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[Peccavi18]

Thanks Paul,
That is what I read, that the Mexican red legs weren't as aggressive to tank mates, but it doesn't explain all the dead blue legs. Also there were only 3 choices listed on most of the sites I looked at , blue legs, red legs, and Mexican. I know there are others like Halloween, Lefthanded, etc, but I didn't see much info on temperament of them. I wasn't sure what everyone here's opinion was. I will need to add more either way and would like to not have them all killing each other.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Are you sure they're dead and not just shedding?

 

[cloakerpoked]

or molting...whatever

 

[Peccavi18]

Yeah, I've seen molts before, these ones had missing legs/claws, and one was still partially moving. I feared the worst at first and though mantis, since I did buy some LR used. But they were all just killed not eaten, not the mark of a mantis. And after reading up it looks like the M.O. of another hermit. The blue legs I have in there range from 1/4" to alittle over 1/2" and the Mexican red leg is about 3/4"

 

[cloakerpoked]

I've never heard about any kind of hermit having aggression problems toward other hermits, and haven't observed it in my tank, but I only have 15 in my 120 with tons of LR, so maybe territory isn't a problem for them?

 

[Peccavi18]

I hadn't heard of them fighting either, not something I really looked into I just thought, hey I need a clean up crew. Then I saw them pulling at each other and a snail so I added 20ish empty shells and everything seemed good for awhile. Almost all have upgraded shells at least once, but over the last 2 weeks I have seen the 3 dead and in inspecting the tank am coming up short... I haven't seen the fighting directly just the missing legs and claws, so for now it's just a strong assumption. All parameters are zero except nitrates which are 10, and I am working on bringing that one down slowly. Looking for a happy medium for my Xenia and skimmer while not hurting the fish or other corals.

 

[Peccavi18]

Question, where do I get a syringe for injecting aiptasia? I found 4 of the little guys hidden on the back of a piece of LR I had bought to seed the tank. They are all tiny so I doubt they have had time to spread but I want to hit them asap, and injecting with boiling water seems to be the method of choice on this site. Would I be able to get one at a pharmacy??

Also what is everyone's magical number with nitrates and keeping Xenia? My tank is between 5-10ppm right now and the Xenia is looking a bit wrinkled and bleached but when it was higher10-40ppm they were flourishing. Me and the G/f like their pulsating action in the tank but I'm not going to risk other tank inhabitants just to keep an artificially elevated nitrate level for them.

 

[Paul_PSU]

Tractor Supply Co, down on 19 near Washington PA is where I get mine. You can buy them off the shelf in different sizes and quantities.

As soon as I got to 5 like you I lost my xenia. I gave up on them.

 

[fodupos]

i bought aptasia-x and it comes with a syringe. the stuff works really well and by the next day all that is left is well nothing.

 

[Paul_PSU]

I used that also and it always seemed like they came back for me. I use lemon juice in a syringe and inject it. I have yet to have one come back.

 

[cloakerpoked]

I've seen them come back from pretty much everything at one point or another. I've also seem pretty much everything work. My peppermint shrimp did a number on my aptaisia population, reducing it to 0. Haven't seen one in the system in months. They also turned on my zoas once the aptaisia were gone, so I wouldn't necessarily go that route.

 

[fodupos]

i've never had them come back in the same place. but ocassionally i will find a new one. i think this happens because i have yet to find all of them or because of new rock that i have added. i mainly like it because i don't have to keep it in the fridge after using it and it comes with a straight tip and a bent tip for the syringe

 

[Peccavi18]

I boiled some water and said screw it, I dipped the whole corner of the rock in for two mins or so. We'll see how that worked out, it definitely killed the algae and coraline. Hopefully the aipthasia as well.

 

[cloakerpoked]

I'd worry about die off causing an ammonia spike. Since you have so much, I might have killed off that rock completely, dried, rinsed a bunch of times, then after a few weeks put it back...but that's just me. Watch your levels though.

 

[Peccavi18]

Yeah I am kinda concerend about thatas well. My though process was the corner where they all were was small and I was able to keep the contact to a minimal area and then hit it with a brush and water from the water change a few times over trying to clean/flush everything off. Hopefully(fingers crossed) it just nuked that corner and everything else is golden. I will keep checking though.

Also if anyone knows of any other ways to get ahold of paul plz PM or txt them to me.

 

[the2ofus]

PSU_Paul ?

 

[Peccavi18]

I finally got a calcium and alk test kit. The Marineland Reef Master. Not sure if it's a good kit but it's still better than nothing.

Current rundown
Salinity 1.024
Nitrate 10
PH 8.0
Alk 2.5 meq/l
Ca 510ppm
Phos 0.2 mg/l

I think the Ca is that high only because I run Oceanic salt and have no real draw on it yet. But I am on my final week of water changes that are slowly swapping over to IO salt. So that number should start to drop soon, I would guess.

Tank really seems to be doing well, only downfall, still no sign of the Coral Beauty. Just calling it a loss at this point, the g/f is already looking for another fish to replace it. And even I would like to see more than 2 fish in there.
I picked up a few new corals, 2 heads of frogspawn, a hammer, a colony of candy cane, and a half dead unnamed greenish sps. All are showing growth except the hammer, and unnamed sps. If they continue at this rate, I may have to learn how to frag soon.

I'll have new pics soon.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Forget the conversion off the top of my head and I'm too lazy to go digging for it, but isn't that Alk a little low?

Never used Marineland Reef Master...I use the red sea calcium test kit and a Salifert Alkalinity test kit.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Ok, yeah, that's a 7.0 dKH...you probably want to shoot a little higher for SPS (more in the 8.5-9.0 range.) The calcium is fine...that'll naturally be taken up by the coral eventually based on your draw, so there's no reason to actively pursue lowering it through water changes, etc.

 

[Peccavi18]

Alk and calcium are titration tests so I could be a hair off on either but I figured it atleast gave me an idea where I stood. Are there any good alk siplements that I should look for, or any to avoid?