Help with new 125 gallon build

[tassod]

I may have made the situation worse when i first attempted to remove some of this GHA that was on certain spots by hand and a lot of it got loose and spread out through the tank. I also have it in many spots now on my sand bed. Will the lawnmore Blenny help? Also, would he be ok with the methalyne blue fresh water dip?

 

[SimonSKL]

GHA is the biggest headache a reefer can face in this hobby. Many get so disappointed that they simply leave the hobby. However, many has successfully overcome such a problem and end with beautiful tank.

I have fought GHA in my 92 g tank for years and finally my tank is looking better than before. I still have GHA in there but they are under control and only in a few spots.

GHA lives on nutrients like PO4 and NO3 which come mostly from the rocks and from feedings. Those coming from the rocks may take months to leach out. It is very important that you don't overfeed the tank, especially with frozen food which is very high in PO4.

The game plan now is to export the PO4 as aggressively as possible with frequent GFO changes, small feedings with flakes or pellets, and weekly water change. As a last resort, take the worst affected rocks out and dip into 3% 50:50 H2O2 for 3 min. Good luck!

 

[SimonSKL]

I may have made the situation worse when i first attempted to remove some of this GHA that was on certain spots by hand and a lot of it got loose and spread out through the tank. I also have it in many spots now on my sand bed. Will the lawnmore Blenny help? Also, would he be ok with the methalyne blue fresh water dip?

You can manually remove the GHA but you need to contain them or it would spread as you said. I would fresh water dip all new fish with methylene blue before they go into your tank. I don't have any experience with Lawnmower Blenny but some people think they help with algae.

Another option is add more algae eating CUC. Reefs2go has CUC packet put together specifically to fight algae problem that you may want to consider.

 

[tassod]

From what I read, algae blennys just eat up all algae in sight so I will be getting one today. I will also add more CUC. The current crew I have has done a good job and it seems that most of the snails are on one side of the tank with the bigger rocks and they have pretty much cleaned those completely.

I've been feeding twice a day, just seems that these fish are very hungry. I've also noticed a bunch of pellets have been collecting under one area of the rocks. Every other day (only done it twice so far) I've thrown in some frozen shrimp. Should i just cut it down to the morning? It seems that when I feed, they go nuts and eat almost everything in site so not sure why I have that collection of pellets under there forming.

 

[SimonSKL]

You have to be careful with auto feeder and watch the amount it dispenses. You only have 4 small fish and each fish only needs a few flakes or pellets each day. If you see any pellets in the tank after feeding, you are feeding too much. I have 8 fish in my 125g tank and half of them are large fish and I only feed once a day with pellets and frozen food once every 2-3 weeks. I suggest to cut back to feed once daily with just small amount and hold off on frozen food completely.

What kind of light you run over your fuge to grow chaeto and how long do you run the light? As you know Chaeto competes with GHA in nutrients so you want to grow them aggressively in the sump.

 

[tassod]

I run a PAR30 15 watt LED and i have it on opposite my DT lights, so it runs during the night from 10pm - 9am. I just harvested some chaeto as it was groing like crazy and the fuge was stuffed with it.

 

[SimonSKL]

I run a PAR30 15 watt LED and i have it on opposite my DT lights, so it runs during the night from 10pm - 9am. I just harvested some chaeto as it was groing like crazy and the fuge was stuffed with it.

It is good to hear your Chaeto are growing well but it also tells you do have high nutrients in your tank with just 4 fish. Overfeeding can definitely contribute to that.

Some people run their fuge light for 16 hrs off 8 and some run it 24/7. I run mine for 16 hrs.

 

[tassod]

It is good to hear your Chaeto are growing well but it also tells you do have high nutrients in your tank with just 4 fish. Overfeeding can definitely contribute to that.

Some people run their fuge light for 16 hrs off 8 and some run it 24/7. I run mine for 16 hrs.

I'll cut down to once a day in the morning and adjust the feeder. I was just worried these fish are starving since there always looking for food.

 

[SimonSKL]

I'll cut down to once a day in the morning and adjust the feeder. I was just worried these fish are starving since there always looking for food.

I hear you. Sometime feeding fish is an enjoyment for us but fish needs very little food to survive and stay healthy. I have heard fish survived in neglected tanks for weeks without feedings.

 

[tassod]

Got a question, i have a 20 gallon Long right now running with a HOB filter, heater and power head. The salinity in there right now is 1.009 as it will be used for QT to treat with hypo salinity. Could I use this tank to dip my new fish in and I can add some methalyn blue to it? It would be more convenient this way since its already setup.

 

[SimonSKL]

If you have a QT tank by all means use it for all new fish. Quarantining new fish for a couple of weeks before introducing into your main tank is the preferred method as you can observe the fish for any disease or problem. You don't need to add methylene blue as it will stain your tank overtime.

Many people would say freshwater dipping fish stresses them out and not safe. I don't have a QT so this is how I introducing new fish to my tank. So far I have pretty good luck with this procedure and all my fish are healthy. I have not lost any new fish using this method.

 

[tassod]

If you have a QT tank by all means use it for all new fish. Quarantining new fish for a couple of weeks before introducing into your main tank is the preferred method as you can observe the fish for any disease or problem. You don't need to add methylene blue as it will stain your tank overtime.

Many people would say freshwater dipping fish stresses them out and not safe. I don't have a QT so this is how I introducing new fish to my tank. So far I have pretty good luck with this procedure and all my fish are healthy. I have not lost any new fish using this method.

I like your freshwater dip method and I think I will keep doing that and just use the QT if any of the fish start looking sick with any disease. It is going through cycling now anyways. I have an extra 10 gallon i will just setup with freshwater and a heater and use that exclusively for new fish arrivals.

 

[tassod]

I got the Lawnmore Blenny and I also picked up a FoxFace rabbit fish. Well, wasn't so easy this time around with the fresh water dip. They did not like it at all. Foxface went down and was breathing heavy...tried to get him out but would run away. Took me 4 mintues to catch him. Finally got him in the tank and he's very very shy. He started pecking away at the GHA but would often hide and even go in his defensive colors. Blenny was same thing..although he just went to the bottom in the freshwater..so got him out right away and just put him in the tank...he landed on one of my rocks and he's just sitting there now. Dont know if i should get him down to the sand or leave him alone. I hope he's ok. I also got some frags that right now are floating. My neighboor is going to come over in one hour to help me put them in the tank. Can i leave them float for that long? Going to post a video shortly of the new arrivals.

 

[SimonSKL]

The reason I used a small bucket for freshwater dip is that I could get the fish out quickly if needed. A 10 gal tank is much harder as the fish has a lot more room to run and hide. Catching the fish this way adds a lot more stress to the fish. Keep in mind this is a dip, in and out in a few minutes.

Foxface is a very shy fish and hides and turns black when frightened. Just leave them be. You don't want to put them through anymore stress trying to move them.

Corals will be fine floating in the bags. When they are shipped, they are in bags sometime 1-3 days.

I would love to see pictures of the fish and corals when you can post them.

 

[tassod]

Here are pics and videos:

Video of Foxface eating

http://s1273.beta.photobucket.com/user/tassod/media/IMG_0243_zpsb0fffde3.mp4.html

My next post will have pics of the corals. In addition to the ones I bought, my neighboor gave me a few pieces. I hope they turn out. :dance:

 

[tassod]

Coral Pics

Coral Pics

The first 6 pics are the ones I bought today:

These next pics are the ones i was given

This one was on a rock but when i was trying to place it it broke off, will it survive?

And the last one

 

[SimonSKL]

The foxface looks great, relaxed and in full color. It is fascinating to see them in dark and dull color while hiding but change to full and vibrant color coming out in the open like a lady all dressed up.

You have some great color corals there. Your friend is very generous in giving you those sps. They are good size colonies worth a lot of money.

 

[tassod]

Thanks Simon, I'm not so sure anymore about the foxface. He's been sitting low in a corner now for last couple of hours not in his vibrant color but in defensive mode and acting happy at all, looks pretty stressed. The Blenny is doing well though.

 

[tassod]

Update

Update

Well, i got so sick of looking at that GHA, that I took each rock on the left hand side of the tank out seperately and scrubbed it with a toothbrush in my QT. I got good results:

Going to leave the right hand side for my new fish to pick at along with CUC. Hopefully the can get rid of most of it. Corals seem to be doing fine. How would I know if they weren't ? Would they turn a different color or shrivel up?

The foxface seemed ok today although had an episode with him because he freaked out when i was reaching in and grabbing the rocks. He was even at one point up against the mp40 and i had to turn it off for him to get away. He is a very sensative fish. I hope nothing happens to him.

 

[SimonSKL]

Corals seem to be doing fine. How would I know if they weren't ? Would they turn a different color or shrivel up?

You can tell if corals are doing well by seeing polyp extension and light color grow tips. If corals start to turn brown or bleach, it is not a good sign.