Nick’s 10g

Deiblerj · Sep 14, 2018

Did you get them as a bonded pair? My first pair did not bond well but they were also the same size and had a hard time figuring out who was going to convert. The two I have now I got one bigger than the other and they bonded almost right away

Fudsey · Sep 14, 2018

Try to make sure you hand feed them. I got my frostbites and at first they were fine, but now they will attack my hand almost every time I put it in their 1/2 of my 135.4. I didn't hand feed but I am now trying to break that.

nickkohrn · Sep 14, 2018

Deiblerj said:
Did you get them as a bonded pair? My first pair did not bond well but they were also the same size and had a hard time figuring out who was going to convert. The two I have now I got one bigger than the other and they bonded almost right away

I did not get them as a bonded pair, but one of them is a little larger than the other. I hope they establish their hierarchy easily. They have been huddling together for the entire duration of acclimation.

Deiblerj · Sep 14, 2018

nickkohrn said:
I did not get them as a bonded pair, but one of them is a little larger than the other. I hope they establish their hierarchy easily. They have been huddling together for the entire duration of acclimation.

That’s a good sign! Keep an eye one them. They might get sassy with each other a little up front but the different sizes will really help. You should be good to go

Deiblerj · Sep 14, 2018

Yourcowns look great already they look like their mating or trying to!

nickkohrn · Sep 14, 2018

Deiblerj said:
That’s a good sign! Keep an eye one them. They might get sassy with each other a little up front but the different sizes will really help. You should be good to go

Yeah, I’ve noticed the larger one being assertive toward the smaller one, but nothing to worry about. They are so beautiful. All of my water-quality issues have been forgotten. These two were worth the hassle and wait.

RichtheReefer21 · Sep 15, 2018

nickkohrn said:
If that isn’t motivation for you, then I don’t know what is. Ha!

My wife acts uninterested in my tank for the most part, but I caught her looking at fish on her phone earlier. Maybe letting her pick out a fish or some coral, with respect to proper husbandry, will help her become more interested.

I like how the white paint turned out. It’s much brighter than the sand I was using, and that should help with lighting the underside of corals. The only issue that I have with it is that the light separation from my Radion G3 is immediately noticeable. I will be buying a diffuser soon to soften it.

this is exactly how I got my girl into it. bait and hook!

nickkohrn · Sep 15, 2018

I woke up to cloudy water again, but I expected that. I added 5x the amount of Fritz TurboStart 900, which the directions say that you can do. I will keep an eye on the ammonia, and I will cut down on dosing the bacteria until the cloudiness dissipates.

Both clownfish are swimming well, eating well, and they are active.

I noticed the the slightly larger one has an asymmetrical bar around its anal fin, which will make it easy to differentiate them; the bar appears on one side rather than both.

I could sit and watch these two all day. [emoji7]

nickkohrn · Sep 15, 2018

Well, the water is still very cloudy, but I dosed 58ml of Fritz TurboStart 900, and I figured that would happen. However, that was last night, so I’m hoping it starts to dissipate within the next few days.

The clowns are still eating well, and here’s a quick video of them hanging out. Don’t mind the junk in the reflection; we are moving, so that room is a disaster.

Also, I picked up an ATK for my new system since I will keep using the Tunze ATO on my quarantine system.

Since we couldn’t end up taking our vacation to Myrtle Beach, I guess I’ll just spend a little bit of vacation money on my new system. [emoji854]

nickkohrn · Sep 16, 2018

Here is a video that I just took to show cloudiness in the water. Does anyone have a suggestion for how I can get it cleared up? It showed up after adding the Fritz TurboStart 900.

Deiblerj · Sep 17, 2018

Wish i had more advice but my knowledge tank is running low.

My last piece of advice I can offer is stay away from bacteria in a bottle and try kickstarting your cycle more naturally via toss a cocktail shrimp in your tank, use live rock, use live sand, etc.

Seems like everything was mostly normal until you added that.

nickkohrn · Sep 17, 2018

Deiblerj said:
Wish i had more advice but my knowledge tank is running low.

My last piece of advice I can offer is stay away from bacteria in a bottle and try kickstarting your cycle more naturally via toss a cocktail shrimp in your tank, use live rock, use live sand, etc.

Seems like everything was mostly normal until you added that.

I agree. I think the Dr. Tim’s is what caused my system to cloud up before. I’m likely done with bacteria in a bottle. This process has been nothing short of frustrating. I feel bad that my clownfish have to deal with this now.

I’ll be installing a big UV sterilizer on my Waterbox when I get it started at the new apartment. I don’t ever want to see cloudy water again.

Deiblerj · Sep 17, 2018

If you’re in desperate need of good water for your clowns I would maybe suggest reaching out to LFSs in your area. See if you can get some water from them with some media or sponges they may have to at least get a healthy QT going. This would buy you some time to get your DT corrected.

Or do some serious water changes over the next couple of days to help remove any bad bacteria.

nickkohrn · Sep 17, 2018

Yeah, I’ll be doing some water changes today. The salinity from one of the LFS is low, and they have crap floating in their water. Their systems are not in great shape, and the other LFS that I go to doesn’t open until Thursday. I have a 30g of RO/DI water sitting around, so I’ll just mix in salt today and perform a few water-changes over the next few days and see if that helps.

nickkohrn · Sep 17, 2018

Deiblerj said:
Or do some serious water changes over the next couple of days to help remove any bad bacteria.

If I do water-changes, won’t the bacteria just re-populate and become cloudy again?

Deiblerj · Sep 17, 2018

Possibly, yes. But it will provide you a quick fix in the interim rather than having your clowns swimming around in funky water.

Ideally you’ll probably need to somehow remove the bacteria or start over. Your clowns will be fine in uncycled water as long as you keep the ammonia down. Just get an ammonia warning badge for a constant reading and do small water changes until you can get you other tank cycled.

You'll probably have some funk growing on your walls and pvp pipes but that can be cleaned off.

I’ve kept fish in QT for a little over two weeks (in new saltwater) with some minor water changes to keep parameters under some control. Fish were fine.

This was just my experience. I’m no expert but I have had success with this approach in the past. I’m sure others on here may say something completely different and disagree with me.

nickkohrn · Sep 17, 2018

I just received a call from Bulk Reef Supply staying that Waterbox won’t have a 100.3 available for another ~60 days. I would be really bummed, but that gives me time to get more equipment and to keep my focus on getting my quarantine system figured out. Also, it will come after we will be moved into our new apartment, which will be nice so that I can spend time helping my wife get things organized before spending all of my extra time setting up my new system.

Fudsey · Sep 17, 2018

I have used Dr.Tim's and Bacter 7 and never had a cloudy tank from it. I have had bacterial blooms from my denitrator but just let it go and it was clear an a couple days. This was with fish and corals and no one had any issues.