Bill's Intro to the Reef - 5 Gallon Rimless

[carey]

I believe astrea snails eat diatoms, but they will go away on their own so dont stress it too much,

[dragonfisher33]

Originally Posted by carey

I believe astrea snails eat diatoms, but they will go away on their own so dont stress it too much,

yeah i know that they will go away but i still couldn't believe the effect of having the light on for 48hrs straight. i left the house with clean sand bed and came back to what seems like someone taking a dump on it

[carey]

I just came home to diatoms on my frag racks which I just put in right before I left for a week. Just another fun saltwater thing. lol

[Billbug68]

Well, I believe I have Cyano... Can anyone confirm? It gets slimy and stringy.
Also, is it common for palys to lay over like this? Are they getting too much flow?

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

Well, I believe I have Cyano... Can anyone confirm? It gets slimy and stringy. Also, is it common for palys to lay over like this? Are they getting too much flow?

Probably cyano but could be red bubble algae. It would eventually get more "bubbly" if it was. Emerald crabs clean bubble algae up really fast, in my experience.

I don't know about the palys. They look fine to me.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by jmay33

Probably cyano but could be red bubble algae. It would eventually get more "bubbly" if it was. Emerald crabs clean bubble algae up really fast, in my experience.

I don't know about the palys. They look fine to me.

It's not really bubbly, it's stringy, like it starts to come off the sand and rocks in long stretchy strands. I've been thinking about getting another emerald...

Also, tested water today and ammonia was .5! What the heck? I keep going through small spikes then everything is good, then another spike... I think it's that dr tims one and only I used gave me a weird set of bacteria... Never again! :/

[jmay33]

Originally Posted by Billbug68

It's not really bubbly, it's stringy, like it starts to come off the sand and rocks in long stretchy strands. I've been thinking about getting another emerald...

Also, tested water today and ammonia was .5! What the heck? I keep going through small spikes then everything is good, then another spike... I think it's that dr tims one and only I used gave me a weird set of bacteria... Never again! :/

Ahh. That really sucks about the fluctuation. Hopefully you'll have a good set of natural bacteria soon and that will all end.

That def sounds like cyano. I love emerald crabs. Lol. They're my 2nd favorite next to porcelain crabs.

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by jmay33

Ahh. That really sucks about the fluctuation. Hopefully you'll have a good set of natural bacteria soon and that will all end.

That def sounds like cyano. I love emerald crabs. Lol. They're my 2nd favorite next to porcelain crabs.

I really like porcelain crabs too! Just don't think I could keep both...

I'm thinking about what I want to upgrade to... I've been contemplating just going to 7.5g rimless cube... I really would like to run a sump, but I'm trying to figure out a clean way to build an overflow... I don't want anything on the glass beside a powerhead... I've been trying to research center overflows with a tall island style rock scape to hide it. Possible drilling straight down through the rock so the overflow pipe comes out the top center of the rock... I dunno, this is all just ideas. If the tank stays on my dresser, the bulkheads would have to be on the back bottom of the tank and the plumbing would have to turn then go down the side of the dresser with the sump being next to the dresser... I don't even know if that would work... But that's the only possible way I could do it without putting it on a stand somewhere else...

[carey]

I'd say you got yourself the beginning of some cyano. You can start doing bigger water changes or go with chemiclean. I;d be careful in such a small tank tho with adding chemicals, it will only take a tiny bit

Have you considered an all in one system with the back enclosed to house skimmers, reactors etc? Innovative marine makes everything from a 5g up to I think 38g, all rimless and they are sweet. I am eying the 36 inch wide 24g tank they have for $300. lol One day soon hopefully.

But check them out or even jbj has some rimless small tanks.

[Billbug68]

Thanks Carey! I'll start uping the water changes and research the chemiclean...

I don't really want to go with an AIO... I like having the tank clear all the way around... I found a few threads that might help and shows it has been done. One guy even runs his return line through his overflow so there is only one bulkhead in the tank. My only concern is having too many elbows in the drain pipe... And can I make the water level about an inch higher than the top of the drain?

Here's a couple useful examples...

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/17092...st-tank/page-8

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forum...ad.php?t=20020

[Billbug68]

New acquisitions!

2 Trochus snails
1 More Astraea
1 More Scarlet Hermit
1 Small Emerald Crab

I also picked up some chemiclean, which was a HUGE rip off at my LFS. $18 and I'm not even sure if I'm going to use it. If I do, it'll be at half strength. Now to acclimating...

[jwh0818]

Very nice! The bags look bigger than the tank!

[Billbug68]

Haha thanks! I guess looks can be deceiving...

[MMantelli]

You're lovin those little critters ain't ya.

[Billbug68]

Haha, I am!

So when I threw the emerald in, he immediately started to pick at the cyano! Sweet!

But then he quickly crawled up the rocks, picked at all my poor zoas until they closed up, picked at the torch tentacles, then ate an Astrea star... Now he's mounted one of the Trochus snails, picking algae of its shell...

I've got a new trouble maker...

Maybe this will just end up being a FOWLR...

[Billbug68]

Trochus snails are THE BEEZ KNEEZ!

Man they are doin work!

[Billbug68]

So after cleaning the tank, picking out as much cyano as I could make myself do, and a 2g water change, I added less than half a spoon of chemi clean last night. I positioned my powerhead as I high as I could without sucking air, and it is providing a good amount of agitation to keep the water well oxygenated. No apparent signs of stress on any inhabitants yet. I tested this morning and all levels are finally at 0. They better be, I've done 3 2g water changes this week. The Trochus snails are plowing through the algae on all the rocks, I'm extremely happy with them. I also caught the emerald crab devouring my chaeto that I had hidding behind the rocks... So much for that... Overall, I'm feeling a lot better about the tank today. I just hope the cyano goes, and that I can keep levels at 0... Only time will tell, I suppose. Wish me luck!

[dragonfisher33]

so what are you doung with the crab? or the corals? since they're not compatible

[Billbug68]

Originally Posted by huizheng1988

so what are you doung with the crab? or the corals? since they're not compatible

Emerald crabs are "supposed" to be reef safe. As long as he has plenty of algae to graze on, or I target feed him, he should stay away from any coral. He's been behaving, for the most part. I'll probably put some dried seaweed in for him once in a while, noticed they actually have that at petsmart, so I don't have to make the far trip to my LFS. I'll also target feed him frozen meaty foods, as well.

EDIT: I think he was just starved at the LFS, so when I put him in he picked at everything he could find! He seems a lot more mellow now. Scraping algae from the rocks, and picking at the macro algae.

[Billbug68]

Any idea what this is growing off the back of my torch...?