Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank
- Thread starter jason2459
- Start date
jason2459
Well-known member
They are using meds, coper I believe, and would kill the shrimp. Not sure how shrimp handle hypo salinity treatments if that were to be used? I have to give high praise to the double teaming effort my shrimp were providing though in my tank.
SaltLifeLove
Impatient Reefer
:lol: Thanks for the much needed laugh...after the day I had it was needed! :bounce3:
O and congrats on the Mandarins
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Aquarist007
New member
about as well as my pork fish handled ich:lol:
jason2459
Well-known member
Alrighty Ladies and Gents....
Time for some pics. There's one bigger very plump healthy looking guy and one smaller one but still looking very healthy. Now the task to keep them that way. Both have the same colors. Deep reddish with a hint of orange or burgandyish (not the color expert here by far). Green strips. Blue around the face and fins and underbelly. And yellow/orangish freckles on the cheeks. So, not sure if they are red, blue, or green mandarins. Don't really care I love them.
Acclimating
Temperature Adjusting
Mr. Fatty
Time for some pics. There's one bigger very plump healthy looking guy and one smaller one but still looking very healthy. Now the task to keep them that way. Both have the same colors. Deep reddish with a hint of orange or burgandyish (not the color expert here by far). Green strips. Blue around the face and fins and underbelly. And yellow/orangish freckles on the cheeks. So, not sure if they are red, blue, or green mandarins. Don't really care I love them.
Acclimating
Temperature Adjusting
Mr. Fatty
Aquarist007
New member
awesome---great addition to your tank
Paul B
Premium Member
They look good to me. I love mandarins and I really don't know why there is so much written about them. I think they are the easiest, no maintenance fish there is. And if your fish are prone to be sick for some reason, mandarins are not real suseptable to most diseases. I think the problem is that people feel they need to feed them, if that is the case, then your tank is either too sterile or to new. I know a lot of people especially Noobs like to clean their tank like they clean their teeth. A tank is supposed to try to immitate a slice of the sea, the sea is not sterile, but the sea has what a lot of tanks don't have and thats an assortment of bacteria, not just one type from a LFS.
Also, if your tank can not handle nitrates and you need to change the water often to control nitrates then you will have trouble keeping a mandarin because it takes food to grow copepods and excess food in a tank that can not process nitrate is going to have a problem from excess nitrates. If that is the case, you need to do something to fix it. You may either need to add live rock, remove fish or try a different substrait.
Anyway, just my opinion, Have a great day.
Paul
This skinny littly guy was his first day in my tank
Also, if your tank can not handle nitrates and you need to change the water often to control nitrates then you will have trouble keeping a mandarin because it takes food to grow copepods and excess food in a tank that can not process nitrate is going to have a problem from excess nitrates. If that is the case, you need to do something to fix it. You may either need to add live rock, remove fish or try a different substrait.
Anyway, just my opinion, Have a great day.
Paul
This skinny littly guy was his first day in my tank
jason2459
Well-known member
Thanks guys. Paul your mandarin looks great! My tank certainly hasn't shown any problem at all keeping up with the nitrates. I haven't seen those go up at all and have staid rock solid at 0 since it hit that from the initial cycle. I just recently had an issue with phosphates but that was because of that stupid Ich Attack stuff. That's already taken care of and back to undetectable by my test kit and by no cyano is growing back.
For feeding I use a mix of meaty and veggie type foods. Formula One/Formula two cubes, hikari mysis, and hikari spirulina brine. All are supposed to have all types of vitamins and I also add in some garlic.
I have one of these to feed them with
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/detailed_image.cfm?pCatId=13943&large=/images/Categoryimages/larger/lg_22983_31166P.jpg[/im]
It says it can hold 10ml but the way I use it I can get a LOT more then that. I get what ever squeezing the bulb gives me into the tube but then I grab the lower part and extend it out the full 35" and let it suck up the entire length of it. I do that once a day. I just slowly release it into the tank and let everyone have a feast. I turn off the skimmer but no the power heads. I figure anything that doesn't get eaten by a fish and is blown into the rocks and gravel will get eaten by a crab, shrimp, or pod.
Not sure if it's to much or to little but that's what I do.
For feeding I use a mix of meaty and veggie type foods. Formula One/Formula two cubes, hikari mysis, and hikari spirulina brine. All are supposed to have all types of vitamins and I also add in some garlic.
I have one of these to feed them with
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/detailed_image.cfm?pCatId=13943&large=/images/Categoryimages/larger/lg_22983_31166P.jpg[/im]
It says it can hold 10ml but the way I use it I can get a LOT more then that. I get what ever squeezing the bulb gives me into the tube but then I grab the lower part and extend it out the full 35" and let it suck up the entire length of it. I do that once a day. I just slowly release it into the tank and let everyone have a feast. I turn off the skimmer but no the power heads. I figure anything that doesn't get eaten by a fish and is blown into the rocks and gravel will get eaten by a crab, shrimp, or pod.
Not sure if it's to much or to little but that's what I do.
Paul B
Premium Member
Jason, besides those foods, get some fish oil into those fish in the form of live worms or fish eggs.
As you can see from my top photo there is a coating of algae on the rocks and that bottle, that is what I consider a perfect tank, in the lower photo from a week ago the rocks are very clean. I don't like this and am trying to correct it by adding NSW and natural mud from the sea along with iron and iodine dosing (which I rarely do) but I am trying to break this sterile cycle.
That feeder you use is fine, I use this, I buy them by the case and don't see how anyone can keep a tank without a device like these. I use it a dizen times a day and have them in different lengths for different purposes.
You can see the mandarin on the clean rocks, he is mad as hell and has not spoken to me in a while
As you can see from my top photo there is a coating of algae on the rocks and that bottle, that is what I consider a perfect tank, in the lower photo from a week ago the rocks are very clean. I don't like this and am trying to correct it by adding NSW and natural mud from the sea along with iron and iodine dosing (which I rarely do) but I am trying to break this sterile cycle.
That feeder you use is fine, I use this, I buy them by the case and don't see how anyone can keep a tank without a device like these. I use it a dizen times a day and have them in different lengths for different purposes.
You can see the mandarin on the clean rocks, he is mad as hell and has not spoken to me in a while
SaltLifeLove
Impatient Reefer
Congrats on the mandarins Jason...I have a a newbie question for you guys. Sense I have these pods growing all over my tank, will I be able to keep mandarins or will I still have to grow pods in a fuge? Will the pods in my tank keep reprodicing or will the eventually die off? If water conditions change then they might dissapear?? Thanks 
SaltLifeLove
Impatient Reefer
Thanks Paul, good to know. (nice pic ) I may get that Mandarin after all I can't wait to stock my 75... my three year old nagging me about it is making it sooo much worse!
) I may get that Mandarin after all I can't wait to stock my 75... my three year old nagging me about it is making it sooo much worse!
jason2459
Well-known member
Thanks Paul, good to know. (nice pic
I know how he feels. I'm so iching to get an anemone right now and some corals. I just got in the 2 Koralia 4s in and also got a new ozonizer in from Red Sea to replace the one that stopped working. I'll take some pics to get size comparisons between the SEIOs and the Koralias.
I took one out of the box to check it out and it is not small by any means. Also, they do not have the range of motion as the two SEIO's I have do.
SaltLifeLove
Impatient Reefer
I want that RBT. Those rock flower anems are cool and freaky looking at the same time.
Question for Jason and Paul...I am officially doing a Bio project on the symbiosis between the pistol shrimp and the YWG...would you boys mind if I use your pictures of the YWG? Especially you Jason sense you have pictures of the two together? Plus if you have any helpful and worthwhile information on the subject you could let me know that too
Yay for the Koralias...I have a 1 in my 20L and it seems huge to me. I don't know if I should just get a 3 and between my pump return and adding the 1 maybe that will be enough. I heard the 3 and 4 Korlias are the same size though.
Question for Jason and Paul...I am officially doing a Bio project on the symbiosis between the pistol shrimp and the YWG...would you boys mind if I use your pictures of the YWG? Especially you Jason sense you have pictures of the two together? Plus if you have any helpful and worthwhile information on the subject you could let me know that too
Yay for the Koralias...I have a 1 in my 20L and it seems huge to me. I don't know if I should just get a 3 and between my pump return and adding the 1 maybe that will be enough. I heard the 3 and 4 Korlias are the same size though.
jason2459
Well-known member
I don't mind you using the pictures at all. I just got a couple more pictures last night that I think are the best I've gotten of the tiger pistol so far. I'll get them uploaded tonight when I get home from work. I didn't get a chance to last night.
The YWG definitely appreciates the holes the tiger digs for him and stays really close by when there are predators around. I've noticed that since the Flame Angel has been removed the YWG will stray farther and farther away from the holes. Last night I actually saw the YWG swimming around in the water column. The Tiger also seems to wander out of the hole farther to go along with the YWG.
In fact it seems the entire mood of the tank seems more at ease and peaceful. Didn't realize how much tension the Flame angel was causing. Well, the Cardinals still are acting the same. They were pretty much the only ones that fought back and were then ignored by the Angel.
The YWG definitely appreciates the holes the tiger digs for him and stays really close by when there are predators around. I've noticed that since the Flame Angel has been removed the YWG will stray farther and farther away from the holes. Last night I actually saw the YWG swimming around in the water column. The Tiger also seems to wander out of the hole farther to go along with the YWG.
In fact it seems the entire mood of the tank seems more at ease and peaceful. Didn't realize how much tension the Flame angel was causing. Well, the Cardinals still are acting the same. They were pretty much the only ones that fought back and were then ignored by the Angel.
SaltLifeLove
Impatient Reefer
Awesome, Thanks. It will be nice to add a personal experience into my project rather than a bunch of info collected of the internet. I look forward to the the pictures.:wave:
jason2459
Well-known member
I love reefcleaners.org. I ordered a couple firefirns to put in my main tank to grow out in the background. I think they were pretty neet looking. Also, ordered 5 Nassarius snails and a couple more Florida ceriths and nerites just because I like them. I also added in a few empty shells and a 1 penny macro. Nice thing is as long as you don't order something that requires overnight shipping you can get really cheap 2-3 day priority.
This is the second time I've ordered from them and keep getting more then I ordered. Gotta love that. For the mystery Macro I actually got two pieces, a small ball of chaeto and what looks like Mermaid's Fan. Pretty awesome. I'll probably just pull out a good chunk of the chaeto I have now and throw in this ball and let it grow. The mermaid's fan I'll put in the display somewhere. The empty shells I got is a wide variety of small shells. I ordered like 15 or 20 I think and I got one bag of probably that amount but also another bag just full of more shells. Easily 50+. I love having shells in my tank. I have some small ones but also some pretty large ones too. I guess Paul has his bottles and I have my shells.
This is the second time I've ordered from them and keep getting more then I ordered. Gotta love that. For the mystery Macro I actually got two pieces, a small ball of chaeto and what looks like Mermaid's Fan. Pretty awesome. I'll probably just pull out a good chunk of the chaeto I have now and throw in this ball and let it grow. The mermaid's fan I'll put in the display somewhere. The empty shells I got is a wide variety of small shells. I ordered like 15 or 20 I think and I got one bag of probably that amount but also another bag just full of more shells. Easily 50+. I love having shells in my tank. I have some small ones but also some pretty large ones too. I guess Paul has his bottles and I have my shells.
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jason2459
Well-known member
Edit: looks like they are already sold out of the firefirns. I was going to go to their site and get a few pictures of them. I know they were out for a while and I got an email beginning of the week saying they were in stock and looks like I got them before they sold out again. They also don't have any Mermaid's fan listed right now either. Their stock is constantly being added to and changing. Like it looks like they have some brittle stars, emerald crabs, and rock boring urchins in now that they didn't have before. I'm still waiting for them to get some Ulva in and put that in my refugium for the pods to munch on as well.
Edit: I just found out they have a forum where you can make requests for different items and they will find it. When they get it stocked you get priority. NICE!!
Edit: I just found out they have a forum where you can make requests for different items and they will find it. When they get it stocked you get priority. NICE!!
