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[RaisingTinyHobbits]

Finally!! We're fully cycled! The second batch of turbostart seems to have done the trick. I also added a capful of Microbacter7 every other day and we've finally gotten consistent 0 readings for Ammonia and Nitrate. I added in a bottle of Reef by Steele's gigantic double pod buffet copepods and have been feeding them with phytoplankton. Tomorrow the lights will come on and hopefully we'll start growing some algae to feed a cleanup crew.

QTing this time around is going much better. The clownfish made it through the copper power regimine and are on to Prazipro. I was debating following Humblefish's Metro protocol for prophylactic treatment of Brooklynella, and think I will do so after the Prazi. It seems Prazi and Metro are fine to mix, but since the Prazi is every 3 days water change/redosing and the Metro is only every 48 hours, I'm going to do them separately. Also, they tend to be extreme little drama queens every time their water is changed. I've taken to leaving them in their time out basket floating at the top for the first couple of hours, other wise they like to lay on the bottom and act like their life is horrible.

Plus taking the extra days to do the Metro seperately kills a little bit of time until my Dr. REEF'S fish arrive, cause I really want them to go in and establish themselves first. I have a replacement Firefish coming because I really love the way they look like their tail is glowing under the lights. I went a little differently with the shrimp goby and picked out a Wheeler's Shrimp Goby and a Randall's Pistol Shrimp to pair him with. So not too much longer to wait until things will start to be added to the DT and we can move on to researching corals for the next step!

Thank you to everyone who has commented with encouragement and knowledge/recommendations. I truly appreciate all of your input!

 

[J A' mhuir]

Thank you, the tip about the heater is really helpful! We live in Wyoming so it can get fairly cold, but the house usually keeps up ok. I was planning on getting another 100W helio to connect for added redundancy, but will definitely make that a higher priority. I actually do have the weir guards on it, the guy I bought the tank from said he had a goby that liked to swim through to the back so he had already gotten some.

That’s great that you have the guards! Definitely having multiple redundancies is good!! Excited to see the system evolve!! Peace!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

The tank is starting to shape up! We dealt with a little bit of a bacterial bloom 2 weeks ago and turned the lights back off to help clear it up. It was still a little bit cloudy when the inverts got here a week and a half ago, but cleared up by time the fish from Dr. Reef got here Thursday. Unfortunately, the pistol shrimp didn't pass it's health inspection so I'll have to order one down the road when my Cleanup Crew needs some replacements.

So far the hermit crabs and the shrimp have been the favorites for my kids to watch. The bigger of the two Peppermint shrimp in particular is very entertaining to watch. He's a bit of a jerk to the snails, but he comes running anytime anyone is near the tank and looses his mind over the sheet of Nori being added.

The Fire Shrimp has been interested in the Nori, but seems to favor the Mysis shrimp I started adding for the fish. I haven't actually witnessed the Firefish or the Wheeler's goby eating any of the food I've added so today I mixed the frozen Calanus and Mysis shrimp together with a bit of Seachem Garlic. It definitely set the rest of the inhabitants into a feeding frenzy, but still no reaction from the two fish.

The clownfish are officially all done with their QT and passed with flying colors. Their now just hanging out giving the tank a chance to catch up with the new bioload from the Gobies before adding them to the system as well.

I need to do some research on how to get better pictures of my tank along with learning more about corals and preping my potential stock list as my next step.

 

[trellemania]

Love seeing the life come into the tank!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The tank is starting to shape up! We dealt with a little bit of a bacterial bloom 2 weeks ago and turned the lights back off to help clear it up. It was still a little bit cloudy when the inverts got here a week and a half ago, but cleared up by time the fish from Dr. Reef got here Thursday. Unfortunately, the pistol shrimp didn't pass it's health inspection so I'll have to order one down the road when my Cleanup Crew needs some replacements.

So far the hermit crabs and the shrimp have been the favorites for my kids to watch. The bigger of the two Peppermint shrimp in particular is very entertaining to watch. He's a bit of a jerk to the snails, but he comes running anytime anyone is near the tank and looses his mind over the sheet of Nori being added.

The Fire Shrimp has been interested in the Nori, but seems to favor the Mysis shrimp I started adding for the fish. I haven't actually witnessed the Firefish or the Wheeler's goby eating any of the food I've added so today I mixed the frozen Calanus and Mysis shrimp together with a bit of Seachem Garlic. It definitely set the rest of the inhabitants into a feeding frenzy, but still no reaction from the two fish.

The clownfish are officially all done with their QT and passed with flying colors. Their now just hanging out giving the tank a chance to catch up with the new bioload from the Gobies before adding them to the system as well.

I need to do some research on how to get better pictures of my tank along with learning more about corals and preping my potential stock list as my next step.

When I first got my firefish, he was a little bit skiddish for the first couple of days I had him. Eventually, he began eating without any issues.

You also mentioned how to get better photos of your tank? I use an iPhone 16 with the orphek lens kit. Comes with a couple of lenses, making it very easy to take photos. I would bust out my actual camera, but I don't have the proper lenses for it to make it worth using.

 

[trellemania]

When I first got my firefish, he was a little bit skiddish for the first couple of days I had him. Eventually, he began eating without any issues.

You also mentioned how to get better photos of your tank? I use an iPhone 16 with the orphek lens kit. Comes with a couple of lenses, making it very easy to take photos. I would bust out my actual camera, but I don't have the proper lenses for it to make it worth using.

I second the Orphek!!!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

So we've had some ups and downs the past couple of weeks. Everything was going pretty well until what I thought was a molt of the bigger peppermint shrimp was being eaten by the snails and hermit crabs. He has not been seen since, so I'm pretty sure he died sometime during the night and by the time I saw it in the morning, just the shell of him remained. The smaller peppermint shrimp has also been MIA since then, so I'm about 90% sure something happened to it as well. It was quite a bit smaller, so there is a small chance he's doing a really good job hiding.
Our other down was about a week after getting the Wheeler's Shrimp Goby I found him flopping around on top of the lid and put him back in the tank. I checked the lid and everything seemed secure so the only thing I could think of was he pushed his way through the mesh part. Unfortunately, he did it again in the middle of the night about a week later, but this time ended up on the floor and didn't make it.
On a happier note, the clownfish passed their QT and were added to the DT. I initially planned to keep them in the strawberry basket for a couple of days acclimation for the other fish, but the little stinkers found a way to let themselves out after only a day. They've been doing great though and we've even transitioned them over to eating mostly a mixture of thawed calanus/mysis shrimp with just occasional TDO pellets instead of exclusively those. The dominant one has grown just since being put in the DT and has darkened up quite a bit. They have staked the front glass of the tank as their area which has caused the firefish to decide to habitat more along the back wall than the side she was on, but thankfully I haven't seen any signs of aggression between them.
I also ended up getting a new phone due to a great trade in deal and my old one needing charged half way through the day. The camera on the new phone is much better, which has been pretty great, but the pictures are still pretty blue since I haven't ordered the Orphek yet.
Overall, its been going pretty well. I definitely want to replace the watchman goby, but I might wait until I can get the pistol shrimp at the same time. After what happened to the last one, I'm fairly nervous about getting one of a similar size and just repeating the experience. The nitrates are also a bit higher than I would like, but I'm pretty sure it was because I was over feeding. I've cut back on how much food I add and then have been doing a bit bigger water changes to try to bring them down without going overboard and doing something drastic. I haven't seen any signs of an ugly stage yet, so I'm hoping that being proactive with the CUC and copepods continues to keep it that way!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

I spoke too soon The next day a greenish brown haze started to appear on the rocks. So we're officially in the ugly stage.

 

[Red_Beard]

Think about it like a caterpillar, it was fun to watch wiggle around for a bit, but now it is stuck in the uglies chrysalis. Stay the course and a beautiful butterly of a tank will soon emerge!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

Think about it like a caterpillar, it was fun to watch wiggle around for a bit, but now it is stuck in the uglies chrysalis. Stay the course and a beautiful butterly of a tank will soon emerge!

I went back through and rewatched all my youtube videos on waiting it out to remind myself not to try to tamper with it.

 

[CoastieCorals]

Nice tank! Following!

 

[trellemania]

I tried to avoid the ugly too... my tank humbled me Its coming along great tho!!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

We had an another casualty last night, the poor Fire Shrimp was half buried in the corner this morning. I'm not really sure what happened to him. I pulled him out of the tank and looked him over, but couldn't find any signs of what occurred. At least our remaining fish are doing great though! The Firefish is really gaining some confidence and will actually come out into the Clownfishs' territory to go after the food it wants and has reverted back to its original area of the tank

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

I'm starting to get really discouraged. I'm pretty sure the clownfish killed the firefish last night, he had what looks like a bite mark out of one of his gills. Alao, the diatoms just look horrible. I know they're part of the process, but I'm ready to be past that. I'm going to take today to brainstorm next steps for restocking. If anyone has advice on how to mitigate any more casualties I'd greatly appreciate it! Do I put the Clownfiah back in QT in order to add the more docile species first again or is there another way to do it? Also, do I add more copepods/beef up my CUC or just ride out the diatoms? Thank you in advance!

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

I'm starting to get really discouraged. I'm pretty sure the clownfish killed the firefish last night, he had what looks like a bite mark out of one of his gills. Alao, the diatoms just look horrible. I know they're part of the process, but I'm ready to be past that. I'm going to take today to brainstorm next steps for restocking. If anyone has advice on how to mitigate any more casualties I'd greatly appreciate it! Do I put the Clownfiah back in QT in order to add the more docile species first again or is there another way to do it? Also, do I add more copepods/beef up my CUC or just ride out the diatoms? Thank you in advance!

Two weeks ago both clownfish and a bunch of the snails died pretty much in a 24 hour timespan. I took a day to mourn, went to petco to look at the fish there and remind myself why I love this hobby and won't give up. I ordered a microscope and joined Mack's Dinoflagellates group on Facebook. I finally got an official ID of Small Cell Amphidiums so for the next little bit this will just be a log of the process of battling the Dinos and how it's going. Eventually, I plan to restock with the same stocking plan, but I'm debating whether a full fallow period is needed before reintroduction and if maybe I should look at starting some corals beforehand to give some more habitat than just rock.

To begin with I'm dosing NeoPhos and NeoNitro to get my levels in a better ratio than they were and adding Microbacter7 twice a week to beef up the microbiome. I've ordered Reef by Steele's Dino Destroyer package to start dosing silicates and diatoms to outcompete the dinos for space and nutrients as well as phyto and copepods to help round out the microbiome better. I'll also be physically removing some of the dinos by scrubbing all the surfaces and the filtering the water through a 5 micron filter sock and returning the water back to the tank. Finally, I'm looking into adding a 15W UV to the system since there's some debate as to it's effectiveness on SCA, but I figured if it doesn't work for this purpose it would be nice to have for other issues. I also think I will be adjusting my flow a bit since I feel like it could use some more surface disturbance for gas exchange.

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

We seem to be making good progress! I joined Mack's Dinoflagellates group on facebook and have been following his protocol. Every night I add Microbacter7, Neophos, and Silicates according to their formulas and then worked up to adding Phytoplankton from Reef by Steele's Dino Destroyers package every other night from once a week. I also added the Copepods from that package in the beginning. Once a week I turkey baster the rocks, scrub the rock with a toothbrush a bit, and siphon the sandbed through a 5 micron filter sock and then put the water back in the tank. I did also pick up a UV sterilizer and tried it out for a few days before realizing I misread that section and it isn't recommended for SCA dinos. The difference it made to the water clarity for the few nights I ran it was awesome though, so I'm debating a way to more permanently set it up for occasional use in the future (more on that later) With beefing up my microbiome I was only able to find 3 SCA on my last slide sample and only one of them was moving around, so it feels like the battle is working. Also interestingly, a large number of my snails have somehow resurrected. There was a massive pile of the dwarf ceriths in one of the corners I was going to fish out of the tank and then about a week ago they had scattered all over the glass and rock and were actively getting to work and then this morning 2 of the Florida Ceriths were cruising around the glass and one of the dwarf trochus was hanging out on the return nozzles. The nassarius and hermit crabs have been doing just fine, so my CUC is doing significantly better than I thought immediately post dinos outbreak. Just to be safe I'm doing the full 76 day fallow before reintroducing fish though, by time I saw the Humblefish updated 6 week timeline if I raised the temp to 80.6 the end date would have still been the exact same day as the original 76 at 78 degrees, so I just left the temp where it was. In the meantime I'm filling my time with a Serious Reefs subscription, Tidal Gardens YT, and Julian Sprung's book on Algae. I just love how much there is to learn in this hobby!

In regards to the UV, I'm considering changing the pump over to the AI axis 20 and shifting my return pump to the AI axis 40. Side by side they would both fit in the return chamber section of the AIO back leaving the two 2nd chambers open for my heater and potentially other gear in the future. I posted in the general equipment thread if this setup would cause any issues and only got one reply saying it probably wouldn't, so if anyone has some thoughts, please chime in!!

 

[Crabs+Shrimps-69]

Also interestingly, a large number of my snails have somehow resurrected. There was a massive pile of the dwarf ceriths in one of the corners I was going to fish out of the tank and then about a week ago they had scattered all over the glass and rock and were actively getting to work and then this morning 2 of the Florida Ceriths were cruising around the glass and one of the dwarf trochus was hanging out on the return nozzles.

Did they all move to that corner before they "died" or did you manually put them there just incase they were going to come back to life?

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

Also interestingly, a large number of my snails have somehow resurrected. There was a massive pile of the dwarf ceriths in one of the corners I was going to fish out of the tank and then about a week ago they had scattered all over the glass and rock and were actively getting to work and then this morning 2 of the Florida Ceriths were cruising around the glass and one of the dwarf trochus was hanging out on the return nozzles.

Did they all move to that corner before they "died" or did you manually put them there just incase they were going to come back to life?

They all moved on their own.

 

[TheNative192]

following along! just picked up the same tank

 

[RaisingTinyHobbits]

following along! just picked up the same tank

I hope you love it! It's the perfect size and shape! I originally was planning on the 20, but got a great deal on the 25 and am so glad! I'll be posting another update later this week since it looks like I've got the dinos under control and have some new fish and the first round of corals coming in over the next couple days