29g Low Tech Lps/softies

[gregswimm]

Clean that impeller chamber! Unless something has chipped in it to cause asymmetry somewhere, you shouldn't get a big rattle unless there is still stuff knocking about. Last thing you want is to have the impeller to freeze when you're out and have the motor overheat because of the lack of water circulating over it.

Are you still at 5ppm nitrate? If so, other people start singing the praises of their skimmers when they get DOWN to that level. Seriously, don't be obsessed with zeroing it this early in the game, you will just drive yourself insane until the tank matures. I'm not saying don't get a skimmer, but once you get some fish in there don't be surprised if you suddenly see it creep up to 10ppm for a while even with a skimmer.

The impeller situation has happened to this filter before. I have cleaned it very very well but it continues with the noise. It will clear up eventually, I hope.

I tested it yesterday and I was between 20 and 40 on the chart, today after a wc and all the cleaning (all but one hob, I got lazy) im somewhere around 10 parts, it's hard to say. Also it was steady at 5 parts when i was doing 2.5gal changes daily to every other
day. The good news is that my chaeto has absolutely exploded, I have been keeping my 15led 6500k bulb 1" from the top of the fuge

How much time does it normally take for denitrifying bacteria to colonize the DSB? I only have 40lbs, I hope it's enough, it is very tiny grain so I hope so.

Needs some tweaking

 

[Donya]

How much time does it normally take for denitrifying bacteria to colonize the DSB?

Months usually. In my larger-than-pico tanks it has taken 3-4 months before the sand bed shows serious and stable colonization of typical sand-dwelling organisms and then another couple months after that before I've seen any obvious impact on nutrient levels. You can also see the separation into aerobic and anaerobic zones taking place as it develops, since the lower layer turns really dark and dense-looking, while above that the sand is more properly sand-colored and full of animals and their burrows. Looking at the last pic, yours might not be deep enough to get the separation but it's hard to tell the scale exactly. People throw around numbers like 4" and 6" and such for minimum required DSB thicknesses, but I will go measure some of my sand beds where I both have and haven't seen the separation of zones and get back to you later today with some actual example numbers. None of mine are as deep as 6", so don't worry about going that deep.

 

[gregswimm]

Sweet. How many DSBs do you have?

 

[Donya]

I have 3 right now, and a 4th that would be if it didn't have a gigantic hermit that upturns the whole thing probably every day. So I'm just not going to count that tank with the massive hermit lol.

55gal: 2.5-4" depending on location. The anaerobic zone usually sits 0.5/1" below the surface, but it's actually pushed farther up in the last couple of months since I lost a conch that had been maintaining the bed and haven't been able to acquire a replacement. So now in some spots it looks to be as high as 0.25" below the surface.

20gal: again 2.5-4" depending on the location. It gets rearranged a lot by an engineer goby, so the zones are harder to pick out in a lot of places.

0.9gal: ...1.5" lol. I was kind of surprised about that actually when I took a ruler to it. I thought it was at least 2" but measurements don't lie (...usually ). I don't recommend you go that thin though since that's probably the thinnest one I've ever had that showed the separation and is also an anomaly in showing it so clearly. Animal burrows push the boundary down within some radius around the borrow, and after the burrow is collapsed and neglected for a few weeks, the boundary pushes back up in that area. I can also see it if I poke something into the sand bed by the glass; for some radius around where I poked, the growth in that brown bit dies back really fast over a couple of days and takes a couple of weeks to return. Here's a pic of that one since it's just disgustingly clear where the boundary is and you can see where animals disturbing things have pushed it down or let it rise up:

All other tanks that don't show any serious sandbed activity have sand at 1.5" or less.

 

[gregswimm]

That DSB looks fantastically disgusting lol(in a good way ).

I have a little under 2" in the front(at the lowest point) and nearly 3" in the back at the highest point.

Not enirely sure what happened here but, it appears as if some sort of tube worm was knocked into one of my corals. I noticed one growing rather close and was pondering removing it or not, I guess I don't have to lol. I thought it may have been a hydra, but i guess not

From a 'superior' angle (apparently not 'superior'), pictures don't come out right through tempered glass. You can make out what its eating.

 

[gregswimm]

Well, my Oculina patagonica is bleaching out rather acutely. Adjusted it's position again. When I moved it you could literally see loose color. There seems to be a correlation between either new flow patters and or speed. The edges of the colonies have whitened before but came back, but never from a 'bleach' this bad.

I should have known, i guess that's the sort of thing that comes with experience. I really don't want to loose this colony, I have no other way to get this species aside from buying more LR.

 

[gregswimm]

My O. patagonica has been doing better over the past few days so I went ahead and picked up 2 peppermint shrimp. The however have been hanging around my O. patagonica and I noticed one of them had a foot on it, now every single coralites/polyp group has a ring of white . Just from the few minutes I was watching the shrimp waiting for it to move, I could see the polyps going white on the rim. I origonally had 4 that were not doing too great, now it looks like I have upwards of 8 just from the clumsy shrimp. A hermit also walked over one of my hidden cups a few hours ago and it has yet to re-open .
My CBS also chased a pepermint with outstretched hugs, luckily the peps are fast and my CBS is slow/lazy and easily distracted by food.

Nitrates have also been holding steady at 10 parts. Score.

I also dripped in some kalk with a FW top off. I had very high calcium and rather low KH (7.ish dKh). Hope this helps so I don't have to do lots of water changes lol.

 

[gregswimm]

Looking for algae species if you have any of these and want to trade PM me:

Anything of the genus: Acetabularia
of the genus: Halimeda
of the genus: Padina - namely gymnospora and fraseri
of the genus: Lobophora
of the genus Distromium - namely flabellatum, decumbens
Dictyota dichotoma

 

[gregswimm]

Well, one of my freshwater HOBs died, looks like I have another fuge score.

 

[Donya]

My O. patagonica has been doing better over the past few days so I went ahead and picked up 2 peppermint shrimp. The however have been hanging around my O. patagonica and I noticed one of them had a foot on it, now every single coralites/polyp group has a ring of white . Just from the few minutes I was watching the shrimp waiting for it to move, I could see the polyps going white on the rim. I origonally had 4 that were not doing too great, now it looks like I have upwards of 8 just from the clumsy shrimp.

I have had what were probably the same thing a few times as a hitchhiker and never had much success with them. I never had issues with shrimp-stomping harming them, but most of mine got toasted by cup corals on the same rocks.

 

[Aquascaper]

Well, one of my freshwater HOBs died, looks like I have another fuge score.

I got a Marina S20 HOB for a refugium after seeing one on a freshwater starter tank when buying the kids theirs. Absolutely love it as it's only 2" front to back, already gutted inside as it takes those silly cartridges so only has rails that they slide into and the lid is easy to mount an LED strip onto

 

[gregswimm]

I have had what were probably the same thing a few times as a hitchhiker and never had much success with them. I never had issues with shrimp-stomping harming them, but most of mine got toasted by cup corals on the same rocks.

Ya, they are super fragile especially with regard to light, water movement and apparent touch. I even have had trouble feeding them without causing them visible stress. Some things were not meant to be kept in captivity, which is a shame because they are gorgeous.

I got a Marina S20 HOB for a refugium after seeing one on a freshwater starter tank when buying the kids theirs. Absolutely love it as it's only 2" front to back, already gutted inside as it takes those silly cartridges so only has rails that they slide into and the lid is easy to mount an LED strip onto

What type of LEDs do you use? I have a 15W par38 shedding light on both of them, it's kinda overkill and illuminates my DT/room which means I cannot keep in on at night


Edit: on another note; nitrates have been holding steady at 10(ish)ppm with daily coral feedings and no water changes woot. Need to set up a crab trap for a few xanthids and a stone crap (80% sure it's a stone) I found.

Any possibility that the mushrooms anemones I have (Actinodiscus sp.) are or will produce allelopathic toxins especially with reguard to montis, Diploria labyrinthiformis, zoa, and acans?

 

[Aquascaper]

It is an 18" submersible one off eBay with (supposedly) 6500k white LED's although I'm yet to try it as I'm still setting everything up.

Went too fast last time when doing my 160g reef and ended up with a few headaches so want to get this one right from the start

 

[gregswimm]

Huston we have a problem... Staurocladia omfg. There were only a few at first appearing right above my air stone. The more I run the stone the more appear.

 

[gregswimm]

Went to the LFS for some RO today and they dropped the price on their monti cap. I was eyeing this green frag for a few weeks now and it appeared very healthy. There was also a guy picking out monties, I could see he was eyeing it (it was the only green frag XD) so I grabbed an employee and snatched it out from under his nose. You snooze you loose