Dreamer/Nightmare 135 gal. Tank Diary(3.12.07 update)

[DreamerTheresa]

Alrighty.

I put him on the rock again, and he started coming out of his shell. Within two minutes, he was tumbling down to the sand again. So I moved him so he's still on the bottom, but right up near the rock so he can reach it and climb it if he wants.

 

[roka64]

What are your water parameters?

 

[Nightmare]

pH is 8.2, it's a bit lower than I like to see it, but not that bad.

Ammonia is 0

Nitrites and Nitrates are trace.

The water is fine.

This one snail is easily twice the size of his tankmates. Could it simply be that he's ancient?

 

[roka64]

The nitrItes could be causing him problems.

 

[Nightmare]

The nitrItes could be causing him problems.

I guess I wasn't clear. I can't even get a reading on them (nitrites or nitrates) they are so low.

The water is ok.

 

[roka64]

Oh, ok, just wanted to make sure!

 

[DreamerTheresa]

We did a 15 gallon water swap last night. Everything's lookin' good. We think we'll go with weekly 10-15 gallon changes.


It was remarkably painless. I seem to recall doing water changes being a HUGE pain in the arse when my dad and I had a freshwater tank some 14 years ago. This was a breeze.


We use Instant Ocean salt mix. We've not had a problem with it so far, but I'm curious if there's a better salt mix, or a list of pros/cons with salt mixes.



Tomorrow, we're going to go get another round of critters. Some more snails (hopefully some nassarius and/or cerith snails this time- last time around, the guy at the LFS said that our tank probably wasn't mature enough for sand-burrowing snails yet. Any comments on that?), a firefish (which I'm reconsidering, as it's listed as 'use caution' for damsels, dwarf angels, and basslets - three kinds of fish we either have, or are planning to have), a flame angel, and maybe a pair of ocellaris clowns.

 

[roka64]

My 1st PWC was a train wreck! I think I got more on the floor/me and everywhere else than in the tank! LOL!

the guy at the LFS said that our tank probably wasn't mature enough for sand-burrowing snails yet.

This says something for that guy. He is not just trying to make money off of you. You could probably get maybe 10-20 snails, to start off, they will also eat just about whatever hits the bottom.
I think the firefish would quickly get bullied by damsels, my royal gramma didn't make it through the night.
I don't know if I would add that many fish to the tank at the same time. I would say a safe bet would be 2 maybe 3. Remember, your tank even though it is large, will still need to adjust to the new life. With that, you could probably go with the colwns and maybe rethink the firefish.
As for the salt mix, there is some debate on which is better, what causes what and other issues. I used to use IO, I have algae and cyano pop up all the time, so I decided to switch Reef Crystals. I have only done 1 PWC in my 55G, so I don't have much to report at this time. I say, if it is working for you, keep with it.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

We'll forego the firefish, then.


We have chromis (which are a type of damsel, right?), but they leave the royal gramma alone. In fact, it's the gramma who will chase a chromis away if they get too close to his cave.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Yesterday's booty:

1 flame angel
1 feather duster
1 sand-sifting starfish
about a dozen nassarius snails.

We're working on this whole take-pictures-against-glass-without-flash thing. We'll see if we can dig up a tripod.



I think we'll wait for a while to add more fish and stuff. We want to upgrade our lighting, which is going to be about a $500 purchase. Then we can add an anemone for the clownfish we want to get, and start getting some coral.


We also want to add some more base rock soon. We want to build an arch connecting both sides of the rock formations in the tank.

 

[noteworthy]

Clownfish do not need an anemone. I've had a maroon and two perculas with no problem. They will find something else to host if they really want to host something.


General rule of thumb is about a year to wait for an anemone.

Tank looks nice.

When I started I had LR with coraline all over them from the LFS. You should have your coraline take off soon with decent calcium levels. I've heard oceanic maintains the calcium well but other levels might be off... Perhaps someone else can shed some light.

I look forward to new pictures.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Is the same general rule in place with waiting a year before adding coral?

 

[Tomd]

Who told you to wait a year before you get coral, that is crazy. IMO as soon as a cycle is complete and proper lighting is in place you can go ahead and begein adding hardy corals such as softys/zoos followed by LPS if you want.

As far as anenomes go a general rule is six months because they fair much better in an established tank. What kind of anenome has alot to do with things as well due to the fact that some are much easier to care for than others.

Dont need to wait a years but as stated clowns can be fine without one. Certain specie clowns are also more likely to host in different species of anenomes. Often people say their is no promise anyway, however getting clowns that will more naturally host in a certain species of anenome will help. Hope that helps.

Now with salt, they are all decent, however some do have higher levels of elements and factors such as what you desire to keep, and how often you will conduct PWC's hold the answer to whetherit is cost effective.

Some mix IO with Oceanic 50/50 while some add certain amounts of calcium and magnesium which IO is known to be low with. I use Tropic Marin. If you will not be keeping stoney corals I do not think it matters. Some of the most succesful hobyists use IO. I have also used Reef Crystals with succes, however prefer Tropic Marin at the stage of the game I am at with my SPS tank.

Good Luck


Aqua-cultured fish are almost always younger than wild caught and farther away from the age which they really seek a nesting area. Almost all of them will come around eventually.

The easiest, most available host anemone is a Bubble Tip Anemone. The false perc's or Ocellaris Clown's natural host is the Heteractis Magnifica or "Ritteri" anemone which is VERY difficult to keep but will also host in, Entamacea Quadricolor, or Bubble Tip anemone

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree, no you don't need to wait a year for coral. An anemone however, I'd give a good 6 months to a year for your tank to mature and age a little before attempting an anemone.

Love the set up so far, can't wait to see what you do with it progressing forward.

 

[Tomd]

I like it also. I always love the rockscape that way with sand in the middle.

FWIW, if you ever get LPS corals watch that flame angel. I love them but I had one destroy a $100 acan colony fwiw.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Well, we've not purchased any more fish or critters. We're kind of holding out 'til we can upgrade our lighting.

However, over the past two weeks, we've lost three of our chromis. One, who we'd named Fridge, was really the "runt" of the "litter." He was never quite right, and never recovered after I found him wrapped around the powerhead intake grate.

The second one that just kind of up and disappeare (I blame the nassarius snails) was kind of scraggly, too.


The third happened last night, right after I fed a half a frozen cube of plankton. The food was thawed thoroughly, and poured into the tank.

Seconds later, one of the chromis was flailing around uncontrollably. Nightmare said it looked like the fish had gone into shock and asked if I was sure I thawed the food completely, and I was and still am.

Water parameters are great, though I need to find a tester that includes phosphates, because we're having a spot of trouble with cyano. But we use treated tap water, so I'm pretty sure that's the culprit. Vacuuming will have to do 'til we can get an RODI soon.


So, I'm all bummed, and now I'm afraid to add anything new to the tank. The remaining chromis seem fine, as do the other fish and inverts we have. I'm hoping it's just coincidence that the three happened to go so close together, but I can't help but be worried about it.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Down to one chromis.


Still have the angelfish and the gramma, and the other inverts. Added 5 trochus snails last weekend.


Still battling cyano, but keeping it fairly under control with frequent water changes. The ROWAphos I ordered came today, and will be ordering an RODI unit this weekend.



Our featherduster exploded about two weeks ago, but yesterday, there was a smaller white duster in its place. Yay!



Mike and I will probably be going to the LFS on Sunday. I'd like to get some more base rock. Might get another feather duster and a couple more chromis. We don't want to add many more critters until we upgrade our lighting.




QUESTIONS!

Is there any way to sex a shrimp? Seriously. We have one cleaner shrimp, and I've read that they'll spawn fairly readily in a tank setting, and the fry turn into fish food.


We need to add more sand to the tank. If we add the "live" sand that are sold in bags, it won't cycle like the live rock, will it? Would you gurus recommend more argonite sand (which is what we have- 80lbs of it), or some of the "live" sand stuff?



Have a great weekend!

 

[roka64]

I'm not too sure on sexing the shrimp. My cerith snails provide plenty of tasty eggs for my fish.
I would just add regular aragonite sand. I am not 100% sure that the "live" stuff is reall live, since it sets in a warehouse, truck and then on the shelf at the store....I believe Lindsay said they have an expiration date. Personally, I just use the dry stuff, but make sure you rinse it before adding it to your tank. I have 240Lbs of it in my 125G.

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Thanks.


How would I rinse the sand? Put it in a bucket, add water, swish, let settle, remove water?

 

[roka64]

When I rinsed mine, I put it in a bucket and filled it with water, stirred it and dumped out the water. I did it about 5 times for each 30Lbs bag and still had some silt.
I also forgot to mention, I had three chromis and two jumped within the first two months. To date, I have only found one.