150g Indio-Pacific Biome

[Sascha D.]

I don't even know what to say.... really sorry about the Goby, the rest..... yep Terrible Tuesday for you! Sorry.

That's the risk of seeking a tasty snack in the return I guess!

On the good news front, I ordered new lights and some phytoplankton today. I'm going to triple the wattage on my tank and raise my PAR by about 500%. My corals will be super happy this weekend!

[Sascha D.]

New Lights!

Straight out of the box. Thank god no bulbs were broken.

Before

After

I'm going to have a problem. There is about 3" clearance in the front of the tank when the lights are in. I'm going to need some sort of mounting system where I can hoist the lights up and can still close the canopy after I'm done.

[Sascha D.]

Week 5 picture time!

Frogspawn that I got last week. Thanks Chris!

Devil's Hand. I got this one from Dave last week and I didn't think it was going to make it. It closed up pretty good for about a week. This morning it took a giant poop and now it's alive!

Yellow Polyps. I normally have a ton of trouble keeping Green Star and Yellow Polyps, but these are doing great so far.

Brown Paly rock. I got this one from Chris last week as well. They look cool under heavy actinics but I still like them under my lights.

True Percula Clownfish. My wife has been talking about clownfish for weeks. I got a pair from RCA tonight.

[Sascha D.]

This weekend is going to be a "problem-solving" weekend.

1. The tank is too warm. I'm seeing temp of 86 during the day and 84 at night. Possible solutions are to remove the top of the canopy to allow heat to escape through the top, install fans in the back, and remove the canopy and hang the lights from the ceiling.
2. The clownfish are swimming into the overflow every night. After the first night I cut a piece of eggcrate and installed it around the return line to block access, but they're getting through somehow.
3. Dead water. The tank has decent flow, but I'm not getting adequate surface skim and I'm seeing particles on the surface on the opposite side of the overflow. I aimed the 1400 at the surface and that helped a little, but I think I'm going to have to move it to the opposite side of the tank and point the circ pump towards the overflow or buy another one for that location. The problem I'm seeing is that the food will be blown to the overflow every time I feed.
4. ATO. I may have to find another way to install the resevoir. The area under the tank is too small to fit a 10g, 5g bucket or 5g water jug. I would have to measure, but I believe the area behind the tank is too small. So I have the option of leaving the ATO off, drilling into the wall and installing it in the closet, buying a 5g tank to fit into that small space, or trying to fit something above the sump.
5. Light timer. Since the last one I tried didn't work. I need to find another one. My T5's are not dimmable and only one one cord so there is no need to try to run the actinics on a different schedule. I also need something to control the sump light.

[Planeden]

5. i picked up a digital timer from home depot that does grounded plugs (2 of them). you can set it for different schedules everyday if you want. sadly, it doesn't seem to allow you to control the two plugs independantly, but i haven't looked into that too much since i don't have the need for it. i think it was about $10, but it is a nice timer.

[Sascha D.]

1. The tank is too warm. I'm seeing temp of 86 during the day and 84 at night. Possible solutions are to remove the top of the canopy to allow heat to escape through the top, install fans in the back, and remove the canopy and hang the lights from the ceiling. Last night I removed the top of the canopy. No improvement. Last night the tank was 87 and this morning it was still 87.
2. The clownfish are swimming into the overflow every night. After the first night I cut a piece of eggcrate and installed it around the return line to block access, but they're getting through somehow. Last night I laced a zip tie inbetween the eggcrate squares and made the holes smaller. This morning is the first day I've gotten up and not had a clownfish in the overflow. Yay!
3. Dead water. The tank has decent flow, but I'm not getting adequate surface skim and I'm seeing particles on the surface on the opposite side of the overflow. I aimed the 1400 at the surface and that helped a little, but I think I'm going to have to move it to the opposite side of the tank and point the circ pump towards the overflow or buy another one for that location. The problem I'm seeing is that the food will be blown to the overflow every time I feed. I took out the standpipe in the overflow and cut it an inch shorter. This fixed the problem and added a nice water trickle that is enjoyable. So far surface is skimming well, but I will still buy another circ pump.

5. i picked up a digital timer from home depot that does grounded plugs (2 of them). you can set it for different schedules everyday if you want. sadly, it doesn't seem to allow you to control the two plugs independantly, but i haven't looked into that too much since i don't have the need for it. i think it was about $10, but it is a nice timer.

Thanks for the tip Planeden. I have a very old manual timer from HD, but it doesn't take a 3-pronged plug and I would like to avoid using extension cords if i can. I'll check out what they have today.

[Sascha D.]

Week 5 tests:

• Salinity - 1.024
• PH - 8.4
• Ammonia - 0
• Nitrites - 0
• Nitrates - <5 ppm

Everything looks good. I didn't really get a cycle using the dry rock and cured LR mixture with a bottle of nitrifying bacteria. I do have a decent algae bloom going on right now, so I jumped into the Reef Cleaners group buy that got ordered on Monday.

Here's what I got:

• Dwarf Cerith Snails - 10 (I ordered 10 and he gave me like 20)
• Nassarius Snails - 10
• Nerite Snails - 1
• Fuzzy Chiton - 2
• Florida Fighting Conch - 1

[victoly]

In 150 gallon tank, I don't think that size CUC is gonna make a noticeable impact. However, I'm a proponent of smaller numbers of bigger eaters that have good survivability than a massive number of stock that will die off. I think that the chitons and conch are going to do a bulk of the good for you. As your tank matures, at least in my experience, you'll have a much better handle on nutrient export that will allow you to vastly reduce your dependence on CUC to clean up nuisance algae.

[Sascha D.]

In 150 gallon tank, I don't think that size CUC is gonna make a noticeable impact. However, I'm a proponent of smaller numbers of bigger eaters that have good survivability than a massive number of stock that will die off. I think that the chitons and conch are going to do a bulk of the good for you. As your tank matures, at least in my experience, you'll have a much better handle on nutrient export that will allow you to vastly reduce your dependence on CUC to clean up nuisance algae.

I agree. Which other larger CUC do you suggest? I have thought about brittle stars, but was concerned about them attacking fish. Linckia stars are nice, but I don't want them to starve and I've heard not to put them into new tanks. I've used Mexican Turbos in the past but they all got eatten by my hermits. This tank is going to go crab-less so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd like to get a skunk cleaner because they're appealing and not so much for their CUC abilities. I might like to avoid peppermints because they eat pods and I'm going for a Mandarin some day.

Victoly, I also have a question about cyano. When my light timer broke I was manually plugging in my lights and they were on for 14-16 hours a day without noticing. Now I've got some red algae stuff growing on the rocks with bubbles. I would almost think it was bubble algae except its red. Today I've started reducing my photoperiod to 4 hours and my new light timer comes in on Tuesday.

[(Bio)³]

Sounds like part of the cycle in a new tank but I could be wrong

[Planeden]

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

[Sascha D.]

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

Thanks for that link. I have Red Slime Algae, aka Cyanobacteria

I know what caused it. I dumped a bunch of phyto last weekend and my lighting period is too long. That will all get fixed. In the meantime I need a 55g barrel to mix SW and I need to do a water change.

[lenver]

Just buy chemiclean, works great, just follow instructions.

I had to dose my tank twice, it's a bacteria so CUC will not eat it.

PETCO usually carries it, the one in pflugerville has a couple, the RR should also.

[Sascha D.]

Just buy chemiclean, works great, just follow instructions.

I had to dose my tank twice, it's a bacteria so CUC will not eat it.

PETCO usually carries it, the one in pflugerville has a couple, the RR should also.

The problem should fix itself once the nutrients run out and the tank is back on a normal cycle. I'd like to avoid unecessary chemicals if I can and there's not that much of it, maybe 3 piles.

[Planeden]

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

Thanks for that link. I have Red Slime Algae, aka Cyanobacteria

I know what caused it. I dumped a bunch of phyto last weekend and my lighting period is too long. That will all get fixed. In the meantime I need a 55g barrel to mix SW and I need to do a water change.

i'm in the same boat on all accounts. green (brown?) hair algae, too. i think...its ugly and furry.

i do not think that cyano is affected by lighting. could be wrong though. but i don't think it is photosynthetic.

[Sascha D.]

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

Thanks for that link. I have Red Slime Algae, aka Cyanobacteria

I know what caused it. I dumped a bunch of phyto last weekend and my lighting period is too long. That will all get fixed. In the meantime I need a 55g barrel to mix SW and I need to do a water change.

i'm in the same boat on all accounts. green (brown?) hair algae, too. i think...its ugly and furry.

i do not think that cyano is affected by lighting. could be wrong though. but i don't think it is photosynthetic.

A common treatment for cyano is darkness and lessened feeding. I lowered my photoperiod to 4 hours for the last three days and it's almost all gone. I did a 20g water change on Saturday, vacuuming the sand and removing a bunch of algae from the sump. Everything looks decent right now. I haven't gotten hair algae yet, but I'm expecting it.

[subsea]

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

Thanks for that link. I have Red Slime Algae, aka Cyanobacteria

I know what caused it. I dumped a bunch of phyto last weekend and my lighting period is too long. That will all get fixed. In the meantime I need a 55g barrel to mix SW and I need to do a water change.

i'm in the same boat on all accounts. green (brown?) hair algae, too. i think...its ugly and furry.

i do not think that cyano is affected by lighting. could be wrong though. but i don't think it is photosynthetic.

there is a red bubble algae. https://www.google.com/search?q=red+bubble+algae&client=firefox-a&hs=tQG&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9I0XUvbuKoay2gWyoYDgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1360&bih=632

i spel gud

Thanks for that link. I have Red Slime Algae, aka Cyanobacteria

I know what caused it. I dumped a bunch of phyto last weekend and my lighting period is too long. That will all get fixed. In the meantime I need a 55g barrel to mix SW and I need to do a water change.

i'm in the same boat on all accounts. green (brown?) hair algae, too. i think...its ugly and furry.

i do not think that cyano is affected by lighting. could be wrong though. but i don't think it is photosynthetic.

While cyno could survive three days of darkness, it is photosynthetic. Patrick

[Sascha D.]

I've been running the lights for 5-6 hours a day for the last week and almost every bit of cyano is gone. I still see a small patch about the size of a dime clinging to life, but other than that it disappeared.

The chitons and the snails have been doing a good job on the brown microalgae. It took about 2 days for the conch to bury himself and he's in there somewhere. LoL

[Planeden]

Hey, that's great.

So, I listened to you smart people, and I reduced my lights, too. My cyano is also fading away . So, thanks for the help.

[Sascha D.]

Hey, that's great.

So, I listened to you smart people, and I reduced my lights, too. My cyano is also fading away . So, thanks for the help.

Awesome! I'm glad that something worked for ya. I'm taking the tank back to an 8 hour light cycle starting today. I'll let you know how it goes.

[subsea]

With respect to cynobacteria, the single largest contributor is phosphate introduced as food for inhabitants. Even though water test show zero phosphate, there is undected phosphate that is organic. It is included in the biomass of detritus within the substrate. The phosphate in the water column is inorganic, usually measured as ortho phospate. Enxyme action created by cyno converts organic into inorganic, which is then taken up by the cynobacteria biomass. When you vacumn the cyno out, if the detritus comes up with it, then you are removing both forms of phosphate.

Patrick

[Sascha D.]

I'm pretty sure the phyto dose that I put into the tank is what cause the cyano. To correct the problem, I vacuumed out the top 1" of sand, adjusted the light schedule for a week to kill the cyano that was already blooming and replaced my PhosBan media in the reactor. In the 4 days since I did the maintenance, the cyano has diasppeared and new life has sprung up all over the tank.

[Sascha D.]

Saltwater Mollies:

On July 24th I converted 5 Creamcicle Lyretail Mollies to SW. I poured the bag water into a 5g bucket and started a 4 hour drip acclimation. On the first hour I started the drip at appx 1 drop per 3 seconds. On hour 2 and 3 I increased the drip rate to 1 drop per second and during the last hour I increased it to 3 drops per second. I started with 2 males and 3 females, all about 1" long.

Week 1: All of the Mollies suvived the conversion. During the first week, they swam together and stayed close no matter what they were doing. They don't seem to have any fear of open water, but tend to avoid the caves.

Week 2: Four of the fish doubled in size, while the fifth has grown but not nearly as much. They tend to be spread out in the top 25% of the tank. The smallest of the fish spends most of his time away from the others near the bottom of the tank. The larger specimens are showing breeding behavior. Grazing can be viewed all hours of the day.

Week 3: All of the Mollies have been spending less and less time in the open water and have been hanging around the rocks. Grazing is much less frequent, but all of the fish have tripled in size. The smallest of them is around 2" and the largest is 3".

Week 4: I have never seen them show any aggression, but the smallest fish is showing signs of injury. The first day I noticed it he had some wear around the mouth and on top of his head. The second day his left eye had a bloodied appearance and his fins were frayed. I removed him from the tank and put him in QT, but he died two days later. I've never known Mollies to pick on other fish this aggressively or this quickly. I wonder if there is some sort of predator in the tank, but it's virtually impossible. The only inhabitants of the tank are the Mollies.

Week 5: The largest female jumped out of the tank at some point during the night. By the time I had discovered her, she was pretty dry. I find this fairly odd because I've never known Mollies to jump out of the tank, even though it did happen on occasion in the petstore. Aside from a pair of Percula Clownfish, there are no other fish in the tank.

Week 6: Out of the original five, three remain; one male and two females. They spend nearly all of their time together in the top 25% of the tank. Both of the females have a round pregnant look to them, but no babies have been seen yet. All signs of grazing are gone, despite only being fed once per day. I think their size is pretty well topped out at 3" but they have gotten noticeably thicker. No aggressive behavior has been seen and no other fish have had any injury. They get along well with the clownfish and generally stay in the top left corner of the tank.

[Sascha D.]

Week 6 Updates;

I'm a little late doing the week 6 updates because we took a road trip to Lubbock to visit family. Yes, I married into a family of Red Raiders! So far I still have the 3 Creamcicle Mollies, 2 True Percula Clownfish, a GBTA and a handfull of corals. Everything looks great!

I got the anemone from Lenver about 4 days ago and placed it midway up the tank on the right side. It hasn't move yet so it must like the spot I put it. The clowns are ignoring the anemone so far and they mostly hang out on the right side of the tank. They're still bickering a little bit but it has mostly calmed down. I think they've figured out who is going to be the woman!

The corals have really started to open up this last week. The Frogspawn flesh has nearly doubled in size and looks amazing. The Devil's Hand has yellow polyps out all hours of the day and has become my wife's favorite. I had to move the Mohawk Zoanthids around the tank a few times but I found a spot that they love near the bottom. I also moved the (what I think are) Copper Penny Palys and Yellow Polyps to new locations and they've doubled their extensions.

I had to return the ATO because the mount was too small to fit on my sump. I'll have to upgrade to the digital ATO next time it goes on sale. For now I guess I'll have to lugg around buckets until I can get my SW mixing station up.

Hopefully this week I'll set up a phyto drip using a DIY doser from the article, A Simple DIY Kalk Dripper

[subsea]

Are you planning on dripping in display or in the sump? Patrick