Scurvy’s Mad Wrasse 110

[Scurvy]

Agreed about the LRS. My favorite food by a long shot.

Just leaving the LFS now. For the 110 we finally scored a very healthy male Pintail for $80! Great deal. Paid $140 for the last one I grabbed here a couple years ago. He was in an invert tank so confident he isn't hiding anything in copper.

For the lady’s Biocube I scooped a Ruby Red Dragonet. Will do well in there I think.
See ya in a while with some pics!

 

[Scurvy]

1st look

 

[RichtheReefer21]

PE mysis pre rinse. Yuk!

I use spirulina brine and pe mysis... cubes. I rinse the urine out of them before basting them into my cubes for freezing. It's crazy how much garbage is in those prepackaged cubes.

And I use Hikari as well.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Oh my that is one of my top 5 wrasses. Nice snag cory...

 

[Scurvy]

Oh my that is one of my top 5 wrasses. Nice snag cory...

Markings are a bit dull still from new guy stress but his tail point is superb. Should develop into quite a looker

 

[Scurvy]

So this morning we realized the tanks been running a week or two shy of a year now and I have never cleaned the return pump....
So we just spent the last hour or so scrubbing. Didn't bother with vinegar just some good ole elbow greese

Didn’t snap an after pic or any of the inside but all things considered the guts weren't too bad. I expected worse. It definitely had lost a good amount of flow though as I needed almost two full turns to open up the gate valve at start up.

 

[Scurvy]

Went back to the beginning. Added salt on 10/30/18 so we’re 18 days shy of a 1 year tankaversary

 

[Scurvy]

Happy birthday to me. We got a 4K action camera to play with. Batteries are charging. Wanted it for the winter playground. Fish tanks a bonus.

 

[Scurvy]

Upon inspecting the tank this morning I realized the display is inching closer to being aiptasia free

There’s one rock in the front of the tank with 6-8 larger ones left and a couple scattered around the bare bottom but the majority of the rock structures are clear! Funny how you just wake up one day and finally notice a big improvement after waiting so long for the Nudi’s to accomplish their goal.

 

[Fudsey]

You know what's funny, my tank is appearing the same. Although I do have some large ones that I will have to deal with, my rocks are getting much clearer. I was going to order some nudis from salty but upon further review, I don't think that would be a good plan. Either the 2 I got from RIch multiplied and/or the CBB has really learned that they are tasty.

 

[Scurvy]

Either the 2 I got from RIch multiplied and/or the CBB has really learned that they are tasty.

Awesome to hear! I think I’ll give the nudi’s another week to see if they attack the bigger ones before I intervene.

in the Biocube I had the return pump off for about 30 minutes last week while I cleaned the mp-10 and skimmer. When I turned it back on about 20 teeny tiny nudi’s and one medium shot out of the return nozzle. It was crazy to see that many blasting around the tank. Half probably got eaten by bigger aip’s but whatever. LoL

 

[Scurvy]

Well of off topic here but Im thinking of setting up a small planted tank. I generally don’t have much interest in fresh water but between my gal and I we kill almost every plant we attempt to keep. Since I have had a few moderately successful reef tanks Im wondering if this might allow us to keep some green plants in the house.

Anyway, we have this look through from kitchen to living area. The sill measures 32”x8” and is perfect for this tank.

Ultum Nature Systems Ultra Clear Low Iron Rimless Glass Aquarium 60L

I am thinking about a slate type aquascape accented with white beach rocks and some fast growing plants that would root in the water and grow like vines up around the cutout.

 

[Scurvy]

Anyone have any tips for something like that? Looking for super simple. Strictly water changes. The sink is right below this spot in the kitchen.

Obviously need a heater and perhaps a small pump/powerhead for movement?Would prefer to not use any hang on filtration but just a small sponge filter if anything.

Knowing essentially zero about fresh water fish am I better off with a bunch of tiny fish or one hopefully personable fish? Would love a small puffer but 5.7g is probably too small for any of them.

 

[Fudsey]

https://www.plantedtank.net/ is the site @Janci joined. I'm sure there's a ton of info there. I joined to follow his build there.

 

[Fudsey]

And the only thing with planted tanks is they need co2 to really thrive I believe.

 

[Scurvy]

Couple shots of the new guy. We let him out yesterday afternoon. He got a little grief initially but things have settled down quite a bit since then. He’s still keeping his distance from the pack outside of feeding time but I only see one missing scale after 24 hours.

Check out that pointed tail. Its the most defined point Ive seen on any of my wrasse with pin tails.

 

[Crabby48]

Come and work your wrasse magic on my tank.

Good looking with a great looking tail.

 

[NY_Caveman]

@Scurvy
For a small planted tank you can get away with no CO2. My best advice to start is test your tap water for NO3 and PO4. My tap Phosphate sits at 2 ppm! My parents have really high Nitrate on theirs. I use Lanthanum Chloride to remove tap PO4 for my 6.4 gallon Betta tank. That tank has no light, heater or filter at all, but a Betta can surface and pull O2 from our air. With a handful of shoaling Neon Tetras, for example, you may get away with the plants as your filter. A heater and light are obviously needed for tropical fish. You could add some simple feeder Ghost Shrimp too which are usually priced around $0.25 each.

 

[Scurvy]

@Scurvy
For a small planted tank you can get away with no CO2. My best advice to start is test your tap water for NO3 and PO4. My tap Phosphate sits at 2 ppm! My parents have really high Nitrate on theirs. I use Lanthanum Chloride to remove tap PO4 for my 6.4 gallon Betta tank. That tank has no light, heater or filter at all, but a Betta can surface and pull O2 from our air. With a handful of shoaling Neon Tetras, for example, you may get away with the plants as your filter. A heater and light are obviously needed for tropical fish. You could add some simple feeder Ghost Shrimp too which are usually priced around $0.25 each.

Thanks Brian! Im looking for ultra simple so the thought of CO2 was a non starter really. I think with the right substrate, a heater and light I should be able to manage something fairly pleasing to the eye without breaking the bank or adding a ton of time to my maintenance regimen. Ideally i want to simply do a 50% water change every week or two right from the sink.

If I have higher ammonia and/or Po4 right from the tap could I use RO water? No DI but just RO? I know I have a fairly low TDS count direct from faucet but I'll check the others you suggest.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I would not use RO unless the pH or kH of the tap water was very high. Tetras especially need a low pH (driftwood is one way to lower it). Your plants will benefit from trace elements in tap and the usage wear on your RO setup is unnecessary.