My 15 gallons of the ocean!

[ralquist]

Here's todays update.

Nothing much really happened, though I did freak out because my API test kit read .25 ammonia, but a few hours later I did a test and the results were 0. My guess was that there was some ammonia present, but the test kit had a false positive reading .25ppm. I have one of those seachem badges coming tomorrow, just so I am always aware of the ammonia levels in the tank without testing for it. I am still going to test for ammonia everyday for at least 2 more weeks.

The firefish ate a lot today. The clown goby, not so much... He puts stuff in his mouth, but then spits it out. If he doesn't eating tomorrow then I am going to start getting concerned. There are plenty of tiny shrimp that I put in, so it's not like the food I am feeding is to big for him.

Then clove polyp has opened all the way, and is gorgeous.

The mushroom, this morning when the lights turned on, looked weird. The sides were folded into the center, but when I turned the lights on, it flattened out. Pretty cool to see, and I believe this is normal behaviour, right?

Anyways, it's Sunday night. Ugh. I can't wait for Friday!!

Adding your livestock or any will make your tank play catchup with the bio load, that’s great it’s back down. Smart thinking with the badge!

Have you tried feeding anything but frozen mysis? If you don’t have or are thinking of buying some other types I would recommend TDO pellets, all my fish love them fire fish included! Trying to spot feed if that is even possible.

That’s awesome your cloves are open! Shrooms will def close up from time to time but as long as it’s opening up sounds like a win!

Keep up the great work!!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Adding your livestock or any will make your tank play catchup with the bio load, that’s great it’s back down. Smart thinking with the badge!

Have you tried feeding anything but frozen mysis? If you don’t have or are thinking of buying some other types I would recommend TDO pellets, all my fish love them fire fish included! Trying to spot feed if that is even possible.

That’s awesome your cloves are open! Shrooms will def close up from time to time but as long as it’s opening up sounds like a win!

Keep up the great work!!

I was thinking of some pellet, because when I am on vacation it's much easier for my dog sitter to feed my fish. I will check out TDO pellets! Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Dipi]

I heard you have to isolate the polyps, because they can take over?

I have two types of clove polyps which were on the rock and they spread uncontrollably. I moved both of them to the sandbed on a rather shadowy and they are doing great. I still have to pluck a few polyps from the rock from time to time, they grow from tissue that remained on the rock. My suggestion is to isolate it

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I have two types of clove polyps which were on the rock and they spread uncontrollably. I moved both of them to the sandbed on a rather shadowy and they are doing great. I still have to pluck a few polyps from the rock from time to time, they grow from tissue that remained on the rock. My suggestion is to isolate it

Were they difficult to frag?

 

[Dipi]

Were they difficult to frag?

I just moved the entire base they were at. But it seems to be easy to frag, because there was almost nothing left of tissue on the rocks, and it still managed to grow. If you want to create frags, you can place frag plugs near your colony and they will spread to it, then you just need to cut the coral and it will be fine

 

[Ollie67]

I was thinking of some pellet, because when I am on vacation it's much easier for my dog sitter to feed my fish. I will check out TDO pellets! Thanks for the recommendation!

TDO pellets are good! That's what my clowns were raised on, and I have a small bag of them. I haven't really used them though haha...

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Here's todays update,  2/26/24.

 I tested all of my water parameters, and everything is good. Still no phosphates.

I use AquaticLog to track my parameters, so I can see graphs, and stuff like that. Its cool to see that my corals are using some magnesium and calcium, because on the graph I can see that it's going down! If you are looking for a easy to use parameter tracking app, go check out AquaticLog!

I got the Seachem patch today, installed it, and now I am always aware of my ammonia level, which makes me feel more comfortable, because I can easily and quickly tell if there ammonia in the water.

Both the fish are, the firefish are a lot, and the clown goby ate a little today, which I am very happy to see.

One piece of mysis shrimp fell on the mushroom coral... It was one of the coolest things I have seen, because it ate it... So cool! How often should I do that, once a week? It's really cool so I would like to see it again... Lol.

The fish are healthy, active, and eating which are all great signs in my book, and hopefully it stays that way!

 

[ralquist]

Wow thanks for the tip, this is something I’ve wanted for a long time!
Glad you got a peace of mind!
Great news your fish are settling in well and out n about, awesome about the shroom! You can try and direct feed them, I feed once a week usually.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Wow, it's already today's update,  2/27/24.

 Nothing exciting happened today, but both the fish ate, and the clown goby ate a decent amount today, which made me happy.

Both are active, and finally starting to adjust to my flow. The firefish, was swimming in the front of the tank, with the return pump on, which he never does so that made me happy, and for the clown goby, he swam a little with the return pump on.

I am starting to think that the ugly phase is starting to happen... It's hard to get on camera, but I will see if it grows more tomorrow, so it's easier to take a picture of.

But anyways, that's pretty much it for today.

 

[Ollie67]

Wow, it's already today's update,  2/27/24.

 Nothing exciting happened today, but both the fish ate, and the clown goby ate a decent amount today, which made me happy.

Both are active, and finally starting to adjust to my flow. The firefish, was swimming in the front of the tank, with the return pump on, which he never does so that made me happy, and for the clown goby, he swam a little with the return pump on.

I am starting to think that the ugly phase is starting to happen... It's hard to get on camera, but I will see if it grows more tomorrow, so it's easier to take a picture of.

But anyways, that's pretty much it for today.

Good to heard that the fish are adjusting well!! And yeah, stuff is bound to grow. I have a good amount of algae on my rocks and sand now...

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Here's todays update,  2/28/24.

   Todays update is exciting!

To start things off, both fish are more than they normally have! This makes me very
happy to see.

Heres the worst part about today's update. They uglies have definitely started.

It's really hard to see on the camera, bit it's there. It's brown, and grows really fast. No idea what it is.

Here's the exciting part of the update! Ioaoi, has been giving out skimmers for free, for people to test them! Mine came in the mail today, and last night I was payrd back the money! I was super excited, because I got it for free!! Anyways, today I installed it, and it is working well. No real skim yet, but I don't have a lot of fish and I don't over feed so I honestly don't expect a lot of skim to be made, until I get another fish. I really only have it in there for the gas exchange.

Tonight, there is a high risk of power outages in my area. Really hope it doesn't happen, and if it does, hopefully it will be up and running again within a few hours. Last time heavy winds like this we're here, power was out for 3 days !

Here's the thread link if you want to try to get a free one to!

Post in thread 'FREE TEST for IOAOI Nano Protein Skimmer with DC Pump' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...in-skimmer-with-dc-pump.1011748/post-12240728

 

[Ollie67]

Here's todays update,  2/28/24.

   Todays update is exciting!

To start things off, both fish are more than they normally have! This makes me very
happy to see.

Heres the worst part about today's update. They uglies have definitely started.

It's really hard to see on the camera, bit it's there. It's brown, and grows really fast. No idea what it is.

Here's the exciting part of the update! Ioaoi, has been giving out skimmers for free, for people to test them! Mine came in the mail today, and last night I was payrd back the money! I was super excited, because I got it for free!! Anyways, today I installed it, and it is working well. No real skim yet, but I don't have a lot of fish and I don't over feed so I honestly don't expect a lot of skim to be made, until I get another fish. I really only have it in there for the gas exchange.

Tonight, there is a high risk of power outages in my area. Really hope it doesn't happen, and if it does, hopefully it will be up and running again within a few hours. Last time heavy winds like this we're here, power was out for 3 days !

Here's the thread link if you want to try to get a free one to!

Post in thread 'FREE TEST for IOAOI Nano Protein Skimmer with DC Pump' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/f...in-skimmer-with-dc-pump.1011748/post-12240728

Good to hear that everything's going good! As the uglies, can't tell exactly what you have, but my sand is starting to get a bunch of hair alage in it. I also have brown stuff around my powerhead and return pump nozzles, looks kinda gross lol. But I think it's normal.

Cool to see that you a skimmer to try out! Hopefully it will be a great addition to your tank! And hopefully you keep your power! I had a huge storm yesterday here in Illinois, tornado sirens were going off, I had an alarm on my phone, and the wind was really bad. Surprised I didn't loose power as we had a lot of local outages. Thankful though, as I don't have a backup battery or system yet (expensive...).

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Good to hear that everything's going good! As the uglies, can't tell exactly what you have, but my sand is starting to get a bunch of hair alage in it. I also have brown stuff around my powerhead and return pump nozzles, looks kinda gross lol. But I think it's normal.

Cool to see that you a skimmer to try out! Hopefully it will be a great addition to your tank! And hopefully you keep your power! I had a huge storm yesterday here in Illinois, tornado sirens were going off, I had an alarm on my phone, and the wind was really bad. Surprised I didn't loose power as we had a lot of local outages. Thankful though, as I don't have a backup battery or system yet (expensive...).

Glad to hear you didn't loose power, let's hope its the same for me... Lol!

 

[Ollie67]

Do you have any CUC in your tank yet?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Do you have any CUC in your tank yet?

No, because my LFS said I should wait for my tank to stabilize... Should I?

 

[kanders87]

I got my pods from BRS (who gets them from Algae Barn) and was very happy with them.

 

[Ollie67]

No, because my LFS said I should wait for my tank to stabilize... Should I?

I mean, I added 3 snails and 2 hermit crabs a few days after I got my clowns. I would recommend getting a snail or two just to start, it could help prevent to ugly stuff coming. Maybe a trochus snail. They're inexpensive, so there's no harm if one passes away.

I just added 3 more trochus to my tank an hour ago, along with 2 nassarius snails which sift the sand. Those guys got to work right away in my tank!

 

[Ollie67]

Pods could also be something you could add! I got an 8oz pod buffet from these guys and am very happy:

All Pods

Large selection of Saltwater Pods

reefbysteele.com

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I mean, I added 3 snails and 2 hermit crabs a few days after I got my clowns. I would recommend getting a snail or two just to start, it could help prevent to ugly stuff coming. Maybe a trochus snail. They're inexpensive, so there's no harm if one passes away.

I just added 3 more trochus to my tank an hour ago, along with 2 nassarius snails which sift the sand. Those guys got to work right away in my tank!

Alright, I will look in to it! My LFS is quite a far drive, plus I have had bad experiences with them so... I know that I am going to have to go back for my cleaner shrimp, but I might try to wait til I go for the shrimp.

I believe I have a few small trochus snails as hitchikers, so I don't know if that's good enough...

 

[Ollie67]

Alright, I will look in to it! My LFS is quite a far drive, plus I have had bad experiences with them so... I know that I am going to have to go back for my cleaner shrimp, but I might try to wait til I go for the shrimp.

I believe I have a few small trochus snails as hitchikers, so I don't know if that's good enough...

Weren't they really small though lol? I'd say get some larger ones. And there's no rush, especially just for snails lol. Next time you're there would be a good time to get some! A cleaner shrimp sounds good!