Turtle's Fairy Tale

[SashimiTurtle]

Tested Alk at 0700 this morning... First test I got a REALLY blue vial and the Hanna meter was flashing 20.0... Yea, that's gotta be off, nothing is dead. So I test again, 10.7... what in the world is going on. I KNOW she only added 25ml which was only enough to get to 9.0. Test, ONE more time... 8.7. That seems close to where it should be, but how do I trust 3 different test results. Ok lest test one last time... out of reagent. Bummer. I think my syringe I used was contaminated and it took twice to get back straight. You know, she did have to add 5ml last night to each of the containers I had for her. I wonder if she used my syringe to get the right measurement. I did leave my testing station a bit cluttered. I need to clean it up so things don't get cross contaminated. I know which syringe to use, but that doesn't mean she does. That would have caused the extremely high test if it had soda ash in the syringe...

Anyway, we have new alk reagent ordered. It'll be here Friday. In the meantime I had 20ml of the BRS 2 part set out for her to dose tonight and I'll get the dosing pump hooked up tomorrow and set to dose 8ml per day of the ATI Pro.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tested Alk at 0700 this morning... First test I got a REALLY blue vial and the Hanna meter was flashing 20.0... Yea, that's gotta be off, nothing is dead. So I test again, 10.7... what in the world is going on. I KNOW she only added 25ml which was only enough to get to 9.0. Test, ONE more time... 8.7. That seems close to where it should be, but how do I trust 3 different test results. Ok lest test one last time... out of reagent. Bummer. I think my syringe I used was contaminated and it took twice to get back straight. You know, she did have to add 5ml last night to each of the containers I had for her. I wonder if she used my syringe to get the right measurement. I did leave my testing station a bit cluttered. I need to clean it up so things don't get cross contaminated. I know which syringe to use, but that doesn't mean she does. That would have caused the extremely high test if it had soda ash in the syringe...

Anyway, we have new alk reagent ordered. It'll be here Friday. In the meantime I had 20ml of the BRS 2 part set out for her to dose tonight and I'll get the dosing pump hooked up tomorrow and set to dose 8ml per day of the ATI Pro.

Last time I got to the end of my Hanna reagent I was getting very off readings. My future plan is to just dump the last bit or at least use my Red Sea test to confirm.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Last time I got to the end of my Hanna reagent I was getting very off readings. My future plan is to just dump the last bit or at least use my Red Sea test to confirm.

I confirmed she did use the syringe to get a precise 5ml. I had 20ml out but the tank dropped a few more dKH than I expected. So I had her get 5ml to add to the 20ml I had already prepared for her. That explains the 20.0 reading for the first one.

I was going to use my Red Sea to confirm, but it expired 2/19 and the reagent in the bottle was no longer red but a pale orange. I have the one that starts blue and changes to red. Color change is very vague and gradual, not sudden or precise at all. Could have been 6 or 12...

I'm sure the tank is close to where it needs to be. I'm going to try and get my skill saw back up and running tomorrow so I can make my shelf to hold the dosing pump. I had to buy a new cable as I accidentally cut the black wire in the cord with the blade and made a terrific fireworks display for a split second until the breaker popped.

 

[Scurvy]

Same here. End of bottle can get wonky. Also try changing the battery. Ive had that mess up results as well.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

How I feed my fish. This may get lengthy, and it's not an every night thing. Probably once a week. Most of the time, it's just LRS. Right now the herbivore frenzy is open, bit I also have fish frenzy in the freezer.

First I get a cup of tank water. These are just specimen cups from Amazon. I feed a pretty good chunk of LRS daily. Probably 1"×2". Size varies with what snaps off, but I try and stay around that size.

Next I add some of the Elos food. This stuff came free with the Reefer 250 raffle my girlfriend won this past spring. Just now getting around to using it. This one is the cyclops pods. There's millions in the can. Makes the tank look like a snow globe and the corals really have a good feeding response. The fish go after them as well. I feed 1/4tsp.

Even tho I'm using the Herbivore frenzy and feed nori, I like to add some algae in the cup. These are the Reef Interests Nannoflakes DHA+. My dog got ahold of the can and chewed it pretty good, but didn't get in. I just put them in a rubber made bowl as the lid was chewed up and difficult to open and close. I really like these flakes as they smell really fresh and the fish seem to have a good responce to them. I add a pinch or so.

The last food I add currently is the Reef Nutrition R.O.E. The fish love eating these when I do them in the tank as the drops stay together for a second before the flow breaks the individual eggs apart. My clowns will practically let me drop this stuff in their mouths. It got mixed in the cup with everything else tonight tho. LPS corals have a good feeding response to this as well.

So there it is. An amalgamation of foods to feed everything in my tank. Sometimes I add reef roids, but most of the time that stuff just ends up as gunk down in the sump. It just seems too dehydrated to the point of being almost hydrophobic.

I leave all flow on to spread the food around the tank. I do put the return pump in feed mode for 10 minutes. The corals can catch more food with the flow on, and the copperband gets all spooked when there is no flow and all the other fish clean house before he gets any. As you can see, it gets quite cloudy, and this was after they had eaten most of the LRS.

The Menagerie does get 1ml of the same mixture. Whatever it ends up being that day. With only 2 small fish, they do not need much over there. For that tank I do turn off all flow, the return and both power heads. Blaze and Ember both are not shy about feeding time and coexist very well together. You could probably call them tank buddies.

 

[NY_Caveman]

How I feed my fish. This may get lengthy, and it's not an every night thing. Probably once a week. Most of the time, it's just LRS. Right now the herbivore frenzy is open, bit I also have fish frenzy in the freezer.

First I get a cup of tank water. These are just specimen cups from Amazon. I feed a pretty good chunk of LRS daily. Probably 1"×2". Size varies with what snaps off, but I try and stay around that size.

Next I add some of the Elos food. This stuff came free with the Reefer 250 raffle my girlfriend won this past spring. Just now getting around to using it. This one is the cyclops pods. There's millions in the can. Makes the tank look like a snow globe and the corals really have a good feeding response. The fish go after them as well. I feed 1/4tsp.

Even tho I'm using the Herbivore frenzy and feed nori, I like to add some algae in the cup. These are the Reef Interests Nannoflakes DHA+. My dog got ahold of the can and chewed it pretty good, but didn't get in. I just put them in a rubber made bowl as the lid was chewed up and difficult to open and close. I really like these flakes as they smell really fresh and the fish seem to have a good responce to them. I add a pinch or so.

The last food I add currently is the Reef Nutrition R.O.E. The fish love eating these when I do them in the tank as the drops stay together for a second before the flow breaks the individual eggs apart. My clowns will practically let me drop this stuff in their mouths. It got mixed in the cup with everything else tonight tho. LPS corals have a good feeding response to this as well.

So there it is. An amalgamation of foods to feed everything in my tank. Sometimes I add reef roids, but most of the time that stuff just ends up as gunk down in the sump. It just seems too dehydrated to the point of being almost hydrophobic.

I leave all flow on to spread the food around the tank. I do put the return pump in feed mode for 10 minutes. The corals can catch more food with the flow on, and the copperband gets all spooked when there is no flow and all the other fish clean house before he gets any. As you can see, it gets quite cloudy, and this was after they had eaten most of the LRS.

The Menagerie does get 1ml of the same mixture. Whatever it ends up being that day. With only 2 small fish, they do not need much over there. For that tank I do turn off all flow, the return and both power heads. Blaze and Ember both are not shy about feeding time and coexist very well together. You could probably call them tank buddies.

They are definitely tank buddies!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I may have just found a CBB superfood. I knew they liked anemones, feather dusters and worms. So, I had these cans of the Elos food. I was looking thru what I had, because I thought one of them was worms. Sure enough, chironomus. Blood worms.

Pop the can open and... whew, they sure smell "fresh." I had noticed the can of pods had a strong fish food(bait) smell to it so it wasn't a complete surprise.

Grabbed a pinch and dropped it in front of the gyre. Worms everywhere, fish in a frenzy, CBB in the middle... yes...

In. The. Middle.

He didn't stay long. He quickly retreated to the bottom out of the competition, but still watched him hunt a few of the worms down. Then he did it lap of the acans to see if any of them had caught a worm he could steal.

I have an idea for a type of CBB feeder... may take some planning. It'll look like part of the scape, could maybe even attach it if you didn't mind reaching in the tank to load it. You'd have to anyway to place and retrieve it.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I may have just found a CBB superfood. I knew they liked anemones, feather dusters and worms. So, I had these cans of the Elos food. I was looking thru what I had, because I thought one of them was worms. Sure enough, chironomus. Blood worms.

Pop the can open and... whew, they sure smell "fresh." I had noticed the can of pods had a strong fish food(bait) smell to it so it wasn't a complete surprise.

Grabbed a pinch and dropped it in front of the gyre. Worms everywhere, fish in a frenzy, CBB in the middle... yes...

In. The. Middle.

He didn't stay long. He quickly retreated to the bottom out of the competition, but still watched him hunt a few of the worms down. Then he did it lap of the acans to see if any of them had caught a worm he could steal.

I have an idea for a type of CBB feeder... may take some planning. It'll look like part of the scape, could maybe even attach it if you didn't mind reaching in the tank to load it. You'd have to anyway to place and retrieve it.

Cool! A feeder would be great for a CBB too.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

New Hanna alkalinity reagents came in friday. Tested alk friday night and it came out at 7.6dKH. Twice. Test is repeatable so must be right. Not sure how old the old reagent was so we're just going to trust the new one. Dosed 60ml of alk only, as my Ca tested at 460 Friday night. That should have brought me to 9.0. Tested again last night and got 8.2dKH and dosed 50ml of alk only again. I'll test both calcium and alkalinity again tonight.

Makes me wonder tho... if my alkalinity was actually 7.6 while dosing 20ml of each part per day waiting on new reagents, and calcium rose in that time which makes me think alk would have also, was my alk really around 5-6? The old reagent was testing at 8-9...

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Tested Ca and Alk again tonight. Couldn't get consistent results with Salifert. Once was 480(went up without dosing?), second was 400, third was off chart, over 1ml of titration. Sooo... I used the Hanna. 420ppm, sounds right, I'll go with it. Alk was 8.7dKH. Dosed ~12ml of soda ash or enough to get to 9.0. I finally think I have this thing on track now. Tomorrow night I'll test alk again and see if we can get a consistent drop every day to get a baseline for dosing.

I've also pretty much decided on upgrading my doser to the ekoral doser. The jebao works, but is a royal pain to program and the time isn't perfect... it's a little fast. Anyway, I kinda just want the tech upgrade also.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

CBB ate very well tonight. He's been getting more and more active in the tank, always hunting for something in the rocks or the algae clips. During feeding time he is very peculiar about which foods he will eat... has to be the right size, shape, move the right way, smell the right way? I'm still not sure. He will swim up to a piece of food, study it for a few seconds, pass it up only to dart across the tank and inhale a piece that looks identical to the one he just passed on.

He's healthy, eating, and seems comfortable in his home. The only fish he still raises his dorsal spines at, is the melanarus wrasse who is still probably going to be rehomed. He gets along perfectly with Ahi the tomini, which is good.

 

[NY_Caveman]

CBB ate very well tonight. He's been getting more and more active in the tank, always hunting for something in the rocks or the algae clips. During feeding time he is very peculiar about which foods he will eat... has to be the right size, shape, move the right way, smell the right way? I'm still not sure. He will swim up to a piece of food, study it for a few seconds, pass it up only to dart across the tank and inhale a piece that looks identical to the one he just passed on.

He's healthy, eating, and seems comfortable in his home. The only fish he still raises his dorsal spines at, is the melanarus wrasse who is still probably going to be rehomed. He gets along perfectly with Ahi the tomini, which is good.

That is great to hear! Too many sad CBB stories about them not eating. Glad yours is a trend breaker!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

That is great to hear! Too many sad CBB stories about them not eating. Glad yours is a trend breaker!

I'm extremely relieved. I was still a little worried but it was a good price and he looked too healthy for a fish that had been at the LFS for two weeks to not be eating. He showed interest in LRS at the store, but didn't seem like he was eating. I just wasn't used to how a CBB eats. They study their food a lot more than most fish. I guess when you have a highly specialized mouth for eating certain things, you're careful about what you cram in there. He's the biggest fish in my tank, and probably has one of the smallest, and most definitely longest mouths.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Alk was 8.6 tonight. Dosed 15ml of BRS 2 part. It's looking like I have 0.4dKH drop per day. I'l keep testing for the rest of the week then lock it in on once weekly.

Also, meet Aphrodite the CBB. Yep, came up with a name. Copper was associated with the Greek goddess of beauty because of its luster and use in early mirrors.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Alright, the blue was bothering me. Downloaded Adobe Lightroom(used to have it on old phone) and corrected temperature only. Here is the corrected photo. Looks much better, imo.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Alk was at 8.6 tonight, dosed approximately 12ml of BRS 2 part. I'll have to switch over to ATI here soon, just want to make sure I have a stable reading before then.

 

[Brew12]

Alk was at 8.6 tonight, dosed approximately 12ml of BRS 2 part. I'll have to switch over to ATI here soon, just want to make sure I have a stable reading before then.

I think I missed it. Why are you switching to the ATI?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I think I missed it. Why are you switching to the ATI?

More complete 2 part with major and trace elements.

 

[Brew12]

More complete 2 part with major and trace elements.

I was hoping that was the case. I'm curious to see how it works for you. I'm thinking of doing something similar for the same reasons. I figure I'll need to do this before demand gets high enough to justify a calcium reactor.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I was hoping that was the case. I'm curious to see how it works for you. I'm thinking of doing something similar for the same reasons. I figure I'll need to do this before demand gets high enough to justify a calcium reactor.

I'd like a calcium reactor for the constant flow of effluent and stable parameters... but I can't justify the initial price right now. Not at ~13ml of BRS 2 part a day. Maybe once I get this tank stable and actually growing SPS and my demand goes up. Way up