Have you started to see the brown bloom yet? Add some crab and/or snails see how they do

It's basically a hair shy of 1.026. I am planning to add a tiny bit of salt but I wanted to see if more leeched out of the LR I bought from Pieces. I might leave it be too because I am planning a partial w.c. this weekend.

Well I'll see how the zoas do before I go too crazy. Might also get a couple blue chromis or possibly damsels to see if I can get a little ammonia. Just want to make sure the tank cycle is established before I invest too much in coral.

if you want a free tester zoa frag to try out pm me and if you want to swing by this weekend you can come grab one to try out im in the se near 17th:)

In Calgary the crabs or snails can be just as expensive as fish :( Even the tiny blue legged crabs are going for around $7 ea. I haven't had any algae blooming. The coraline seems like it is growing though

Same, I'm in the SE near you. I'd love a free frag to try if you're willing to donate one to the cause :)

sure i think i can spare one to the cause:P im free most of the weekend if you want to swing by just pm me and we can arrange something:)

Well I would throw some fish in there then like chromis I would hate to see a coral thrown in there and die as coral is already expletive enough not sure how much chromis cost in cowtown here they cost me 4 bucks a piece for 4 chromis

The price for chromis and damsels here are probably just shy of $20, maybe as low as $15ish. So adding fish etc. isn't more economic than adding zoa frags :(

Wow that is expensive I get virtually all my livestock from J&L aquatics even with the cost of shipping its still cheaper than buying local maybe you should tr them?

Oh I will be :)

or come to concept where we either match or beat j and l on livestock:P

if j and l doesnt have it then we match live aquaria

this obviously is not a guarantee as its region specific for fish but 9 out of ten times we can:)

You guys are just off 32nd in the NE aren't you? Got any chromis or damsels in stock? How about zoas?

were actually opening a new store 4 times as large as our old one was , so we are currently closed and we dont open untill sept1 and livestock will be in the weeks to follow:)

check out our build thread here on canreef

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=100048

Added two emerald crabs and five peppermint shrimp. Pretty pricey at big Al's but I was there for buffer and calcium anyway. Peppermint shrimp took care of my first aptasia that came on a zoa colony from golds. Two emerald crabs to eat the algae that's starting to form here and there.

I actually saw one peppermint shrimp get into a tug of war with my torch coral over a pellet. Was pretty funny. The emerald crabs parted ways as soon as they were put in and are going to town on algae. Going to have to do a custodian package order from J&L.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k...h320/photo.jpg

One green torch coral. I can't believe this coral has survived my ham-fisted handling and general stupidity. Polyps are extending very nicely, almost back to the length they were in the LFS. No stingers drifting out yet, but I've made eating pretty easy for it. Hand fed a few brine shrimp and it seemed to like them.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...h320/photo.jpg

Five dollar chromis playing a game of irritate the zoas. Very pretty and curious fish, best $15 I've spent in weeks!

Aaaaand five turbo snails, 10 margarita snails, 10 nassarius snails and forty blue legged hermit crabs in tonight. They are cleaning up the uglies quite nicely. Raised pH and it is holding nicely at 8.2.

Man those turbo snails clean fast!

Does anyone know about bristle worms? I found one on the same coral frag that had the aptasia yesterday. I've read they will only eat the dead zoas and crud that falls on the coral. Can someone confirm this? I may have to toss this frag if I continue to have problems.

Vast majority of bristle worms are harmless to the system and are effective CuC and generally nothing to worry about unless you inadvertently grab or brush one.

My tank is loaded with them I am not a fan of them just because I find them ugly repulsive creatures.

If they are greyish and flat looking or grey with a red tip they are harmless to your system

It is this. Thanks for the piece of mind. If I do get tired of them there is a wrasse that eats them isn't there?

Most wrasses will munch on them but only a few actively seek them out as a food source

Arrow crabs will eat them as a primary food source but most likely will attack and eat critters and feather dusters that you want to keep too once the worm population is decimated

Coral banded shrimp will eat bristle worms too but not always and may attack and eat other smaller critters in your tank as well

Missing a chromis this morning... He didn't come out for food and he wasn't around the normal hiding spots. I sure hope I don't have a predator in the tank.

Is it possible an emerald crab got him?

Maybe, but probably doubtful.

In my experience Chromis don't die, or if they do they rarely leave remains, just the mystery of their disappearance. Still though, I hope he shows his face later and was maybe just late getting out of bed.

I've had chromis that looked healthy and part of the community just disappear I have ever only found the remains of one fish the others who knows where they go.

On the other hand it could be hiding if you haven't seen it after 3 days most likely it has been consigned to the fish graveyard

Best case scenario is that the missing Chromis is a male and is guarding eggs. But I'm not incredibly hopeful of that, from what I understand their breeding in aquariums is relatively rare.

As soon as Golds gets their order in I will likely go pick up a few more anyway. They are so small and I like the way they school. Plus the "green" ones I bought are very blue.

Did a parameters check last night and the results look almost perfect. Do you ever have the feeling that things are going too well?

Ammonia: Undetectable
Nitrate: Undetectable
Nitrite: Undetectable
Phosphate: Undetectable
Calcium: 420
Alk: 8.3
pH: 8.18
Salinity: 52mS
Temperature: 81 degrees

Cleaning crew has almost all of the brown algae cleaned off the rocks; they are showing purple, white, and grey now for the most part. No algae blooms on my glass or equipment but I do get a little green growth here and there, which is handled by the cleaning crew almost as soon as I see them. No diatom blooms on my sand and the blue hermits are keeping it as tidy as an operating room. Coraline seems to be growing slowly but at a steady pace, and the feather dusters, corals etc. that hitch-hiked on my live rock seem to be thriving. Last night I had a turbo snail releasing his love juice into the water flow, little sucker was going at it for at least 20 minutes... The free with purchase rock crab I got is keeping my sump very tidy although I don't know how much he loves living in there. (No rock, algae, etc. for him to monkey with)

Doing a 20% water change this weekend, really just to replace trace minerals and bump my salinity slightly. I’ve been dosing with a coraline booster and adding calcium and alk using Seachem’s reef builder/buffer. I've validated all my test kits using their reference samples so I'm pretty sure my numbers are spot on.

worse thing about chromis is they almost always kill of the weaker of the bunch , schooling doesnt last long as pecking order is established:)

usually as they get larger:)

Plus one, I even had 3 established chromis from my buddies tank that was up for 2 years, it was a 90g. When I moved them into the 75 with less room there is only 1 left. Never had success keeping a bunch, but maybe in a bigger tank with more room they could be friends?

I had 4 blue green chromis in my 33 gallon for a year plus 5 more fish they all got along fabulously never no aggression issues but I also think its the way you introduce them to the tank as well everything was introduced at once cept the clowns. Same thing with my big tank I introduced all the fish from my small tank to the big tank at the same time as the fish I got from J&L and so far everyone gets along no aggression issues as of yet

theres always exceptions to the rules , its not a guarantee but what happens more times then not.

its not usually an issue with new fish but as they establish their territory and pecking order the weaker of the bunch will be knocked off, if they are all of even strength then it will take time for some to outgrow the others , if they pair off its even worse.

its not a guarantee but a general guideline with chromis:)

its possible , but more than likely survival of the fittest , however if a tank is large enough that one can hide and not be found then less chance of being killed.

Still have two chromis as of this morning so that's better news!

Put in the freebie frag you gave me last night reefwars. Thanks again for that. They are open and thriving today. May have damaged my large zoa colony though. When I tried to use putty to glue it to my live rock I think I squished a few polyps. The shrimp went insane when I put it back in the tank and there was white stuff coming out.

Went to golds and picked up one of these. I forget what he called it but said it was an anemone. Can some one ID this so I don't have to embarrass myself by calling back?

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/01/6avyhytu.jpg

Attachment 11795

Slightly better picture.

Magic Kiwi's Tank Journal Thread
 

Also I found another free crab. Was doing mortal combat with a skunk shrimp. Would live it if someone could ID it too?

Attachment 11796
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/01/4uty6e6a.jpg

Hard to tell with the anemone but its looks like a rock flower as to the crab can't help you:sad:

Yeah rock flower looks right. Didn't want to miss special care instructions by forgetting the name. The crab went into my sump with the other fella I found n


Shawn

20% water change tonight while watching a Kung-Fu movie. Slight bump to salinity to put it in the 53.5mS. This salt is very hard to gauge correctly. I've rolled the bucket, used the formula right on the bucket, and the water winds up more saline than I can account for. And I always lowball the math when starting water. Can't figure it out.

Also a picture of my green and white Torch Coral. Six heads and getting bigger.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--...3-IMG_1079.jpg

Added a bunch of livestock last night:

* Sand sifting starfish
* Spider Conch
* 2x Ocellaris Clownfish
* Blue Tang
* Bubble Tip Anemone

Many thanks to Kien for the BTA, my hope is that it will host the two clowns. The clowns are captive bred and from what I understand they normally ignore anemones. The anemone decided to hoof it to an excellent spot for viewing, water flow, and light; but it also happens to be directly under my largest zoa colony :( The zoas were all closed this morning so I think the anemone may have laid the smack down on it. I'm planning on moving it later today if the nem is still in this spot. The nem is in its glory right now, wide open and red and bubbly.

So far the tang has been a ghost in the tank. He likely found some tiny crevice to sit and wait out the ugly giant that was so mean to him. The clowns are out doing their thing and aren't even slightly intimidated by me. My chromis are doing the same thing as the tang, which is strange because they never actually hide from me for long. So far the conch has moved a whooping six inches and didn't move overnight at all. The starfish has made a small tour but isn't moving at warp speed either.

Protein skimmer is still a microbubble factory but it is pulling black, thick and nasty juice from the aquarium so I can't fault it for that. Going to do the vinegar wash that others have recommended for it this weekend. Hopefully that settles it down and the bubbles go away. I've been searching for another HOB skimmer and I'm tossing two different models around in my head. The Deltec MCE600 is the front runner but that price is ouch! The other skimmer I'm considering is the Tunze 9011DOC. Both have excellent reviews on the net and I like the Tunze brand but the deltec has tons of features that the Tunze doesn't.

Just got caught up on your build. Looking great!

The 'nem sounds happy! It's a double edged sword with 'nems. They are gorgeous and vicious, both at the same time.