Newbie.....

[Roushinator]

Hello,

I am new here and fairly new to saltwater tanks. I have a 15 gallon tank with a eclipse (dual bulb hood). I have a power head for additional circulation. Live sand, 15lbs of live rock, 3 emerald crabs, 3 shrimp, oyster, 18 hermits, 1 blue feather duster, Some kind of polps (getting real big), 2 clowns (small), 1 blue anomone, 2 small polyp things (one is blue and one is orange and blue with a green mouth) and a Mandran fish. 4 super turbo what ever snails. :smile:I am sorry that i dont know all of my creatures names.

I do a 2-3 gallon water change a week. Tank has be going great for about 4-5 months. Only a couple of things have died.

Anyway i have a question about hair algae. I had an out break and stopped it and then got an out break ot Cynanosis (sp?). Got some powder and cleared it up. That power worked great. But i still have a small layer of hair algae on my live rock (makes the rock look ugly). I went to the marine store and they sugessted that i stock up on hermits and i got a small bag of stuff to put on my filter to lower phosphates. The hermits are tearing up the algae. It is clearing up.

Am i doing all i can do to fight the algae? I have my lights on for about 12 hours a day. Is that too long? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

ryan

 

[Roushinator]

Well i read some other posts and i think they answered my questions.

 

[Trogdor]

You could reduce your light cycle a bit if you want. I run mine for about 13hrs and have some algae. I look at it as food for my turbos. I only clean the front glass about once/week and it hasn't gotten out of control yet. The mandarin might be of some concern though. (Unless there is a fish called a mandran and is different from the one I am thinking of) They need a lot of pods, usually a large tank around 75g and lots of liverock to produce pods. Some do eat prepared foods. But if it's different than the one I am thinking of then ignore what I said...lol

 

[dragon79]

You could reduce your light cycle a bit if you want. I run mine for about 13hrs and have some algae. I look at it as food for my turbos. I only clean the front glass about once/week and it hasn't gotten out of control yet. The mandarin might be of some concern though. (Unless there is a fish called a mandran and is different from the one I am thinking of) They need a lot of pods, usually a large tank around 75g and lots of liverock to produce pods. Some do eat prepared foods. But if it's different than the one I am thinking of then ignore what I said...lol

you are right about the mandarin goby, they are hard to care for and do call for a bigger tank that supplies pods, but if you can get one to adapt to eat brine shrimp, and then mysis, you are in the clear, if not, hope that the rock that you have in there will be able to keep up with the appetite of the mandarin.

 

[Roushinator]

you are right about the mandarin goby, they are hard to care for and do call for a bigger tank that supplies pods, but if you can get one to adapt to eat brine shrimp, and then mysis, you are in the clear, if not, hope that the rock that you have in there will be able to keep up with the appetite of the mandarin.

Well i got about 20 hermits and they are clearing away all of the hair algae. The goby is doing ok i think. He is still alive after 2 months (he does look skinnier). I did get a cool decorator crab though. He i awesome. He cut some of my polyps and put them on his shell.

 

[Jennie]

Now you have to post a picture of that :lol:

 

[incysor]

you are right about the mandarin goby, they are hard to care for and do call for a bigger tank that supplies pods, but if you can get one to adapt to eat brine shrimp, and then mysis, you are in the clear, if not, hope that the rock that you have in there will be able to keep up with the appetite of the mandarin.

Well i got about 20 hermits and they are clearing away all of the hair algae. The goby is doing ok i think. He is still alive after 2 months (he does look skinnier). I did get a cool decorator crab though. He i awesome. He cut some of my polyps and put them on his shell.

I'd take the mandarin back to the LFS or give it to a reefer with a larger tank before it starves to death.

I just bought a decorator crab from the LFS that's shell is covered in zoos...In fact I thought it was a zoo frag, and asked the manager how much the frag was...He laughed and told me it wasn't a frag, but a crab.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Wow B,

You purchased the critter Dragon79 banished from his cube.... I guess yours doesn't have room on his shell to decimate your rics like it did dragons....

I guess I would be leary after what happened in Dragons tank...

Mike

 

[dragon79]

aww gee

forget that man, I would not get another decorator crab, he's mr. destructive. I have no rics Thanks for reminding me mike!!! I am thinking of a green emerald crab for Sandra's tank.....stupid bubble algae is on this one rock and I can't take it off manually. They disapear when you try and get rid of it, but when it settles, they appear again. I was at Tong's and read in big letters next to the green emerald crab that they are great for tanks that have bubble algae, so if they are friendly, and do what they are do best, then, he's got a happy home coming for him.......any objections??? Should I be aware of something else about the Emerald Crab??

 

[incysor]

Wow B,

You purchased the critter Dragon79 banished from his cube.... I guess yours doesn't have room on his shell to decimate your rics like it did dragons....

I guess I would be leary after what happened in Dragons tank...

Mike

This guy came pre-decorated. :lol:
It wouldn't have any room to add anything else. Although if he does start it won't be difficult to catch him. If you poke at him all he does is squat down and try to look more like polyps. Doesn't run, or move away or anything.

B

 

[incysor]

Re: aww gee

forget that man, I would not get another decorator crab, he's mr. destructive. I have no rics Thanks for reminding me mike!!! I am thinking of a green emerald crab for Sandra's tank.....stupid bubble algae is on this one rock and I can't take it off manually. They disapear when you try and get rid of it, but when it settles, they appear again. I was at Tong's and read in big letters next to the green emerald crab that they are great for tanks that have bubble algae, so if they are friendly, and do what they are do best, then, he's got a happy home coming for him.......any objections??? Should I be aware of something else about the Emerald Crab??

I haven't had any issues with any of my emerald crabs. Some people have reported that they get agressive as they get bigger. So far I haven't seen it. They are good for bubble algae, but they can be hit or miss, some may not eat it. However, what you posted pics of isn't bubble algae. Valonia is the bubble algae that people are talking about. The bubbles are hard, you can pop them, but it spreads the algae around. The pic you posted is some type of cyano. Either there are different types, or it behaves differently from environment to environment. In my main tanks I never saw it form bubbles, but in Shannen's nano it did. But it's just forming bubbles of gas, that help it stretch out. The bubbles themselves are not hard at all, just regular air bubbles. An emerald crab won't help you with this stuff.

B

 

[dragon79]

Re: aww gee

I haven't had any issues with any of my emerald crabs. Some people have reported that they get agressive as they get bigger. So far I haven't seen it. They are good for bubble algae, but they can be hit or miss, some may not eat it. However, what you posted pics of isn't bubble algae. Valonia is the bubble algae that people are talking about. The bubbles are hard, you can pop them, but it spreads the algae around. The pic you posted is some type of cyano. Either there are different types, or it behaves differently from environment to environment. In my main tanks I never saw it form bubbles, but in Shannen's nano it did. But it's just forming bubbles of gas, that help it stretch out. The bubbles themselves are not hard at all, just regular air bubbles. An emerald crab won't help you with this stuff.

B

I was reading that they eat both kinds of algae, cyano algae and valonia algae. So perhaps they pop the soft bubbles and eat that green algae that grows under it. I dont know how else to get rid of the cyano algae, so I guess it wouldn't hurt for my girl to try putting one in, should be alright. I'll keep an eye out for a small guy, see if he can help the situation.

 

[incysor]

Re: aww gee

I haven't had any issues with any of my emerald crabs. Some people have reported that they get agressive as they get bigger. So far I haven't seen it. They are good for bubble algae, but they can be hit or miss, some may not eat it. However, what you posted pics of isn't bubble algae. Valonia is the bubble algae that people are talking about. The bubbles are hard, you can pop them, but it spreads the algae around. The pic you posted is some type of cyano. Either there are different types, or it behaves differently from environment to environment. In my main tanks I never saw it form bubbles, but in Shannen's nano it did. But it's just forming bubbles of gas, that help it stretch out. The bubbles themselves are not hard at all, just regular air bubbles. An emerald crab won't help you with this stuff.

B

I was reading that they eat both kinds of algae, cyano algae and valonia algae. So perhaps they pop the soft bubbles and eat that green algae that grows under it. I dont know how else to get rid of the cyano algae, so I guess it wouldn't hurt for my girl to try putting one in, should be alright. I'll keep an eye out for a small guy, see if he can help the situation.

I've never seen them eat cyano.

Cyano can usually be reduced/controlled by more flow. Are you testing for phosphates? I'd check those levels to make sure they're not too high. The only time's I've had cyano outbreaks were when my phosphates were up, and then in low-current areas.
I also posted earlier about a product called chemi-clean. It works great, and doesn't hurt anything else.

B

 

[dragon79]

Re: aww gee

I've never seen them eat cyano.

Cyano can usually be reduced/controlled by more flow. Are you testing for phosphates? I'd check those levels to make sure they're not too high. The only time's I've had cyano outbreaks were when my phosphates were up, and then in low-current areas.
I also posted earlier about a product called chemi-clean. It works great, and doesn't hurt anything else.

B

Phosphates I have no test for, trying to win one of those in the contest for my lady, but as for the chemi-clean, I read your post. I ran a search and found where you spoke of it. Sounds like it worked really good, I want to get that before it overruns and kills the metallic green star polyps. I know Sandra would be devastated. She hates death of any kind in her tank and she's been lucky cuz nothing has died, everything has been living and getting a long famously. Thanks for the product name, I'll consider that now as opposed to a crab. I'm sure I'll find it at my LFS.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Fighting conchs and queen conchs are reported to eat cyano.

 

[Roushinator]

I'd take the mandarin back to the LFS or give it to a reefer with a larger tank before it starves to death.

I just bought a decorator crab from the LFS that's shell is covered in zoos...In fact I thought it was a zoo frag, and asked the manager how much the frag was...He laughed and told me it wasn't a frag, but a crab.

B

Yeah. I might do that. My friend has a 200 gal tank. I might donate him to my friend.

I was reading an interesting article about this guy that raises his own copapods. It explains how to do this. Don't mandarins eat copapods? If so i could raise some and feed him (just a thought).

I am keeping an eye on my decorator crab. I dont want him to think he is some kind of lawn service. :wink: He trimed my zoo polyps and they appear to be doing well on his shell. The trimmed area of the polyp seems to be growng back.

 

[incysor]

I'd take the mandarin back to the LFS or give it to a reefer with a larger tank before it starves to death.

I just bought a decorator crab from the LFS that's shell is covered in zoos...In fact I thought it was a zoo frag, and asked the manager how much the frag was...He laughed and told me it wasn't a frag, but a crab.

B

Yeah. I might do that. My friend has a 200 gal tank. I might donate him to my friend.

I was reading an interesting article about this guy that raises his own copapods. It explains how to do this. Don't mandarins eat copapods? If so i could raise some and feed him (just a thought).

I am keeping an eye on my decorator crab. I dont want him to think he is some kind of lawn service. :wink: He trimed my zoo polyps and they appear to be doing well on his shell. The trimmed area of the polyp seems to be growng back.

I've kept a 10g tank just to raise amphipods for them before...It's sort of a pain...Do you have a link to the copepod article?

B

 

[dragon79]

here's my thought

i read you can also make your own brine shrimp. Apparently newborn brine shrimp still have their egg yolk sacs still attached to their bodies, making them a source of good protein. I am going to try this route and see if mandarin takes liking to this, it could be a very good method of keeping them around without having to own such a huuuuge tank. Looks like I'm becoming a brine shrimp farmer, hehe.

 

[incysor]

Re: here's my thought

i read you can also make your own brine shrimp. Apparently newborn brine shrimp still have their egg yolk sacs still attached to their bodies, making them a source of good protein. I am going to try this route and see if mandarin takes liking to this, it could be a very good method of keeping them around without having to own such a huuuuge tank. Looks like I'm becoming a brine shrimp farmer, hehe.

I've read of folks doing this kind of thing to keep dwarf seahorses. It would be very cool if you could get them to take the juvi brine. If you can they they might hit on larger brine, and from there to frozen mysis, which is the ideal. Definitely keep us updated on this, and try to document it with pics if possible. If it's successful I think lots of people would like to know how you did it.

B

 

[Roushinator]

I've kept a 10g tank just to raise amphipods for them before...It's sort of a pain...Do you have a link to the copepod article?

B

Sure here it is. Let me know what you think about it.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/breeder2.htm