OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef

[sherm71tank]

Hey Jonathan, can the litermeter be used for small amounts of dosing? Say, 50 ml per day?

 

[Sparkss]

Blue eyed and hairy in a coral crab are both indicators that it is a "bad" crab, just FYI. If that coral is not looking it's best, I can guarantee that he is the cause. I have seen them literally rip the flesh off of an acro's ekelton and start munching on it. From our experience they start doing this closer to the trunk of the coral, versus starting at the tips, so you might not even notice the damage until it is too late.


We also got our replacement Vortec in today.. wow is that thing noisy !!!! None of our other 3 were anything like this one.. I am going to give it a couple of days, as others have posted (including IC/ETM) to see if "the bearing settles in and sets itself". *sigh*. I popped hte old wet end back on and it was purring like a kitten, so it is definitely the new wet end. If it doesn't "shut up" then I will just keep the old wet end and send the new one back with the old driver

 

[jnarowe]

Sherman: yes. it can dose out any amount up to its continuous duty rating, but that would be some really long hose though don't you think?

Tom: They usually are noisy when first introduced or after being cleaned. It takes a while to find its "center".
Oh, and I checked the coral very carefully for damage and couldn't find any except for the couple tips I bashed while mesing with the crab. I appreciate the encouragement though. I understand that some people really like these crabs so maybe I can find it a home.

 

[jnarowe]

Something else I forgot to mention: A while back I got a yellow cup coral that looked great for a couple months and then deteriorated rapidy. I moved it to the back so it couldn't be seen from the viewing room and in a spot where it would get relatively very little flow and light. So today I decided to move it to a better spot in the hopes of rejuvinating it, but when I pulled it out, I discovered several live polyps. The coral tissue essentially looks dead, but polyps are trying to survive. Sort of cool I guess because I had written it off.

 

[sherm71tank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9057573#post9057573 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Sherman: yes. it can dose out any amount up to its continuous duty rating, but that would be some really long hose though don't you think?

:lol:

I'm pondering one with the remote unit for dosing my two part.

 

[jnarowe]

spendy but nice for 2-part since it meters out throughout the day instead of big shot all at once. It's really convenient and doesn't take up a bunch of space either. Just need a couple of jugs to feed it and each pump head can have a seperate program. Next time you come by I'll show you it and the manual.

 

[jnarowe]

Well here is the little bugger:

It definitely has the blue eyes. Those back "legs" are sort of dragged behind it...so what does everyone think?

I also popped in another 20 peppermint shrimp tonight. Got them at the LFS for $5/ea.

 

[KingfishJohn]

That'd be an acro eating one

 

[jnarowe]

well I guess that's why that coral head has been having problems. It's a wild colony and also has a few vermatid holes in it.

 

[Sparkss]

that is definitely one of the "bad" crabs.. and as has been posted, they will eat the acros. Glad that you were able to get him out

 

[melev]

It kinda looks like the two I put <b>in</b> my reef two months ago. Oops.

 

[Atlantis Aquariums]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9068600#post9068600 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
It kinda looks like the two I put <b>in</b> my reef two months ago. Oops.

I see those evil things in waves from time to time. If you ever want any I will be more than glad to send them your way Free of charge.

Marvin

 

[melev]

Gee thanks, Marvin. That's really good of you.


























not.

 

[Atlantis Aquariums]

Just a little delirious, I have been up too many hours and still acclimating a shipment I personally remove or poke those crabs very hard with a toothpick. Evil little things but my in house triggers seem to have a special liking for them

Marvin

 

[jnarowe]

Well, it is currently in my overflow sucked up against a BH screen. Hate to kill the thing but if no one wants it locally, it's going down. My wife already asked me if we could eat it and when I told her it is smaller than a dime, she offered me $2.99 for it. :lol:

 

[krajacich]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9069867#post9069867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
My wife already asked me if we could eat it and when I told her it is smaller than a dime, she offered me $2.99 for it. :lol:

Take it....that's a great deal

 

[jnarowe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9068817#post9068817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Atlantis Aquariums
Just a little delirious, I have been up too many hours and still acclimating a shipment I personally remove or poke those crabs very hard with a toothpick. Evil little things but my in house triggers seem to have a special liking for them

Marvin

Thanks for that. I can take him to an LFS with triggers and let them have a snack!

 

[Sparkss]

that is where most of our hitchiker crabs end up.. in a trigger's (or two) belly at the LFS

 

[jnarowe]

quick update:

Still struggling to keep Ca levels up. I think I may need to change when my CO2 starts up.

Did some preventative surgery today on the large purple/blue polyp encrusting monti. Such a beautiful piece but it has shown a little RTN over the last few days. I broke off a couple frags too, with one gong to Sherman's tank in case I have a tank crash.

I cut off the RTN part, which really was not easy, and then did an iodine dip. The coral slimed quite a bit while I was handling it. The frags look great, and I am waiting for the parent to recover.

I had another coral, an acro, start to RTN on a couple finger tips so I snipped those off as well. It really is strange how my water parameters were absolutely dead on for so long, and now I am having so much trouble with it. Alk was 8.6 dKh, so that seems to be OK.

 

[Hop]

Have you checked you mag levels? I'm sure you did, but if they were low, I could see the Ca issue, followed by a pH issue, Co2 levels etc. And if mag is up... What are you using to keep it up?