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I posted a while back about my 1.5 gallon pico, I figured I'd update. There's no fish, just a hermit, nerite snail, and some button poylps, a few zoos and a rock of GSP. Normally I wouldn't touch GSP with a 10 foot pole, but this is a closed system that won't be going anywhere near my main tank so I figure I'd give it a shot. I built the pico out of 1/8" acrylic using a torch to heat and bend the corners. I had never worked with acrylic before so that's why there's the unsightly seam on the left. There's a filter box in the back that has a bunch of live rock rubble in it and the rio90 that provides flow for the pico. There's a 5watt hydro mini heater in the back as well to keep the tank a stable 80F. The light is a 10watt coralife power compact screwed into a lamp kit. I'm planning on building a new light out of 120 LEDS but we will see how that goes.
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Feb 7, 2009 22:36
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 05:10 |
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I was able to take a few photos of my 120 today.   
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Feb 16, 2009 07:14
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Vitae posted:So far so good on our 20 gallon saltwater tank, we've had 1 casualty so far and thats the peppermint shrimp.. we have no idea what happened to the shrimp except he disappeared. Try searching for "hydroid jellyfish" in google.
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Feb 23, 2009 03:03
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Just to chime in on the GSP issue, I had a rock separated from the rest when I had a 30g. Despite my precaution of keeping it far from contacting any other solid surfaces I ended up finding a large cluster in the back of my rock work when I took the tank down. Somehow the GSP had spread around the tank despite being kept away from anything it could grow on. I'm assuming a small piece of the flesh was ripped off by a hermit or something and then floated to the back of the tank where it took off. I'm giving the stuff a try again in my pico, but I would never put it in my big tank under any circumstance, there is just too much of a risk for me. At least if it takes over my pico I can eradicate it in under an hour whereas in my 120 it'd be several weeks worth of effort unless I bleached the whole tank.
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Feb 25, 2009 21:54
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All crabs are opportunists and the arrow crab is definitely a threat to fish. Emeralds are probably one of your safest bets aside from some hermits.
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Feb 25, 2009 22:58
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:Shh They don't usually turn radioactive when cycling. 
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Mar 1, 2009 03:13
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.. It's cycling.
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:Here is what I'm hoping to have in my tank but I want more opinions from experienced aquarists on how it will fare. Is the the sailfin butterfly supposed to be a sailfin tang? I've never heard of a sailfin butterfly. I wouldn't use a Zambrasoma sailfin tang if only because how huge they really are. I had one in my 120 but had to take him out becuase he was getting too large and aggressive. I don't personally know anyone who has successfully kept a copperband butterfly, but I don't know if this is a universal issue. Definitely be aware that is a more difficult fish to keep, don't even bother if the one at the LFS isn't eating frozen foods yet. The Vegabond butterfly is kinda iffy if you're planning on this being a reef tank. He's likely to nip at clam mantles and attack snails or shrimps. Reef Chromis are great inhabitants who won't cause any trouble. Damsels will be much more aggressive though and most people end up removing them becuase of it. Brittle stars are great detritivores. Watch out for the green brittle star though, they known to eat any fish they can catch. Yellow tangs are great, I know how many gallons your tank is, but the yellow tang is usually a great addition so long as he has plenty of swimming room.
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Mar 2, 2009 21:48
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:I'm probably gonna keep an eye on whatever I get in a separate tank for a night or two. Won't be that difficult considering the benefit. The nice thing about just buying from the store is that they usually tell you if it's eating or healthy. Depending on your LFS that might not mean much though. I always ask to actually see them feed a fish in front of me if I have any concerns. I don't really have any problems with personally collected specimens, the only issue I can see is that if the hobbyists reached a point where it was extremely common for them to collect their own specimens it would be difficult to regulate over harvesting of a particular species. I wouldn't be worried as the hobbyist though, like Psimistry said a lot of the fish at the LFS are wild caught and can have the same problems as the ones we would catch ourselves. I'd prefer tank-bred for any species it's available for because they have a better survival rate in our tanks.
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Mar 4, 2009 00:01
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:Where do you collect from Ludnix? I don't collect because of my location. I'd have to run a cold water tank and the chiller costs are just too much. If I lived a litte south though I'd have not problems doing it. Those are some awesome sea horse pictures Hood Ornament.
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Mar 4, 2009 05:04
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Vigilantly Vigorous posted:I don't know if I should be confused or frustrated but my Ammonia has showed little to none ever since I put my LR in. Two days after there was a small Ammonia spike but since then it has been 0. Nitrite didn't show up but there was Nitrite. I'm gonna give it another week before I test again. Should the skimmer be on though? It's putting out a lot of nasty stuff. Everything I've read suggests you shouldn't run the skimmer during the cycle otherwise it will slow the process down. Ultimately it won't make a difference in the long run of your tank, but it might help the cycle speed up by turning it off. Usually you do a large water change directly after the cycle to remove the nasty stuff and then start skimming.
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Mar 7, 2009 15:19
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Psimitry posted:See I've heard exactly the opposite. v That doesn't surprise me, it kinda seems like a non-issue all things considered, so it's probably easiest to just keep doing whatever you're doing and wait it out.
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Mar 7, 2009 23:54
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Hermits and other active animals don't have as long out of tank, but most corals last a good amount of time. I just picked out some corals out of town and they were in their bag for 26hrs.
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Mar 17, 2009 11:52
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I used a needle applicator to attack my aiptasia with kalkwasser paste. It was certainly effective but you have to be careful that the paste doesn't land on any corals.
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Mar 18, 2009 20:01
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moechae posted:Come summer, I was thinking about setting up a saltwater tank for the first time, I've grown up with and cared for freshwater tanks my entire life thanks to my dad (including ponds and modified refrigerators for trout), and I'd like to take the next step up to saltwater. Less fish is definitely the way to go if you're looking for long-term stability. I would avoid the hex tank, they can present a lot of challenges when it comes to arranging rock and lighting it. In general the bigger you go the better stability you will have. If a clownfish dies in a 10g tank it's pollution could be a big issue, whereas if a clownfish dies in a 150g tank it's unlikely to pose a real issue. This is assuming it couldn't have been removed and was left to decompose in the tank. What lighting you'll need depends a lot of what you plan to keep, in general there are certain soft corals that be kept with almost any lighting whereas some hard corals require rather intense lighting of a T5HO fluorescent or metal halide setup. If you plan on keeping anemones though that puts you in the higher light category. T5 fluorescent bulbs are getting pretty popular because when used with individual reflectors on each bulb they are very bright and very efficient. Metal Halides have been a long time favorite and provide a bright point of source light that creates a shimmer effect in the tank. Both T5 and Metal halide have their downsides, but both are very effective ways to grow high light corals and anemones. Metal Halides are often criticized for the amount of heat they put off (if you touch the reflector or god forbid, the bulb, you will be burned), however the amount of heat put into the tank is essentially the same as that of equivalent T5 fluorescent lights, it's simply concentrated over a very small area. T5s with individual reflectors won't burn you when you touch them but they are can still add small amounts of heat to a tank. The downsize of T5 lights is that they do not produce a shimmer effect in the tank because of how the light is evenly distributed over the length of the tank rather than a single point. I personally chose to combine both of these types of lighting in my tank. I use T5 lights for 2 actinic bulbs(which are sort of like a black light and make certain colors of coral flourescent) and 2 day light bulbs. This allows me to gradually increase the lighting in my tank throughout the day using timers. During peak hours of light my 2x 250watt metal halides turn on and tank really starts to shine. The metal halides not only double the intensity of the light but they add that shimmer to the tank I just couldn't go without.  Here you can see the T5 lights on either side of the 2 metal halide reflectors in the center. Ultimately it's a personally choice for what you'd like to do for lighting, but either T5 with individual reflectors or Metal halide will provide sufficient lighting for an anemone and coral tank. You'll want to look into what type of anemone you'll want to keep, Bubble Tip Anemones are a popular one as they are considered easier to keep, but it should be noted that even the easiest anemone to keep is usually considered difficult(ignoring all pest anemones). Here are some recommended websites for reading: Wet Web Media: for just about anything. Melev's Reef: A great website for beginners which explains a lot about running sumps and various other aspects of reef keeping. Reef Central Forums: The biggest forum dealing with reef keeping, excellent resource of study. If you want to do some window-shopping here's some good online retailers: Marine Depot: Awesome company that carries all sorts of saltwater equipment. Fast shipping and good return policies. If you contact them they will personally help you pick out your lighting. Hello Lights: Affordable lighting that should give a good idea of the options available. These guys will also personally help you if you contact them. Live Aquaria: Live animal dealer, good resource for seeing animal requirements or habits if nothing else.
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Mar 19, 2009 07:09
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I cannot name a single well organized website that easy to navigate in this hobby that is not a retail website. I don't know what the deal is but there's a huge group of people who have amazing tanks but don't even know how to turn on a digital camera. I guess the ability to run a saltwater tank and use a computer are just about mutually exclusive with a few exceptions. Speaking of good resources that gently caress ugly we have the Reef Chemistry Calculator. I use it frequently but I'll be damned if he couldn't have picked a more obnoxious color scheme and background.
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Mar 19, 2009 11:41
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I don't think peppermints normally bother BTA any more than any other shrimp. They'll probably try and steal any food you feed it though, as that's usually true with any shrimp.
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Mar 19, 2009 20:31
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moechae posted:Thank you so much for the information ludnix! Those websites are great, and the lighting information is invaluable, I had no idea what most people were talking about. One last question has come up from my further research though, about sumps. I know they aren't totally necessary, but they sound pretty useful. Has anyone here used/built one, and do they make caring for the tank tons easier, like it seems to do? Or does having one over complicate things, especially for a noob like me? It's complicated at first, but once you understand the basic draining and pump scheme it's pretty simple. Melev's reef has a billion different designs for making a sump, I personally just got a glass 40g breeder tank and inserted acrylic dividers in it. Overall I whole heartedly recommend a sump, it opens up options for in-sump skimmers, puts a place to hide your heaters, and can provide a room for a nice refugium. Here's my sump:  The right section is where the water is drained to, the skimmer and heaters are located in there as well. There's then a bubble trap to keep skimmer bubbles from making it all the way back into the tank. Then we have the refugium in the center with chaetomorphia algae and mangroves, and finally the return pump chamber on the left. My sump might be a little confusing so if you have an questions just ask, I don't really know where to start and trying to explain that mess. Ultimately your sump can be as simple as a plastic bucket with a pump in it, what you want to use for a sump just depends on what it needs to do.
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Mar 20, 2009 04:13
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Sounds like we have the same skimmer. Seems like it's performed pretty well for the money, I'm not getting as much skimmate as I used to, but I think it's mostly due to my refugium taking over the nutrient exportation. The mangroves are turning into pretty decent bushes now. I have trouble cleaning out the body as you can see in the picture. I'm considering just covering it with black plastic or something to block the light so it won't need to be cleaned as often. Do you have any tricks for cleaning your Psimitry? Creating an acrylic sump is a pretty involved process, I can only imagine bothering with it if I needed a very specific size not available in standard glass tanks. Hypnotized those crabs are awesome. How are porcelain crabs with fish? I know just about any crab is an opportunist and given the chance they'd take whatever they can catch, but maybe they are just too tiny? I'm having a hard time determining size
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Mar 20, 2009 10:18
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I've been sorely neglecting my sump. I haven't taken my skimmer out in the 8 months it's been running aside from a few plumbing repairs, but I have cleaned the pump regularly. I'll have to do the vinegar bath as well as remember to unclog the air line on occasion. I certainly wouldn't mind any performance boosts I can get.
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Mar 20, 2009 11:07
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Bigger is always better but you may consider leaving some extra room under the stand either storing chemicals or potential room for a calcium rector or some other device that needs to be out of tank. My sump fits exactly under my stand so I'm left with no room for hiding a calcium reactor unless I build a second shelf.
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Mar 20, 2009 22:43
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I've had a firefish for a couple months, but now it's missing as you talk about their affinity for getting eaten. 
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Mar 22, 2009 20:47
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I can't think of any reef safe fish that will shoal around together. I imagine you could have a couple of firefish in a small tank like that, but the only small fish I can think that shoals around would be the blue-green reef chromis, which would be too large for a 20g. I would consider going bigger if you can, I don't know if you have any restrictions in your apartment, but the smaller the tank the more difficult it is to keep the parameters stable.
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Mar 23, 2009 22:29
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Isn't that just a skinny turkey baster or is there something I'm missing?
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Mar 24, 2009 19:14
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I had just attached some rigid air tubing to my turkey baster, otherwise a turkey baster's opening can't maintain enough cohesion to keep the water from falling out.
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Mar 24, 2009 20:10
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I've always been jealous of people who have tons of mini brittle stars. I'm pretty sure my fish would eat them up for dinner though.
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Mar 26, 2009 02:41
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I agree with everything Psimitry said. The remoras are supposedly vary from skimmer to skimmer but I had a good experience with mine on a 30g system. It seems like a pretty good price as well. Is sand included in that deal?
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Mar 27, 2009 09:26
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The black and white ocellaris should behave no differently than regular ocellaris. They are usually more expensive though.
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Apr 4, 2009 04:07
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Psimitry posted:Actually, I've seen that they CAN be slightly more aggressive. Mine, for example, are little bastards to me (they really don't like it when I put my hand in the tank). Most clowns don't like it when other fish get too close to their anemone (mine will chase away any and all fish that come near their anemone, but when I stick my hand in the water they will actually leave it and come after me). I've heard that but I've really never seen a clownfish that wasn't a pain in the rear end when hosting so I don't know if there is really any noticeable difference. My female clownfish does the same thing if I'm anywhere near "her side" of the 120.
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Apr 4, 2009 10:41
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A while ago you had mentioned that you see a nice benefit when thoroughly cleaning your skimmer, so ended up taking the whole skimmer out and cleaning the whole sump up. Since I had the skimmer out I decided to experiment with the needle wheel on the pump. My original pump had went out a few months ago so I had an extra impeller to experiment with. I tried the fishing line modification where I interwove the line onto the impeller to help with the bubble chopping action and noticed a significant decrease in bubble size. Since the mod and cleaning I've been pulling out more skimmate than ever before. I ended up having to throttle the water line down from where it used to be since the bubbles are climbing so much higher now. I'll have to see with time how the fishing line works out. I imagine I have the potential risk of the line either coming undone or stretching so I'll have to check on it during the scheduled cleanings.
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Apr 4, 2009 11:04
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Mine aren't black and white so maybe that contributes to them not being quite as aggressive as yours and psimitry's but they will do anything they have to for their anemone. When I had to remove the rock with their BTA on it they refused to leave it even as I pulled it from the water, they sat on the gelatinous blob as I moved it to the transport bucket.
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Apr 4, 2009 22:45
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Morbid Florist posted:Speaking of rear end in a top hat fish, are there any sort of baited traps you can put in a tank to avoid ripping everything apart? The gramma picked open warfare with my peppermint shrimp this weekend and is still making life hard for my goby, so he's vetoed. I had to take one of these out of a much larger tank and even THAT was a whore. There is a commercial fish trap sold at my local fish store, I don't know who makes it or how effective it is though. I tried using one of those cheap plastic critter cages as I've heard of people having luck with them, but I never was able to catch anything with it.
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Apr 6, 2009 18:24
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optikalus posted:I'd imagine that encrusting corals will grow more quickly than corals that grow by division (zoanthus, ricordea, etc), but I'm still new to the hobby. It totally depends on the tank. My encrusting montipora spreads faster than most of my zoanthids (though this is no longer true of a particular zoanthid colony that is spreading like crazy now), but the main difference is you won't be able to remove zoanthids, GSP, and anthellia like you can a hard encrusting coral. Sometimes you can pull the zoanthids up and they will peel off but hard encrusting corals are extremely easy to control in comparison.
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Apr 7, 2009 21:50
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Having that gramma out will probably help more than the treatment they gave you. The goby should be more comfortable without him and better able to handle having ich in the tank. There is a direct correlation between ich and stress so having that gramma out of there should help a lot.
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Apr 8, 2009 20:09
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Most fish don't usually maliciously go after other animals (unless they are potential food) so maybe it was a territorial issue which could have caused him stress. I'm not familiar with a royal gramma being very aggressive as all of mine have been pretty docile, but maybe being an rear end in a top hat was a stressful endeavor.
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Apr 9, 2009 01:27
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That is fascinating, I had no idea royal gramma would do that. My pink and white spot goby snagged a small cluster of zoos that had seperated from his main rock and placed it on top of his cave, but in my case it worked out good because it was the perfect spot it. How big did the royal gramma end up getting? Mine was the smallest I had ever seen when I got it and is a mere 2"ish now.
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Apr 9, 2009 02:23
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I would continue to check the tank at night with a flashlight, even after the shrimp is gone to make sure you don't have a hitchhiker that's causing the damage.
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Apr 11, 2009 02:03
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If it was a crab it would be going after what's easiest. A coral that can't move will be an easier snack than a goby that doesn't want to move.
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Apr 11, 2009 20:57
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Beautiful tank ToolShack, what have you been feeding the brain? I'm totally jealous of your zoanthid garden, it's so awesome when you have variety of colors that start growing into each other.
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Apr 16, 2009 01:00
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I've only seen cleaners go after something that was starting to decompose. I've probably had about 10 of them total and never had one attack a living coral. I've currently got 1 cleaner, 1 camel back, and 1 blood shrimp in my 120. All of which have behaved as expected, they hide in the coral during the day and only come out for food. If a meaty coral started to die in my tank though I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see all three of them cleaning it up. They can sense the decomposition and death of a coral a lot sooner than most people can visually so sometimes it can look like they are the cause.
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Apr 16, 2009 19:11
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 05:10 |
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I've got some frags of red montipora capricornus that anyone can have if they want to cover shipping. None of my LFS want them and I'm not getting much interest on RC. My email is ludnix@gmail.com
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May 2, 2009 09:40
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