40 breeder update

[Criptix]

It has been about three months since my last update. I had three Green Chromis in my qt. Almost 4 week and I went down to one. His original name was Gigantor because he was the soul survivor but since he got moved to the dt about three months later. I changed it to Houdini because he can hide anywhere. Now to get him some buddies!
Lessons I learned:
1.quarantining works just don't quarantine more than one fish at a time.
2. You can get your nitrates down to zero with just weekly wc.
3.ro/di units are the way to go!
4.several wc in a row does reduce your salinity. I did a wc every day last week to get my dt down and my salinity went down to almost zero.
5. Should be number one, fishless cycling works!
6.There is no such thing as over testing your water.
7.Coralline Algae can grow w/o introducing it.
8.You don't have to feed every day.
9.feed sparingly,it saves on clean up after fish is done eating.
10. Last but not least it pays to be patient.
Now to get Houdini some friends. I want a purple firefish, a pair of clowns,a cleaner shrimp,a Pajama cardinal and Lawnmower Blenny. My question is: can I get a purple fire fish and a cleaner shrimp together?Does the shrimp need quarantine? Or should I get the Pajama Cardinal with a cleaner shrimp? Also, I am thinking about getting some beginner corals once I have my salinity up to 35 ppt(it's currently at 15ppt).I know it's low...I am still bringing it up gradually and because of #4 I ran out of salt. More will here Wed.

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[Masoniac]

Chromis tend to pick off the weaker of them all. So that is why you have one survivor.


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[alyxandria]

Clowns are awesome in my opinion. Buy them small or in a pair. The firefish will be a jumper so make sure you have netting or egg rate. Have never had a cardinal or blenny so can't help there.


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[paul87]

"4.several wc in a row does reduce your salinity. I did a wc every day last week to get my dt down and my salinity went down to almost zero."

It shouldn't. Are you mixing the salt and water in a container or in the tank? Also how long and how are you mixing it? And what do you use to measure the salinity, hydrometer or refractometer?

"8.You don't have to feed every day.
9.feed sparingly,it saves on clean up after fish is done eating.
10. Last but not least it pays to be patient."

Going by these will help you out alot in the long run!

 

[chefbill]

7.Coralline Algae can grow w/o introducing it.

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Nope, it has to come from somewhere, there is no such thing as spontaneous generation.

 

[Mebbid]

It has been about three months since my last update. I had three Green Chromis in my qt. Almost 4 week and I went down to one. His original name was Gigantor because he was the soul survivor but since he got moved to the dt about three months later. I changed it to Houdini because he can hide anywhere. Now to get him some buddies!
Lessons I learned:
1.quarantining works just don't quarantine more than one fish at a time.
2. You can get your nitrates down to zero with just weekly wc.
3.ro/di units are the way to go!
4.several wc in a row does reduce your salinity. I did a wc every day last week to get my dt down and my salinity went down to almost zero.
5. Should be number one, fishless cycling works!
6.There is no such thing as over testing your water.
7.Coralline Algae can grow w/o introducing it.
8.You don't have to feed every day.
9.feed sparingly,it saves on clean up after fish is done eating.
10. Last but not least it pays to be patient.
Now to get Houdini some friends. I want a purple firefish, a pair of clowns,a cleaner shrimp,a Pajama cardinal and Lawnmower Blenny. My question is: can I get a purple fire fish and a cleaner shrimp together?Does the shrimp need quarantine? Or should I get the Pajama Cardinal with a cleaner shrimp? Also, I am thinking about getting some beginner corals once I have my salinity up to 35 ppt(it's currently at 15ppt).I know it's low...I am still bringing it up gradually and because of #4 I ran out of salt. More will here Wed.

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2 - Without other forms of nitrate removal working with you the only way this would happen is if you did a 100% water change. Think of it this way, if you have a 2ppm nitrate concentration and do a 50% water change then you're still at 1ppm.

4 - It shouldnt, you need a better method of checking your salinity if yours dropped. I would highly suggest a refractometer.

7 - It wont grow unless introduced. Most all clean up crew that you add to the tank will have traces of coralline algae on their shells. There's a ton of ways for it to get into your tank and you really only need 1 spore of it to get it growing in your tank.

You can get both the firefish and shrimp together. Also, the shrimp doesn't need to be QTed but I would recommend it. There's a tiny chance that something nasty could transfer over in the water that sticks to him or the net. Not many people QT shrimp though. Just be sure to very slowly drip acclimate shrimp, they are sensitive to salinity changes.

 

[Criptix]

Thanks everyone for your advice.
I have a Milwaukee refractometer and a portable one too. I mix it in separate container then put it in an empty distilled water jug and then added to tank with the pumps on. As for the week of wcs, I made sure the TDS read zero and alternated draining 50% and 25% of the tank water and replaced it w/ ro/di water straight into the tank. I used the above method of mixing sw when Nitates were between 10 and 20 ppm.
I will post a picture of my qt and the purple algae growth.


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[Criptix]

My qt algae growth:

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