Ali's 90g Cube Build

[alimac122]

My second Dolabella died today :(

Idk why. It was perfectly fine and then just poof... not more. Theres still quite a bit of algae left in the tank too. So definitely wasnt starving. So sad :/

Does anyone have tips to help with making them live longer than a couple months???

 

[fishguy242]

My second Dolabella died today :(

Idk why. It was perfectly fine and then just poof... not more. Theres still quite a bit of algae left in the tank too. So definitely wasnt starving. So sad :/

Does anyone have tips to help with making them live longer than a couple months???

sorry to hear,i don't have tips,just think lifespan is under a year :( looking for the pipes ,have not found any within reason price wise yet,still looking;):)

 

[alimac122]

On the bright side.....
my BTA DID end up splitting.

It's still hiding in the rockwork but i can see two distinct heads now.

 

[alimac122]

Here’s the only angle I can see but it’s pretty distinct

 

[SMSREEF]

Here’s the only angle I can see but it’s pretty distinct

Your porcelain crab is so CUTE!
I never see mine.

 

[alimac122]

Your porcelain crab is so CUTE!
I never see mine.

Hahahah thank you :)
I had a rockflower at first and he only kinda liked to host that.
Eventually he said screw it and just hung out in the back corner of the tank. Then when i got the BTA I put it in that same corner and before the BTA even settled in a spot, he started hosting.

So although my clown prefers to host the GHA covered rocks, at least something is hosting the nem lol

 

[cmaxwell39]

Just got caught up on your build. Congrats on the nem splitting. Tank is looking good.

 

[alimac122]

Woke up this morning to a disaster.
Apparently the splitting wasn’t because he was happy. But because he was stressed.
I went straight from finishing finals to bartending all weekend. Some time in the last 48 hours the nem crawled behind the rockwork and died. Had a massive spike in nitrates. Over 100.
did a water change this morning, and they’re down to around 50. Planning on doing another tomorrow.
I think adding the caulerpa just stressed the nem out too much, especially since it was already ‘going sexual’ from shipping stress.
So now I have no nem and no macro algae except the sea lettuce and cheato I always have had.
Hoping all the corals are okay. Some of the harder ones are seeming a little on the upset side.

My angel nibbled at my rainbow monti that still hasn’t grown off it’s frag and now it’s pretty much toast after trying to heal the bite and the heavy nitrates.

When it rains... it pours... but at least I’m learning so this never happens again.

 

[alimac122]

So my tank has been very cloudy// white despite the water changes. And today after the water change I dosed some vinegar (just 5ml) but the tanks still super cloudy.
I’m concerned.
I think I’m gonna have to tear the rockwork up and find the decaying nem

thoughts?

 

[fishguy242]

hi,you did not get it out??..run heavy carbon for 48 hrs ..after getting it out :(

 

[fishguy242]

if you can see it ,even with mirror,may be worth a shot at siphoning out

 

[alimac122]

if you can see it ,even with mirror,may be worth a shot at siphoning out

I haven’t been able to see it at all. It’s shoved back in the depths:/

 

[fishguy242]

how is tank,clearing up?more cloudy?smell?

 

[alimac122]

@fishguy242
The nitrates were lower this morning, between 25-50ppm, but the tank was still super cloudy.


I shoved the vac tubing in between the rocks the best I could about 30 minutes ago, cranked up the skimmer, and changed out the filter pads. Definitely some super stinky blobs came out. Idk if I got the majority of it or not.

Dosed 5 more mL of vinegar. I am going to have to go grab some more carbon, and more pods today :( I have practically 10% of what I had before the weekend and I know my female leopard wrasse picks on pods all day between feedings.

Hoping that I did the best I could and that things change for the better soon. I really want this to be the last "uh oh" for a minute.

 

[fishguy242]

i hope you got it all..i would stop with the vinegar..never done,your on rt track,cleaning up with filtration ;)

 

[najer]

i hope you got it all..i would stop with the vinegar..never done,your on rt track,cleaning up with filtration ;)

This, try to locate it and remove what you can, too many changes at the same time makes it hard to trace what worked, one week old carbon is not fresh, get the water settled for everyone, you can polish it later.

 

[alimac122]

i hope you got it all..i would stop with the vinegar..never done,your on rt track,cleaning up with filtration ;)

From my research vinegar is similar but less intense as compared to the functions of doing vodka.
I dont have vodka, just tequila and whiskey, so I chose vinegar. Plus 5mL would be gentle enough on the system to be able to see a change. And definitely think it may have helped.

Post water change yesterday the nitrates were above 50, so the fact that they dropped enough to be closer in the 25+ range means the acetic acid did combine with some of the nitrate in some capacity. But im gonna take a big water sample and head to my LFS soon for a full read to make sure the pH and phosphates are okay.

Although, it could have just been the good bacteria doing their job overnight as well....


Thanks for the tips!

 

[alimac122]

Had the LFS check my tank. They use API so idk how trustworthy it is....
but they read my nitrates at 160ppm
and I read them at 25-50ppm this morning.
So kinda terrified.

Gonna do ANOTHER water change....

 

[najer]

Sorry, not an easy way to say this, if your lfs uses API as tests of choice you need a new lfs?!
You can test for anything you want in a lab, trust yourself, ... is the test vial clean, reading at the meniscus if that is what the test requires, you got this but need to trust your kits and you.

 

[fishguy242]

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS.. :)
PS: How is tank doing?