Fishroom Reality Check

[DS204]

Seeing as you're so excited about green hair algae, could you share your secrets? My little nano tank is overrun with it and I'm hardly excited about it! Ha.

Have you tried BRS reef chili vs reef roids? I have no experience with either, but I have bought reef chili and stored it away for future use.

 

[User]

Seeing as you're so excited about green hair algae, could you share your secrets? My little nano tank is overrun with it and I'm hardly excited about it! Ha.

Have you tried BRS reef chili vs reef roids? I have no experience with either, but I have bought reef chili and stored it away for future use.

Tell you what- I’ll send you a packet of Chrysophytes, and in 7 months, you’ll be begging for the GHA back, lol.

I got the reef roids to feed the Xenia and gsp in QT. Get a good feeding response from it. As for the chili, ive read it has a bit more phosphate. Not sure how true that is.

I got the roids because amazon prime got it to me next day. 3 day wait for chili. That was really the deciding factor

 

[User]

Gsp is starting to grow more polyps and spread over the rock

 

[User]

 

[User]

Just broke down and sanitized my 20l coral Qat, since it was underutilized. It’s going to be my fish observation tank after TTM for the next few months as I build up my livestock.

I transferred the 2 fungia, 1 mint tip purple torch and 2 polyps (yes, polyps) of gsp that I have on an oyster shell to a 10g, and reconfigured the space.

Anyone else feel guilty about nuking all the little copepods, amphipods, etc that are in the tanks that they break down.

I felt pretty bad seeing all the ‘pods floating on the surface after I bleached the tank

 

[Victoria M]

Just broke down and sanitized my 20l coral Qat, since it was underutilized. It’s going to be my fish observation tank after TTM for the next few months as I build up my livestock.

I transferred the 2 fungia, 1 mint tip purple torch and 2 polyps (yes, polyps) of gsp that I have on an oyster shell to a 10g, and reconfigured the space.

Anyone else feel guilty about nuking all the little copepods, amphipods, etc that are in the tanks that they break down.

I felt pretty bad seeing all the ‘pods floating on the surface after I bleached the tank

I feel the same way about the dead pods. Are you gonna set this obs tank anywhere else or in the fishroom? As you know I love mine in the kitchen.
Did you see “my” elegant corals method update on my thread?

 

[User]

I feel the same way about the dead pods. Are you gonna set this obs tank anywhere else or in the fishroom? As you know I love mine in the kitchen.
Did you see “my” elegant corals method update on my thread?

It’s going to be in the ‘auxiliary aquaculture facility’ area. I don’t want to outback anything wet in the fishroom unless I’m 100% sure it’s pathogen free

Re: elegant- no, haven’t seen it. Imma go check now

 

[DS204]

Remember that neat red scooter blenny I was showing you last week? We added him to the display yesterday and my 6-line wrasse went on the attack this morning. The 6 line tolerated the blenny overnight and into part of today, but then starting dive bombing the scooter blenny and nipping at it. The wrasse is in the sump now. It was near impossible to 'net' him out of the tank.

Stay on track with that blenny you were thinking about, but avoid the 6 lines unless you're already aware!

 

[User]

Remember that neat red scooter blenny I was showing you last week? We added him to the display yesterday and my 6-line wrasse went on the attack this morning. The 6 line tolerated the blenny overnight and into part of today, but then starting dive bombing the scooter blenny and nipping at it. The wrasse is in the sump now. It was near impossible to 'net' him out of the tank.

Stay on track with that blenny you were thinking about, but avoid the 6 lines unless you're already aware!

Man, that blows.

Yeah- I’m aware of the reputation of the six-line. Too bad, since they are a great looking fish, but there’s no way I’m putting one in my tank.

I’ve got a line on a mccoskers flasher and a Midas. Once I find a starry blenny (none local right now, what on earth?) I’m getting all three then doing the hybrid TTM

Reconfigured half the room today, finish up tomorrow.

 

[DS204]

I’ve got a line on a mccoskers flasher and a Midas. Once I find a starry blenny (none local right now, what on earth?) I’m getting all three then doing the hybrid TTM

Reconfigured half the room today, finish up tomorrow.

That flasher wrasse looks super nice. We'll look for a more peaceful wrasse later down the road and take this as a hard lesson learned.

Are you reconfiguring the room for your TTM setup? Read up on that a bit from the link you sent me.

 

[Victoria M]

Remember that neat red scooter blenny I was showing you last week? We added him to the display yesterday and my 6-line wrasse went on the attack this morning. The 6 line tolerated the blenny overnight and into part of today, but then starting dive bombing the scooter blenny and nipping at it. The wrasse is in the sump now. It was near impossible to 'net' him out of the tank.

Stay on track with that blenny you were thinking about, but avoid the 6 lines unless you're already aware!

Six lines are buttholes but I love them.

 

[User]

That flasher wrasse looks super nice. We'll look for a more peaceful wrasse later down the road and take this as a hard lesson learned.

Are you reconfiguring the room for your TTM setup? Read up on that a bit from the link you sent me.

Yes on the reconfiguring.

I originally had a 4’ bench set up for two 10 g tanks for TTM, ran 2 quad electrical outlets, easy siphon lines, right next to the sink. A week before getting my first fish, I read Hotrocks QT thread and decided to do copper treatment, prophylactic worm treatment etc.

So I had my CUC QT, inverts etc on a second, 3’ bench, but it was cramped. So I moved those to the TTM bench, the copper QT stuff to the 3’ bench, hung some shelves for gravity ATO and storage and moved cabinets so I had drawer storage for meds and dips right under the fish bench.

Then when I started stocking corals, I got a 20long with a 165w led hung above it and expanded the 4’ bench to 6’. Used an old hollow core door as a surface. Drilled holes in cabinets and ran lines for an apex controlled ATO . Expanded the 3’ to a 4’ too.

Anyway, as you know, I lost my yellow tang, and this really spurred me into planning my next round of additions. This hybrid TTM sounds amazing, but I couldn’t figure out the space since I’d need an observation tank as well as 2 TTM tanks.

So I downsized the coral QT from 20l to 10g, moved that to the new 4’, hung the led off a wire shelf, put another 10g perpendicular for my CUC and worm QT, a 5g in between the two for my upcoming RBTA purchase and LTA rehabilitation (got badly bleached after it walked while I was on vacation).

Bleach scrubbed the 20l, which is now on the opposite 6’ bench, hooked up the apex ATO since I hardwired float switch lines and container to that location. Now I need to add 2 quad outlets (I hate multi adapters, but think running electrical is fun) a Perspex screen between the TTM zone and the observation tank (aerosols are a concern, but I just don’t have space to do the 10 feet between tanks rule, so I’m borrowing a lab trick and adding a physical barrier and a low velocity, high volume fan blowing over the TTM area, AWAY from the observation tank).

Just haven’t decided if I’m going to do 2 rolling carts, 1 for each TTM tank that I can roll away/ roll in place during transfers (to preserve the 10 foot isolation and not potentially contaminate the next tank in the cycle) or just set them next to each other and cover one in Saran Wrap while I fill and prep it for transfer. I have space (just) to do the 2x10g and the 20l side by side, but maneuvering might be a little tight.

The thing that bugs me is that these 10g tanks seem to be getting thinner and thinner every time I buy one. I hate moving them with any volume in them, since I’ve broken two at the seams lifting them with just 2-3 g in the bottom.

Anyway, wow, that turned into a train of thought run on statement. Hope it wasn’t too boring, lol

 

[DS204]

Not too boring, I enjoy reading what other people are doing and borrowing/sharing ideas. We haven't had the need to medicate a fish yet, but we only have 4 and we have medicines on hand as a just in case. I'm trying the observation approach and only medicating if something appears wrong.

That TTM method sounds really smart. The idea of keeping pods alive during the entire process is a benefit. This hobby sure has enough extensions that branch off into other tasks to keep one busy! It's never ending! Fish rooms are super neat to me. It's like a home-brew science lab.

 

[User]

Not too boring, I enjoy reading what other people are doing and borrowing/sharing ideas. We haven't had the need to medicate a fish yet, but we only have 4 and we have medicines on hand as a just in case. I'm trying the observation approach and only medicating if something appears wrong.

That TTM method sounds really smart. The idea of keeping pods alive during the entire process is a benefit. This hobby sure has enough extensions that branch off into other tasks to keep one busy! It's never ending! Fish rooms are super neat to me. It's like a home-brew science lab.

Lol, just wait until I finish up my ‘under-the-stairs-microscopy-room’

 

[DS204]

Lol, just wait until I finish up my ‘under-the-stairs-microscopy-room’

Literally on the edge of my seat. Please post pictures. Science is cool!

 

[Victoria M]

Not too boring, I enjoy reading what other people are doing and borrowing/sharing ideas. We haven't had the need to medicate a fish yet, but we only have 4 and we have medicines on hand as a just in case. I'm trying the observation approach and only medicating if something appears wrong.

That TTM method sounds really smart. The idea of keeping pods alive during the entire process is a benefit. This hobby sure has enough extensions that branch off into other tasks to keep one busy! It's never ending! Fish rooms are super neat to me. It's like a home-brew science lab.

Except pods don't stay alive during this method. The tanks are sanitized between groups of fish. Unless I mis understood what you are referring too.

@neilp2006 you are a crazy lab rat but I love it. Why not set up the obs tank where you and the family can enjoy it? Come one, it will be fun.
So does making the stands/counters out of those bricks make moving things around and reconfiguring easier? I am still waiting for my husband to help me with my new 20L QT stand. I want it to be pretty and I dont ever end up with even legs when I make them.

 

[User]

Except pods don't stay alive during this method. The tanks are sanitized between groups of fish. Unless I mis understood what you are referring too.

@neilp2006 you are a crazy lab rat but I love it. Why not set up the obs tank where you and the family can enjoy it? Come one, it will be fun.
So does making the stands/counters out of those bricks make moving things around and reconfiguring easier? I am still waiting for my husband to help me with my new 20L QT stand. I want it to be pretty and I dont ever end up with even legs when I make them.

In reference to the pods, I’m talking in comparison to copper medication.

You can’t feed pods to mandarins during a 14 day copper QT, since it pretty much kills them on contact. Especially now since copper is recommended at 2ppm. With hybrid TTM, you can dose pods for a couple days on each 72hour cycle, and since the water isn’t medicated, they survive and you end up with a fat mandarin. Of course, you could always dose pods with regular TTM, but since velvet etc are so prevalent, I don’t think it’s wise to do just regular TTM anyway. This new hybrid ttm lets you feed live pods during TTM and then gets rid of everything else, including velvet, during the hydrogen peroxide steps.


You know, putting the Observation tank somewhere else would be nice, but I just don’t have space up there. I’ll bring the girls down to see them every day anyway.

I only have the cinder block stands in the fishroom. In the auxiliary aqua culture area where I do my QT, I use the old kitchen cabinets we ripped out (and my wife had set aside for me in the basement) and use either 2 layers of painted 3/4” plywood or old hollow core doors as tops.

 

[DS204]

Nice looking workspace you have there! And thank you for clarifying the part about pods staying alive during TTM for me.

 

[Victoria M]

In reference to the pods, I’m talking in comparison to copper medication.

You can’t feed pods to mandarins during a 14 day copper QT, since it pretty much kills them on contact. Especially now since copper is recommended at 2ppm. With hybrid TTM, you can dose pods for a couple days on each 72hour cycle, and since the water isn’t medicated, they survive and you end up with a fat mandarin. Of course, you could always dose pods with regular TTM, but since velvet etc are so prevalent, I don’t think it’s wise to do just regular TTM anyway. This new hybrid ttm lets you feed live pods during TTM and then gets rid of everything else, including velvet, during the hydrogen peroxide steps.


You know, putting the Observation tank somewhere else would be nice, but I just don’t have space up there. I’ll bring the girls down to see them every day anyway.

I only have the cinder block stands in the fishroom. In the auxiliary aqua culture area where I do my QT, I use the old kitchen cabinets we ripped out (and my wife had set aside for me in the basement) and use either 2 layers of painted 3/4” plywood or old hollow core doors as tops.

I love the cabinets for stands. That looks really nice.
I knew you knew what I was talking about regarding the pods. I thought Mr. Smith possibly had the wrong impression about this hybrid method.
So you feel pretty good about the peroxide dip vs. the formalin dip? I did both. I read a study somewhere that stated formalin causes all parasites to fall off which seems too broad of a statement. But formalin dips that could cause almost all parasites to fall off, especially in the gills, seems like a solid idea. So I may do that again. The Safety Stop products seem like a good idea in combination with this HYBRID TTM.

 

[DS204]

I probably do have the wrong impression about this hybrid TTM method. It's too advanced of a stage for my skill-level in the hobby. I'm still learning! I knew enough to start with an observation/QT tank but I'm not medicating at this point.