Tyler's 220 gallon in wall build thread!

[TK_KW]

There are a couple of alarms you can set up.

For heaters, wattage drop works well. Here's one of my heater failure virtual outputs:

[Heat1FailLoc]
Set OFF
Defer 000:10 Then OFF
If Output Heater1 Watts < 75 Then ON
Defer 000:10 Then ON
When On > 000:05 Then ON

Then in your alarm output:

If Output Heat1FailLoc = ON Then ON

What this will do is send you an alarm and lock it ON if your heater wattage drops below 75 for 10 seconds.
To determine what wattage to use, look at the Input Log graph for each heater wattage; it will be labeled 'HeaternameW'.
The alarm then won't stop until you switch the VO to OFF for a few seconds (and then back to AUTO to re-arm it.)


Another thing you can do is set an alarm if your heater or heaters stay on continuously for longer than they ever normally would. Another VO:

[HeaterErr090]
Set OFF
If Temp < 70.0 Then ON
If Output Heater1 = ON Then ON
If Output Heater2 = ON Then ON
If Output BackupHeater = ON Then ON
Defer 090:00 Then ON

Then in your alarm output:

If Output HeaterErr090 = ON Then ON

For my system if any heater or combination of heaters stays on for more than 90 minutes continuously, something is wrong.
For this one, it's a good idea to look at your Output Log to determine the longest period of time that your heaters ever normally stay on.
This will also alert you if your temperature probe fails. When temp probes fail, they will read an impossibly low number.

fantastic, thank you!

 

[TK_KW]

Alright #reefsquad,

Need your help. Purple Queen Anthius. I've read many posts and pages on here regarding them being difficult to eat and get established. Please feel free to tag anyone with expertise with these fish.

A friend of mine who bring many specicies of fish in, has gotten some in. He told me they typically dont come in this large, and these look nice and fat. Hes going away for a week and doesnt trust employees in his lfs to take care of them, so in turn I've gotten this school of nine fish for a literal steal. They are all around 3"+ or so.

What are my best chances with this school? I follow hotrocks QT protocol. So currently I'm starting to ramp up copper, to reach their therapeutic levels.

I have Mysis, baby brine and cyclops on hand for food. Tonight I tried some cyclops, they seemed interested. But never saw them pounce on it.

Any guidance would be amazing. I'd really love to have these guys school, but my expectations arnt to high from what I've read.

Morning @eatbreakfast,

You have any insight that could help with this school of Purple Queens. Since I first posted asking about any guidance. I e tried feeding mysis, cyclops, baby brine, flake and pellet. They scurry around when baby brine and cyclops get put in as though their interested. But have seen then pick at it yet. Think I should just keep trying different thing on a daily bases with type of food source? Does anyone else have experience getting a school to feed?

 

[TK_KW]

Well first of the nine purple queens dropped today. Could really use any advice or experience with getting these guys to eat.........

 

[rkpetersen]

Have you tried roe (fish eggs)? Anthias usually go crazy for them.

 

[TK_KW]

Ok, so I'm trying to find some stability in my DT before I trasfer any coral. I know that "your not suppose to chase a number", but am curious what "range" I should be looking for.

I had my auto feeder go off twice a day, for weeks. When testing No3 and No4 undetectable. And I'm assuming why I had spots of jelly looking bacteria growing. Since, I change feeding schedule to three times a day. After day 4 I tested, Po4 was .31, No3 was zero. Then after day 5 tested back at Po4 .59. Last night I changed back to feeding twice a day.

Between feeding and auto waterchanges(currently set for 12% a week). What rough number should I shoot for? Just trying to tweak this feeding etc to get stability. I'd hate to lose any coral for something stupid. As my frag tank is solid in stability currently.

 

[TK_KW]

@KJ @Sabellafella,
One of the photos you both commented on for ID last week, looks to perfectly match candelabrum spp hydroid. Now that I've gotten a better look at night on them. Nearly exactly the same as Lionfishlair photo.

I'm assuming their bad? Do they have a natural predator or what are my options for whipping them out? I see about half a dozen in my coral/invert QT, that is currently fishless. What are my options.

Thanks

 

[Sabellafella]

@KJ @Sabellafella,
One of the photos you both commented on for ID last week, looks to perfectly match candelabrum spp hydroid. Now that I've gotten a better look at night on them. Nearly exactly the same as Lionfishlair photo.

I'm assuming their bad? Do they have a natural predator or what are my options for whipping them out? I see about half a dozen in my coral/invert QT, that is currently fishless. What are my options.

Thanks

I would go under the assumption that all hydroids are bad and manually remove them. I'm not sure of any predator other then a few of the nudibranchs. Just try the best you could at removing them, and monitor. I think you should be fine.

 

[TK_KW]

I would go under the assumption that all hydroids are bad and manually remove them. I'm not sure of any predator other then a few of the nudibranchs. Just try the best you could at removing them, and monitor. I think you should be fine.

What is their reproduction method? Or how do I avoid introducing them into my display? I have started manually removing, but do they lay eggs, or what?

I know reef primer or dips dont work, as far as I can see. Because the Zoa frag I first dipped because of hydroid, never killed it.

I have a bunch of coral ready for trasferninto display, but paranoid about bringing them over to display.

 

[TK_KW]

What is their reproduction method? Or how do I avoid introducing them into my display? I have started manually removing, but do they lay eggs, or what?

I know reef primer or dips dont work, as far as I can see. Because the Zoa frag I first dipped because of hydroid, never killed it.

I have a bunch of coral ready for trasferninto display, but paranoid about bringing them over to display.

#reefsquad. Any guidance regarding my above question about hydroids in my coral/invert QT tank.

This morning I manually removed around 8 of them.

 

[TK_KW]

Seems as though good information regarding digitate hydroids or any means of taking them out is impossible to find! Ugh

 

[DS204]

Seems as though good information regarding digitate hydroids or any means of taking them out is impossible to find! Ugh

When I started a new s/w setup 8 months ago I had something similar, which I first thought was aiptasia. In the end it was more likely hydroids or some other organism trying to compete for space in the newly established ecosystem. I kept up with weekly water changes and scraped them off the glass wherever I could. They seemed to pop up in the lower flow areas of my tank. Eventually they couldn't compete for nutrients anymore and died off. That was around the 4 month mark and they were around for probably 3-5 weeks. They're gone now and I basically didn't do anything other than weekly maintenance. I think they just couldn't compete for nutrients anymore as the tank matured itself.

Perhaps you're going through something similar and as the tank matures they'll go away. Not sure how old your tank is so not sure how helpful this information will be to you. Cheers.

 

[TK_KW]

When I started a new s/w setup 8 months ago I had something similar, which I first thought was aiptasia. In the end it was more likely hydroids or some other organism trying to compete for space in the newly established ecosystem. I kept up with weekly water changes and scraped them off the glass wherever I could. They seemed to pop up in the lower flow areas of my tank. Eventually they couldn't compete for nutrients anymore and died off. That was around the 4 month mark and they were around for probably 3-5 weeks. They're gone now and I basically didn't do anything other than weekly maintenance. I think they just couldn't compete for nutrients anymore as the tank matured itself.

Perhaps you're going through something similar and as the tank matures they'll go away. Not sure how old your tank is so not sure how helpful this information will be to you. Cheers.

Honeslty could very well be that it's not matured and they came in on something. But, I'd rather avoid the introduction into my display if possible. As removing a rock is not a fesable solution in that tank.

My coral/invert QT has been up for around 4 months now I think.

 

[blstravler]

Alright #reefsquad,

Need your help. Purple Queen Anthius. I've read many posts and pages on here regarding them being difficult to eat and get established. Please feel free to tag anyone with expertise with these fish.

A friend of mine who bring many specicies of fish in, has gotten some in. He told me they typically dont come in this large, and these look nice and fat. Hes going away for a week and doesnt trust employees in his lfs to take care of them, so in turn I've gotten this school of nine fish for a literal steal. They are all around 3"+ or so.

What are my best chances with this school? I follow hotrocks QT protocol. So currently I'm starting to ramp up copper, to reach their therapeutic levels.

I have Mysis, baby brine and cyclops on hand for food. Tonight I tried some cyclops, they seemed interested. But never saw them pounce on it.

Any guidance would be amazing. I'd really love to have these guys school, but my expectations arnt to high from what I've read.

I’ve had them in my last tank - they are not easy to keep for sure. I started with 5 and only 2 made it long term (just a male and female) tank was 6x2x2. Getting them to eat and keeping them eating is often the issue. I would advise no other type of Anthias in the tank but these - they won’t get along and they are in the shy end so they won’t win the battle. Also make sure you have lots of hiding places for them. Good luck.

 

[blstravler]

So I looked through your thread and noticed you have a fair amount of Anthias going into your tank - I would suggest changing around your rock if you want to be successfully with them. This was my last tank - there are around 22 Anthias in this tank - tons of places to hide...

 

[TK_KW]

So I looked through your thread and noticed you have a fair amount of Anthias going into your tank - I would suggest changing around your rock if you want to be successfully with them. This was my last tank - there are around 22 Anthias in this tank - tons of places to hide...

They seem to be eating, which is nice to see. But I agree, we will see what long term shows I guess

 

[TK_KW]

@Crabs McJones @Brew12 @scott11106 @Lionfish Lair @KJ

Can anyone elaborate on my search for information regarding Digitate Hydroids please? Good, Bad. How to avoid spread. Can I transfers coral and not worry? Am I to paranoid and their not a big deal? Or are they a complete plague?

I really want to start trasfering coral to my DT. But I'm so paranoid. I want to prevent trasfering these devils(if they are). I first noticed them cause my zoa's wernt opening. Some say their good, some say who cares. But info is ridiculously limited.

I summoned reefsquad numerous times, with nothing! I'm currently manually trying to remove them from my fishless coral/invert QT.

I'd like ANYONE to comment something meaningful. As I'm still a rookie in this world. And for as large of a display I have. I will NOT tear out rock to address a issue (unless it's a complete tear down).

Ugh please help.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I summoned reefsquad numerous times, with nothing!

Were very sorry! Hashtags aren't working right now, You can type them in, but alerts aren't getting sent out. It is currently being worked on.
In regards to your question to Digitate Hydroids. I have quite a few in my tank and have been researching ways to eliminate them. So far I have come up with nothing. I'm almost to the point of supergluing over the holes they're coming out of. If anyone knows of a reef safe natural predator i'd love to hear it

 

[Brew12]

Can anyone elaborate on my search for information regarding Digitate Hydroids please? Good, Bad. How to avoid spread. Can I transfers coral and not worry? Am I to paranoid and their not a big deal? Or are they a complete plague?

There are quite a few opinions on them. Mine is that it depends on how you run your tank and how clean you keep your water. If you run clean or have lots of other filter feeders you will hardly notice them. If you feed particulate food or don't use enough filtration, they can become a plague.
Typically they don't harm anything but they will reproduce to match the food supply. I used to have some amazing looking colonial hydroids but they disappeared when my water got to clean for them.

 

[TK_KW]

@Crabs McJones @Brew12

Thanks for responses. Ok so I feel with my build, I have a good amount of mechanical filtration, etc. To keep my water quality up.

I guess question would be. What is my best approach to not trasfering between the tanks?

Coral dips dont work as far as I know. So scrub corals prior to introduction into display? Is that the best I can do?

Have either of you heard about people having any success with banded coral shrimps? Read on another site, but no idea if it holds any merit.

 

[Brew12]

@Crabs McJones @Brew12

Thanks for responses. Ok so I feel with my build, I have a good amount of mechanical filtration, etc. To keep my water quality up.

I guess question would be. What is my best approach to not trasfering between the tanks?

Coral dips dont work as far as I know. So scrub corals prior to introduction into display? Is that the best I can do?

Have either of you heard about people having any success with banded coral shrimps? Read on another site, but no idea if it holds any merit.

I have heard that the banded coral shrimp can be hit or miss, just like peppermint shrimp for aiptasia. I've also heard that whitespotted file fish are supposed to eat them, but that isn't an option if you use your coral/invert QT to try and eliminate fish parasites.