Bigtuna's Ocean In A Wall

[ainsy]

He's not a very happy camper is he!

Boys room is awesome...wish I had one!


(now where did I leave that sledgehammer?)

 

[FishFanatic04]

Aw! it was awesome though catching him poofed.

 

[BigTuna]

I just wanted to stop by and say hello. Not much has changed at all since last time I posted. Mainly due to a grumpy triggerfish that I recently gave back to my lfs. It was a difficult decision to make but he was becoming dangerous to everything in the talk including the puffers. The LFS was impressed by him and tried him in their shark aquarium but he even started to pick on their very large black tip shark. One of the more experienced hobbyists that works there took him home for his predator tank. He's definitely in good hands.

I have sold my house since my last visit, and with it maybe even my tank. In my new house I am having my builder plumb in a water supply and drain. From the supply I want to go to an r/o, then to a large auto top off, then to my sump. I'm hoping water changes and maintenance will be more convenient then my current method. I'm actually asking for any and all suggestions on equipment as I'm still pretty inexperienced and would appreciate all help. I'm starting with a clean slate, and want to get it perfect.


Having said all that I hope everyone is doing well and I plan on getting caught up soon! Cheers

 

[BigTuna]

Well I've been away for a long time. A lot has changed since I've last been around. Absolute disaster hit a while back, something I still don't have a clear answer for. I lost my cardinals and I ended up removing my puffers to the same guy that took my trigger. Shortly after that I lost my clown. Hair algae and bubble algae absolutely took over. Throughout the whole time my nitrates were were always around 10 and never peaked higher then 15. Regardless of how many changes I couldn't get that any lower, but maybe not ideal I believe those numbers aren't awful? LFS believes perhaps a salinity spike although I've never had an issue in the past. No extreme evaporation problems, and my salinity has always been around 1.024 in my tests. Although I never got an answer from my town, I believe strongly that something happened and our water was heavily dosed with something. It's the only thing I can think of. It seemed like the more water changes i tried the worse my situation got. This has forced me to take a very big step back and I'm focusing on very good husbandry. I have recently added an ro/di and I strongly feel it is paying dividends immediately. Three emerald crabs, although not the cutest in the world, are doing amazing work for me. I'm working on upping my CUC man power with turbo snails and nassarius snails. As for fish, my awesome regal tang is all that remains. He is dong very well, growing and colors are incredible. Not much positive to report, but the challenges I'm faced with will make me a better in the long run, and it makes me more excited to show updates when this all is behind me.

 

[gregswimm]

You need to start using RO/DI.  The nitrates likely came from the water source.  You could dose vinegar or vodka, which will grow bacteria in the water column and will be skimmed out.  The bacteria will consume nitrates and phosphate along with the carbon source (vodka or vinegar)

 

[DrRob]

Welcome back, I'm glad you found your way back here as I liked this journal.
 
Sorry to hear about the fish and hopefully the RO will help things settle down.

 

[BigTuna]

Thanks Dr.Rob.I feel pleased with the progress my tank has been making. Water quality has never been better. From what I can tell with my test strips my nitrates are below 10. I've added a few more emerald crabs, 6 more nassrius snails, and 10 turbo snails. I really wish I would have started with Ro/DI water from the start. I think I would have avoided a lot of these issues I'm dealing with now.

You need to start using RO/DI.  The nitrates likely came from the water source.  You could dose vinegar or vodka, which will grow bacteria in the water column and will be skimmed out.  The bacteria will consume nitrates and phosphate along with the carbon source (vodka or vinegar)

How much vinegar do I dose?

 

[gregswimm]

Tank volume refers to actual tank volume (account for displacement from LR and sand).  I have a 29, I have roughly 25 actual gallons in it (before it was sumped).  TBH it's not that critical, just under estimate.  I mix the vinegar with my kalk and add the solution for FW top-offs.  All vinegar dosing amounts are in mL.

I started with regular tap water also.  It fueled some algae growth during the LR cure and I have been fighting it off ever since. 

 

[BigTuna]

Hopefully I can get some updated photos up soon. Lots of hard word and determination over the last couple of months have paid off. For the first time in a while I'm excited about my tank again. I never did any dosing. I wss afraid I'd be masking the problem and not eliminate it. Manual removal, stricter lighting schedule, considerably less feeding, Ro Di water, much more CUC, and time is what it took. Ill be keeping a closer eye on tank conditions from here on, I never want to go thru with that again.

 

[BigTuna]

So I decided to take a pict with my phone so the quality might not be great. He's an updated photo

 

[BigTuna]

some of the algae has reappeared.  So discouraging.  I took a reading from my photometer and my phosphates were at 0.02 ppm.  I decided to take a sample to the FS to make sure the results were the same.  Their test came in at .50.  That would explain the new growth.  My intentions were to grab some phosabsorb but as I usually do I get busy talking with the staff and an hour or two later, totally forgot.  I got home, did some cleaning, a big water change, couple days later took another reading and got 0.03ppm.  The same day the FS got 0.25.  They told me those levels were nothing to worry about and overall my water conditions are great.  So a few questions I have, and no real answers:
 
Was their result of 0.50ppm false?
Why the algae regrowth?
If their test was correct, what's with the varying levels in such a short period of time?

 

[BigTuna]

So here's some pictures I took today.  Two things to keep in mind.  1) I am a horrific photographer 2) please igone the algae.  I'm embarassed and working on it. 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Donya]

Very nice Bursatella!

 

[BigTuna]

Thanks Donya. He's an athlete! I can't believe how quickly he is working. I don't know how long my tank can sustain him, but as of right now there's lots for him to snack on.

 

[Donya]

When it runs low on whatever it's eating, use dried seaweed (nori). Probably the tangs will appreciate a nibble as well. Most sea hares will prefer the green type, but occasional variety is good with the brown or red types. I have grown several sea hares to huge sizes on that kind of staple diet. The lifespan is short, as tropical species tend to only live ~2 years in the wild and most are collected a good amount into that time range. Even though short-lived, I've turned a couple of 4" Dolabella into a 12" individuals over a year on varied types of dried seaweed. Bursatella eats the same things so I would expect it to be similarly easy to maintain that way.