The Girlfriend's Mixed Tank

Alright, so the macros still aren't looking too great. The Codium has been getting blown off with a turkey baster everyday, and looks a bit better - although still not good. I'm going to try and get this guy into the most turbulent area of the tank I can, and see if that keeps it clean.

The Dragon's Breath has continued to turn a bit paler. It's definitely not a light issue at this point, so that pretty much just leaves nutrients. Yet, both my phosphate and nitrate are detectable. On Nano-reef, someone had theorized that maybe the Caulerpa is gobbling up all of the nutrients in the water before the Dragon's Breath could get to it, sorta like fast growing stem plants can do in freshwater. Which sorta makes sense - except the caulerpa hasn't really exploded into growth. It's grown a bit, and it's looking decent, but it's still pretty small.

Can anyone help me out?

EDIT: Just did a late-night water test, and confirmed that there's actually no nitrate in my tank at all. That's probably part of the issue, for sure.

 

Alright, so after chatting some with stella1979 and doing some separate research, I've decided to go ahead and try to treat the low nitrates in this tank directly, instead of waiting for them to build up over time. I'm not sure the macros will last long enough for that to happen, and this is a great way to see if a lack of nitrates is actually the main issue. Thanks to Nart as well for testing this in his tank - adding a reputable source saying that this stuff is safe is the reason I decided to go ahead with it.

I'm using stump remover (AKA 61.4% powdered (potassium?) nitrate) to directly increase nitrates. More or less, this stuff is completely environmentally friendly, and as far as I can tell doesn't actually contain anything dangerous to life. It's just a bunch of nitrate, that I assume would encourage bacteria and other detritavores to grow on stumps and get rid of them naturally. I think, anyway.

I took 10 grams of stump remover, and crushed them up into a fine, white power. It looked pretty bad in the process, but luckily, no one walked in on me. I then dissolved that 10 grams into 1 liter of freshwater, and the resulting solution contained around 6.14 grams of nitrate, or 6,140 PPM of nitrate. By adding 1 ML of that solution per 2 gallons of tank volume, you can raise nitrates in your tank by 0.8 PPM.

I dosed the 10 gallon with 10 ML of that solution, and theoretically raised my nitrates by 1.6 PPM. I added 5 ML to my 5 gallon betta tank as well, to see how the shrimp and plants in that tank react. I'll test in about an hour to see how much I actually raised things by, and I'd say we'll see results within a week as far as how well this is working.

If this does turn out to be a solution to my macro problem, I'll test daily to figure out how much nitrate the tank is absorbing per day - obviously, if I end up with a metric ton of nuisance algae, I'll have to cut back on dosage, and figure out my life from there. I don't plan on using this as a crutch for my tanks - I want to eventually get this tank off of this stuff and stop dosing. But, until Penny grows a bit and I get this tank stocked a bit more, this might be the best solution.

 

Thanks so much for the awesome update. I'll be very excited to follow this experiment along.

 

Alright, so after seeing no ill effects, I went ahead and dosed another 10 ML to get my nitrates up to around 3.2 or so. My nitrate test reflects that, so I'm relatively close with the solution.

Caught the hermit on the Dragon's Breath today... There's not much food in the tank, so I gave him a pass. Once algae starts growing, if he keeps it up, I'll banish him to... somewhere. I'll set up a little jar with some macro trimmings or something for him.

Here's a FTS, as of today. I'm hoping to have a nice, lush Caulerpa garden in the negative space in the center, with red and blue macros on the sides and back of the tank. Hopefully, I can fill in the rockwork and sandbed with softies, LPS, and maybe some gorgs. We've got a long way to go!

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone's in or getting ready to be in a food coma for the next 12 hours! I know I will be.

Great news for the tank. This morning, there's quite a bit of diatoms growing in the tank, and I think the Dragon's Breath is looking better. Maybe it's just a placebo, but it seems like the center of the algae is turning into this brilliant scarlet color. The tips are still pale, but it's only been a day. The Caulerpa has shot out two new runners since I dosed, as well. The Codium fell off it's frag plug at some point, as you can see in the FTS above. I didn't notice till just a few minutes ago! I'll zip-tie him back to it. I didn't expect to see results so quickly with this stump remover, but I'm glad I tried it. Even the betta tank seems to be enjoying the extra nutrients - there's a bit of algae growing on the base rock I've got in there, and the ghost shrimp are loving that.

 

Got the Codium moved back onto the frag plug - with a zip-tie this time, instead of glue.

While I had it out of the tank, I decided to trim off the worst parts of the algae - the bits where I was 99% sure it was just decaying. I cut back maybe a millimeter of healthy flesh, and left the rest of it alone. I do think it looks better than it did a few weeks ago but it still looks pretty rough compared to what I see online.

 

I'm so glad to hear the good news! We always say, nothing good happens fast in a salty tank, and while it's mostly true, it's pretty dang awesome to see some results on this project already.

I wish my old macro loving buddy was still around, and while it's been months since I've seen him on, you never know, he may be back and in the meantime, you might want to check out his thread. Lorekeeper

 

The dragons breath is pale because of lack of nutrients for sure. I have a ton in my tank and its basically pink because I've bottomed out my nitrates with my cheato fuge :/ I dosed some KNO3 I have from my high tech freshwater (potassium nitrate, same stuff as the stump remover) to get my ntirates up to 5 but it was gone the next morning. Corals look happy and I have to keep the fuge with enough lighting to keep down PO4 so its ok. I'm too lazy to dose KNO3 but I may put some in my doser.

Super cool idea with the cualerpa garden, I think it will look super cooll and pods and fish will love it. I've always wanted a macro, mangrove, and anenome dominated lagoon style tank. Also, I'd put the dragons breath in as bright of light as you can.

You mentione above wanting LPS, gorgs, and softies, I'd suggest buying a Duncan. Lots of movement, beautiful coral, hardy, fast grower, and a fantastic first coral. You can learn on it, as it will tell you when something is wrong. My originally 3 head Duncan has now sprouted into at least 15 heads in the course of about 11 months. Its one of my centerpeice corals!

 

I'm so glad to hear the good news! We always say, nothing good happens fast in a salty tank, and while it's mostly true, it's pretty dang awesome to see some results on this project already.

I wish my old macro loving buddy was still around, and while it's been months since I've seen him on, you never know, he may be back and in the meantime, you might want to check out his thread. Lorekeeper

Thanks! I was super surprised to see results so fast too - I was honestly expecting recovery over a few weeks, if anything. I'll look up his thread - one of my favorite past times has become sitting down with some coffee and just reading. I read through a cold water nano thread last night - makes me want one someday!

The dragons breath is pale because of lack of nutrients for sure. I have a ton in my tank and its basically pink because I've bottomed out my nitrates with my cheato fuge :/ I dosed some KNO3 I have from my high tech freshwater (potassium nitrate, same stuff as the stump remover) to get my ntirates up to 5 but it was gone the next morning. Corals look happy and I have to keep the fuge with enough lighting to keep down PO4 so its ok. I'm too lazy to dose KNO3 but I may put some in my doser.

Super cool idea with the cualerpa garden, I think it will look super cooll and pods and fish will love it. I've always wanted a macro, mangrove, and anenome dominated lagoon style tank. Also, I'd put the dragons breath in as bright of light as you can.

You mentione above wanting LPS, gorgs, and softies, I'd suggest buying a Duncan. Lots of movement, beautiful coral, hardy, fast grower, and a fantastic first coral. You can learn on it, as it will tell you when something is wrong. My originally 3 head Duncan has now sprouted into at least 15 heads in the course of about 11 months. Its one of my centerpeice corals!

Thanks for the info! Good to know someone's had the same experience. The Dragon's Breath has pretty much returned to 100% dark red - I've heard that in high lighting the tips of the algae turn orange. Have you found that to be true?

I'd love to get my hands on a 30 gallon lagoon, and plant it up with some mangroves, turtle grass, and probably some species of Caulerpa. It'd limit what reef creatures would thrive, but I think it'd be stunning in an aquarium gallery.

Stella's already mentioned a Duncan! That's definitely on my list. Right now, I'm Christmas shopping for my family as well as trying to find specifically what I want for this tank, so I think I'll hold off until the budget is a bit more open. Gives me time to get a solid plan, though

 

My friend... have you heard of coral live sales??? You must have seen some of the excitement those entail on my thread. I've only done WWC live sales, and they're a little crazy-town, but I can tell you that you can pick up a Duncan and several other LPS frags pretty darn cheap, shipping prices are fair, frags are small, but always healthy and colorful, and there's always a freebie offer... which is sometimes an extra frag. I'd estimate 70% of my corals are from WWC live sales, and I'm just sayin'... they do this several times per year. I'm in the same boat as you are with holiday shopping, but you keep making your list and checking it twice. If you're interested, it's likely they'll have more than one sale over the next few months.

 

I saw some of those - I was tempted, for sure! I'll keep an eye out for sales in the coming months.

Looks like the Caulerpa is finally taking hold. It grew almost an inch overnight - it pretty much grew an entire blade. Crazy! Nitrates hit 0 this morning, so I went ahead and redosed a bit of the potassium nitrate. Just a half-dose, since I think dosing smaller amounts more often will be what keeps the macros fed without causing too many algae issues.

Anyone want a hermit? He's not causing too much damage, but she's crawling all over the macros. I can't tell if he's just cleaning the debris off of them or actually eating the macro, but I don't like it.

 

Alright, so, the stump remover was a success! We're growing macroalgae AND microalgae pretty well now, so the tank definitely looks a lot more natural than it used to. I've noticed some hair algae creeping onto the sand, although it's not growing on the rock at all - maybe the sand is leeching some phosphate? Or maybe the sand is just reflecting enough light to cause it to grow. Regardless, it's there - I'll see if I can't get it vacuumed up tomorrow.

The dragon's breath has definitely recovered, and has become a bit more calcified and has even grown some. Not a lot, but I can see a definitely difference in the shape of some of the tips of the algae. The codium has become extremely hairy again (I'm thinking it actually is a species of hair algae), despite the fact that it's got a better color and has grown a bit. I can't blow the algae off, and it's pretty well attached - I guess I'll leave it. If I see it popping up on other macros, I'll toss out any effected areas. The Caulerpa has grown quite a bit as well, but most of it's expansion has been with it's "root" structure. It's completely dug itself into the rock I have it on. Which is what I want it to do, but I can see why people consider it a pest.

Penny has been doing great as well! She's gotten very aggressive with feeding, and is becoming surprisingly interactive with me. Always checking out what I'm doing around the tank, begging for food, and even jumping out of the water a bit when I'm feeding. Good thing I have a tight lid! I've upped her feeding to 2-3 pellets in the morning, and some frozen shrimp and dried seaweed in the afternoon because she seems thin compared to pictures of clowns I've seen online. She's super active, doesn't have parasites, and eats well, so maybe I'm just concerned over nothing.

Pictures!

FTS:

Dragon's Breath:

Codium (see all that hair? hmm...):

Caulerpa:


I still don't have a great idea of the proper dose of nitrate per week, since it seems as if uptake is sporadic - one day, I might lose an entire PPM of nitrate. The next, I'll see nitrates increase. The next, I'll lose 2 PPM. Kinda hard to measure, but I think I've been overdosing a bit. Maybe 3.2 PPM per week is a good place to start, and if I'm consistently hitting 0 by the end of the week, I can increase just a bit.

 

Very nice update and the tank looks great!! I was excitedly waiting on new pics. If I may ask, why don't you upload your pics here so they are visible on the page? Just curious.

The dragon's breath looks super happy to my untrained eye. What other macros do you have in mind? I've been missing our other macro keeper since he's been gone but maybe now I can live vicariously through you. Ever think of adding some Pink Galaxy (Galaxaura rugosa)? I don't know much about it, but seem to remember it not being picky about light or flow and maybe a calcium hog... Anyhow, it's quite beautiful imo.

 

I thought that forums like fishlore had a file size limit for pictures that was pretty small? Most of my pics end up being at least 5-6 mb due to the resolution my phone shoots at. I suppose I could shrink them down to a more manageable size.

I've actually seen Pink Galaxy online! I'd love to have some, since it reminds me somewhat of a bush decorated for Christmas I haven't found any from a good source, though. I think early summer/late spring is prime time for macros, so there's not a ton out there right now.

Here's a list of macros I've been watching out for, in case something happens and I can get a bunch in:

Pencil Cap (calcareous green algae that does best in substrate)
Pink Galaxy
Cactus Caulerpa (calcareous green algae)
Red Gracilaria (display-grade)
Blue Scroll
Tea Cup Macro (this stuff is interesting - seems pretty rare, though)
Red Grape Caulerpa
Red Barbed Macro

I'm not sure I'll ever end up with all of those, but those are some that have caught my eye. I'd love to find some hobbyists to buy off of, so I'll be watching for sale forums. Hopefully I can get some stuff in before spring!

I stand corrected, there is no limit! Alright, I'll re-post them here.

FTS:



Dragon's Breath:



Codium:



Caulerpa:

 

I know what you mean about file sizes/hosting pics for other websites... lol, but that's just another reason Fishlore is grrreat!

Oh my, now you've got me really excited! Not that I'm planning to keep macros anytime soon but the Blue Scroll and Red Gracilaria are also on my someday list. Haven't heard of the Tea Cup but I'm thinking it's the same as another common name... think I know it as Mermaid's Wine Glass. However, don't trust me on such things, lol, because I have NOT done much macro research. Anyhow, those three along with the Galaxy are my faves from what I've seen so far. Hope to see one or the other, (or perhaps all of them!), in your tank someday.

 

Looks like it actually is Mermaid's Wine Glass! Or at least closely related. I hope to get some going soon!

Finally got my Koralia 425 in today - but, the shipping box was busted into pieces, and everything inside was cracked and disfigured. The mail man strikes again

I called Amazon, and they agreed to send me a replacement for free, so that's good at least. I should have it pretty soon. For now, I just put in a small pump I had laying around to add to circulation, since I've seen a few spots where detritus has been building up. It's doing a good job so far!

I done a 25% WC today, and dosed 10 ml of stump remover to get Nitrates up to around 2 PPM - we'll see how that does this week.

 

Lol... oops.

So what happens when you overdose potassium nitrate, you ask? Well, first algae blooms. Then, after there's a ton of algae, bacteria bloom. I caused a bacterial bloom.

Nothing too bad - the tank is just a bit hazy. But a ton of algae covered EVERYTHING in the tank almost overnight. Yesterday, the tank was full of so many bubbles from the algae and macros pearling that it looked like I had an airstone in the tank. It was pretty crazy!

So, Nitrates dropped from 2.5 PPM on Saturday to .5 PPM today - and I assume that's due to rapid bacterial and algal growth. It's ugly, but everything seems healthy - the macros pearled along with the nuisiance algae, and the Caulerpa through out another few runners and formed a new leaf.

I made sure to position pumps to create extra surface agitation, and made sure that Penny's doing well. She's doing fine - grazing on the mega-salad I've grown for her. I've started to soak her food in Selcon before giving it to her, in hopes that it might be the Castle of Grayskull to her He-Man (anyone? no? okay.)

I'll see how the tank clears, and adjust dosage accordingly (again). I think I may skip a week to starve the algae, manually remove as much as I can, and then dose 5 ml. It's gonna be finding that fine line where you aren't starving your macros, and you also aren't causing mass havoc in your aquariums - which should be easier once I have more macros

 

By the power of Greyskull!! I have the Power!!!

 

So, the bacterial bloom has cleared up for the most part. Still kinda milky, but it's better. Algae is still thriving, but hey, that's what I asked for, right?

The algae that was growing on the Codium has spread to the rocks, and I have no idea what it is. The good news? I'm 99.9999% sure it isn't dinos (I did a test with a paper towel...). At any rate, is seems to be easily removable from rock and sand. Not so much from the codium, but we'll see what we can do about that. I'm pretty sure it's just a mixture of diatoms and hair algae, so I'm not too worried. When you hear hooves, think horse and not zebra, right?

The hermit molted! Yay! I think. I'm still uncertain about him, but all the macros seem to be in good shape, and so do all of the snails... I'll keep an eye on him. At least I can tell that something's growing, I guess.

All of the macros are doing well, but the dragon's breath has continued to surprise me. It seems to be thriving. Lots of new growth (in multiple areas of the tank), and very little to no algae has grown on it. It pearls daily (even when nuisance algae isn't). The only thing that I'm not loving is that the algae is turning a bit lighter in color now that it's in a high-light area of the tank - the pieces of algae that are shaded have retained a scarlet color, while the stuff in the direct lighting has turned a lighter red/pinkish color. Not clear, but definitely lighter. I don't like this new color as much, but the growth is pretty convincing. Maybe I'll let it grow out in high light and then move it down a bit to let it color back up at some point. Not sure!

Here's a couple of pics from about the same angle, and with the same edits. The first is from the 30th of November, with the second being from today:







It just seems a bit "fuller" to me. Or maybe it's a placebo - who knows!

One last note before bed. I've started to "hand-feed" the clown. She has trouble with some of the pellets being just a bit too big for her mouth, and she'll usually give up after a few attempts at getting them into her mouth, which leads to a lot of wasted food in the tank and an empty belly. So, I've been soaking the pellets in water for a few minutes, sucking them onto the tip of a syringe, and letting her peck them off. She freaked out the first time I did it (started "dancing" really quickly, went and hid), but she's warmed up enough for her to cautiously come forward and gentle peck the pellet off. It's cute!

 

The dragon's breath looks fabulous!!

Your clown story made me giggle. Penny sounds terribly cute!! My own clown is a total pig and will eat whatever and however it is presented... even when it's not for him!! Hmm, I suppose he might be a she since there is only one clown in the tank? Idk, and we had our toughest fishy losses this year, making us want to stop naming fish. In my head though, the clown is a boy named Jake, and his goby buddy is Will. They are an unlikely and strange little pair, and I'm a bit of a book nerd, so they're unofficially named after the brothers Grimm.

 

She is super cute! I'm sure she'll grow up to be a pig - she aggressively attacks food, I've just found that she has trouble with larger pieces of hard food.

I've read differing opinions on the sex of single clowns, but the two most commons ones are that A) the clown remains sexless, or B) the clown turns female. For me, it's easier to imagine a female although I wouldn't say it matters too much. I'd say they aren't going to care how you name them, as long as you take care of them!

I've read about Jake and Will - I find it interesting that they've interacted like they have. I've had fish that'd definitely form a bond with a random tank mate (I had a betta that had an affair with an Apple snail at one point... although I think she just liked laying on him), but I still find it interesting when it happens!

 

Tank got a 50% WC today, and I decided not to re-dose any nitrate, since readings were still a bit elevated. The bacterial bloom has pretty much cleared up 100%, and nuisance algae has begun to recede a bit too. The mystery algae that was growing on the Codium, sand, and rocks started to be easily removed by a siphon today, and is quickly turning from brown to clear.

Speaking of Codium... I was handling it earlier to try and remove all the nuisance algae and debris that had settled onto it, and in the process, I found a total of 7 new nubs where branches are beginning to grow. I've never been more excited to see algae grow! I really didn't expect this stuff to do well, especially with algae growing on it, so I'm feeling pretty great. The algae is also feeling less slimy and a bit harder and more structured, which I assume is a decent sign of health. The other macros are doing well - the dragon's breath has continued to pearl everyday, and the Caulerpa has begun sending out runners into the sandy area where I was wanting it to spread. I'm really hoping to see some nice greenery out of it soon!

 

I'll be doing a WC tomorrow, and I'll post some better pics tomorrow. But I wanted to show the difference in the dragon's breath, both in size and color. Both were taken under the same lighting, with the same app, with the same edits, and from about the same angle.

Here's a picture from the 5th:


and now, one from the 14th:



The first thing I noticed is that the color has faded immensely. It's still a nice red, but it's very, very dull compared to what it used to be. I may move it to a more shaded spot - there are a few tiny pieces that have detached and gotten lodged in places with less light, and they're still a bright red.

The second thing I noticed is the growth! I don't think it's growing a ton in size, but it's filling in quite a bit. You can see on the left side that it's growing and filling in that way more than anywhere else. When I compare it to this picture from a full month ago, I can see that it's doing better than I thought.

November 12th:



I absolutely love seeing my pets grow, and macroalgae has proved to be no exception! I'm still working on dosage (I'll dose 1 PPM tomorrow), but things have continued to improve. The Codium has continued to grow, and I even found a few tiny bits on the sandbed that have new growth. Anyone want some Codium frags in a few months?

The nuisance algae has continued to grow, but it's definitely not as bad as it was. I don't mind it too much, as long as it's not growing on macros - and other than the Codium, it isn't. Debris settling on the macros has been my biggest pet peeve, but once I get a nice pump in here, that shouldn't be an issue.

Speaking of pump... I'm still waiting on the Koralia. Talk about being slower than Christmas!

 

Alright, new pump has been in the tank for a couple of days now, and here are some thoughts:

I love the flow this thing puts out! It's strong, but not so strong as to throw my fish around. It disperses it in a way that fills the entire tank.
It's quiet. Big plus.
I wish it mounted better. The current system they use was a bit janky, and I can see it not lasting for as long as the motor in the pump does.

I'll have pics posted soon - I'm currently visiting family, and didn't move pics over to my new phone before I left. Oops!

Also, DIY floating frag plugs are amazing! I took a bottle cap, drilled a few holes, and zip tied the Codium frags onto it. It's ugly, but they've been doing well.

 

The girlfriend performed her first full WC and tank maintenance today! She changed out 8 liters, and cleaned off the glass and the HOB. Seems like it went well! SG is back down to 1.0255, so we're golden there.

I asked her to get me a few pics of some stuff, so enjoy!

Codium (lighter bits are new growth):



The "frag plug" I made:



And a quick picture of Penny:

 

Okay, I'm home, and have officially ordered new stuff for this tank (finally!). I got some new macros (not sure which species yet, but at least 5 different species), a photosynthetic gorg, some nerites, and a few softies. Won't be in for a while, but I got a good deal!

After having the pump in the tank for a few days, I can definitely say that it's not as strong as I was expecting. In fact, I can see myself maybe adding another smaller pump to the other corner of the tank in the future - I've never been one to have excess flow in my tanks, but this one just seems lacking.

I removed the internal filters, and switched the HOB to the left side of the tank, with the Koralia in the right corner. This creates a nice cross-flow, and Penny has no issues getting in and out of the current. The tank looks much more open and less cluttered, too, which is nice.



That random algae is still running rampant, and I can't for the life of me find an ID. It almost resembles Calothrix (related to dinos), but it lacks the bubbles that are found on Calothrix. That's my best guess for now, but I suppose it could also just be some mystery species of hair algae. I'd love to know what it is, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything, so whatever. I think I'll have less issues as the tank gets established and is filled with macros. I do think that it's at least somewhat photosynthetic, as it's got a brownish tint to it. Maybe I'll figure it out one day!

I did a water test, just to make sure nothing has gotten way out of whack while I was gone, and I got the following parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 8 PPM
Phosphate: 0.1 PPM
SG: 1.026
Temp: 81F

Everything is within range, and it seems like I'm finally dialing in nitrates and phosphates.

 

I have had an INSANE day!

Long story short, I received an order of livestock that wasn't my own - I was sent the wrong box. I've sent an e-mail to the company, and hopefully I'll hear back soon.

Here's what I received:

1 Firefish
1 Hammer Frag
1 Bubbletip Anemone (I'm worried about this one, big time)
1 Peppermint Shrimp
A gallons worth of Caulerpa Sp.

I didn't have any QT tanks or any saltwater mixed up, so I mixed up a batch of saltwater in a rubbermaid tote, added a cycled sponge filter and a heater, and acclimated the firefish and shrimp into it. They're doing fine so far, but I don't know what I'll do with them long-term - I'm waiting to see what the online store says before I start any meds or anything.

I put the anemone, the frag, and most of the caulerpa into the 10 gallon. I had no idea what else to do with them. The frag and the caulerpa I feel okay about - I know enough about both to know warning signs. I'll yank the caulerpa out the moment I see signs of it going sexual. But the anemone, I have very little experience with, and this tank is so young that I'm not sure how it'll do long-term. Don't they usually require pretty stable, established tanks? Advice is welcome, here. I'm not even sure if it IS a bubbletip - there was no invoice in the box. It's got a red foot, and the tentacles look somewhat bulbish. Does anyone know for sure?

Here's a picture of the tank, and a picture of the anemone up close.

 

Ugh - I dropped the PAR 38 into the tank last night. I gave it a good scrub in distilled water and alcohol, and it still works - but the fan died, and I don't trust running it without a fan. I ordered a new one, and it should be here by Wednesday. Oops.

 

That's tough, but you know what's going through my mind having read your last post? Corals and macros are singing...

Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I, I will survive

Only 2 more days! Maybe 2 1/2... How's everyone doing?

 

Seems to be alright! I've kinda got the light focused over the hammer and the nem, since I feel as if they're in the most need.

No matter how much this anemone improves, I can NOT keep it right-side up! It's actually no longer recoiling from my hand when I flip it around... might be time to start wearing gloves, just in case it tries to sting me.

The bulb I ordered is actually a bit different from the one I've been using - I had been using one that was outputting around 10,000K with some actinics, and the one I ordered is actually mostly high-powered actinics, with some full-spectrum lighting thrown in - it's got 13 "blues" (they aren't really all blue) ranging from 400 nm to 490 nm, 1 6500K LED, and 1 Cyan LED. It's much, much more blue than any light I've ever had, but people seem to love it, and I figured I'd give it a try.

 

Sounds like a good bulb to me.

 

Alright, so to rid myself of having a bunch of desk lamps perilously perched behind my tank, I've decided to DIY myself a fixture for this tank. I want to hang this new bulb higher above the tank to get a better spread of light anyway, and I think this'll do well for that.

I went with PVC to avoid having to work with wood - I'm just handy enough to make a mess of things, so PVC is a blessing. A trip to Lowes, $9 of PVC and a floodlight later, I came back home and began to piece together the fixture. Pretty simple - two 6" long feet, two 24" long arms, and one 24" bar to hold the light over the tank. I'll just be pressure-fitting it all together, since I wouldn't think a 2 lb lightbulb would need the fixture to be too sturdy. Worst comes to worst, it sags a bit, and I plan to re-build this in the spring anyway.

The PVC ended up being too thin for me to run the power cord through like I wanted to, so I just sorta zip-tied everything into place - it's not pretty, but it sure get's the job done. I bought some black spray paint, too, but I'll likely wait until it warms up a bit before painting anything.

This is what I ended up with:




The bulb hangs right around 1' above the water, and won't be falling into the tank anytime soon. I decided that the PAR 30 alone really wasn't enough, even for a few days, so I rigged up a cheap PC fan to run on a 9V battery, and I sorta hid that entire assembly back behind the PVC (with more zip-ties). The bulb is warmer than usual, but isn't warm enough to cause any issues.

Oh, and I've got an update on the BTA, too. I moved around the pumps in the tank to create a near-dead spot in the right side of the tank - there's a little flow, but not much. Helps keep the BTA from rolling over, and I've found that it's spent more time open and bubbly since I did that.

I can tell that it's expelled a lot of zooxanthellae, just by it's color. It's lost the bright mint green it came in with, and it's kinda faded to a brown-ish green. However, it's regaining it's stickiness, and is still hanging in there. I've been doing a bunch of reading, and it doesn't seem like this guy is really close to death - he's just unhealthy. It's still got SOME color, and I'm pretty positive it hasn't been dyed or anything like that. I'm hoping for the best!

...and the peppermint shrimp is staying, at least for now. He escaped his little jail a few nights ago, and I haven't caught him playing rough. Yet. I have seen him crawling on both the anemone and the hammer, but he didn't seem to be picking at the flesh - just cleaning debris. I'll watch him.

Here's a current picture of the BTA, along with the tail of an extremely jealous clownfish!




Speaking of fish... I dropped a few pieces of the PVC I bought into the QT tub for the firefish. Considering I haven't seen him since, I assume it was appreciated. As far as I know, he's doing well - I'd imagine that the copper has taken care of pretty much anything he might have had. Still eating well, too. Can't wait to get him into a tank so I can post pics!

 

The peppermint shrimp is out of the tank. I caught it stealing food from the hammer AND the anemone - I don't want that going on in my tank, especially not with an ailing nem.

I found a DIY shrimp trap online, and made one. I took a Nestle water bottle, cut the top off, inverted it, and baited it with some food. The idea is that once shrimp get it, they're basically too stupid to find their way out. Cool!

I got it into the tank, and sat it down right in front of the shrimp - who kinda picked at the plastic, and the walked away. Ugh.

I left it in there for about 15 minutes, and didn't have any luck. At that point, I saw him going back to the nem. I grabbed the net and shooed him away - and I decided I'd try to scare him in to the bottle. 30 seconds later, he was in the trap. It was SO easy! No shrimp running across the floor, nothing.

Obviously, all the stores are closed right now, so I did the best I can for him tonight. I got a bucket of saltwater that had some of the un-desirable caulerpa in it, threw in one of the old internal filters, and called it good enough. I did temp acclimate him, since the water in the bucket is around 73. Hopefully, he'll be okay overnight - I don't have anything against the guy, but I can't have him messing up my tank, either. Kinda my fault for introducing him anyway - I've heard stories, and I didn't even think about it.

 

Alright, new bulb is in, and wow - is it ever blue.

I had to take off the optics, due to them being SO narrow. Even 18" off the water's surface, I was only covering maybe a square foot of the tank with good lighting. The rest was very weak. Without the lenses, I'm sure I'm losing some PAR, but the entire tank is well-lit - I think it'll be more than enough for the softies, LPS, and BTA. I may eventually add a second bulb and put the lens back on, if I ever find I'm lacking in lighting.

It's just been an hour or so, but things seem to be reacting well. The hammer's green really pops under this light - but it kinda washes out the macroalgae. Hopefully, as time goes on, things will brighten up and fluoresce more under this bulb. The BTA is doing what it's been doing for a week, but it's pretty "bulby" today.

I'm gonna have some issues getting these pictures right. Might even have to change software - the normal app I use didn't do too much for me.

 

Alright, so, I've decided that the firefish is ready for this tank. It's been in QT with copper, prazi, and metro for 10 days now and hasn't shown any symptoms of disease - no flashing, no head swinging, etc. Poop looks normal, and the stomach is normal - not sunken in or lumpy.




Forgive the algae!

 

Good to see another salty tank on here! Loving the macros, too.

Be careful with the BTA. I took in an extremely bleached LTA, and it died in my 10 gallon. I'm pretty sure that's what eventually caused my tank to crash. Mine looked way worse than yours ever did, but still, it's a risk.