Tom's 55G Saltwater

[danbstrong]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Now that is some great knowledge. Would even broadcast feeding a tank end up being harmful do you think?

Just looked at the food i use its called rods ingredients state that it has phyto so maybe i am unknowingly feeding it

[mr_X]

Yeah, I'm sure the clam(s) is getting some of that. Perhaps the processed meaty foods(fish poop) as well. I see nothing wrong with a squirt of phyto in the water column every so often.

[TommyP]

Thanks for the input. I never spot fed the clam my buddy has two larger ones in his 90 and he stated he spot feeds it pearls or something. It's still in the tank, open but not out. Here's my purple Sea whip. I assume its dying anything I can so to salvage it?

[mr_X]

The gorgonian and the goniopora have poor success rates in closed systems. The gorgonian is not photosynthetic and relys solely on food from the water column. That said, I doubt it died that fast without eating.
Don't get discouraged. I killed a lot of corals in the beginning. I still kill corals from time to time. Everyone does. Anyone that says they don't lies.
Meanwhile, research things before you buy them. Any gorgonians(also called sea whips) that have white polyps are non photosynthetic filter feeders. They need a steady supply of food in the water column. This is a difficult task in a closed system. It's hard to keep good parameters when constantly adding food.

What are your current parameters?

[TommyP]

Yeah I didn't realize at first that it wasn't getting its nutrients and food from the lights. I misread the information on reefs2go it was an impulse buy. Any luck in saving it? I posted up my parameters when I did them 2 days ago but I'll do them again now and list them here, to be most current. Thanks for your help, stay tuned. Cheers.

[mr_X]

Again, I don't think it was lack of food that killed it, if you only had it a few days. I'm not sure what it could be.

[TommyP]

pH : 8.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0ppm
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 460 mg/L
KH: 9 dkh/ 161.1 ppm
Phosphate: 0.25 ppm (2 days ago it was zero)

Those are the results as of right now.

My water change is going to be done tomorrow so tomorrow night ill be testing again.

[HovaRockz]

Tommy I would listen to mr.x he has helped me alot very knowledgable

[TommyP]

Hova - I am listening lol. I posted up my parameters and when i get home from work tonight after 10 i will do another water change and test again.

[TommyP]

So I did a water change today but did my feeding righ afterwards some frozen brine for my clown so I didn't want to test my parameters now. I'll do it tomorrow before feeding to get the most accurate results. If all turns out well what do you think my issue is that I can't keep fish? I want to add another fish in feb. I hope everything stabilizes in the mean time. Again currently I only have a bunch of corals 1 clown and a cleaner shrimp. By looking at my current stock for corals (previous pictures) please give me answers for feeding. What, how much and when. I bought a spot feeder waiting for it in the mail.

[mr_X]

You technically don't need to feed anything but the gorgonian. I would use phytoplankton for that.

[TommyP]

Thanks mr. X. The sea whip seemed to be disintegrating more and more each day. I'm going to buy that food this weekend hopefully I can save it. As long as I don't have to feed my other corals everything will be okay

[TommyP]

Feeder tentacles or is something wrong with my torch.

[TommyP]

Another picture

[Sniperhank]

That's a tentacle alright, but not a feeder. That is a sweeper tentacle, aka what it will sting other corals with.

[TommyP]

It seemed to close up a little but still has several of those tentacles out. The only thing that's close is gsp. Should I move gsp?

[Sniperhank]

I would. That tentacle can reach out 6 inches.

[mr_X]

Gsp is pretty nasty stuff. It kills whatever it touches. I didn't see much that could defend against it. Are you sure those are sweeper tentacles coming out of the torch? Looks like maybe a shrimp molt and antennae sticking out from where I'm sitting.
If it is sweepers, then I would move one of them.

[TommyP]

It's definitely not a molt. It's part of the torch. Not sure if it was good or bad or dying or sweeper tents. It just split recently so I don't think it's dying just closed up a little and saw maybe 4-5 of these thinner longer tentacles moving around with the flow.

[TommyP]

Pics were so bad off my iPad. Hopefully this is more clear



No more long sweepy tentacle looking things.