Himbo's Dragon Fantasy IM 40L AIO

[trophyhimbo]

off to a great start. macros will need some PO4 tho so be careful with that. also wondering if the scape is mortared or glued in some way or are they just balanced on top of one another? if they're just balanced i would highly suggest something more permanent.

Thank you! I'm waiting for the other foot to drop... haha

Scape is mostly superglued together and comes apart into 3 main structures (left, middle, right) with the foundational pieces resting on the glass bottom under the sand. One or two of the rocks are just balanced, but they fit into the existing grooves pretty securely and have at least 3 or 4 contact points to the existing structure. I figured I could move those around as I am experimenting with coral placement before gluing them permanently since I have zero experience with them.

Just checked my phosphates, got 0ppm (Hanna). On April 15, it read as 0.03ppm. Any tips on how to increase those for the macroalgae or is it just consuming whatever's being produced?

 

[tbrown]

Thank you! I'm waiting for the other foot to drop... haha

Scape is mostly superglued together and comes apart into 3 main structures (left, middle, right) with the foundational pieces resting on the glass bottom under the sand. One or two of the rocks are just balanced, but they fit into the existing grooves pretty securely and have at least 3 or 4 contact points to the existing structure. I figured I could move those around as I am experimenting with coral placement before gluing them permanently since I have zero experience with them.

Just checked my phosphates, got 0ppm (Hanna). On April 15, it read as 0.03ppm. Any tips on how to increase those for the macroalgae or is it just consuming whatever's being produced?

NeoPhos is what I use. You're going to definitely want Phosphates if you're planning on acros.

 

[JoJosReef]

Have you picked a name for the firefish yet? Prince seems like a good name and a nod to Purple Rain. Or maybe Fish Formerly Known as Prince?

Good eye on the auto-feeder platform. It really works perfectly. I'm thinking of getting a second one just to set decorations on top.

For your macros, they can suck up nutrients once they get going. I use Seachem Flourish Phosphorus for when the PO4 bottoms out (try to get it back up to 0.05-0.1ppm range) and Brightwell NeoNitro for NO3 when it bottoms out, which it did in this new tank, so trying to keep it at least 2ppm for now--zoas look really unhappy when NO3 hits zero.

Just a thought, would adding some red sponges to your list fit the theme?

Dragon Fire

Dragon Fire Sponge. Size: Jumbo 6"+. Live Red Sea Sponges for sale for reef tank aquariums.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Red Dragon Fire S

Red dragon fire live sea sponge small for sale for saltwater aquariums.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Venus Fire

Venus Fire Sea Sponge, live sponges for sale on line. Get rare sponge specimens whole colonies to enhance your saltwater aquarium and add bright colors without having to shine a special blue light on it.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Volcano Heart 1

Volcano Heart Red Sponge for sale. Live Sponge Red ball size 2"-3". Striking colors of the worlds sponges rival any live corals like SPS, LPS, and saltwater aquarium fish for sale on line.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Sponges are great, just need to make sure they have enough "stuff" floating around in the water column for them to filter. Once you have more fish, I think that will be easy.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Oh boy, there goes another organism added to the stock wish list... Does that ever end? haha Thank you for the sponge suggestion!

Noted on the phosphate levels, thanks guys. At least the macroalgae is enjoying the current system... I will plan on taking things slow, stock my fish over the next month or two (minus mandarin dragonet), monitor phosphate and nitrate levels from fish food input and micro/macroalgae growth, and supplement phosphate to 0.05-0.1ppm and nitrate to >2ppm accordingly before throwing in the zoas and easier corals and working my way up to LPS and SPS.

Fish Formerly Known As Prince seems to be a winner in the family chat too!

 

[trophyhimbo]

Welcome fishy #2: Black Cardinalfish!

• Managed to snag this pic before it found a hiding spot under the middle bridge of my aquascape. Hadn't seen many totally black fish, so thought it'd be a chic contrast to all the other colorful saltwater things... Plus it appeals to my formative emo teen years from long, long ago Hope it'll eventually enjoy its new home.

General Tank

Prior to weekly water change, nitrates have been reading at a steady 8.0ppm for the last few weeks and phosphate is reading at 0.01ppm (Hanna). My rocks are still pretty white so far; still no overwhelming diatoms or algae... macroalgae seems to be flourishing nicely though and copepods are EVERYWHERE. Didn't scrape my front glass for a few days and the white specks became too distracting. I'm letting them colonize the glass sides and black back.

Livestock Notes

• "Fish-Formerly-Known-As-Prince" / "Firefly" /Helfrichi Firefish - This guy is a freaking pig. Always out in front of the tank chomping on things out of the water column. Is he eating free-floating copepods or something when I'm not actively feeding?? Hope he likes his new friend!
• Marginella Snails - Favorite snails and their shells are so shiny! My fears of never seeing them emerge from the sand bed were unfounded. These look so cool cruising around the sand surface and occasionally on the glass. These snails are surprisingly FAST. Not sure what exactly they're eating but they stay at the tank bottom.
• Dwarf Trochus and Dwarf Cerith Snails - Honestly kind of boring. They like to hang out near the top of my rock structures and eat the algae closer to the lights.
• Ninja Star Astaea Snails - Also boring, but gets bonus points for being pretty and actually moving somewhat. These two have been all over the place! Here's a pic of them crawling on each other on top of my magnetic scraper:

I feel like my schedule is forcing me to take things pretty slow... Or is this fast for a reef tank? I have no frame of reference haha I just want to chuck more things in here!! Can't wait for an active fairy wrasse and corals in the summer

 

[tbrown]

Black Cardinalfish?

 

[trophyhimbo]

Black Cardinalfish?

Only doing pre-screened and quarantined fish so https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com/product/black-cardinal-captive-bred/ who sources it from ORA here: https://www.orafarm.com/product/black-cardinal/

Stretching to fit into the dragon theme, but if there's tons of fire/flame there's got to be some smoke! Plus it kinda reminds me of a mini Coelacanth

 

[tbrown]

I almost bought a couple once. I forget why I didn't... I think I had too many Cardinals in my 75 already at that time maybe.

 

[trophyhimbo]

I almost bought a couple once. I forget why I didn't... I think I had too many Cardinals in my 75 already at that time maybe.

Makes sense, variety is always more fun haha

Haven't seen much information on black cardinals in general, so I'll post whatever I observe. First night/morning it's just been picking at copepods on the glass and trying to find its favorite cave. Seems to be deciding between 3 different spots.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Firefishy went on an adventure to the back chambers today... Working from home, heard a splash and was like, what the heck was that?! He somehow navigated the slim gap between the full top mesh cover and the overflow protection divot and landed in the return pump chamber! Managed to get him out by shutting off the return pump and ATO, removing the end chamber caddies, and fishing him out with a net (note to self: buy a smaller net!). After returning to the display area, he hovered in a few spots around the tank clearly over-exerted and panting from his excursion before retreating into his hidey hole. I noticed his tail fin seemed a little split either from the frantic darting or maybe from the return pump.

Black cardinalfish (Toothless) and Firefish (house has settled on Firefly) seem all right together. Zero aggression so far and it honestly seems they set off a startled chain reaction when they get too close to each other (which probably caused Firefly's morning adventure). They do give each other space during feeding time, but they're both getting food (frozen mysis and pellets). Firefish has spent more time in its hole than when he was alone, but comes to hang out throughout the day. I think the presence of a tankmate takes more energy out of the little introvert.

I cannot tell when Toothless sleeps. She found a cave in the bottom right of the display to hang out in regularly, but will cruise the tank bottom even with the lights off. I assumed she'd be nocturnal because of her coloration, but is now out with the lights on too. She does seem slightly more bold at night, but doesn't just stay in one place during the day like the Banggai cardinalfish I've seen. Maybe this fish is more of a power napper than a deep sleeper... Unlike Firefish who only eats free floating bits, this fish will eat sunken pellets off the sand bed and picks at food from the rocks as well as free floaters. Pretty peaceful so far and is definitely still giving Firefly the side-eye.

So many different types of algae growing now on the rocks, glass, sand, and back of astaea snails. There's long brown stuff, long green stuff, fuzzy green stuff, fuzzy red stuff, leafy green things, brown dust, green dust, and I am sure other variations. My nitrates have dropped to 1.7ppm and my phosphates are undetectable again even though I am feeding for two fish now.

More CUC tomorrow! Ordered a fire shrimp, a tiger conch, a scarlet reef hermit crab (went overboard on the extra shells), and two lightning dove snails. Will see how these guys handle the algae with the other snails.

Questions

• Do fish fins heal?
• Is there an attachment or netting for the 40L IM AIO I could install between the back overflow divot and the cover to prevent the firefish from accidentally jumping through that space again?
• Should I be worried about the dropping nitrates and phosphate levels? All the algae is clearly growing and I assume it'll sort itself out over the next few months. When should I actually be worried about algae affecting the health of my tank?

 

[tbrown]

Firefishy went on an adventure to the back chambers today... Working from home, heard a splash and was like, what the heck was that?! Managed to get him out by shutting off the return pump and ATO, removing the end chamber caddies, and fishing him out with a net (note to self: buy a smaller net!). After returning to the display area, he hovered in a few spots around the tank clearly over-exerted and panting from his excursion before retreating into his hidey hole. I noticed his tail fin seemed a little split either from the frantic darting or maybe from the return pump.

Black cardinalfish (Toothless) and Firefish (house has settled on Firefly) seem all right together. Zero aggression so far and it honestly seems they set off a startled chain reaction when they get too close to each other (which probably caused Firefly's morning adventure). They do give each other space during feeding time, but they're both getting food (frozen mysis and pellets). Firefish has spent more time in its hole than when he was alone, but comes to hang out throughout the day. I think the presence of a tankmate takes more energy out of the little introvert.

I cannot tell when Toothless sleeps. She found a cave in the bottom right of the display to hang out in regularly, but will cruise the tank bottom even with the lights off. I assumed she'd be nocturnal because of her coloration, but is now out with the lights on too. She does seem slightly more bold at night, but doesn't just stay in one place during the day like the Banggai cardinalfish I've seen. Maybe this fish is more of a power napper than a deep sleeper... Unlike Firefish who only eats free floating bits, this fish will eat sunken pellets off the sand bed and picks at food from the rocks as well as free floaters. Pretty peaceful so far and is definitely still giving Firefly the side-eye.

So many different types of algae growing now on the rocks, glass, sand, and back of astaea snails. There's long brown stuff, long green stuff, fuzzy green stuff, fuzzy red stuff, leafy green things, brown dust, green dust, and I am sure other variations. My nitrates have dropped to 1.7ppm and my phosphates are undetectable again even though I am feeding for two fish now.

More CUC tomorrow! Ordered a fire shrimp, a tiger conch, a scarlet reef hermit crab (went overboard on the extra shells), and two lightning dove snails. Will see how these guys handle the algae with the other snails.

Questions

• Do fish fins heal?
• Is there an attachment or netting for the 40L IM AIO I could install between the back overflow divot and the cover to prevent the firefish from accidentally jumping through that space again?
• Should I be worried about the dropping nitrates and phosphate levels? All the algae is clearly growing and I assume it'll sort itself out over the next few months. When should I actually be worried about algae affecting the health of my tank?

Yes
Probably or you could DIY rig something up
Yes, if nutrients bottom out it gets harder to get rid of certain algae.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Yes
Probably or you could DIY rig something up
Yes, if nutrients bottom out it gets harder to get rid of certain algae.

Got it! So should I overfeed the two fish for now to prevent the bottoming out? I will be getting one or two more in June. Everything's going to be so fat haha

 

[tbrown]

Got it! So should I overfeed the two fish for now to prevent the bottoming out? I will be getting one or two more in June. Everything's going to be so fat haha

I'd just keep an eye on levels. You don't want one bottoming out and the other spiking either. See if your tank is using phosphate and not nitrate or vice versa and consider dosing that one. Trying to keep both present and in balance is what seems to be most important.

My nitrates are high but because I dose phosphates I don't struggle with algae like I used to with 0 phosphate.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Sorry to report that Firefly died. I suspect due to internal injuries or trauma from his misadventure... I am plugging that overflow gap ASAP.

He was such a beautiful fish, very energetic, and personable. I am very bummed out but at least he will be remembered fondly.

 

[JoJosReef]

Sorry to report that Firefly died. I suspect due to internal injuries or trauma from his misadventure... I am plugging that overflow gap ASAP.

He was such a beautiful fish, very energetic, and personable. I am very bummed out but at least he will be remembered fondly.

I'm sorry about Firefly! Feels horrible when these things happen--but definitely not something you did, and looks like you're making sure it doesn't happen again. I think some netting is going up in my overflow gap asap.

 

[trophyhimbo]

I'm sorry about Firefly! Feels horrible when these things happen--but definitely not something you did, and looks like you're making sure it doesn't happen again. I think some netting is going up in my overflow gap asap.

The encouragement is very much appreciated, thank you!

I was thinking a long sponge of some sort, but perhaps netting would last longer... Will keep you posted when I come up with something

 

[Blopple]

Sorry to report that Firefly died. I suspect due to internal injuries or trauma from his misadventure... I am plugging that overflow gap ASAP.

He was such a beautiful fish, very energetic, and personable. I am very bummed out but at least he will be remembered fondly.

RIP Firefly. I was pretty worried about that same gap when I added the blenny. He was -flippin'- out right below it and making me nervous. I guess I just got lucky. Gonna have to look into closing that gap as well.

 

[trophyhimbo]

Just got back from a weekend camping trip and the tank is UUUUUGLY. Autofeeder dispensing pellets every 12 hours.

So many different algae variations and whatever else brown, green, and red. Sand is relatively clean, I believe thanks to the marginella snails and tiger conch stirring stuff up. All other snails (lightning dove, dwarf trochus, dwarf cerith, and ninja star astaea) and the small scarlet reef hermit crab in there better step up their game on the rockwork.

Following Firefly's unfortunate adventure, I noticed a white raised spot on the black cardinalfish's right eye. It kinda looks like a pimple and that eye seems to have gotten a bit cloudy... Came back today and she's not behaving like she used to: "hiccuping" at the bottom of the tank and not interested in any frozen food or reacting to any stimuli. She floated around back to the fire shrimp and then floated back out front. No other white spots on the fish. What could this be?

Nitrates: 0.8ppm
Phosphates: 0.04ppm
Salinity: 1.025

I no longer want to put anymore fish in this tank At least the invertebrates and algae are thriving.

 

[Blopple]

Just got back from a weekend camping trip and the tank is UUUUUGLY. Autofeeder dispensing pellets every 12 hours.

So many different algae variations and whatever else brown, green, and red. Sand is relatively clean, I believe thanks to the marginella snails and tiger conch stirring stuff up. All other snails (lightning dove, dwarf trochus, dwarf cerith, and ninja star astaea) and the small scarlet reef hermit crab in there better step up their game on the rockwork.

Following Firefly's unfortunate adventure, I noticed a white raised spot on the black cardinalfish's right eye. It kinda looks like a pimple and that eye seems to have gotten a bit cloudy... Came back today and she's not behaving like she used to: "hiccuping" at the bottom of the tank and not interested in any frozen food or reacting to any stimuli. She floated around back to the fire shrimp and then floated back out front. No other white spots on the fish. What could this be?

Nitrates: 0.8ppm
Phosphates: 0.04ppm
Salinity: 1.025

I no longer want to put anymore fish in this tank At least the invertebrates and algae are thriving.

Would be interested to see pics with the algae. I feel like it's tough to find 'progress pics' of tanks sometimes. Gotta know what to prepare myself for hahaha.

I can totally relate to the invert thing. It feels like my margaritas are constantly and quickly gobbling stuff up. The trochus will sit around for 4 hours then clean, then rest, then clean. They almost seem lazy compared to the margaritas hahaha.

Oh no!!!! Over to the fish disease forums. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the little guy.

 

[JoJosReef]

Just got back from a weekend camping trip and the tank is UUUUUGLY. Autofeeder dispensing pellets every 12 hours.

So many different algae variations and whatever else brown, green, and red. Sand is relatively clean, I believe thanks to the marginella snails and tiger conch stirring stuff up. All other snails (lightning dove, dwarf trochus, dwarf cerith, and ninja star astaea) and the small scarlet reef hermit crab in there better step up their game on the rockwork.

Following Firefly's unfortunate adventure, I noticed a white raised spot on the black cardinalfish's right eye. It kinda looks like a pimple and that eye seems to have gotten a bit cloudy... Came back today and she's not behaving like she used to: "hiccuping" at the bottom of the tank and not interested in any frozen food or reacting to any stimuli. She floated around back to the fire shrimp and then floated back out front. No other white spots on the fish. What could this be?

Nitrates: 0.8ppm
Phosphates: 0.04ppm
Salinity: 1.025

I no longer want to put anymore fish in this tank At least the invertebrates and algae are thriving.

I would also wait before adding more fish until whatever is affecting the cardinal is ID'd. I don't know the white pimple/hiccup symptoms. Maybe @Jay Hemdal ?