livestock help - fish for a 9 gal reef

[ms705jk]

I do a gallon change weekly now. 2 weeks ago I did a whole wc cause the ammonia in the tank was deathly hight. But that was my fault. The water container I used to collect a sample was the same one from a week ago. And like dumb dumb I didn't dry it I just put the lid on and put it away.anyway bla bla bla. I can do the change either way ive got time. But you suggest one big change. Got it thanks

 

[carey]

Yep, doing a large water change will give you a leg up on getting parameters in check.

And I agree with the above posters, do not dose anything EVER if you cant test for it. With the amount of coral you have you definitely dont have to dose anything. keep it simple when you can, trust me, it can get more complicated as time goes on no need to rush things. lol

 

[ms705jk]

Thanks again

 

[ms705jk]

I didn't make it an hour without having a question. My lfs gave me a piece of star poly that had broken. Its about 2" long with about 7 heads. I just have it laying on some lr. I want to glue it down cause the dozer turbo snails keep knocking it down. Ive heard gel type superglue is ok the use. Does it matter where on the coral I put it, and do I have to pull the rock out to do this?

 

[melosu58]

The reason that everyone is telling you that you are overstocked is not because of swimming room or being happy. The truth is none of us know if a fish is happy or not. They swim the same whether the water is pristine or not. What everyone is concerned about that in a small tank like that, small water volumes are very less forgiving in case of overloading or mistakes. I have seen this happen many a time when a tank is overloaded and things look good for the first few months. The person says what do they know. Then 6mos to a year everything in the tank is dead and the same person posts "What happen to my tank". You have had some very good advice given to you. I would consider it.

 

[ms705jk]

The reason that everyone is telling you that you are overstocked is not because of swimming room or being happy. The truth is none of us know if a fish is happy or not. They swim the same whether the water is pristine or not. What everyone is concerned about that in a small tank like that, small water volumes are very less forgiving in case of overloading or mistakes. I have seen this happen many a time when a tank is overloaded and things look good for the first few months. The person says what do they know. Then 6mos to a year everything in the tank is dead and the same person posts "What happen to my tank". You have had some very good advice given to you. I would consider it.

Melosu I can't be any happier with the tank and the way its coming along. This forum and this thread have been so helpful. I'd rather learn from y'all mistakes. Than make them all on my own. If you know what I mean. All the advice from you aquarijunkies has been dually noted. Yoyr experience is priceless

 

[ms705jk]

I didn't make it an hour without having a question. My lfs gave me a piece of star poly that had broken. Its about 2" long with about 7 heads. I just have it laying on some lr. I want to glue it down cause the dozer turbo snails keep knocking it down. Ive heard gel type superglue is ok the use. Does it matter where on the coral I put it, and do I have to pull the rock out to do this?

Any feed back on this one

 

[Mebbid]

Any feed back on this one

It's easier to just rubber band it to a rock. It will eventually dissolve and by then the gsp would have attached itself to the rock.

 

[ms705jk]

Im afraid that would not work. The lr's are pretty big. I think gluing is my only way to ensure perfect placement in a hole in the lr

 

[Mebbid]

You might want to get a smaller piece of rock to attach it to then. It has a habit of being a nuisance if allowed to grow on the main rock work by overgrowing other corals. But yes, the super glue would possibly work although I'm not positive on that. I'm not sure how much the gsp slimes when it gets glued.

 

[ms705jk]

maybe rubber band it to a piece of dead branch coral would be good? i kinda wanted it to take over some of the rock in the tank just like i wanted the zoas to grow wild. but what you are saying is it will kill the zoas or the other way around if they touch?

 

[ms705jk]

I got a nice piece of dead coral to day and rubber banded the star poly frag to it as suggested. Now if I can keep dozer the turbo snail from pushing it over I'll be doing good. Here's a cool pic at first light this morning

 

[Mebbid]

Nice looking setup! If you thought the turbo snail was bad don't get an urchin! I regularly find my frags moved 5 or 6 inches away. I even last an acropora frat that got drug inside some rocks and died.

 

[ms705jk]

My dang skunk shrimp died. I can't figure out why. Last night I siphoned all the snail crap off the rocks, gave the sand bed a gentle stir, and let the filter run for about and hour till the water was clear then did a 2 gallon water change. All my numbers were perfect 2 days ago. And close the same after the wc last night even a little better. Could a clown kill a shrimp? Thats all I can think. Every time the shrimp touched the clown with his feeler things the clown would charge him

 

[ms705jk]

Am I feeding them enough. One frozen cube of hikari bio-pure lasts 3 day for 3 fish

 

[huma-huma]

thats more than enough. i feed prob a cube of food in 2 days and thats for 11 fish in my 125

 

[ms705jk]

Any thoughts on the shrimp

 

[huma-huma]

no clue honestly. didnt dose anything with copper in it did you? i dont see a clown killing a shrimp

 

[Mebbid]

Cleaner shrimp are fairly fragile and can die fairly easily when new to a tank. It is possibly the clown killed him but imho unlikely.

 

[ms705jk]

I was dosing liquid reef but stopped 3 day ago. But it doesn't have copper in it. I stopped putting the lq reef in cause a few people told me it was pointless for a nano that gets water changes every week