Confessions of a naughty newbie....new tank pics

[kosey929]

Hi all!

It's been a couple of months since I posted and alot has *happened* to my tank in that time. My confessions:

1) I have made several impulse buys. I know, I know..... I have a very generous boyfriend and we live within a half hour of Foster & Smith. We just can't seem to help ourselves. Result: I think my 12g Nano-Cube DX is overstocked.

2) I have lost 3 corals (hammer, green "Packers" zoas, and orange zoas) that I got from J&D to death by burial. Zorb, my beloved yellow-headed pearly jawfish, was the murderer. Unfortunately, by the time I realized they were missing it was too late. I suspect these losses could have been avoided if I had the corals attached to the rock, but I've been reluctant to do so until the HA is gone. Arrrggghhh.... :doh

3) I have not tested my water for two months. My excuse: time poverty. I work full time plus a daily commute of over an hour. Very little time to work on the tank. Blah blah blah..... pps

4) I have not followed all of the good advice you all gave me and STILL have a ton of hair algae. I'm bothered enough by it at this point that I am going to take some serious action. I would like to replenish my zoas, but don't want to until the HA is gone and I can glue them down.

5) I added a bulb anemone for my pair of ocellaris clowns even though I have no idea how to care for it. This morning it plopped itself down on top of my xenias and red caulerpa as seen in the full tank shot. Should I be worried? Will it sting the xenias?

On the bright side:

1) My jawfish is faring fantastically in the nano despite initial concerns it wouldn't work.

2) Other than the coral casualties, I have not lost one critter.

3) Despite the hair algae problem, everyone loves looking at my tank. Especially me! I could sit in front of it for hours if I only had the time. Way better than TV.

So here are some new pics. I'm so embarassed because of all the algae and neglect. I'm hoping you will all whip me back into shape.

My current load:

- 10 or so lbs. of live rock on 3" of live sand
- 2 surviving zoa colonies
- 1 plate coral that has seen better days - also a victim of the jawfish, but still hanging on
- 3 cleaner shrimp
- 2 red hermits
- 1 astrea snail
- 10 tiny nassaurius snails
- 1 yellow-headed pearly jawfish "Zorb"
- 2 ocellaris clowns
- 1 green bulb anemone
- 1 blue-green damsel
- 1 royal gramma
- red grape caulerpa - any advice on this is appreciated, it's just kind of floating around
- 1 green candy cane coral
- 1 purple mushroom coral
- 1 red mushroom coral
- a bunch of xenia
- 1 kenya tree coral + one small frag of same
- many neato hitchikers including numerous feather duster worms, teeny white sea stars, and some kind of inch-long slug-looking thing

Regards,

Bad Karen om

 

[chineseknife1]

naughty newbie, yes. I don't know if I could handle living so close to Foster&Smith either.
My advice to you is this. HA is caused by nutrients in the water. Control that, and you control the hair algae. A bit larger and more frequent water chnages with good clean RO/DI water is crucial.
The anemone will sting anything in it's path and clowns don't need them to live in, especially such cramped spaces. Until it finds a place it likes, then it will continue to move around the tank.
The hammer got buried? Was it branching hammer?
Anyway goof luck with everything.

 

[Anonymous]

hey karen - nice to see you back
sorry about your losses when you get the algae under control a little better i'll hook you up with some replacement zoa frags
the anemone may be in trouble in your tank - those cubes with stock lighting are a bit on the low end to keep an anemone - i may be wrong - there are more things then just light when it comes to keeping anemones happy - so it may work out??
that kenya tree looks awesome and the rest of the frags look pretty good too
remove as much of the algae by hand as you can and keep up with the maintainence and you will win eventially but 5 fish in a cube is a huge bioload so you need to change water weekly

 

[Anonymous]

opps - i just read your other thread and see you lost the anemone - bummer but yea anemones do need a special tank set-up and too often they find a similar fate or simply fade away till they die.

 

[EDGRAY]

uuuhhh So sorry about all your loses but well we all get tempted sometime so is quite normal for a newy, like my wekness was fish and i lost quite some before i Mature as a refer anyways about your hairy algae the best way to fight it in my opinion is taking the LR and brush it with a new teetbrush or anykind of brush that you will use only for tank.. and add some phosphate remover... and keep does water changes coming since alot of fish i bet you have high nitrates! anyways on its own time you'll do better you'll see.. :mrgreen:

EDDY

 

[chineseknife1]

Brushing the LR will only remove the physical algae, so for aesthetic purposes then yes, scrub it. TO rid your system of it....water changes..water changes..water changes with RO/DI water I'm not sure how big your tank actually is, but I would be doing about 25% every week.

 

[kosey929]

Thanks for the good advice as always! :maitre

I've learned my lesson. If you look at my post from yesterday - I lost the anemone. I immediately did a 50% water change and my tank is bouncing back nicely.

Since I started this thread, I changed my whole aquascape and scrubbed the hair algae off with a toothbrush. I changed the aquascape so I can access all of my glass with the magnet cleaner now. Looks much better and so much easier to clean. I also (finally) listened to J&D's advice to use Phospure to help rid my water of nutrients. Some HA has grown since, but it's growth seems to have stopped or at least slowed dramatically. :mrgreen:

J&D - I will take you up on that frag offer! My zoas are starting to reopen slowly, but I definitely need more. I ordered 5 zoa frags and one mushroom from one seller on ebay, but I have plenty of room for more and yours are soooooo nice. Maybe someday I will be able to sell some frags from my ebay purchases to you.

Anyway, 1 1/2 days after the anemone disaster my water is perfect - no nitrites, nitrates or ammonia. spG 1.023, pH 8.2, Alk 2.9 and Ca 460 are all stable.

Humbly,
Karen

 

[kosey929]

J&D-

The capnella hasn't reopened yet but it looks like it will be fine. It looks otherwise very healthy.

K

 

[chineseknife1]

I would try to raise your Alk a couple of degrees, keep your SG at 1.025(35PPT), and your Ca is a bit high. What salt are you using and what is your water change procedure like? No nitrates? How much and how often are your w/c's and what type of lighting do you employ?

 

[kosey929]

How do I raise my Alk? I have some buffer, but have never used it - is that what I use?

I have been terrible about doing water changes, but have vowed to start doing them weekly to keep the HA under control. I use Red Sea salt usually mixed with RO water from Wal Mart. This time I was forced to use tap (well) water. I mixed it up in a bucket at the right temp and to the right spG before adding it to the tank. I didn't think to check the pH before adding it to the tank, but it was right anyway.

How do I lower my Ca? Is it bad to have a high Ca reading? I can't seem to find any information that addresses that - only info on correct ranges.

Thanks,
Karen

 

[chineseknife1]

Okay, here comes the my opinion, and it is just that, my opinion.
First good RO/DI will most likely come from an lfs. I personally would not trust walmart, as they may only be running a carbon filter or a water drinking system unit, which doens't produce the same water. And when do you think they changed their filters last. Be careful where you get it, or buy your own RO unit. Ebay sells them for pretty cheap and you can a good used one for around $100-$125 shipped. Think about it, no more lugging water back and forth.
Concerning your salt. I have not heard good things about Red Sea salt and would urge you to consider changing to IO or Oceanic. If you do switch, do it over the course of a few water changes. These two salt brands have a more consistent and stable chemical level. IO takes a bit longer to mix while Oceanic mixes faster. You should still age the water for a day or so before putting it in the tank. This will help with Ph as well. Check the levels of the salt before you put it into the tank so you know where to look when water parameters get out of whack.
I am not a chemist or expert on marine parameters, but here is a site to someone that does know.
mhtml:http://kipsreef.com/ChemistryPP.mht!ChemistryPP_files/frame.htm

 

[kosey929]

First good RO/DI will most likely come from an lfs. I personally would not trust walmart, as they may only be running a carbon filter or a water drinking system unit, which doens't produce the same water. And when do you think they changed their filters last.

Actually, the water from Wal Mart is RO/DI. Living in N. Wisconsin there aren't alot of choices and that option was suggested by other users on this site if memory serves. While I can get nice livestock from Foster & Smith at times, they don't sell water, and there are no pet stores besides that. Sooo.....Wally World is my best option besides the tap.

As far as salt goes, what are the differences between the different brands? What should I look out for?

Is tap water from a well really all that bad considering it's right from the ground? I was forced to use well water when the anemone died and my tank is looking better than ever.

Thanks again,
Karen

 

[chineseknife1]

Well water is fine for a FO system, and possibly even some lower end softies. Tap/well water just contains chemicals and dissolved solids that do not lend themselves to ocean-like water parameters. Even actual seawater should be filtered if it is to be used.

Salt brands differ in their chemical/physical properties. I am not a slat expert, but have some general knowledge. some dissolve and mix faster than others, but that doesn't mean it's any better than any other. Some have a level of Ca and Alk that are off the charts, while others lack this property. The kind of water you use to mix with it also determines the final outcome of the sw levels. For example, Oceanic when they first came out had excellent, stable readings. Then their Ca started to climb up and the alk went down and then fdolks started getting bad batches and whatnot. IO went through the same thing but they have finally got it under control and a producing stable, somewhat low end Ca alk reading, but it's consistent. I have never tried Reef Crystals, Red Sea, or any other. I have been pleased both Oceanic and IO and currently using IO. Check this out, it's a small study our local reef club did on newly mix salt batches:
http://rasoc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2197&highlight=salt

As for Wal-Mart, ask to see thier filter system and ask them when they changed the filters on the unit. I can't believe F&S doesn't sell SW. Strange....hmmmmm....