Head First Into The Salt

[wildechild_01]

Wow am i ever terrible at posting lately, that said there really isn't a whole lot going on atm, Terry (Terri) and Tony (Toni) V2.0 seem to be doing quite well, When i went to take pictures the other day the Nem was all Deflated and uuuugggly looking but whatever.

The algae issue seems to be under control, i have been dosing vit c but at a relatively low PPM and there is still some algae growth but not a whole lot so i am going to see if the cleaners in the tank can keep up, and so far they seem to be doing a decent job. 2 more weeks till i can get serious about stocking the tank again, but i may go pick up some more corals today and through the week, ive kind of got my eye on a rather large rock covered with Mushies and various other Polyps, as of yesterday the store still had it so i may put that in the tank for an added splash of colour.

Anyway here are a few pictures.

This is what the tank looked like the day after all my fish Died

here is more what it looks like now, i kind of feel like the rock looks too clean, hence the cut back on the Vit C dosing for now to see what happens, there are still some macro algae growing which is cool

and here is a pic of Clowns V2.0, making the torch coral angry, and Cheech and Chong are just chillin in their spot under the rock... I couldn't get a pic of the newest Inhabitant Briggs, the lawnmower blenny, cause super filmy algae on the rocks, he is just going to town on it, but when i pulled the camera out he disappeared.

 

[wildechild_01]

Here's hoping someone actually reads this, by someone i mean Seffie cause Seffie seems to have multiple nems....

Am i correct in assuming i can safely purchase and add another Bubble tip anemone without fear of Anemone warfare in the tank? Cause that would be cool, and give my clowns more options for hosting, Currently i have a Green BTA but would love to get another 1 or 2 with different colouring,

but yeah, thats my question

 

[seffieuk]

I'm sorry im late to the party........got a bit behind with everyone's tanks

Yes you can add another bubble but you will need to:

Put it in a qt tank (I use a box!) with rock etc - every day transer a couple of litres from each tank to the other tank, that way they get to sense each other first, after a week put your new bubble in if you havent had too much sulking in either tank, if lots of sulking, leave it a week longer whilst changing the water back and forth

Seffie x

 

[wildechild_01]

Oh my, where oh where have I been. Apparently life happened for a while there and well, I didn't stop with the tank but i definitely stopped posting things here. Where to start.... the 90 has definitely been through some serious changes. well I guess by changes i mean i've actually done a lot of work with it, I just scrolled through and looked at the last FTS i posted and well.....

as you can see i have been busy. The torch coral was in that last picture as was the Xenia, although it is way bigger.. in the other pic it is where the Carpet Nem is now... yes i know how big they can get and he has lots and lots of room... i'm hoping the clowns move in soon. they have hosted everything from the open brain to the Fiji leather and even the trumpet coral.

Yes there are yellow tail damsels in there (my partner picked them up when i was out of town for work and good luck fishing anything out of this tank) they seem to be doing okay with everyone but if they were to accidently end up in the nem i wouldn't complain too loudly hahaha... im a huge fan of the Coraline growing on the back wall and the shiny new Reef LED lighting.. OMG is the only way to explain the LED's they are simply incredible. I will need to do another FTS when just the Blues are on, the Zoathids pop like you wouldn't believe... I think i need to get some Acans going on too.

I am still having a bit of an algae issue but no where near as bad as it was before. I am dosing VitC and it is helping but i am keeping the PPM fairly low still.

As for my *&%#@ Snail issue... well there are a few survivors in there, i guess i should share my Wisdom.... i was in Monterey California at the most amazing Aquarium/research centre i have ever been to and was talking with one of the marine biologist and was telling him about my snail issue, we went over water stats and that sort of thing and he seemed just as confused as everyone else then he says "what about your Iodine level?" i Say I dunno never tested it just figured since corals were doing fine and with iodine content in Salt with water changes I was okay... well.. now i dose Iodine every 2 weeks, snails seem to have a much better survival rate and the corals... well..take a look at the picture. The dosing of both Carbon (vit c) and iodine makes the algae situation strange becuase if your not careful with the iodine you get crazy algae growth among other issues... but that is where im at with Algae and Snail issues

Corals: oh my oh my how addicting is a reef tank.... thats all i can say.. that rock of mushies is awesome and I almost stole it... and this switch to the LED's makes me feel a little more confident in maybe getting some SPS the light penetration is incredible. The trick is finding ways to fit more and more coral in the tank hahaha... i've not yet gone NPS because.... well... im a little lazy but maybe someday.

Fish: There are a few, like mentioned before the damsels were not really planned but happened, i also took the orange clowns out, (moved them to another tank and then sold them) and put in a pair of Black that i had been eyeing at the LFS for quite a while. But i think my favourite fish in the tank is the Mandarin... i waited and waited and was keeping a close eye on pod populations.. by close eye i mean at night i was like.. "oh wow they are everywhere" so one day at a LFS im eyeing up a nice one and decide, yes i am confident it will be fine so i buy it... while the store owner is bagging it for me he says, all the mandarins in this tank are eating frozen brine shrimp... hahaha bonus... sure enough day one in the tank he is motoring around picking up the brine shrimp the other fish missed.

anyway thats a little bit of an update on the tank i will throw up another post right away with some more pics.

 

[wildechild_01]

ok here are some pics

oh wait... that's not a fish... I Have a Dog now too!!! He is a rescue animal pulled from a high kill shelter and popular belief is that he is just over a year old and is a Terrier mutt.

ok so some mushrooms

some of the Zoathids, they have actually started to fill in nice, but im still going to get more frags for more colour variety

Trumpet Coral

Frogspawn

Xenia with torch budding into picture

Carpet nem... yes i know how big they can get and that they are known to eat fish who get too close.

The Mandarin Dragonet

Aaand the same FTS as the previous post

 

[GrayScale]

Those corals sure do look puurrttyyy. Lol. Thats really awesome that the mand eats frozen foods and you didn't have to train it yourself. Keep up the good work.

 

[wildechild_01]

clowns seem to be hosting the sand beside the anemone

 

[wildechild_01]

‎15 Hours, 60 US Gallons of water, 30 cups of Instant Ocean Salt, 6 Snails, 3 Starfish, 2 Corals, 1 Long Spine Urchin, and countless water tests later. Hopefully nothing else dies in the 30g tank and I need a bottle of moisturising lotion for my hands.

 

[wildechild_01]

***CENSORED***

 

[-Nemo-]

What's going on Trev???

Your big tank looks great! Corals have great color!

 

[wildechild_01]

Okay, so definitely still having some issues with the 90g tank..well, had issues... woke up one morning and a bunch of fish were dead... no idea what happened... so took them out, and kept an eye on the rest for a few weeks, and then started slowly re-stocking... im going with more smaller fish rather than a couple of large ones... im also taking a risk with some clowns.... i always thought it strange that you could only have 2 clowns since in the wild they live in large families... so did some research and several people have had success with multiple clowns provided they purchase them all at once during the Juvenile stage, but recommend odd numbers to prevent everyone just pairing off... so i picked up 5 CB clowns, a few of them look a little missbanded which i think is awesome... they are all from the same "Family" and so far seem to be doing well, they are definitely settling into a heirarchy and growing, some more than others just as i had hoped... im really hoping it works out. I was a little concerned when it came time to put them in the 90 after QT in the 30... since the yellowtail damsels survived whatever happened in the 90 and had settled into their territory, but the clowns promptly took over and the damsels have taken up residence elsewhere in the tank. Corals are doing crazy good... i need to trim the Xenia, even if i just toss what i cut off... And the Most exciting News.... I HAVE SNAILS IN THE 90!!!!!!!! after hours and hours of research and discussion with everyone at every LFS finally this little vietnamese guy says... have you tried dosing Iodine... i say No everything i read says i should have enough from my salt mix... he says, here try this product use it for a month then come pick up some snails.... well it worked... so now i have 9 snails ( i know not a lot) motoring around the tank cleaning things up and its looking great. need to be careful with the iodine, in fact after more discussion with the guy who suggested it i have cut dosing in half because it was fuelling algae growth... I am also dosing VitC which is doing wonders for the corals, im sure the added iodine doesnt hurt either... Coraline Algae is filling in nicely on the back wall... loving the look of it... Its been a long Year with lots of ups and downs but i've learned a lot and am excited to keep learning... the 30G tank which serves as QT for the 90 right now, is currently housing a mated pair of Gobies, i am looking to get a shrimp for them to hang out with before i move them to the 90 so i can transfer them to the 90 as a Family... ive decided that the Crash with the 30 was my fault, i had purchased a new rock from LFS from their "tank ready" bin and assumed that it was....... KABOOM!!!!!!!!!.... never again will that happen... espescially now that i have a collection of empty salt buckets.

hahah... well, thats just a bit of an update..

Great to see you back on the Forums Steph. Cant wait to see how the nano turns out.

 

[SaltNoob]

WOW,

Sounds like a lot is going on in your tank lately. Have your clowns taken any interest in your carpet? Do your two cleaner shrimp get a long?

-Tyler

 

[-Nemo-]

Yay vitamin C!

Good luck with the clowns trev, keep me updated... as someone who kept dozens of juvenille clowns together, they are very mean to each other. If you start to see one getting picked on, remove it right away. Once they pick one they will keep going after it until it is dead.

Pictures???

 

[wildechild_01]

Clowns as of yet have not shown any interest in either of the nems, but they are Captive Bred and still quite young, the 2 cleaners get along great infact they tend to hang out together... and they are getting big it almost seems like one or the other molts every week haha

Am definitely keeping an eye on the clowns watching for bullying.. i will try to get some new pics up soon, i would do it now, but battery for camera is charging and i have a condo board meeting tonight so.... meh.... hahaha....

 

[lljdma06]

Clowns as of yet have not shown any interest in either of the nems, but they are Captive Bred and still quite young, the 2 cleaners get along great infact they tend to hang out together... and they are getting big it almost seems like one or the other molts every week haha

Am definitely keeping an eye on the clowns watching for bullying.. i will try to get some new pics up soon, i would do it now, but battery for camera is charging and i have a condo board meeting tonight so.... meh.... hahaha....

meh... I want pictures...

Vitamin C and Iodine, huh... Hmmmm I've heard of Vitamin C dosing in planted tanks. I think Ian does it.