29g Low Tech Lps/softies

[Donya]

Are you sure the zoas aren't just responding to the flow being changed/inhibited in the immediate area by the shrooms having been added? What does the recession look like? 4" is usually enough space between something like shrooms and another coral unless it's one whopper of a shroom that can lean over to cross most of that gap periodically. Look and see if the shrooms have been expelling any fillaments on them - that is a dead certain sign that they are quarreling with something and then you can be pretty sure there is a conflict that needs to be resolved.

Allelopathy is a bit of a tricky issue since one has to consider that the tank is a fairly closed system. Close proximity could make a difference in the wild because more chemicals would get washed over a colony just because of the concentration gradient, but those chemicals aren't getting washed over miles in an aquarium. It's pretty hard to establish the same sort of strict concentration gradient with any substance in a closed environment, particulalry when the flow is good. Target-feeding fine-particle filter feeders presents a similar issue in the sense that you may as well just feed the whole tank since the stuff is going to disperse rapidly and wash all over anyway.

EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is that if something in a moderately sized tank is releasing noxious stuff, it's going to affect things in a radius a lot bigger than 4". Anemones that have been accused of this are alleged to adversely affect anemones all the way on the other side of a 4ft tank.

The NPS appear to be taking a hit as well. One of my previously issue free coral has been closed for the past 3 days >_>. My parameters are perfect....

One of the problems with that whole category of corals is that they tend to thrive in "dirty" tanks with a lot of particulates and other junk in the water that can easily lead to high waste levels. So, you can actually clean the water too much for a lot of NPS.

 

[gregswimm]

No film on the shrooms. I put them back in the float box. The zoa open all the way with the exception of 1 maybe 2 polyps.

Dunno about the 'dirty' tanks. Only one of my HOB actually has somewhat fine filter media, the other has very course media(it's actually the bacteria pad) just to keep the chaeto from flowing out. The thing about high particulate mater flowing around the tank is that it almost always equates to high nitrates. These guys don't take anything smaller than baby brine shrimp. It's easier to accomplish for phyto eater than lps-nps. Edit: they also get fed 1 block worth of cyclops every day.

 

[Donya]

Not a film - I was meaning the mesentarial filaments: white curly things that they can eject out from strange places on the disk and body. Sometimes the filaments are thick and short, other times they're longer and more stringy-looking. If they don't break off or get stuck to something else, they can be sucked back into the animal. This is the only pic I can find that shows what they look like (where they've disconnected from the animal and stuck to a rock): http/i13.photobucket.com/albums/a259/y2kenny19/Saltwater/DSCN8307a.jpg

 

[gregswimm]

No sign of mesentarial filaments. I think I figured out the problem. I was adding Dr.G's phytoplankton to the tank, I took a sniff of the stuff yesterday and it smelled like rot. I also noticed my ammonia alert showing ammonia after the addition of the phytoplankton. Not sure if the product is BS (I have heard that there is a good amount of life in it), or if it just say on the shelf of the LFS for too long; after all, it does say to shake daily and I really don't think the LFS does that.

 

[gregswimm]

Well, I have identified the source of my low KH. It turns out that the salt I use (red sea coral pro) has a KH of only 7 . I have raised it over the past few days to 13dKH (I over shot; o well could be worse). Calcium is at 460. I'm trying to raise it to 480-520 to see if I can't bring down my overshot KH lol.

The monti is showing jagged growth on the outer edge, I can only assume this was from my KH issue and misdirected flow. The good news is that it is(or what looks like) putting up a new inner growth ring like it is going to make a second tier .

Found a crab on my zoas tonight. I 'dove' in after it with tweezers but it got away after a resounding crunch against the metal. White crab with black legs and claws. It never ends for the zoa lol. Also spotted a few stone crabs. They look neat but I have eaten them before and know how big they can get lol.

 

[gregswimm]

Well, I have been having some trouble with my Phyllangia americana, they havent been fully open in nearly a week. I have been fiddling with the flow and this seems to be helping. I was also dosing vinegar daily 1.6ml to be exact, I misread a chart, I should have been doing it weekly lol. Now that I have stopped my pH is coming back into range.

I also havent seen my nass in a few days or any spaghetti worms (I have/had a TON). Maybe a nass died and all the worms migrated to it? I have no idea.

I have also IDed my unknown coral to be alveopora or goniopora. I have had since the beginning and have lost roughly 95% of the polyps .

 

[gregswimm]

Well FTS time
I also added a pavona

 

[gregswimm]

So emerald crabs pick the polyps off SPS.... >_<

I also got another monti, pics will go up manana

 

[Donya]

Has the emerald been able to get meat regularly? This is another Crustacean that, when healthy and well-fed itself (which requires a pretty varied, omnivorous diet), causes zero problems with healthy corals aside from possible damage from the little needle feet on fragile tissue. If the crab was picking at the edge of an SPS frag where it was cut from the larger colony, then probably there was some less-than-great tissue there. If you're dead sure the coral tissue being picked at was healthy, then the fact that a second type of normally problem-free invert is acting weird and weird in the same way suggests there is some sort of larger problem at hand in the system.

 

[gregswimm]

Yup, I saw the crab switch between picking the rock and picking off healthy colored polyps. He should have ample opportunity to get meat, I feed my coral 1 frozen cube of cyclops each day and more than half of what the coral get end up in the water column. I also squirt some in my chaeto, mainly to distract the shrimp from stealing from the coral lol.

 

[Donya]

Small things like cyclops are too small for just about any crab. Crabs are also rubbish at catching anything flying about in the water. The only way my crabs of any species can get meaty food is the food is pretty large, sinks, and stays put for quite some time (like large pellets or chunks of scallop/squid/etc. meat - and the crab has to get to it first) or if I give it to them with tongs and let them pull the little bits out one piece at a time.

 

[gregswimm]

I know a lot of the cyclops settles in the tank, Ill put a few pieces of shrimp in there just in case.

Also, tank shots:

Dat sandbed

 

[gregswimm]

Well, I got a tuxedo urchin and a Holothuria sp. "Florida Tiger tail". I have thought long and hard about adding either of these animals but I'm quite sure they well make great additions to my tank. The tuxedo isn' even an inch yet and the cucumber is in the neighborhood of 4". My skimmerless set up means that there should be plenty of detritus for the cuc to eat. He already has a nice pile of sand patties going

So far the urchin has been decorating it's self with bryopsis I hope he eats it later lol.

So far my corals are growing fantastic. The tank consumes roughly 60ppm of Mg, 50ppm of calcium per wk. I still don't have fully accurate consumption rates as of yet

Also started dosing 2 species of phyto, I like my clams way to much to loose them haha.

I also want to add more SPS species but IDK if I want to go with another monti (that would be 3) or something like a porites, Seriatopora, or stylophora. Decisions decisions....

 

[gregswimm]

Possible sump design

 

[gregswimm]

Got an 800gph powerhead ($15 on amazon, I couldn't resist ). I'm starting to think it is a bit much.....