Ask Nano Questions and Find Information (Nano Expert Albert Thiel)

[alberthiel]

Tegastes - Red Bugs that Kill Acropora Coral

Feature Article: An Aquarist's Experiences With A Species Of Acropora Parasites — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Ophiarachnia incrassata •• The Green Brittle Star You Do Not Want •• It Kills

© Zubi (98)

This Brittle Star is often blamed for the mysterious dissappearnce of smaller fish, shrimp, snails and even other Brittle Star, yet you will see it offered for sale by some Stores. Do not buy this one unless you have a large tank with large fish that it cannot capture and "strangle" somewhat like snakes do by twisting itself around them.

 

[JoeCanada]

Hi Albert

I am setting up my tank today and will be letting it cycle for a month. Is ther any point to running the protein skimmer while cycling the aquarium?

 

[alberthiel]

Hi Albert

I am setting up my tank today and will be letting it cycle for a month. Is ther any point to running the protein skimmer while cycling the aquarium?

Not not really IMO, just let it cycle and once you put lifeforms in it or a few days before start running it to lower DOC and whatever else the skimmer can remove from the water. I would say that if you start running it maybe 4 days or so before adding livestock you will clean up the water which is good so it quality goes up.

 

[alberthiel]

Need more info on Calcareous Algae ? Great article !

Algae

 

[alberthiel]

Lots of Images of Aquariums with Macro Algae

Macro Algae index

 

[alberthiel]

Need to get rid of Majano 's or Aiptasia 's - Check out the Majanowand by Paul Baldassano

Majanowand.com- The Best Way to Remove Majano Anemones - Majano Wand kills Majanos Anemones & unwanted corals.

 

[alberthiel]

Flatworms impair coral feeding | Evidence of Parasitism on Corals • A detailed article on flatworms and parasitism on Corals

Feature Article: Epizoic flatworms impair coral feeding: evidence for parasitism — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Coral Thieves Turn Themselves In | Video of how the Robbery occurred and what they stole !

Coral thieves turn themselves in — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

How Pink and Purple Hues Protect Corals • • Just like Sunscreen • • An interesting article indeed on how Corals do not "burn" from Radiation

How pink and purple hues act as sunscreens for corals — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Palythoa Poisoning : How a Hobbyist nearly killed himself, his wife and Dogs -- A true Story and something everyone should read and know about

This is not made up ... this what could happen to any of you if you do not handle Palythoas correctly !

Personal experiences with palytoxin poisoning: "Almost killed myself, wife and dogs" — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[alberthiel]

Video Of a Fairly Large Emerald Crab at "work" eating Algae .. this one seems to be out during the day ....

Huge Emerald Crab - YouTube

 

[alberthiel]

Question : I have a pH problem .. it is too low, right now at 7.8 or so ... what can I do to raise it and why is it that low (Question abbreviated as the PM was longer)

A full answer would take pages and pages to cover the topic in detail, but here is a short description of what the causes can be (FYI my new book covers the pH issue in far greater detail).

pH can be low for a large number of reasons, but the most frequent reasons are a CO2 or Organic Acid issue. Either bacterial activity and organic breakdown in the aquarium adds acidity to the water, and that acid lowers the pH, or excess carbon dioxide due to ineffective air/water exchange raises the amount of CO2 that dissolves in the water and lowers the pH as well, and of course the two can happen at the same time.

Where does the excess CO2 come from? Lack of aeration in the room where the tank is placed is usually the main reason, and this results in too much CO2 getting into the tank's water at the air/water interface, and also from the air that is driving the Skimmer that is or may be used on the aquarium. This can be overcome by opening a window from time to time or a door that leads to the outside to draw in fresh air from the outside and lower the CO2 in the room's air.

Alternatively, if not enough gas exchange occurs at the top of the aquarium, either directing the output of a power head to the surface will create more agitation and will improve the the gas exchanges at the water, or fans can be blown over the top surface of the aquarium water to improve gas exchange as well. Of course both can be done at the same time.

Another method used when the surrounding air contains too much CO2 is to use a CO2 scrubber which is attached to the air intake going to the Skimmer. To do so Soda Lime is placed in a container, and all air going to the skimmer has to pass through the Soda Lime, which scrubs the CO2 out of the air (you can get color changing Soda Lime so you know when it is time to change it). This will eliminate one of the reason for excess CO2 in the water and the low pH that happens as a result.

This may however not solve all the low pH issues as if there is too much CO2 in the room where the tank is situated and aerating that room in a better manner may still be needed.

If the low pH is due to bacterial activity and/or to too much organic acid being produced in the tank's water the hobbyist experiencing this issue will have to figure out why this is happening and the usual reasons are not enough chemical filtration, too high a load in the tank, over feeding, using a salt that is too low in pH for water changes, adding liquid supplements that contain organic and other acids, and so on.

These can be eliminated by the hobbyist by eliminating those causes, either one by one or just the ones that are causing the pH to remain low pH.

Of course before making any changes one needs to make sure that the alkalinity or dKH or carbonate hardness of the water is in the right range (8 to 11 with 7 as a minimum and 12 as a maximum).

The above should allow many who deal with this issue to resolve the problem BUT ....

If anyone has any specific pH issues feel free to post a message here BUT please make sure that you give me as many details as possible about your tank and its water quality parameters. To be able to make recommendations I need as much information as possible including knowing what types of food you use and what additives you add to your aquarium and how frequently and in what quantities.

I will gladly answer any questions you may have regarding pH but also on other topics such as Calcium, Magnesium, etc ...

 

[alberthiel]

A Video on dealing with Red Slime Algae - Cyanobacteria • Note that there are many approaches including Chemical Intervention

Wipe Our Red Slime Algae Now! - YouTube

 

[illdoya]

big thanks to you Albert!

This is just a follow up post to a question I had had for Albert - followed his advice and things have worked out beautifully!

I used his light plan to the letter and raised the light as high as possible.

right now the lights are on 8hrs total (1b, 6b/w, 1b); the light is as high as I can get it with existing canopy 10" from waterline. b/c I couldnt get the light 12" or more off the tank I haven't increased the photoperiod. I may add 1hr this week..

Also - since I couldnt raise the light any higher than 10" - I put white eggcrate over the tank to help diffuse the light - on the advice of a local bro (great idea man!)

I just wanted to thank you for the help - All my corals have made it thru, and are in fact doing much better under the new light!! Some not-before-seen length in polyp extension and overall happiness is present in several of my corals and my zoas arent reaching, which is great. Things have been going so well I decided today to add some stuff from a bro.


today's FTS (iphone panorama, not the greatest pics)

The change in lighting from the lighting that was over the aquarium to the much more intense lighting caused what I would refer to as a "light shock" to the corals and they are not able to adapt quickly to the change in intensity and probably not to the change in spectrum either. As a result they react in a negative way and that can take several forms depending on which coral is reacting as each may have a different one:

- they close up fully
- they do not open as widely as they normally would
- the change in intensity and/or spectrum causes them to expel their Zooxantellae and "bleach"
- they get UV burn as they are not able to adapt to a spectrum that contains more of the UV spectrum that they are not equipped to deal with and protect themselves from

Those would be the major ones.

Whenever the spectrum and/or the intensity a coral is exposed to changes, especially when the change is quite dramatic, the change needs to be slow giving the corals a chance and the time needed to adapt to the new conditions (mind you this applies to water flow changes as well).

Fortunately it would appear that no serious damage has occurred to your corals yet so what you did so far is fine but you need IMO to do more to allow the corals to acclimate themselves to the new lighting environment.

First raise the light higher above the water level. Right now it is at 10" above the water line. That will have helped but I would raise it another 4 to 5" more. Also instead of running just the blue lights for that long a period here is what I suggest for the photoperiod of at first 6 hours. You can pick from when to when.

For 5 days run the following
1 hour blue
4 hours blue and white
1 hour blue

The for 3 days run the lights for one hour longer and add that one hour to the middle one, which will now be 5 hours. Lower the lights to 12 inches above the water

Then for 3 days run 1, 6, 1 and after that run 1, 7, 1. Leave the lights at 12 inches above the water.

During all of this time observe your corals and if their appearance does not improve do not go to the next step until they start to look better.

After you have gone through these steps the light should now be at 12 inches above the water and your photoperiod is now 8 hours

If you want to run it for 9 hours then reduce the blue only to 1/2 hour in the first phase, leave the 1 hour in the evening and add 1.5 hours to the middle period where both the white and the blue are running. I would not run the lights for more than 9 hours a day till you really see that your corals are doing well, at which point you can add another hour in the middle part, but I would not go higher than 10 hours for the day.

IMO if you do as above your corals will slowly adapt to the new lighting and will start to look again as they looked before. If however you do not see an improvement after the first change, run that for another day, or even two.

Good to read that your params are now fine. Do keep those Phosphates as low as you can as if they get too high especially with the kind of lighting you are using you could see outbreaks of algae. Keep your nitrates low as well of course and do check your Mg and Ca and alkalinity and pH and s.g to keep those at generally accepted levels for reef thanks. If you PO4 get too high use some GFO or some Aluminum oxide product to lower them.

Hopefully this will get all your corals back to normal. Hopefully this answers your questions but if not do post questions here or PM me.

Happy reefkeeping

 

[alberthiel]

This is just a follow up post to a question I had had for Albert - followed his advice and things have worked out beautifully!
I used his light plan to the letter and raised the light as high as possible.
right now the lights are on 8hrs total (1b, 6b/w, 1b); the light is as high as I can get it with existing canopy 10" from waterline. b/c I couldnt get the light 12" or more off the tank I haven't increased the photoperiod. I may add 1hr this week..
Also - since I couldnt raise the light any higher than 10" - I put white eggcrate over the tank to help diffuse the light - on the advice of a local bro (great idea man!)
I just wanted to thank you for the help - All my corals have made it thru, and are in fact doing much better under the new light!! Some not-before-seen length in polyp extension and overall happiness is present in several of my corals and my zoas arent reaching, which is great. Things have been going so well I decided today to add some stuff from a bro.
today's FTS (iphone panorama, not the greatest pics)

Thank you for letting me know, and i am glad that it did all work out for you based on the suggestions made. Tank looks great btw ... and you state iPhone Panorama pic how do you do that ... I use an iPhone myself but I guess I have not figured out how to do that :-(

Glad to read the tank is doing great and also see it. And if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

 

[alberthiel]

Factoid : Did you know that Tomato Clowns when born have 3 stripes but when they grow up they loose two of them : the middle and back one. Adults only have that one front one ... but then they are not the only fish to "change" as they become adults and age.

 

[alberthiel]

A video on Juvenile Tomato Clowns showing the 3 Stripes and as you well know Adult ones only have 1

Baby Tomato Clownfish - YouTube

 

[alberthiel]

Video of a 19 Year old Clown finally settling down in a Huge Anemone

19 Years Old Tomato Clownfish Settling Down in Clownfish Village - YouTube

 

[alberthiel]

How to Quarantine Your Fish ... The Simple Method but very detailed !

How to Quarantine Marine Fish — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog