Initial planning stages for tank and fish room

Makes me want another goldflake. Such a beautiful fish.

I have a blue throat trigger pair, they are probably the most fun to watch, big personalities.

For the background, I have always felt like black made the fish and corals pop a bit more.
 
Makes me want another goldflake. Such a beautiful fish.

I have a blue throat trigger pair, they are probably the most fun to watch, big personalities.

For the background, I have always felt like black made the fish and corals pop a bit more.
I've always used black. For some reason I didn't like it on this tank. Might be the fact there's a lot of blue light over the tank. I'll see how the blue looks. Guess I can always go back :)

I see that one of the online vendors has a mated pair of triggers. I'll keep them in mind should I decide to add more fish. I think I need to let everyone and everything settle in for now.

The goldflake is really pretty. I have to improve my caamera skills when shooting the tank. Have to sit down with the manual and learn more about my camera. lol I get blurry fish when I take pics.
 
Help with critter ID

Help with critter ID

Can anyone help with an ID? This little guy came in this morning on a nice colony of lobophylia.


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Right now he's sitting in a Petri dish :uhoh2:


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I've been informed it's a gall crab of sorts. (Cryptochirid) I like diversity in the tank, watching how Mother Nature goes about doing things, but not sure I want to keep this guy around. I think one of my brain corals has one as well. Some of the acros have little commensal crabs that keep the coral clean and free of detritus, but this guy causes the coral to grow in a way that creates a pocket to funnel food to the crab.

I'm not trying to grow a pristine bonsai reef - though I do love looking at them. I like the diversity and why I kind of have a mishmosh of specimens :) The goby made two borrows - where I placed the arrows. Now I think that was cool. He's right where I would want him to be so I can watch his funny antics. He was moving rocks to build up the berms on either side :) It was actually pretty amazing to watch. It's like he had a degree in structural engineering LOL

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Any opinions on what to do with this little crab? Can they reproduce and make a mess of things?


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Cut him in two and feed him to the fish... unless you're worried he might have Lyme disease or something. ;)

Luv the FTS, BTW. :thumbsup:

djm
 
Cut him in two and feed him to the fish... unless you're worried he might have Lyme disease or something. ;)

Luv the FTS, BTW. :thumbsup:

djm
LOL he looks like a big tick. So off to the gallows it is. :uzi:

Thanks on the FTS. I moved some things around. Been wanting to do it for a while, but held off until I put the new fishes in. Thought it would give them something to think about other than harassing new tank mates. :)
 
A few updates. My dad, who is 95, had a fall and broke his pelvis. A week prior to that I took on a small project. So life obviously became a bit more complicated and time for the tank greatly reduced. As a result, I was paying much less attention to the tank other than to check the ATO and supplement vessels for levels, feed the fish twice daily and clean the skimmer once. However I was seeing much more green growth on the glass, but didn't have the time to look into it beyond a few quick tests of nutrients. Tests didn't show any appreciable changes other than a slight rise in NO3 to between 5 and 10ppm - normally runs at 2ppm with no issues. PO4 was still almost undetectable at .03 LR Hanna.

A few days ago I had some time to look into things further and found that the dosing vessel and the line feeding the tank for vinegar was gummed up with what I guess was bacteria, preventing normal flow from the dosing pump. I never really thought about the idea that bacteria would grow in the dosing vessel and attached tubing, but I found that the cap to the dosing vessel was not screwed on tightly, so this might be the contributing factor to allowing bacteria to grow. After cleaning, refilling, tightening the cap :) and allowing it to run the dosing schedule as usual, things have cleared up and are back to normal.

I only bring this up to make others aware that even if we believe we have a plug and play system, things can and will change or go wrong so everything must be checked for propoer operation on a regular basis.

The other update is ............ I lost a fish - yellowtail blenny :( There's no disease in the tank that I can see. The blenny and all fish have been eating well and look bright and colorful. However the blenny has disappeared. The only thing I can think of is some other animal in the tank ate him. To my knowledge, there's nothing that I introduced that could do that. My only guess is, an emerald crab. There are three in the tank, but one is larger than the other two. Do emerald crabs attack sleeping fish? The blenny used to find a hole in a rock to hide and sleep.
 
The emerald crabs will only clean up dead things. Are you sure the blenny isn't holed up somewhere or maybe went in for some carpet surfing?

On the doser problem, also make sure none of your hoses actually dip into the system's water. Let them drip from a few inches above to avoid unwanted clogs from bacteria, algae, etc.

Dave.M
 
The emerald crabs will only clean up dead things. Are you sure the blenny isn't holed up somewhere or maybe went in for some carpet surfing?

On the doser problem, also make sure none of your hoses actually dip into the system's water. Let them drip from a few inches above to avoid unwanted clogs from bacteria, algae, etc.

Dave.M

Yeah I looked everywhere for him. Not anywhere to be found outside of the tank. Overflow is external, so no deep box for him to have slipped into to hide. I'm hoping I don't have a bobbit worm somewhere in there. Guess I have to do some night stalking to see what's moving about.

Tubing is affixed to 1/4" bulkheads that pass thru the bracing on the sump so it's a good 6" above the water level. The stuff was white and stringy like a bacterial film. The container holds 16oz and I only dose 45ml/day. So it sits in there for a while before needing a refill. This is the first time this occurred so I think not having the cap on tight might have cause the issue.
 
Ha! After typing my response, I figured I'd take another look around. I had looked in the sump a few times. He's in there :) Now I have to figure out how to get him out LOL A good problem though :)
 
At least he's alive and... finning. :thumbsup:

Dave.M

Well I finally had good reason to activate the "roll-out" sump platform :) Had to disconnect the overflow hoses and the return line, then the rest was easy. Since I wasn't reaching under the stand (tried that first and it wasn't fun), catching him wasn't all that difficult.

He's been in there at least two days and possibly three. When I feed, I turn off the return. He likes to perch in the ends of the return lines when the pump is off. Somehow he must have gotten past the check valve and down he went into the sump. :sad2:

I looked in the sump quite a few times. He may have been next to the heater, which is black, camouflaging him. It's affixed horizontally against the far wall of the sump, preventing me from spotting him.

He's no worse for ware :dance:
 
Hi,
I noticed you have dealed with some Red Slime Cyano.
Could you understand what was the cause of it and how did you manage to get rid of them?

Thanks a lot.

Your tank is awsome
 
Hi,
I noticed you have dealed with some Red Slime Cyano.
Could you understand what was the cause of it and how did you manage to get rid of them?

Thanks a lot.

Your tank is awsome
I believe the reason it appeared was the carbon dosing issue I mentioned a few posts ago. The tubing that carries the vinegar became clogged with what appeared to be bacteria mat. Not sure why it developed, but it inhibited the flow and the tank wasn't receiving any scheduled doses. I fixed the issue and the cyano is now completely gone and the sand is snow white. I pretty much just let it run it's course after cleaning the line and the vessel that holds the vinegar.
 
I believe the reason it appeared was the carbon dosing issue I mentioned a few posts ago. The tubing that carries the vinegar became clogged with what appeared to be bacteria mat. Not sure why it developed, but it inhibited the flow and the tank wasn't receiving any scheduled doses. I fixed the issue and the cyano is now completely gone and the sand is snow white. I pretty much just let it run it's course after cleaning the line and the vessel that holds the vinegar.
Thanks Bilk,
That was one of the things i tought i had, but i overdose carbon and nothing happen. :(
I'll continue working on it :)
Thanks again.
 
This thing is coming along. very clean

Thanks zachhll. Though it's not quite 6mo old, I'm really enjoying seeing it mature.

Thanks Bilk,
That was one of the things i tought i had, but i overdose carbon and nothing happen. :(
I'll continue working on it :)
Thanks again.

I think patients and not overreacting is the order of the day. I saw the cyano and didn't let it bother me to the point I started doing all sorts of things. Cyano, various alga, diatoms and even dinoflagellates come and go in most all systems. How one reacts is usually the most important factor in what happens next. Sometimes doing little to nothing is the better course of action.

I wouldn't suggest "overdosing" carbon, but maybe experiment some with a slight increase in the amount. Set a deadline for improvement and then look at something else that might be the cause such as flow. Actually that might be the first thing to look at.

I discovered the clogged tubing. Prior to actually digging into the issue I thought it might have been the addition of some fish - which in all actuality, it may have been that coupled with the fact the carbon dosing wasn't occurring.

A couple of new pics :)


This one was taken thru the back glass before I added the new background. Guess these will be a rarity now :)

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FTS with new background.

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Looking to find a happy location for this frag from a club member :)

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