Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail
- Thread starter reefmutt
- Start date
rovster
New member
Beautiful! That's a lot of sticks! I've had luck with evansis with homemade food just ground really well so there are plenty of small bits and pieces they can go after. I maintained 3 of 4 for a year and a half and unfortunately a combination of aggression from a new fish and disease wiped them out. I tried some more that I got eating in QT but never made it to the display. I love them
Alex Costa
Member
Thanks Matt.
Maybe bartllets are a better choice to me so..........
Maybe bartllets are a better choice to me so..........
reefmutt
Active member
Thanks. Yes the tank is getting packed. And I still have so many small frags.. oh well..Beautiful! That's a lot of sticks! I've had luck with evansis with homemade food just ground really well so there are plenty of small bits and pieces they can go after. I maintained 3 of 4 for a year and a half and unfortunately a combination of aggression from a new fish and disease wiped them out. I tried some more that I got eating in QT but never made it to the display. I love them
No Problem! Stephane often has some nice stuff.
We were spared the worst of the storm. But about 2 km away a microburst did major damage to trees, a park, homes and cars. I heard that a whole new section of mtl west is in the dark, today..
Yes! The Bartlett 's look very similar and are waaaay more hardy.
Pife
Active member
Brandon, you're welcome any time!
You never know, I'm in need of a vacation.
What is your favorite fish in your tank?
reefmutt
Active member
Brandon, Montreal is a fantastic city to visit - despite the traffic gridlocking construction on every major artery in the city.
You let me know. My reef is open
I have to say that recently, my interest in fish is on the low side. I haven't added any fish in probably a year because I am so afraid of a while out (I have had two with this tank) and not wanting to raise my nutrients.
I really don't pay much attention to my fish other than to feed them..
Having said that, I do love my anthias because of their activity and movement in the open spaces.
I love my wrasses- melanurus and leopards because of their colours and race car like actions through the rocks.
I love my Bellus angels just because they are so nice.
I love the reclusiveness and pleasant surprise of seeing my golden dwarf angel- despite his polyp picking habits..
I've always loved my blue streak cardinals because of their calm and quiet ability to just hang in a bunch in mid water as the water moves around them, changing directions in unison as the flow changes..
I do like the big splash of 'in your face' that my pyramid butterfly gives..
I also quite enjoy my springeri damsels. I have a big female and two males that keep her happy and laying eggs all the time.
I really love the colour combo of purple and yellow tangs together as well!
And the jerky intense colours of my purple firedish.
My clownfish? Well they are ok and so is my kole tang..
my orange spot goby is always interesting to watch build his massive home and constantly clean my sand..
sorry.. I don't really have a favorite.
You let me know. My reef is open
I have to say that recently, my interest in fish is on the low side. I haven't added any fish in probably a year because I am so afraid of a while out (I have had two with this tank) and not wanting to raise my nutrients.
I really don't pay much attention to my fish other than to feed them..
Having said that, I do love my anthias because of their activity and movement in the open spaces.
I love my wrasses- melanurus and leopards because of their colours and race car like actions through the rocks.
I love my Bellus angels just because they are so nice.
I love the reclusiveness and pleasant surprise of seeing my golden dwarf angel- despite his polyp picking habits..
I've always loved my blue streak cardinals because of their calm and quiet ability to just hang in a bunch in mid water as the water moves around them, changing directions in unison as the flow changes..
I do like the big splash of 'in your face' that my pyramid butterfly gives..
I also quite enjoy my springeri damsels. I have a big female and two males that keep her happy and laying eggs all the time.
I really love the colour combo of purple and yellow tangs together as well!
And the jerky intense colours of my purple firedish.
My clownfish? Well they are ok and so is my kole tang..
my orange spot goby is always interesting to watch build his massive home and constantly clean my sand..
sorry.. I don't really have a favorite.
codydemmel4
Active member
everything is looking great Matt.
How much are you feeding to your fish everyday and are you running gfo at all? I have some algae issues now, hair and turf algae.
How much are you feeding to your fish everyday and are you running gfo at all? I have some algae issues now, hair and turf algae.
reefmutt
Active member
Hey Cody. Thanks.
I'm feeding the fish a heavy pinch of a mix of flake and pellet foods which is enough to fill the water column with floating bits for a couple minutes.
I also feed a mix of 5 frozen cube of mysis, spirulina brine and other seafood mix cubes.
At light out, I add a pinch of reefroids and Fauna Marin's reef Vitality. In a 50/50 mix
I also have a yellow tang in my frag tank who gets a couple tiny flake pinchs a day- we're talking a few flakes each feeding.
I have also recently started adding a pinch of Fauna Marin's new Coral Sprint.. it is the most interestingly smelling marine food I have ever layed my nostrils on!!
My p has been steady at around .14-.17. I have not been using gfo for a year. Last week. As an experiment, I added a little box of Fauna's power phos .04. Enough for a 250g system. It dropped my p only by at most .02.. not a huge change..
I am debating going back to gfo or LC..
My cheato, which grows like a monster has pulled n done from ~50 to ~ 5. It had little effect on p, however..
As for algae in my system, besides a bit of bubble and bryopsis, all other types of algea seem to have completely ceased to grow.. well my front glass could use a whipe every 3 days or so..
I'm feeding the fish a heavy pinch of a mix of flake and pellet foods which is enough to fill the water column with floating bits for a couple minutes.
I also feed a mix of 5 frozen cube of mysis, spirulina brine and other seafood mix cubes.
At light out, I add a pinch of reefroids and Fauna Marin's reef Vitality. In a 50/50 mix
I also have a yellow tang in my frag tank who gets a couple tiny flake pinchs a day- we're talking a few flakes each feeding.
I have also recently started adding a pinch of Fauna Marin's new Coral Sprint.. it is the most interestingly smelling marine food I have ever layed my nostrils on!!
My p has been steady at around .14-.17. I have not been using gfo for a year. Last week. As an experiment, I added a little box of Fauna's power phos .04. Enough for a 250g system. It dropped my p only by at most .02.. not a huge change..
I am debating going back to gfo or LC..
My cheato, which grows like a monster has pulled n done from ~50 to ~ 5. It had little effect on p, however..
As for algae in my system, besides a bit of bubble and bryopsis, all other types of algea seem to have completely ceased to grow.. well my front glass could use a whipe every 3 days or so..
codydemmel4
Active member
Thats great. I was feeding my fish something similar but with the algae I have now (hair and turf) obviously my tank cannot keep up. It makes sense yours can since you have very large colonies and I am sure they help with that.
What is your CUC? Mine is pretty non exisiting with maybe 5 snails and 2 hermits. I would love to keep feeding a lot but also have more nutrient export as I feel the corals would like this strategy more then try to starve out the algae.
reefmutt
Active member
Agreed.
Besides the yellow, purple, and kole tangs, I have many hermit crabs (scarlet) and countless snails. I have probably added close to 200 snails over time.
Whenever I see the beginnings of hair and turf, I pull a 'shock and awe' move and add an army of snails and scarlet hermits..
Don't forget my cheato as well, I'm sure it's doing a lot to combat nuisance algae.
I'm not sure where your nutrients are but if they aren't out of control high, I would keep feeding the same but add an army of algea crazing animals. They will help convert that algea into nutrients for the corals as well as clean things up..
codydemmel4
Active member
nutrients dont show up high at all but obviously the algae is uptaking some of that.
p04 is between 0.04-0.08 on hanna ulr and nitrate is between 4-8 on red sea. my cheato grows an insane amount too.
What snails do you recommend? Also what about blue legged hermits? I dont have any scarlet by me and dont feel like paying overnight for hermit crabs haha
reefmutt
Active member
Nice numbers!
I have always been a fan of scarlet hermits because of how recognizable they are. When you buy them, there is a better change of getting what you ordered. Blue legs are fine, you just have to keep an eye on them as they grow because here's a good chance one or two of them are not blue legs and will grow up to be marauding monsters..
Snails.. I've always been a fan of astreas because they stay smaller and don't push thing around as much but turbos will get the job done the quickest.
An urchin can also put a good dent in algea very quickly..
Another decent snail is the black bodied one that can right itself when it falls off- I forget the name. They are also hearty and good cleaners that don't get monstrous.
To really control the problem, you can't just get a few and hope for the best.
For your sizzle tank, I'd probably get about 50 snails and 30 hermits.
I have always been a fan of scarlet hermits because of how recognizable they are. When you buy them, there is a better change of getting what you ordered. Blue legs are fine, you just have to keep an eye on them as they grow because here's a good chance one or two of them are not blue legs and will grow up to be marauding monsters..
Snails.. I've always been a fan of astreas because they stay smaller and don't push thing around as much but turbos will get the job done the quickest.
An urchin can also put a good dent in algea very quickly..
Another decent snail is the black bodied one that can right itself when it falls off- I forget the name. They are also hearty and good cleaners that don't get monstrous.
To really control the problem, you can't just get a few and hope for the best.
For your sizzle tank, I'd probably get about 50 snails and 30 hermits.
codydemmel4
Active member
I appreciate the insight, i think you are talking about trochus snails? I was going to get a good amount of them. I also want to get some nassarius snails (i know they wont help with this) but I want a clean looking sand bed haha or should I say cleaner looking
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Cody, I strongly recommend orange lipped conches for that purpose. Despite not having much sand bed, I have three conches in my tank. They keep my sand bed very clean.
fishguy597
Member
Don't sand sifting starfish and conches eat the benifical life in the sand bed?
reefmutt
Active member
Really not sure... I think you'd have to define beneficial life. Do you mean worms and other little sand critters or bacteria?
My sand bed in my tank is really only for show. I don't really count on any life in it to benefit my system.
I guess if I had a dsb, I wouldn't add these guys to it.. I'm sure they'd disturb any worms etc but even in a dsb, the denitrification only happens in the lower levels of the sand and I don't think they'd get that deep.
Not sure how far conches burrow. I don't think sand stars go that deep..
watchguy123
New member
Sand beds and critters to keep them clean seems to fall into that hazy category full of conjecture. I have had sand sifting gobies over the years and found that I couldn't keep them alive long term. They seemed to strip the sand bed of whatever they needed. I have "heard" that sand sifting stars also will literally eat themselves out of house and home. So in my tank, I utilize conches which seem to clean the surface of the sand and not really more than that.
Shallow or deep sand bed, stuff lives there and I have always assumed most of it is probably beneficial. So primarily out of ignorance, I don't use sand sifting stars just conches.
Shallow or deep sand bed, stuff lives there and I have always assumed most of it is probably beneficial. So primarily out of ignorance, I don't use sand sifting stars just conches.
