N3Ont3Tra's 37G Reef Tank Journal

Yeah, it's the only one that got that big. The other one is still really really small, it's in a cerith shell. Still didn't touch any snails, though. The turbos went one at a time and seemed to just lose energy.
 
Did a 50% water change tuesday, it went well. Added a bunch of snails, some hermits, and 2 peppermint shrimp on wednesday.
 
Some of the snails have died. All the hermits are doing great though. I also got some mushrooms. :)

Oh and the CUC isn't eating this one kind of algae. I'm not sure what kind it is. It LOOKs like Hair algae but if comes off like cyano... whatever it is, they're not eating it. So this weekend I'll try to get it off with a toothbrush.

AND I haven't seen the peppermint shrimp since I put them in.
And I've looked.

I suspect the hawkfish ate them, they weren't that big.

But everything else is good. The firefish comes out all the time now, he finally got used to the other fish.

I'll post a few pics soon.
 
So it's been a while.
I put a HOB on the bad with Phosban but it keeps splashing water out. :crazy: So I took it off. In the 2 weeks it was on, I didn't see a difference.
One of the hermit crabs I added is a different species. It ate two astrea snails.
And now I can't find it.

The corals are uh.. dwindling. They just.. aren't growing. There's only 4. and they're small.
Two ricordia floridas and other mushroom, and green star polyps.
The blue mushrooms disappeared. So did the green striped one, rock and all. I have no idea what happened to it.
One of the ricordias is doing great, it's orage and blue, its really pretty. The other dissappeared for a while and I though it was a gonner, but then I found it in the spot where all of the leftover food and everything goes, so I guess it just wasn't attached to the rock. I put it in a little bowl with some lr rubble and it attached so I took it out. Then it came off again. It didn't show up until tuesday and it's not looking that good now. It's pretty faded but I think it'll make it through if it attaches to a rock. It's back in a container with lr rubble.
I think it has something to do with the algae.
There's bryopsis, and this brown stuff, I ID'd it somewhere and I think it was called sargassum.
It's pretty and easy to remove. But the bryopsis grows under it. Every time the sargassum starts to overgrow, I remove it and then there's bryopsis underneath.
:rolleyes:
There's also this red algae thats popping up everywhere. It's really thin and light and easy to take off.
I found one peppermint shrimp a few weeks ago. I guess they only come out at night.
I think I need to get a few more snails. The cerith snails are laying eggs everywhere, but there's only one or two astreas and one trochus snail left. I haven't seen a nassarius snail in a while.
The fish are doing good. All eating great, no aggression problems.

So overall, the only thing I think I need to worry about is the algae.
I tested nitrates and it was 15, so I guess that's my problem.
I'll have to step up water changes. And I probably need to change the bulbs on the lights.
Also trying to get an HOB fuge, and saving up for a protein skimmer.

This is that red algae
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Here's the rock with the sargassum and bryopsis
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GSPs
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The corals that disappeared
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The ricordias
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And some of the fish
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Yup yup.
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and another pic of a hawkfish 'cause it's so photogenic.
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If you get a HOB refuge, id be interested to hear about its progress as ill be getting one to grow pods in!
Tank looks good, shame about all the pest algae :S
 
Thanks.

So, apparently my fish tank was making 'strange noises' and my mom 'thought there was an animal in the house' and she started unplugging things on my fishtank. :blink: Five hours later I woke up and find the Maxijet I have for surface aggitation and one of the seios unplugged.
Apparently the seio was the only one making noises and it was because a piece of freaking algae got stuck in it. I plugged it back in and it was fine.
She unplgged the MJ because there was a snail on it. :S It's the same cerith snail thats on it every single day. I plug it back in and put the snail on the other side of the tank. Thankfully all of the fish look okay, they are breathing a little heavy. But as soon as I turned it on they were looking better.
Disaster averted. :)
 
Wow. I'm glad my mom doesn't go unplugging things when they have snails on them or she thinks there is an animal in the house!
 
Lol, it's kinda ironic, cause we have two fish tanks, a bird and a cat. :D
 
Wow!! I'm really glad I don't have someone wandering around the house unplugging my tanks as well :crazy:
Glad you caught it!

This is a really great read and I'm loving every minute of it :good:
It's crazy to know the r/o unit was the culprit....seriously crazy. I'll be anxiously waiting for the next post :nod:
 
Lol well here's the next post. XD

The tank will be a year old on June 30th. I'm going to try and get a coral if my mom will let me, but she's convinced that I'll have to wait until September because we'll be going on vacation for 2 weeks at the end of August. :blink:

I don't want to wait that long because school starts in September and I won't be home for the delivery (I order pretty much everything online thanks to overpriced LFS's). :p

Also, in September, my freshwater tank will be two years old and I'm still stuck with tetras. I'm hoping to get some more interesting fish. But of course, my mom wants to keep them because 'they're her favorite', and the fish I want (shelldwellers or some other cichlids) aren't compatible. So maybe, just maybe, I'll get another tank. Which eliminates the chance of a new coral. Anyway, if I get another tank I would want it to be saltwater with jawfish and pipefish.


AND. I need to get an auto top off!! Somebody is coming over to check on the pets every 3 or 4 days while we're on vacation, but that's not enough for me. Or the fish. So if anybody knows a good brand or anything, let me know.

I think that's it.
Thanks for the replies.
 

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