Peach02’s 33G Reef

[Peach02]

Glued down the digi and the orange ricordia fell over so I fixed that. Also decided to give top down shots a try

 

[najer]

Looking very nice.

 

[tstar]

So what's your thoughts on maintaining Mandarins? I perused your well documented thread here and would like your thoughts on them. I'm currently getting a 30 gal. up and running and would dearly love to house one but I do not want a long slow slide into disappointment...

I plan on getting an aquacultured one and growing pods as well BUT I only have a 30 gal DT with a 4.7 gal fuge.

Tim

 

[Peach02]

So what's your thoughts on maintaining Mandarins? I perused your well documented thread here and would like your thoughts on them. I'm currently getting a 30 gal. up and running and would dearly love to house one but I do not want a long slow slide into disappointment...

I plan on getting an aquacultured one and growing pods as well BUT I only have a 30 gal DT with a 4.7 gal fuge.

Tim

I’ll give you the same advice I was given, with some extra.
1. make sure your tank is well established
2. I reccomend about 12 kg of rock each minimum
3. Make sure to find a fat one
4. Make sure that it’s eating in the shop
5. Be ready to have multiple foods ready incase the pods aren’t enough, ive used brine, mysis, lobster eggs, live brine and white worms and they didnt seem intrested in much apart from the mysis which it spat out, however mine has gained weight recently so it’s eating somthing.

Most importantly I reccomend only getting one, mine was healthy untill I added a second, they both lost a lot of weight while I was trying to feed them anything and when the female starved the male started to put on weight.

ultimately they are a difficult fish to keep in a smaller tank but they are incredibly beautiful

also I wouldn’t say my male is perfect yet he still is a little underweight but he is gaining thankfully. I reccomend checking out Dutch reefers old tank on youtube and anything by Paul B

 

[Peach02]

I've accepted I need to add a dosing pump now since my corals are not growing and my light and flow seems adequate. Currently I'm looking at the coral box wifi dosing pump Does anyone have experience with this?

Ill likely be dosing
calcium
magnesium
alkalinity
NOPOX or something else

Id like to start keeping more SPS but my Monti isn't growing and my digi was knocked Over while I was on a school camp, I've remounted it but haven't seen any polyp extension since and don't know how long it was knocked into a rock crevice for.

Not sure where I can mount the dosing pump and containers however, I'm thinking of mounting the pump to the wall but I'm not sure where to put the containers.

Since the larger upgrade I was planning will likely cost $7000+ minimum so ill have to wait till I'm on a higher wage and likely moved out before upgrading. So my yellow will have to hold out for a little but after talking to reef builders briefly they said it would be okay for a few years and ill definitely be able to upgrade after 3-4 years likely 2. So I guess ill try to make this tank as good as I can before upgrading. Once the yellow tang gets close to outgrowing the tank which I anticipate will be in about 2 years ill upgrade to a waterbox 130 or the 7226 if I can afford it by then.

 

[Peach02]

Thinking that I'll have the tank for another 3 years or a similar size one I decided to redo the hardware list.

Flow
Vectra s2
Mp10

Lights
2x hydra 36 hung on bar
AI hydra refugium

Filtration
Refugium
Nyos 120 skimmer

Cover
A mesh cover with a feeding hole / cutout

Dosing
Coralbox dosing pump
Diy fluid holder

Rock
New sand and rock for rescape and to remove bristleworms and aptasia.

Quarentene
A sponge filter and heater and external tank to quarentene the fish all at once since I didn't at the start

Other fish / inverts
Maybe another blood shrimp
Maybe some more snails
Maybe another wrasse

 

[WallyB]

Nice setup. Tank looks very nice!!

I quickly glanced at the beginning, and the end of your thread.
You like moving things around too.

Love the Clam.
Thumbs up on the Fire FireFish.
And of course, every tank has to have a Yellow Tang.

Love your Mandarin Goby.

I noticed you are trying to get the Mandarin to Eat (more).
I've had one for years (my Avatar), till it had a accident and got killed.
I cultivated ReefNutrition LIVE Tiger Copepods (in a small 2 gallon tank, no heater, just airstone, and fed them Reef Nutrition phyto), Simple setup that I ran for years (from one bottle of Tigers). You can do it in a 1 Gallon Jug.
That's what I fed tank (once a week), which Mandarin ate (since he never ate anything else).

 

[WallyB]

I've accepted I need to add a dosing pump now since my corals are not growing and my light and flow seems adequate. Currently I'm looking at the coral box wifi dosing pump Does anyone have experience with this?

Ill likely be dosing
calcium
magnesium
alkalinity
NOPOX or something else

Id like to start keeping more SPS but my Monti isn't growing and my digi was knocked Over while I was on a school camp, I've remounted it but haven't seen any polyp extension since and don't know how long it was knocked into a rock crevice for.

Not sure where I can mount the dosing pump and containers however, I'm thinking of mounting the pump to the wall but I'm not sure where to put the containers.

Since the larger upgrade I was planning will likely cost $7000+ minimum so ill have to wait till I'm on a higher wage and likely moved out before upgrading. So my yellow will have to hold out for a little but after talking to reef builders briefly they said it would be okay for a few years and ill definitely be able to upgrade after 3-4 years likely 2. So I guess ill try to make this tank as good as I can before upgrading. Once the yellow tang gets close to outgrowing the tank which I anticipate will be in about 2 years ill upgrade to a waterbox 130 or the 7226 if I can afford it by then.

I recommend a two Part Dosing like ESV B-ionic. Your part A is Alkalinity, your part B is Calcium and Mag, plus in each bottle you get all the Trace Elements. You dose Each A/B equal parts. You monitor just your ALK, and everything else lines up when your system is balanced..

Your choice...Stay away from NOPOX from what I read. If you don't have a good skimmer, and you don't use the NoPox SUPER Properly you can have problems (Like Cynao, and even a Tank Crash).

 

[WallyB]

My apology if my comments are off. I haven't gone thru you whole thread.

 

[WallyB]

….
So I guess ill try to make this tank as good as I can before upgrading.
….

Perfect place to practice. Work out the kinks before you take on a bigger challenge.
If possible don't sell things like heaters, powerheads thinking you won't need them with a bigger setup.
You'll get pennies, meanwhile they all come in hand for many things, like spare during a failure, or a QT which is a MUST for adding new fish.... if you care to keep the fish you already have in your tank Safe and Alive.

 

[WallyB]

FYI

https://reefnutrition.com/product_tigger_pods.php
(Reef Nutrition supplies to 80+ countries according to their home page, so maybe the are available in Australia)
You will need the Tiggers and Phyto to feed them https://reefnutrition.com/product_phyto_feast.php



These are the best pods since they are Hardy. You can see them with your eyes as adults but there a millions more that you can't see (the babies), and Mandarin will eat both.

 

[Peach02]

@WallyB thanks for stopping by. I'll look into setting up a copepod culture in the near future, what did you feed yours?
And thanks for the heads up with nopox

 

[WallyB]

@WallyB thanks for stopping by. I'll look into setting up a copepod culture in the near future, what did you feed yours?
And thanks for the heads up with nopox

Read my post above. I gave you the link to the liquid phytopheast which is also made by reef nutrition. That bottle will last you a year, and keep in fridge (ignoring the expiry date).

You can also use other phytoplankton products and some are powder so they even last longer.

 

[Peach02]

I have good news and bad news
Bad news
Blenny died while I out and my mandarin vanished presumably to the big reef tank in the sky but left no trace.
Yellow tang and clownfish have some form of parasite, I did a 2 minute freshwater dip today on all of them, I didn’t see anything come off and if they arnt looking better tommorow I’ll set up a quarentene tank and start a course of tri sulphate
Montipora seems to of died
Green ricordia detached and hasn’t reattached is now living in the sump till I can convince it to attatch to somthing

Good news
I managed to catch the fish to get them in a freshwater dip
I got three Growths off a hermit crab and turbo snail still not sure what they where though
Parameters are all in a good range
Plans for upgrade are moving along

photos of sick fish

 

[Weller]

Its been over a week, do you have an update? I really hope they're okay! Also you mentioned earlier the tank was at 27°C could you bring that down to slow any pest growth

 

[Peach02]

Its been over a week, do you have an update? I really hope they're okay! Also you mentioned earlier the tank was at 27°C could you bring that down to slow any pest growth

I’ll do a more In depth update tommorow but
good news
the clowns are in quarentene
Tank is rescaped
Clowns are looking healthy
Temperature is back down to 25-

bad news
Yellow tang passed in quarentene im not sure why though
Trochus snail died in rescape

I had to take all the rock out to catch the last clownfish so I rescaped while I was at it
Trochus snail didn’t let go of wall and let go of the shell instead, I had to move it to get the clownfish unfortunately

I learnt a lot this weekend but it’s sucks that two lives where lost. I feel crap about it if that makes it any better which it dosnt to me.

 

[Peach02]

Time for that more detailed update.
a few days ago I freshwater dipped all the infected fish twice and got good results however they got sick again within a day unfortunately so I think the dip didn't fully remove it but provided some short relief
After the reef revolution parasite remover wasn't fixing it and nether was freshwater dips I set up a quarantine tank / hospital tank over the weekend (3 days ago) I used a Siice Shark 400 Hob filter, a aqua one aqua heat 100w heater a aqua one thermometer and a petworx 58L curved corner tank. I have no problems with these products apart from the thermometer losing its suction over time and the filter having some poor instructions.

I dosed three trisulphate pills as the bottle instructed after dissolving them in a cup of tank water and had a huge pain catching the two clowns and yellow tang on Saturday (2 days ago) I had to take all of the rock and coral out of the tank to catch the last clownfish.
I rescaped the tank since I had already taken everything out but some of the coral is falling off a lot as I didn't have any glue on hand, I might have some left over which I will use tonight though.
Scaping was relatively simple, I put all the rocks out on a towel after taking the corals off and put them in a way I liked with lots of caves and swim throughs. When trying to catch the clownfish and taking a rock out I had to remove the trochus snail and unfortunately it let go of its shell before it let go of the wall. It didn't seem to suffer though which is good I guess
(sorry for the strong blues)

Quarantining that afternoon went well the ammonia was about 0.25 or 0.5 and I added prime, not ideal but survivable. The tang was hanging out behind a castle decoration and next to the heater and filter, the clownfish moved in when the lights went out and surprisingly there was no aggression (Id seen the tang chase one of the clowns from his cave before)

I woke up after a sleep in Sunday and was told by my parents that something was wrong and asked if I was okay. I saw in the quarantine the tang dead with a dark mark on its side.
I don't know how long it was there for but it looked shy but okay in the evening.
The parasites where not too bad by appearance at night ether

I took the tang out and burried it and tested the water 0.5 ammonia 7.8 pH and 0 nitrite, salinity 0.027 or 0.028

I suspect the tang died from leaning against the heater while it was off and then the heater turning on but another situation is internal parasites that I couldn't see.
The clownfish are still going in quarantine, I take them out tomorrow afternoon one is looking great the other is pale and less energetic, they are not enthusiastic as normal with eating but they are picking at it and only need to go another 24 hours before they go back to the display.
If they are looking bad this afternoon and no sign of parasites I might put them back.

I also ordered a Nyos Quantum 160 from my LFS a week or two ago, it seems to of broken in after about 3 days, it makes ALOT of bubbles and some escape to the sump but don't get back to the display so its okay. Its producing skimmate and is easy to clean so, I'm very impressed. assembly was good, instructions where a little vague but I worked it out.

RIP Yellow tang and Trochus Snail

Future plans for this tank are add a few more fish mainly a blenny and another wrasse or two and grow out the corals I have and add a few more softies. Unfortunately for some reason my current corals are not growing but my parameters all have seemed okay I suspect Im not putting out enough light and need to turn up the intensity, but this is a question for another time.

 

[WallyB]

Time for that more detailed update.
a few days ago I freshwater dipped all the infected fish twice and got good results however they got sick again within a day unfortunately so I think the dip didn't fully remove it but provided some short relief
After the reef revolution parasite remover wasn't fixing it and nether was freshwater dips I set up a quarantine tank / hospital tank over the weekend (3 days ago) I used a Siice Shark 400 Hob filter, a aqua one aqua heat 100w heater a aqua one thermometer and a petworx 58L curved corner tank. I have no problems with these products apart from the thermometer losing its suction over time and the filter having some poor instructions.

I dosed three trisulphate pills as the bottle instructed after dissolving them in a cup of tank water and had a huge pain catching the two clowns and yellow tang on Saturday (2 days ago) I had to take all of the rock and coral out of the tank to catch the last clownfish.
I rescaped the tank since I had already taken everything out but some of the coral is falling off a lot as I didn't have any glue on hand, I might have some left over which I will use tonight though.
Scaping was relatively simple, I put all the rocks out on a towel after taking the corals off and put them in a way I liked with lots of caves and swim throughs. When trying to catch the clownfish and taking a rock out I had to remove the trochus snail and unfortunately it let go of its shell before it let go of the wall. It didn't seem to suffer though which is good I guess
(sorry for the strong blues)

Quarantining that afternoon went well the ammonia was about 0.25 or 0.5 and I added prime, not ideal but survivable. The tang was hanging out behind a castle decoration and next to the heater and filter, the clownfish moved in when the lights went out and surprisingly there was no aggression (Id seen the tang chase one of the clowns from his cave before)

I woke up after a sleep in Sunday and was told by my parents that something was wrong and asked if I was okay. I saw in the quarantine the tang dead with a dark mark on its side.
I don't know how long it was there for but it looked shy but okay in the evening.
The parasites where not too bad by appearance at night ether

I took the tang out and burried it and tested the water 0.5 ammonia 7.8 pH and 0 nitrite, salinity 0.027 or 0.028

I suspect the tang died from leaning against the heater while it was off and then the heater turning on but another situation is internal parasites that I couldn't see.
The clownfish are still going in quarantine, I take them out tomorrow afternoon one is looking great the other is pale and less energetic, they are not enthusiastic as normal with eating but they are picking at it and only need to go another 24 hours before they go back to the display.
If they are looking bad this afternoon and no sign of parasites I might put them back.

I also ordered a Nyos Quantum 160 from my LFS a week or two ago, it seems to of broken in after about 3 days, it makes ALOT of bubbles and some escape to the sump but don't get back to the display so its okay. Its producing skimmate and is easy to clean so, I'm very impressed. assembly was good, instructions where a little vague but I worked it out.

RIP Yellow tang and Trochus Snail

Future plans for this tank are add a few more fish mainly a blenny and another wrasse or two and grow out the corals I have and add a few more softies. Unfortunately for some reason my current corals are not growing but my parameters all have seemed okay I suspect Im not putting out enough light and need to turn up the intensity, but this is a question for another time.

Sorry to hear about this situation.
Been there more times then I wanted.

You have been doing the best you can and that's sometimes all we can do.

However just want to raise a important point for you to read up on. I'm not the expert.
Quarantine of fish to prevent DT contamination is meant before your fish go into DT to (prevent DT contamination)

Sure what you are doing can be considered a Hospital for treamtment. Hoping the fish get cured.

What I'm saying it unless you go Fallow in DT for the minimal amount of days for the disease die off. It is still there to attack any new or old fish you put into DT. (Period varies by disease type, so in case of ick it's many weeks)

Another option would be to sterilize DT and rocks somehow. No idea how I would do that.

Just wanted to mention this before you put back your fish, or get new ones.

All the best.

 

[Peach02]

Sorry to hear about this situation.
Been there more times then I wanted.

You have been doing the best you can and that's sometimes all we can do.

However just want to raise a important point for you to read up on. I'm not the expert.
Quarantine of fish to prevent DT contamination is meant before your fish go into DT to (prevent DT contamination)

Sure what you are doing can be considered a Hospital for treamtment. Hoping the fish get cured.

What I'm saying it unless you go Fallow in DT for the minimal amount of days for the disease die off. It is still there to attack any new or old fish you put into DT. (Period varies by disease type, so in case of ick it's many weeks)

Another option would be to sterilize DT and rocks somehow. No idea how I would do that.

Just wanted to mention this before you put back your fish, or get new ones.

All the best.

I understand that quarantine is meant to be before the DT however initially I didn't quarantine my fish thinking my store using UV sterilisers and paying close attention to the fish would of been enough, clearly it hasn't been. The disease seemed to only effect these three fish thats why I'm leaning towards parasites especially since the other fish are not showing symptoms. When I setup my next tank I will quarantine, I learnt the lesson the hard way unfortunately.

 

[WallyB]

I understand that quarantine is meant to be before the DT however initially I didn't quarantine my fish thinking my store using UV sterilisers and paying close attention to the fish would of been enough, clearly it hasn't been. The disease seemed to only effect these three fish thats why I'm leaning towards parasites especially since the other fish are not showing symptoms. When I setup my next tank I will quarantine, I learnt the lesson the hard way unfortunately.

Again. Sorry for what you and fish are going thru. I know how difficult it is and I hated it each time.
Like me it's a lesson we are learn, and sometimes like me takes a 2nd lesson to really stick to do proper QT next time.

That red spot on your yellow Tang, I've had that happened to a fish after disease and death.
It's most likely not the heater (since water dissipates heat very quickly).
It's most likely internal organ damage that show ups for whatever reason (disease or treatment).

As far as Fallow Period to restore your DT to safety (Parasites or not)....Read this.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods-going-fishless.190324/