Help with 1 week old 10g nano

[Nixon]

Hey guys, I'm really new to this hobby so I was wondering if i could get any help with signs of an unhealthy tank as well as common pests or things I should look out for. Here are somet things that concerned me but I'm not even sure if I should be worried. If you guys could ID these things and let me know if they're good/bad/ok and if they're bad, what I could get to help it.

I'm currently running a 10g with a rio nano skimmer, maxijet900 powerhead, 50W heater, about 15-20 lbs of live rock, 2 hitch hiker snails (no idea what kind), 2 small starfish (also hitchikers off the LR) and a mystery hermit crab. I also have these little shrimp looking things (very small maybe 2-3mm in lengh some red some clear) that I couldn't get pics of but here are some pics of the others.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00105.jpg
Crabby
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00101.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00108.jpg
Starfish
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00110.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00125.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00123.jpg
Wierd clump of sand or something with sand stuck on it...
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00122.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u90/nanotank/DSC00121.jpg
What are those yellow tubes with the 2 "anntenas"?

I really appreciate the help guys and gals!

---
Nixon

[Der_Iron_Chef]

The hermit crabs should be fine. The organisms in the last few pictures look like some sort of worm (like a Spionid worm) and are reef-safe. The "shrimp looking things" sound like amphipods and/or copepods, though hard to say without a photo. They are also reef-safe.

Hitchhiker starfish can be bothersome, but I'm no expert on starfish, so I'll leave that to someone else who actually knows something :wink:

[X-Treme]

Try these two websites for hitch-hiker info...


http://www.xtalworld.com/Aquarium/hitchfaq.htm

http://melevsreef.com/id/

[andresont]

I can not see the pic (at work server would not allow me) but sounds like this could be a misyd sfrimp, It is reef safe however if you planning to have a mandarin your concern is that mysid shrimp will eat copipods.

[Nixon]

wow thanks x-treme. I was able to identify most of the things in my tank off that site. glad that everything i see in my tank has a little green thumbs up next to it on the site. such a relief haha. Also does anybody know where i can get a cheap ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph testers from? I'm in calgary. Thanks so much for your input guys!

---
Nixon

[Nixon]

I can not see the pic (at work server would not allow me) but sounds like this could be a misyd sfrimp, It is reef safe however if you planning to have a mandarin your concern is that mysid shrimp will eat copipods.

from the sites that xtreme sent me, i've ided them to be misyd shrimp. i'm only planning to have soft corals, 2 clowns and a shrimp in there. are they going to be a problem? and if they do become one, what eats them?

[DocReefer]

Go to Golds and talk to Albert or Dennis, they will hook u up. Look at the Vendors section of Canreef.

[andresont]

from the sites that xtreme sent me, i've ided them to be misyd shrimp. i'm only planning to have soft corals, 2 clowns and a shrimp in there. are they going to be a problem? and if they do become one, what eats them?
Fish and shrimp will eat them very quickly. Mysids are only threat to smaller pods.They are very cool to watch!

[bubblepuffer]

Anyone see that, the 4th picture from the top.. the one with title Starfish.. is that Aiptasia in the middle of the Rock there.. kind of transparent...

[Matt]

Anyone see that, the 4th picture from the top.. the one with title Starfish.. is that Aiptasia in the middle of the Rock there.. kind of transparent...Uh-huh, that's an aiptasia.

[Nixon]

i hear pepperment shrimp is the best way to get rid of aptisia? am i correct?

[andsoitgoes]

i hear pepperment shrimp is the best way to get rid of aptisia? am i correct?

One way, sometimes. Maybe.

Not the best, there's no "best" way, I've found. Joe's Juice works wonders for me, and does squat for the next person.

My pep's, although I never saw it, rid my tank of everything that the Joe's couldn't reach, and now they're just wicked cool.

[bubblepuffer]

It's depend on how big is your rock.. I am always having fun with killing those thing.. I let the stupid Aiptisia pop out from the hole and quickly remove the rock from the water so that stupid thing won't retreat back to the hole. Then I use super hot distilled water with vinegar and microwave it for 1 min.. distilled water will be mostly far above boiling point I inject the thing with it and it melt and bubbling =) ..then use old tooth brush to brush it off from the rock and rinse it couple of time with old tank water .. I usually wait until when I do water change or cleaning the tank then will hunting down those nasty animal:twised:

[Nixon]

sounds like a lot of work. i rather get some cool lookin' pep shrimp and watch them roam haha. my tank is sitll cycling so i'm waiting for another week or two before i get anything. my light hasn't arrived yet either.

It's depend on how big is your rock.. I am always having fun with killing those thing.. I let the stupid Aiptisia pop out from the hole and quickly remove the rock from the water so that stupid thing won't retreat back to the hole. Then I use super hot distilled water with vinegar and microwave it for 1 min.. distilled water will be mostly far above boiling point I inject the thing with it and it melt and bubbling =) ..then use old tooth brush to brush it off from the rock and rinse it couple of time with old tank water .. I usually wait until when I do water change or cleaning the tank then will hunting down those nasty animal:twised:

[Nixon]

uh oh, i've just discovered i have some Digitate hydroids in my liverock. are these going to be a problem. i read up a bit on them, and some sites said that they sting anything they can touch. i'm going to be placing coral in here in a few weeks time. will these harm my coral and if they will, how should i go about getting rid of them? thanks guys. yo'uve been a huge help and i really appricate it! great support on this site. i love it!

[andsoitgoes]

uh oh, i've just discovered i have some Digitate hydroids in my liverock. are these going to be a problem. i read up a bit on them, and some sites said that they sting anything they can touch. i'm going to be placing coral in here in a few weeks time. will these harm my coral and if they will, how should i go about getting rid of them? thanks guys. yo'uve been a huge help and i really appricate it! great support on this site. i love it!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=836138&referrerid=112003

How much of your rock is covered with them?

If a lot, you may want to try waiting it out, but again - the reef business is full of mixed results, honestly. Either way, good luck :)

[Nixon]

i can only spot 2 on the same rock. and i've been reading a lot of mixed comments about them. some people are saying they die off after awhile. others say they sting everything even you and leave rashes/swelling. some others say they have them and they don't bother anything in their tank...maybe i'll get a buddy to touch it and see what happens haha. i dont know what i want to do with it yet. thanks for that link though. some good reading. any other suggestions guys?

[Nixon]

i'm not sure if this is normal, but i just got my light today and when i have it on, i can see a bunch of little particles floating around in the water. is this normal? it makes my water look constantly dirty almost. i have it as an "open top" tank. is that what could be contributing to this? if anybody has any ideas, please let me know :) thanks!

i'm running:
- about 15-20lbs of live rock that was in an established tank before i got it.

- rio nano skimmer
- maxijet 400 powerhead
- current USA 80W 50/50 power compact.

p.s.
tank is now about 2 1/2 weeks old.

[Midknight]

Copied post over to this and found most of my Q's ansered.
What salt did you use and what are your mesurments at?
It the water out of the older tank or is it new water?
How much skimmate are you getting?

[Nixon]

salinity's about 1.024, ph was 8.1 last time i measured it (few days ago), the water i'm using is out of my friend's tank (changed on monday). i do water changes (about 50%) weekly. i rarely have to empty the skimmate from my skimmer but that's only beacuse the catch bottle is massive. i get about 50-100ml in a week? give or take some.

[Midknight]

I would stop doing water changes for a week or so and see if it clears up.
Also start using fresh water that you make.
If you are pulling water from your friends tank for your changes you are just swapping you dirty water for his.

[Nixon]

does the fact that i have an open top play a part in this? almost seems like there's "dust" on the surface of the water

[andsoitgoes]

Nope. Shouldn't. If you want, get a hagen surface skimmer or find an attachment for the Rio that will skim the surface. I got a bit of the gunk buildup on the surface when I took mine away, now that it's back, it's fabu, and scum free.

You have to realize that all that gunk is what SHOULD be going into the skimmer, but since (for some reason) these skimmers are designed to suck water like a standard HOB, they miss all that stuff. I'm pretty positive adding one of those on will change things quite a bit. It's 15 bucks well spent.

[Nixon]

Nope. Shouldn't. If you want, get a hagen surface skimmer or find an attachment for the Rio that will skim the surface. I got a bit of the gunk buildup on the surface when I took mine away, now that it's back, it's fabu, and scum free.

You have to realize that all that gunk is what SHOULD be going into the skimmer, but since (for some reason) these skimmers are designed to suck water like a standard HOB, they miss all that stuff. I'm pretty positive adding one of those on will change things quite a bit. It's 15 bucks well spent.

where'd you get a hold of either one of those that you mentioned? either the hagen or something that can add on to my rio. i checked a few online shops with no prevail :(

[andsoitgoes]

Check out any of the local pet stores, they're all over! Call whoever is local and ask if they have it, otherwise get 'em to order it in :)

If all else fails:

http://mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/cgi-bin/smpagegen.exe?U+scstore+yqfx7805ff723b72+-c+scstore.cfg+-p+PATO-1138

:)

[Nixon]

Check out any of the local pet stores, they're all over! Call whoever is local and ask if they have it, otherwise get 'em to order it in :)

If all else fails:

http://mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/cgi-bin/smpagegen.exe?U+scstore+yqfx7805ff723b72+-c+scstore.cfg+-p+PATO-1138

:)

no luck with local shops :( i guess i might just have to live with it. i tried to rig up my own but the way the rio's designed, i can't get a pcv pipe around the intake pipe :( out of luck

[nano-sean]

Nixon,

Looking through your pictures, the timeline and the messages, I get the sense that you acquired a bunch of live rock about 3 weeks ago and dumped it into a new tank without inspecting and cleaning off the rock.

Has your tank even finished cycling yet? It seems like you're having a lot of issues early in the game.

I know when I first got sucked into this hobby I didn't follow any of the recommendations about cleaning the LR because the thought of having an empty tank with no cool critters seemed anti-climactic after the initial expense. Between dealing with Algae, Aptasia, etc problems I learned my lesson.

Reef keeping can be very rewarding, but it can also be devistating if you're not patient. You should always be very cautious adding stuff to your tank. With a 10Gal, there's really no margin for error.

I hope this didn't come out sounding like a lecture! :) Good luck to you.

[kwirky]

I know when I first got sucked into this hobby I didn't follow any of the recommendations about cleaning the LR because the thought of having an empty tank with no cool critters seemed anti-climactic after the initial expense. Between dealing with Algae, Aptasia, etc problems I learned my lesson.

I just follow the mantra of innocent until proven guilty. Or aiptasia... or very big...

"Cleaning" new rock requires experience anyways. Don't worry too much over what's good and bad right now. You'll learn as you go, and the next batch of rock you get, you'll personally have a better feel for what to remove and what to leave alone.

I remember when I first got live rock, I watched it for hours wanting to identify everything in there. Especially when I had my nano because there's less rock to look over, so you notice everything.

Just make sure you leave your lights off for a long while. So many people made that mistake for their first tank (myself included), and it causes headaches for MONTHS afterwards. Took about 4 months for my tank to settle out and start behaving. Give your tank a month before turning on all your lights.

[Nixon]

thanks for the advise guys. and yes, i didn't clean off the LR when i got it. I thought that the established rock would aid in the tank's cycle. i just got my light a few days ago so it hasn't been on. the only thing i have is the 2 led moon lights on (should i shut those off too?). i'm very slowly adding a clean up crew to get the tank undercontrol before adding fish. once again, thanks for the feedback guys :)

[Phanman]

Im new to this "expensive" hobby to Nixon. I just got my 10gallon nano up and running 2 days ago. I did the same thing, got LR from a friend as well as the water. Now im a newb too and trying to absorb all the info i can, but since your using established water/LR from a friend why would you need to cycle anything? Should it not be "ready to go"? I plan on just doing a 10%water change once a month as I also have a Rio Nano Skimmer (works beautiful already). Which was the heated debate Skimmer vs. Water changes... which is better??? I dont know, lol.

I was also impatient and got 2 clown fish and a few zoo's and everything is going good, and the water looks crystal clear :)

[Nixon]

my sand bed was new and i just wanted to make sure that if it did go through a mini cycle, i wouldn't have any fish or anything in there to stress out. i recently added a peppermint shrimp and he pretty much ate 80% of my aiptasia already. i was quite surprised. i also have the rio and i'm doing almost 40% water changes weekly. the water still has some particals floating around but it's much better since i got that little surface skimmer attatchment (which kindda gets annoying to be honest. it's very finiky with the skimmer. slight water level changes like evaporation will offset the skimmer. still working on perfecting it). i think the little particles come from the filter inside the rio skimmer but i've yet to find any place in calgary that sells replacements :( i tried golds and oceans. no luck.

[Phanman]

what kind of surface skimmer did you go for? and where did u get it? I've been looking around in calgary for an attachment to the Rio Nano Skimmer.

Also whats the price tag on it? :biggrin:

I'll post some pics of my 10 gallon tomorrow for you to see mine :)

[Nixon]

Pieces has this generic one that plugs into the rio (aquaclear i believe). I just can't figure out how to get it to float and adapt as the water level changes due to evaporation. it was something like $17.99. Pretty cheap but I guess you get what you pay for. Let me know if you end up getting the same one and if you get it working properly. I have an elastic holding the top piece down and just setting it to 100% surface skim instead of 50/50 surface/underwater.

[Phanman]

will do, ill keep you posted as to what i do, going to get something tonight