The Reef Down The Corner

[seffieuk]

Spaghetti worm

Seffie x

 

[Xebadir]

Well my little mantis has disapeared...his hole is open and hes high tailed it. Decided to do a water test to see if anything was happening, here are the results:

Test Results 1:
Salinity: 1.025 (Hydrometer, not happy with it but cant seem to get a refractometer atm...)
pH: 8.0 as far as I can tell. However lights had been off for at least 2 hours prior.
Temp: 26C
Ammonia: 0.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate:0-5ppm
kH (Alk): (dKH: 11-12) 200-214.8 ppm
Calc: Don't Have yet
Phos: Don't Have yet

Going to have some problems with temp in next couple of days, 37C tommorow, with minimum likely to be in excess of 30C and then 39C the next day, so constant aircon will be trying to hold it down (seems to keep it below 28 fairly well). Might need to look at a mini-chiller in the future. Any suggestions regarding my above results...pretty clear ive got the atypical ammonia spike going on.

Edit: Im a little concerned about my powerhead, its developed an incredibly annoying clicking after an adjustment of position, and given its in my bedroom is driving me nuts. Maybe ill have to upgrade to something a little better and more powerful sooner than I thought...if only for my sanity.

Does anyone have suggestions of what I should be looking at for a CuC in a 5.5G?

 

[SkiFletch]

Not much as far as CuC, just a handful of snails. Whats available down there?

 

[Xebadir]

Mmm....a few varied things, turbos, astreas, think i can also get ceriths. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for (I can try a couple of different places when the time comes). Ill put a picture up of the hitchhiker snail if anyone can ident:

Also fixed the powerhead noise issue, had a vibration through the suction caps. Still will prolly get the nano eventually..found a good spot to order with a refractometer.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Before you go down the expense of a chiller it might just be worth trying a couple of fans on the top.

Cant id your snail Im afraid but for CUC I would agree with ski, I like hermits but found in smaller tanks they tend to harrass the snails (in my limited experience). Cerith snails would be me recommendation as they dont get to big and tend to be a lot more active then the others (though they dont tend to go on the glass as much so maybe a couple of ceriths and a couple of astreas).

I have also found my skunk cleaner shrimp to be very active in seeking out leftover food (much more so then my peppermint shrimp and fire/blood shrimp).

 

[Donya]

Tough to ID the snail from that photo. What's the operculum look like?

EDIT: in thinking a bit more, it's likely to be a collonista relative (subset group of Turbinidae), which are probably the most common LR snail stowaway, but that could be wrong since it's difficult to tell at that angle.

 

[Xebadir]

I assume the operculum is the skin/body which i think is darkish brown/ black. Is this snail safe if it is what you decribe?

I will attempt to find where hes hiding and get a better shot.

 

[Donya]

I assume the operculum is the skin/body which i think is darkish brown/ black. Is this snail safe if it is what you decribe?

I will attempt to find where hes hiding and get a better shot.

Lots of snails are that color, so that doesn't narrow it down much. The operculum is a "trap door" of sorts that is visible when the snail is closed up, although not all snails have one. Usually when the snail is out the operculum will be somewhat hidden. It's a feature especially useful for identifying the more bland Turbinids that are hard to tell apart, but can also be a giveaway for some bad/risky things like sundial snail species, which have a strongly cone-shaped operculum rather than a flat, coiled, or pebble-like operculum.

Here are some examples:
pebble-like operculum on some Turbos
one of the more distinctive Turbo operculum patterns (T. fluctuosa\fluctuosus)
similar operculum for a Collonista species
Heliacus (sundial snail) showing the weird cone-shaped operculum

EDIT: rats, seems some of the image links don't work now. Hmm.

 

[Xebadir]

Well im getting some algae growth, not sure which yet but ive noticed a distinct greening of my central rock in the past couple of days. will try and get another FTS soon, and water test should be coming as well (tommorow). Working on refugium tommorow and possibly getting my koralia nano soonish too.

 

[Xebadir]

Ok heres the tank stats as of this morning:
pH: 7.8-8 (lights havent been on long, ill retest tonight to see if there is fluctuation)
Alk: 11.5 dKH
NH4: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0-0.25ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

Loos like its cycling away happily. FTS to come tonight.

 

[Xebadir]

Well 2 weeks in the algae is taking over, Ive got hair algae everywhere it seems, and buildup beginning on the glass and sand as well. Also discovered a few interesting seeming hithikers: a couple of things which during lights out flutter like feathers or leaves in the wind, and something living in a hole with 3 long pink and white striped tenticles. Got a better pic of the snail I think, will put up pics with a FTS tonight (considering im not working for a change).

 

[Xebadir]

Rightio, the tank has been doing well since I bought a small desk fan to regulate the temperature under lights during this very hot period. I've also got aircon running to keep the room temp down for my other tanks, so the temp is a fairly stable 26 degrees. Today was hot as hell, and the next 4 days are all over 40C .

Got a couple of pictures of some hitchhikers ive found in the last few days, including a better one of the big snail (ive found a cowrie like small one as well).

Snail for Ident:

Spot the Crab (I might put up the full picture, it is actually a bit where's wally like):

I dont think im going to put up a full tank shot as this point, as the algae is something shocking, thats all the blurs in the crab pic. Found the 'feather like' things were actually small bristleworms, and have discovered a couple of really nice feather dusters (although of course in a hard to photo spot), plus looks like the pink sponge will survive. On a plus note, it seems because of all of the algae, I have ALOT of pods....as many as 20 per square inch of tank wall, guess the system is prooving healthy. Going to do a water test a little later and see what the alk is like together with the nitritic trio.......hopefully things are heading towards stabilisation.

 

[Xebadir]

Well the tanks surviving without lighting the next couple of days.....which hopefully might slow the algae somewhat...but more out of necessity. Today it reached a top of 43.4, while my tank maxed out just below 27. Next two days are forecast at 43 so hopefully wont have too many problems with power supply etc, and hopefully wont go to far past that...this is a bad heat wave.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Going up to 27 should be ok for short periods. Doesnt hurt to turn the lights of though at this point.

 

[Xebadir]

The lights have been off each day...im just too worried about how hot it can get. Lost power for 9 hours today and saw the tank go to 28 before the power came back on. Its been fairly difficult to keep it down....i have RO ice ready just in case. Today peaked at 44.7 Celsius in the city, and probably closer to 45 here.