New H. Magnifica (Ritteri)

[Raeloni]

So on Tuesday I brought this new addition home. It had a rough flight. Shipping was like 2 days and it was late to the airport by about 8 hours. When we opened the box the water was really greyish, mouth was gapping and spewing some brown stuff so we put it immediately into new water with flow on it. once it seemed to perk up we bagged it and transferred it to my home aquarium. there I drip acclimated it for about an hour, mouth closed, its foot was weak but still trying to attach. It seemed to be doing well. The picture I took was on Thursday night. After my clowns found it. I tried to feed it a small piece of scallop Thursday night (about 1/4") and though it seemed to try to grab at it, it let it go. I tried putting it in for about 30 mins. It would hold on to it for about 5 mins each time then let it go, or flow would push it out. Today I went to spot feed my corals and I squirted some Mysis all around it. It still never took anything and within about 30 mins all the food and be either let go or blow my flow out of the Ritteri. Its mouth is a little open today also. Questions are: Should I be worried that it is not eating yet? Should I be trying something different to feed? Should I be trying a different technique?

Tank is 90 Gal Mixed reef
Has been up and running 8 months
aquatic life 6-54w t5 fixture. in the process of changing to brand new blubs 2 new ones in every week until change all the way.
SG 1.0255
PH 8.4
KH 10
Nitrite 0
nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Phos .1
CA 360

This picture it this morning the lights have been on only about 30-45 mins

 

[bradleym]

When I got mine I didn't even try to feed them for the first week. I wouldn't worry about it. They usually won't eat until they are feeling good anyway.

 

[Raeloni]

ok, that puts me at ease a little bit.

I was looking though the mag show off thread and saw a video, I know they like alot of flow so I took a video of mine. The mouth has closed back up but I'm not sure if I should move the wave maker to there is less flow directly on him or if it looks good

Never mind the football game playing in the background lol

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[worm5406]

Look at this video:

This video is when the pumps are off so the food can float around. I just spot fed him so YES... his mouth is a tad bit big.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/V26CJ5IFjX8?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853"></iframe>

This is normal flow after everything else was done eating. It was still putting it in. Watch to the end to see how the flow varies a bit. Interesting to watch how it slowly moves it then the next pulse moves it even more. It seems very happy and has not moved any more. It was shriveled up this AM.. I think I blasted it with bright light too early before it had a chance to wake up.. (HAHAHA) I cut them back. I Just got in my STEVELED's controllers so I can make my LED's ramp up on my APEX instead of CLICK.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P_kJrSeKT3s?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="853"></iframe>


I see your powerhead pump away... Mine gets its flow from opposite side of tank from an MP40 on lagoon random (not the slow easy one)

 

[GoTRiCe19]

I was like you. Very worried first 2 weeks. But giving good water pram, lighting, flow, and a smooth flat rock. It should aclimate in no time. How big is it?

 

[Raeloni]

It is about the size of a salad plate. Bigger than I wanted. It is pretty shriveled up this morning and has moved out of the flow. Looks like it is pooping too. Should I move the flow back onto it when it moves or just let it do it's thing? I also noticed a slight increase in ammonia at .15 this morning to I'm going to do a water change.

 

[GoTRiCe19]

don't move it. Let it be. The black ball stuff it is release is normal. It is adjusting to your system. It will expell waste and intake clean water. Do a water change. And monitor it over the next two weeks. Should stop deflating after two weeks. Best to leave it be but try feeding couple times to see if it takes. People don't recommend this but I'm s firm believer in feeding nems to regain strength

 

[Raeloni]

So after about a 10% water change yesterday my Ammonia is back to 0 this am. It still deflates after the moonlight LEDS go off until about 3-4 hours the regular light are on. will just keep watch and thanks for all the info guys. will post more pics when things happen

 

[Raeloni]

So current update

It has been 2 weeks now. The thing it eating like a champ. was snatching mysis shrimp out when I fed lastnight so I gave it 2 small 1/4 inch pieces of scallops. Thing actully stung me when it grabbed my finger. Note to self need to start feeding with tweezers or something. Made my finger tingle and feel really warm for about 2 hours.

Oh a side note. Now the questions.

I seem to have a cyano outbreak starting to form. everything I'm reading seems to say lights out for 3 days. Is this going to be an issue for the new Ritteri? And I'm in the process of changing my old Bulbs to new ATI bulbs, so far I have only changed 2 of the six, could the brighter lights be causing the outbreak?

 

[GoTRiCe19]

How old is the tank? Lights out is only a band aid. What kind of water do you use for water change and top off? What is your light period? Are you running gfo or a fuge? Might be just a stage your tank is going thru. Are you sure its cryno

 

[Raeloni]

Tank is 8 months old. I use RODI that I purchase from LFS and they use IO for salt. Dawk/Dusk (which has one new bulb and one old bulb) comes on at 10am-10pm The other 4 run 11am-9pm Then the 6 lunar LEDS run from 9:45pm until 7am. I do have a fuge in my sump with a small amount of cheato in it. I need to get a better light down there to keep it going. Right now only have about an kiwi size amount. The light runs from 2am until 11am. I did put an older bag of PhosX I found in my fish bin to help clear out the .1-.25 phosphates I have had since start up. Added that about 3 days ago when I notice the algea starting to grow. its only good for a 25 gallon tank, so in my 90 I'm not even sure if it's doing good. I believe it is cyano from the pics I have been seeing. I have some pics on my phone I will try to upload sometime tonight or tomorrow if you need clearity. Just not sure how well you can see it. I thought at first it was another Diatom bloom, then got redder and stringier and seems to trap small airbubbles in it. I used to have to clean my glass about every 4-5 days and now I have this film on it within 24 hours.

 

[Raeloni]

Ok I got some pics to upload. hopefully you can see them well enough

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[GoTRiCe19]

don't think its cyano. Looks like brown hair algae or brown turf algae.

 

[Raeloni]

Well I will test my water when I get home and see what my numbers are up to, and any ideas what to do about it would be helpful. It's on my Zoas were they don't want to open and I hope it's not killing them

I saw this link and the picture of the barnicles is what mine looks alot like

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2209055&highlight=nuisance+algae

Personally when I found this thread I thought it was Calothrix

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2030921&highlight=nuisance+algae

 

[Raeloni]

Ok Updated numbers

Temp 79-80.9

SG 1.0255
PH 8.0 (little low)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia .1
Phosphate .15
KH 9.5
CA 360-380

Since a small hint of ammonia and low PH I'm planning a water change tomorrow.
My Skimmer has been going nuts too. I like to skim alittle wet but I can't get the thing to stay steady recently.
Any input would be greatful

 

[GoTRiCe19]

How old was the phosx and did you rinse it before you put it in? Its could make your Skimmer go crazy. It might have added a bit of ammonia. Water change would be your best bet and to keep everything stable and back at where it should be. I would look into running a reactor with gfo. Not expenive at all and it helped me with phosphate. Keep updating.

 

[Raeloni]

The Phosx was probably 5 years old I was looking for a expiration date and never found one. I did not rinse it before I put it in. Was unaware I should have.
I got my skimmer to calm down. The algae seems to be growing more in high flow areas too, if that helps any.
When I do the water change, should I try to scrap the rocks and glass and everything or is that just going to release more spores and make it worse. It does not seem to be on my Zoas as bad this morning.

Any good recommendations for a decent GFO I should go with?
Thanks again

 

[GoTRiCe19]

as for rocks with algae I think its brown hair algae. I have it too in high flow area. Since I double my gfo its going down. Brs has some good review for gfo. If you can remove the rock scrub them in a bucket then rinse in another bucket. All with the tank water you just removed.

 

[Raeloni]

Ok so my nem is starting to ball up. I have seen pics of this, I hope it's not a bad sign

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And then I made a short video of the algea, so you can see the strings and the high flow areas that it seems to be growing worse in. when the full lights came on, it is still on my zoas unfortunatly.

Not sure the video really turned out that great, but you can mainly see it by the powerheads and on them

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[worm5406]

Can you try two days of lights out...

Just pretend it is a hurricane. Nothing in the tank will care that much for two days of lights out. (including the blues) and if you have a lot of indirect (window) light close the blinds/shades.

See what the algae looks like then.