Introduction

[maxvitek]

I thought I would take a minute to introduce my meager effort at keeping a reef tank. Here are the details:

75 gallon DT
sump and (soon) refugium totaling ~15 gallons
2 x 96W quad - actinic & daylight
6 LED stunners, 1 additional LED from same manufacturer, slightly brighter
ASM Mini G protein skimmer
DIY bubble screen
ATO
Rio 2500 return
Tunze 6025 for movement
1-2" sandbed
50lbs of bali live rock
RO/DI system
corals: toadstool, rose finger, star polyp, zoos, some species of hitchhiking platy, green mushrooms, hammer coral, two more hitchhiking small polyps, and two corals with names that escape me.
livestock: CUC, six-line wrasse, two springer damsels, emerald crab

I recently took out all of the live rock and went over it with a BBQ skewer and flashlight looking for hitchhiking crabs, of which I had 9. 8 were captured and the 9th appears to be of the mithrax variety (scooped claws).

So far I've lost a torch coral, which I bought in poor condition (for cheap), a sailfin blenny to two sally light-foot crabs which I have since removed, and before the live rock removal there was a frequent clicking noise and hermit shells showing up with holes in them. When I removed the rock, I did NOT find any shrimp of the pistol or mantis sorts. So I don't think I'm off the hook with the predation issue.

I'm somewhat concerned for the hammer corals since one of the stalks appears to be croaking, and since the rock removal the other stalk doesn't appear to be thriving as well as before. I've changed ~1/3rd of the water in the last 3 weeks and will continue 10 gallon weekly changes until I achieve total stability.

Anything you would arrange different, pls offer your advice. Pics attached:

 

[maxvitek]

more pics.

I should also mention that the tank is going on 5 months now. Extra points to anyone who can identify what that coral is in the middle of the star polyps. It appears to have small tentacles that sting the nearest neighbors and keeps them closed.

 

[dots]

Welcome to Reef Central!! It looks like your on your way.....the best thing I can recommend is get into a schedule of husbandry and maintenance to make sure small problems don't become larger problems over time....as most can be avoided this way.

:thumbsup:

 

[AaronM]

Nice setup! Like your green coraline! I have a few small patches, wish they'd take off more.

Whats in the punnet?

What do you think the blood red patches are in pic 3 and 4 of 2nd lot of pics? I have some of that...i have an idea of what it is...wanna know what others think...

 

[Ethan_W]

red coraline or cyano

 

[Mavrk]

Nice setup! Like your green coraline! I have a few small patches, wish they'd take off more.

Whats in the punnet?

What do you think the blood red patches are in pic 3 and 4 of 2nd lot of pics? I have some of that...i have an idea of what it is...wanna know what others think...

red coralline. it comes in different colors.

 

[AaronM]

Mmmm. I had 3 thoughts: Cyano, true red algae, or coraline. Re. coraline, heres why i think thats least likely: It's more slippery than coraline to touch, it reacts alot quicker than coraline to lights out for a few days, and it increases when i overfeed/ AA dose. I think a type of red algae or a type of cyano, but i'm not sure which. I could be wrong if different types of coraline act very differently...

Wonder what maxvitek thinks too...

 

[maxvitek]

In those photos, I think it's coralline algae. I appear to have 4 colors of coralline: purple, pink, green and crimson. I've also had some small cyno-bacteria patches, but only on the sandbed and they've mostly gone away since I started the 10% weekly changes 3 weeks ago. Before that, I did 10% a month and must have built up some pollutants.

That tupperware in the front of the tank contains the 8 crabs I captured. Of those, 3 appear to be mithrax crabs, 2 are definitely predatory xanthids (squat, grey, beady red eyes), and there are 2 more that are hairy with dark brown/black predatory-looking claws. (Only 7 because someone in there ate the 8th.) I was thinking of keeping all of them in the refugium when it arrives, rather than killing them. Any thoughts? Oh and I have another quarter-sized grey one that lives in a different tupperware in the sump. Aside from the fact that eventually the grey ones will eat all of the other ones, any ideas on what to do with them?

 

[AaronM]

I'm still not convinced its coraline. Ever touched it? I wonder why i've never seen patches of it (like your sweet green coraline) spread on ppls glass, or rocks covered in it. I have pink, purple, green too..and the crimson...which i think is a different type of algae...or maybe a type of cyano. It looks exactly the same.

Oh o.k. Ha cannibal action. I hope someone else can help you with that.

[edit]...maybe it is red coraline. I dunno. I wonder why it reacts very differently to nutrients, light, and feels different... Is red corraline a bit of an umbrella term which includes (other) red algae similar to corraline in form?

 

[Canadian Reefer]

Take pics of the crabs. The hairy ones sound like gorilla crabs and they are nasty buggers. Nice tank keep it slow and enjoy the hobby

 

[evolutionracr]

Just watch the gsp, they will spread and mat to all of your other rocks and they will overtake your rockwork in no time

 

[maxvitek]

I'd like them to spread a bit on the rock I set them on. But beyond that, I was thinking that I would trim them somehow to contain them. Anyone use techniques like this? "frag" them maybe and sell the surplus?


Also, I'd like to get sure a bit more livestock. I don't want to overstock the tank, but here is my wishlist:

-LTA
-pair of perculas
-sailfin blenny
-something to stir the sediment -- echinoderm of some kind. recommendations?

add to that my current 2 springer damsels and 1 six-line wrasse. would that constitute a "light" to "medium" bioload for a system of this size? (~90 gals total, 75 display) That's what I'm going for. Thanks!

 

[Ethan_W]

In those photos, I think it's coralline algae. I appear to have 4 colors of coralline: purple, pink, green and crimson. I've also had some small cyno-bacteria patches, but only on the sandbed and they've mostly gone away since I started the 10% weekly changes 3 weeks ago. Before that, I did 10% a month and must have built up some pollutants.

That tupperware in the front of the tank contains the 8 crabs I captured. Of those, 3 appear to be mithrax crabs, 2 are definitely predatory xanthids (squat, grey, beady red eyes), and there are 2 more that are hairy with dark brown/black predatory-looking claws. (Only 7 because someone in there ate the 8th.) I was thinking of keeping all of them in the refugium when it arrives, rather than killing them. Any thoughts? Oh and I have another quarter-sized grey one that lives in a different tupperware in the sump. Aside from the fact that eventually the grey ones will eat all of the other ones, any ideas on what to do with them?

the hairy ones with dark claws sound like gorilla crabs. a lot of people confuse them for emeralds sometimes at the LFS. but once they molt they practically double in size and start eating corals and things. i say throw them all into the sump and let them do as they like