The Reef Central Corner Club Thread

[Hookup]

So just to be sure that my corner tank gives me a kick when i'm down...


I've ridded myself of the red-bugs... which almost wiped out some sps... one in particular I was more than ****ed to see get 80% eaten...

Anyhow, the stuff you use for red-bugs kills most inverts... particuarly crabs, hermits, shrimp.. (exoskelleton stuff) are going to be toast... So you remove them all before dosing... which I did... but my wife accidentaly cause their death while they were out of tank.. so I needed a whole new clean up crew... and after 4.5 weeks of no cuc, i needed them...

I ran fresh carbon to rid myself of all of the red-bug chemicals... waited 24hrs and when to get the crew...

I think that some of the red-bug stuff was still in the tank.. i do not see any hermits (many) and the cleaner shrimp and pistol shrimp are no where to be seen...

and...

within 2 days I have green hair algae & cyano all over my system... everywhere... like i'm going to have to get some sea-hare or something to get rid of the GHA...

So I've pulled the test kids... right back to ammonia... and doing tests now... I've got 50gal of fresh salt heating up for the first of 3 or 4 changes to be done this weekend...

It's like my corner tank heard me talking about replacing it and threw a hissy-fit...

 

[Hookup]

Tests are in (salfert kits/digital pH pen/Refract)

Ammonia: undetectable
Nitrite: undetectable
Nitrate: undetectable
Phosphate: undetectable

Temp: 80.6
pH: 8.03
Salinity 1.025

Mg: 1260 (a bit low)
Alk: 4.6 (omg low)
Ca: 380 (a bit low)


So basically, the water changes should return the Mg/Alk/Ca to normal ranges within 2 or 3 50gal changes (230gal total volume)..

I did a quick look, i cannot see any of the hermits... anywhere... and the tank is still dark this AM... so i should see at least a few (there were 50 added 5 days ago).

99% sure this is the issue... I;ll change carbon today, and again tomorrow and the day after... hopefully this will eliminate all of the redbug stuff once and for all...

Well, at least there will be an abundance of empty shells for the next round of hermits... (sometimes you have to look really hard for that silver lining... )

 

[reefscape15]

Boy i'm sorry to hear that! It sounds like your tank DID hear you talking behind it's back. You can also try the Poly-Filters. They are great for removing any meds that you've added, and by the color they change, it can indicate what it has removed. I used to run them all the time, but for now I have no filter media. My only mechanical filtration is my skimmer, and the tank has been doing great! I hope you get back on top of your tank once again. Prob by the time you get everything back to normal, it will be time to tear it down huh? Just your (and my) luck

 

[wismie]

Sorry for your tank...

Mine also is a problem, or put in a different way, a mantis shrimp is the problem. So I took all my rocks out to try to find it... that was not successful, but I had to redo the tank aquascaping.

More on my tank setup

 

[Hookup]

Now that all the lights are on GHA is everywhere... ok, not crazy like OMG everywhere, but 20% of surfaces have a good growth starting of GHA... Water changes are on-going... fresh carbon...

Only the SPS are ticked off.. LPS and Zoa's are happy little critters.. but the SPS... not so happy...

And you know it reefscape15, this tank will be looking 100% better just before it's time to tear it down... doh!

Tim

 

[reefscape15]

HAHAHA!!!!! DOH!!! I couldn't have said it any better myself!

Wismie - Still no luck? Did you try the "bait in a bottle" trick? They can be very secretive creatures and it will probably take a while to get it out. Good luck!

 

[Misled]

Wismie, catching a mantis is easy if you can remove the rock. Mix a 5 gal bucket with non-flavored carbonated and salt to match the sg and temp of your tank. dip each rock for five minutes in the bucket. When you remove the rock he was in, he'll be in the bottom of the bucket. Don't remember why it works, just remember that's how I caught mine. Get a tank for him ready. I kept mine for a few years before I gave him away. There pretty cool.

 

[wismie]

Thanks for your comment, but I did all this without success

(check here for the full story about my mantis and what I did )

 

[reefscape15]

Wow! Sounds like you've got a real little stinker on ur hands. Its kind of funny though, in the way that after you do things to try to get him out, it will stop making noise for a while. Sounds alot like my 4.5 year old son! Any time I have to scold him, he will be nice and well behaved. Just when I think he wont do whatever he did again, there he goes! Maybe i'll try to trap him in a bottle, and pour soda water on him

Good luck with everything!

 

[wismie]

What, you're going to trap your kid in a bottle ?

Yeah this mantis is a smart one, hope I'll be able to get it in the end. I would gladly keep it in its own tank, but first I need to catch it !

 

[reefscape15]

I agree! It would make for a cool setup having a tank based around a Mantis. I need to talk my wife into letting me set up another tank. I have my old 20high, and i'd love to set that up for some super small Gobys and Perchlets. Plus it could act as a grow out tank for some frags!

And yes, sometimes I kind of want to put him somewhere that I could get a break from his noise

 

[Misled]

How long did you leave the rock in the bucket? If it was just a dip, it probably never had a chance for the "different" water chemistry to reach him as he may have been pretty deep in the rock. I left the rocks in the bucket for 5 minutes. Also usually put a few pieces in at once to make things go faster for me.

 

[wismie]

I did leave the rocks for about that time or even more, as I also checked with an air tube each hole I found. The whole process took me close to a day...

 

[Misled]

That just sucks!!!!!!

 

[wismie]

Cannot agree more on that

Now I have two traps, one with a water bottle and one in a PVC tube. Wait and See...

 

[reefscape15]

Ughh...That does suck! It must be hard to know that this Mantis is just postponing a future beauty of a tank. Hopefully you get him soon, because I can't wait to see what your going to do with that tank!

 

[wismie]

Very nice of you... yes that's frustrating, but isn't patience the key of this hobby ? (I'm the impatient kind of person, btw )

 

[reefscape15]

Yes patience is the base of this hobby..........if you have it It was super hard for me to wait to do anything when I first started, but now i've learned that i'd just be making things worse. Also, I used to get my hands in the tank at least once a week and move frags around, and try to re-scape my tank, but then I just got something I could live with, and left it all alone. Things are looking better than ever!

 

[wismie]

That's why I put some small coral frags from my current tank... easier to see some life, even if very tiny, in the tank.

It also helps me to define if the water conditions are ok or not (and costs me nothing !)

 

[Salty92]

Alright guys well just got into the hobby. My next door neighbor gave me this tank at first it was a fresh water but then I said screw it and went salt water. Well now I know where all my money goes.... Its a 92 gallon and I am sure all you guys know how big of a pain these tanks can be. I just recently got 4x 24" T-5 retro kits which are currently on there way. The tank has been running for about 3 months.. Here are some pictures any comments and suggestion will help...