Basement Office with a View

[Gaspipe]

9/14/2022

Alkalinity: 7.0dKH
Salinity: 35.6
Temp: 80.1

Steps:

1. remove cup of SW
2. add 2ml Part 1 & 2
3. add 1ml Trace

 

[Gaspipe]

This is what you can expect once you learn how to keep your tank stable.
Nice job!
Just keep learning.

Will do and with your guidance and patience we will get there!

Do you keep a logbook. Any time you test observe change something or learn something write it down.
Logbooks work because you have write everything down. It becomes a great reference and keeps you involved and focused on your system.

I do not have one, but the app I use (Aquaticlog) does have one. I will begin using that feature as well.

Thank you again!!

 

[Gaspipe]

Good morning!

I got back from the office late evening, so couldn't test at night but did once in the door.

9/15 8:30PM
Alkalinity: 7.3
Salinity: 35.5
Temp.: 80.4

Steps:

1. removed cup of tank water
2. allowed ATO to add
3. dosed 1ml Trace

Will test today at noon and report back.

 

[Gaspipe]

@90's reefer

Question:

• This weekend I will be doing my first 2G water change and will repeat the steps again here below
• I have GHA in two spots.
  • The Zoa Garden which is subsiding. I am thinking of leaving that alone.
  • On the "tree".
    • This GHA is becoming less dense BUT is longer in length of hair and seems to be spreading further out. Should I remove what I can by hand during the water change?
• LFS
  • I plan to goto my LFS this weekend and need to replenish all food.
    • Frozen I previously had:
      • LRS Reef Frenzy Nano PE Mysis
      • Hikari Bio-Pure Mysis Shrimp
    • My pellet food is expired (1 year old) and I will buy the smallest amount they sell as I only use this when away for 2+ days.
    • Is there any food I should be buying as I am starting from nothing again?
    • Copepods..... Should I buy a bottle? If yes, is there a type/mix you recommend?

Weekend Water Change Plan:

1. Get saltwater in bin to 35.0 ppt
2. Test Alkalinity of SW Bin
3. Test Salinity and Alkalinity of tank
4. [insert and maintenance]
   1. clean glass, remove GHA if told to, etc.
5. 2G water change
6. add 1/2 cup ROX .8 Carbon
7. test and document KH, S, t, Mg, Ca, NO3 & PO4

If there is anything else I should buy at the LFS please let me know.

 

[X-37B]

A good frozen mix is mysis, brine, and marine cuisine packs of cubes
I like Hikari pellets but use sparingly. As long as all pellets are eaten and not allowed to fall to the bottom then your fine.

One year old pellt food is fine. I have some pellets that are 5+ years and feed them to the bottom dwellers such as snails and crabs.

Only copepods I have ever added came in on the rock. If you do add then do it after lights have neen off for a few. Daylight and your fish may eat them all.

Good idea to remove as much algae as you can. Get some trochus snails if available. 10 would be a good start. This will aid in keeping gha out of your system. I like a minumum of 1 per display gallons.
That reminds me as I need to pick some up today too.

That sounds like a good WC start.
Make sure to record the difference the 2g change has on alk. You will then know if alk needs to be reduced before next change.

I use rox in an old Chemipure nylon bag. If you dont have one pick up one, 10oz size, and use it then use the rox next change.
If not make sure your nylon bag used will not let the rox pass through.
Rinse rox in ro/di. Just get as much of tbe fine powder oit you can. Rox is the cleanest so it does not take long.

Looks like a sood plan. Good job!

 

[Gaspipe]

9/16 Noon

Alkalinity: 6.7 dKH
Salinity: 35.3 (will reduce 1 cup again)
Temp: 79.8*

Question:

Normally I would dose right now 2ml Part 1&@, as well as 1ml Trace. But because the water change tmrw and the bin has (or had, we won't know till I test again) high alkalinity, should I not dose today?

Please advise me on what to dose. TY!!

 

[Gaspipe]

A good frozen mix is mysis, brine, and marine cuisine packs of cubes
I like Hikari pellets but use sparingly. As long as all pellets are eaten and not allowed to fall to the bottom then your fine.

OK will look for an all-in-one mix, otherwise some combo and feed different ones at different times.

One year old pellt food is fine. I have some pellets that are 5+ years and feed them to the bottom dwellers such as snails and crabs.

OK, will skip on pellet food. TY

Only copepods I have ever added came in on the rock. If you do add then do it after lights have neen off for a few. Daylight and your fish may eat them all.

Will do, I may see if there is a mix bottle and I will add them under the filterpad in the first chamber. I have an intank chamber in there with rock rubble. Then add some into the main display while lights are off.

Good idea to remove as much algae as you can. Get some trochus snails if available. 10 would be a good start. This will aid in keeping gha out of your system. I like a minumum of 1 per display gallons.
That reminds me as I need to pick some up today too.

Will do. I do have about 12 various snails and i would say like 4 hermit crabs. (3 snails were added when I went to buy the test kits you recommended. (3 weeks ago)

Should I grab 4 more snails?

That sounds like a good WC start.
Make sure to record the difference the 2g change has on alk. You will then know if alk needs to be reduced before next change.

Good point I will wait an hour then test dKH again in display.

I use rox in an old Chemipure nylon bag. If you dont have one pick up one, 10oz size, and use it then use the rox next change.
If not make sure your nylon bag used will not let the rox pass through.
Rinse rox in ro/di. Just get as much of tbe fine powder oit you can. Rox is the cleanest so it does not take long.

I bought these "organic" no print tea bags. Much easier to toss.

Looks like a sood plan. Good job!

Thanks to you! So thank you.

 

[X-37B]

9/16 Noon

Alkalinity: 6.7 dKH
Salinity: 35.3 (will reduce 1 cup again)
Temp: 79.8*

Question:

Normally I would dose right now 2ml Part 1&@, as well as 1ml Trace. But because the water change tmrw and the bin has (or had, we won't know till I test again) high alkalinity, should I not dose today?

Please advise me on what to dose. TY!!

Dose today. We are only looking for the difference in alk of the tank at time of WC and the alk after. This will tell you what effect the 2gs has on the system.

Snails. I run up to 2 snails per gallon on my system. More will not hurt. Also keep an eye on them as many only last a year or so. I have some that are 5 years old though and add them to my systems every other month.

 

[Gaspipe]

Some bad news...

I noticed the beginning signs of bubble algae (again) in the same spot as last time. I removed it last time via a turkey blaster but it's back.

Do you think I should get an emerald crab? I have tried in the past and have lost 2 after only a few months.

If not a crab.. what do you suggest?

 

[X-37B]

An emerald crab or 2 may help. I have them in my nano and have bubble algae.
Remove what you can. As long as the algae is kept reduced its not an issue. It wont hurt the system but can overgrow a system pretty fast if not kept in check.
Imo, you will never get it all as I never have.

 

[Gaspipe]

Water Parameters:

SW Bin:
9/17 9AM
Salinity: 35.1 (Hanna) and 1.266 (TM)
Temp.: 75.4*
Alkalinity: 10.5dKH

Tank:
9/17 9AM
Salinity: 35.3 (Hanna) and 1.262 (TM)
Temp.: 80.3*
Alkalinity: 7.3dKH

WATER CHANGE OF 2 GALLONS

9:10AM
Salinity: 35.3 ppt
Temp.: 79.7
Alkalinity: 7.3 dKH

do to no change... I tested again at 9:30AM

Alkalinity: 7.8 dKH

 

[Gaspipe]

LFS Visit:

• Frozen food as recommended
  • LRS Reef Frenzy
  • Hiki ari bio pure Mysis shrimp
• They only had Astraea & Top Crown snails which I have of both
  • LFS told me Astrea mostly are glass cleaners
  • Top Crown are good for all around (i didn't buy them as they are big, and I have two already)
• Emeral Crab
  • They had but the LFS told me because I have a small amount of bubble algae, he recommends manual removal. Warned me that unless you are a heavy feeder or there is an abundance of bubble, they will start hunting other things.
  • I have tried them twice and both died after 3 months or so
  • I think I will try manual removal for now, and if it spreads or becomes too much, I will add one.
• Blue Tuxedo Urchin
  • I've always been on the fence with this as I know things get stuck to them. LFS told me they are a great CUC and will crush that GHA. So, I bought it.
• Pods
  • Bought a bottle of Tigger Pods. Currently in a ziplock bag floating in rear middle chamber. Will dose tonight at 10PM after lights are out.

I also added 8 tbs of ROX (two tea bags, 4tbs each).

 

[Gaspipe]

Fish:

I know you told me not to add anything till tank is stabilized (and I haven't) outside of the things I mentioned (pods, snails, urchin). No corals or fish.

So at some point I would like to add more fish. My options is 1 that can tolerate the aggressive Starcki Damsel. Currently I have this damsel (Tony Starki), a Black Ice Snowflake Clown (Cheeto) and a Royal Gamma (Thanos).

Thanos and Cheeto go at it and it seems like a fair fight when they do.
Tony and Cheeto get along
Tony will chase Thanos when it sees it. Quick burst no physical contact, but it does happen and more often than I like. Also, Tony will protect Cheeto if it sees them fighting. They all come out in the middle of the water column when it's feeding time. Including the cleaner shrimp.

Thoughts:
I have two thoughts, plans.

Plan A: get a single fish that can hold it's own in the tank (waterbox mini peninsula 25).

• They had some really gorgeous fish. A few wrasse that really caught my eye.
• They actually said I could get away with a Scopas Tang. He said not that small one, but pointed to another and said that size would be perfect. I asked wouldn't it out grow the tank, he said most likely not.
• If Tony goes after it, you may want to rehouse Tony.

Plan B:

• Remove Tony
• get some smaller peaceful fish that can coexist w/ Cheeto and Thanos
• I have a lid so firefish, cardinals, etc.

You don't have to respond now, it's just a seed I wanted to plant in the back of your mind when the time is right.

 

[Gaspipe]

@90's reefer Should I dose anything?

I will be testing again tmrw and report.

Thank you!

 

[X-37B]

First the person that made the tang comment I would be unable to trust his opinion in the future.
Just trying to make a sale.
2-3 peacefull fish in that system. Do not add any fish that are not getting along.
A blenny, couple cardinal fish?

 

[X-37B]

@90's reefer Should I dose anything?

I will be testing again tmrw and report.

Thank you!

What was the difference in alk of the new salt water vs tank. That will tell us if we need to dose.

 

[Gaspipe]

First the person that made the tang comment I would be unable to trust his opinion in the future.
Just trying to make a sale.

Understood

2-3 peacefull fish in that system. Do not add any fish that are not getting along.
A blenny, couple cardinal fish?

OK we have time, just wanted to throw it out there.

What was the difference in alk of the new salt water vs tank. That will tell us if we need to dose.

So new saltwater batch: 10.5 dKH
Tank BEFORE water change (2gal): 7.3 dKH
Tank AFTER water change: at first 7.3 dKH (10 min after WC), then 30 min later it was 7.8 dKH.

 

[X-37B]

Understood

OK we have time, just wanted to throw it out there.


So new saltwater batch: 10.5 dKH
Tank BEFORE water change (2gal): 7.3 dKH
Tank AFTER water change: at first 7.3 dKH (10 min after WC), then 30 min later it was 7.8 dKH.

Good job and info! Looks like .5 dkh swing so no dose. You can skip trace on wc day.
Once you get a dkh test of 7 start dosing 2ml and monitor.

When dosing alk wait 1hr then test in the future on that size system.

 

[Gaspipe]

Good job and info! Looks like .5 dkh swing so no dose. You can skip trace on wc day.

Thank you, will not dose ANYTHING on WC Day.

Once you get a dkh test of 7 start dosing 2ml and monitor.

Understood. Will dose 2ml Part 1&2.
1ml Trace is every day except on WC Day.

When dosing alk wait 1hr then test in the future on that size system.

Understood. So if tmrw at noon dKH is 7.00 I will dose 2ml Part 1&2. Wait 1 hour, then test alkalinity again.

Got it and easy enough.

 

[Gaspipe]

Full Testing today:

I screen charted my testing log below also showing Aug. 21st which was the last time I tested everything. My parameters are MUCH better since you started helping me with this journey.

I just dosed 2ml Part 1&2, 1ml Trace.
Will test alkalinity in 1 hour and report.