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Yesterday I added two cleaner shrimp, two green crabs, and a couple of hermit crabs that I got for free because they were clinging to a fillamentous algae I bought, the name of which escapes me. The local pet store I go to was out of snails, so I’ll go back for more next week. It’s actually 125 gallon tank with a remote skimmer system.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:09
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Do you have a budget for this, or is it all coming out of pocket for you? Adding a circulation pump would probably be beneficial, helps keep detritus from accumulating.
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Oct 13, 2017 16:51
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It's a pretty sweet deal, actually; I buy the supplies myself, but the school reimburses me as long as I have receipts. Our department head is one of the previous owners of the tank (one of the ones who took care of it), so he told me he'll sign off on about anything, as long as it isn't ridiculously extravagant. And, I mean, I teach Marine Science, so it's all classroom expense, right? Also, my student aide just found an itty bitty baby anemone! 
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Oct 13, 2017 18:07
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You probably want to kill those if you plan to actually decorate the tank at all. It’s probably not a huuuuge deal though—1- 3 peppermints ought to keep them down to mostly invisible and therefore not stressing actual desirable inhabitants. Alternatively, just syringe them with kalk paste as you see them out and about. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Oct 14, 2017 |
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Oct 14, 2017 03:45
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I'm actually considering putting a small reef tank (like under 10g) in my high school classroom. That is a big one though!
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Oct 21, 2017 01:12
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Good news is on a tank that small if you can commit to doing 50% water changes every 2 weeks you don't need any filtration besides live rock. You will definitely need a good ATO for the weekends though. This is one that I've used twice in the past and it performs great on a small tank.
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Oct 21, 2017 04:38
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The problem with keeping a pico like that in a school is you need to top off and do water changes even while you’re on break. You literally can’t get away for even a week. I had an 8gal at work and I had to come in even while on vacation because there was no way to automate upkeep for 2-3 weeks, and you can’t really rely on people who only half care about the tank to help you.
VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Oct 22, 2017 |
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Oct 22, 2017 04:10
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Never ending Aiptasia nightmare update. My QT tanks are still not cycled. I guess I was inconsistent in feeding Ammonia because they both stalled. Within the last two weeks, my rectangle trigger started looking faded and hiding a lot. I have suspicions that he was always not totally healthy. I think he was partially blind. He was really bad at eating, he would miss constantly when trying to bite food. Usually he would get it pinned in a corner before he could hit. I tried feeding him some scallop and I would practically have throw it in his mouth. He would then chew and spit it back out. Ditto for shrimp and ahi tuna. Yesterday when I got home from work he was just laying on his side in a corner. He didn’t try to escape the net. I quickly drained one of the QT tanks and did 100% water change plus double dose of prime. I gave him a 4 minute dip in RODI water and then put him in the QT with melafix. His color returned and he actually looked better. This morning he was dead. I’m pretty bummed he was my favorite fish. Now I’m second guessing myself on everything. Was he spitting it all out or just being messy? Was he really blind or just clumsy? Should I have left him in the display tank? Part of the reason I pulled him was the aiptasia are everywhere now. Maybe he was getting stressed from being stung? My yellow tang and wrasse are thriving though. Display tank is 0 ammonia and nitrite and 10 ppm nitrate. I don’t know, sucks. Feel so bad for the little guy.
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Nov 16, 2017 14:14
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On the upside, now, depending on the wrasse, you could probably start using peppermint shrimp. (There’s always a silver lining)
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Nov 17, 2017 03:01
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I"m this far committed I'm going to see it through. I'll post some pictures this weekend of the current amount of aiptasia. It's ridiculous. Trigger was buried with full honors near my shed. My neighbors must think I'm crazy but I've never been down with putting pets in the toilet. They're family.
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Nov 17, 2017 03:09
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:I"m this far committed I'm going to see it through. I'll post some pictures this weekend of the current amount of aiptasia. It's ridiculous. My wife's flower garden doubles as my fish graveyard.
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Nov 17, 2017 17:02
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Enos Cabell posted:Yeah, it was great but really hard to watch at times. Just watched it. 
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Nov 18, 2017 02:19
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Here's some pictures of my aiptasia infestation. My QT is finished cycling and the yellow tang and wrasse are safely away. Tonight I'm going to start draining the tank and I'm going to refill it with freshwater. Screw you aiptasia!   There's probably between 100-200 in the tank right now. They have taken up in the substrate as our can see, and also on the filter intake, heater and pumps. I'm guessing there are probably some in the filter as well. I put a couple of sections of PVC that were infested in a a small tank filled with saltwater and it was a massacre of aiptasia and some bristelworms that had stowed away. I thought I had one hermit crab left but I haven't seen him since last week. I was hoping to save him from the freshwater purge but oh well.
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Dec 6, 2017 02:31
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I did the deed. I dropped the atomic bomb on my tank. 100% water change, replaced with 56 degree tapwater with no dechlorinator. My powerheads are no blowing around clouds dead bristleworms. The few aiptasia still visible are shrunken and black. I did see one small shell on top of the sand, perhaps the sole survivor hermit crab. I immediately transferred it to a little tank with normal saltwater but no signs of life. My only fear is that the tank will really start to smell like poo poo tomorrow while I'm at work.
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Dec 7, 2017 03:48
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Yeah that has the potential to smell BAD! I always liked peppermint shrimps for aips but you would have required an army of them!
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Dec 7, 2017 22:30
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Good luck Bulky!
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Dec 8, 2017 00:22
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Bonus:  
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Dec 9, 2017 00:33
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Yup, it smells like low tide at garbage beach.
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Dec 9, 2017 04:15
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Aiptasia is making a minor return in my big tank. The last of the last batch of peppermints died and I know there’s aiptasia in the plumbing. (I’ve had to nuke massive aiptasia nems in my return and skimmer pumps during cleaning runs)
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Dec 11, 2017 07:01
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I've had aiptasia start popping up in my tank again after the reboot too. Ordered 10 berghia nudibranch, going to try to let them do their thing again over the next few months.
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Dec 11, 2017 15:08
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Guess what my LFS just started selling? Bergia nudibranchs.
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Dec 11, 2017 17:19
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It's like ten thousand spoons
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Dec 12, 2017 05:42
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theres a will theres moe posted:It's like ten thousand spoons I literally LOL’d at this. Thanks.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:55
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I had a moderate aiptasia infestation (dozens of nems) when I first started my 75 gallon. 3 peppermints and some liberal use of Aiptasia-X knocked it out to the point that I never saw another nem. Did I just get lucky?
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Dec 13, 2017 03:58
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Probably not. In my experience the peppermints are best for small aips. Kill the large ones with kalk or whatever and let them sort the offshoots!
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Dec 13, 2017 11:42
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Anony Mouse posted:I had a moderate aiptasia infestation (dozens of nems) when I first started my 75 gallon. 3 peppermints and some liberal use of Aiptasia-X knocked it out to the point that I never saw another nem. Did I just get lucky? No, same exact story and tank size here. Haven't seen one in a couple years.
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Dec 15, 2017 17:11
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What a wonderful smell I've discovered! I left my Eheim canister filter unplugged but still full of water and various filter media. I only intended to leave it like that for a day or two, but the holidays hit and it turned into two weeks. When I opened it it smells like a mix of dead fish and diarrhea. I rinsed everything out, added some extra sponges from my saltwater QT and hooked it back up. Added my fully cured base rock back to the display tank a few days ago with the powerheads running. Now all water circulation and filtration is running and I have the heater running at 85. Hopefully the bacteria will dig it and it won't take super long to recycle. No sign of aiptasi, or anything really other than for my first diatoms today.
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Jan 3, 2018 03:42
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my girlfriend and i are fairly new to fishkeeping, but having maintained 5, 10, and 38 gallon freshwater tanks for about the last 8 months, we're about to set up a 55 gallon salt tank. we've got the 55 display already, with a (i think) 29 gallon sump with refugium setup on the way. i should note that eventually we'd like to go full on reef with corals, invertebrates, and fish, but for now it will be fish and live rock only. we're gong to do a 50/50 mix of live sand and aragonite, and live rock in the display, then some specific refugium mud and simple macro algae and their plants in the refugium area below. we've got a full spectrum light for that refugium, and will be picking up a better led for the display shortly, along with timers to offset each light cycle. i'm curious about mechanical and other filtration for this setup, and have read that we won't need a protein skimmer right off the bat. we did buy a UV filter from a dude on offerup that connects to the return, but i'm not sure that will be necessary. what are your filtration recommendations, and do you mind posting pics of your setups? thanks! e: we'll be getting powerheads too, forgot to mention Not Very Metal fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Jan 3, 2018 |
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Jan 3, 2018 18:55
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Yay, new blood for the salt gods! Sounds like you're on the right track there. Two pieces of pretty essential gear I don't see mentioned are an RODI unit and an ATO. Tap water will cause you nothing but trouble, and lugging RODI water from the store is way too much of a pain in the rear end. ATO isn't quite as essential, but it's a nice quality of life addition. I don't run any mechanical filtration on the tank, I let my clean up crew handle that. I'll throw a filter sock on if I need to scrape algae, but otherwise I leave them off. I've got two reactors, one running GFO and the other carbon. I don't always run the GFO, but it helps keep the phosphates in check. Here's a quick video of my sump in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhBqjixQPUU
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Jan 4, 2018 01:02
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I haven't had an aquarium in a few years, but last time I was in it the current wisdom was there's no reason to run a UV filter because there's no reason to want to kill all the microorganisms in the water. It just makes a bunch of ammonia and reduces the bio load the tank can handle.
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Jan 4, 2018 12:34
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Uv filters (when properly sized) provide protection against fish disease. All large breeding and wholesale setups have them but they are orders of 10 more powerful than we see in the hobby. I don’t run one and most reefer don’t. Spend the money on a decent reactor and skimmer. I would also urge you to buy reef safe fish, I know your going fowlr but you will want to add coral and having to rehome fish is a pain 
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Jan 4, 2018 14:11
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thanks for the tips all! the overflow box is arriving today, so i'll likely be drilling the display for plumbing tonight. the ATO unit is something we keep seeing pop up in our research, but haven't purchased yet - thanks for the reminder, we'll definitely need one. my gf ordered the sump online, which i see this morning has a filter sock in the first chamber, then fittings for two other reactors. looking at reactors this morning, they're certainly in the budget, so i'll likely grab one of those as well. the general consensus with what i've read is that a skimmer will be needed eventually, so we'll probably pick one up before we get this bad boy up and running. i doubt we'll use that UV filter at all, this tank is pretty small and i can't image we'll need it. we spoke to our local fish guy about an RODI unit, his advice was it's useful but not necessary in our area - he doesn't run one for his salt and reef tanks, but i don't remember what size tanks he said he has. i'm on the fence currently, as i haven't done a ton of research on them. our freshwater tanks have done really well with tap water treated with aqueon water conditioner, but i do know salt livestock can be a bit more delicate. i'll ask around in my local facebook salt tank groups, see what others in my area are doing. tbh we've barely started with our fish wish list for this tank, but reef friendly is excellent advise, we do want corals eventually. anyway thanks again for all the advice, this is becoming less and less daunting almost daily. sorry too for the giant walls of text!
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Jan 4, 2018 16:09
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If you haven’t get on reefcentral those forums are great! I would definitely never ever ever use tap water for marine. The algae will cause you issues all day long and when you convert to reef later you will need to bin your rock as it will absorb phosphates and nitrates. And rodi unit will save you on the long run and the “dirty” water is great for plants and stuff. It’s a great hobby and the people are generally great. Make a relationship with your lfs is my one piece of advice.
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Jan 4, 2018 16:16
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thegasman2000 posted:If you haven’t get on reefcentral those forums are great! ahaha, yeah, most of my research has been reading the forums at reef central and marine depot videos. our lfs dude is super cool, VERY excited about the hobby - he's been great for sure. the RODI units aren't terribly expensive, even going for overkill our our tank size now. you're probably right, better to get one now to save money in the long run. thanks! Not Very Metal fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jan 4, 2018 |
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Jan 4, 2018 16:40
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Seconding the RODI unit. My algae issues went way down when I made the switch. FOWLR setup.
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Jan 4, 2018 16:49
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yeah the more i think about it the more the RODI system seems like a good idea. now i'm running into space issues, i'm planning to have this 55g right next to my 38g freshwater in the living room. add in the RODI and i foresee much more furniture and cabinet building in my future.
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Jan 4, 2018 18:17
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Not Very Metal posted:yeah the more i think about it the more the RODI system seems like a good idea. now i'm running into space issues, i'm planning to have this 55g right next to my 38g freshwater in the living room. add in the RODI and i foresee much more furniture and cabinet building in my future. You don't really need the RODI to be near the tank. I have mine set up in a guest bathroom, and the water goes into a Brute for later use. Edit to add: you don't need to leave the RODI hooked up full time, you can just pull it out once a week to make water then store it away again.
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Jan 4, 2018 18:23
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Enos Cabell posted:You don't really need the RODI to be near the tank. I have mine set up in a guest bathroom, and the water goes into a Brute for later use. this is something that's confused me - i understand that the RODI is fed directly from the tap or garden hose, i now get that the produced water can go into some sort of storage unit. do you pump directly from that container into your sump/tank? you must then only use the RODI when you need to do a water change, right? e: ninja edited, thanks! Not Very Metal fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jan 4, 2018 |
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Jan 4, 2018 18:28
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Not Very Metal posted:this is something that's confused me - i understand that the RODI is fed directly from the tap or garden hose, i now get that the produced water can go into some sort of storage unit. do you pump directly from that container into your sump/tank? you must then only use the RODI when you need to do a water change, right? Yup, basically once a week I fill up a 30g Brute with RODI, use that to fill up my ATO reservoir, and then mix saltwater with the rest. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html is a nice addition to ensure you don't overflow your reservoir.
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Jan 4, 2018 18:47
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My RODI system is the size of briefcase. I hooked it into the brass pipe above my laundry room sink and it sits on a shelf above it. When I need to make water it’s just a matter of opening some valves and putting a 5gallon water cooler bottle on the end of the output. With the valves closed all closed the laundry sink works as normal. I then take my bottle of RODI water and mix it with instant ocean in a 5 gallon bucket and use it.
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Jan 4, 2018 18:49
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