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I have a reef octopus HOB-1000 skimmer and it's loving great! The only reason I'm not still using it is that it's pretty big and the wife kept complaining about seeing the collection cup over the top of the tank.
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Jan 6, 2016 22:10
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Behold! Drip acclimation on a shoestring budget. It works surprisingly well. Poke a hole in the bottom of the bag and pinch it off with a clothespin to control the flow.   Pocillopora, plating montipora, mexican turbo snail, and of course a sexy shrimp  Looking forward to trying to track down a 2nd sexy shrimp and a mini maxi anemone for them to host in. Anony Mouse fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Jan 7, 2016 |
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Jan 7, 2016 06:38
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SweetKarma posted:Would you guys recommend getting a protein skimmer for a 29g tank? My LFS recommended not getting a protein skimmer for a tank this small. I can't remember exactly why they advised against it. I think it had something to do with the skimmer removing nutrients from the water column or something. They recommended just doing weekly water changes, but sometimes I forget/get busy with work and I forget to change the water. I've developed a slight algae problem, and I can see gunk floating on the surface of the water. Right now all I have is a carbon reactor. I only have two clowns and a couple of corals, I'd like to add some more fish/corals, but I'm afraid the algae problem will get out of hand. I'd say try and grab some macro algae that look good, but be aware that they WILL compete with the corals for space, and you might end up doing a deal with the devil. I'm standing by my oyster + macro "system." I've got a 55 gallon and haven't done any water changes for like 6 months, just topping off whatever evaporates. My fish look pretty ok, I still have crabs scuttling around, but I do have issues with hair algae getting all over everything and pissing me off. On the other hand, when I first set up this tank (it's also my first), I basically ordered a shitload of every kind of crazy rear end algae I could think of and just dumped everything in there. There are some forms that are coming back that I thought were completely extinct. Must have been some residual spore. I also have sponges growing randomly in there as well. My one coral that survived (some kind of orange/beige small polyp stony) is doing a lot better now.
So I wouldn't recommend doing it this way if you have fancy style $55,000 hand bred rare fish cultivars, or if you've got a very specific tank idea with such and such aquascape, etc. If you're willing to be a bum-rear end hippy about it it can be kind of cool. I was so fuckin' amped to see those algae coming back and these sponges just appear out of nowhere. At the same time I was sad when those hitchhiker anemones disappeared. I sort of wish I had a sump or some easy way to divide the tank out so that I could have this macro algae on one part and actual rockwork with corals and stuff and not worry about the eternal war between them.
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Jan 7, 2016 16:38
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I like your style. I pretty much do the same Thunderdome crap except I occasionally throw random wierd things in. All my sexy shrimp vanished after a few months but I might try them again eventually.
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Jan 7, 2016 20:23
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Everything that swims in one pic. These guys get along so well, it is great.
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Jan 16, 2016 00:28
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So I decided to start up a salt water tank. I have a 40 gallon breeder, I filled it up with some livesand and cycled it for a bit and put in a live rock. This is my first saltwater tank so I'm trying to decide what to put in it when it's done cycling. Any tips for a first timer?
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Jan 18, 2016 05:51
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RC Cola posted:So I decided to start up a salt water tank. I have a 40 gallon breeder, I filled it up with some livesand and cycled it for a bit and put in a live rock. This is my first saltwater tank so I'm trying to decide what to put in it when it's done cycling. Any tips for a first timer? Buy an RODI unit if you don't already have one.
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Jan 18, 2016 06:46
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A decent RODI is a great investment and will prevent a lot of issues. I had a second hand RODI for my first tank which was less than stellar and I had tons of algae and cyano problems because of it. The other important investment I'd recommend is decent lighting. Don't cut corners when it comes to lights, spend the money for a good LED fixture, ideally with separate dimmable channels for each color so you can mix the right balance for your tastes and needs. As for stocking - research, research, research. Never buy something, especially impulsively, unless you understand its care requirements. My pico tank update:    Sorry for the blue washout, I need to get a cheap UV filter or something. Things are going fairly well. I've had almost no algae and zero cyano in this first two months, so that's great. Microfauna seem to be thriving, I've seen lots of pods, though I haven't spotted any mysid shrimp in the last two weeks, maybe they're just hiding in the overflow box. Unfortunately, I have two big problems. The first is temperature. All three of my thermometers disagree, but from what I can tell the water temperature hovers between 78 and 80 degrees, possibly as high as 82. I know that small tanks have problems with this, and mine is especially vulnerable because not only does the lid prevent evaporation, but it keeps my lights about 1 inch from the water surface. I really don't want to have to drill for an IceProbe, so I need to find a way to ditch my lid and mount the lights and see if that helps. Problem #2 is my sexy shrimp. I have three of them now, and I'm having trouble getting them to feed. They're very shy, and when I squirt frozen plankton and/or food pellets at them they just run away and hide and don't seem to actively eat. I'm worried that they're picking at my pocillopora, they love to hang out near it and I've caught them picking at it a couple of times. Now I've noticed this growing white patch on the coral. At first I thought it was new growth but now I think that it's damage from the shrimps.  Anyone have ideas on how to get my sexy shrimps to eat enough to leave my corals alone? Final thoughts: I think I've identified the tiny hitchhiker anemone from my initial batch of live rock. It's mostly nocturnal and from what I've read it's a small bubble anemone. Most people say it's harmless but does anyone know much about them? 
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Jan 18, 2016 07:36
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It's a fairly common hitchhiker nem. http://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhiker/corynactis.shtml As far as I can tell truly harmless since it avoids light and therefore will not harm your corals, and doesn't even appear to cause distress in fish.
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Jan 18, 2016 08:15
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+ it looks rad.
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Jan 22, 2016 02:24
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SniperWoreConverse posted:+ it looks rad. Usually you can't see them, that's the thing--they hide in rock shadows.
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Jan 22, 2016 17:20
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Anyone dosing nitrate?  I'm stuck with undetectable nitrate and .3ppm p04 that I can't bring down because there's zero nitrate in my system. Side effect of vodka dosing I guess. I suppose I could just dose lanthanum chloride to bring it down but it seems like it would be better to balance the nutrients in the system.
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Jan 22, 2016 18:52
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Just feed more?
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Jan 22, 2016 19:08
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Rallos posted:Just feed more? I would but I have no way of knowing which foods are higher in Nitrate vs Phosphate. Could just exacerbate the issue instead of fixing it.
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Jan 22, 2016 19:10
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You could dose ammonia!
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Jan 22, 2016 19:20
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Has anyone had any luck getting tank bred clowns to host anything be it a nem or coral? I've had a new clown for about a week now and he seems to have settled in but doesnt seem interested in my BTA or duncans, he just hovers over them never getting too close. Will he host or will he need a bit of encouragement?
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Jan 22, 2016 21:55
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It just takes time. I have a pair of tank bred clowns that I got seperate from each other. There was a good size difference so they paired up fine. I added a large green rbta and it took some time but eventually one started hosting and then a few weeks later the other one followed. I just swapped them over to my new larger tank and they are no longer hosting the nem. Which honestly is probably a good thing for now so the nem can settle in and find a spot it likes. I'm sure they will find it again. -e- The little clown actually tried hosting my duncans before it figured out the nem was there. 
Rallos fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 22:33
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Rallos posted:It just takes time. I have a pair of tank bred clowns that I got seperate from each other. There was a good size difference so they paired up fine. I added a large green rbta and it took some time but eventually one started hosting and then a few weeks later the other one followed. so cute lol!
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Jan 24, 2016 03:30
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Update for my office tank: Added a bunch of zoas and removed the torch (took home) and the anemone (RIP). Changed my ATO from avast to the new autoaqua smart micro and couldn't be happier with it. Great little ATO.   
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Jan 29, 2016 17:48
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Those zoas look great, nice looking little tank there!
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Jan 29, 2016 21:32
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I'm on week 3 of cycling my first saltwater tank. 40 gallons, a I have two clown fish. I want to eventually have coral, but how many crabs and snails should I have, and would an emerald crab work with coral? When can I start adding invertebrates? I'm starting to get algae on my live rock
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Jan 31, 2016 00:33
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Once you get some algae you can start adding inverts. I would start with 10-15 snails, 10-15 blue leg hermits, a cleaner shrimp (fire, skunk, or coral banded it's personal preference) and you can add 1-2 emerald crabs. I would make sure to get small ones because when they get big they can bother things. What is your equipment like? (Lights, skimmer, dump, etc).
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Jan 31, 2016 01:44
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Rallos posted:Once you get some algae you can start adding inverts. I would start with 10-15 snails, 10-15 blue leg hermits, a cleaner shrimp (fire, skunk, or coral banded it's personal preference) and you can add 1-2 emerald crabs. I would make sure to get small ones because when they get big they can bother things. What is your equipment like? (Lights, skimmer, dump, etc).
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Jan 31, 2016 02:10
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Is this your first fish tank? Also I meant sump not dump... was phone posting. Out of curiosity, where are you located?
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Jan 31, 2016 03:16
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Rallos posted:Is this your first fish tank? Also I meant sump not dump... was phone posting. Illinois USA and its my first saltwater tank.
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Jan 31, 2016 03:25
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Chicago? That is where I work actually...
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Jan 31, 2016 03:38
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Rallos posted:Chicago? That is where I work actually... Bollingbrook actually. Right by a petland
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Jan 31, 2016 04:24
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RC Cola posted:Bollingbrook actually. Right by a petland
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Jan 31, 2016 05:04
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Slugworth posted:The corals at that Petland are overpriced, just as a heads up. Struggling to think of a much better place in that immediate area though.. Well I'm only a few weeks into the tank so I think corals are still a ways off
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Jan 31, 2016 05:09
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Slugworth posted:The corals at that Petland are overpriced, just as a heads up. Struggling to think of a much better place in that immediate area though.. Buy livestock from the reefwise in Lisle, that's not too much of a trek from there. Like 10 minutes. Right now, though, id wait for the CMAS swap in the spring, that would be around appropriate time to start with corals.
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Jan 31, 2016 18:00
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broken clock opsec posted:Buy livestock from the reefwise in Lisle, that's not too much of a trek from there. Like 10 minutes. My search for nassarius snails locally continues however. Probably gonna have to have my local LFS order them. No clue why I can't find them recently.
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Feb 1, 2016 13:25
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There's a great local reef group for Chicago area goons if any of you are interested. You can find out about the local stores in our area as well as buy/sell/trade and just general reef talk with locals. If your tank has a problem or anything if you contribute people will even come help you.
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Feb 1, 2016 15:43
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Slugworth posted:My search for nassarius snails locally continues however. Probably gonna have to have my local LFS order them. No clue why I can't find them recently. Probably better off waiting until the spring and ordering from Reefcleaners. AquariumDepot (formerly Reefs2Go) also does a decent job with Atlantic livestock.
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Feb 1, 2016 17:20
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broken clock opsec posted:Probably better off waiting until the spring and ordering from Reefcleaners. AquariumDepot (formerly Reefs2Go) also does a decent job with Atlantic livestock. The Ark in Merrillville usually has them. I bought 9 of them a couple weeks ago. If you're close to the loop you could bring me some $ and is be happy to get them for you as I live out that way. I work in the loop.
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Feb 1, 2016 17:36
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Rallos posted:The Ark in Merrillville usually has them. I bought 9 of them a couple weeks ago. If you're close to the loop you could bring me some $ and is be happy to get them for you as I live out that way. I work in the loop. I'm way the hell out northwest normally, like Rockford's closer than the Loop out there.
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Feb 1, 2016 17:38
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Reefcleaners has way better pricing than my lfs, even with shipping. Definitely gonna wait and go with them. Not an emergency, just hoping to find a snail my melanarus wrasse won't eat. I figure he's in the sand all night, the nassarius are in the sand all day, hopefully they don't run into eachother too often. So far he's mowed through astrea, turbos, hermit crabs, and an emerald crab. I hate him. But he's pretty, and he ate all my bristleworms and planaria.
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Feb 1, 2016 18:53
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Even bigger crabs like the emerald huh. I've been watching my male melanurus wrasse mow through mexican redlegs and mid-sized blue legs for awhile now. If he weren't so gorgeous (especially while paired with the female in this tank) I'd have traded him in already.
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Feb 1, 2016 18:58
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Yeah, it's incredible. It's possible the emerald died of unrelated causes and he just went after the corpse, but the wrasse wasn't in the tank more than a week before I found crab pieces on the sand. The hermits though, he tore to shreds within minutes of being put in the tank. The largest two survived a week or so before he got them.
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Feb 1, 2016 19:05
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I ordered some stuff from reefcleaners a few weeks ago when it was really cold here in Nebraska, and all but one emerald crab made it just fine. So you don't necessarily have to wait if you are impatient like me.
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Feb 1, 2016 19:16
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I enjoy that all of you are from chicagoland. I got 5 turbo snails, 6 hermits, and 1 emerald crab. What else should I add to my cleanup crew? 40 gallon breeder
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Feb 1, 2016 19:55
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