DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Hi Mindy, do they also disturb rock structures?
Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015
- Thread starter Myka
- Start date
Hi Mindy, do they also disturb rock structures?
Myka
Reefing since '93
Not that I know of. Maybe when they get big? They do get very large, maybe 12" across their spines. You can trim their spines, but I'm not sure if that causes them pain or not?? :hmm2: They don't carry things around like Tuxedo Urchins, so they leave frag plugs alone.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Thanks for sharing your recipe idea Mindy. If I remember correctly, Paul B suggests that squid is not a good fish food because of its high muscle content.
Myka
Reefing since '93
They do need space to maneuver, the smaller they are the less space they need. Their mouths are in the middle of their body and they don't climb on the corals, so they are limited by their body size. As far as I know, the Long Spine (Diadema) Urchins are the only ones we commonly see that may or may not eat Bubble Algae. I think it's like Emerald Crabs where it is hit or miss, but there's a good number that will eat it.
Hi Bülent! Thank you for mentioning the squid. Squid is low fat, low protein, and is a good filler to help prevent Fatty Liver Disease in older/mature fish.
http://www.saltwatersmarts.com/fatty-liver-disease-captive-marine-fishes-4836/
Also, I can't find any links for you, but Matt Wittenrich's book The Complete Illustrated Breeders Guide to Marine Aquariums Fishes says don't include more than 25% squid by weight "as an excess of squid often leads to dietary dysfunctions." Unfortunately he doesn't go into more detail.
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Myka
Reefing since '93
Hey, thanks for asking! I get a lot of diatoms in the tank, but this has always been the case any time I tried to increase nutrients be it from dosing NO3, feeding more, or now the Xtra. I cut back from 2.25 mL to 1 mL per day about 3 weeks ago and also turned the T5s up 15% (over time), and notice the corals lighten up again, so I'm going to increase to 2 mL starting today and see how that pans out. I haven't tested anything besides alkalinity since the last posted tests, so I'm not sure what NO3 and PO4 are up to. I imagine the diatoms are soaking a lot of it up. I have to clean the glass every second day.
The Long Spine Urchin continues to eat the burgundy turf algae, and nibbles at the Bubble Algae, but doesn't really attack it. He DOES however, munch M. setosa. He was eating the edges of it where it meets the rock. I moved him off it, and he hasn't gone back again, so at least he's not obsessive over it.
Myka
Reefing since '93
Thanks for checking in Mark! I've been so busy this fall/winter! I've been wondering how everyone's tanks have been doing, but I haven't had the time to catch up on any threads. 
I would feel like an *** updating mine, but not looking at anyone else!
For updates...
- Pablo ate Streaker. Streaker put up a good fight though and was stuck in Pablo's gullet for 4 days. RIP Streaker (scroll up on this page for a pic of him).
- I had a streak of 5 weeks with no water changes, and finally got one done last Sunday. Color has faded in the last couple weeks because of that. I've tested alkalinity a few times in this span, it's good. I checked PO4 too because I was experimenting with the testing process. It was 0 ppb again. Grrr. Haven't checked anything else.
- Corals are growing at a decent rate.
- When I added Pablo on July 15th, I didn't quarantine him. I had new fish for clients' tanks in my quarantine tank, and Pablo came from a tank that didn't have any new fish added for almost a year. It also had an Achilles Tang that never showed a spot of Ich in 2 years it was in there. I figured the risk was low. Well, the risk was still there, and my tank has had Ich ever since. It's a very mild strain, but once every 3 weeks or some of the fish get a few spots - mainly the Gramma, the Tomini Tang, and the Clowns. I've never seen a spot on Pablo or Streaker (RIP) or Snoopy or Red Eye. Anyway, I'm going to pull the rock out this weekend, catch all the fish, put them in my QT. Snoopy is harassing Pablo, so I'm pressured to get this done soon.
I'm going to trade off a few fish to friends for various reasons. Skipper (Tomini Tang) is getting too big, and was never planned to be a permanent resident. Snoopy (Yellow Coris Wrasse) has been bugging Pablo, and now Pablo won't come out to eat. Margaret (Royal Gramma) I still haven't decided on - she would be a good fit in a client's tank, so I may adopt her out, and Red Eye (Pajama Cardinal) same thing.
That just leaves me with Thing One and Thing Two (Onyx clowns), Pablo (Pelicier's Perchlet), and Big Bad John (Johnson's Wrasse, he's not big or bad lol). After their 14-day Ich treatment I'll buy a small system and put them in there temporarily. If I lost any one of these fish I'd be absolutely heart-broken, so they will be well taken care of. Will use Coppersafe rather than Cupramine or Chloroquine phosphate because it's more wrasse-safe.
- I haven't hooked up that halide fixture yet. Dangit. I do have my T5 turned up though. Blues have been at 12 hours 100% for a long time. Whites have been increased from 5 hours 70% to 6 hours 100% over the last couple months.
- Still dosing Pohl's Xtra 2 mL per night, skimmer off for the night.
- Bubble Algae is still a real problem, and has been sucking out the small amount of nutrients that I've managed to put in the tank. The Long Spine Urchin is not eating it anywhere near fast enough, and the Urchin chews on Acros and Montis. Doesn't kill anything, but chews on them. He's going into a FO tank today. When the tank is fishless I'm going to add a small Naso Tang and a couple BIG male Emerald Crabs to get rid of the Bubble Algae. I'll remove these before putting my fish back in. Naso will have to be out before I can start the 76-day fallow period. *grumble*
I'll try to take some pics this weekend. I usually do Jan 1st photo shoot, but I didn't do that this year.
I would feel like an *** updating mine, but not looking at anyone else!For updates...
- Pablo ate Streaker. Streaker put up a good fight though and was stuck in Pablo's gullet for 4 days. RIP Streaker (scroll up on this page for a pic of him).
- I had a streak of 5 weeks with no water changes, and finally got one done last Sunday. Color has faded in the last couple weeks because of that. I've tested alkalinity a few times in this span, it's good. I checked PO4 too because I was experimenting with the testing process. It was 0 ppb again. Grrr. Haven't checked anything else.
- Corals are growing at a decent rate.
- When I added Pablo on July 15th, I didn't quarantine him. I had new fish for clients' tanks in my quarantine tank, and Pablo came from a tank that didn't have any new fish added for almost a year. It also had an Achilles Tang that never showed a spot of Ich in 2 years it was in there. I figured the risk was low. Well, the risk was still there, and my tank has had Ich ever since. It's a very mild strain, but once every 3 weeks or some of the fish get a few spots - mainly the Gramma, the Tomini Tang, and the Clowns. I've never seen a spot on Pablo or Streaker (RIP) or Snoopy or Red Eye. Anyway, I'm going to pull the rock out this weekend, catch all the fish, put them in my QT. Snoopy is harassing Pablo, so I'm pressured to get this done soon.
I'm going to trade off a few fish to friends for various reasons. Skipper (Tomini Tang) is getting too big, and was never planned to be a permanent resident. Snoopy (Yellow Coris Wrasse) has been bugging Pablo, and now Pablo won't come out to eat. Margaret (Royal Gramma) I still haven't decided on - she would be a good fit in a client's tank, so I may adopt her out, and Red Eye (Pajama Cardinal) same thing.
That just leaves me with Thing One and Thing Two (Onyx clowns), Pablo (Pelicier's Perchlet), and Big Bad John (Johnson's Wrasse, he's not big or bad lol). After their 14-day Ich treatment I'll buy a small system and put them in there temporarily. If I lost any one of these fish I'd be absolutely heart-broken, so they will be well taken care of. Will use Coppersafe rather than Cupramine or Chloroquine phosphate because it's more wrasse-safe.
- I haven't hooked up that halide fixture yet. Dangit. I do have my T5 turned up though. Blues have been at 12 hours 100% for a long time. Whites have been increased from 5 hours 70% to 6 hours 100% over the last couple months.
- Still dosing Pohl's Xtra 2 mL per night, skimmer off for the night.
- Bubble Algae is still a real problem, and has been sucking out the small amount of nutrients that I've managed to put in the tank. The Long Spine Urchin is not eating it anywhere near fast enough, and the Urchin chews on Acros and Montis. Doesn't kill anything, but chews on them. He's going into a FO tank today. When the tank is fishless I'm going to add a small Naso Tang and a couple BIG male Emerald Crabs to get rid of the Bubble Algae. I'll remove these before putting my fish back in. Naso will have to be out before I can start the 76-day fallow period. *grumble*
I'll try to take some pics this weekend. I usually do Jan 1st photo shoot, but I didn't do that this year.
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DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I like the latest individual photos of your Acros Mindy. The above is my favourite in this latest set.
Today:
I love this aquascape and space you have provided for your fish. The red anemone is very eye-catching. I hope you solve the ick problem without any fish losses.
FoothillCorals
Premium Member
Very nice! Good growth and color. Great job.
Do you still use any Aquaforest products?
Do you still use any Aquaforest products?
Myka
Reefing since '93
Thank you Bülent. That Acro is a wild Aussie piece that I thought I had ID'd as microclados, but someone suggested nasuta. I don't know how to ID a piece where the wild structure looks VERY different from the captive structure!
Thank you for your comment on the aquascape. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I'm not sure "we" ever are, right? Haha! The fish are doing well in the QT so far. I just got the copper up to therapeutic level, and the wrasses are doing well, so that's a good sign.
Thank you! I just use the Probiotic salt and the Components 1+2+3+ for dosing. I really like the Components! I don't use the AF foods. In my tank Pohl's Xtra works better than the AF foods.
Thanks Matt!
Beautiful FTS! All the individual pieces appear to be very colorful and healthy too.
That is a lot of frags marinating on the bottom. You will soon be looking to place those those on the live rock.
Are you good on space or will you add to or change the landscape to accommodate?
Also I wanted to comment on the bubble and burgundy turf algae. I had quite a bit of these two. The bubble in the sump and the Burgundy in the display. I bought urchins after reading your report a while back They ate a little but not much. I then purchased 6 or 8 small to mid size Turbo Snails. They ate a little of the burgundy but not much either. But then my bubble algae started to turn clear and floating off and disappearing. The Burgundy algae started to recede rapidly. Now it is nearly completely gone.
My thoughts are that they did not eat the algae but rather the waste/ food that was causing the algae. When the algae was disappearing, my phosphate reading first went up [I think because there was suddenly less algae consuming it] then it crashed maybe too quickly. I was also dosing up some nitrates. Regardless, the bubble and burgundy has rapidly receded and disappeared.
My theory is that nitrates feed the green hair algae and the phosphates feed the bubble and burgundy. I probably had a phosphate issue but it was being covered by the algae consumption. The only change I made was Turbo snails and pushed my nitrates up above ten.
Don't know if this is of value to you but it was my experience in my algae war. Now with less algae consuming my nutrients more seems to be available for my corals.
That is a lot of frags marinating on the bottom. You will soon be looking to place those those on the live rock.
Are you good on space or will you add to or change the landscape to accommodate?
Also I wanted to comment on the bubble and burgundy turf algae. I had quite a bit of these two. The bubble in the sump and the Burgundy in the display. I bought urchins after reading your report a while back They ate a little but not much. I then purchased 6 or 8 small to mid size Turbo Snails. They ate a little of the burgundy but not much either. But then my bubble algae started to turn clear and floating off and disappearing. The Burgundy algae started to recede rapidly. Now it is nearly completely gone.
My thoughts are that they did not eat the algae but rather the waste/ food that was causing the algae. When the algae was disappearing, my phosphate reading first went up [I think because there was suddenly less algae consuming it] then it crashed maybe too quickly. I was also dosing up some nitrates. Regardless, the bubble and burgundy has rapidly receded and disappeared.
My theory is that nitrates feed the green hair algae and the phosphates feed the bubble and burgundy. I probably had a phosphate issue but it was being covered by the algae consumption. The only change I made was Turbo snails and pushed my nitrates up above ten.
Don't know if this is of value to you but it was my experience in my algae war. Now with less algae consuming my nutrients more seems to be available for my corals.
Myka
Reefing since '93
Thanks Mark.
Not much going on in there...it's at the awkward/boring stage of being too old to be a "new build" and too young to be grown in. :lol: Give it another year and it will be ok. Thanks Kevin! Thanks for checking in.
Ha, those frags are driving me nuts! 3 of them are a friend's from a Fragbox order last October that he hasn't picked up yet. :lol: 2 of them are recent trades with a friend (a Tenuis and a blue Mille which will replace my current "meh" blue Mille). All the others are accidental frags I made when I took the rock out and caught all the fish, and a couple mini colonies that I fragged up and am kicking out of the tank. You're right though, I don't have much space left. Next week I have arriving an Oregon Tort, a tenuis, and maybe Chip's Acro if I'm lucky. Not sure where they're going...might replace others. :lol:
Yeah, the Long Spine Urchin eats bother the burgundy turf and the Bubble Algae, but not enough to eradicate either. The Long Spine chews on Acros - mainly the setosa, but he likes the purple polyp nasuta too. He's going to a new home today. When I caught the fish out I added 2 XL Strawberry Top Hats, 2 big male Emerald Crabs, and 1 Tuxedo Urchin. I think the big male Emeralds are making a difference in the Bubble Algae, but I've been attacking it manually too, so give it a couple weeks and revisit. I do have 2 or 3 XL Mexican Turbos in there already, a bunch of Ring Cowries, a dozen or so Scarlet Hermits, a dozen or so Cerith Snails, 4 or 5 Orange Lipped Conchs.
I totally agree with you that the Bubble Algae and burgundy turf are eating up some nutrients. My experience is that both algae can live off hopes and dreams though, needing very little nutrients to survive. Especially the Bubble Algae - in ULNS the Bubble is the last to leave. I'll get it figured out, I just need to make sure I spend enough time on the tank. I've been so busy since last fall that I just haven't been maintaining it properly.
I do have Sodium nitrate, and could try dosing for a few weeks to see what may happen...thanks for the tip! Last time I tried NO3 dosing on this tank though I bottomed out PO4 to absolute zero (my theory), and put the Acros in a perilous state. I'm waiting for some SeaChem Flourish Phosphorus to show up so I can dose both.
I think this is what happened to me. The Turbo Snails were a huge addition to the clean up crew. then I ran up the nitrate to 20 or so. I dropped from .18 phosphate to .01 in one week. The only seriously affected was my Ponape Bird'sNest. Several branches bleach from the center stalk out halfway to the tips. Anyway. I have not found anything that really likes to eat the Burgundy Turf. Unless they are midnight snackers on the stuff. I think that lowering the phosphates are what is making it recede. The crazy thing is that until I added the turbos and raised nitrate, I only showed .03 to .08 on tests. After one week of receding algae the phosphate climbed to .18. After the second week it crashed to .01.
Good Luck .
I really enjoy viewing your tank. Keeping posting updates on your opinion on the Pohls Xtra, please.
Thanks
Kevin
