Coral Banded Shrimp

Hi everyone! I'm curious about my coral banded shrimp...

Due to an error in shipping I ended up with 2 coral banded shrimp. I know they do not get along and I figured I would have to take one to my LFS but in the mean time I threw them on opposite ends of the tank and crossed my fingers.

Lo and behold they are best friends and always stay within antennae distance of each other, usually touching or standing back to back guarding each entrance of a tunnel. I've even caught them spooning a few times :smileykiss2:(the first time I panicked that the "big spoon" was devouring the "little spoon" tail first!:rotflmao:)

So here's my question-could they possibly be a mated pair? My research (which involves googling "how to sex coral banded shrimp":read:) has shown that having blue on their belly (ovaries) is a good indicator of a female, males are smaller and have more slender bodies, and one site even mentioned blue dots below the big claws of females. I also found that mating generally occurs within 24 hours of molting-does this mean they wouldn't pair until they molted?

Both of my cbs have blue bellies. One is considerably larger than the other but they have very similar "girth". No blue dots on claws of either. The one big difference I noticed is that the larger one has 2 bands on each big claw that appear blue-ish at the center of the band. Has anyone seen this before? Could it be a sexually dimorphic characteristic?

Also, the smaller one seems to constantly be "dancing"-moving left and right-while the larger one does not move much and tends to move in a given direction when it does. Could this be a mating dance or a male protecting his female?

They've been in the tank together for 3 weeks now and I first noticed them hanging out together less than 24 hours after adding them to the tank. They both molted at the same time almost exactly 2 weeks later.

Last question-should I worry about my cbs suddenly turning on each other or if they've been friendly for several weeks should that relationship continue to be peaceful? :help:

Not the greatest pics in the world but they were the ones that show the coloration of each the best. In each pic the smaller cbs is on the left and the larger one is on the right. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide me!

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Thursday!

:D
Top of the morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY THURSDAY! Looking at nearly a week ahead of us holding the possibility of rain and thunder storms. :doh: Mentioned before bed time last night I'm gonna dream of Chocolate Chip cookies because we ain't got none......Guess what we're having for breakfast! Yep, Jen and Hack made a batch for us last night to go with our morning coffee. Ahhhhh they love us! Hope the day finds everyone doing well, and all the best,
Hack
:beer:

Missing fish

This could be a dumb question but I have a bi color angel fish. Yesterday he was fine swimming around he ate fine no sign of stress or anything. I haven't seen him today at all. He has a little slot in the back off my live rock that he would always swim in (like a cave) normally when I didn't see him it was because he was in there but he always made an appearance through out the day. Is it possible he got himself stuck in there. My parameters are 8.2 ph, .5 ammonia, .5 nitrite, and 10 ppm nitrate. It's a 30 gallon fish only tank. I don't think my parameters killed him because they are actually lower than when I normally test the water my ph is always 8.2 but my ammonia is normally around 2 or more ppm my nitrite is normally around 2ppm and my nitrate is normally 40ppm. I just got a ro/di system and did about a 20% water change using that about a week ago and started feeding them a little less because I think I was over feeding. I just don't know what happened or where he could be and to check the rock would be a lot of moving other rock. Any ideas?

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Welcome to Wednesday!

Top of the morning TRT Friends, and....HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Cloudy and 70 for a high.....nice working weather. Thomas's English muffins and jellies to go with our morning coffee. Great news on the car recovery Doug, but sorry to hear of the damage. Got to see Solo last night with the Family....We liked! Hope the day finds all safe and well,
Hack

Plumbers Putty for Coral Mounting

I was thinking of going out to Home Depot or Lowe's and trying to get something to mount corals with. I've tried everything and they always come loose. As you all know I'm sure, it's a pain trying to mount corals where you want them when the spot isn't ideal for mounting. I'd have to disassemble my aquascape to take rock out and of course would prefer not to do so. I was thinking of possibly getting some plumbers putty and wanted some feedback before I kill my tank with it. My logic is that if it is safe for our water supply than it would possibly safe for aquaria. Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

What is this Algae?

Hello everyone, I seem to have a problem with brown algae growing over everything, it’s not too bad and just more obvious growing over my white rocks (in the pictures)

What kind of algae is this and how can I avoid it

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Terrible Tuesday

Morning everyone. Posted a Monday thread LOL. Hard to get up and going, and coffee is on.

Manic Monday

*orning everyone. Headed in early to prepare for my 6:15 stand up meeting to go over the day.


The garden came out nice. Everything should grow well with the fancy dirt mix we came up with.

Lets Get Crazy

I'm back.

After 4 years of college, getting a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, moving to San Diego, and starting a new job, its time to start back up again.

I don't know how big of a tank I'm going to get, but some of my goals for this build are:

1. energy efficient
2. connected technology
3. easy maintenance
4. Tang-friendly
5. more than likely high-flow SPS
6. probably using sump

Since I've been gone for so long, are there any new and cool pieces of technology / trends that have been released? I need to catch up! :D

Looking forward to sharing this journey to all my old friends on here, and to everyone I don't know, say hi and follow along!

Memorial Day. Motel TRTI Monday

Morning all,

Wishing everyone a great Memorial Day, and to remember the reason for it.

Woke up early and stayed up for whatever reason,, have a 8 hr drive left to get home after hopefully a nice visit to Cades Cove at sunrise.

Also hoping to beat the rain in the area as I head north. Even though I had a rain filled vacation, it is not close to what is going on currently to the south .

Motel room coffee now, I’ll sneak you guys in for their breakfast spread in a few hours, eggs/links/patties/B&G/ fruit /oatmeat/ and of course more coffee/tea/juice. Not a bad spread for motel fare IMO.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Failure Proof Auto Top Off System DIY

Auto top off systems scare me. So I've been doing some research on a how to make one (almost) failure proof. Here is what I am planning
Parts Pictured, <$30, you can get cheaper than this though. But want starter kit.

Program Arduino to monitor float switch and turn on pump to top off, if it goes over 5-10 seconds turn it off and go into error mode, otherwise monitor float switch and turn off when full. This will keep from overflowing your tank and keep pump from running dry.

If unit goes into error mode, push button to reset.
Have several led's to display status,
Green All Good
Yellow Topping OFF activated
Red Error mode
You could have 2 relays, both would have to be on just in case one fails.

Setting up reef for the greatest ecological diversity

While I'm waiting for things to get my new tank up and running, I've had some ideas based on years experience. They are just my 2 cents, many may have other ideas and good reasons behind their mythology's, I would like to hear about that.

To me it seems that cycling your tanks with dead rock would be the best method. Establish lower bacterial colonies.

Then add a few pieces of live rock to seed the tank with more diverse life forms. Most biological specimens introduced should survive since tank is cycled. I don't think a protein skimmer would be advisable at this point, you want diversity to handle the bio load.

After month(s) add even more live rock, maybe slowly, maybe quickly. But in this hobby slower is usually better. But on the other hand adding a generous amount of living organisms might balance out better in the end, but you may have spikes in parameters that kill off some of the organisms affecting the food chain. Having a protein skimmer handy to handle any dead organism spikes might be advisable, but once again you are taking food out of the water, so you might imbalance the ecosystem. So I wonder if you do use a protein skimmer should you use all the time or just when things are out of balance. Of course the ecosystem will balance out either way.

Some additions, like Mandarin Goby's will eat up most of the copods, disrupting the ecosystem, Those copods my feed other living organisms.

Fish or no fish - Fish are cool, they move around and have personalities. Except for tangs fish will eat up all kinds of living organisms. Fish do add something to the ecosystem through their waste products that are consumed my lower life forms. A wrasse will eat all the worms and terrorize your tank. maybe veggie eaters are better, what do you think of that idea?

Clean up crews - Snails are cool, but they eat and poop, you need somthing to remove that, but I wonder about crabs, they eat anything. At least the ones I've seen. My take on this is to keep them at a low population some are specific eaters. In this area I need to educate my self more, I've forgotten a lot. Watch out for the big snails they seem to get poisoned by certain types of brown algae and pollute your tank. What do you recommend for clean up crews, are they really needed in a really diverse tank? If you have a diverse worm population, they do a good job of cleaning stuff off rocks and sand. In my opinion the introduction of a large clean up crew can disturb the eco-system.

I have other takes on things like ozone introduction, it can kill off living organism's in the water column, but can have other benefits, like adding more energy to the system (but really how does this affect the ecosystem, I know it improves reproduction of some organisms). To me getting nutrients locked up into the living things is more like a natural reef (this naturally increases ORP). Would using ozone on limited scale say 1-5 minutes a day be better? Give the system a little boost at times.

I guess it comes down to just how diverse of a eco-system do we want, is there a middle of the road approach?

NEW GIVEAWAY: Aqamai KPM Powerhead

Today we are taking a look at the Aqamai KPM Powerhead. We are going to unbox the KPM and compare it to the Aqamai KPS Powerhead. Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell to stay up to date.

Aqamai KPM Powerhead: https://goo.gl/SqozJ4
Aqamai KPS Powerhead: https://goo.gl/7USY9H

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400 gallon setup for sale

I am new here but am looking for a place to sell my 400gallon custom acrylic tank saltwater setup , full setup for sale ,

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Dog TRTI Sunday

No idea what Jack was thinking. He got me up, and it is 2 am. We are both up now


Coffee is on, and hopefully something boring will be on that puts us both back to sleep until the Shark Vacuum or My Pillow infomercial comes on.


Supposed to be nice weather today. Yesterday was a "frog strangler" to use Cath's term.


Have a great Sunday.

Respect memorial Day

When I was a kid memorial Day was called Decoration Day and it was a day of remembrance of all the people who died defending the United States and people would go to cemeteries and decorate the graves of our brave hero's who died so that we didn't have to.

Today, sadly, most people think of it as a day off and a sale day to buy stuff cheaper. But I hope many of us remember the true meaning of the day and take a minute off to pay respect to these brave Americans who gave their lives.
I am sure the Patriotic people on these forums remember.

A sunny seashore Saturday!

Well sunny 1/2 the day....but sounded good. :thumbup: Good morning to all our Friends joining us around the TRT Training table....HAPPY SATURDAY! 90 and 1/2 sunny, and Shoebee bugs abound! HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! Dunkin Donuts follow the sleepless over house so there's tons to go with our coffee. Looking forward to getting home from work so I can do some real work around here......got to get Hack's-Place ready for the summer fun. Hope all are groovy,
Hack

Sea Hare + Wrasse = ???

Overall my ever lingering algae problems are slowly subsiding, but I was thinking of adding a sea hare to finish it off, but was a little worried that my Melanurus Wrasse would quickly make for tank emergency.

Is that the case? Or is it one of those things where if I throw it in there at night or when the wrasse isn't looking like I do the rest of the CUC it will leave it alone?

Or is it just not worth the risk overall?

Oops

So yesterday, I forgot to put my Frozen Rotifers and Mysis Shrimp back in the freezer. I realized this just now when I was getting to feed the fish. Would you refreeze or toss in the garbage?

Dosing vs Water Changes?

I have been doing some research and finding conflicting opinions on this.

I have a 90 gallon with DSB, carbon, and chaeto in the sump.

0 nitrates and .01 Phosphates however my PH is getting a little low.

I was wondering if I could dose Alk/Calc to replenish lost nutrients vs water changes.

Reason being is I do not have storage to hold RODI for the water change AND m ATO.

I only have 2 clowns and a couple soft corals so the nutrient export has gone well but I’m concerned about the dropping PH and replenishment.

Tank has been up and runnning for 3 1/2 months now and I haven’t done a single water change 😕

Any thoughts on dosing vs the water changes?

Friday!

Top of the morning TRT Friends, and.....,HAPPY FRIDAY! (" Sounds sooooo much more heart felt than 'HAPPY *ONDAY!".") Another summer'ish day here at the already Shoebee bug infested shore. They're wasting no time getting down here. Some more Thomas's English muffins and jellies to go with our coffee this morning. Lighter fare for the warmer weather. Hope all are safe and well,
Hack

Three little nems

I think I've got three different pest anemones in my tank. Can anyone ID to be sure? Also, will my lfs sell hypodermic needles/syringes for injecting them?

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Chaeto

Who is cornering the market on Chaeto? It's hard to find or perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? Is there a alternative to Chaeto?

Terrific Thursday

Amazingly nice weather in rural Ohio. Getting ready to drive to work. Only bad thing about sunrise is that lots of critters are crossing the road.


Coffee is on.


After work putting planter boxes together from kits. Read online that putting newspapers down is the way to kill the grass under the fill material.


Enjoy your day!

Skimmers and ATOs

Ugh! Having a hard time dialing in my Reef Octo BH1000 HOB skimmer. It's always either skimming way too wet or way too dry (not skimming at all). I just can't hit that sweet spot where it consistently skims some nice, disgusting gunk! Then again, I have a low bio-load, and therefore do not feed my tank all that much.

My main question is how do other reefers compensate for the skimmate when you have an ATO on your tank, especially if you have a tendency to skim a little on the wetter side? As your skimmer pulls liquid out of the system, it is going to be replenished by the ATO with RO/DI, which will slowly lower your salinity, right? I started thinking about this dilemma last night when I noticed my skimmer was skimming really wet after my latest attempt to micro-adjust the skimmate production.

Determining return pump needs

Hi, I I'm switching my tank to a do-it-yourself drilled overflow from glass holes that is rated at 700 gallons per hour. I'm trying to figure out what size return pump I need. It's a 40 breeder with a 40 breeder sump. I was reading that your return pump should try to match your overflow calculating in for head loss, but I don't know what number to use. Am I trying to match 700 gallons per hour since that's what my overflow is rated at, or is that just a maximum that that overflow can do?
700 gallons per hour seems like a lot of flow for mixed Reef. Even five times Flow woud be only 200.
Do I try to shoot for something like 300 gallons per hour since that's closer to what the skimmer is rated for and it's about 7 times my tank volume?
If that's the case do I need to put a gate valve on my overflow line on its way to the sump to slow it down?
I have been reading like crazy but can't really find a specific answer to whether 700 gallons per hour is actually what that return delivers or if it's just its maximum.
Thanks

Happy Hump Day Wednesday

Morning everyone. Coffee is on.


I start a little after six and need to commute, so up at 4:30 these days. This is a lot better than my old job with folks rolling in at the crack of 9:30.


Got a lot of rain lately. Couple inches came down the other day and more yesterday.



Enjoy your day!

Tuesday!

Clever huh! Top of the morning TRT Friends, and....HAPPY TUESDAY! A moderate chance of afternoon showers, or not. Those PB+J's really worked for me yesterday, so grab a napkin and help yourself....plenty of coffee also. Sounds like a TB ward around here now.....WE ALL HAVE COLDS! On top of allergies! Did the driver stop George? And any updates on the girl? Fantastic that your camera saw it! That's king sized suckie right there Perry and Denise. Hope all turns to good in a big hurry for you. Suck in some Paradise breezes for us Jeff, wet, or dry. Hope the day finds all soaked in grooviness,
Hack

HELP!!! my mandarin dragonet has blisters!!!

Hi, i’m really looking for some help with this beautiful fish. i put him in and the first 24hrs he was fine. But i saw him a day ago and he started forming clear bubble/Blisters on his skin and today he is breathing rapidly. I have no ammonia or history of any disease in the tank.

tank specs: 20 gallon truvu with 2 black ocellarus clowns, pearly jawfish, purple firefish and a tiger pistol shrimp.

parameters:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrates: 15
phosphates: 0.05
ph: 8.2
alk: 9
mag: 1500
salt: 1.025
temp: 78

I am running a small protein skimmer and the light is a kessel A360W.

A back at it Monday

Good *orning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY *ONDAY! NO RAIN!!!! Just realized we're rushing towards *emorial Day weekend.....WOW! There's going to be a 'rushed *entality' at work then this week, fro*n custo*ers, and the boss.....oh goody! Got so*e PB+J on toast to go with our *orning coffee, plus it travels well. Hope all are well,
Hack

Nitrates and Nem?

My LFS has a really nice GBTA and A RBTA. I have always wanted a nem and I checked and they are both eating and the Green one is hosting a clown. I have a 75g reef tank, but I am worried because my nitrates range between 20-25ppm. I know some people have run successful reef tanks with levels like that but I was wondering if it would be safe to house a nem in. My plane was to drip accumulate the nem for 12 hours to slowly accumulate it to the high nitrates. What do you guys think?

Anemone trouble again

So y'all probably know that I have had my anemone for about 2 months now and it has been doing great no problems once so ever except for at the very beginning. Well within the last 2 weeks my anemone has decided it it doesn't like my tank. It has been movingly almost every night and then stays in the spot it stops at and looks happy then about three days ago it decided it doesn't even want to perk up during the day now. Here is a pic of before and now.Attachment 177338Attachment 177346

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No more sand?

Someone told me that sand is a thing of the past and that they only run crushed coral now. They said sand will kill corals and that they never recommend it unless it is a FO tank. This was a guy at the LFS and he said they never use sand in their tanks. Any thoughts on this?

Sunny at last Sunday

Cavs got it back together.


Might work on planter boxes today, and need to finish up some trim molding.


Coffee is on. Enjoy your Sunday.

Royal Wedding Saturday

I'm good now.:thumbup:
Good morning TRT Friends, and....HAPPY SATURDAY! And NO, I won't be watching it! We have sooooooo much doughnuts, and danish on our counter, I sure hope Y'All grab a handful to go with our morning coffee. And they're the good kind, NOT D.D.'s! Yep, more rain today, and YEP, I'm heading in again, and YEP, I did manage to come down with my first 'head cold' of the season on top of my ailments. :angry: Hope all have just simply a fantastic day,
Hack

Full View Aquariums: We Built 2 Nano Tanks -- WIN BOTH!

Full View Aquariums: We Built 2 Nano Tanks -- WIN BOTH!

Full View Aquariums: Win a Nano Reef or a Freshwater Planted Tank!

Thought it was a goner!

Over the past week, I had noticed my Devil's Hand Coral going through a color change and shriveling up. Today, it looks like he is going to be ok. The color has returned, tentacles out and appears to be bigger than before. I noticed some mucous type stuff on him this morning, could he just have been going through a shedding phase?Attachment 177258Attachment 177266

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ID for unknown encrusting SPS coral, please!

Would someone please be kind enough to help me identify this bright green encrusting SPS frag I picked up from an LFS? I really like it. The polyps look more like fine hairs than polyps. Clicking on the photo takes you to a video clip of the frag.

Much obliged!

Why do I keep losing fish!!?

I've had my tank for 2 years.
35 gallons, about 15lbs of live rock.
Cuc: 2 strawberry conch, 3 emerald crabs, 1 cleaner shrimp
Fish(that are left): clownfish, black clownfish, royal gramma
And soft corals.
Just 2 weeks ago I had a firefish and 2 damsels. The damsels went missing I have no idea what happened to them. This morning I saw my fire fish laying at the bottom of the tank unable to swim but still breathing and no signs or injury. I never saw anyone picking at him. They were peaceful tank mates.
Not sure what's happening but fish keep dying! All parameters are stable.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Happy birthday to Dave's Not Here on 5/18

And here's the Official TRT Chorus® to sing......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOO YOUUUU!!

Splish splash Friday!

Not to sound like a broken record, BUT IT'S RAINING......AGAIN! Top of the morning TRT Friends, and yep, HAPPY FRIDAY! Got a fresh batch of Thomas's English muffins around here to go with an assortment of jellies to chase down our morning coffee. Hack, and a few others of the 'sleepless over brigade' will be spending the night over at another's home tonight. Hitting 'GOT AIR' place first, then Applebee's. We'll snag them tomorrow night for another sleepless night. Hope the day finds all safe, well, and dry,
Hack

Tips/advice for putting reef tank on cruise control?

Hey, all my wet and salty friends! I could really use whatever tips, tricks, advice, recommendations, best practices, etc. that anyone can offer to help put my reef tank on cruise control. Almost two months ago, during a vacation to the USVI, my passion for my reef tank was reignited after a 3+ year hiatus. Since then, my OCD has been on overdrive trying to get my tank back up to spec.

Unfortunately, my wife is starting to get really annoyed with the amount of time, effort, money, and attention I've been putting into my tank. I don't blame her, and I actually agree that I've been a bit too attentive to my tank lately at the detriment of attention paid to my family. With the warmer weather finally arriving in the Chicagoland area, summer break starting in a couple weeks for my kids, and our family's desire to make this summer all about getting out and about enjoying nature, I need to find ways to reduce the amount of time and maintenance my tank requires.

As many of you may know from other threads, I've been battling with high nitrates lately. Most all of my other water parameters are finally (roughly) coming into line, but my nitrates have been up over 100 ppm. After serious thinking and contemplating and remembering with my brain thingy (getting harder to do with age), I'm fairly certain of the cause of the high nitrates, and I'm hoping those will eventually, naturally, and with as little intervention as possible start working their way down to acceptable levels. After thinking back over actions I've taken over the past month, I think I've narrowed the source of the high nitrates down to simple overfeeding a couple weeks back. There was nearly a whole week when I was feeding a full cube of frozen mysis plus a couple good squirts of bottled plankton every day. I only have one clownfish, a couple dozen snails/hermit crabs, and a couple handfuls of softie/LPS corals in my tank. Way too much food for way too few mouths. I've done several 20% water changes, added a chaeto refugium, brought my protein skimmer back online (had stopped using it several years ago due to overflowing issues), and added a large bag of Seachem Matrix in my sump. The NO4 levels appear to be on their way down, just not very quickly.

I've received several recommendations in other threads to remove the almost 10-year-old sand bed from my DT. Until this morning, I was planning to do just that. After my wife's complaints this morning that I've been too focused on my tank lately and not attentive enough to her and my daughters, I've decided to forego removing the sand bed for now. I understand this may be a detrimental decision in the long run, but I unfortunately cannot find the time in the next several months for such a monumental maintenance project. For now, I'm going to keep the sand bed and just hope that leaving it undisturbed will prevent any "huge" issues for the immediate future.

In my efforts to reduce the time and maintenance needs of my tank, here are steps I have already taken:

1. I have *FINALLY* installed a true automatic top-off unit!!! A week ago, I ordered/received/installed a Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO. Now all I have to do is make up a 5-gallon bucket of RO/DI once a week and pour it into my reservoir. I used to have a 5-gallon bucket gravity-fed ATO, but that thing was not consistent or reliable at all. Even when I thought I had everything set up correctly and sealed off airtight, that thing would still leak the entire contents of the bucket within a few hours dumping a boatload of FW into my sump. I'm so happy with the Tunze now, and I wish I would have gotten it years ago!

2. I've switched over to the Triton Method and am using the Core7 base elements for dosing. I'm still trying to dial everything in as far as my dosing regimen, but I'm confident that once I get it tweaked, I should be good to go. I've gone Triton in order to reduce the volume and frequency of water changes. Not that my 55g DT and 30g sump required that much volume in the way of WCs, but it was annoying my wife to see me hauling out all my equipment every week to make up the fresh SW and perform the WC. So, I'm hoping the Triton Method will allow me to cut way back on WCs. Now my only issue is trying to find a way to streamline the dosing regimen.

3. I replaced my old lighting system with (2) 48" Fluval Sea, Marine, & Reef v3.0 LED lighting fixtures. These 3.0 fixtures are Bluetooth capable and let me set up, control, and program my lighting cycle on my iPhone. Now that it's set up, it runs automatically.

4. I started my protein skimmer back up. It's a Reef Octopus BH1000 HOB skimmer. Yeah, I know it's not a big, super-powered skimmer, but I have a very low stocking level in my tank (1 fish, some CUC, and some corals). Per the manufacturer, with low stocking levels, the skimmer is rated for up to 100 gallons. I only have around 60 gallons net water volume. I have performed a couple mods on it to make it skim better (venturi mod and pinwheel mod). Also, I installed a drain line on the collection cup that runs to a 2-gallon container. So, I don't have to spend 15-20 minutes every few days trying to reach around the backside of my tank and wriggle the cup out to empty it.

5. I installed a chaeto refugium in my sump to help uptake and export nutrients. Right now, I only have a Mars Aqua 24W LED Grow Light in a reflector lighting it on a cycle opposite my DT. The growth of the chaeto has not been phenomenal, but it is growing. I am trying to decide if I should upgrade to one of those 100W, 200W, or 300W LED grow lights you can get on Amazon for relatively cheap. My only concern is that bright of light might be too much. I'll let the 24W bulb keep going for now and see how it works out over time.

6. For now, I am intentionally keeping my stocking levels very low. The main reason is that I have a 10 year old clownfish that has allegedly killed every other fish I have ever added to my tank. I do not wish to waste any more money on fish until this clownfish has swam out to the great blue yonder. Also, I have always been more interested in the micro-life in a reef tank than the fish. I'd rather add corals and inverts.

7. I'm sticking with mostly softies and LPS in this tank. I don't have any desire to go crazy with an SPS-heavy tank that would end up requiring sophisticated and expensive lighting/monitoring/controlling/dosing systems. I have one small frag of an unknown green encrusting SPS. Everything else is GSP, Euphyllia, Xenia, Kenya tree, Toadstool leather, mushrooms, and zoas.

And here are things I would *like* to do, but they most likely will not happen:

8. Probably the thing I would most like to do to further automate/reduce maintenance is to get a dosing system for my Triton Core7 elements. I mean, it technically doesn't take too much time and effort to dose my Core7 elements every night, especially with the relatively low volume of water I have in my system. However, if I could automate it, that's one fewer task I have to perform on a daily basis. Plus, an automatic dosing system could dose much more precisely and consistently than I can. Unfortunately, automatic dosing systems seem to be pretty pricey, especially given the sum of money I've already spent in a very short amount of time trying to get my reef tank back inline. My wife is not very keen on me spending much more now.

9. And speaking of pricey, automated systems, I would love, Love, LOVE to get a wireless Apex system with the pH, salinity, and temperature probes. I would love to automate the monitoring/controlling of those specs and be able to view them from anywhere in the world and receive automatic notifications if anything is out of whack. Unfortunately, such an Apex system is a huge spend and too much for me to try and slip past my wife.

Anyway, after all this typing on my part, and all the reading on your part (thanks, by the way), does anyone have any input on tips, tricks, best practices to further reduce the time and effort required to maintain a reef tank? I would love to be able to put this thing on cruise control as much as possible, but I have limited funds to make anything fancy happen. So, inexpensive and easy-to-implement suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Robb

Unhappy Green BTA

Hi all,
Ive had a green bta in my 220 for several months. Originally he was open and happy and eating every few days. For the last month hes been retracted and bleachy-looking and droopy. I did change the lighting recently but he was looking junky before that and its been a couple weeks now and he has not moved in reaction to the change or perked up or gotten worse. The clowns were getting interested in him but he wont open so theyve given up.

I have LED blackboxes for lighting, Idk the exact PAR levels but Duncan coral, monitporas, xenias, birdsnest, candycanes all happy and growing, hair alge on the decline, fish look great etc.

Ph: 8.1-8.2
Phos: 0-0.05
Nitrate/Amonia: 0/0
Temp: 79
Sal: 1.025
Cal/Dkh- 500/10

Tank has been running 2 years so its not new, and Ive really wanted an anemone. Should I remove him? Leave him be? Get another one? Any thoughts as to what would make him happier? = ( THank you!
First 2 pics are of him 6 weeks ago, last pic is how hes looked the last 3 weeks or so
[ATTACH][ATTACH][ATTACH]Attachment 177170[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

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Now it's a soggy Thursday

Another day, another soggy one! Good morning TRT Friends, and HAPPY THURSDAY! Yes! Yes it is another rainy day here at the shore. Momma must love us, or she's up to something, but there's Dunkin Donuts on the counter this morning to go with our coffee. Only in the 60's again around these parts, but it does feel good. Hope all are well......and Jeff, hope it's a memorable stay at the Cove for you,
Hack

Is it a Skimmer or Filter? It's BOTH!

Is it a Skimmer or Filter? It's BOTH!

New blog posts! New products! Coming soon!

Anemone close to circulation fan

Ok so I have to leave to go to school in a little bit and was wondering if I should put my foam around the fan and if I should cover the end if I do? Any quick help would be great!

A wet Wednesday!

Welcome to a wet Wednesday, and the beginning of a soggy week of the same stuff. Hi Folks, and GOOD MORNING! Either the weather guesser's keyboard stuck, or it's the same rainy pattern for about a week now. Hope I can find some way to keep my rain coat dry!? :rolleyes: PB+J on white toast to go with our morning coffee around here. All the very best to all,
Hack

What are media reactors for?

What exactly are media reactors used for? Are they a requirement for every sump? If I am setting up a new sump should I put one in? Thank you!

Starfish in reef tank?

I have a 120 gal tank that I have been starting to add livestock too. I want to have a chocolate chip starfish in it but I also want to have coral. I know that the starfish are not reef safe, but I wanted to know if it would be ok if I made a platform about 5 inches away from the sides of the tank and have in hang from the top of the fish tank with string. If I did this would I be able to keep coral on the platform? Any advice will help.

Thanks

Carbon dosing and stirring up the sand bed?

I'm trying to get my sky-high nitrates down. It's slow going and kind of frustrating. I am going to try carbon dosing (vodka method) for the first time to try and get the NO3 down a bit quicker. From everything I'm reading, C dosing seems to be pretty effective and has several benefits in addition to lower N and P (e.g. improved water clarity, improved coral coloration, etc.).

I have a question about my sand bed with regards to C dosing. My nearly 10yo reef tank has the same fine, oolitic aragonite sandbed I originally set it up with. Obviously, in 10 years, this sandbed has probably accumulated/trapped a fair amount of detritus.

I know the general consensus is that if you haven't been in the habit of regularly stirring and/or vacuuming your sandbed, you should not suddenly start doing so. I'm wondering if C dosing changes that at all? If I start C dosing, will I be able to start stirring up my sandbed a little bit at a time in order to let the bacterial bloom from the C dosing get at the detritus? Will the increased bacteria help reduce the detritus/nutrients with which my sandbed has become clogged? If so, can I just stir up a small area every 3-4 days or so and let the C dosing bacteria consume that and be exported via skimming?

I love the look of the sandbed in a reef tank, which is why I've kept it in my tank all this time. However, if I was starting all over, I'd probably go bare bottom to avoid this detritus sink issue. Unfortunately, taking out the sand is not an option at this point. So, I need to find a way to clean the detritus/nitrates out of my sand without causing a total system collapse.

Looking for Rimless Reef Savvy Tank (180-225 gallon)

Looking for a Rimless Reef Savvy Tank in the 180-225 gallon range.

Dream dimensions would be 72x30x24.

I know it's a long shot, but you'll never know unless you ask.

Let me know if you have one or know of one that's for sale.

"Nature Aquarium" reef tank crossover?

Many, many, many moons ago before I got into saltwater, I was really into high-tech, heavily-planted FW. I was a HUGE fan of the Amano-style "Nature Aquarium" and the landscape style of aquascaping. There are many styles of aquascaping in the "Nature Aquarium", but I was always keen on those tanks that had a "mountain pass" kind of look to them. Something similar to this tank submitted to the AGA 2017 aquascaping contest:



I tried doing some preliminary Google searching, but have not yet come up with anything that I'm looking for. Has anyone attempted or seen a successful reef tank that is able to use certain types of corals to create a similar natural landscape style of aquascaping?

What made me think of this was I was watching some YouTube videos and came across a reefer who was using GSP in their nano tank to produce a carpeting effect. Seeing this immediately reminded me of the Amano-style tanks I used to drool over decades ago.

If I were to ever set up a second reef tank, I think I would try to research and build something that would look like one of these "Nature Aquarium" type of tanks but with saltwater and corals instead of freshwater and plants.

Fully automated reef tanks?

Who has a fully automated reef tank? What is the most automated reef tank you've ever seen, either in person or online? I'm more interested in private reef tanks rather than large municipal or institutional tanks. I just want to be able to see and daydream about what people have done to automate everything as much as possible. Does automating a tank make it more or less enjoyable as a hobby?

Bonus points from me if you can include links to nice, automated tanks!

fromia and red Linkia +shipping stars

So I'm wondering two things, Which is easier to care for of, a fromia starfish or a Red Linkia starfish? Do we know? Second question is if it would be wise to keep a starfish in a bag for 30 hours, since starfish are very delicate. (For shipping I mean.)

Thanks!:dance:

Welcome to Tuesday!

Top of the morning TRT Friends, and....HAPPY TUESDAY! Got some dippy eggs and white toast to go with our morning coffee, so grab a napkin. Chance of showers today leading us into a week full of chances of rain. Smacking 90 today for a high, so make that chances of thunder storms as well. BUT TOMORROW, in the 60's! Welcome to spring! Hope the day finds everyone well, and safe,
Hack

NEW VID & GIVEAWAY: ME Coral Calcium and Alkalinity

Today we are taking a look at ME Coral Pharmaceutical grade Calcium and Alkalinity products as well as their Kalkwasser. All these products and more are available at Premium Aquatics. Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe.

ME Coral CAL: https://goo.gl/5hxyCF
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ME Coral Kalk: https://goo.gl/mGsrTm

Visit Premium Aquatics: https://premiumaquatics.com



For a chance to win ME Coral Calcium and Alkalinity:
1. Watch video and hit Thumbs up
2. Subscribe if you haven't already to our channel
3. Post a comment on our YouTube video page

Another cycling question

Hi all,

Thanks again to everyone for all the help so far. I had a question about cycling. So, two weeks ago I started my tank. So far ammonia levels have risen very high. Nothing on nitrites yet. I was wondering when you add live rock to the tank? Should I be adding anything else while it cycles? Currently the only thing in the tank is the raw shrimp i used to start the cycle.

Thanks for the help,
Jay

Green tooth coral

So went to a lfs today and they had a huge colony of what they called green tooth coral for sale and it was 50% off. I tried and tried to get a pic of it but it was in a deep tank and my phone wouldn’t get a et a pic of it. Kind of looked like this Attachment 177105 except lighter in color. I also noticed the coral towards the bottom was kind of a brown color like it had died or is dying and was starting to look like rock almost. Does anyone have any experience with these are they as aggressive as the websites say it is
Thanks In advance
Matt

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No more DSB's for me

It's finally finished.

As of now, the rest of the sand that was under the rocks is gone, the old rocks are gone, the starboard is down on the bottom of the tank, the new rocks are in place (more or less), and there's all new water.

Best RODI System

What would be the best RODI system to maintain a 100 gallon tank? How would you set the whole thing up other than just the filter. Do you guys run hoses into buckets. Once in the buckets how does that work. Do you have valves at the bottom or do you pump water out and directly into your tank? Any advice on RODI would be helpful! Thanks. My water would be coming from Santa Clara County, CA if that matters.

Is my Clownfish a serial killer?

I still have my original Ocellaris Clowfish (Volcano) from when I set up my 55g reef tank 10 years ago. I got him/her as a pair, but the partner departed this world a few years later. Volcano is the only fish I currently have in my tank.

On many occasions over the past 10 years, I have tried adding more community, reef-safe fish to my tank, costing several hundreds of dollars over the years. Unfortunately, every single time I've added fish, they have all "disappeared" within a couple weeks of being introduced. When I say disappeared, I quite literally mean they have vanished without a trace. Not all the fish all at once, but over the course of a couple weeks, all the fish start disappearing. I have never found remains (e.g. fish parts, bones, etc.) of the fish anywhere in my tank. They don't end up in my overflow, sump, or on the floor behind my tank.

When I added new fish to my tank in the past, my water parameters were always in line. So, I doubt that is was bad water that killed them off. Even if it was, I would have expected to find fishies floating around in my tank somewhere, but I have never seen remnants anywhere. Like I said, they all just "disappear".

The *ONLY* common theme with all these disappearances is that my Volcano is always the sole survivor. I never witnessed him/her attacking other fish when I added them, but yet, he's the only one left standing while all others have *poofed*!

So, do I have a serial killer for a Clownfish?! I have vowed to never waste any more money adding fish to my tank again until after Volcano has run up the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This saddens me, because I would like to have several fish swimming around in my tank adding motion and additional interest. But, alas, Volcano persists! For 10+ freaking years! How does this little guy keep plugging along for so long?!

A dreary Monday

Good *orning to all our TRT Friends we'll be hearing fro* today, and HAPPY *ONDAY! *id 70's and cloudy lead us off this week around here, leaning *ore towards rain the rest of the week. Looks like we'll be sharing your rain Jeff with you. Cherry frosted Pop Tarts to go with our coffee this *orning. Hope all the best for all,
Hack

Sponge?

Just noticed this black sponge looking thing, haven’t tried feeling it to see texture of it yet. Hard to get a picture of it with my phone as it’s in the back of the tank.
Attachment 177033Attachment 177041

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Happy Mothers Day!!

Morning all :fish:

Coffee is on, get those cups ready:thumbup:

Cool and cloudy the words today,,,, grrr,,,I have a few words of my own to add.
Even more choice words for the weather forecast the next few weeks for my vacation to the south.

Will prob remorning after my coffee IV;)

Hope everyone has a great day!:blob:

Happy Mother’s Day

Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mother’s,thanks for being you! Coffee and Cinnamon Raisin French Toast with fruit,and your choice of meat,with flowers on the table. Wet day her. Her’s a pic of my mom with me and my sis.

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Happy Mothers Day

The title says it all. I would personally like to thank all the Mothers, including mine, and my wife for all that you do that is not recognized. It is a very tough job and you don't get thanked enough for it. :thumbup:

Grand Mothers are also Mothers so we should thank them also.

Cool soft coral I got not sure about identity

I got this for my freshly cycled tank not sure if it’s a pulse Xenia? Is the brown bits normal? Forgive my ignorance just added a few small soft corals and a feather duster to my just cycled tank. First saltwater tank it’s 90gal has about 90lbs of live rock and 100lbs of live sand.

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A rainy Saturday

Good morning TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY SATURDAY! Rain and thunderstorms at the moment, will give way, 'They say', to clouds, then back to afternoon and night thunderstorms. heading into work for a couple launches, but we'll see. Yard work doesn't sound like an option for the afternoon around here, BUT. Sorry to hear you way over did it yesterday George. I found a particularly good cantaloupe to schlep on the table to go with our morning coffee.....but there's equally as good box of drake's Funny Bones also. Hope all the best for all,
Hack

Which Chemi-Pure Should You Use: Original, Elite, Blue, or Green?

Which Chemi-Pure Should You Use: Original, Elite, Blue, or Green?

VIDEO: Find out the differences between each type of Chemi-Pure filter media!

Pests

I just discovered in the last two days that have Aiptasia and Asterina star fish. I've had Aiptasia before, in which I used Aipstasia X to kill because my tank was cycling and I couldn't add a peppermint shrimp at that time. My hope was to add My first coral this weekend. So, my question is....is it OK to introduce a Harlequin shrimp and a peppermint shrimp at the same time and will they live happily in a 20 gallon tank without eating a coral? If not, which one of these pests should I deal with first? I feel I have way too many small Aipstasia to kill them all using Aipstasia X. I'm certain there are more in there that I'm not seeing. I can barely notice some of these, as they're so small. The star fish, I'm only seeing about 5 or 6 of them at the moment.

Friday!

Good morning all our TRT Friends, and....HAPPY FRIDAY! Another fine spring weather day here at the South Jersey shore, near 80 and pretty much sunny. Got some scrambled egg sandwiches to go with our coffee this morning. Hope all have groovy things ahead of them, and all the best,
Hack

Dream 150gallon Build

List what would be an ideal 150 or 100 gallon build for you. Include all equipment one would need, including a sump. I am trying to gauge a price for my build, so don't go crazy and all out as I want to keep the cost somewhat low and reasonable. Thank you very much! If you have any recommendations they would be welcome!

is this normal for my nem?

Hi, i have a nem that has been in my tank for over a week, never inflated since. he still has color but won’t stick to things that well. no open mouth but swollen, it goes swollen and back to normal but won’t eat. i don’t know what to do. I’m doing a water change today to bring the nitrates down.

light: kessel A360W
water parameters:
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate:20ppm
calcium:380
alkalinity: 9
ph:8.2
phosphate:0
salt:1.025
temp:78

20 gallon truvu with 2 black ocellarus clowns, 2 domino damsels, watchmen goby & pistol shrimp, 6 blue legged hermit crabs and pearly jawfish.

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A quiet Thursday

Quiet around here this morning, well.....Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Let's be quiet.
TOP OF THE MORNING TRT FRIENDS, and GOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOORRRRRNING! HAPPY THURSDAY! Yeah I know, I do have 'that streak' in me. :rolleyes: Yep, another spring day around these parts.....so much better than when winter wasn't giving up the ghost. How'd Gunther do George? Got some Buttermilk Waffles around here to go with our morning coffee. Hope the day finds all safe and well,
Hack

Fluval F90 Warning!

I just purchased a Fluval F90 based on the Fluval video that features the F series setups. They feature fish guards that attach to the light for a very nice look to the system.

I received the system, and discovered that they changed the light, and the fish guards can no longer attach to the new light. In addition, they force you to get to clips so the new light can attach to the F90 brackets. If that was not enough they inform you that you need to go to the hardware store to buy the appropriate bolts and nuts to attach the light.

Thy still show the video featuring how the guards, but beware because that is not what you get.

However the story does not end with light. They also sent me the wrong nut size for attaching the inlet / discharge pipes to the tank.

After complaining they sent me the wrong part again! Their customer service is horrible. I would not but from fluval again.

I'm Planning a 50 Gallon Tank

My Dad and I are planning a 50-gallon saltwater tank to put in our living room. I'm thinking of getting a dwarf fuzzy lionfish and he wants to get a yellow tang.

And we have a Wednesday!

Top of the morning TRTY Friends, and.....HAPPY WEDNESDAY/HUMP DAY!
Another beautiful spring day here at the South Jersey Shore....I think the Chamber of Commerce owes me! 70's and sunshine. Back to Frosted Cherry Pop tarts to go with our morning coffee and Carnation Instant Breakfast 'Milk Chocolate'. Hope the day finds all safe and well,
Hack

Bottled bacteria why it may not be a good Idea

I started this thread to put out the reasons why it is not necessarily a good idea to use bottled bacteria to start a tank.
The manufacturers of these products on the most part sell them to "instantly" cycle a tank. They even passively push to cycle with fish if not out right saying, shake, pour add fish.
Below is a quote from a leading manufactures website.
"Remember fishless cycling takes a little longer than the traditional method of adding a few fish after you have added a bottle of One & Only to your tank. Either way is fine."
For some one with experience using these products will not pose much of a problem, however there are risks to people who simply want an instant salt water aquarium.
One product, highly regarded, has specific shelf life and extremes of temperature that it must be kept within. For people who order from their website they even have a cost extra option to ship the product in a climate control box (insulated).
The real danger in using them is that once they leave the manufacturer all bets are off as to how they are handled and stored.
I will give an example, the store does not exist, If one does by this name it is in no way related.

Plane Jane's Pets Inc. has hundreds of stores around the country. To get the product at the lowest price for them and make a good profit, they order 200 cases of the product from the manufacturer to be shipped to their warehouse.
The manufacturer fills the order and puts 200 cases in the back of a tractor trailer bound for Plane Jane's warehouse, some where in the Midwest to be make shipping to all of their stores cheaper. It is summer and a trailer is not the coolest of places with temperatures that can easily pass the maximum temperature of the product.
The trailer arrives at Plane Jane's where it can not be unloaded immediately. The product's temp remains elevated.
The product is removed and placed in the warehouse. While the temperature is not extremely high it still above normal room temperature.
Now the product sits a few months until it is ordered by one of Plane Jane's retail outlets.
Back in a truck back on the road and back to high temperatures.
Once at the store it sits in the store room and on the shelf 2 to 3 months before it is sold.
Someone buys the bottle which may be within it's 5 month shelf life but is ruined due to excess heat. The follow the instructions, shake, pour and add fish. What if a few fish anyway 3, 5. The dead bacteria can not remove the ammonia as it builds up and all the fish die.

Yes, this may be a worst case scenario but very possible and most like happening every day.
If you use a product like this don't expect it to make the tank "instantly" fish safe. Check for manufacture dates and expiration dates.

Cupramine treatment

This is my first encounter with ich, as I’m not too experienced in the saltwater hobby yet. I had a pair of clowns and a diamond goby. One clown got hit hard overnight and died this morning. I’m not sure the cause of the stress. All my levels are reading zero. My other clown has seemed to become just as bad as it’s pair that has died. I picked up cupramine today and I’m putting both the clown and goby in a QT tank to medicate. If the goby doesn’t show any signs and I still medicate with the clown as a precaution, will it be okay? Any help on my situation is greatly appreciated!

Welp, it's Tuesday!

Good morning Folks, ....and HAPPY TUESDAY! Tuesdays and Mondays kinda blurr together, feel kinda the same. 70's and partly sunny will be the battle cry the rest of the week around here. I see a box of Drake's Funny Bones on the counter with our names on it to go with our morning coffee, so don't be shy. Hope all the best for all,
Hack

Recommendations on app/website to track tank parameters?

I'm trying to settle on a good website and/or iPhone app to use for tracking my tank specs, parameters, and livestock. For the past couple of days, I've been using AquariMate (AM), which I really like. The iPhone app and the Windows downloadable program are both neatly organized and look very well thought out.

But then I started noticing other TRTers who have this nifty signature in their posts that lists all their tank parameters. I researched where they got this signature and found out it comes from the AquaticLog (AL) website and app. I signed up for a trial account and downloaded the app. Unfortunately, the site/app aren't as polished as AM to my eyes, but AL offers additional features that AM doesn't, such as the forum signature, a whole community of fellow reef tank enthusiasts, and photo hosting.

AM is only $9.99 per year subscription. AL Basic is also $9.99 but does not include some of the things AM includes such as reminders and tank controller integration. To get those features, you have to upgrade to AL Pro, which is $29.99 per year.

Who all has used either of these two apps/website/programs for an extended period and would be willing to offer insight into which they believe is better? Or are there other options you would recommend?

NEW VID & GIVEAWAY: ME Coral Bio Pellets

Today we are taking a look at ME Coral Bio-P which is Bio Pellets and available at Premium Aquatics.

ME Bio-Pellets are made from pure high grade PHA. Their round shape fluidize easily with minimal floating or clumping. Bio-P is an excellent carbon source for bacteria that consume and reduce nitrate and some phosphate.

ME Coral Bio Pellets; https://goo.gl/pEcB8Y

Visit Premium Aquatics: https://premiumaquatics.com



For a chance to ME Coral Bio Pellets:
1. Watch video and hit Thumbs up
2. Subscribe if you haven't already to our channel
3. Post a comment on our YouTube video page

what anemone do i have

hi i bought a anemone and couldn’t understand the guy working at the fish store so i have no idea what anemone i have. i also want to know if it’s a sand or rock dwelling anemone. here are some pics

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36 Gallon Bowfront, ECustom Drill and Sumpsuu

Hello all, I’m still in the research phase for the tank but wanted to share my “rough draft” plans. I am new to reefing, but not to intricate fish keeping. I kept a pair of figure 8 puffers in brackish water for almost two years before I had to move across the country. While I know they are not as complicated as a reef, I think they were probably a good warm up. I’m keeping the bowfront (yes, I know that the aquarium is the cheapest part of any setup) because the size and I do like the look. It’s stereotypical, but I want a pair of clowns and a BTA. I know the tank must be stable for 6 months before adding the anemone. I also am not planning on adding coral or other livestock besides the clowns, for fear of losing it to the anemone (unless anyone knows corals or fish or inverts that would do well? But most of what I’ve read is that things that live long in such a tank are on a case by case basis until the anemone moves or gets hungry). I’m planning to drill for an overflow and return, use my old 13 gallon as a DIY sump with an in sump skimmer. I keep getting mixed reviews about a sock on the overflow, so I’m not sure about that yet. I think I may go with a block of marine pure in the sump, but I don’t think I have room for much more than the skimmer and the return pump chamber, which needs to be adequate in volume for a power outage. In the tank itself I plan on starting with 20-30 pounds of live rock that my LFS has for comparatively cheap per pound. My plan is to transport it in buckets with water, and with a short drive I don’t anticipate die off. I then plan on getting a damsel to keep in there for what hopefully will not be a cycle, considering the wet to wet transport of mature live rock (thoughts?). Once the parameters are completely stabilized I plan to stick with my end objective of the anemone and clownfish, returning or passing along the damsel who may or may not be aggressive, but certainly not friendly with a BTA. I plan on having a pair of 500-800 gph powerheads (unless that is too much flow?). Finally, lighting, I know lighting is critical for BTAs. I was planning on getting one of those 180w LED sets available on Amazon. The reviews seem to be positive (thoughts? And if so, looking for thoughts from people that have these lights and a reef). Is there anything I’m missing? To be concise:

36 gallon bowfront
13 gallon 2 chamber sump
20-30lb of love rock
Protein skimmer
2 x 500-800gph power-heads
1 x 180watt LED “Coral Light” from Amazon
Wait for 6 months of stable parameters:
Pair of clowns
BTA that will hopefully grow/split

Thanks for any thoughts or corrections, I don’t want to endanger animals, or waste time/money.

Multiple questions for a struggling tank

Bear with me. I’m a bit of a newbie/idiot when it comes to this hobby, and I’ve been doing the “trial by crisis” for a few years now. I am also long-winded, so I apologize.

I have a RedSea Max 260, which has a 56-gallon display, 13-gallon rear-sump area, and a 30-gallon under tank sump, for a grand total of 99 gallons, give or take. About 40 lbs of live rock. In-sump, I have a protein skimmer and some bio-beads, and two bags of activated charcoal. 2 Hydra LED 26 lights. It has been minimally stocked for a year and a half, as I am overly cautious. I tend to do a 10-gallon water change every 1-2 weeks. Reef crystals with RO/DI (have a filter installed under my kitchen sink). Stocked with 2 clown fish, a tail spot blenny, a fire shrimp, and various snails and hermit crabs. Lots of the little tiny brittle sea stars, some asterinia, and lots of bristleworms and micro feather dusters. Things were pretty good and relatively stable since September of 2016.

About 5 months ago, my life got very chaotic. My father died, a kid broke his leg, and an elderly relative that I care for was diagnosed with cancer. In all the chaos, my tank was severely neglected. Between the end of December and about 4 weeks ago, I only changed the water twice, but did remember to feed. Water flow slowed to a crawl. I only had 3 small coral frags (feeding RedSea Reef Energy); one of them disappeared completely, and the other two shrank by about 50%. Most of the feather dusters died and broke off and were replaced with aiptasia. Amazingly, the fish, snails, and crabs seemed to be doing fine. When I tested the water, everything looked good, but I figured with the coral loss, something had to be wrong.

Starting 4 weeks ago, I did a 10% water change every day for three days, and then another one 3 days after that. Siphoning the sand, scraping the algae off the sides and back, and really trying to remove a large quantity of detritus and algae manually. Cleaned the filter socks 3x a day because they were getting blocked that quickly with all the stuff coming out. Took all the pumps apart and cleaned them. Changed the charcoal (had not done since December). It started to look a lot better. Rocks were still a mess, but feather dusters started to come back, and my coral frags seem to have perked up just a little.

After another week, everything seemed stable, so I bought a bigger cleanup crew to help. Lots of snails, peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab, fighting conch, sea cucumber, and I think unfortunately, a sea hare, which was supposed to be a lettuce nudibranch according to the package I bought. I say unfortunately because with all the problems my tank had, GHA was not on the list. So, I ran out and bought some nori at the grocery store based on something I read here, and the hare was all over it, along with a lot of other critters. Oh, and a diamond watchman goby to help sift the sand. My new favorite resident. He’s awesome. I have some chaeto on order that should be arriving this week to start a refugium in the sump. Peppermint shrimp have already virtually eliminated the visible aiptasia.

As of this morning:

Specific Gravity-1.026
Temperature-78°F
pH-8.0
Alkalinity-9 dKH
NH3-0
NO2-0
NO3-0
Phosphate- 0.25 ppm
Calcium -420 ppm
Magnesium- 1200

The only thing that I think I should be really concerned about is the phosphate, and I’m hoping the chaeto will help with that and the pH when it gets here. So my list of questions:

1. My tail spot blenny appears to have split his lower lip. Looks like an upside-down window curtain. No visible white stuff, so I don’t think it’s infected but I’m not sure. I don’t know if he did it or if the emerald crab snapped at him or what. He’s eating, and otherwise acting normally, but I’m worried. I do not have a QT. Do I just monitor him and see what happens, or do I try and pull him out and build a QT and try and treat him anyway? If I just monitor, what should I watch for?

2. The new cleanup crew has been in place for about a week and a half. How long should I wait for them to finish acclimating before I change the water again?

3. Sea cucumber disappeared under the sand pretty much immediately, and I haven’t seen it since. Do I just assume it’s doing fine, or should I go looking for it, and if so, how?

4. Can the sea hare be kept alive by feeding it seaweed, and if so, how much? How will I know if it’s starving?

5. Any recommendations for tweaking the lighting for best results? I have pretty much left it with the standard pre-sets that came with the lights, except I also run the infrared from the time the lights go out until we go to bed, about 4 hours.

6. Should I start trying to figure out dosing for the corals? I’ve read that unless you have lots of them, you can usually meet all their needs with regular water changes, but they seem to be hurting. I am not planning on adding any new frags until the tank looks good again and the two I have start growing again. The frags I have are both less than an inch across now- one small colony of green star polyps and one hammer coral. I probably should not have gotten them in the first place, but I didn’t know any better at the time.

7. Any other general recommendations for tweaking the Kh, Ca, and Mg a bit better for the corals? Everything I've read so far says that they are within normal limits, but I also read that the exact balance between the three can be difficult to get right. How do I know what "right" is?

Any other tips for reviving a tank would be appreciated, and thanks for being here! I’ve only posted once before, but I come here all the time while working through my trial and error process.

Monday!

Personally prefer Sundays, but.....
Good *orning to all our TRT Friends, and.....HAPPY *ONDAY! Frosted Cherry Pop-Tarts to go with our *orning coffee and Carnation Instant Breakfast '*ilk Chocolate' to get us going around here. Partly cloudy and in the low 70's.....I can work with that! Hope all are safe and well,
Hack

Garden grow lights for aquarium. Anemones

I’ve been thinking that eventually I’ll want an anemone I currently have a current marine led loop light system on my 75 gallon I’m not really sure that that’s enough so I’m thinking of adding something to boost my lights without going broke. I don’t know what kind of anemone I’d like but I figure I better plan for a higher light requirement because it seems I’m always wanting something that requires ‘more’

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Ammonia spike when adding live stock

So last night I went and picked up a 6 line wrasse and a mandarin (hindsight says this was a poor choice) for my 125 gallon tank. I currently have a damsel and lawnmower blenny and a foxface lo. The tank has been cycled for 3 weeks I've been checking ammonia weekly because I'm paranoid and it's such a young tank frankly, I don't want to lose any fish. I added the wrasse and mandarin after drip acclimating them for about an hour. I fed the tank mysis shrimp to try and help comfort them. They seemed fine however, the damsel did chase the 6 line and mandarin off so I'm planning on getting him into another tank. Anyway, this morning I found the mandarin dead. I checked the water I had .25ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 10ppm nitrates. I'm assuming that the added fish and feeding was just too much for my tank to handle? I forgot to mention I also added a handful of Cheto to my refugium. I'm also under the assumption that the .25ppm ammonia is what killed the mandarin. Although, he did seem a little too willing to get caught at the LFS. Part of me is thinking he was sick but then I could just be trying to blame the fish store for my poor judgement and adding too much too quickly. I've read in other threads that this can happen. I added a cap full of prime to protect the other fish.

Buying online in FL

I'm looking to buy some cleaners and fish online in FL. I've heard some places do free or cheap shipping, like reef cleaners. Does anyone know of some sites that has cheap or free shipping in Florida?

anemone shriveled

sorry i don’t. know why i can reply on my other index but the nem is doing better. he moved last night and his mouth isn’t swollen. never using stainless bowls again. i don’t ever put water from the store in my tank for safety reasons. he’s against the wall on the sand bed we’re he can get full coverage of light. my light is a kessel A360W. i think it’s a sufficient light source. let me know. i will try to do anything i can!

Quarantine tank

Ok so I have an old 10 gallon tank that I used to use for freshwater and was wondering what it would require to make into a quarantine tank/ frag tank. What kind of lightin would I need and what would I need for flow? And would I need a protein skimmer? I am not planning on doing anytime soon but it is a future project.

Sunday after cinco de mayo

Good mawnin, TRT sleepyheads!

Coffee is on, and smelling great. Omelets of your choice,Texas whole wheat toast, and a fresh fruit cup.

Quiet day here yesterday. I guess most folks were doing fun things or worse , working.

This evening Bobbi and Hal are coming over for seis de mayo. We’re making margaritas with champagne for a change up.

Off to church.

Lots of love and hugs and peace to everyone!

quarantine tank/tanks

Hey all need some advice on quarantine fish and coral.

I'm currently looking at purchasing 3x 8 litre tanks along with a 20l tank to quarantine fish and corals. Looking at ways to " Jerry rig" them together.

also looking at using old ro/Id from water changes to use as water instead of cycling the tanks ( as no live rock or live sand will be introduced) sorry I'm Penny pinching.

Just started the hobby