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No Skimmer plus small tank equals trouble 9/30/05 Foretelling The Future Of A "Small" Reef Tank - 09/25/05 Hi Crew at Wet Web Media, <<Howdy>> I have spent many hours on your web site and have found it very informative. <<Thanks...me too!>> According to some of the articles and questions I have read, I realize I have made some regrettable purchases. <<uh oh>> Now, I am wondering what the future holds for the livestock of my reef tank and how I can avoid any potential problems. Let me just say that some of the purchases I have made are due to the trust I have in my LFS. <<ok>> I have been going there for about 10 years now, and I think, for the most part, they give honest advice. <<Most likely then...they do.>> So, here is my tank setup. Running since April 6, 2005 and second attempt at managing an aquarium with saltwater. 27gal. Eclipse 2 tank that I converted to a saltwater tank. <<Mmm...there's the first strike against you...not a fan of small reef systems in all but the most experienced hands. Things can go "bad" very quickly.>> Filter and Lighting System: * 304 Fluval filter system * Rio aqua pump/power head * ViaAqua Multi-Skimmer * JBJ Aqua-lighting 65 watt combo <<Likely you need more flow.>> Live rock and sand-with a 2" sand bed. <<It's my opinion you should either reduce the sand bed to 1"...or increase it to 4".>> Coral: * Blue Mushrooms that have multiplied * 2 other types of mushrooms, each on a separate piece of live rock * Leather mushroom * Green button tip polyps * Purple flower tip polyps * Red Brain coral Invertebrates: * Sally Lightfoot Crab <<Potential fish snatcher.>> * Arrow Crab <<Another potential fish snatcher>.> * 3 Turbo Snails * 2 Sand Sifting Sea Stars-a concern I have for them and the future of my tank. Purchased in July. <<Yikes! One of these is too many for this size tank. They will surely starve to death...but not before decimating the biota in your sand bed.>> * 1 BTA <<Sad to see this.>> Fish: * 1 Juvenile Blue Pacific Tang-I know, I am sorry, but I have a home for it when it gets too big for my tank. Purchased in May <<Find a bigger home for it now...please.>> * 1 Spotted Cardinal-Purchase in June * 1 small Citron Goby-Received Sept. 16 in the mail-Concern about feeding it correctly <<No need, should feed just fine on frozen Mysis/plankton/Cyclop-eeze.>> * I small Clarkii Clown -Received Sept. 16 in the mail If your store quarantines, much to be said for paying the extra 5-10 bucks to let them order fish for you.>> Food: * Formula One * Brine Shrimp Plus <<Wasted money in my opinion.>> * Mysis Shrimp * Tetra Marine flake food * Seaweed every 3 days-though, not consistently <<be consistent>> * Coralroot <<Not familiar with this product, but I would be VERY judicious with its use.>> * Essential Elements <<Again, be careful.>> My plan now is just to maintain my tank as is with weekly water changes. <<Much better approach than the additives you're using.>> Everything seems to be doing fine, fish are eating and coral look healthy. However, I am worried about the life expectancy of my citron goby. What insight do you have about that? <<Hardy little buggers.. and a nuisance in some type systems (SPS). If it is eating and not being picked on it should fare well.>> Also, I am worried about the sea stars. Can I add sand to replenish the fauna? <<Nope...>> Would adding Copepods-a product I have seen in fish store be helpful? <<Yes...but only after you take the stars BACK to your LFS.>> How about adding a piece of PVC pipe in my tank? <<Why? For what reason?>> I not sure if I am even asking the right questions. <<Me neither <G> >> I am curious what you think about my tank setup? What problems will I encounter? <<As stated>> What can I do to help or avoid them---without going to a bigger tank? <<Remove the tang, the anemone, and the stars.>> Did that limit your response? <<Not at all my friend.>> Your response and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated, Carol <<Carol...I want you to be successful. Please consider my suggestions and feel free to write back with questions/ideas of your own and I'll be happy to "toss them about" with you. Regards, EricR>> Avoiding Nano No-No's! 9/23/05 Hello! <How ya' doin'? Scott F. here tonight.> First, I would like to thank everyone at your site for the tremendous help you have unknowingly given me over the years. This site is a wealth of great information and I am glad you are around. <We're glad to be here! Thanks for the kind words!> My tank: 25 gallon reef tank Real Ocean (by Catalina) used 5% water change cleaning mechanical filter/10% water change from tank-alternating weekly reconstituted distilled water used for top-off Carbon filtration Skimmerless now, after weaning off Turboflotor Shorty. <Interesting...I've never been a fan of going skimmerless- but if it works for you...> Amazing how things in this tank have been balanced out. What I have learned is that the more diversity (especially in the sand bed) the better off I have been. And water movement, especially at the surface that can churn the heck out of particles. I use an Eheim canister filter, but without the little glass balls and tubes (actually think these might cause silicate (?) to be released into the water, giving way to diatom algae blooms. Took them out and haven't had a bloom since.) I use this for mechanical filtration only, 300 gph, clean it every week. <Excellent. As you are no doubt aware, relying on mechanical filtration media requires constant attention to the media itself.> Ah, but I do keep the carbon in there and change once a month. Once a week there is a "storm" in my tank that where debris on the rocks and surface of the sand is stirred and this floating junk gets filtered out. <Good idea...> Temp - 80.0 - 81.3 pH - 8.1 - 8.2 SG - 1.0257 (actual) Dissolved O - 7 (night) - 7.5 (day) mg/L dissolved organics - very low (Salifert) KH - 9.6 dKH Calcium - 430 Magnesium - 1350 ppm (I love Magnesium! Seems like whenever this is normal, so many other things are SO much easier to keep stable. <Good observation.> Iodine - Pisch! Every iodine-iodide-iodate test I have ever used...what is the best way for me to put it...SUCKS! : ) The chemical reactions of this one is too complex for me. Too unstable. I don't want to O.D. the tank, so I have stopped adding I. I am hoping water changes give it enough. Opinion- Recommendation? <I concur. Unless accurate testing verifies the need for iodine supplementation, why deal with it? Regular water changes with a quality salt mix should supply all of the iodine a typical tank requires.> Phosphates - 0 Nitrates - 0 Nitrite - 0 Ammonia - 0 ...whew! Livestock: 2 Ocellaris Clowns (their home is a branching Frogspawn Coral, who they feed and who has adjusted well to them) The clowns are a mated pair but have only "done it" once; lay eggs behind the coral. The Frogspawn has about 8 little buds under the mantle. Once in a while, I see this little bud floating freely in the water. Would these grown into full corals if attached? <Possibly...> And how to attach them or let them do it by themselves? <Either/or...You could capture them and mount 'm on rubble to see what happens.> Regal tang - a baby 1" but has grown to 2" in only two months! Came to me in pretty bad shape. It was disgusting and sad actually. But now he is a fat little bugger and my favorite. (I got this guy so I will have a really good excuse to get a 75 - 100 gallon aquarium in the spring.) <Yes...You MUST get a MUCH larger tank soon! In fact, 100 gallons is probably too small to accommodate this happily fish for it's full natural lifespan, IMO. These fishes can get very large! The bigger the better!> I have discovered over 30 different "creatures" in the sand bed from Spaghetti Worms to tiny white Sea Stars, snails, flat-shaped, elongated snails, amphipods and copepods...They are crawling all over the place. I credit them for doing a lot and keeping algae blooms gone for 3 months now. (I almost forget what they are) <Great to hear!> A few VERY small patches of macro algae that I leave to just help balance out everything. And a small patch of bubble algae too. Brittle Seastar who "made" a copy of himself...how I do not know yet...thought they had to loose an arm for that. And skunk cleaner shrimp who impregnate each other every time they molt. Between the two of them, there is fresh "coral food" literally every week! Either on Thursdays or Fridays, at night, one of them will have hundreds of little babies floating all over the place. It's like clockwork and...I just find it really, really cool. <It sure is!> a few LPS; Green Favia Lobophyllia sp. small Clove Polyps few Mushroom Corals Plate Coral, etc. <An interesting mix that's working for you!> And NOW...finally...you should have a total idea of the tank I am dealing with. The corals that gave me the reason to change lighting: SPS. Oh, and two 1" Maxima clams (one blue, one greenish-gray) on a loose rock at the bottom of the tank for now: I have 3 species of Acropora a brown one that turned really green with my old PC 260 watt (50 10,000K/ 50 Actinic 420 nm) and two others that I got with more colour; a really bright purple one and a blue one. All are about 3 to 4" under the water surface, as the other corals are well below the surface and towards the 1/3 bottom, save the Frogspawn which is mid way. The water surface constantly in motion (no overflow and skimmerless so I want to keep the oxygen level at it's best) <To be honest, in such a small body of water, with an unnatural mix of LPS, soft corals, and SPS corals, a skimmer may be the best means of disrupting the accumulation of potentially damaging allelopathic compounds produced by the corals. There is virtually no margin for error here. Sure, it can be done, but the potential for problems down the line is great. Not to discourage you and diminish the obvious success that you seem to be having, but you need to consider the long term here.> I bought the Aqualite Pro 150W HQI metal halide - (2) 65 watt PC actinic 420nm - moonlight set up. With it's legs on, the lights are 4" from the surface of the water. The halide is in the centre with the PC running along the front and back. The SPS corals are positioned left and right of centre as this is where the top of two towers of rocks with cliffs stand. In the centre, on the bottom of the tank, slightly elevated on rocks is the Favia. My questions: Is the Favia in this position ok in your opinion? <Favia can be as demanding as any SPS coral, but you may want to acclimate this and the other corals to the more intense light carefully, using layers of window screen to avoid shocking them.> Are the Acropora ok this close/ far and left and right of centre from the halide? <As above. The larger concern to me is the potential aggression between the corals and the lack of skimming. A potential long-term detriment, IMO.> Is the distance of the lighting, again about 4", ok for this tank? I feel that I would want to move the PCs CLOSER but worry about the halide, which actually I might move father away. (I will stop using the legs and mount it hanging after I hear from you and so give me a distance you would use, please.)...but as this is one fixture I am unable to do so and would like to find a happy medium. With the water surface movement would this allow the halide to be 4" above or closer with no harm? <I wouldn't go closer than 6", particularly in a small tank, where heat can be problematic.> What about, keeping the 4" distance (or closer, if you think) with the surface water movement AND then using a different colour temperature (not 20,000K but something between 10,000K and 20,000K)? <I'd still keep the distance at 6"> And, if they all cost the same, which brands of lighting would you buy for HQI halide and PC? <Depends on the spectrum that you're looking for. I like the Phoenix 14,000k, the Aqualine Buschke 10,000k, and the Geissmann 20,000k. Lots of bulbs to choose from out there...> Thank you so much, in advance, for your help. I have come a long way with this tank and could, but think it unwise to do so, start experimenting with lighting, moving coral positions, etc. Cheers! Yishi <I agree. Again, I don't want to sound negative, but I just wanted to point out to you that it may be more wise to "specialize" in one type of coral (i.e.; SPS, LPS, etc.), particularly in this sized system. With that caveat and your continued attention to husbandry (re-install that skimmer, please!), I think that you can be successful with this small tank! Continued success! Regards, Scott F.> Nano Reef Clean-up Crew and Detritivore Recommendation 8/17/05 I like to say first off great web site I found a lot of good info here... <<Thanks>> I was actually wondering if I could get a good suggestion on a clean up crew for my nano reef, both algae and detritus... my tank is a 15 gallon eclipse system w/ a retro fitted lighting system consisting of one 15w Coralife fluorescent and two 13w pc's all 50/50. I have no protein skimmer just the built in pump with carbon filtration and a BioWheel... sorry didn't mean to get side tracked. I was just wondering if I could get an idea of a good set of inverts to help clean both algae and detritus from the tank... I would like a variety of creatures in the aquarium including snails, nudibranch or cucumbers, and hermits, and I eventually want to have a yellow-banded coral shrimp so compatibility w/ this creature would be appreciated. <<I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want to make sure you are well informed. Please understand that nano reefs are harder to maintain than larger systems. I would encourage you to search WWM and read up on every aspect. Here are few links to start you out: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/smmarsysdisfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/smmarsysfaq6.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/smmarsysfltfaqs.htm>> Current Specifications of Water Quality Temp 76 degrees F Ph 8.1 Specific Gr 1.021-1.022 Ammonia >0.25 ppm (but not quite 0) Nitrate >2.5 ppm (but not quite 0) Nitrite >0.05 ppm (but not 0) Calcium Level 450-500 ppm <<Raise the SG to 1.025. How long has the system been setup? Strive for Ammonia and nitrite of 0. With the high calcium level, I would guess your alkalinity is low. Unless you are planning on keeping stony corals, strive for a calcium level between 350-425 and alkalinity of 8-12dKH. You will find values in these ranges easier to maintain.>> Additives Daily: Iodine, Liquid Calcium Weekly: Strontium/Molybdenum, Kent PhytoPlex or ChromaPlex (each on every other week) Biweekly: Tropical Science NitroMax w/ Oxyboost (also added w/ water change approx 2.5 gallons every other week) <<Wow, you are a dosing machine. IMO, you can save a lot of money and still have a thriving system by using a good quality salt and changing 1-2 gallons of water every week. The water changes will supply all of the elements needed for you reef.>> Thank you for your time Donald Summers P.S. this was my Idea let me know if it sounds good or not, thanks 1 x Banded Coral Shrimp, Yellow (Stenopus scutellatus) 1 x Sea Cucumber, Tiger Tail (Holothuria sp.) 10 x Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab (Clibanarius tricolor) 2 x Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.) 10 x Cerith Snail (Cerithium sp.) 1 x Lettuce Sea Slug "Nudibranch" (Tridachia crispata) <<Your list seems reasonable although I might reduce the number of hermit crabs. Clean up crews are a little bit personal opinion. Also, be aware that when the hermits are hungry, scavenging gets a new interpretation. I would wait a few months before adding a detritivore kit. Also, please read up sea cucumbers and clean up crews. ( http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seacukes1.htm and http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marscavfaqs.htm).>> If this is a good selection what are some compatible fish to go along with these specimens?<<As for fish, again personal preference will prevail and there are many small, colorful and interesting fish to choose from including clowns, gobies, blennies, damsels, etc.>> Thanks again <<You're welcome and good luck - Ted>> Temp. concern 7/25/05 Hi crew. <Hello Heather> Your site has offered me many answers to many questions regarding my nano tank and has offered reassurance that others go through the same questions and queries . I have 2 nano tanks one is a 2.5 and the other is a 7 gallon bowfront . I just recently upgrade lights on our tank from stock light to 70 watts power compact , 1 lamp 10000k and the other actinic for a light output of 10.3watts per gallon . Now the question that I have is that the light did in fact heat the tank up to 82 degrees (digital thermometer in the hob filter) we have 2 power heads and removed the heater now from what I have read on your site is that you folks are not big proponents of chillers so before I wrote this question I searched for answers . One of the big things that you state to do is to add fans to the light which we did now we did not keep the heater in the tank it has been removed but the temp dropped to 75 .1 degrees ( I know big swing) but now with the fans on the light the temp rose to 76.7 degrees is this an acceptable swing ? <76 is fine. What we don't want are swings in temperature during the day.> tank param.s: 7gallon bow front 70 watt pc light 10 lbs live rock 8 lbs live sand 2 red footed conches (can you tell me any thing about these guys food temps habits) 1 peppermint shrimp 1gold stripe clown (1 inch long now I know he will grow and need new quarters) various hermits soft coral anemone polyps spg is 1.025 temp 76.7 all other parameters WNL ( I don't have my log book with me so I cant quote the parameters ) tank has been up since October 04 thanks for any help on temp concern <You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)> ... Trying to keep a small marine system 7/22/05 Hi Crew, <How goes it?> I have a 10 gallon SW 2 years old and stable for about a year with a clown goby, 2 spotted cardinals and mushrooms, snails and 3 hermits. <Too small a tank for the cardinals, in my opinion> I used to have some micro stars (size of a dime) and at the time I had a six line wrasse. The stars disappeared and either the wrasse ate them or they just died. <Most likely the wrasse - and a 10 gallon tank is way too small for a sixline> I saw an ad for small stars (adult size of a quarter from leg to leg). Would they be ok for my 10 gallon? Any compatibility problems? <If they're Asterina spp. stars they'll be great for your tank> A few months ago I had a hair algae attack and I bought 3 lettuce slugs to help control it. They did not touch the stuff. I gave 2 away but the one I have is starving. He used to be a beautiful green and now he is beige and getting smaller every day. My snails are doing OK with the algae on the glass. So what is it that this guy might eat? I did try dried seaweed but he ignored that as well. <See www.seaslugforum.net and WWM archives - there is plenty of info to be had about the specific diet of the lettuce sea slug> By the way, the hair algae is just about 95% gone. I am not sure what did it. I did try to reduce phosphates but my testing still shows it very high. <Aquarium species wax and wane naturally...it is likely being outcompeted by another species. Make sure to aggressively protein skim and perform regular water changes> Thanks <No problems - M. Maddox> Water chemistry and maintenance for a 6 gal. nano Dear sirs: <Or madams> I have a local fish store near my house in H.B Calif. Me and my wife decided to start a small salt tank, But it became a reef tank. Here's my problem- I have been getting so many different instructions from so many different people that now I don't know what is correct. Here is what I have: 6 gal nano stock lighting 400 pump good heater (35 watt) 10 pounds live sand 6 pounds live Fiji rock 5 small snails 5 small hermit crabs 1 bi-color blenny 5 different small coral frags My water test results this am where as follows: salt 1.022 <I'd raise this to NSW strength... 1.025> cal 390 alk 5.4 ph 8.1 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 temp 80 I have live rock in the compartment where the bio balls were, no ceramic rings, no carbon the water is clear. I am feeding cynoplankon frozen bar and Dt's drops for the corals every 2 days. my lights are on a timer for 8 hours a day. I do a water change once a week with RO salt (pre-mixed at the fish store for .40 a gal.) <Good... unless you're pre-mixing... very hard to keep such a small volume stable> does all of this sound ok?? Please let me know if I should change any thing...desperate to be steered in the right direction. thank you so much.. Bill Todd <All sounds fine... careful daily observation, sticking to a standard maintenance routine should keep you in good stead here. Bob Fenner> Questions on Nano Setup Hi Crew, Thanks for your help in the past. I have a 10 gallon with 1-2" sand, a Penguin filter, and a 96 watt 50/50 put on 2 months ago (on 12 hours). A couple of small rocks, ball of Chaetomorpha, 2 pajama cardinals <These fish are not suitable for a ten gallon system> and one clown goby 3 hermits and about 10 small algae eating snails and 4 Nassarius snails, 6 mushrooms and two candy canes. Tank is 24 months old, and zero ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Change 1 gallon a week and feed twice a day. I think I have a good balance now since the numbers are good and a few mushrooms have split off via their feet and one polyp on the candy cane just divided. I have the fish for over a year and the coral since December. I am just about ending a battle with hair algae that started about 2 months ago (can not remember if hair algae started before the new lights) but I am still getting a lot of film on the glass which I did not get before the hair algae outbreak. And with nitrates finally down to nothing it surprises me. It was usually between 10-20 before introducing the Chaeto. Do I have too much lighting? <The lighting is excessive... about half this would be fine> Or do I have too much sand? Could I have a phosphates problem. <Possibly> I do not check for it. Also yesterday (5/18) in an answer to a question someone suggested that some nitrate does help for giving color to mushrooms. So am I better off removing the Chaeto. <Mmm, no> I have noticed a couple mushrooms that were fluorescent colored have lost their fluorescence. Thanks. <Good observation... If at all possible, adding, tying in another system, refugium... perhaps with a DSB... or even better, getting a larger tank period... would be a route to go here. Your principal challenges are due to the small size/space you're dealing with. Bob Fenner> 35 gallon algae problems Hey Guys, I love this site. I have gained tons of very valuable information from it and I hope it continues. I have a 35 gallon cube that I have had setup for about a year and a half. It is a reef tank and all the corals and fish are doing very well. For about the last four months I have been battling green hair algae and Cyanobacteria. When the first big bloom hit I immediately switched to R/O water and became much more precise when feeding (there isn't a flake or anything that goes into the tank uneaten :). My maintenance schedule is very meticulous and I am very thorough. Weekly I change 15% of the water and scrub nearly every rock in a bucket of salt water to remove algae. I also siphon the crushed coral substrate and turn it until it is clean. I also clean the filter, protein skimmer and powerheads bi-weekly. I have been using Phos-ban to remove phosphates and my skimmer is producing about 1.5 cups of dark skimmate every 5 days. My light is a 135 watt Coralife power compact which I run 9 hours per day. My setup is as follows 30 lbs of live rock AquaClear 300 filter foam, carbon, and ChemiPure inserts (aprox 400 gph) Bak pak protein skimmer (295 gph) Aquaclear 50 powerhead (275 gph) Maxi-Jet 600 Powerhead (160 gph) Maxi-jet 900 Powerhead (275 gph) The livestock consists of 1 Maroon Clown (1 inch) 2 Firefish (1.3 inches each) 1 neon goby (.5 inch) 1 sixline wrasse (1.3 inches) 1 algae blenny (1.3 inches) (who doesn't eat algae at all :|) <Not the type, kinds you have> also: purple urchin, cleaner shrimp, porcelain crab,10 hermits, 5 Astrea snails Open Brain Hammer Coral Branching Frogspawn Torch Coral Rose bubble anemone Several Mushroom Corals Bubble Coral Trumpet Coral Sea Fan <Yikes... all this in a thirty five gallon world? Dangerous> Current and Consistent Water Parameters Nitrite- <.3 Ammonia- 0 Nitrate Nitrogen <10 mg/l Ph- 8.0 night,8.3 day KH- 10-12 Calcium- 500 mg/l <Too high...> Phosphate 0 <All bound up in your algae...> Sorry the long introduction but I have read EVERY FAQ on algae and everyone I talk to says I'm doing everything right, but the algae problem continues. It is driving me crazy!! Like I said I have been battling for about 3 months now. When I siphon and turn the substrate it is covered again in algae 24 hours later. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? anything else I could try? <Yes! Add more volume in the way of a refugium... lighted sump... with a DSB... five or so inches of fine substrate... and LR... and purposeful macroalgae there... my choice? Gracilaria sp.... and alternate light cycles, overlap with the main system> please help. The other question I have is that too much water movement? <Nope> I have the two 270gph powerheads attached high in the corner of the back glass pointing towards the middle of the front glass as to disrupt each others flow. The third powerhead is on the lower left back glass pointed so it banks off the left side wall to the front glass. Is this a good arrangement? <Yes> Any other suggestions about the tank at all would be greatly appreciated. I love the hobby and am always trying to learn. Thank you for your time. Ryan Mischnick <Add the refugium et al., let the calcium drop below 450 ppm... save up for a much larger system. Thanks for writing. Bob Fenner> Re: One last LTA question Hi Bob, <Howdy> Things are going smooth with the new LTA. I have a link to a pic I posted on the net for you if your interested. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/download.php?id=13055 Its been pretty exciting around the house. I had a 30G oceanic cube at my office that is 3 months cycled but has no life in it. I found it's too hard to take care of at work so I just moved it home and tied it into my 105G oceanic. I can tell that all my livestock is really digging the 25% boost in volume. <Good> I am not sure if your familiar with Bob from EBay, he sells a live detritivore kit for new tanks. Anyhow it's a huge deal, I have bought two from him and the 30G was seeded with one so now its like I have two fuges on the system. Hope things are well with you, take care! Oh, in case your curious here is a pic of my system with the 30G tied in (please excuse the mess and the cords everywhere, I haven't cleaned things up since the move). http://www.aquariumadvice.com/download.php?id=13172 Take care Bob! <Thank you for sharing. Cheers, Bob Fenner> Peculiar Percula Behavior Gentlemen- <Some, and some ladies... and some "just" petfish types like me> As a newbie, I must compliment you on the outstanding website and obvious love you have for the marine hobby. My tank inhabitants and I thank you for keeping us all healthy. I have a question that I have not found an answer to, and the LFS is clueless. <Mmm, welcome> I have a 12 gallon Eclipse with a Hydor Pico for additional circulation, 9 lbs. of live rock, a tank-raised juvenile percula clown, a purple firefish, 3 Nassarius snails, 3 bumble bee snails and 4 tiny blue leg hermits. The stats are pH of 8.2, 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite, 10 ppm nitrate and a steady 76 degrees. Small feedings are performed twice a day. Lights are on about 15 hours daily. <Okay> My question regards the clownfish that I have had for about three weeks. The first two weeks he acted like a puppy, constantly moving all over the tank, always out in the open and loving anyone willing to look at him. Five days ago, I added the cleaning crew (all the snails and crabs listed). The clown has since become a recluse, spending most of his time (90%+) hanging out behind one of the live rocks. He appears to be entirely healthy otherwise, making himself seen when it is time to eat, eating fine and eyes and gills appear normal. There are no signs if ich or velvet (the LFS's only advice). All other inhabitants look great. <Not unusual behavior> The behavior change was a complete turnaround as of the day after adding the inverts. My paranoia has me believe that some introduced illness has set in. I would like to move the rock to see what he does, but the firefish has made a very nice home for himself between the rock and substrate; I hate to disturb it. Your thoughts? <I would not move the rock, but just keep an eye on the Clown... your system is indeed a very small world... fraught with danger of quick, troublesome chemical/physical changes... and little room for biological adjustment... I would do nothing quickly here, ever> And, while I have an expert on the hook, I would like to eventually like to add a cleaner shrimp, a feather duster and a red or orange Fromia star to the tank. Will this be too much bioload given weekly water changes? <Mmm, I do wish I could... well, I'll try here... to talk you into a larger system. The propensity for disasters is just too great in such tiny volumes as yours... the shrimp, worm, star could die... easily and their death/s bring a collapse for all... Much more room for error in bigger tanks> Finally, the Eclipse has a single 15W, 18" tube. If I change it to a quality 50/50, can I effectively keep mushroom corals and low-light polyps? <I'll make you a deal... IF you get, have another larger system to move your livestock to, you can/could indeed try small colonies of these stinging-celled life... So you could move all to in the event of trouble... there will be.> Thank you for your attention, advice and all you do for the hobby. Jeremy A. Schwabe <Thank you for sharing. Bob Fenner> Nano Tank Recommendation 04/26/2005 Hi, Just a quick question. Nano tank or no? Just want small reef tank & maybe 1 clown but small tank 12 gal or so, what's the verdict? << Yes nano tanks can be very successful. Big water changes to help balance out the nutrient load. That is the main concern in a small system, there is not much water volume to disperse all the nutrients, so large water changes are a must. Do a search on the main site and find a lot of info on Nanos >> Thanks for your time. Cam << No problem and good luck EricS >> Waste Heat in NanoCube Hello, <Hello Hillary> I am a beginner and made, what I now know, was a bit of a mistake on the size of the tank I bought. I have a 24 gallon nano cube. My system is about 4 months old and I haven't had too many problems. However I live in Southern California and summer is almost here, as I can tell from my temperature. I can't seem to get it below 80 degrees. It is currently at 82 and that is with no lights and no heater. I discovered that when I completely unplugged all of the built-in equipment (filter and internal pump) and left only my small power head running my temp dropped down to about 77-78. But, as you know, I can't just leave the equipment off. My problem is that it is the built in equipment that is generating the waste heat. On the whole my levels have held stable (PH: 8.2, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 nitrates) however I've noticed that the higher the temp goes the more out of whack my levels get. Plus I'm not sure my fish like it (I currently have a Royal Gramma and a Lawnmower Blenny). Any suggestions? <I would suggest modifying the hood to accept a computer type cooling fan. You will need two openings, one for air in and one for exhaust. James (Salty Dog)> Thank you, Hillary Couron <You're welcome> Algae Hi Crew, <Hi Sam> My 10 gallon tank seems to be going through some type of cycle. Over the past 4 weeks I have had slime algae, followed by bubble algae, then hair algae and now a yellow green film of some sort. Each one lasted about a week and spread out all over the sand and rocks followed by some hand removal after which most disappeared only to be followed by the next type. The yellow green is all over the glass. I test for ammonia(0), nitrites(0), nitrates(10) and ph(8.6) and I see no change. But I did make changes. I removed all Caulerpa, changed from an 18 watt fluorescent to a 50/50 96 watt pc and put in a few pounds of live rock. I have noticed no changes in the fish. I can understand that my changes were bound to upset whatever equilibrium was there but why the change to so many different types of algae. <Sam, in a tank that small, it doesn't take much of a nitrate/phosphate increase to cause various types of algae growth. You don't say what your fish load is and a ten gallon could only support two small fish without causing excess nutrients. A small protein skimmer will help immensely with the problem as will 10% water changes weekly. Do a Google search on the Wet Web, keyword Algae. There you will find various ways to control algae growth. James (Salty Dog)> Thanks <You're welcome> Re: 29 Gal nano reef - Follow-up Dear Jim, <Jim's off somewhere...> Thanks for your quick reply. Are there any pre-prepared foods that the Blenny will eat? <All sorts... this is posted...> I have a pretty bad algae problem, and I think the blenny would really take care of it, but I want to make sure that he will survive. Also, would there be any chance of my Percs breeding? Thanks again Devin <... this tank is too small to sustain a Salarias... Please use the WWM search engine to read-up re this species... your other livestock... a 29 is tough to keep stable for what you list. Bob Fenner> New Small tank Woes, LFS Steered Them Wrong (4/4/05) All, <Steve Allen tonight> Thank you very much for all the time and effort you obviously put into maintaining your web site. <A pleasure for me to play a small part here.> My daughter wanted to start a saltwater tank and I foolishly listened to my local pet store owner who advised me that a twelve gallon "Saltwater Tank in a Box" would be just the thing. <It's frustrating to be led astray by someone you ought to be able to trust.> We followed the directions carefully and waited two weeks to introduce any fish. <Sometimes it can take a bit longer.> The dealer told us to start with three damsels... <One would have been better.> ...and then add "one new fish per gallon" in the tank. <Now that truly is a bad idea. I could see 12 Neon Tetras in a 12G freshwater, but marine fish need a lot more water per fish. Also, the inches-per-gallon is a bad rule too. A single 6-inch fish has a lot more body volume and thus produces a lot more waste than six one-inchers do.> The first three did well and we passed our water test. <Did you study hard? ;) Sorry, couldn't resist. I hope this meant zero ammonia, zero nitrite and a bit of nitrate to prove you've really cycled.> Then we added another six damsels. <One Damsel only in such a small tank--they're really mean. In fact, I advise you to keep something other than Damsels in this tank.> All but four were dead within the week. <No surprise to me.> The big fish attacked the little ones... <yup> ...and the water quality went out of control faster than we could fix it. <What do you have for filtration? Do you have live rock?> I am trying to keep the last four damsels alive, but wondered if I could reasonably ask the dealer to take them back, since we never should have added so many fish to such a tiny tank. <Absolutely. I'd get rid of all of them.> I don't want any more to die, and my daughter is so upset at the daily funerals that she has sworn to never have an aquarium again. <How old is she? So sad she is having this experience due to bad advice. No need to give up just yet though. Go buy Michael Paletta's "The New Marine Aquarium."> I spent two hours reading through the postings on your web site and hope this question has not already been asked. If we do have to keep the Damsels, is there anything else we can do to help them survive? <Do not keep them. There are much better fish.> Our space is very limited so the clear answer to buy a much larger tank is impossible. <Could you accommodate 30 gallons?> With regards, Judy <If you must keep the 12, I'd insist he take all of the Damsels back, even if you only get 1/2 of your money back--it will be worth the investment. In a small tank like this, you can't have more than just a few fish. If you have live rock (or dead rock that can be seeded), this will eventually provide the biofiltration that you need. Consider adding Bio-Spira Marine. It will be worth the money because it is one of the few bacterial products that works. For fish, the biggest I'd consider is a Nemo (ocellaris clownfish) but this would be pushing it. Look to a firefish, yellow clown goby or bottom-dwelling goby as other possibilities. I would not recommend more that 3 or 4 smaller fishes. Check here for ideas: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=2124. Pass on the Jawfish and the Catalina Goby. Also, most gobies are jumpers, so the tank needs a tight lid. You might also consider a few smaller snails (Astrea, Nassarius, Cerith, Nerite--no others), a cleaner shrimp, and a serpent star. No other types of stars. I hope this helps. You will need to be doing weekly water changes with this small tank. You may need better filtration--what do you have?> Nano- No-No! (Nano-Reef Struggle) Dear Wet Web Crew, <Hi
there! Scott F. here today> I have a question regarding zoanthids. I
have searched your site fairly deeply, and have found volumes of help
and reference. However, there was no direct correlation to my set of
circumstances, and I was hoping you might provide some expert insight.
<Will try> My tank is a ten gallon nano reef (setting up much
larger tank after upcoming move)-- that has been up and running in
various forms for the past five or so years. (You would have thought
I'd have learned by now!) When I was given the tank, it had some
nice live rock and a few mushrooms--it had been the "holding
tank" for a baby-Lionfish-turned-giant who was owned by my
fish-only enthusiast friend. I went through my "learning"
phase, refined the filtration, added a skimmer, and built the tank into
a fairly self-sufficient system; a misnomer--a minimally messed with,
low-bioload, fairly balanced little system. <Well said!> Lots of
amphipods, some nice encrustation of macroalgae-- long story shorter, I
bought a pair of tiny pencil urchins, who grew & grew & grew,
and ended up eating nearly everything in the tank but the glass--
I'm sure you've seen it before. In any case, my hesitancy to
"murder" the urchins ended up with my surrendering the entire
tank to them. For months, they were the only show. Then we went away on
holiday, they must have starved, died and in the process (I suppose a
massive toxin release-ammonia spike combination), ended up killing a
gigantic unknown population of bristleworms. My bulletproof Lawnmower
Blenny survived unscathed. His hardiness has astounded me over the past
few years. <They are tough little buggers!> (Apologies for the
length of background, but it somewhat relates.) After the Urchin
"wipeout", I went back to religious water changes, did some
siphoning, cleaned things up, and added some zoo's and a Star
Polyp. Water parameters were well within limits. I added some snails,
some crabs to the few scarlet reef long timers in the tank, then after
perhaps a month added a 2" or so Cypho Pseudochromis--another
flak-jacketed wonder--this fish is truly amazing behaviorally a.w.a.
chromatically. SO beautiful. Again, with aggressive skimming, and
H2O changes of 8-10% every couple of weeks, all
was still well. <That's a recipe for success in many aquarium
situations!> Then the drama I am presently recovering from began to
commence... It all started with a bit of a nitrate removal problem. I
was at about 20-25 ppm, and I figured it was detritus buildup. Yes,
stupidly, I began "cleaning" the sand! Now, I know, I thought
of it too, I know what amphipods are, I know about the nitrogen cycle,
why why why?! I'm still asking myself. I was obsessed with water
purity, and it nearly cost me my tank entirely. <Don't be too
hard on yourself. Your intentions were good...> I was able to
"clean" (or kill) three sections of the sand before all hell
broke loose. Then came the canary in the coal mine-- my
oldest-been-through-it-all Button Polyps, in the tank since inception,
buttoned right up. My tank was so "established" I honestly
never thought to test nitrite or ammonia. By chance, because of a
question as to the efficacy of "expired" test kits, I brought
some tank water to the LFS, and to my horrible surprise, there were
nitrites and a small amount of ammonia present! <Yikes!>
Then it hit me square in the face all at once. Didn't I have a
die-off years ago after an intense "cleaning?" (Was due to
summertime temp spike--not just ammo; another holiday disaster)-- I ran
home with a bottle of Cycle, but within another two days, the ammonia
was skyrocketing. I went into an embarrassment- fueled panic as all the
corals clamped shut. The coco worm and featherduster hid. The fish were
NOT excited. I then remembered that I had some Ammo-Lock from my
freshwater days. In goes the ammo lock, out does NOT come the ammonia.
Big mistake #2. In afterthought, I do think the Ammo-Lock may have very
well saved the fish, but now I had ammonia off the chart, I'm in
full panic, and nitrites aren't following up, the cycle was
stopped, I thought all was lost. Then we found Bio-Spira. Talk about a
miracle-- after warping into emergency-action mode, we happened upon
it, used a 3oz. pkg, geared for a 55gallon tank after a recommended
radical, I know, 50+% (!!!) water change, and within 48 hours, we had
completely zero readings on both ammo and nitrite, minimal nitrate. As
of this writing, 5 days later, we are still at zero readings.
<Good product. I have heard only good things about it.> Okay,
enough incriminating background. I feel like I'm at an
Aquarists' Anonymous meeting. I screwed up, big time. <We all
do, believe me! As long as you learn from your mistakes, and share your
new-found insights with other hobbyists, as you did here, it's not
a wasted experience.> But as of today, the Pseudo and blenny are
happily cavorting again, the worms are waving in the current, the
snails and crabs are bopping around--truthfully, I thought a 50% water
change might very well be the death of all inhabitants--I did it
because I felt I had no other options, and in afterthought, it may have
been the crucial saving factor--took out the locked up ammo, etc.; let
it cycle up again. Okay, here are my questions-- mainly as to the
future of my soft corals. Let me preface by saying I've seen those
ancient buttons go through hell and back a few times, but I did
actually toss a couple of small (2-3 polyp) bunches because of
meltdown, I felt caused by a poorly placed small Chili Coral on the
tank floor beneath them. What I'm saying is I know they are fairly
resilient, and so far, beside the couple of meltdown buttons, everyone
else is intact but closed up tight. (Three sets of zoos, the Star
Polyp, Chili Coral). Is all hope lost, or is it simply patience,
careful phytoplankton feeding, and more patience? <Exactly. With
good water quality, careful feeding, and the patience that you seem to
have, these animals can make a recovery.> I guess my thought is that
it could potentially take a week or two or more for them to "feel
it's safe" and re-emerge-- yellow polyps are beginning to
re-emerge slowly, so I'm hopeful. My main question is should I just
give it time and calm down? <Absolutely. Don't give up the ship
just yet.> Will there be a visible spike it ammo or nitrite if, in
fact, the zoos, the Chili, etc. begin to break down? <Very likely,
yes.> My underlying fear is that now, with huge pop. of Nitrobacters
back in place, will they just munch up the ammo as it is/ if it is
produced, and I end up not being able to tell if polyps are dying off?
Gut feeling is just "calm blue ocean, wait and see"-- I mean,
they HAVE been through a severe ammo/nitrite spike as well as a 50+%
water change, I would be very upset too. But I also want to remove
dying animals if there's no hope. Right now, nothing is visibly
dying back, and nothing melting or showing ejecta-- I think everyone is
just re-adjusting/ trying to catch their breath, hopefully. <I
agree...Just keep your head and hang in there. That's the best
thing that you can do, IMO!> One other question. Do you ever clean
out the interior of the skimmer--not the cup, but the venturi chamber?
Or is that just asking for trouble all over again? <I would gently
clean the inside of the skimmer with some tank water. You don't
want to get overzealous with your skimmer cleaning, or you will wipe
off the "film" of organics that helps it get a good skim.
However, a cleaner skimmer does function better, so keep it fairly
clean without going nuts!> I would sincerely like to apologize if I
am wasting your valuable time with reading this novella--I am simply
stressed maximally, very concerned about these beautiful creatures'
futures, and feel very, very foolish. This all starts with tank size, I
know, and I swear it is in our near-term future. I just feel very
ashamed, but I want you to know I initially adopted this tank because I
felt the creatures in it could be treated much better than they were
being--I do try to be conscientious as a rule. <Believe me, you
sounds very conscientious. You are dedicated, observant, and have an
intuitive sense of what to do. Follow your gut feelings here- they are
correct!> I thank you in advance for fielding this rant, and I very
much look forward to any insights or suggestions you might have to
share. I do appreciate your time, and hope to hear back from you
soon. Very Sincerely Yours, Steve Dias <Gosh, Steve-
you're really right on the mark. Although I'm not a big fan of
small tanks, I can't think of a more responsible aquarist than you
to have one. Just keep doing what you're doing, get that larger
tank, and you're on your way to a long and successful hobby
"career"! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.> Dechlorination, filtration Bob, <James, for Bob.> First off, I'd like to say, in case it hasn't been said enough, what a pleasure it is to experience the warmth and humor in your writings. It is always nice to have a hoot whilst one is extracting scalp hair, gnashing teeth, etc. I exaggerate about the hair, teeth... this hobby has been a bit consuming at times... fortunately my wife loves me and tolerates my incessant monologues on the subject... but overall pleasurable in so many ways. It's great to have folks to share with/learn from. <My wife is ditto on the subject> Just finished reading your article on tap water treatment. A statement in there piqued my interest... if I'm getting this right, you are saying is ok to do periodic 10-15% water changes with chloraminated tap water, perhaps better than using even a "true" chemical dechloraminator? <I've been doing this for quite some time. I aerate my new water 24 hours before adding the salt mix. Never had a problem yet.> Would a conventional Brita-type drinking water filter remove enough chloramines to obviate the use of a chemical dechloraminator altogether? <I would say yes> On filtration: my 12g is a "Nano Cube" tank from JBJ. Briefly, the tank integrates a small sump that houses sponge filter, ceramic rings, activated carbon, and a gaggle of bio-balls (not part of a wet-dry filter, they just sit in the water). Problem is, there is no way to isolate the sump from the tank. So when I remove the sponge (or anything else, but especially the sponge) for cleaning, a large cloud of particulate debris explodes back through the intake vents into the tank. Is this potentially harmful to the inhabitants, i.e. releasing toxic waste products into the water? <I don't think so, whether it stayed in the sump or got pumped back to the tank, the waste is still in the water, just in a different location.> I could probably engineer (um, hack) a way to at least partially block off the intake vents... or increase frequency of sponge-cleanings (been doing it monthly).. <I clean my filter weekly> ..to reduce buildup of wastes in the sponge, but also decrease biological filtering capacity, increase aggravation... <I don't believe you have any worries, Dave. James (Salty Dog)> 30 gal. system check WWM Crew, Please give yourselves a pat on the back for helping folks with there many aquaria questions. I am a bit concerned about my live rock inhabitants. I have not seen many (I saw two or three about a week ago) copepods or Mysis shrimp scurrying around after my lights are out recently (a few months ago I would notice many without having to search for them). Worms are still plentiful on and around the rock. Only a clown, hermit crab, and snail are in 30 gal. hex with ~20 lb. of live rock and a 1"-1.5" sand bed for about seven months. The system's pH was ~7.8 however I increased it with a buffer (just yesterday) and have been testing. No other problems to speak of. Salinity has been increased slowly to 1.025 to house corals or an anemone after I get my 150 W/10,000K MH pendant. On a different note, I have a Mini Jet 606 in the tank half of the way down, pointing up, for water flow (the tank is deep but fairly narrow). Should I get another small powerhead when corals or anemone is added? <Rule of thumb is to have 10x tank volume of circulation (300gph).> One more question, if I may? I am really concerned that my Bak Pak 2 will not be enough filtration for a "deep and narrow" reef system with a few small fish in the long run. <It will be plenty, do clean it weekly> I am thinking of adding a back up power filter or maybe a small canister (I would clean it regularly of course). Any suggestions on the issue? <A small canister filter is helpful if you need to add PhosGuard, Chemi-pure or other media, and it also adds to the water flow.> Thanks again for your time. <James (Salty Dog)> Algae and Feather Duster Outbreaks 1/30/05 Hello, hello boys and girls -Two questions. I have a 29 gallon with 45lbs LR and 20lbs LS.. Bunch of soft corals, numerous inverts, and 3 small-med fish.. I bought three pretty colored feather dusters over the last 6 months. I Now have baby feather dusters popping up all over the place. <these are almost certainly unrelated. If your babies are small white varieties, they are common, hardy and fairly harmless... although their presence if/when flourishing is a sign of a nutrient control problem in the tank (lack of adequate water changes, skimming, etc... or overfeeding)> I hade the LR since August but in the last three weeks, BOOM, they're everywhere.. What does this mean? Leaver them? Or what? <no worries... they wax and wane with the nutrient load in the system> Recently, in the last three weeks, I have tough green algae growing on the glass.. I have to use a metal scraper to get it off, and I have to do this once a week.. What is the cause of this? <nitrates again... do try to tune your skimmer to perform better... a full cup of skimmate at least several times weekly (see the archives on this topic for more info)> My Nitrates are 0-5ppm. I change the water every week-between 3-5 gallons of RO water or purified spring bottled water. What can be done to stop this or should I just accept it as normal growth? <skim more aggressively and you will not need to manually scrub/remove the algae> I did notice something though.. Both of these events occurred after I started using DT's Phytoplankton. I started using maybe a 2-3 weeks before the feather duster and algae Boom.. I have been using a cap full 3 -4 times a week for the coral and filter feeders. Could this have caused the outbreak of algae too? <not exactly... or rather, the dose you are adding is fine/modest... but perhaps your overall nutrient load is too high in the system> You guys have been there for me before please throw me a bone? <barbeque or plain?> Muy appreciative, Mark <di niente, Antonio> Marina Pokes her Head Out of the Trees - Marine Greenhorn Questions >Hi Bob/Crew, >>Hello, Marina today (amazing!). >Great site, so much forest though can make it a bit hard to find the trees for this newbie, so... my questions: >>Heh, yes. >After a little thinking about it, my wife and I started a 20g just over a month ago. I knew this was small when I began, but space and budget (already blown and continuing to blow) necessitated this. At first we were going to do fresh water, but the lure of s/w was too enticing, even though intimidating. We then thought of doing fish only, but found out about the live sand and rock thing and decided to go that way with 'eventual plans if some success to head to reef'. So now the 20g (nano?) has about 50 pounds of sand (half live) and currently about 20 pounds of live rock. >>My own opinion says that's a little backwards, I'd have put my money entirely into the live rock, gotten "dead" sand, let the rock seed it. 50lbs. of sand has to take up quite a bit of room in a little 20 gallon tank, too. Anyway... >There is one thriving (bubble tip?) anemone who came along on one rock, a very small anemone or soft coral on another, and some possible button polyps (5 or 6) on another, they all seem to be doing ok. >>Tres bon cool! It's always nice to get so many "goodies" on the live rock. >A diatom bloom has come and gone, but there is still a fair bit of recurring green/brown hair algae which a couple of hermits that were add a couple of weeks ago try to gobble up. >>Lots and lots of nutrients probably still floating around in there. You need Julian Sprung's algae book. Mine's still packed away, but it was under $20 from Amazon. Thin, but surprisingly informative on both desirable and nuisance algae. >Also have a hitchhiker crab that I think has to go (I have not researched these guys yet - so I might ask - how do I catch this elusive guy that now appears to be eating things I enjoyed seeing in the tank?). >>Traps. Google that one, lots of inventive ways to get many creatures GONE. >We would like to add 1 or 2 young clowns (false?) >>False what? False clowns? Does their make-up come off? Are they in a bad mood? Sorry, time for that second cup of coffee, isn't it? I'll suggest Amphiprion ocellaris and A. percula (A. ocellaris - sp? - is commonly referred to as the "false percula". What the real difference is, and why A. percula is MORE desirable is beyond my grasp), will likely be most amenable and easiest to work with when stocking. >Then after they settle, perhaps a bicolor blenny. Would this amount/mix/order be ok? >>Sure, but I'm going to push you to look into OTHER fishes, especially the smaller, less aggressive gobies. For instance (those who know me probably know what's coming), neon gobies. Tiny little black and blue or black and yellow jewels, perform cleaner functions, never get bigger than 2", and being slim-bodied add little in terms of bioload - something VERY important when dealing with nano systems. >We were going to get the clowns yesterday but of the several LPS here (Victoria Canada) that were prepared to sell us them one told us to wait longer, that we should make our next step a 'hardy toadstool or mushroom coral'. So (naively?) we got a toadstool. The fellow there told us that when it was all extended and looking good, and we see some coralline algae on glass would be time to consider adding the fish (up to 3 months?). The toadstool was placed in a hole on the top of an upper rock, but it fell off and today my wife put it in a lower cavern where it is currently leaning over and out of and is smooth with no extended tentacles yet (LFS said it could take a week). >>This isn't bad advice, but you've not mentioned lighting or water quality at this point. The leather doesn't need a lot of lighting, but it's got to be the proper type (in terms of wavelengths, etc.). I agree with adding inverts first, but also want to let you know that when planning on adding fish, you really should quarantine for a minimum of 30 days. I personally advocate quarantining ALL specimens going into a tank, but many don't. Get your q/t set up first, then get fishes. Look on cycling fishless to get the q/t up and running fastest. >My wife wants to move it onto sand, but reading here seems to indicate we should just leave it for awhile? >>Yes, they're not found on sandy substrates (at least not by what I've seen). There are many organisms that prefer sand, but not this one. >I would like to try to model this 'nano reef' a bit on S.E. Asia reef (Indonesian/Thai), so my last questions are, how many corals is correct, in addition to the 2 or 3 fish (and eventually some snails (though they all appear to be North American) for this size of tank? >>How many as in numbers? Or how many as in variety of species? If you're shooting for Indonesian, it REALLY depends on where you're talking about. You are also quite limited simply for your space - many corals are going to damage each other, and that lovely toadstool is known for allelopathy - chemical warfare, basically. >In the real ocean there would not be the variety that seems to predominate most of the beautiful reef aquariums I see. >>Again, it REALLY depends on where you're talking about. There are reefs that are truly dominated by a single species, and others where you'll see no hermatypic species at all, and others where the variety and growth are simply astounding. >To sort of replicate a piece of the ocean, should we just stick to a very few corals, of just 2 or 3 types? >>I would, and I would also FIRST invest in some books on these subjects. Eric Borneman, Anthony Calfo, Julian Sprung are all names that come to mind for good information on corals, identification, placement, care, etc. >Also, should we add more (up to another 10 pounds or?) live rock? >>I'd remove some sand and add more good rock, yes. You might also research adding a refugium to help add water volume. It needn't be pretty, just functional. >We have power compact 24" 65 watt blue/65 watt day w/lunar lights (would 3 hours 65w blue, 6 hours blue/day, another 3 hours just 65w blue be good sequence?) >>Night lights aren't necessary. You're shooting for replicating tropical conditions - 12 daylight, 12 night. Building up to full day over one or two hours, then at LEAST 10 hours of day, then taking one or two hours to get back to dark are what I'd recommend. Another crewmember may chime in with better advice. >Aqua C Remora w/Maxi-jet 1200, plus another Maxi-Jet 600 at other end for circulation. >>If the skimmer's pulling out good skimmate, it sounds good. If not, you need to adjust it, or look into the refugium. >Recent water tests prior to Toadstool show Nitrate and Nitrite both 0 and Ammonia very close if not 0. >>If you've got ANY readings of ammonia, then I suggest a water change and possibly adding some Bio-Spira. Your bacterial colonies should be converting ALL ammonia into nitrite. >Heat does appear to be a bit high at just around 80 give or take. >>Well within range, I assure you. Just don't make any big changes. >Thanks for your patience reading this, and (hopefully) answering a few of my too many questions. G & B - Victoria BC Canada >>Books! You'll do yourselves well to begin building a good library. Best of luck and have fun. Marina - Recovering After Tank Crash - To start the tank was a 29 gallon with a 10 gallon refugium sump. I ran a remora skimmer and 2 x 55 watt pc's. What happened while I was gone was the siphon overflow got blocked and the sump ran dry where the heater was. The caretaker while I was gone called me and I had them add saltwater to make up for this. What I didn't know was that the heater burned out so when they added the water it cracked. When I got home to this disaster the tank was at 70 degrees. So I quickly did a 10 gallon water change. Also I took out all dead corals and siphoned out any dead organisms. On vacation by brother in law gave me his old 250 MH with 2 by 36 watt PCs. So I took advantage of this disaster to upgrade the lighting. Also to aid in the removal of dying organisms I took off the remora and am running a EuroReef cs6-1. Also tomorrow I receive my EuroReef es5-2 that will be on this tank now. I have also done another 10 gallon water change. The tank is running at a steady 79 degrees. I tested ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and all tests came up zero. I did a pH test and it tested back at 7.7 ish hard to tell with those tests sometimes. <Is why I use an inexpensive digital pH pen. Shades of purple are hard to discern sometimes.> My question is did the organisms die from electrocution or the freezing water? <Likely both. If one didn't kill them, the other would.> Also a hermit crab survived. Do you think the bacteria on the live rock died? <Hard to say, although your water chemistry would indicate that some form of nitrogen cycle still exists.> What do you recommend I do from this point on? <Well, restock slowly and continue the water tests. Also... put that new heater in a location where it's not going to run dry. Think things will likely be back to normal, if they're not already. Cheers, J -- > Red hair algae problem Good evening crew <Good morning! it is now 3 am - I should be asleep...> I'm having some major problems with this red hair algae on top of my sand My nano 10 gall tank has been running for about 2 months now, And I'm running it with 8 watts per gall (12 HRS a day) ,10 lb of LR, one orange tail damsel and one pumping Xenia! The water is perfect and every thing is looking fine but that algae is driving me bananas. What cause's this to happen? Is there to much Phosphates in the water? Do you think I'm running my lights too long? I'm thinking of trying some PhosBan and putting it inside my Skilter and see if that works. What do you guys think? <If you have excess microalgae growth, then your water isn't perfect. For a very brief rundown, perform water changes more often with water known to be free of nitrates\phosphates, increase the flow, drip Kalk (keep your pH ~8.4), adjust the skimmer to work more efficiently, feed less, and PLEASE refer to our archives. We get dozens of "algae problem" questions every day, and the answers all lie in the archives!> Thanks for your time <NP - M. Maddox> Re: Nano Crash Thank you M.Maddox, I did leave some crucial info about my set-up. I have about 24lbs. of live rock in the tank now. <Perfect> Also, when you say remove bio-media, does that mean bio-Chem Zorb or bio- media or both? <Just the biological mediums, not the chemical ones, you're fine with the Chem Zorb - I always recommend running some sort of absorptive chemical medium> Sorry, hope I am not being too uneducated but I have been following advice from LFS, I will take your advice to heart, I've read through the archives of your site and done a lot of post ( unfortunately ) research. <I learned the hard way at 10 years old that following LFS advice kills your inhabitants, not to worry, we've all been there> I knew about the no fish in a nano from the research on your web/site, I am ordering today, 150/gal. of Instant Ocean and should have it in a few days. <You can have fish in a nano, just not a tang :) Good job on purchasing a high quality salt mix as well, you will see your water problems start to go down the drain with your old saltwater> The baby tang will be missed by both my wife and I, he added a vibrant personality to our tank. <You could try a clownfish or 2, ORA firefish, Dottyback, or something else small and colorful> We are in the stages (already ordered) a hang on refuge ( AquaFuge) to give us a bit more water vol. <Excellent> I am in the stages of setting up an 75 reef and doing much research on it before I actually add water and inverts/live rock. <May I recommend a deep sand bed?> It will have an protein skimmer and a 30/gal. refuge. <Cool> My lights are the biggest confusion ever, I found 4X130 watt pc's (orbit extreme) that I feel will do well with the species I intend to keep. LPS, mushrooms, xenia and other moderate light inverts. What do you think of the lighting system, will it be more than enough or just so so? <Should be good for the list above> M/H's are my other choice 2 150 watt 10k's and dual strip 96 watt actinic pc's, do you think I need them given the inhabitants I mentioned? <Not necessary, but I would go with the halides as you may want them in the future. You might want to bump up to 175's though> Thanks so much for your advice, I love your site and the pro's that go along with it. <Thanks, we try :) Sounds like you're on the right track now with your nano, good luck and have fun with it - I love nanos> Jerry S. <M. Maddox> Calcium too high - 12/13/04 Good morning, <Hey> I'm having a some trouble with my calcium levels in my 10 gall nano tank. I just cant drop it down to 420 ppm. <Where is it at?> I add the maximum recommended dose every day and it still doesn't drop. <Dose of what?> My tank has been running for 1 month and I had it at 420 before but then it went up. What could this be??? <Could be a lot of things. Have you looked through our FAQs on Calcium? See here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Calcium.htm and here is a topic that needs understanding http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm. Do regular water changes with good quality RO water and a quality salt mix. Try a Halimeda algae as well. This tends to use up a lot of calcium in its growth process. ~Paul> Thanks for your time Bandaiding, livestocking a too-small system Hi Wet Web gurus, I want to make my 16 gallon cube tank happy and thriving again, but I'm not sure what I need to do first. I purchased a cycled saltwater set-up with about 15 lbs of live rock and about an inch of live sand at the bottom last Feb. Started added mushrooms and a few other hardy corals, hermits, and a Dottyback. Added an Aqua-C remora skimmer, and my Dottyback got crushed between it and the wall just before the summer. <? Not likely> I was away off and on for most of the summer, and with no fish, neglected the tank somewhat. All of coral survived, but by Sept, I had a very bad outbreak of Aiptasia, which I couldn't seem to get rid of. In frustration, I just pitched almost all of the rock, not really clear about the role of live rock vs. skimmer (plus weekly to biweekly water changes). <All three do different, though complimentary "things"... can be discerned by study, reading on WWM.> A month or so ago, I added a Goby and a cleaner shrimp. The Goby has now disappeared (victim of a hermit crab?). <Maybe... perhaps a "jumping out" incident> The shrimp seems fine--but the Aiptasia is back. My questions .... I want to add two or three small fish. I like the purple firefish, but am worried it will jump into my skimmer or out of the tank. <Me too> I usually keep the top off the tank to give it maximum light. (I have power compact 40 watt, 10000K). Can I add this fish or is it an accident waiting to happen? <Mmm, is there room, interest in having a larger system? The root of much of your difficulties is the small volume of this tank> Do I need to add more rock first? I went to the LFS and was told adding rock would give off ammonia and could harm the shrimp. I probably only have about 3-5 lbs of rock now. Do I need to add more live sand? Every time I change the water, some sand gets sucked up. <You could add more (cured) LR, LS... I'd wait on adding more livestock for a few weeks after this> I'd eventually like to have some pulsing xenia. Is my lighting ok? <For this soft coral group, yes> and if I were to upgrade a bit, what do you suggest? <Ahh, now we're getting to "it"... a bigger tank... your skimmer will accommodate this...> In an ideal world, I'd love to have a little maxima clam in my tank, but I don't want metal halide because of the cost and I think it might heat up my tank too much. Also what about glass top on or off? <Off if possible in terms of escaping livestock, someone to make sure the tank is topped-off> Does it make a difference for the coral? <Yes> Also any tips on the Aiptasia? I'm trying Joe's juice now, but are they a sign of system problems? thank you thank you <Take your time Maura... study the materials archived on www.WetWebMedia.com and our and others BB's for more input... the questions you ask are "open ended", lead me to believe you need to know items that you don't yet know you need to ask re... use the Google search tool on WWM, and/or the Indices to Marine Aquarium articles, FAQs files... and you will save yourself a good deal of time, frustration, livestock losses, as well as doubt and confusion. Bob Fenner> Eclipse tank
maintenance First off, thank you for a wonderful sight. I know we
have avoided some costly, in time, money and lives, mistakes by reading
your site. Although I'm sure we're making others! We have a
fairly new (5 months) 37 gallon Eclipse system. We have about 30 pounds
of live Fiji rock; 40 pounds of live sand; a handful of snails and
hermit crabs; a chocolate chip starfish; two brittle star fish; a coral
banded shrimp; two emerald crabs; two false Percula clowns(2"
each) and a Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel (2.5"). My
questions: Do we need to add anything, besides a heater, to the
self-contained Eclipse system? We've talked about powerheads or a
protein skimmer but don't know if it's necessary with our live
rock/sand/bio-wheel/carbon filter setup. << Not sure on the
heater, wait and see. As for the powerheads and skimmer,
that is always a good idea. >> Second question: I am doing 10
gallon water changes every two weeks and I stir the sand and blow off
the live rocks with a turkey baster once a week. Does this seem
sufficient? << I would not touch the sand. I'd
leave it alone. >> I test our water weekly, our ammonia and
nitrites are at 0; our nitrates run under 20ppm; our specific gravity
is 1.024; our ph is 7.8 (low, I know, what's the best way to raise
it, if necessary? Our LFS recommended leaving it alone since it's
on the low side of acceptable right out of the tap) << Hmm,
I'd consider adding a little bit of a two part
solution. But don't add much. >>; our temp is
steady at 79 degrees.<< Then you certainly don't need a
heater. >> Does this all sound alright? I appreciate your help
with these questions!! << It all sounds great. Good
luck. >> Thanks, Lisa
<< Blundell >> Going from a small tank to a big tank Hi guys, firstly I'd like to comment on what a great resource you are to new hobbyists of which I am one. Please forgive the length of this query but at the moment my ignorance knows no bounds. My first question concerns my pair of ocellaris, purchased two weeks ago, captive bred. My setup is a 26g tank with 14 lbs cured live rock, 3/4" aragonite substrate, AquaClear 200 power filter, two Hagen 301 powerheads and a hang on back heater, not sure of the wattage but seems to work fine. First set up just over three months ago, two blue legged hermits (Teeny, Meeney) and an Astraea snail (Brian) were added after cycling, then I added, at two week intervals, two more Astrea (Boris and Basil) + two more hermits (Miney and Mo) + scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp (Jacques), coral banded cleaner shrimp (Jasper) and two ocellaris clownfish (Laurel and Hardy). Everyone in the tank seems happy and eats well (tropical flake food up to now) there's no obvious aggression from anyone except Jasper who will half heartedly nip at anyone that gets too close to his hiding place, Jacques, Laurel and Hardy are happy to be hand fed and seem extremely friendly. My question is that this morning my wife noticed both clowns lying on the sand bed just outside Jaspers cave and thought that maybe he had ambushed them, however when I returned home from work, they were swimming around as normal and were their usual happy selves when I fed them, I'm assuming that fish do stop swimming and rest somewhere to sleep (as I said my ignorance is vast) but this seemed and odd location, so could this be a problem. << I don't think it is a problem, and I wouldn't worry about it. >> to finish this tank off I am considering adding a royal Gramma or non aggressive Dottyback and a coral (possibly a xenia) as a surrogate for the clowns. << Xenia is a great choice. I don't know about a Gramma and I'd only get a Dottyback if it is tank raised. >> Also since adding the clowns I noticed a dramatic increase in brown algae diatoms, especially at the back of the tank, I'm assuming this is due to the increased bio load from Laurel and Hardy, it was easily cleaned off and I have read much that this is normal in a new tank and should dissipate naturally, but would the addition of a macro algae help limit unwanted micro algae through out competing them? << Absolutely, if you have the lighting for it, and can get it established. >> My second query is more forward looking, my wife in her infinite wisdom has decided to support my new obsession, (due no doubt to the keen interest the kids have for the tank and finding new signs of life) and buy me a 300+g tank for Christmas (Yippee) this will take a good while to set up due to the expense and the fact that I will be building the stand, hood , lighting fixtures etc myself, thus giving me plenty of time to perfect my techniques and increase my learning with the smaller tank (which will ultimately become my quarantine setup). My question regards equipment re filtration etc I will be looking to build a large sump with trickle filter and refugium , do I need more filtration than this? << Lots of sand and live rock. >> I wish to have as natural a setup as possible to minimize the need for adding compounds minerals etc, I know many people swear by protein skimmers but do they not also remove beneficial trace elements? << Yes, but well worth the investment. Beneficial trace elements are more of a myth and marketing ploy than a necessity. >> Finally is there a minimum distance that the light needs to be from the water surface, the setup I am planning will have a good gap between the water and the lights, allowing me room to work in the tank << The smaller the gap the better. >> when necessary without moving the lights at all and having glass or acrylic plates on top of the tank to reduce evaporation and prevent jumpers getting out, this setup also has the benefit of a redundant wood stove chimney that I can use to transfer heat from the lighting assembly away from the tank. << I like a piece of glass below lights, but not across the whole tank. >> I think that's it for now, and I promise never again to write such a lengthy query but any info you can help me with will be very much appreciated. << Having a cover over the water really heats the water up. I think I would stay away from that. Good Luck! >> Ian Burcher << Blundell >> Nano reef tank Good morning, <Good morrow to you> I have been running my nano tank for about 2 weeks with LR. And I've notice that my rock has gotten green, what could this be? I'm running it with 8 watts per gallon. Thanks <Mmm, a matter of succession mainly... green algae et al. rapidly arising as dominant species... Will sort itself out on its own in time... however, the situation is likely being over-driven by too much light intensity. If it is easy to do, I would cut back the lighting to 2, 4 or so watts per gallon for a couple of months... to allow other life groups to "have their turns" in the processes of your system "aging". Bob Fenner> Nano marine tank pH Dear Mr. Fenner, <Mr. Allison> I manage a pet store that deals with marine fish and corals. I have an employee who has set-up a nano reef in a JBJ nano-cube. All corals are doing great. The pH however has dropped to 7.4. <Quite low...> The nitrates are about 30 ppm. <Too high...> The Alkalinity is 2.5 (I believe I know it was in great range) and the calcium is at about 300. <These are low...> She has been doing regular water changes (10% once a week), and the ph will come up but then go right back down. The tank has an aragonite substrate. When buffer is added the pH goes up then back down. <Add more to the change water> I have never experienced a pH drop without alkalinity being low or nitrates being high. I am hoping you can help me with this problem. She is also adding trace elements and marine snow. <Drop the Snow... of dubious worth. Add more alkaline reserve, calcium to the change water... like B-ionic/ESV. Bob Fenner> Thanks for your help, Ron Allison Nano Reef Dear Bob, <Hi Jerry, MacL here with you this fine and lovely day.> Your site is a God send, I've been keeping f/w aquariums for about 35 years. I have a 210 gal Malawi tank and 5 months ago set up a 18 gal. reef tank (wish it was much bigger) that I love. <Great!!! There is joy to be found in both kinds.> I have dual 40 watt 10ks and dual actinic lights, an aqua clear 250 filled with bio/max and a Fluval 204 with bio/max and bio/chem Zorb (I know I need a protein skimmer). <Probably> I had problems with protein on the top so I incorporated a Fluval top skimmer, it took care of the surface film. Now comes the part that you may go geezy weezy, I have 2 fish, Sailfin tang and a 6 lined wrasse, 20 pd.s. of live rock, blood shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, emerald crab, sally light foot, 2 hermits and 3 turbo snails. Also housed in the same nano cube are bubble coral, Xenia, leather coral, gold polyps, fl. Xenia, 3 feather dusters, hairy mushrooms, mushrooms, star polyps and polyps that are green and orange. Please be gentle, <HA HA HA you get me instead of Bob and Anthony and I'm very Gentle!!!> I do 2 gal water changes every week, my ph is a constant 8.3, specific gravity is 1.023, cal. around 400, iodine 6, total Alk. 6, mg is 900 (a little low I know). Am I heading for disaster with this setup? <You just want to tell me what you already know. You have a small tank with a very heavy load that could be a potential disaster but on the bright side if you watch it closely and take very good care of it, all might be fine.> Everything in the tank looks great right now, my calcareous algae is abundant. I am meticulous when it comes to feeding and maintenance, my fish get a variety of foods (not too much) they are always hungry, but I'm careful not to over do it. Should I do a larger percentage of water weekly? One day I'll have a bigger tank but for now I'm learning. <I understand and I'm glad you are so concerned for your tank Jerry. You'll just have to watch your tank very closely and be prepared to address anything that should happen.> Thank you for your site and the wealth of info that goes along with it. <You are very kind> Jerry Sollenberger. New nano tank - 11/18/04 Hi! I am writing from Germany so I apologize already for the use of European units. I received a very small salt water aquarium as a present 2 months ago, and I am trying to keep alive and improve it if possible. <Cool. I will do my best to help, Ana> It has 24 liters in volume <6 or so gallons> (dimensions are 40cmx25cmx25cm). It contains 1,5 kilo live rock (actually only one 800gr rock seem to be living, the other piece is only growing some colorful algae) plus 2 small volcanic rocks, <hmmmm> 2 hermit crabs (one with white stripped blue legs and the other one with hairy pink legs), one snail (I think it is a turbo), some Caulerpa and a handful of other lively things that came together with the live rock (some corals, sponges and worms). <Cool. Is this a gift that you wanted?> It is covered with an acrylic pane to avoid evaporation and it has a Osram Dulux s lamp for lighting. The water is filtered with an external filter containing activated coal and a sponge. The amount of nitrate has been close to 0 for the last two weeks. <Great!> I feed the crabs with frozen krill once or twice a week. They are doing fine and already changed their shell twice. <Sounds great, Ana> I have two main questions: 1- Is it advice able to clean the external filter in such a small tank? <I think so. I would replace the carbon (coal) every month or so with the current bioload on the tank. If you add fish then it might need to be changed more frequently. Very small fish (small gobies) would be ideal for this size aquarium if you even want fish. Definitely rinse the sponge with either fresh or clean saltwater. May need to be replaced occasionally.> if yes, how often? <Oh, see above comments. I still stand by my rinse the sponge every few weeks and replace every six months if needed. Again, this all changes when adding more animals to the tank.> 2- on top of he live rock there are two Protopalyathoas (at least that is my conclusion after searching a bit) and they are not doing very well. One of them has been closed for the last two weeks and the other one has lost some color and its "tentacles" are hanging instead of being turgid. I am wondering if that could be a lack of light or whether I am missing on any other important nutrition factor for them. <Well, light is one nutritional aspect not to be overlooked. Also, feed them some small chopped or shredded krill pieces once or twice a week. Keep water chemistry high. Change the water with quality pre mixed and warmed saltwater. Be sure the mix is at the same specific gravity and PH as your current tank water chemistry. I would change about half a gallon or so every week to every other week. You could try updating the light to a 32 watt power compact if you have the money and can get them where you are. I am sure Berlin has some high quality lighting available.> The live rock they are staying on is sitting about 10-15 cm from the water surface. <I would maybe hold off on the lighting and see if they are just adjusting to the new tank conditions. Give them some time. I am to assume this a new setup correct? Never been setup before? There is some run through time involved as water parameters, die-off, algal issues due to water chemistry, that must settle before the tank becomes stable. Give it time, be patient and continue to ask questions. Us the internet as a tool, form your opinions, join a reef club and enjoy yourself. Thanks for participating here at WetWebMedia.>I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you very much in advance! Ana Water changing for nano tank Good morning crew, <Good
Afternoon> I just started a 10 gal. nano reef
tank!!!<Awesome!!!> And I've been reading about doing daily
water changes. Is that the way it should be done??? <It depends.>
I wanted to do a gallon a week is that ok??? <Also, it depends.>
If not I can do every 2 days water changes as long as my reef is
healthy and in good shape. Thank you. <I need a little
bit more information before I can answer. What kind of
filter is going to be on the tank and what are the inhabitants going to
be?? I would test the water every other day to follow the
quality (create a log book) and then change the water
accordingly. Frequency of water changing depends on the
amount of livestock in the tank coupled with the
filtration. Good Luck!! MikeB> Additives for a 16 gal hello, I have just finished cycling my new 16 gallon cube reef tank. I am planning on having about 15-20 pounds of live rock in the tank along with a couple of softies, mushrooms and maybe an LPS. << The tank won't finish cycling until well after the live rock is added. >> I am just a little confused about which additives to use. I currently do a 2 gallon (12%) water change every week of filtered seawater I get from my LFS. I also have CaribSea sugar sized aragonite which I hear helps keep the calcium levels and ph levels up as well. I would like the corals to stay healthy as well as having nice coralline growth but I don't want to add something I am already getting from the water changes. any help would be appreciated. << Easy, don't add anything. Seriously you won't need it. >> << Blundell >>
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