm) but phosphates are still around 0.4ppm. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring the phosphates down further without totally bottoming out Nitrates and bringing on a dino-splosion?

 

 

I supplemented the clean up crew with a tuxedo urchin and a second pincushion urchin from Algaebarn (both captive bred!) and they are work horses. If they ever conquer all of the algae then I will move one or two over to the big tank. 

 

Meanwhile, someone in my local club ended up posting an entire blasto merletti colony for sale at a price that was unbeatable. This is the coral I said that I would purchase as my "reward" for cleaning this tank. So naturally after all of this hard work and progress, I bought the blastos. I thought that I would keep them in the big tank for a bit while I finished the reno on this tank, but when I got the colony home I noticed hitchhikers. Aiptasia, two huge fireworms, several vermetid snails, and some little white snails that I didn't recognize. Given that, I ended up plopping the colony in my five gallon 9to5 tank. It already had a problem with bristleworms and I am planning to swap everything over to my Evo 13.5 in a couple months. Anyways, I started on a pest removal plan that has included trapping the worms, adding a bumblebee snail for vermetid control, a thorough pump cleaning, and a fresh round of Chemipure blue. I also ended up with a tiny aiptasia eating file fish that might first get a stint in the 5 gallon before moving on to the few aiptasia that are in the 40. Very cool fish to watch, but first I've got it in the QT.

 

So things are going along swimmingly in all tanks, plus the QT. And to top things off, my clownfish pair in the big tank laid eggs tonight (so, so cool!!!! A first for me!). There's more work to do, but I'm going to stick with this tank for a while longer.

 

Finally, here's a pic of the big tank to show that I am a more competent reef keeper than my IM40 would suggest!  I'll get some more photos later this week 😃

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mcarroll]

42 minutes ago, chipz said:

I've only let it over flow just a tiny bit once (whoopsies!), and am now in the habit of emptying it at the start of the day before I sit down at my desk. I might add a skimmer monitoring switch if I turn forgetful again.

That is one good option.

 

Or...

 

One thing about this is that a skimmer overflow back into the tank usually is nothing to worry about.  So doing nothing and not worrying about it (continue as you have been) is also a good option.

 

Or...

 

Re-tune the skimmer so it fills up according to your schedule.  No surprises!

 

Or...  

 

Fit a Tunze Holiday Cup (includes a hose fitting and hose) to drain skimmate into a larger remote vessel.  A bucket or a purpose-built waste collector like the ones from MRC and Avast Marine will do, depending on your needs.  (Waste collector can also be fitted with a few different kinds of shutoffs for when it fills up.)

 

51 minutes ago, chipz said:

Anyways, I started on a pest removal plan that has included trapping the worms, adding a bumblebee snail for vermetid control, a thorough pump cleaning, and a fresh round of Chemipure blue.

😬

 

Okay, for clarity on my comments below, I see nothing wrong per se with adding a Bumble Bee snail.  One snail isn't likely to throw off the balance of The Force or anything. 😉 

 

But the reason (fear?) behind adding one is worth unpacking IMO – I don't think you probably have a "need" for one.

 

Bristleworms

Bristleworms are simple scavengers.  

 

Most folks these days seem to equate fireworms and bristleworms.  They do look very similar to me, but their behaviors are quite different.

 

One of them (fireworm) is a very rare (in aquariums), and usually VERY conspicuous, coral predator.  It doesn't work in the crevices, under rocks – it works out in the open, on your corals where you'd see them.

 

The other (bristleworm) is usually a very reclusive scavenger....usually only present under/inside of rocks.  Occasionally visible at night searching the rocks/sandbed for more food while most potential predators sleep.

 

Only the scavengers seem to hitchhike into aquariums and survive as a population.  

 

Not too hard to see why this would be...scavengers ALWAYS survive when others croak, since they can generally "eat anything" including whatever has just croaked!

 

More than likely scavengers is all you have.

 

But non-scavengers (fire worms) would be easy to see and remove by hand (er...tweezers!!!!) even if that's what you have.

 

Unfortunately, lots of hobbyists these days treat even normal bristle worms as pests.  🤷‍♂️ Seriously - 🤷‍♂️.

 

FYI if you actually see bristleworms, then there's probably something wrong with your setup.  Overfeeding, detritus accumulation where you don't want it, a critter dying...."something" is feeding their population.  

 

That same "something" that's feeding them should instead be kept in the water column longer by improving water flow.  Then corals eat it instead of the worms.  Win-win – for you AND the creepy reef critters.)

 

Vermitid Snails

Vermitids fell into the "pest" category somehow too.  

 

If we classify something as a "pest" just because it irritates a coral, then corals are coral pests too.  😱 However, they do not hurt anything in a reef tank in any significant way so it's an unfair, ecologically unsound badge to put on them IMO.  

 

Healthy corals tend to steamroll vermitids, in spite of whatever irritation they might cause.  

 

So the real problem may not be the Vermitids...

 

If newbs (myself included when I was a newb) didn't fall prey to the idea that we need to broadcast feed our corals, then vermitids would barely spread in the first place.....never becoming a significant enough population to worry about in most cases.

 

But by and large we do fall prey to that idea.  And we jack up our vermitid populations like crazy in the process....without much (any?) actual benefit to the corals we're targeting.  

 

My corals grow almost too fast without any feedings "just for them" at all.  

 

I saw someone post a very spectacular click-bait-ish "vermitid takeover photo" of their drain pipes TOTALLY encrusted THICK with vermitids – blaming the vermitids for it of course.  

 

My question wouldn't be for the vermitids....it would be why the guy thought pumping all that food that neither his fish OR corals were apparently eating down his drains ALL THE TIME was a good idea. 😉 

 

Bumblebee Snails

Bumble Bee snails are carnivorous.  

 

While yours MAY eat your vermitid snails or bristleworms – it will very likely eat other small reef critters (ie your reef's "diversity") good and bad, indiscriminately.

 

Very not reef friendly, even if they're mostly coral friendly.  

 

They may eat your other snails if they run out of other food.  

 

Just keep in mind that they are enemies (predators) to almost every small life form on a reef.  Important to us because there aren't that many types of small critters that live and reproduce successfully in a reef tank without lots of help from us.  We have to try to appreciate all that we can.   IMO, keep the number of Bumblebee's low so they can't totally deplete the population of your live rock.  

 

Consider re-homing him if you don't see Vermitids or bristleworms around anymore.

 

Chemical Nutrient Reduction

Be careful with any nutrient reducer like Chemipure Blue (GFO, et al).  

 

Algae control is done through cleanup crew and manual removal NOT through control of nutrient levels.  You might change the algae growing (GHA for dino's, for example) but you won't "make algae go away" by reducing nutrients.

 

You make algae go away mostly the old fashioned way...

 

Pull out the mature algae by hand that you can see...and increase you cleanup crew little by little until they can handle the whole tank adequately and green algae aren't spreading anymore.  It's a process.

 

BTW, the period of time when nutrient control matters most is during initial stocking of the tank.  Totally-avoidable nutrient spikes are what makes algae blooms possible.  Stocking the tank in a slow, progressive manner is the key that is usually missed.

 

 

1 hour ago, chipz said:

Very nice!!!

 

Always good to see a nice leather tank!!!

 

[chipz]

So much to dig into, here!

 

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 AM, mcarroll said:

One thing about this is that a skimmer overflow back into the tank usually is nothing to worry about.  So doing nothing and not w (continue as you have been) is also a good option.

I like this thinking! We'll see if it happens again, but I won't panic if it does.

 

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 AM, mcarroll said:

FYI if you actually see bristleworms, then there's probably something wrong with your setup.  Overfeeding, detritus accumulation where you don't want it, a critter dying...."something" is feeding their population.  

Yup. I have a bunch of tiny limpets in the little tank. One of them found it's way inside the pump, and got wedged in the impeller. Water flow was dramatically reduced and I am not sure for how long before I noticed it. I have since fixed the pump, and tried adding a Hygger Mini, but that was an over correction and sand was flying around on the lowest setting. Anyways, the water flow is back to normal but the bristleworm population hasn't corrected yet.

 

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 AM, mcarroll said:

Most folks these days seem to equate fireworms and bristleworms.

I could definitely be mistaken about whether they were fireworms. They seemed much shorter/fatter and with redder bristles than what I am used to seeing. And you are right that I am scared that it might be fireworms! Even the bristleworms freak me out a little, though I try to appreciate them as CUC.

 

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 AM, mcarroll said:

Consider re-homing him if you don't see Vermitids or bristleworms around anymore.

I think this will take a while, but I will keep it in mind!

 

On 12/7/2022 at 2:54 AM, mcarroll said:

Pull out the mature algae by hand that you can see...and increase you cleanup crew little by little until they can handle the whole tank adequately and green algae aren't spreading anymore.  It's a process.

Check and check. I've been doing manual removals, and using airline tubing to siphon out the hair algae in the IM40. I've had the two extra urchins for a month now, and I am picking up several turbos from a tank break down this weekend. I'm hoping that after the holidays I can get an order from Reef Cleaners if I still need the help. It certainly is a process!

[chipz]

I added a bit of NeoNitro today to increase nitrates just a bit above 0. I also pulled out a bit more hair algae.

 

And here's a picture of my blasto colony, (currently in the 5 gallon--lower front and back glass need a good scrape, the sand is actually perfectly clean):

[Tired]

Nice blasto, cute goby, but what's that tube on the sandbed? Is that the stalk of the leather coral over there? 

[chipz]

6 hours ago, Tired said:

Nice blasto, cute goby, but what's that tube on the sandbed? Is that the stalk of the leather coral over there? 

Yup! Technically the stalk of a different leather that is out of the frame. The pistol shrimp uses the stalk as the lintel for his burrow entrance.

[sapling]

13 hours ago, chipz said:

I added a bit of NeoNitro today to increase nitrates just a bit above 0. I also pulled out a bit more hair algae.

 

And here's a picture of my blasto colony, (currently in the 5 gallon--lower front and back glass need a good scrape, the sand is actually perfectly clean):

Very Nice Blasto going there, maybe im colorblind or the lighting, but it doesnt look green in this picture, almost blue, is this one really red and blue? 

 

 

[chipz]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:40 AM, sapling said:

Very Nice Blasto going there, maybe im colorblind or the lighting, but it doesnt look green in this picture, almost blue, is this one really red and blue? 

 

Thanks! I'd say the coloration is pink rim with blue interior but a green mouth. Of course this is under the stock Fluvial Evo V light, which is pretty white and not very strong. Here's a photo under white with an orange lens, and then another when I turn the blue light on instead. 

 

And some photos of my urchins in the Reno tank wearing hair algae, shells and rubble, and bare, respectively: