Many ways to skin a reef, this is mine. (54 Litre/14 Gallon)

[brandon429]

Im truly stumped by it agreed. I like how there's always a challenge to shore everything up lol, reefing yep. I cannot fathom what it may be other than some form of nitrate or nitrite intermediate registering as low ammonia, either way its unimpactful, not growing as we add more to your scape, and literally only indicated by a test kit. that reading literally meets all the slurs Ive put against API over the years heh, but from my top go-to tester.

It causes me to consider now the significance aspect of persistent low level stated ammonia, in tanks where the rock is aged and there's no death/decay nor topoff water issues. If there's no biological impact and the test says .25, regardless of brand, then the significance of that reading is simply nothing as it manifests here, and we move on.

I truly trust biology over test kits to determine low level ammonia accuracy even more now, and that includes all of them not just API. we have some red sea .25 questionable reads as well ive linked prior. we have smells, locations of clouds to hunt and eliminate, animal behavior, and other systems to confirm ammonia beyond kits

 

[hotashes]

Im truly stumped by it agreed. I like how there's always a challenge to shore everything up lol, reefing yep. I cannot fathom what it may be other than some form of nitrate or nitrite intermediate registering as low ammonia, either way its unimpactful, not growing as we add more to your scape, and literally only indicated by a test kit. that reading literally meets all the slurs Ive put against API over the years heh, but from my top go-to tester.

It causes me to consider now the significance aspect of persistent low level stated ammonia, in tanks where the rock is aged and there's no death/decay nor topoff water issues. If there's no biological impact and the test says .25, regardless of brand, then the significance of that reading is simply nothing as it manifests here, and we move on.

I truly trust biology over test kits to determine low level ammonia accuracy even more now, and that includes all of them not just API. we have some red sea .25 questionable reads as well ive linked prior. we have smells, locations of clouds to hunt and eliminate, animal behavior, and other systems to confirm ammonia beyond kits

You the guy who can hold them to their displays of readings, true. If biology and smell can be linked, then upon taking h2o2 to my rocks when out of the tank recently, I got a fabulous smell of fresh saltwater. My rock is good, real good

Thanks again @brandon429

Ash.

 

[hotashes]

@mdbannister @revhtree just noticed my 'Bulid Thread Contributor' banner, thanks for the warm welcoming gang ;Bookworm

 

[hotashes]

6 weeks in, another water change gone by and tank still going strong. Recently stumbled across what appeared to be a hitchhiker and not knowing what it was I got the microscope out

After some research it appeared to be a jellyfish, which by then time was up and no more movement *dang*

Also had a tiny amount gha as expected, which being a new tank I'm sure it was caused by phosphates from the live rock. As I'm sure, NitrAte + Phosphate = Algae. So just keeping an eye on things and will act on a plan of action (H2O2) if it worsens [emoji6] @brandon429

Currently I'm spot feeding my corals/inverts with gamma frozen Rotifers twice weekly, so prior to water change today I dropped all flow and fed

The Acan loved it [emoji4]

Also whilst flow was dormant I'd noticed a 'clouding' above the rear of the clam, which I assume could be exhaling from its siphon. Or maybe it was just my eyes lol



Either way, clam still going strong *touch wood* and lives another day. Still a tiny 1 inch [emoji4]

As for corals, I've learnt that a candy cane coral will give a bashing to a Duncan coral as there "were" neighbours but I've had to separate them and the Duncan is sulking.

Alveopora doing well nowadays and is out daily

Still no fish just yet, the next purchase will certainly likely be fire or cleaner shrimp x2 or a Blue coral banded shrimp (Stenopus tenuirostris)

Fish list will likely be 3/4 fish

Pajama Cardinal
Firefish (maybe purple)
Pink-Streaked/pyjama Wrasse (pinstripe)

Finally, either a Royal Gramma Basslet or High fin Clown or Banded Goby/Yasha White Ray Shrimp Goby (Stonogobiops yasha/xanthorhinica)

At the point of getting fish, I want to at least have had some experience with a nano skimmer to just ease export 24/7 and not just at water change day [emoji4]

P.S. As for testing, only my SG tested today as I'm hand guiding and playing by eye so won't harm if I miss all test for a day or so..... Or maybe a week

@brandon429 you got any spare test kits I can borrow? Oh I remember you don't use them!! Heh

Ash.

 

[brandon429]

that is a jelly medusa of some type how neat

that hitchhiker could be a coral planula that's very possible

its amazing you caught that for ID, did you put it back ha! I see the clouding and cannot call what that may be. it would be neat if it was expelling those medusa above/haven't google updated my claim repro biology but most ocean goers have a planktonic/settling phase that looks just about like all jellies, clams not so sure.

that's quite a bit of life farmed in this new and growing reef, checkmark on high quality looking corals and very healthy ecosystem.

 

[hotashes]

that is a jelly medusa of some type how neat

that hitchhiker could be a coral planula that's very possible

its amazing you caught that for ID, did you put it back ha! I see the clouding and cannot call what that may be. it would be neat if it was expelling those medusa above/haven't google updated my claim repro biology but most ocean goers have a planktonic/settling phase that looks just about like all jellies, clams not so sure.

that's quite a bit of life farmed in this new and growing reef, checkmark on high quality looking corals and very healthy ecosystem.

The jelly didn't make it as I had it out the tank too long, not knowing if it was good or bad. Best be safe than sorry I guess.

Yes the tank had been slightly clouding for a few days over the past week, unsure the reasoning. Having narrowed it down to only a few reasons I'm happy to say it's cleared up somewhat now.

The clam is also out more than ever which I a good sign

Thanks for the kind comments, as always.

Ash.

 

[hotashes]

As briefly covered in above post, only slight clouding to report regarding the tank update. My reasonings are either aerosol usage (from other rooms) transferred into the air in the room where tank sits, or some reaction from having algae although only a very small amount. Or finally may have been from the LPS corals namely candy cane and Duncan which were neighbours and the Duncan became very retracted as I guess the candy cane stung!! So yes maybe a release from the corals!!!

Anyhow, a partial Water change and seems to have cleared up [emoji4]

Although I'm not too into chasing the numbers, my weekly readings came back as below

Would it be concerning that I've 0 NitrAtes and 0.2 phosphates? The fix it to go a little more wild on the coral feeding to bring NitrAtes up slightly [emoji4]

@brandon429 as discussed, the Ammonia still shows in 0.25 using salifert test which does not compound weekly but now having 0 NitrAte it appears the reading are not as accurate as we believe IMO.

Yes the test kit has been compared to another salifert ammonia kit offering same readings of ammonia which has shown since setting up as 0.25ppm. Hmmmm

Anyhow, this weekend I plan on picking up 2x fire shrimp that I've on order from a tank closure. Are these ok with clams? Also got my eyes on this urchin, of which I'm not sure if it will be good for my tank size?

.

No fishy additions yet, however have a pajama/pinstripe wrasse lined up from another tank closure. Of which maybe it will be worth getting a nano skimmer to help lower workload on exports as currently only done via weekly water change heh.

Ash.

 

[hotashes]

Hey fellow reefers, just a small update on my time stamp. Added 2 fire shrimp last week Saturday, they've appeared fine since. Target fed them every other day, along with corals (corals usually fed only twice weekly). Shrimp have not touched the 1" maxima clam nor any coral, happy days. In fact my maxima has shown growth signs as the shell edge (where mantle sits) has became white in colour [emoji4]

If anyone owns a clam, trust me it's always better looking at them from top down with flow off [emoji7]

So today, considering I fed heavy this week, and have no skimmer as yet. I decided water change can happen a day early. Mid week I had stirred up my whole sand bed (marine snow) and turkey basted my rocks (keeping detritus out) so I guess exportation couldn't have come sooner. Simply siphoned just the sand today (which was done just 2 weeks ago) and was dang surprised how much detritus builds up......

My microorganism doing their 24/7 jobs and keeping my rock porous, whilst breaking down nutrients in my water column..... Win, win [emoji4]

No way this was staying in my sand bed, I like clean sand beds.... Husbandry at its best [emoji4]

I'll test parameters in a few day's, why chase numbers heh.
Oh all I need to worry about is salinity and temp of new salt water going in [emoji6]

FTS

A.

 

[hotashes]

Time for an update


Well well well, where do I begin.

On the tank front, all is well. Considering I've been away from home 5 days flat. All I've done is fed my fire shrimp and scraped the glass, within the 10 minutes I popped back home. (Feels like neglect I know)

I'm returning tomorrow, will update accordingly...

However, I've recently taken possession of a nice platinum clown fish, (yes he got fed)

Of which I plan to run through chloroquine phosphate for 21 days using a 1 tablet to 15L of saltwater ratio. This is a precaution for ridding of possible parasites etc before adding to my display tank.

So far so good, considering me and my better half welcomed our new arrival to the world days ago. Considering she should have been expected July -_-

I'm sure it's understandable why I've been absent of recent [emoji4]

Most recent FTS, and some clam love.

A.

 

[hotashes]

Live update, just fed up my LPS corals with a cube of rotifer frozen blister. I'm sure they are very happy now. Shrimp also direct fed a cube of mussel blister pack.

Reason for this is tomorrow I will rip clean my tank doing a heavy water change (75%) and also giving my rock h2o2 treatment to knock back the gha which has built up. I will give the tank a good test to see if it's stable enough to take this bashing. It's needed, trust me. I need to get my mojo back as I've not been giving the tank the attention needed for such a newly set up tank.

On thing for sure that annoys me is nuisance algae. I'm not letting it get a hold and take foot in my rock work.

Watch this space

A.

 

[hotashes]

Update as mentioned.

Well I must admit, on learning tank husbandry I still miss a trick now and then. What is that some may ask?
Well, as those who've followed my thread will know, I've hit my rocks with h2o2 twice in the past. Looked clean the first time of treatment, placed back into tank. Slowly but surely the gha returned!
Second try, it was late in the day, I was tired and only did a half hearted job. Placed the rocks back and noticed is missed some areas, but I just left it and hoped it would go...
I was wrong, it returned!

I'm no push over....

The weekend just passed, I went to work, all rock out, coral carefully placed on tank bottom, water drained 50-75% (I used this water to hold my rock while I was scraping)
This round I rasped the algae from the rock as well as sliced the layer of footing where it took hold to the rock. Once I'd got the rock looking algae free, I used a turkey baster to blast the detritus/algae out of the pores of the rock.
*TIP, do this as otherwise it will just sit in the rock when replaced in the display tank and build up, encourage phosphates and give algae a foothold.

Not me, this time I went hard on my rock.
NOTE: 3% h2o2 is my strength.

Some would say I drowned my rocks while applying the peroxide to the rocks (outside of the tank), yet pods and fanworms survived the blast and still live happily within the rocks pores. *happy

I must confess, a school boy error was made. As my bucket is just 18L/4.75G I had to make two batches of saltwater. The first was done and mixed throughout the night, however the second not as thorough. It was only mixed for an hour or two (without a heater too, as I'd thought the humidity at room temp was sufficient), however as learnt with previous experiences; shrimp are sensitive to shredding just after cooler water changes. Yes my shrimp shred, however it was laying on its side, limbless??? Alive. Just.

Not long and the shrimp had returned to fish heaven, via my freshwater cichlids *grin*

A.

 

[hotashes]

Well 3 months have passed since set up, corals have stayed strong. Spot fed. 1" maxima clam has been excellent and still alive, also with white growth on areas where mantle sits.

Algae has been my biggest issue, having removed the rocks numerous times to hit them with h2o2 3%. I must admit the grow back is becoming less each sit in, however I recently manoeuvred a rock (one to the left in FTS)which was previously not in direct light and now it's the only rock with strong growth of algae. I understand it's light related and can be beaten, so soon again I will be getting the h2o2 out.

On another note, I've now added a nano skimmer that I hope will help remove nuisance nutrients from the water column before they become a food source for algae. Maybe when my fish go in the display it will help also. My only current fish I have is in QT and has been under observation for 4 weeks and feeding well. Now I'm about to prophylactically treat with CP and will let the course run 30 days in case any trophont sate present. Usually I think if the QT is newly set up you can use CP for 21 days only.

Current FTS

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks great! That Caulastrea is fat!

 

[hotashes]

Looks great! That Caulastrea is fat!

Hey thanks! Have found that having it sit upon the tank bottom it has grown really well and fat.

Although I do not have the photography skills to show, my Fungia plate coral seems to have formed a tiny mouth right next to the main mouth.

My Duncan is shooting new heads left right and centre

My Acan has heads splitting as two mouths formed

Just one for the fans, 1" Maxima clam

A.

 

[hotashes]

Well after a slight heat wave here in the uk, I've had to get the fans out.

Nothing beats being prepared, good hobbyist are prepared for anything. I'm a novice, learning

Recently been discussing algae with other forum members on an algae thread,

I'm led to believe it's Cladophora Sp. (green hair algae), checked my phosphate and nitrAte as I've not done tests for a while and phosphate was 0.09/0.08 (did two tests)

whilst nitrAte is 0.

Having no fish in the tank since set up (3 months) then the algae have nothing competing and obviously can utilise the ULN. As previously I will get the h2o2 and rid of the algae before it gets a foot hold. Then once my platinum clownfish is out of prophylactically CP treatment then it will be good to get some balance with nutrients.

A.

 

[mcarroll]

Will direct treatment of h2o2 rid of it? What other options have I got of getting it gone? Raising alk? Adding Cerith snail?

Thanks

A.

@taricha and @Jose Mayo or others may have some additional suggestions...

If the tank is only 3 months old and was started with dead/dry rock, then algae is kinda to be expected.

What do you have for snails/herbivores in the tank?

Are you hand pulling any algae?

Nice skimmer!!!

What are your nitrate levels?

 

[hotashes]

@taricha and @Jose Mayo or others may have some additional suggestions...

If the tank is only 3 months old and was started with dead/dry rock, then algae is kinda to be expected.

What do you have for snails/herbivores in the tank?

Are you hand pulling any algae?

Nice skimmer!!!

What are your nitrate levels?

The tank was skip cycled as @brandon429 would suggest. This was done using established live rock with plenty benthic life and microorganism. The rock came from a tank which had previously only been home to fish only with live rock, so I imagine the could have been plenty of phosphates locked up in the rock as the is not really a natural way to export this unless manually. Then I imagine the fish kept any algae at bay, until I took the rock and set up my tank which has no fish currently, nor any clean up crew.. Other than a fire shrimp.

I'm hitting the rocks with h2o2 outside of the tank, then basting and re rinsing before putting back into the display.

NitrAte as above, currently 0.

A.

 

[mcarroll]

I'm not really sure what that term means.

Established live rock doesn't have that problem – having the bare rock exposed to the water is a requirement for the phosphate de-/adsorption. A layer of living things on the rock creates a boundary.

Was your rock already encrusted in coraline algae, etc, or did it look bare white/grey when it went into this tank?

Was it originally "cultured" dead rock or was it originally live rock from the ocean?

Are you hand-pulling algae now, along with scrubbing and siphoning as needed?

When are you adding CUC?

"Basting" rocks in peroxide is standing still, not a way forward, and may even encourage the algae to spread, so I'd cease and desist on that.

I think I'd get busy with hand-pulling and (if needed) scrubbing with a toothbrush until you can get a CUC in there.

If nitrates and phosphates persist at zero you may have to add some nutrients to the tank – so keep an eye on both parameters.

 

[hotashes]

I'm not really sure what that term means.

Established live rock doesn't have that problem – having the bare rock exposed to the water is a requirement for the phosphate de-/adsorption. A layer of living things on the rock creates a boundary.

Was your rock already encrusted in coraline algae, etc, or did it look bare white/grey when it went into this tank?

Was it originally "cultured" dead rock or was it originally live rock from the ocean?

Are you hand-pulling algae now, along with scrubbing and siphoning as needed?

When are you adding CUC?

"Basting" rocks in peroxide is standing still, not a way forward, and may even encourage the algae to spread, so I'd cease and desist on that.

I think I'd get busy with hand-pulling and (if needed) scrubbing with a toothbrush until you can get a CUC in there.

If nitrates and phosphates persist at zero you may have to add some nutrients to the tank – so keep an eye on both parameters.

Hey the rock did have some coralline when I added it to my tank, I'd imagine it was a form of real reef rock, which is man made but laced with bacteria and purple coloured. (Not completely sure which rock it started as though).

I'm just removing the rock from the tank as and when needed (when algae tries to take a foot hold) and then treating it with h2o2 directly. This is done in old tank water and outside the display, then basted BEFORE I replace in display.

I'm siphoning weekly just any fortitude from the bottom of the tank as detritus builds up.

As for cuc, I believe they are pretty hit and miss. So could just be another detritus loader.

A.

 

[hotashes]

Well algae gone for now, tank looking good again since Tuesday. Amazing what a few hours work achieves @brandon429 when up taking husbandry and having the hands on approach with export.

(Above is 2 weeks worth of build up embedded in the rocks in my scape)

All corals doing/looking well (above), maxima clam still going strong @DSC reef (below).

Have had a platinum clown prophylactically in QT using cp nearly a week, @Humblefish is the rumour true it's possible to add another fish to the treatment tank and it will not restart the clock as cp also acts like a barrier?

My nano skimmer is working well, no doubt I can appreciate how much work a skimmer can reduce regarding export. Have a nice brownish liquid forming in the collection pot, at a nice slow pace too.

Generally a happy reefer, considering I've only 3 months experience. Thanks to those who've offered comment [emoji1360]

A.