My First Saltwater Aquarium - Fluval Evo 13.5G

[Cincyreefer513]

Nice tank! It's going to look really good once those new corals are in there.

A thought on keeping zoas. Have you considered wearing gloves? Several years ago when I was doing my research, I too decided I wouldn't keep zoas/palys due to the potential hazards. Fast forward to 2 months ago when I bought my first tank, a used one with a green paly included, I was forced into it. Honestly, it's not bad at all. While a lot of people handle them barehanded, I wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when handling them and wear gloves whenever I stick my hands in the tank. With the dry, winter weather, the skin on my hands crack open frequently so I'm not taking any chances, but at least for me, I don't feel that it's some crazy hazard if I wear some ppe. Zoas/palys have become some of my favorite corals. Maybe consider risk management for handling them and you might just change your mind.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Nice tank! It's going to look really good once those new corals are in there.

A thought on keeping zoas. Have you considered wearing gloves? Several years ago when I was doing my research, I too decided I wouldn't keep zoas/palys due to the potential hazards. Fast forward to 2 months ago when I bought my first tank, a used one with a green paly included, I was forced into it. Honestly, it's not bad at all. While a lot of people handle them barehanded, I wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when handling them and wear gloves whenever I stick my hands in the tank. With the dry, winter weather, the skin on my hands crack open frequently so I'm not taking any chances, but at least for me, I don't feel that it's some crazy hazard if I wear some ppe. Zoas/palys have become some of my favorite corals. Maybe consider risk management for handling them and you might just change your mind.

+1
I wear a mask, gloves, and goggles whenever dealing with coral.

 

[HappilyReefing]

Nice tank! It's going to look really good once those new corals are in there.

A thought on keeping zoas. Have you considered wearing gloves? Several years ago when I was doing my research, I too decided I wouldn't keep zoas/palys due to the potential hazards. Fast forward to 2 months ago when I bought my first tank, a used one with a green paly included, I was forced into it. Honestly, it's not bad at all. While a lot of people handle them barehanded, I wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when handling them and wear gloves whenever I stick my hands in the tank. With the dry, winter weather, the skin on my hands crack open frequently so I'm not taking any chances, but at least for me, I don't feel that it's some crazy hazard if I wear some ppe. Zoas/palys have become some of my favorite corals. Maybe consider risk management for handling them and you might just change your mind.

Thank you! I think it's going to look awesome once everything is in place.

I waffled quite a bit back and forth about keeping zoas. As you mentioned, zoas can be safely handled when wearing PPE so I thought I could do it. I already wear glasses for vision correction so eye safety was checked off (although I should use safety goggles over them to prevent stuff from coming in through the sides and for a snugger fit. I also wear gloves every time I mess with my tank because I don't want lotions or soap on my skin to contaminate the tank water so that prevented toxins from getting in through my hands.

The kicker for me was when I read that you can inhale/ingest the toxins and would need to wear a mask to cover your nose and mouth when handling the zoas. Adding in the fact that zoas are very, very fast growing corals (I'm thinking I would need to handle/frag them frequently) made it a relatively easy decision in the end to just not have them in my tank.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Some breeds grow at different rates.
Many are pretty slow (these are also usually more expensive).
Others (I’m looking at you captain jerks) grow super fast…honestly I’m just leaving them. Those guys are one of the bad ones.

 

[HappilyReefing]

Some breeds grow at different rates.
Many are pretty slow (these are also usually more expensive).
Others (I’m looking at you captain jerks) grow super fast…honestly I’m just leaving them. Those guys are one of the bad ones.

My general impression was that zoas were typically one of the faster growing corals, but I honestly didn't do any further research on them when I realized that their toxin can be inhaled!

It makes sense that different varieties would grow at different rates though.

 

[HappilyReefing]

My clam saga - part 2

A couple of days after I got the clam, I built a cage for him. During lunch that day, I sat and watched as the big trochus snail started grazing on one side of the clam's shell and toppled him over!!! I was NOT happy! That poor little clam got moved around again(!) and I hoped that he wasn't completely stressed out at this point. The small coral travel container I bought didn't work out for the clam so I built a cage out of egg crate and zip ties.

After being placed in the cage, he spent some time reorienting himself in his new digs and hadn't moved in a day so he must like where he is right now. Nope...two days later, I woke up to find that he had moved from one frag plug to another overnight (I had placed three frag plugs in his cage because the clam hammock was too big for him).

He was still on the same plug the next day, but slightly rotated. Maybe he'll stay there. He seems to be settling in. Two days later, I moved the clam to my display tank. He was only in QT for seven days.

The reason I moved him prematurely was that the QT experienced a massive algae outbreak due to my overfeeding and the lights being on for 10 hours daily (I did this for the clam). I thought I would lose the clam if I didn't get him out of that environment and away from all the stressors.

In hindsight, I should have gotten the clam first and then bought corals after the clam moved to the display tank so that I didn't have to keep the lights on for so long (and wouldn't have overfed).

Here's his mug shot before going to clam jail. It's interesting how the clam's color changes depending on the viewing angle.

 

[Cincyreefer513]

As far as I'm aware, the inhalation hazard is really only present in fragging or doing something dumb like boiling rocks with zoas/palys on them.
General handling of them like dipping and placing in the tank would not have this threat. I've read some people have had them squirt in their face before, but glasses and a closed mouth or face shield should prevent anything serious from happening.

As stated above, they all grow at different rates. Some might produce 1-2 new polyps in a year while others can add several dozen a month. Lots of variables. I'm brand new to this myself so not a lot of experience yet. Of my 13 zoas/palys, the best growers have produced 6-7 new polyps over the past 5-6 weeks. The one was adding 2 per week before taking a break.

Anyways, it all comes down to personal comfort level and level of risk you're willing to take. If you aren't comfortable, it's hard to enjoy it so what's the point? Either way your tank looks/will still look awesome zoas or no zoas.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I never knew clams would move that much!
That is cool with the viewing angle, I’ve noticed similar in my euphilia.

 

[HappilyReefing]

As far as I'm aware, the inhalation hazard is really only present in fragging or doing something dumb like boiling rocks with zoas/palys on them.
General handling of them like dipping and placing in the tank would not have this threat. I've read some people have had them squirt in their face before, but glasses and a closed mouth or face shield should prevent anything serious from happening.

As stated above, they all grow at different rates. Some might produce 1-2 new polyps in a year while others can add several dozen a month. Lots of variables. I'm brand new to this myself so not a lot of experience yet. Of my 13 zoas/palys, the best growers have produced 6-7 new polyps over the past 5-6 weeks. The one was adding 2 per week before taking a break.

Anyways, it all comes down to personal comfort level and level of risk you're willing to take. If you aren't comfortable, it's hard to enjoy it so what's the point? Either way your tank looks/will still look awesome zoas or no zoas.

You are absolutely right about it being a comfort level for me.

If I was this stressed out just *thinking* about having them in my tank, then I would never be happy with them in it and just start looking at the tank with dread until I finally tore it down.

 

[HappilyReefing]

I never knew clams would move that much!
That is cool with the viewing angle, I’ve noticed similar in my euphilia.

Yes, they can and do move.

Unfortunately, I found out (after I bought him) that they move around when they are unhappy with their current location. I had one mad little clam on my hands.

 

[HappilyReefing]

My clam saga - part 3

Now that I had made the decision to move the clam to the display tank, I needed to get him ready to go.

I scrubbed his shell really well again (I had already cleaned his shell once when I first got him), visually inspected him for pyramid snails and other parasites, and then placed him at the top of the rock arch roughly 2" below the water line. PAR should be about 200 or slightly more at this location. I planned to supplement his diet with phytoplankton and zooplankton.

My hope was that the clam would be happy in the display tank and wouldn't try to move around too much (but he had already started to shift on the frag plug). I was afraid I'll wake up one morning and find him in the sand bed because he fell off the rock!

 

[HappilyReefing]

My clam saga - part 4

My fear came true ! The first day after I placed my clam in the display tank, I woke up and found him sitting on the sand bed below the arch. At least he was upright. I assumed he had wobbled around on his perch and took a nose dive. Luckily, he did not hit any of the rocks below and looked to be unharmed from his adventures.

I picked him up, dusted him off, and placed him a little further down on the arch leaning on a rock protrusion. Well, that didn't work either because a couple of days later, the urchin decided he wanted to get at the algae on the clam's shell (or wear a clam hat) and was strong enough to pull the clam AND the frag plug the clam was attached to away from the rock they were leaning on.

I pulled them apart and put the clam back in his original position at the top of the arch, but a little bit further away from the ledge. Right before bed that night, I noticed the clam trying to hop off the plug and onto the rock (again!).

The next day was cleaning day. As I was working on the tank, I tried to move the clam back onto the frag plug because he had partially moved off of it. Imagine my surprise when I saw that he had put down byssal threads and had started to attach to the rock! Oh well...if he grows too big and starts poking out of the water, he'll more than likely move to a new spot (I know he could if he really wanted to).

At this point, I had made up my mind to let him do what he wanted and I was going to leave well enough alone. I had messed with him so much already and had stressed him out completely. He's made up his mind about what he wants to do and where he wants to go and I wasn't going to stop him this time. I'd rather have a live clam than a dead one.

The whole point of the frag plug was so I could move him around the tank, if needed, to find the best spot for him (but he's already done that for me). The plug was also to allow me to take him in and out of the tank in order to thoroughly clean and inspect him periodically, but I can work with where he's at. I could always cut the threads to take him out, but that would only be as a last resort if there was something seriously wrong with him.

In the current pictures of my tank, you'll notice the clam is not sitting partway on a frag plug. I was finally able to pull it out from underneath him a week later (on the next cleaning day). He was tilted, being halfway on and halfway off the plug, but he wasn't really attached to it. I think he hated that thing.

I recently tried to see if I could gently wiggle him around, but he's solidly attached now. I don't think Tuxilla could budge him at this point.

 

[HappilyReefing]

Cutting into the build thread with breaking news...

This is what it looks like when your urchin is smarter than you!!!

​

Backstory:

My urchin is infatuated with a large piece of pom pom macroalgae (tied to a piece of rubble rock). I have the rubble rock wedged into a hole in the CaribSea arch, but he somehow keeps finding a way to get it loose and then would proudly parade around the tank with it on his head.

Unfortunately, he has no concept of how dangerous the rock can be as it is dangling precariously from the algae held in his greedy little tentacles.

I always manage to take the macroalgae off of him (eventually) and put it back in its spot after giving him a piece of nori to hold instead (which he ends up eating before making plans to steal the algae again). I have wedged this rock rubble tighter and tighter into the hole after each incident.

After having his favorite toy taken away from him again and again (I've gotten it away from him two more times since I last posted about it), he has always managed to pry it loose and get it back. Not this time! I thought I had finally managed to cram the rubble rock into the arch in such a way as to foil his attempts.

So what was any self-respecting urchin to do when he couldn't get the algae loose during his latest try today? He bit/cut off a huge portion of algae (I think he took more than half of it!). The large picture is of him making his getaway right after the theft.

I'm going to let him keep his prize, he deserves it...and his trophy is a visual reminder that my tuxedo urchin is indeed smarter than me!

 

[HappilyReefing]

My clam saga - conclusion

I have had my clam for 7 weeks now (1 week in QT, 6 weeks in display tank). Despite my incompetence, he looks like he is happy and healthy. He is showing signs of new growth around the upper part of his shell and has firmly attached to the rock beneath him.

I feed him three times a week switching up between phytoplankton, zooplankton, Reef-Roids, Reef Chili, or a mixture of these foods. My stock lights are on for a total of 8 hours daily (7 hours at 100% white lights) and so far, he seems fine with it. I will revisit the lighting situation if he shows signs that he needs more illumination in the future.

I now own a used copy of Daniel Knop's book Giant Clams: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tridacnid Clams. I haven't read the whole book, just the parts pertaining to crocea clams and general care of clams.

I have also found this article by James Fatherree (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-10/jf/index.php) to be extremely useful in helping me to learn about my clam and how to take care of him. This article is specifically about crocea clams.

So, here are the main (to me) takeaways I have learned about crocea clams.

• They need high light intensity as they live fairly close to the ocean's surface in their natural habitat so they are used to a lot of sun and why I am keeping a close eye on my lighting. They need no supplemental feeding if given high enough light (with caveats), but do need it if kept in slightly lower light conditions (not too low or they will die even with the extra feeding).
• In some cases, the crocea clams living just under the water's surface can be exposed to air for short periods of time during low tides, but they don't seem to be adversely affected by this. Thank goodness since my clam is so very close to the water line.
• They can better tolerate higher water temperatures (up to 90F comfortably) than lower ones. That's good since my heater is set to 78F, but the tank tends to run slightly higher (81F) on warm days.
• They like to bore into the rock they are sitting on, but only if they start doing it when very young. He probably won't do it, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that my clam will try to bore into the arch and therefore have more space between him and the water line.
• They don't like high flow constantly pounding on them, just strong enough to ruffle their mantles occasionally. There's a reason that I no longer have the dual RFG nozzles in my tank.
• They typically don't grow very fast. That's good to know because I worry he will outgrow his current location when he becomes full size.
• Moving the clam around should be limited to once per week as the stress inflicted on the clam by the move could kill it. Oops! Glad to see that my clam didn't keel over and die because of my ineptness.

Overall, I am glad I have my clam as he is a fairly exotic animal to have in a saltwater tank (at least he is to me). He has been very tolerant of me as I stumbled up the steep learning curve of clam husbandry.

I'm sure that there are still many more things that I don't know, but will learn in the future about my clam and how to keep him happy because I know he will pack up his bags and move if I don't!

 

[HappilyReefing]

Now that I have my clam situated in the display tank, I turned my attention to my calcium and alkalinity levels. They were lower than I would like for the clam so I started looking into how to dose calcium and alkalinity (and magnesium).

In the meantime, I was busy moving the next two inhabitants into the display tank, my rock flower anemones (RFAs). I was able to get the big blue anemone (red skirt) into the tank without too much fuss (took me a while to get his foot unstuck). He is currently taking up prime real estate space on Dragon Island.

However, I could not get the smaller red anemone (green skirt) to detach from the holding container in QT. He would shrink into a tiny (smaller than the tip of my finger) ball with his foot in a corner so that I couldn't get my fingers underneath it to pull him out. I decided to leave him alone and try again later.

Five days later...

I was finally able to get the small RFA out of QT and into the display tank. Yay! I placed him near the top of Dragon Island. He was so small that the water flow was buffeting him around so I shut off the pump to allow him to settle.

Well, he has launched himself off the rock twice now and it looks like he is contemplating doing it again. As I watched, he did it again...okay, I got him back on the rock. And...he jumped again!!! This time, I put him up on the smaller island rock rather than have him share the larger island with the other anemone.

It has been a little while and the small RFA has not jumped off the rock again. Maybe he likes where he is now.

A week later...

I switched back to a single RFG nozzle and reduced the pump flow rate (the day before) only to wake up and find the small red RFA across the tank underneath the RFG with the tuxedo urchin sitting on top of him. I moved the anemone back to the small island a couple of times only to have him topple off the rock and onto the sand. I don't think he liked the increased flow from the pump configuration change the day before.

I decided to let him go wherever he wanted and the anemone ended up in the same spot as this morning (underneath the RFG nozzle), but upside down! I picked him up, dusted him off (sounds like my clam), and placed him back on Dragon Island, but on the side facing the middle of the tank. He settled in that location and I'm hoping he stays put.

Today...

The small anemone has been in the same spot for almost a month now. The location makes it hard to see him and difficult to feed him as he is almost vertical, but if he is happy there, then all is well.

I took some pictures under my blue lights (no camera filter as I don't have one) so that you can see the anemones' colors pop. They look remarkably different under blue lights as opposed to white lights. I especially like the look of the bigger anemone with his "buck teeth" which makes him look kind of goofy.

 

[HappilyReefing]

It's my weekly cleaning day!

Water Parameters

• Salinity 1.024
• Alkalinity 8.3dKH
• Calcium 380ppm
• Magnesium 1365ppm
• pH 8.15
• Phosphate 0.03ppm
• Nitrate 2.5ppm

Today was my first attempt to attach a coral to the rock in my tank (underwater). I snapped the alveopora off the frag plug, put super glue on the bottom of the coral, and tried to stick it on the aquascape. In theory, it's a very simple procedure. In practice, it took me almost an hour.

The coral wouldn't stick the first couple of times I tried to do it and I ended up scraping semi-dried super glue from the bottom of the coral and trying again. And again. And again. I finally figured it out, but the alveopora polyps refused to make an appearance for a few hours after the ordeal. I don't blame them, but they seem to be happy now. I put them in a slightly different position than I originally planned to give them more light and a more level surface.

Looking at the walking dendro, I can't tell if he is in the process of splitting or if the top of the dendro is really this large. Looks bigger than I remember.

And here is the only problematic patch of green hair algae I have in the tank...and it moves! My CUC rocks! Big hair and all...I dosed some FritzZyme TurboStart (had some from QT startup that is about to expire) to get more bacteria into the tank and see if it helps with the hair algae.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I find it a lot easier to glue underwater - a lot less pain.

 

[HappilyReefing]

I find it a lot easier to glue underwater - a lot less pain.

I think I was trying too hard. I also didn't want to have too much glue on it in case I needed to move it. I wanted to be able to easily detach the coral from the rock because the rock isn't coming out of the tank for me to work on the coral.

Those two factors made it so that the coral wouldn't stick very well. I think I finally got the hang of it at the end. We'll see with the next coral I need to glue down.

 

[HappilyReefing]

I moved two more RFAs from QT (been there for 17 days) to my display tank today. The one next to the large blue anemone (red skirt) has a bluish oral disk rimmed in yellow with a dark green skirt. The other one on the left has a green oral disk rimmed in yellow and a purple/green skirt with white radial lines originating from the center. I can't get their colors to show up very well with my camera.

They look like they are settling in nicely on Dragon Island with the other anemones.

I also took this opportunity to catch my hairy trochus snail and clean up his shell with 3% hydrogen peroxide. I noticed that he also had what looks like a flower(?) growing on his shell which I left alone for now. It's cute if it is harmless. If not, I'll take it off the next time I catch him. I need to let it get a little bigger so I can see if I can identify it.

Almost looks like my alveopora...but there's no base.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Kinda looks like a paly but that isn’t one (I think), unless it glows under blues and opens/closes.
Pretty sure that’s a type of algae - forget why it’s called.