Smith's Reef - 24g Aquapod

[HAMsmith]

I don't think it is a whelk as it does not have a hard plate on top of its foot. I think that starfish is reef-safe but I'll look into it further. My LFS has a tank that has several, I'll ask for their opinion or at least identificiation.

On the tank side I decided to get rid of the filter block entirely. I had been using 1/2 of 1 block in chamber one with some floss on top of it. I did this b/c my tank always had stuff floating in it. I continued to have floaters even with the filter block/floss so I decided to ditch it as the chance of it wasn't worth the risk of it increasing nitrates if it wasn't going to clear the water.

My rocks are turning green! Also the tank walls are getting some film green algae growth and some hairy algae. I think I will add a few more snails this weekend.

Water changes are becoming dangerous as when I go into the LFS to buy $5 of salt water I come out with $30 of corals. Oh yeah, and $5 of salt water. I feel like an addict. I'm going to have to ebay some other hobby stuff to support my habit!

Water parameters are still stable even with a 3 day business trip where the tank got no attention.

I'll post pics this afternoon.

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

ebay name please, i am lookignf rosoemt higns u might be selling them keep up the good work wit hthe tank

 

[HAMsmith]

The ebay stuff I'm talking about is model railroading and table top RPG type stuff, nothing aquarium related.

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

oh

 

[HAMsmith]

Timothy01 you may be right. I went to the LFS and saw a star just like mine munching on a zoo. Next time I see it I'm taking it out.

Here are the most recent pics. I added some macro algae, maybe it is hokey in a salt water display but I like it!

I put it in the back on both sides, right

left

In the chaeto I found 3 micro brittle stars and several bristleworms. I'm sure the stars will become one of my critters lunch though, they are just so tiny!

Here is a FTS taken today, day 16

I finally got a shot of one of my emerald crabs, I think this is the female

They are very shy. I still have not gotten my peppermint shrimp on film yet. I think in another week or so he will be more sociable. Each day he seems to come out of his hiding holes a bit more.

Thanks for following!

 

[andrewwl]

I'm really enjoying the journal, especially your pictures and descriptions!

 

[HAMsmith]

Small update:

I purchased a Sailfert calcium test kit and started testing my Ca. So far my values are around 360. I think I will continue testing for a few weeks before dosing with anything. So far the only things I have put in the tank have been water, LR, LS, macro algae, and inverts.

Also I really liked the Sailfert test kit. Much easier to use than the SeaChem kits I use for pH, nitrate/ite, ammonia. I'm going to start switching over to all Sailfert kits, maybe 1 per month though as they are kinda pricey.

Hmm, all text updates are boring. I'll post a pic or two tonight.

Thanks Andrewwl!

 

[Electrobes]

Hmm.. so far so good but I have a worry about that culerpa. Be wary of it taking over your tank. After a 3-4 month hiatus because my tank was overrun with grape culerpa I finally got around to doing a complete rip out and talk about it not being easy. Even with that size tank it's still going to be a pain if it goes nuts!

Also the emerald crab is male.. pink ones are female

 

[HAMsmith]

Thanks for the heads up on the caulerpa. If it becomes a nuisance I will get rid of it and put the chaeto in the back with a light.

About the crab, I have two, one is darker and one is lighter. I have been calling the lighter one female and the darker one male. I'll try and get a pic of the other for comparison. They are quite wiley though!

Here is a pic showing how my rocks are turning green. The pic shows the same rock on day 1 and today, day 19.

The green algae isn't thick, it is more like a spray paint coat. I tell myself it is the first stages of coralline algae growth!

 

[nm354]

Tank is looking good man. Just watch out with that caulerpa like I was telling you about.

 

[waterfaller1]

Gary looks like a predatory whelk to me too. Awesome pics, especially the emerald!

 

[HAMsmith]

I think the Gary problem has taken care of itself as I have not seen him in many days. You never know though as I am constantly amazed at the things that can hide in even this small tank!

I think once I get more corals the caulerpa will go away and I'll keep chaeto in the back.

I was not happy with my aquascape as I had several large rocks laying flat on the sand. So I built some supports with eggcrate...

...to give my rocks some support to build a taller more open structure.

Before

After

The pictures don't really do it justice. New aquascape provides more exposed sandbed, more caves, live rock seems to fill more of the tank, and more places to put corals.

 

[HAMsmith]

With the success of the rock redo plus having watched Eric Borneman frag corals I was primed to try fragging for myself.

My first mushroom frag

My first zoo frag

The mushroom was easy as when I applied pressure to the live rock it literally exploded. Then all I had to do was glue the rubble onto some sand/superglue chips I made.

The zoos weren't as easy as I thought it would be. I thought that once I got under the coral crust they would peel or pop right off. Wrong. I had to jab into the rock to pry off the crust. I was rough as heck with them but today as you can see they seem happy and unaffected!

I highly recommend the Eric Borneman video if you are interested in fragging any kind of coral!

 

[HAMsmith]

This update details how I learned about the importance of using a QT....

First you buy a cool zoa frag...

...then you find these on all your zoas...

So far I have been trying to remove them manually with a pair of tweezers but I think I'm going to have to dip them all. Luckily I only have small colonies on small pieces or LR or plugs. I won't have to tear apart the aquascape to dip them all and I won't have to worry too much about killing things as most of my zoas are on small pieces of LR or plugs.

So then because I really just can't learn my lessons the first time...I buy a fish...

...and yes, he is perhaps the coolest fish ever. We got him a buddy, a Randall's Pistol Shrimp. So we named them Click (shrimp) and Clack (goby).

All is great yes? You know it! So why not get another fish! YES!!

So I get a clown hoping it will host on a Frogspawn...

Unfortunately it looks like he has Ich. No!

Lesson finally learned. I will be going today to purchase a QT setup. Hopefully I can catch the goby without tearing the tank apart.

 

[AngeloM3]

Doesnt look like Ich to me. Ick is white spots. Unless its the shadow that makes them not look white.

And just FYI... that isnt chaeto that you have in your tank. It's Feather Caulerpa. If you dont keep light on it 24/7 it could go asexual and dissolve in your tank and release a ton of unwanted nutrients in the tank.

 

[HAMsmith]

AngeloM3 your vote was the final straw. The caulerpa is gone. It may not have been apparent but I had chaeto behind the caulerpa. I heard nothing but bad things about it even though I thought it looked great. Anywho, it is now gone, hopefully not to return! After only a week or so it had really rooted onto the rocks.

The above pic was taken on day 1 before the spots appeared. Today they are almost all gone, much smaller and fainter. I talked to the LFS where I bought the fish and the consensus opinion was that it was stress related from the move. He seems fine otherwise, eats like a pig, very active, good equilibrium, eats like a pig, did I mention he is an eater? I'm going to keep a close watch on him and my goby for further signs of illness.

Here is a slightly better pic of him but I don't think it is good enough for diagnosis...

Arrows point to spots, other things that may look like spots are floaters in the water

More pics!

I did a freshwater dip on my zoas to get rid of the nudibranchs, they weren't happy at first but they are coming around now

Emerald Mithrax Crab, he blends right in

Frogspawn, hard to photograph this bugger

Click and Clack, this is their new cave after removing the caulerpa

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

 

[AngeloM3]

Good to hear you got rid of that macro. If you want you can keep a little ball of chaeto in there still. Stuff it in a corner somewhere.

I hear that clownfish can get ich very easily. My maroon had ich withing 2 weeks of adding him to my tank. I never QT'ed or treated because he swam fine, ate a ton, was very active. I know once a fish starts to get ich you can tell there is something wrong with the fish. So I never treated and my maroon kicked it himself.

Also what I'm curious about.... is if you clown started using something as a host when the ich came around. Because my clown got signs of ich just after he started using my leather as a host. Another reason why I didnt treat is b/c I thought that it could be possibly "sting" related to his new host.

I wouldnt worry about it.... but if he starts showing signs (not eatting, not swimming well, hiding) that the ich is getting to him... QT and treat him right away. Keep us update and I hope the little guy is alright.

 

[HAMsmith]

All is well now in Smith's Reef. I think the only thing that was wrong was me freakin out hehe.

I believe the clownfish was just temporarily stressed from the move. He is fine now. No spots or funny behavior.

If anything the clown and goby eat TOO much. I literally think I could feed them until they popped. I've been using a combo of frozen mysis (or mysid?) and Spectrum dry pellets. They seem to like it. I may be overfeeding but the tank seems to handle it so far.

As far as hosting the clown acts as if the LPS doesn't exist. He has not shown any hosting behavior to anything in the tank. All he is interested in is eating.

So you've seen the new fish, here are some new corals...

Various mushrooms

Hammer, Torch, and Frogspawn

I finally got a decent shot of a digitate hydroid

And, of course, the FTS

I did end up killing the yellow zoanthid frag by dipping it. It withered to almost nothing. I put it in a ghetto QT but that didn't help.

RIP :sad1:

And the villian that led me to have to dip in the first place, nudibrach

More zoos coming soon...

 

[july865]

how can you stock the tank like that in less than 1mo. most people wait 6mo to have a tank look like that.

 

[HAMsmith]

I think the short answer is that I'm doing everything wrong.

This is my first SW tank so I'm letting my excitement overcome the good advice found on this site.

I've been lucky on the money side as I have bought all my critters and corals locally at great prices. Since it is a nano it has been easy to buy small cheaper stuff but in my tank it looks huge.

I think my progress will slow down now...mostly because I only have a 24g tank and I'm running out of room!