My Black Ocellaris pair are spawning!!!

[bexar]

We're on a city system. After what happened (contaminated RO machine at Albertson's), We're installing an RO unit today!

I've read that a change in pH can make the Ammonia levels more toxic. We’re testing all the grow systems separately right now. On one of our grow out tanks we’re using an Aquion 20. That tank has a constant ammonia level of 8, no matter what we do! Tonight we’re putting it on a sump system.

On one hand I’m hoping the death of our False Perc brood stock was do to the RO machine. That way I can look at it as, what’s done is done. Although, what lingers in the back of my head is that there’s something else going on.?. I hope not because we have 2 Picasso pairs, 2 Darwin pairs and an Onyx pair on that same system. With the build out of the grow out tanks, we don’t have enough room to split the brood stock system quite yet. In other words, all our eggs are in one basket. :-[

Even though having all our breeders in one system was done on purpose. It was always going to be a temporary thing; on the theory that pheromones would cascade from the spawning cubicle thru the non-spawning fish’ cubicles. I think it helped initiate spawning because it’s like a “Love-Fest” in that system! Not a crazy idea until you begin to realize the value of multiple spawning Picasso and Onyx pairs. Now it’s a crazy thing to do and they need to be split up.

 

[rkelman]

I doubt the RO is the issue. I guess potentially it could be but its unlikely. It could get condemned for lack of maintenance documentation who knows. I use tap water in everything. Display broodstock and grow out. (I'm on a well) Ph can make ammonia more toxic but clowns are so resilient to ammonia I don't think that's the issue either. Ok after re reading you are using tap water for the broodstock then ro for the fry? how are you adding it? Just as top off?

 

[bexar]

Broodstock:
Yes we're topping off the broodstock with tap water. But we're also mixing tap with salt when doing water changes. (We always use Amquel with tap).

Fry
We mix ro with salt when starting a fry tank. We top off with ro when salinity rises. (We never use Amquel with ro - unless we need to lower ammonia).

Grow Out:
Same as Fry

(I was under the impression you were using ro for your fry tanks. So we've been using it from the start...?).

I'm going to guess your well water is better than our tap. Believe me, our tap sucks big time!

Bexar

P.S. I think it might be time for me to re-read your entire thread. There's a lot of good information in there. [Your thread was a big part of my recouping. But I was pretty sick when i read it].

 

[rkelman]

Hey sorry I didn't see your message. Ya I've always used tap. I would need a booster pump to run RO and I don't have enough water to spare the waste. If my thread made your life even a touch better when you were sick I'm really honored thank you. Any questions you have feel free to ask. I'll help as much as I can.

 

[bexar]

I'm not trying to be dramatic, but seriously, your thread gave me hope. It was kind of a light at the end of the tunnel thing. We found the pain medicine I was prescribed gave me withdrawals every 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Those withdrawals caused more pain and problems like fibromyalgia. I was so deep into it, I really couldn’t tell up from down (didn’t even realize the doctor’s meds were making things worse, not better!). Now I only take Advil. I still have pain, but not as much or as great. The fibromyalgia is almost gone and we have a hell of a lot of baby Darwins! Those Darwins got me off my back. Again, Thank you!

 

[bexar]

BTW, so far since we installed an ro system things seem to be going better. Mortality rate has dropped significantly. Although we haven't found a replacement for the False Perc yet.

 

[rkelman]

Cool. I'm glad things are looking up. I had a similar experience with pain killers when I busted my knee. I finally just switched to advil and lived with the pain. It beats ending up with an addiction..

 

[bexar]

I second that!

By the way, do you have any recent pictures of your entire system? I'm just curious how things look now.

 

[rkelman]

I don't.. It looks pretty much the same. No changes.

 

[sebastian903]

wow!!! nice thread. my pair of clown fish have been laying eggs about one month ago but i can't do anything, i'm in colombia and is very hard to find some rotifers down here, i hope someday i can find some to have that great experience!! thanks for the thread, is very interesting.

good luck
Sebastian

 

[rkelman]

Thanks. Couldn't you import the rotifers? You could checkout universities. Some may have marine programs and they could supply you some rotifers i'm sure.

 

[EileenLH]

rkelman, how do you control the humidity in your fish room? I realize you're in Canada, but I was wondering if you have that problem? I've started to notice some mold in mine and am wondering about a dehumidifier or an a/c unit to put in the garage.

 

[jo_shua]

rkelman i sent to you a private messages...

 

[sebastian903]

hi rkelman, thanks for your reply, i asked in a forum from colombia and a guy told me that maybe i can find rotifers in the water of my main aquarium, i mean if i take water from my aquarium where i have corals and other fishes, i should find rotifers in the water but first i have to filter that water to be sure that i don't have other animals like copepods or similar and after put some phyto on it to feed the rotifers, do you think that's possible. personally i don't think so, because in my sump i use one 500micron mesh and one filter sock.

thanks

sebastian

 

[vaporize]

hi rkelman, thanks for your reply, i asked in a forum from colombia and a guy told me that maybe i can find rotifers in the water of my main aquarium, i mean if i take water from my aquarium where i have corals and other fishes, i should find rotifers in the water but first i have to filter that water to be sure that i don't have other animals like copepods or similar and after put some phyto on it to feed the rotifers, do you think that's possible. personally i don't think so, because in my sump i use one 500micron mesh and one filter sock.

thanks

sebastian

he probably confused rotifer with copepods, rotifers are not naturally occuring organisms in reef tanks. Rotifer are actually brackish zooplanktons.

Even if it is naturally occuring, you will have a very hard time isolate it out to provide a single strain culture, else it will crash very easily.

 

[jo_shua]

rkelman i need to ask some question when you can send me a private messages

 

[rkelman]

rkelman, how do you control the humidity in your fish room? I realize you're in Canada, but I was wondering if you have that problem? I've started to notice some mold in mine and am wondering about a dehumidifier or an a/c unit to put in the garage.

I run a dehumidifier in the summer and its dry enough here in the winter I don't need anything. I would probably do AC in Florida.. Unless just venting with fans would be sufficient. Fans are cheaper if you can get away with them. You could hook them up to a humidistat.

 

[rkelman]

hi rkelman, thanks for your reply, i asked in a forum from colombia and a guy told me that maybe i can find rotifers in the water of my main aquarium, i mean if i take water from my aquarium where i have corals and other fishes, i should find rotifers in the water but first i have to filter that water to be sure that i don't have other animals like copepods or similar and after put some phyto on it to feed the rotifers, do you think that's possible. personally i don't think so, because in my sump i use one 500micron mesh and one filter sock.

thanks

sebastian

Yes like Vaporize said there is no way you can do that. You'll need to find some rotifers..

 

[rkelman]

rkelman i need to ask some question when you can send me a private messages

Hi I only got 1. Sorry I've been very busy. There is lots of info on this site to help new breeders get started. If you have specific questions I can help but I don't have time to type out an entire how to. Read up and do some research and I can help fill in the blanks if there is any.

 

[madean]

Eileen- if your thinking about putting an ac/dehumidifier unit in you fish room check out ductless ac units. I have been looking into putting an ac/heating unit that is a dehumidifier as well. The unit is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600-700 or so. This is just the unit and not installation. Its basically two units that will go on two sides of an exterior wall. If your not a DIY it will probably run about 1200-1500 to put in. I dont think its hard to do but I guess I am pretty handy, so installing it might be a bigger project than what you are willing to take on. If your not comfortable with electricity than dont even try it. A quick easy calculation semi accurate calculation to find out how energy efficient a unit is is to multiply volts times amps to get power consumed. So if a unit says it draws or consumes 6 amps- multiply by 120 volts to get 720 watts. If you come across a unit that says it draws 10 amps obviously through the math the power consumed will be higher and not as efficient. But depending on how well insulated your fish room is to begin with will also play a factor. If the fish room is the garage like a lot of people do, the insulation is generally non existent. Thats why when you go out there in the summer its significantly warmer than the house sometimes warmer than outside and colder in the winter. So just throughing an ac unit in there to offset the temp in this scenario will just skyrocket your electric bill. You need insulation and best case scenario to actually wall off a room in the garage. The garage door is not a good insulator. But first things first, you need to take care of that mold first. Hopefully its just surface mold on the sheetrock- is your garage sheet rocked or bare studs? bare studs would actually be better. If its not sheet rocked spray the whole garage walls with a mold killer, scrub and spray again. Once your confident the mold is gone than paint the studs with a mold inhibitor type paint. usually white in color and basically it chokes what ever mold is left in the wood (anerobic area now) and cover with sheetrock. If it is sheetrocked than you can take the chance do this on the surface or tear down the rock and do as stated above. I had to gut my bathroom because of mold. The whole bathroom and I was lucky to catch it before it got worse. Mold is no joke take care of it before it affects your living area or you can find yourself living in another area for a while. Kind of surprised no one else caught the mold comment. Good luck