Tuduku

It just so happens I have this day off (weird timing lol) I will be there too.

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Bump, anyone want to borrow this guy to clean up your algae problems?

I freaked on day 3 over the same thing, look for a bump in the sand and poke it, he's probably just hiding.

don't place it right next to the algae during lighted hours, they will run and hide until nighttime. Also they can disappear under your sand, I'm not sure how he does it... He is the size of a tennis ball but lays under my 1.5" sand bed.

Mine is really good at search and destroy. But he for a at it like a roomba. Cuts right down the middle lol. He did my whole backwall overnight. Left it algae free. 2sqft is a quick job. he's surprisingly fast.

I have a seahare that has now eaten himself out of house and home. I want to see if anyone who is having an algae problem wants to borrow him. He will absolutely devour hair algae. In less than 10 days my 30g tank went from green jungle to bare LR. If you have other types of algae he will go after GHA first, then anything else.

$20 deposit refunded on return.

Frag donation also warmly welcomed.

Before

After

Wow. Thank you guys! Btw, to those I see at the meeting, my name is Lance. Figure that might help hehe.

I'm sure some of you have those corals that are everywhere in your tank that you're looking to consolidate or remove. Or that frag that takes up space that you're less than thrilled to have, I'm your guy for that. I want to buy or adopt (don't have anything to trade yet, the tank is quite barren) I'm looking for softies mostly, or LPS. So please email me with what you have. Thank you.

I will be at the meeting on Sunday too.

ledgroupbuy.com and www.stevesleds.com are where I bought my LEDs. And I got my drivers from bravoelectro.com for way less than the LED sites. If you have questions about a DIY build feel free to message me.

Only real odd thing I noticed about them happened the night before they started going south. One started to rub its self against things. Like get close to a rock, hover then spasm and quickly dart against the rock. Happened a dozen times over an hour+. I assumed it was more play or something like that.

Wow, thank you Jeff. And thank you to anyone else that helps me keep this experiance moving forward. I promise to pay it forward x2 someday to struggling newbies.

Thank you all for the replies. It does help to know that it might just be an unlucky purchase. The clowns were probably just under an inch, so quite young. And in hind sight, must have had one hell of a day going from breeder to lfs to my tank. I will follow your guy's advice to acquire some more starter corals, will take awhile though. (any ideas on what and where?) Maybe in a few months, I'll try a fish again. Damsel or Nemo or other, idk yet.

I have a refractometer and water is tested almost daily at 35ppt.

It's a 30g.

The clowns were new in the LFS, so I was hoping that *it wasn't me*. Its still hard to not be down on myself. I really don't want to be "that guy" who just murders his little pets with an "time to buy more" attitude.

Very small amounts, tried different times of day each day. IE: morning, next day at night, then next day in afternoon...

The 20 hermits +2 shrimps easily ate all the excess. And no ammonia showed on my tests.

So this post seriously pains me to type. I was hoping to be putting up my first tank thread this weekend. Instead it has now gone south. I have been working with a very tight budget on this project due to some very pricey, and very unplanned, medical bills. So basic background info: tank is 4.5 months old. I have been following common guides on how to start a reef, and up till 48 hours ago, everything was going well. All water parameters were ok this weekend and this morning. temp 77 ph7.9 - 8 no2 1-5

After looking at my few soft corals, shrimps and cuc for months. Last Tuesday I picked up my first fish for my tank. 2 tank raised oc clowns. They looked fine and healthy, just not hungry. Which I tried a few different pellets/flakes + frozen foods. They did eat a little, but not like how I was expecting. Yesterday (Tuesday) I got home from work to find one was completely missing. I did a small water change and the other clown looked fine. Then this morning, he was slow and breathing hard, I had to go to work and just hoped for the best. Nope, pile of cuc in the corner could only mean one thing. :(

Whats weird is everything else seems to be doing just fine. In fact my (1) mushroom is larger than I've ever seen it. GSP is fine, inverts are molting almost daily (some getting rather big now). If anyone has some ideas or could help me figure out what went wrong I would be very appreciative.

#43 Tuduku.

Well I decided to go with a few heavily encrusted pieces of live rock and actually a dozen empty snail shells. Hopefully this will jump start the algae growth. Have also found my first few hitch hikers. A couple are obviously good to keep, but also found one that I'm unsure of. I think its a common bristleworm and safe to keep, but would like another opinion on them.

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I have done a lot of research, and already have a QT ready for setup when its time to introduce my first fish. With coral dips, what would you guys recommend as a good brand/s to get? As for the plan... I do like gobies and hope to do a pistol shrimp combo (30g tank). As for coral types I'm not sure at all.

I thought purple up is just a calcium supplement and there is no actual algae in it to seed a sterile tank. I have to introduce it to the system with something. Coral frags probably have some on the plugs. Snails could even have it on their shells.

Purple up is just over priced calcium supplement. Kalkwasser or two-part solution will work just as well and is less than half the price. Don't go with the purple up!

 

Did you have a nitrogen cycle yet? If you did not test for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and see a spike, or wait for 6-8 weeks then you still need to wait.

 

Since you started with dry/base rock you should put something in there that will give the good bacteria a source of food. I would use a shrimp or something like that from the grocery store. Let it float in the water for about 5-7 days and start decomposing. Then take it out (throw away).

 

Keep testing nitrogen (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate). Your ammonia should spike (go up) then fall off to zero. After the ammonia spike there should be a nitrite spike, then fall off to zero. Once this happens do a huge water change (up to 50% of the tank volume). Then you are ready to add either ONE fish or

up to three coral frags. Personally, I would not add a fish until my tank is at least 4 months old. Every week add 1 to 3 coral frags until that time.

 

The key to a healthy tank is to go slow.

 

dsoz

 

Edit: When I cycled my tank I used a chunk of Chaeto (a macroalgae that people use in refugiums) in my tank. It added 'pods (good "bugs") and also jump-started the bacterial cultures. I would recommend getting a handful of Chaeto and putting it in your display and leaving the lights on.

Thank you for the advice. I knew about purpleup being not being practicable vs kalk or 2part. I used a quickstart bacteria supplement and skipped waiting for shrimp decomp by adding small amounts of an ammonia solution. I was looking for good sources (aka pest free) to seed pods/algae. I didn't think to simply ask to borrow a purple laden rock and put in front of my power head. I did do an ac110 refuge mod for chaeto and pod sanctuary.

I didn't plan for any fish to start with so don't worry, although what kind of frags should I look at?

So I finally have my 30g tank up and running. I went with dead rock / sand in an attempt to control and limit pests from sneaking in. I'm usually unlucky in my hobbies and know any live rock I buy will blow up with pests. But that also means I need to introduce all the flora / fauna manually so my pile of rocks becomes a reef. I know this method is slower, but at least the nitrogen cycle is done.

I'm going to assume that sourcing coralline algae to seed is next. Any one have a recommendation?

Happy BDay Brian! Sorry you're sick though.

So finally my tank is coming together. It's a 30g long (36x12x17) and I'm down to my last couple of purchases / points of research. And what kind of live rock to use is a hard one to just pick. So I have 3 basic questions, what where and how?

This is basically going to be a goby pistol tank with smaller livestock. I am leaning towards the pukani rock. But I do like the shapes the brs reefsaver dry rock come in. But not sure of what kind of actual live rock to put in for seeding the base stuff. I would really like to avoid pests. Or no live rock at all.

My biggest concern is where it will come from. Online or lfs? What are peoples favorite places for getting "the good stuff".

Lastly any curing advice.

Thank you

It's reminds me of the jetsons. Floating reef. Looks like its mostly nylon rope.