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I fear this has been covered before but here it goes. I've got a fish only 20g with a clown and a blue damsel. The tank has been up for 2 years now. Since I set it up I have been fighting a never ending battle with cyanobacteria. Sunlight isn't the cause, I put a thick thermal curtain up in that room so it's dark unless the light is on. I have been adding a phosphate sponge to my filter. I added a powerhead to increase water movement. This is the second time I've had a saltwater tank and the first time I ever had this problem. This has lead me to believe the problem is my tap water which I use to make saltwater. I thought this was okay for fish only setups provided you use dechlorinator and don't add freshly mixed saltwater directly to the tank. My plan is to try using distilled water to mix up the saltwater. In the mean time I would like to try to use one of the commercial red slime killer products out there. Can anyone recommend one? Any other theories as to what is causing this cyano epidemic?
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Apr 30, 2010 17:02
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Alright, thanks for the advice. I'll look for a source for RO/DI. I'm using Instant Ocean for salt mix. Cyano certainly is a bitch, if only there was something that ate it.
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Apr 30, 2010 18:41
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Alright, I'm usually pretty good about impulse purchases but I went to check out a new saltwater aquarium store. I remember that emerald crabs were often sold as part of "reef cleaner packs" so I assumed they would be find with my 2 clownfish. So far there are no problems, but as I've been reading more I've been finding horror stories about psychotic murdering emerald crabs ambushing unsuspecting fish and devouring them. Do I have anything to worry about? The crabs are about quarter sized, one clown is 2.5" the other is about 1".
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May 22, 2011 20:01
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Thanks for the input I ended up returning them this morning. I traded them in for a peppermint shrimp and a turbo snail.
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May 28, 2011 19:32
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Not aquarium related directly but on vacation I had a fun encounter with a humu trigger while snorkeling. It's always been my favorite saltwater fish so when I found one I was following him trying to get a picture. He started charging me. He would pin his fins back and swim at me at full speed, stopping a foot from my mask, and then just stared me down.  After doing this a couple times I swam away. He chased me! Such cool fish.
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Apr 16, 2014 16:36
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So I'm pretty determined to setup a 65 gallon tank for a rectangle humu. My experience is mostly freshwater but I've kept a pair of clownfish alive and happy for 5 years now so I have a little experience. Obviously with a trigger most inverts and corals are out the window but what equipment would I need for FOWLR setup beyond the normal power filter and heater?
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May 1, 2014 13:42
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Thanks. I read an article stating that this trigger species in particular grows slowly, especially after they hit 5 inches. I will look into appropriate tank size more, though. Would a hang on tank filter be sufficient or would I need more specialized stuff, ie wet/dry and/or a protein skimmer?
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May 1, 2014 20:54
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So for my 75g humu trigger tank I'm thinking of trying a canister filter. I've been a Hagen Aqua Clear guy until now. Anyone have any thoughts on Eheim classic versus Marineland Multistage?
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Jun 17, 2014 14:50
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I've been keeping freshwater fish for a long time but I only have small tank experience with saltwater (a pair of ocellaris clowns). For my 75g humu rectangle tank I'd really appreciate feedback on a prospective tank mate(s): Yellow Tang, would be cool because they also live in Hawaii, but not sure a 75 is long enough for swimming room Six Line Wrasse - not sure if tough enough to deal with the trigger once it's bigger Racoon Butterfly - another Hawaiian fish, but not sure a 75 is enough space Lunare Wrasse - same deal If the consensus is that the 75 is only enough room for the Humu, I guess that's the answer then. I've read conflicting info, was just curious was goons thought. Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 23, 2014 04:08
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nthalp posted:Generally (especially on that OTHER fish forum) Tangs are recommended for 100+ gallons, hell some folks will jump right down your throat for even suggesting otherwise. Yes, it will be FOWLR. I wasn't planning on putting all of those fish in there, just one (or MAYBE two if one was the Six Line) along with the trigger. And yeah, I have heard of the tang police.
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Jun 26, 2014 13:26
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Humu rectangle tank is making progress, it's setup with my big oscar and no substrate while I move his tank. I figure if any freshwater stuff starts growing in the filter it will just die when it becomes saltwater and hopefully that will help the cycle. Wow do I love the Eheim classic, what a great piece of equipment.
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Jul 7, 2014 12:58
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For people that have done fishless cycling with ammonia, how long did it take? What size tank? I've got a 75 gallon with aragonite special grade reef sand, 50 lbs. of dry rock and about 5 pounds of live rock. I might add more live rock, but holy crap did this project add up fast moneywise. E: This morning my ammonia was back down to 0.5 and nitrite was maxed. Progress! Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 03:00 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 20, 2014 15:27
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Seeing the nitrogen cycle in action with ammonia and frequent testing really is pretty cool. Dumping half a bathroom cup full of ammonia into the tank and seeing it gone by the next morning is pretty amazing. Nitrite is slowly dropping and last night I had 20ppm of nitrates.  Anyone here ever kept a pink faced wrasse?
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Jul 23, 2014 18:10
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I've never used air pumps and air stones because I thought they were too unnatural looking but I have one in my tank now because it supposedly helps speed up the cycle and I kind of like it. Anyone here run them in their tanks?
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Jul 25, 2014 05:05
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So Sunday morning my nitrite read zero. I had been dosing ammonia up to 2.0 ppm everyday and within 12 hours it was going to zero. Just to be sure I brought ammonia back up to 4.0, might have gone higher by accident. Ammonia dropped to near zero in 24 hours but nitrite is still sky high. Guess my nitrite fixers are still lagging in population size. Oh well back to waiting.
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Jul 29, 2014 14:47
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Incredulous Dylan posted:I caught my emerald crab literally eating my corals alive in the middle of the night when I had gotten out of bed to get some water. I know emerald crabs can harass fish, but how frequent/likely is this? I had one for a while but freaked out and took him back because I was worried he would kill my small clownfish.
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Jul 30, 2014 13:20
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My yellow tang is eating like a champ. He won't eat from the surface or eat food off the substrate, and he's still a little scared of me so I have to time it just right. Last night he ate flake food and it only took him a day to start eating nori off his clip. How much nori should he be eating? He's about 2 inches and he ate a 2x3 inch piece overnight.
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Aug 5, 2014 13:33
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So I've had my Zoo Med Aquasun HO LED fixture for 3 weeks. Last night after work I turned it on and ..... nothing. There's also a rattling sound coming from the plug. Obviously that is pretty lovely but I do have to say within 30 seconds of calling Zoo Med I was talking to a live person that told me they were sending me a replacement power converter. No cost for part or shipping, nor did they make me send any documentation. While I'm not happy that the part failed within 30 days I have to say their customer service is awesome.
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Aug 6, 2014 14:29
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So 3 days after calling zoo med and 3 days earlier than promised my new power driver was in my mailbox. Zoo med rocks.
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Aug 9, 2014 15:34
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Anyone here with experience keeping triggerfish? I'm hoping the rectangle trigger I ordered will be coming in tomorrow and I want to make sure I have a good mix of food on hand. I already have frozen brine shrimp and frozen krill, just wondering if anyone had any experience with food that triggers really liked. E: I requested a small one.
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Aug 14, 2014 13:37
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Sort of cross-posted from cat thread; my 12 week old cat has become obsessed with my yellow tang. He can't jump on top of the tank yet, but I'd imagine it's a matter of time. Can a glass aquarium cover withstand a flying cat?
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Aug 20, 2014 14:12
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My LFS assures me they found a 1.5" rectangulas trigger and it should be here next week. 
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Sep 12, 2014 15:36
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Is RO/DI water necessary for a FOWLR setup?
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Sep 24, 2014 14:59
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Anyone here have experience with Thalasoma sp. wrasses? I recently read the are known to eat the eyes of tank mates and I really don't want to deal with that.
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Oct 9, 2014 17:49
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This thread is getting stagnant! My LFS finally tracked down my rectangle trigger, he's about the size of a prune. This was him in the store tank. This morning he was wedged into my rock work sound asleep 
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Oct 22, 2014 15:03
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So adding 3 blue damsels to my 75g tank is probably a bad idea, isn't? I have a 1.5" rectangle trigger and a 2.5" yellow tang. Lately the tang has been boxing the trigger into reef rock and flapping his tail knife at him. The trigger doesn't seem to give a poo poo and goes back to doing trigger stuff as soon as the tang chills out. I figured some dither fish might be a good distraction, but I"m already pushing max with just the current residents aren't I?
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Sep 1, 2015 03:49
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visuvius posted:Do not get damsels. Why such a strong anti-damsel opinion if you don't mind my asking? The other fish I previously was going to add was a 6 line wrasse. Maybe I'll just go with that they stay small and they are also in the vague "semi-aggressive" category. I heard humus are pretty chill for the most part until they get around 5" long, then they either stay chill or spontaneously murder fish they've been living with for years without incident.
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Sep 1, 2015 11:30
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Update: My 3" percula in my parents tank may have killed the new 1.5" percula I tried adding. I don't know. I put him in the tank and the next morning the new clown was dead. I decided to try one more time, and got a smaller percula, which Nemo (my ex GF named her) immediately went after the tiny little percula baby. I decided a good solution might be to put the big percula in my trigger tank and live the little guy in my parent's tank. The yellow tang was ambivalent but the trigger was not having it. He immediately started charging the clown. Strangely, the percula went on the offensive and went straight at the trigger. I decided that eventually the trigger would stop loving around and go after her for real, so I ended the rehoming attempt. After reading about the quirks of percula pairing I put Nemo back in with the other tank with the little clownfish and they immediately began swimming peacefully together. TL:DR: I don't think my trigger will tolerate any new tankmates at this point and I"m not going to try it. My clowns are happy.
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Sep 8, 2015 23:46
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I'm an idiot. Imagine a teenager with a background mostly in freshwater fishkeeping from 1995 entered a time machine and came to the present and setup a saltwater tank. That's pretty much me. My tank is a 75 gallon and it's been up since early July 2014. The filter is an Eheim Classic 600. I used aragonite sand as a substrate a mix of mostly dry reef rock and a couple pieces of live rock. My favorite fish was always the Picasso trigger and I am borderline obsessed with Hawaii so I setup the tank as housewarming gift to myself to do just that. After a fishless cycle with ammonia I added a small yellow tang and special ordered a 2" Rectangle Trigger. The tang was added in August 2014 and the trigger in October 2014. I added a Melanurus Wrasse last month. All three get a long great most of the time (tang is a dick from time to time but nothing serious) and eat heartily. Other than a recurrent Aptasia problem I'd say it's going pretty well. So here's the problem, as I've been doing research on protein skimmers I've also pieced together that I've been doing the following wrong the whole time: 1) Apparently canister filters are out of style for saltwater because they tend to be nitrate factories? 2) Have a bubble stone which I initially planned on using only for the fishless cylce process but ended up liking. Apparently does nothing but cause salt creep? 3) I've been mixing my saltwater with tap water treated with API Tap Water Conditioner. I guess I should be buying RO water or getting an RO unit? I think I've been lucky because the fish are small but I definitely want to give them the best chance for the long-haul. Anyone have experience with using live rock rubble in a canister filter? How do you weigh in on protein skimmer in FOWLR setups? Articles I've read seem evenly split. How big a deal is the tap water thing in FOWLR?
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Nov 28, 2015 03:19
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I picked up some Wal Mart RO water. The inspection sticker said 11/2015 on the machine so hopefully Jim Bob changed the filters and stuff. I also ordered a Hydor Koralia 1050 and will replace my air stone with it when it shows up.
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Nov 29, 2015 02:02
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This is probably a dumb question, but do you have to hack into your water pipes to install one?
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Nov 29, 2015 19:46
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Cool, thanks for the info everyone. I would've thought adding the protein skimmer would've been most urgent with a FOWLR setup but i guess it does make more sense to start with clean water than to make dirty water clean when it is already in the tank.
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Nov 29, 2015 22:42
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revmoo posted:I went over a year with my skimmer down because it needed repairs. Tank didn't thrive, but no fish died. It's a 75g with live rock, Rectangle Trigger, Yellow Tang and Melanurus Wrasse. Filtration is an Eheim Classic 600.
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Nov 30, 2015 02:53
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Came home from work to find my yellow tang dead. No signs of aggression or disease. Ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate at 5ppm. I was planning on posting here about my sudden green hair algae problem, could the two be related?
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Feb 26, 2016 15:04
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Rallos posted:What are your phosphates at? salinity? 2.0 ppm and 1.022
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Feb 27, 2016 18:26
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Thank you both, should I put Phosban or Phospure in my filter?
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Feb 28, 2016 00:47
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SaNChEzZ posted:Chemipure elite wouldn't hurt, maybe cut feeding a bit and the water changes will definitely help. Thanks. Just bought ChemPure Elite. Amazon, BRS, Drs. Foster & Smith, etc. are great and all, but drat it is nice having a good LFS that actually stocks stuff like that. E: For a while I bought into the whole "if you're doing everything right, you don't need carbon/etc" but gently caress it, healthy fish and clean water > pride. Bulky Bartokomous fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Feb 28, 2016 |
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Feb 28, 2016 20:54
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Slowly raising my SG. Yesterday I cleaned out the filter and added the ChemPure Elite. 24 hours later Phosphate is down to 0.25 and Nitrate has dropped to 0.0. Ammonia and Nitrite of course still at 0.0. The one thing I did test for this time that I didn't last time was pH. It's only 8.0. Is that likely a function of the low SG? The triggerfish is still looking good, but of course they are pretty much bulletproof. The wrasse is hiding, but that's his usual MO after tank cleaning.
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Mar 1, 2016 02:50
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Triggerfish was acting very weird this morning. He was swimming around the surface of the tank. He is usually sleeping in the live rock when I leave for work. gently caress, this is going to be a 100% fatality event I suspect. 
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Mar 1, 2016 16:19
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Rallos posted:How slow are you going with the salinity? I added 4 gallons that were 1.025 yesterday. It's a 75 gallon tank.
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Mar 1, 2016 18:20
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