Tank build - newbie again... need thoughts

[Idaho-Tank]

Guess my snails are happy.. Appear to already be laying eggs... Anyone want to verify this for me? Here is great photo I found that is exactly what I have.

They are showing up on my glass and all over some of my live rock.

 

[capj64]

lol, I just purchased the snails for a 40g from reefcleaners.com and split between my 29g and 10g. That is a Nerites egg. I have tons of them too. They laid them the first night and still at it. The Florida Ceriths are laying eggs also, looks like...knotted up thread

 

[Aquarium1]

Actually this site does have private messaging

 

[austinsdad]

Test your salinity next time you lose 5g of evap. Need to know what that does to your tank so you can judge whether to get an ATO system hooked up. Ofen salinity swings can stress fish or other livestock and cause other problems.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

marydem - PM sent

austinsdad - Good point, I am rarely gone that long (It went about 7 or 8 days without water being added and lost right at 4.5 gallons I believe). If I don't put in some sort of ATO system I think I will have someone come over and feed & top off the water level by day 4 next time.

I FINALLY received my refractometer and also got my test kit for calcium, KH & Phosphate. Here are my readings...

Temp = 82 (having heater issues I have 2 heaters one heats to much and the other not enough......)

Specific gravity = 1.027 (using refractometer)

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
Ph = 8.3
Phosphate = 0
Calcium = 540
KH = 125.3 (7 dKH)


So Im thinking I need to buy a new heater so I can get my high temperature down to 80. It looks like my SG is a little high. And it looks like my Calcium is high. I was surprised that my calcium was high... must be my salt? I am using Oceanic.

Thoughts?

 

[Jimbo7]

I would guess it is because your Alk is so low. Check all the levels of a freshly mixed batch of salt to see if it is mixing that low or something in your tank is doing it.

Everything else looks great though.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

So this past weekend I picked up a few frags and 3 fish. Thought Id post up my new additions. I found two locals selling fish/frags so I got a great deal.

My family really wanted clowns - I got a great deal on this little pair of True Perculas. They are not very big at all yet - maybe 1.5" long - I am hoping they will eventually be a mating pair. I am still unsure about getting an anemone. They seem to be doing good so far - they ate right away and look healthy.

The other fish I bought was a Copperbanded Butterfly. He is approximately 2.5" I have never owned one before but have always wanted to have one. This one had been eating well for the previous owner which was a concern for me and was not bothering any corals. I still have a few aptasia so I am hoping between the copperbanded butterfly and the peppermint shrimp they will be history soon. After drip acclimating this guy I added him to the tank and within minutes he was feasting on some of my tiny tube worms. I have a ton of tiny tube worms and its not a big deal if he eats them, I just want him to eventually accept frozen food too which I was told he has done before. I may have to get creative with the way I present the food to him perhaps.

Besides the corals I bought, I did add a large member to my CUC. A Spider Conch. He is really cool to watch.

The soft coral frags:
Pink clove polyps
Blue palythoa
Green mushroom
Bluish riccordia
Yellow/Green star polyps
Toadstool Leather coral
pulsing xenia
Yellow Polyps

SPS coral frags:
Pink Birdsnest
Green Porcilipora
Green Montipora
Another stony I cant remember the name of.

LPS coral
Long tentacle plate coral

A few photos of the frags:

A couple tank shots - you can see the Copperband in the first one.

 

[Aquarium1]

You probably already know this, but just to make sure: clownfish do not need anemones. Sometimes they won't even host in them, but they could host in anything. Also anemones need a well established tank, probably at least a year old.

Btw those are some really neat additions! Congrats

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Thanks, Yeah I know they don't need an anemone - I have just had good luck with carpets in the past and love to watch clowns with anemones - especially carpets.

 

[Jimbo7]

Looks good man! You should be fine, but stay vigilant on those levels after tank additions to be sure.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Testing day.

Temp = 79
Specific gravity = 1.026 Got it down over the past week

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
Ph = 8.3
Phosphate = 0
Calcium = 500
KH = 143.2 (8 dKH)

Glad to see no ammonia spike or anything after adding fish.


I also tested some freshly made salt water.


Ph = 8.4
Calcium = 500
KH = 143.2 (8 dKH)

So this salt really has a lot of calcium in it. The calcium is down in my tank and the Alk is up... (I added some buffer which seems to have helped - I am going slow with changing it though). I will continue to add buffer until I can get around around 10dKH. It will be interesting to see where my calcium is at once I get there.

Not much new to report on the tank... everything is going great. Will be adding a few more zoas soon and Im thinking about a frog spawn too.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Ive had two of my frags knocked off a rock by snails... Anyone ever used reef putty? Looking for a good way of attaching frags.

 

[Aquarium1]

I've read that quite a few people use super glue gel.

 

[Jimbo7]

Just use superglue. Any gel form that contains cyanoacrylate will work, and will cure underwater. This is what I use.
Amazon.com: Henkel 01-82196 Loctite 2-Gram Super Glue Gel: Home Improvement

 

[Idaho-Tank]

All my water tests are perfect still. All zeros....

Ph = 8.2
Calcium = 500
KH = 143.2 (8 dKH)

Still looking at high calcium and a KH thats a little low but not bad. Any problems with a calcium that high on a consistent basis?

3 of the species of snails have now laid egs. Ive had the larger pods (about 1/8" in dia), smaller pods (about 1/32" in dia.) and now ive had a couple stringy type eggs left on my glass... wish these guys would spend more time eating and less time.... um.. not.

Some new additions:

Frog spawn

Zoas

 

[Aquarium1]

No clue on the calcium, but those are some really cool corals ya got there

 

[pat8you]

That calcium is a little high but nothing to bad. Calcium and alkalinity effect eachother so as you adjust one the other will change. As long as you levels are stable i wouldn't worry about trying to adjust it. You salt is probably mixed with those levels. If you want to bring it down i would try a different salt.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

That calcium is a little high but nothing to bad. Calcium and alkalinity effect eachother so as you adjust one the other will change. As long as you levels are stable i wouldn't worry about trying to adjust it. You salt is probably mixed with those levels. If you want to bring it down i would try a different salt.

Yes, I assumed it was the salt and then tested a fresh batch to verify it. So I don't really want to switch brands (this stuff mixes well and I like not having to dose calcium). I guess the only question I had was if my calcium was at 500 and my KH was 143.2 (8 dKH) would this be satisfactory. Sounds like you feel as long as it is stable its fine - anyone else agree?

 

[pat8you]

Sounds like you feel as long as it is stable its fine

Yup, stable is more important then numbers as long as they are close to normal. I'm sure others will chime in as well.

 

[Idaho-Tank]

Update

Not much to update but here goes.

Testing about once a week now.

Temp = 79
Specific gravity = 1.025

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
Ph = 8.3
Phosphate = 0
Calcium = didn't test
KH = 9 dKH

Flat worms: I began to notice some brown/greenish flat worms about 2weeks ago... Not a ton but enough to get me concerned. I siphoned off all I could find (most were on a couple rocks) which was really easy to do. Its been a few days since and I see more but not a lot. I will siphon more off this week to stay on top of the population. Im thinking about using the chemical flat worm killer but wondering if I should if I can just maintain the low population by siphoning them.

I haven't seen both peppermints in a long time... wondering if one died. Have yet to see my pistol shrimp since he was first put into the tank. I am also wondering about my YW Goby. A couple days ago I see him laying against my overflow - like pinned against it. I thought he was dead... watched him and saw his eyes and mouth move so not dead yet... I turned off the pump and he began to swim around - but towards the top of the water column.... not down on the sand bed like normal. His color looks fine. No visual parasites. On occasion I see him swimming but he was up against the overflow again this morning. Any ideas whats wrong with this guy? He wants to be there... the current is not all that strong and on occasion he will swim away then swim back to this spot... Doesn't look to me like any issue with his swim bladder as he will swim up and swim down.