00W's AIO Smorgasbord

[00W]

Ok I don’t normally look in my tank when the lights are really low like they are now and I kind of wish I hadn't. I have way too many bristle worms for my comfort level and some are pretty big. What can I put in there that will eat them but that isn't a jerk? I know they are great for clean up but they kind of freak me out when there's a many as I seen...

Not many things eat them, unfortunately.
And those that do are not very nice creatures to other creatures.
They sell traps and you can make your own out of a pop bottle too.
They do work.
I have literally 100 of them in my 20, 0 in my 100.
My trigger ate them all.

 

[tbrown]

No skimmer?

I don't.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I don't.

That's pretty impressive tbh. With how heavy you feed, and how stocked your tank is. Clean the filter cups pretty often?

 

[tbrown]

That's pretty impressive tbh. With how heavy you feed, and how stocked your tank is. Clean the filter cups pretty often?

I change PolyFil once every couple of weeks to a month. Sometimes longer.

 

[00W]

Here are my thoughts on bristle worms.

Yes, they sure are creepy. Sure, they can hurt you. Yes, they can get huge. But, they are 99% of the time, harmless. They won't kill fish, they won't eat coral, and they won't eat other inverts. They are scavengers, meaning they'll eat dead things. So if a fish dies, they'll go crazy. But, they did not kill it. They are doing their job, and cleaning up your tank. They'll eat leftover food, and sift your sand as they crawl through/on it.

I believe everything in our tank should be kept in check. One species shouldn't take over your tank. Everything should be balanced. You should have as diverse of a CUC as possible, but not too many of one thing. Bristle worms are a great member of your CUC, but they shouldn't take up a large majority of your CUC. Same thing goes for trochus, conchs, sea stars, shrimp, astrea, nassarius, etc.

So it's completely fine to want to get rid of an excess amount of bristle worms. But, you should never want to eradicate them fully! Of course, this is just my opinion.

Nice write up Walker !
I agree.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I've just used a cheap plant grow light. It's probably not the best, which is probably why I don't get the darkest cultures.

As long as the light is bright, it should work just fine!

Also, if you're really going to try, nannochloropsis is by far the easiest strain to grow. Just sayin.

Geuss i gotta do some research. Like what to sterilize with and what not lol. I like the idea of phyto for my pods

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I change PolyFil once every couple of weeks to a month. Sometimes longer.

So i don't get it. I'm sure somehow it makes sense, what do you attribute to your nutrient export? Or do you just run uber high nutrients?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Geuss i gotta do some research. Like what to sterilize with and what not lol. I like the idea of phyto for my pods

I just used hydrogen peroxide, then rinsed it out with RO water to make sure there were no leftover minerals from my initial tap water rinse.

 

[tbrown]

So i don't get it. I'm sure somehow it makes sense, what do you attribute to your nutrient export? Or do you just run uber high nutrients?

My phosphates are going up finally, my nitrates are trying to bottom out. After this weekend I'm probably out of range on both... :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[00W]

Whats the general thought about a refugium and skimmer as opposed to filter socks and skimmer? And only use filter socks when stirring stuff up then remove when water clears up?

I use an extremely large venturi skimmer and a few mangroves.
That's it.
Lots of rock.
Lots.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

My phosphates are going up finally, my nitrates are trying to bottom out. After this weekend I'm probably out of range on both... :face-with-tears-of-joy:

I do have to say, it's wild how such different approaches give such wild results. :face-with-tears-of-joy: your barebottom as well right?

 

[Imrahilwjz]

My tang, my leopard wrasse and my fox face are almost always together. Do you guys have any fish that seem to buddy up with others?

My two rabbitfish are always hanging out with my Klein butterfly.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I use an extremely large venturi skimmer and a few mangroves.
That's it.
Lots of rock.
Lots.

I have like 130lbs of old rock my buddy dropped of on Sunday after I got back from buying live rock :grinning-face-with-sweat: but it's really old nasty dry rock that sat in a bucket in his yard for 5 months before he dumped it out, and brought it in his garage in October. Thought about soaking some pieces in bleach and soaking them and putting a few massive chunks in the sump where they'll be easy to shake out and what not

 

[tbrown]

I do have to say, it's wild how such different approaches give such wild results. :face-with-tears-of-joy: your barebottom as well right?

Nope. Deep sand bed for my wrasses.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I just used hydrogen peroxide, then rinsed it out with RO water to make sure there were no leftover minerals from my initial tap water rinse.

Well jeesh, that seems easy enough. I saw "clean and sterilize" and was like "great, now I need to buy a friggin sanitizer, is there anything in this hobby that isn't over the top and expensive!?!" :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Get a bacteria boost! Use oral flora!

 

[00W]

I have like 130lbs of old rock my buddy dropped of on Sunday after I got back from buying live rock :grinning-face-with-sweat: but it's really old nasty dry rock that sat in a bucket in his yard for 5 months before he dumped it out, and brought it in his garage in October. Thought about soaking some pieces in bleach and soaking them and putting a few massive chunks in the sump where they'll be easy to shake out and what not

Spray it off, put in buckets/brute/whatever with powerhead for awhile.
Take pieces out, spray off-whatever.
Take in shower with you whatever just don't bleach it.
My opinion and probably my opinion only but I'm really anti bleaching rock.
We used to just leave it in the sun for a few weeks and power wash.
If you are really paranoid about it throw in a gallon of vinegar.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

All the live culturing of mysis, phyto, etc seems like a lot of work unless it's just throw it in the tank and it reproduces like pods lol. That said, I was pricing out phyto and that stuffs liquid gold... I'll need a second mortgage just to buy the stuff

I have all the components to put a phyto culture together, but haven't assembled it yet. We said we were going to do so on the weekends but were too busy with other stuff.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

Any particular lights needed? I could use my kessil for a refugium and a tunze on either side of a could bottles.. if it needs a algae growing light that is

From what I've seen online almost any light will work. One guy wrapped the jar in led rope lights. Although maybe an algae light would get better results? Not sure

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Spray it off, put in buckets/brute/whatever with powerhead for awhile.
Take pieces out, spray off-whatever.
Take in shower with you whatever just don't bleach it.
My opinion and probably my opinion only but I'm really anti bleaching rock.
We used to just leave it in the sun for a few weeks and power wash.
If you are really paranoid about it throw in a gallon of vinegar.

Just curious, why are you anti bleaching? If I were to spak it afterwards and rinse thoroughly then let it dry out really good wouldnt it get rid of all the bleach?