Previously Going, Now Went Marine

everything's been pretty quiet lately and shops are all closed till the 28th which means nothing new is going in. pH dropped a little to 8.0 (do i use a buffer now?)

here's for some aquascaping and shots of the new neighbours

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do comment :D
 
I always wanted a cleaner shrimp =[ not even in my 55 gal do i have one...

Did you say thats a Turbo snail? looks more like a trochus to me. I could be wrong

How many gals is ur tank?
 
its only a 30g. any smaller and it'd probably be considered a nano. yeah cleaners are hard to come by, this one was specially ordered. i've a batch of peppermint coming in on friday probably if the lady was right. the snails were sold to me as turbos though i can't identify them for nuts.
 
Get a fish in there if ammonia and nitrite are down, something hardy like a clown or damsel. It keeps the rock primed and ready to go running. I got my 2 ocellaris clowns in at the first wiff of the cycle ending and it being safe. As ski says blow torch those "Aiptasia" they will spread fast fast fast...........
I don't use buffer but use seachem carbonate to raise alkalinity. The pH is normal at this point, check your alkalinity and if low use the carbonate solution. Also get a ball chaetomorpha or other type of macroalage and get it in the tank; it will suck up nitrates and phosphates as well as help stabilise the pH.

Coming along nicely

Regards
 
hmm i got myself seachem marine buffer :unsure: , but it does the trick with pH though. reef carbonate would come in time when i start adding corals in. the aiptasia would stay for a few more days until my peppermint arrives and then i'd get some aiptasia x at the same time and start the war. there have been many complains about aiptasia coming back after aiptasia x or joe's juice but i think together with peppermints is should do the trick.

there wasn't any macroalgae for sale there (i don't think there ever will be). however i did see a small amount of Halimeda in one of the coral tanks. would that do with the same conditions for cheato as a substitute?

yes stocking wise, please comment and point out anything thats wrong :good: i'm thinking of

1x Yellow Watchman Goby
2x Scooter Dragonet
1x Longnose Hawkfish
2x Ocellaris Clownfish

is there still room for fish in there? or am i already overstocked.

and snails poop alot :crazy:
 
I'd have said that the Peppermints should sort it without help... Let them get to it, and you'll loose sight of all Aptasia-like anenomies within a few days if they do eat them :good:

Hawkfish can eat clowns if they are what I think they are. Just await confirmation on that...

All the best
Rabbut
 
Am I right thinking you have a 30g? Quickest way to get rid of Aiptasia is a blow torch. Are you planning corals in the future, if so that is an overstocked list. The clowns and a yellow goby are probably more realistic options; think you have to try and control the chemistry. A stocking list like that and you are going to be forever cleaning the glass and doing water changes as the phosphates and nitrates will be sky-high!!

Keep us updated watching patiently

Regards
 
I have a 30g as well which is I admit way to overstocked, however I run a skimmer and do regular water changes and nitrate/phosphate is very low.

I have:
1 Perc clown
4 yellow tailed damsels
1 lyretail anthias
1 purple firefish
1 royal gramma
I wouldnt recommend this stocking level to be honest as like I said it is overstocked. Its ok at the moment as none of the fish are fully grown but if I was to leave them all in the tank when there where it would cause problems (I will be getting a bigger tank in the very near future).

In terms of the "amount" of fish in your list I would say that would be fine.

However:
2x Scooter Dragonet - Incredibly hard to keep fed. Just keeping 1 needs a large tank with a lot of pods. Even if they eat frozen food its still very likely they wont get chance to eat any before the other fish get it all. I tried one of these in my tank (that eats frozen food and has a pretty decent population of pods) and had to target feed it every day. Even with just a couple of days of not doing this it lost a lot of weight so I gave it to someone with a larger tank and wont try any dragonet again until I have a very large, very mature tank with loads of LR.

1x Longnose Hawkfish - Will most likely eat all your shrimp at some point and then may well start on any smaller fish as well.

Some recommendations you might want to take a look at:
Anthias
Firefish
Chromis and damsels (with caution, they have a fairly well deserved rep for being aggressive little gits).
Gobies
Clown fish
Fairy wrasses
flasher wrasses

With regards to the pest nems and peppermint shrimp I have heard many people say that they dont tend to eat the larger ones, only the smaller ones. Personally I would do as you where planning. Zap all the ones you can see with something like joes juice and then get some peppermint shrimp to take care of the smaller ones and the ones you wont be able to see.
 
thanks for the replies guys, they are really helpful :D

yeap i am looking into corals not too far from now, though only soft corals since i'm only using T5s. haven't got a blow torch for the aiptasia :lol: but i do use boiling water when i'm dealing with them. problem is i've to take out every single piece of rock just to do that. if the peppermints work then the aiptasia won't have such an ugly death.

tank's going to go without a skimmer so the stocking list is going to be shortened.

1x Yellow Watchman Goby
2x Ocellaris Clownfish
1x Firefish

1x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (already present)
2 or 3x Peppermint Shrimp
3x Turbo (or Trochus) Snails (already present)

would it work this time?

i've decided to go away with the Scooter Dragonet with xxBarneyxx's advise. does sound like something that i shouldn't be trying out as a beginner. searching online gave me many conflicting issues about the Longnose Hawkfish. some said they could get away with the shrimp eating problem as long as the fish is well feed. but another guy lost quite a large number of peppermint shrimps to one. wouldn't risk it since peppermints here are kinda rare, and not to mention my knights against the monster aiptasia :good:

nitrates and phosphates would surely be a problem. many forums and reviews have stated Seachem Purigen to be an effective way of dealing with nitrates which i would definitely be trying out. would PhosGuard work for phosphate problems?

thanks again everyone :D

EDIT: cleaner shrimp just molted. it's a good sign right?
 
Yeah its good that the cleaner molted.

Add the fish slowly. Possibly start with the fire fish as they arent very aggressive so will be settled by the time the others come. You may find that you can get away with one more aswel. How about a dwarf angel or flahser wrasse?
 
As for skimmer i would 100% reccomend one.

I ran mine without for a while, then when i added one the corals really started to improve. The water was clearer and the amount of nasty gunk that comes out of a tank is shocking.

I would say for a reef they are required
 
Rowaphos is REALLY good at dealing with phosphates (in conjunction with regular water changes). I am still working on nitrate chemical filter; macroalgae is really the best !! De-nitrate wasn't bad it did work but should really be fluidised. That new list sounds good ocellaris clowns are really nice and don't really hassel the other tank mates same with the fire fish (N. magnifica or N. Decora; both are the same really temperament wise). Watchman gobies are also interesting additions. I suggest you add the clowns together as a pair of juveniles. Then watch to see how the chemistry balances after each addition before running away with a whole selection of fish and then find you have no way of supporting that many.

Sounds like you now have a direction :good:

Regards
 
Phosban is what I use but to be honest most of them are pretty much the same.

Yeah I have read of people keeping hawkfish with shrimp as well without problems but I would tend to say this is the exception to the norm.

Stocking list looks fine. You will probably want to add more CUC to the list. Maybe a few cerith snails to go with the ones you have and then a few Nassarius snails to keep the sand turned over. You could get some hermit crabs too (just make sure you have plenty of shells in there to stock them harassing the snails and killing them).

In terms of inverts in my tank I have:
x1 skunk cleaner shrimp
X1 fire/blood shrimp
X3 peppermint shrimp (only really see these at feeding time)
CUC:
X9 (if I remeber correctly) astra/turbo snails (all labelled as turbos but some arent)
1 cerith snail
X10 blue knuckle hermit crabs

I added the CUC a couple at a time and left it a few weeks between adding them. I have just the right balance now I think between keeping the tank clean and there not being enough food for everyone. I want to get some Nassarius snails for the sand bed as well but cant get them locally.
 
cheers guys :D

there is a second hand skimmer i can get but no place to put it unless i move my tanks. the marine tank is squashed in between a wall and my two freshwater tanks (stacked up on a stand) does sound like a good idea to get want though :drool: yeap will be taking things slow from here so any problems wouldn't wipe out that much. the Flasher Wrasse is a really beauty, which would only be added after the other fishes are in and without problems.

is it normal that i have not seen any algae blooms? i would rather fancy one cause i'm afraid the snails would starve without any algae to much on, which is also why i'm holding back on getting more CUC :unsure:
 
picked up my first coral :) anyone has an ID? i can't tell apart zoanthids and button polyps. or do they mean the same thing?

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FTS
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