Reef life

[FESTER665]

Id do a decent size water change (10'ish gallons) and just keep an eye on the parameters.... Water changes are the best thing you can do for your tank on a regular basis. I always stayed at 1.026 personally, but had more SPS coral in my tanks. What salt are you using now?


I learned the hard way about fish and diseases, then went to a crazy QT setup, and all fish went through a crazy protocol of QT before reaching the tank.


If you go to live aquaria divers den, their fish are a little more expensive but are QT'ed by them before they ever go up for sale... Always a good option.


For the hair algae, it's still new and that stuff is going to happen. In the mean time I would get a few more blue leg hermits, you'll occasionally see them chowing down on it, just make sure you're not over-feeding which will cause some spikes in the numbers.



Any blenny should be good really, I just always like the Midas Blenny for their color, its great when they find a spot to live in the rock, youll just see their head poking out sometimes.

 

[FESTER665]

My QT procedure was a 40g breeder tank with PVC tubes in it for them to hide in... Firs was a 5 day period of just watching the new fish to make sure there were no crazy signs... Then then slowly dropped the salinity to 1.008 over three days. Then they spent 4 weeks in hyposalinity (check parameters especially PH a TON in there). Then I slowly raised the salinity back to 1.026 over a week span. After they got used to that salinity (usually a day or so), I would do a month of paraguard in the tank.


Only after all that did they get to go into the main tank.

 

[cap42]

Id do a decent size water change (10'ish gallons) and just keep an eye on the parameters.... Water changes are the best thing you can do for your tank on a regular basis. I always stayed at 1.026 personally, but had more SPS coral in my tanks. What salt are you using now?


I learned the hard way about fish and diseases, then went to a crazy QT setup, and all fish went through a crazy protocol of QT before reaching the tank.


If you go to live aquaria divers den, their fish are a little more expensive but are QT'ed by them before they ever go up for sale... Always a good option.


For the hair algae, it's still new and that stuff is going to happen. In the mean time I would get a few more blue leg hermits, you'll occasionally see them chowing down on it, just make sure you're not over-feeding which will cause some spikes in the numbers.



Any blenny should be good really, I just always like the Midas Blenny for their color, its great when they find a spot to live in the rock, youll just see their head poking out sometimes.

My QT procedure was a 40g breeder tank with PVC tubes in it for them to hide in... Firs was a 5 day period of just watching the new fish to make sure there were no crazy signs... Then then slowly dropped the salinity to 1.008 over three days. Then they spent 4 weeks in hyposalinity (check parameters especially PH a TON in there). Then I slowly raised the salinity back to 1.026 over a week span. After they got used to that salinity (usually a day or so), I would do a month of paraguard in the tank.


Only after all that did they get to go into the main tank.

I'm on a weekly water change schedule, so all good there. I get my saltwater from the LFS as I don't have the ability to add a RODI system to my house. The LFS charges $.99 for the saltwater and .50 for the RODI and it's less than a mile from my house. I'm sure it will get old after a while but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

Great tip about the diver's den, I am just not in the position to buy another tank, heater and filter system to house a fish for a few week's to months. I just don't have the room for it. So getting fish that are already QT are a big plus that I will commit to.

If and when I get another house I'll make sure I have room for a larger tank that I can add a sump & refuge as well as room for a small QT tank.

Thanks!

 

[FESTER665]

Sure you have the ability to add one, you can hide them pretty well. I at one point had mine hook up under the bathroom sink. Eventually I added a second RO membrane and a booster pump, then plumbed it from the laundry room over to the tank. That was a great help.


Wish i hadn't have given mine away a year ago, could've given it to you instead of some random person...

 

[FESTER665]

My old QT setup:






My all time favorite coral, Oregon Blue Tort...

 

[FESTER665]

This god damn thread has me thinking about setting up a new nano tank now. I hope you assholes are happy.

 

[IceCreamAssassin]

That’s a solid qt setup you had.
I actually need to get rid of my 90 gallon. I just don’t have the time to put in the effort that’s needed. I just live through my brothers tank lol.

 

[FESTER665]

That’s a solid qt setup you had..

After I lost all my livestock after adding an infected fish I started doing it... It was an expensive lesson for sure.

 

[Mook]

My old QT setup:
View attachment 32803

View attachment 32804



My all time favorite coral, Oregon Blue Tort...
View attachment 32805

Am I missing context or did you just drop a bunch of pvc into the tank and call it a day

 

[FESTER665]

Am I missing context or did you just drop a bunch of pvc into the tank and call it a day

Yes and no, it's a QT setup which is a quarantine/medical tank setup. It allows you to treat the fish and doesnt ruin rock or sand... It's essentially a sterile environment so you can have strict control over the tank parameters and treat them...


The PVC allows them to hide and feel safe while being treated, and doesnt absorb the chemicals so you can clean it up easily after use.


Some people use copper, I always used hyposalinity to treat them for crypt/ich without them even showing signs of it, then the round of paraguard took care of a host of other possible diseases.

 

[Mook]

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh ok ok

 

[FESTER665]

The first time you lose $1200 worth of fish because the latest addition was infected you look into it more.

 

[FESTER665]

https://www.liveaquaria.com/divers-den/category/3/


So to help people, live aquaria made a place called "divers den" up in Rhinelander Wisconsin. They do a quarantine procedure for you, and literally the picture on the internet is the exact fish you're going to get.



The livestock is more expensive but is worth it if you cant QT yourself and want to know you have a healthy fish that is eating.

 

[FESTER665]

Man did lightning maroon clowns come WAY down in price since I used to look at them...


Only $80 now.

 

[Mook]

I'd love a sweet corner tank for my living room but I dont have the money, patience or both to do anything worthwhile.

 

[FESTER665]

I'd love a sweet corner tank for my living room but I dont have the money, patience or both to do anything worthwhile.

I got into it with a 29 gallon biocube and was super excited since I could space out and watch it while sitting on the couch.... Then I did the 180 in another room and you'd watch it for 5 minutes and leave...


Definitely put it somewhere you can watch it if you do end up doing one.

 

[crooks]

Wherever you spend most of your time have your tank there is really good advice

 

[cap42]

A post in the bored thread reminded me I haven’t posted in this thread in a while.

I grabbed another clown shortly after my other died and added a few more nerite snails and 2 nassarius snails and 4 more blue legged hermits.

Livestock is now:
2 clowns
5 blue legged hermit crabs
1 emerald crab
8 Nerite snails
2 nassarius snails

I also added a HoB skimmer because I was having to do water changes every 3-4 days and getting nasty tank smell which the wife wasn’t so happy about. With the skimmer I can go a full 7 days without a water change possibly more but I am not pushing it at the moment.

The green hair algae (GHA) also bloomed up a bit and I am getting some other algae maybe cyano or Dino? So I have been cutting back on feeding and adjusting my lighting to combat it. Progress is in the right direction but slow going. I also manually removed a lot of it last night during the weekly water change. The last few pics below were from yesterday.

A few pics

Full tank shot


GHA bloom


Clowns fat and happy


More GHA and the purple/red algae


More of the purple/red still not sure what this is.


I am going to get some type of softie coral for the clowns to hopefully host. Leaning towards a frogspawn or hammer since they are hardy and easy to care for. Then I will add a cleaner shrimp and some of the fish recommended earlier in this thread spread out a few weeks at a time.

I am also toying with the idea of adding a refugium, they have a stand alone reactor that will work for my tank. I will grab a link here shortly.

 

[cap42]

This isn't bad for $150, here's a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHB1xbOqCRo

 

[FESTER665]

Progress is in the right direction but slow going.

That's a good thing, bad stuff happens fast. Reefs take time, keep up with manual removal when you do water changes and those problems usually work themselves out....


My clowns always liked the frogspawn for some reason, so I just went with it. You can also try torch coral which will have more an anemone feel to it for them. I personally had all three in the tank and whatever they liked the most is what they went with.

 

[cap42]

Added the cleaner shrimp yesterday, man what a greedy little asshole. He will steal all the food before the fish get any, doesn’t help my clowns are afraid of it for some reason.





I then added 2 corals and a mushroom. The mushroom is a single on a small drag the guy at reefwise gave me for free since it’s so small. You might see it in the center front of the tank on the bottom.



Frog spawn. Green with blueish/purple tips



I don’t remember what the name of this one is but I think it’s also a frogspawn




Here’s they are with the lights on night mode where they really pop. Camera on my phone does no justice.

View attachment 1

The other with the name I don’t remember looks meh with day lights but with the night lights it’s got orange polyps and almost a pink base.

 

[1fastrock]

Im liking the tank cap24!! What light are you using?

 

[cap42]

Im liking the tank cap24!! What light are you using?

The light is a Fluval Marine 3.0, I wouldn't recommend it. Now I know why my buddy gave it to me for free. It's a good light for a fish only tank but its a bit lackluster for corals.

I need to update this thread, been lots of changes.

 

[cap42]

Some additions

Finally broke down and bought a RODI unit, was tired of carrying 5 gallon buckets. Still have a problem storing it out of the way.

I also added an anemone that someone was giving away but it was small and my tank isn’t mature enough so it died a month later.

Here is the tank as of this morning, still battling a little cyano but it’s no where near as bad as it was a month or two ago.



Here are individual pics of the additions.

Toadstool leather



Benghai Cardnelfish



Fromia starfish



Xenia and blue/green sympodium polyps





I am also upgrading my light, adding a AI prime HD, only 1 at the moment and will add a second in a few weeks.

 

[1fastrock]

How do you like the rodi system capt42?Any pictures of your mixing station? Im picking up a rodi setup tommorow and am hoping it will take some of the frustration out of driving to Tinley to get water every week.