# 34G Solana: My new hobby



## Kweli

*34G Solana: My new hobby (Picture Heavy)*

I decided to get into a reef aquarium when I saw some corals and paid attention to everything that was happening. Unlike the previous freshwater tanks I owned (as a kid, guppies and goldfish) there was actually something happening inside the glass. It wasnt one fish doing circles wondering what life is about.... But it was a whole ecosystem inside an aquarium. The crabs were doing something, the corals were doing something, and some weird 'thing' was moving beneath the sand...

The more I read into these aquariums the more interested I became. You are truly creating a whole ecosystem in your living room from the top of the food chain to the bacterial level.

I purchased a used Solana 34 Gallon tank that came with a sunpod 150w HQI bulb and stand. The tank required some cleaning:









I set to work cleaning the tank. I filled it with freshwater and a few cups of alcohol and let it run for 48 hours. By the end of it the gunk (algae, etc...) was easily coming off.

I was lucky enough to find a local seller on this forum (teemee) who was selling 100LBS of live rock. I went over and picked out 30LBS for myself. I realize in hind-sight that i should have picked a few more "BIG" pieces for the base of my structure. While trying to setup my aquascaping i realized how difficult it is when you have multiple small pieces. I wasnt 100% ready for the live rock but it was a deal i couldnt let slip ($2.5 a pound)

I added the live rock to my tank with about 10 gallons of saltwater, a heater, and a Koralia nano powerhead to provide flow..... Essential things to minimize die off (bacteria and small life dying and decaying in your tank). The live rock came with a bag of cheato (she was kind enough to throw it in the deal). Running cost for rock - $75









I was lucky enough to find another online add (craigslist) from someone leaving the hobby. I was able to purchase all this for 60 dollars...
-Refractometer (best part of the deal)
-Koralia Nano Powerhead
-50W Heater (Will be used for heating saltwater before water change & for quarantine of new fish)
-Submersible LED Refuge light with 3 Additional replacement bulbs

Aquascaping was a much harder task then I originally anticipated. It was like playing Jenga with spheres and cubes. I realized a pivotal mistake I had made..... I wasnt keeping my 'base' rock level. I had to grab a hammer and start chipping away at pieces that would make the rock wobble. In all I think it took me about 3-4 hours (over multiple days/attempts) to get everything right. Its very stable at this point and the only thing that should knock it down is a king crab....... But now that I have run my mouth something will surely happen.

Heres a picture of the liverock with my aragonite live sand. I purchased a bag of 30LBS but realized that 20LBS would have been enough. I had enough live rock on the bottom of the tank to take up most of the volume.









As you can see, it ended up looking like budda

One thing i find funny is the amount of time i spend looking at the tank...... And jesus, all I have is live rock!!!! Anyway, It was night time when i decided to grab a flashlight to see if any critters came with the live rock.... and sure enough there was about 10-20 amphipods scurrying around. I was able to snap a picture:









They are kind of funny to watch.... Its almost as if their back legs function from a different brain.... They scurry left and right, and im pretty sure they just wants to go straight.

I opened my Marine Test Kit and realized that I was going to have to free up my afternoon:









The tank was setup on August 4-6th
I started doing tests on August 10th. 
I have not registered any ammonia in any tests but my nitrates went from 0.003 to 0 on my latest test, and my Nitrates went from 0.25, to 0.4, to 2.
After 2 weeks, *could I be reaching the end of my cycle?*

Here are my current results as of August 17th
Salinity 1.022 (I have been using saltwater for evap to get this to 1.025)
PH 8.1
ALK requires 8 drops to change colours, i need to figure out what the standard is for this (searchem kit)
Amm- 0 
Nitrite - 0 (previously 0.03 on Aug 10 and 0.01 on Aug 15th)
Nitrate - 2 (previously 0.25 on Aug 10 and 0.3 on Aug 15th)
Temp has been 80-82 with lights on after multiple hours.

What I have witnessed:
Brown hairy type algae growing on some rocks, I noticed today (Aug 17) that this has started to make its way to the sand as well.... Is this the expected Diatoms? (sp?)

Water: This is still a work in progress. A local fish store sells premade saltwater for .99c a gallon. At this rate it cost me about 35 dollars to fill the tank, and it will cost me about 20 dollars a month for weekly water changes. AND about 5-10 dollars a month for freshwater topoff (RO/DI.) I am currently researching options for a RO/DI but havent had the time yet. I keep hearing how good RO/DI water is for coffee lovers, so its another incentive to get one.

Light Cycle: Lights on 7 hours a day (HQI) with Moonlight LED and Refuge Light (Cheato) on 4 hours before AND after the main light cycle (basically anytime im home to see it)... About 8 hours of total darkness for tank

Wife: She doesnt seem happy everytime I do something with the tank. I can almost feel the love dwindle everytime I put my hand in the tank.... but then, when people come over, shes the first one to try to explain everything that is happening. Its kinda cute when she realizes she has no idea and just gets me to explain.

Once I get my camera back i will take more shots. The tank has cleared up alot since these shots and I can also show some pictures of the brown algae.


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## Kweli

How do i get my image attachments to show inside the thread?


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## Ciddian

I am not exactly sure.. :/ I tried to fix it myself but the photo system needs a rehaul.

I usually host my photos at www.photobucket.com and c/p the img line.

aside from that, its looking great!!!

Your wife reminds me a lot of my fiance, he -loves- telling people about the tanks when they come over and he regurgitates everything I've told him about them and thought he wasn't listening to me. lol

Otherwise he doesn't really care about the tanks and hates it even more when I spend cash on them. hehe.

it looks like it could very well be cycled...  I waited about a month for my tank to do its thing and went through stages of algae growths as well.


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## kolbaso

Looks very good man. I would get an Ro/Di unit. The monthly cost is high and that isnt taking into account any extra water changes for emergencies ect.


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## Kweli

Got the images working = )

Going to wait until the weekend to test again... would be very excited (and a little surprised) if the cycle was that fast..... Although i still dont plan to have any corals or fish until the 2nd week of september.... would be cool to have CUC to look at


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## ameekplec.

Looks like a great start!!

I got my gf really interested by having her pick out a few things and taking her along to the LFS' to show her the display tanks to show her what we "need" to get "that" - she likes it so much now that she can tell everybody what everything is (besides the corals - she really only cares for the critters), AND she's been egging me on for months now to go as big as I want to!! I was thinking of a smaller tank, but she told me to make it bigger!! 

Definitely go RO/DI at home - another benefit besides the great coffee is that you can make water on demand, even if stores are closed, etc etc.


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## Kweli

Yah, im just finding it hard to find a source for good RO/DI reviews... There seems to be so many dealers out there that its hard to know which one is quality.

I would also like it to be under 200 dollars, so I might be limiting the 'quality' options


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## Kweli

Images taken with blackberry:

Algae growing:
It originally showed up on this rock, which is a ledge in the middle of the rock-work. I noticed last night before the lights went out that this similar algae has made its way to the sand and has started to spread. It seems to be 'hairy' looking









Additionally, here is a shot with the moonlighting.... Hows the aquascaping?









*One thing i realized was how much space I left in the back..... Is it too much?* The top rock has been repositioned, I think i nocked it back when I was playing with the return pump.


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## conix67

Kweli said:


> How do i get my image attachments to show inside the thread?


Both photobucket or picassa (google) direct image link will work


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## acer

nice start. I think the brown stuff are diatoms... they feed on silicates. they should go away on their own... I had some when I was setting up my tank earlier in the month... all gone now. I think :/ the CUC seem to have gotten rid of them. 

for me. I think I'd move the rocks a bit closer to the back, but I like the look of a big sand bed in front. But, if you like the look, you should keep it as you're the one who has to look at it every day.


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## Kweli

In all honesty, i would like to move it back... but i already know what will happen:* Rocks will shift and I will never get this design back*.... and it will be 1+ hour of adjustments


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## hojimoe

Kweli said:


> In all honesty, i would like to move it back... but i already know what will happen:* Rocks will shift and I will never get this design back*.... and it will be 1+ hour of adjustments


just a side note on how awesome the rocks look, they look UNSTABLE take that advice and reposition them or get some larger base rock to work as a base! you'll cry lots of tears if that rock crashes after getting fish and smashes the glass


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## Kweli

Its actually very stable.... Only the top piece is loose, and thats just because i dont know what to do with it yet...

Ive still decided to move it back a bit to open up the front more


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## ajdelosr

you could temporarily affix it with some epoxy, that's what I did for my tank, I only did it for the bottom layers so that the base would be stable and that would allow me to place and move around the smaller rocks around it.


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## Kweli

*New inhabitants*

So after doing some searching for a cleanup crew i decided to do it in stages, as I couldnt find one place that sold everything I wanted.

I made a trip to Aquatic Kingdom and picked up 5 Nassarius snails, later to find out that they are: *Super Tongan Nassarius Snail*
- Is this bad or good?

Here they are being drip acclumated in one of my wifes vases... I dont think she would be happy about it... at least its not something we eat out of.









I also wanted to add some of my first corals.... Did my research and decided to stick to mushrooms and Zoas (something that can survive on good light alone), BUT i also saw a sweet (small) frogspawn they would give me for 10 bucks... So i picked up 2 Ricordea Mushrooms and 1 Frogspawn. Getting used to the temp:









The frogspawn opened up within 20 minutes of being in my tank, I think its a good sign?









Will have better quality pictures once my camera is back


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## Kweli

Mushroom has been doing fine, moved him/her closer to the light and its growing. Really likes the small pieces of scallop i feed it.... Although the lady at loblaws thought I was crazy when i bought .39c worth of scallops (2 very small pieces). She asked what I was going to do with it


Anyway, 
Yesterday I went to "reef aquatica" in scarborough, near the toronto zoo to pick up some clown fish. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone looking to buy some clown fish. Hubert runs the operation from his basement and has tons of clownfish everywhere. Breeding pairs, tanks filled with juviniles. It was a pleasure just walking through the place.

Picked up a false purcula (orange) and a black one. Acclimated them and let them loose. They immediatly started swimming together without any agression, which was a sigh of relief. The black one looks great, but the orange one seems to be breathing very quickly. This morning his breathing slowed down a bit, but it is still opening its mouth often. 

Other additions:
-Pom Pom crab was found at Big Al's with both anemonies, got the last one
-Yellow Clown Goby was also found at Big Al's (very small baby) and it has been eating pods from my tank so far

When i brought the Pom Pom crab home my wife almost had a fit. She HATES spiders and anything with 8 legs to her is creepy... So i had to convince her that she will enjoy the crab and that it "dances"...... I even threw in a "so you think you can dance" reference to cool her down. The crab immediatly hid, so I havent seen much of her. She has a belly full of babies which seem to be ready to pop b/c she is making some type of burrow

My wife really likes the clowns though


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## KeMo

If any chance those baby crabs make it ill take one off your hands if you want to get rid of any  
Looks good so far.


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## conix67

I was also tempted to add pom pom crabs, but I heard that they always hide away and you never see them afterwards.. let's see how yours behave

Are you feeding your mushrooms? I feed my mushrooms "Aptasia-X" hoping they would die


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## Kweli

Ill take the mushrooms off you if you dont want them.... My wife gave me a little nudge yesterday for buying corals "so small"

Ive been feeding them grocery store scallops... they gulp it down and I can almost see an increase in size within a few days... pretty rad

As for the pom poms... conflicting results.. some people say they never see them, some people say they are out all the time at night... one of those chances I had to take. Originally wanted to buy two of them but they seemed to have sold most of them during the long weekend. Read somewhere that target feeding them will lure them out


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## Kweli

Some updated pictures

Zoas:









Yellow Clown Goby (after adding cyclop-eeze into the tank)









Clown Fish









Front Tank Shot


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## conix67

Kweli said:


> Ill take the mushrooms off you if you dont want them.... My wife gave me a little nudge yesterday for buying corals "so small"
> 
> Ive been feeding them grocery store scallops... they gulp it down and I can almost see an increase in size within a few days... pretty rad
> 
> As for the pom poms... conflicting results.. some people say they never see them, some people say they are out all the time at night... one of those chances I had to take. Originally wanted to buy two of them but they seemed to have sold most of them during the long weekend. Read somewhere that target feeding them will lure them out


Don't underestimate mushrooms. There were times when even a single brown mushroom was a fascinating thing to look at in my own tank.

When these mushrooms freely multiply, and have over 200+ of them in the tank, smothering other corals (they usually pop up near the base of my SPS), your view to these mushrooms change.

At least Anthelia/Xenia species don't sting other corals. Green star polyps can be bad, but mushrooms are worse!!


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## Kweli

conix67 said:


> Don't underestimate mushrooms. There were times when even a single brown mushroom was a fascinating thing to look at in my own tank.
> 
> When these mushrooms freely multiply, and have over 200+ of them in the tank, smothering other corals (they usually pop up near the base of my SPS), your view to these mushrooms change.
> 
> At least Anthelia/Xenia species don't sting other corals. Green star polyps can be bad, but mushrooms are worse!!


Yikes, what are some preemptive measures i can take to limit their spread?


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## conix67

Kweli said:


> Yikes, what are some preemptive measures i can take to limit their spread?


Well, it's up to your taste really, but if you don't want to experience what I have, just avoid mushrooms that grow and spread well. I've done a lot of readings on how to control these fast growing mushrooms, and the answer is only one - never introduce them!

For me it's too late, and my next tank will not have mushrooms!

I found that Ricordeas, hairy mushrooms and tongan mushrooms do not spread like others... I have nice blue ones too, and they are becoming problems too.

Don't get me wrong, any coral in a reef tank is a good thing to have. It's just when you want to control the look of it, and health of all corals, some become pests.


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## Kweli

First upset came today...

My yellow clown goby, who i suspected was getting sick ACTUALLY started to get better...

And then i found him dried up on my floor today....

I almost feel rejected....


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## KeMo

Most all goby's are jumpers. If you want to keep them you need to get a lid or cover for your tank. You can make a DIY out of screens and what not.


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## Kweli

New Additions:
Elegance Coral:
Opening up VERY nicely, much more then the fishstore. Although through research I found it is not the aussie breed, which means i have the less-hardy version









Front Tank Shot:


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## Kweli

Went to the Oakville Reef Gallery yesterday and picked up some goodies:

-Blue Acro, with some great hitchhikers:
- A muscle or clam inside the branches
- A cute acro crab
-Corea (sp?) clam, really nice blue colour, about 3 inches large
-Acan with about 5-7 heads, a nice red colour


So far everything seems happy... at least from what I can tell... Clam opened up nicely and responds quickly to movement. Acan was nice and puffy before bed last night. 

Really like the Acan... still not sure the fuss about Acro's (why they are so expensive)... but figure i get one to find out


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## Kweli

Some pictures:

Pom Pom crab coming out during feeding and using her anemones to keep everything else at bay.









Great Acro buy. Discovered after I came home that it came with 3 different clams/scallops on it AND a *acro crab.*


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## laurahmm

*your tank is gorgeous...*

Hey there 

Thats an amazing tank and I love your pompom crab. I havent taken the jump yet into marine because it seems that there's so much you need to know... but pompom crabs were one of the crabs I wanted to get for my tank when I did make the jump... I think they are one of the cutest and coolest creatures... looking forward to watching your tank progress...


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## Kweli

She is one of my favourite tank-mates. Had friends over and showed them a feeding, as soon as she came out everyones attention was turned to her. Everyone was fixated until she skuttled away (because a shrimp scared her off)

Anyway... im thinking of getting rid of the cleaner shrimps

I got into reef tanks because they seem alot more interesting.. so many things happening. Freshwater always seemed to be too simple for me = (


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## Kweli

Got some new corals recently... this one is pretty cool, even though I dont know what type of coral it is... Ideas?










Nassarius snails are a fun addition to the tank. Anytime i show visitors my tank ill throw in some food and tell them to "watch this area of the sand"... sure enough these snails pop out of the sand and start making their way around the tank. Although it confuses me why they always choose to go UP the glass when i put all the food near the bottom:










And heres a picture of my Pod population... its out of control over here


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## Ciddian

Ohh gosh, i've really enjoyed watching your tank. Could you take a shot of the back sometime? I had always wanted one of these while working at Pj's but just never had the cash flow.

The snails are my fav!


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## Kweli

Heres a front tank shot:









Here is a picture of a shrimp explosion that happened yesterday. Walked buy and was disturbed by the amount of debris floating in the water. Thought a snail got shredded by the powerhead or something. Turns out they are baby shrimp. Not sure if they are from my cleaner shrimp or my pods/mysis


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## Big Ray

Nice ! tank looks prety nice, congrats 

cleaner shrimp for sure.

best food you can find for corals and fish


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## Kweli

Sweet, I was asking 20 dollars for my 2 shrimp,, now that they are a mated pair Ill increase the price, lol....

So how often will i get these baby explosions? Im going to assume that most of them will end up in my pre-sponge filter... should i worry about any spikes?

The donut on the left back is going to be sold, way to big for my tank...

And im thinking of selling the frogspawn coral next to the powerhead (middle right) because its prime real estate for some other things i want


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## Ciddian

Wow!! How neat! I didn't know they bred in the aquarium. O:


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## Kweli

I didn't know either, The mating might be caused by all the barry white my wife plays


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## Big Ray

Kweli said:


> Sweet, I was asking 20 dollars for my 2 shrimp,, now that they are a mated pair Ill increase the price, lol....
> 
> So how often will i get these baby explosions? Im going to assume that most of them will end up in my pre-sponge filter... should i worry about any spikes?
> 
> The donut on the left back is going to be sold, way to big for my tank...
> 
> And im thinking of selling the frogspawn coral next to the powerhead (middle right) because its prime real estate for some other things i want


if you keep your water parameters stable, they SHOULD give birth every week.
there are ALOT of other factors involved, like the season, day time, and much much more that we still dont know ! so basically, keep doing what ure doing.

(my shrimps do this weekly, I have 6 pairs, so u can imagine how much babies float around  I changed the hours of light like a month back, and closed all the blinds to make my place totally dark in order to kill some algea in one of the tanks, and they stopped breeding, blinds open again and they resumed it ... lol experts tell me its the season !)

they will be eaten by corals, and fish, and rest will be trapped in socks or skimmer will remove it. just wash the sock as u normally do.

you could try to raise them lol but I dont advice it lol tooo delicate, even netting them will break their spine in half.


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## Kweli

Not planning on raising anything. Keeping a QT tank running is hard enough for me


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## PACMAN

hah Kweli, I stumbled upon one of your posts at nano-reef today. The name popped out and I was like yeeeeeee GTAAer


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## KeMo

Great Job Kweli. Tank has come along way since the start. 
Is the Coralline algae in your tank green ? All the green on the rock by what looks like a GSP Middle left.
Kinda cool if it is. A buddy of mine's Coralline grows Like a bright lime green looks cool.


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## acer

I've got 2 green coral line growing... one lime green and the other is more of an evergreen colour, which is pretty cool I think. 

tank is coming along nicely Kweli.


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## Kweli

That was one thing i was concerned about... I wasnt sure if it was coraline or not but the rocks are covered in a green/neon green 'colour'

Ive seen coraline that almost looks like a thin sticker on the rock (has a form) but this stuff makes the rock just turn green..

I mounted the GSP on a circular rock (skeleton of a old donut or something) and plan to keep it trimmed in a circle, So ill have a little circle piece of grass


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## KeMo

As long as the green is not slimy you should be ok. Coralline grew in my tank as a light pink and is changing now to a velvety red. Just got my first spots on the glass few days ago


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## Big Ray

Green film on LR is not Coraline algea. with good water parameters, it should go away soon. that film is what star fish and some snails eat. also lawnmover blenny.


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## Kweli

Ive been itching to get a Red Bubble Tip Anemone......

Saw some awesome blue carpet anemones but i know these arent good for a 20x20x20 cube (34G)


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## ameekplec.

lol....a carpet anemone in a 20x20x20 would be a 20x20x20 carpet......


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## Kweli

lol, yep... i know that was out of the question, but definatly an option for my next tank


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## Kweli

Thought I had my livestock all planned out but ive been thinking of changing it after doing some research (and staring at the LFS)

I have 2 clown fish.

I was thinking of getting 2 firefish and a YWG w/ pistol shrimp.
Also wanted to get a yellow clown goby after seeing how much room everyone had.

After watching firefish i noticed they dont do much... then i saw a tail spot blenny/midas blenny and they were pretty animated.

Would I have any issues with the following
2 Clowns
1 Midas or Tail Spot Blenny
Yellow Watchman Goby w/ shrimp
Yellow Clown Goby

34 G cube, 20x20x20


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## Big Ray

add fish slowly one by one and watch water parameters. the fish (size wise) will fit, but you may have to do more water changes to keep nutrition low. just a balance between algae growth, number of fish and corals.


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## Kweli

Yes, clowns in QT for the next week.. then in DT

Then im going to buy the next fish (Either 1 blenny or 2 firefish) and QT them for 6 weeks..

So the tank should adjust and give me more then enough time.

I need some pod eaters as they are taking over my tank


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## Big Ray

Pods are good guys. they eat detritus and decaying stuff, and are the best known food for corals and fish.  be happy about those lol


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## Kweli

Oh, im definatly happy about them.... Just not sure i want them to be the top of the food chain..

Noticing astra starfish popping up left and right. Been taking them out as im not sure if they are the good or bad kind. Weird how many im suddenly seeing, and how well they blend in with the rockwork


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## ameekplec.

I think Menagerie wil be getting some tailspot blennies - mind you, I'll be buying a few


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## Kweli

One thing i love, and hate, about this hobby is the mini panic attacks that come with it.

I noticed something similar to a potato bug... took it out of my tank and killed it. Did some research and found out that it might be a blood sucking isopod. Apparently a lot harder to get rid of then ICH... panic

Go back to my tank and notice that i have 5+ of them. Something I NEVER noticed before today. Similar to my astrea star fish that were invisable to me for months until i spotted my first one. Now i see them all the time.

Anyway, more research, more pictures and i discover that they are Spaeromatid isopods. They look like potato bugs, the feature that gave them away was the fact that they roll into a ball:

Sphaeromatids are small bugs, generally less than a centimeter in length. They are common scavengers in many shallow marine environments, including coral reefs, and they *are harmless to reef aquarium inhabitants*. They can be recognized immediately by a couple of distinctive characters. First, each individual has the capability to roll into a ball-like terrestrial pill bug. None of the other isopods likely to be found aquaria will be able do that. Second, when examined with a hand lens or magnifying glass, the last pair of appendages of the males are expanded and extend to the rear, like small rudders or the fins on a 1959 Caddy. Females lack these extensions, but if some of the isopods are seen with them, that is usually a good indication that the rest of them are also Sphaeromatids.

THANK GOD because i thought I was going to get ready for Parasite War II


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## Ciddian

Whew!!!! I think I had something like that in my tank when I was cleaning a filter. It flipped out onto me and I nearly had a heart attack. Not used to sw goodies at all...

Oh ...and don't touch torch corals. ...O_O


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## PACMAN

I can't wait to start my saltwater!!!!!


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## ameekplec.

Ha, I found a few of those at first and also thought they were isopods, till I realized that they never were associated with fish, just detrius.


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## Kweli

ameekplec. said:


> Ha, I found a few of those at first and also thought they were isopods, till I realized that they never were associated with fish, just detrius.


Their ability to look like the rock they are on is uncanny, almost octopus like. Couldnt believe how many I was spotting once i started to gaze deep into the rock (almost like those 3d puzzles)

Panic was the first reaction, but like you, i realized that my tank has mainly been fishless, and when it did have fish for a week they were fine. AND there was no way for these blood suckers to breed and grow without fish for 3-4 months


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## Kweli

I have a problem remembering how big my tank is when I find a great coral deal.

I purchased a massive black sun coral for 25 bucks... awesome deal... too big for my tank. 

Now i need to sell my huge brain coral and my lobo (just put add up)....

Pics soon


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## Big Ray

Frag them 

keep a piece and sell the other parts.

this is how I buy chalice and ... for myself and the other tanks lol then frag it into 10 pieces, one in each tank and within months they grow back to original size


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## PACMAN

hey, quick question, where'd you buy your loc-line?


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## Kweli

Some new pictures:

First, What type of algae is this? It moves very easily, almost jelly like. I want to say cyrano, but not sure. I didnt feed my tank for about 2-3 days and i started to notice this, so im not sure how it can be extra nutrients. My astrea snails seem to eat it, but its started to pop up on some coral skeletons which is scaring me:









Nice red mushroom that is spreading too fast:









New suncoral i picked up for 25 dollars.. Couldnt resist at that price, its massive though:









Branching Hammer:









Newest Front Tank shot:
Its a little crowded, looking to remove some of the bigger stuff like the green donut in the left corner


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## Sunstar

that is looking fan-fragging-tastic :3


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## Kweli

Sunstar said:


> that is looking fan-fragging-tastic :3


The only thing i would feel comfortable fragging would be the suncorals. Which i will do once i know they are healthy and eating.


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## Sunstar

should consider offering something for trade for a weeee bit of one of them.


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## acer

I think that's dinoflagelate (sp?)... does it get bubbly and stringy?

cyano is more blackish...


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## Kweli

I was thinking Dino too... no air bubbles ever noticed though......


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## Big Ray

the algae is a bacterial growth, cant remember if you run a skimmer, but if you do run it to produce WET skiimate for a couple days. also check CA+++ and MG and be sure you are at 3.25 ratio. MG = CA++ * 3.25, as MG deficiencies could also have a part in this. 

the tank looks awesome  

also if the bacteria start to spread, I would cut down the light for a little bit to get the balance.


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## Kweli

Big Ray said:


> the algae is a bacterial growth, cant remember if you run a skimmer, but if you do run it to produce WET skiimate for a couple days. also check CA+++ and MG and be sure you are at 3.25 ratio. MG = CA++ * 3.25, as MG deficiencies could also have a part in this.
> 
> the tank looks awesome
> 
> also if the bacteria start to spread, I would cut down the light for a little bit to get the balance.


Ill look into it Big RAy, thanks. Is there a name I should google for more background information? I have a skimmer and it produces about half a cup every few days.. very dark brown or green.

Cut down lights from 10 hours to 7 in the last few days..

Is it normal that my astrea snails eat the bacterial growth?


----------



## Big Ray

Kweli said:


> Ill look into it Big RAy, thanks. Is there a name I should google for more background information? I have a skimmer and it produces about half a cup every few days.. very dark brown or green.
> 
> Cut down lights from 10 hours to 7 in the last few days..
> 
> Is it normal that my astrea snails eat the bacterial growth?


I Will try to find you a good link soon so you can compare how it looks, cause alot of times its different in person  if indeed it is bacteria, then even your fish should be going after it, its good.

it could be Dino.... but one characteristic of Dino is that it gets colored up and also air bubbles due to high Oxygen production within it, on ligh period and looses its color at nights .... not sure if that is the case.


----------



## Kweli

Big Ray said:


> I Will try to find you a good link soon so you can compare how it looks, cause alot of times its different in person  if indeed it is bacteria, then even your fish should be going after it, its good.
> 
> it could be Dino.... but one characteristic of Dino is that it gets colored up and also air bubbles due to high Oxygen production within it, on ligh period and looses its color at nights .... not sure if that is the case.


I remember Dino, had that during cycle.. No air bubbles on this one...

It almost looks like fuzzy velvet and moves very easily... sigh, impossible to discribe this, haha

I cant think of the cause though... My only thoughts are
a) Havent replaced the sponges/filters in a while....
b) Got a new RO/DI unit, so possibly the water, or the new salt mix?

Other then that, i actually CUT BACK on feeding a week before this started to happen, so im not sure how it can be nutrients... unless of course its *A*


----------



## Kweli

Hey Big Ray, Any luck with that link?

I started to get it under control after adding 4 more astrea snails (they seem to eat it)

BUT, yesterday i noticed another bloom of this stuff, all over the sandbed now (which it didnt do before) and covering some corals. My GSP didnt open up on Monday until i blew it all off it (came off almost like a shell)

Im starting to wonder if its overfeeding (seems like most food is eatten) or its my RO/DI water.... hmmm


----------



## Big Ray

Kweli said:


> Hey Big Ray, Any luck with that link?
> 
> I started to get it under control after adding 4 more astrea snails (they seem to eat it)
> 
> BUT, yesterday i noticed another bloom of this stuff, all over the sandbed now (which it didnt do before) and covering some corals. My GSP didnt open up on Monday until i blew it all off it (came off almost like a shell)
> 
> Im starting to wonder if its overfeeding (seems like most food is eatten) or its my RO/DI water.... hmmm


look up bacterial growth / mulm on google and you will get alot of pics.

we need more pics to be able to tell.

what and how much do you feed ? also do you test RO/DI water to be sure TDS is zero ?


----------



## Kweli

I feed about every other day.. Normally a mixture of pellets, cylopeeze, and mysis (which i strain with RO water)

AS for RO/DI, i have a TDS meter coming, goign to get it tested at a LFS tonight. Guess i assumed it wouldnt be an issue on a brand new RO/DI....

Ill get some more pictures tonight to help ID this, as I cant find it on any Algae sites... looks similar to dino but without air bubbles


----------



## Kweli

Getting the TDS reading tonight.

I had a 48HR lights out and yesterday I noticed that the majority of the bacterial growth has subsided. I think ive narrowed it down to two things:

a) TDS in my RO/DI, which i will verify tonight
b) A bad batch of Saltwater for water change. I realized that I acclimated a new coral in the bucket and after dumping the water out I refilled it with RO/DI and added salt. Had it sitting for about 6 days before I used it. I think there was die-off or decay in the bucket that i used. I have sinced cleaned the bucket thorougly for the next change.

*On a brighter note, I purchased a Midas Blenny and a Yellow Clown Goby over the weekend from SUM. God i love that place...*

They are both in the QT and have started to open up. For the first few days they were very shy but I now have the midas blenny coming out when I get near the tank. Also the Clown goby has started to swim around when I am there. Still trying to get the Yellow Clown to eat, as its been difficult.

Midas blenny is such a funny guy... Peeks out to see if you are looking at him, then swims out if you are. He also changes colours. Yellow in the day and white with brown leopard spots at night (or when hes pissed).

I cant stand the QT process... So much to do, about 2x more maintence then my DT


----------



## Kweli

I brought the massive donut coral to Aquatic Kingdom for 50 dollar credit. It was taking too much space, resticting water flow, AND i think the tissue was starting to get damaged. Still in very healthy shape though.

I spent about 30 minutes looking at all the corals they had. Alot of the nice ones had hair algae, bubble algae, or aipstia on it... So i avoided those as I would like to postpone the introduction of these pests.

I WAS lucky enough to find two very colourful corals near the back of the tank (probably how they lasted so long without being picked up)

One is a very orange short tentical plate, which ill need to get a picture of.

The second is a multicoloured Lobo that is just kickass. Picture doesnt represent the true pop


----------



## Kweli

Got my first anemone... Figure i start small with this mini-maxi anemone...









Acclimated it for about 45 minutes (drip) and gently lowered it into a fairly open part of the tank. After about 1-2 hours it slithered its way to where the sand touches the rock and planted there. Turned on the powerhead and he isnt moving. Going to cover powerhead with pantyhose for a while

Here is the newest front tank shot.....


----------



## Kweli

Some new pictures:

My bright neon orange plate coral.









Tw of my mushrooms im looking to eventually sell

















My front yard, I really like the grass look to it, especially since i have it managed on a circular rock on the sand bed:









My Clowns:


----------



## Kweli

Some new additions...

A Dendro, 30 dollars at a reef raft sale... when does that ever happen? Took about 1-2 weeks for the heads to finally open up, guess it needed time to adjust to the new flow/lighting. These guys do not survive off light and REQUIRE feeding to survive. I just give them a little squirt of whatever im feeding that day.









I started with 1 mini-maxi anemone and really enjoyed having it in my tank. 9.99 sale at Oakville reef gallery today and i picked up 3 of them. They had a shipment of over 100+ and there was only 20 left.... just once i would like to be the guy that gets to pick from the full stock. I thought etobicoke was the 'meca' for fish stores... and while there are a lot, none of the good ones are here.

After a lot of reading it seems like most peoples experiences with these mini-maxi anemones are pretty good. They dont seem to move as much as other anemones.. and seem to be alot hardier (which is probably why they dont move as much.) One lady, with about 100+ anemones says she has never seen them 'release' their hold on a rock... they just move along the rock...... which means less chance of them getting stuck in a powerhead (although still possible)









Multicoloured Anemone, about 4 hours in tank, still shy









Pink with green skirt anemone... thought my wife would like the colour... she didnt even notice it in the tank


----------



## Ciddian

I am not your wife, but -I- love it! 

Omg the dendro.. I am so jealous.


----------



## camboy012406

wow the pictures are soo beautiful.


----------



## acer

I miss out on everything being at home. why is there nothing in Niagara? 

I shotty the first clone of the muli-coloured maxi mini.


----------



## Kweli

Since adding the mini-maxi anemones i've gotten the itch for a bubble tip anemone (one of the few that can live a happy life in a 34G)...

Theres a few problems & proactive steps i need to take before I buy one...

The first, is figuring out which corals i need to get rid of. I have alot of big corals that can be damaged by a passing anemone. Do i risk it, or sell them off?

I dont mind selling the bubble coral (on the back right of the tank) or the hammer (near top of tank)... BUT i really like the elegance coral and dont want to loose that...


----------



## Sunstar

I am so going to get frags of those off you-when if you decide to frag them. I LOVE mini carpets.


----------



## Kweli

I might be too scared to frag them.... This is the only hobby where you grow attached to your "pet"... and then cut them in half to get two of them...


----------



## Sunstar

LOL when and If, and if you ever need a home for them... I'll be at your door. 

Edit: Quoted in sig.


----------



## Kweli

Hermit eating algae off a snail..... as the snail slides all the way to the top of the tank. Was funny to watch, as the hermit was stuck on him for over an hour before he went back down to the substrate









Newly added clown goby (finished quarantine) and he went straight to the elegance coral and stayed there.... how awesome would it be to have a clown & elegance coral pair...


----------



## Kweli

AIPTASIA!!! My first ever, going to have to figure out how to kill them before they make babies









Yellow Clown Goby posing infront of Green Star Polyp









My favourite fish by far is my Midas Blenny. He is very personable and he seems as interested in me as I am of him. He actually watches whoever comes to the tank, moving his eyes and everything. Another cool feature is his ability to CHANGE COLOUR depending on his mood. Typically during lights out, or when i do stuff to the tank he will go into "leopard skin mode"









Here you can see him very happy and bright yellow/orange. Front Tank Shot


----------



## PACMAN

your tank looks amazing!

you are real close to convincing me to get a midas blenny next!


----------



## acer

only one question are those vermetid worms in your sand?

clown goby looks nice and fat.


----------



## Kweli

No, Not the snails... but im sure they are some type of worm that came with the live sand... they are everywhere along the glass, so who knows what I cant see


----------



## Kweli

I guess one of my Astrea snails fell into my yellow anemone...



















I did NOT think it would fully engolf it...


----------



## sig

amazing! Fishes added more beauty to the tank, since I seen it last time

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----------



## explor3r

Love your tank man so full of colors and your fishes look very happy,i like a lot your yellow anemone..i want oneeeeeeeeeeeee


----------



## Sunstar

that yellow nem is gonna disappear if he turns his back


----------



## Kweli

Just came home with a RBTA, excited!!

Time to anemone proof my tank


----------



## Kweli

Picked up a RBTA from SUM on Friday (Feb 18th)

It was an interesting experience... Like any new addition to the tank you freak out over every little weird thing. With corals I dont worry about them until after the 4-5th day.... Until the 4th or 5th day I just assume they are getting used to the tank.

With this anemone it was a bumpy ride. Buying it; Found one with a closed mouth, the foot was healthy without any tears and it was very sticky. Acclimated it, and when I was putting it into the tank it stuck to my finger (only held it for about 3 seconds, good sign?)

I placed it into a spot that I thought it would like. One of my rocks has a large bowl hole in it. I put the anemone in the hole and its been there for almost 6 days. It protects the foot and lets it hide from the sun when it wants.

Then for 3 days it pretty much looked like shit. Gapping mouth, tenticals were flacid and it only puffed up a few times. It started to spew white mucus and it seemed to have lost some colour near the base (more bleeched i guess?.) One of my cleaner shrimp also regularly went up to it and started to pick at its mouth (cleaning, or eating? i dont know)

As of the last 24 Hrs its been looking good, always out and getting bigger everytime i look at it. Again, I should have used my 4-5 acclimation days before freaking out


----------



## marblerye

Awesome rbta! I like the color! Was it the same price as what's advertised on SUM live? 

all bubble tip anemones have different temperaments i guess because I am VERY scared to touch a rbta now. It has stung me many a times, and the last time it did it felt VERY painful.. like a small tiny needle being forced into my finger deeper and deeper, and deeper.. for 2 HOURS!! 

For me in my experience, the stings have left a bump and remain for months. It's not normally visible but underwater it definitely highlights.. strange huhh? 

When feeding you should definitely use tongs because as soon as the anemone senses something tasty in the water they will tend to kick into hungry mode and sting whatever comes near it because of its natural instinct of catching food; sting, paralyze, grab it with a bunch of tentacles bring it in and swallow it whole. The sting can affect humans in the less dense parts of skin, typically where the soft tissue is (inside of hands, wrist, inside part of arm all the way up).

As for its appearance, most if not all bubble tip anemones bubble up when you see them at the store because they are still stressed from the move. It's not until after acclimation when they could completely lose the bubbles. If they bubble, it'd be after feeding. They will inflate as well which would stretch its overall membrane making it appear faded in color.

One thing you're gonna most likely experience is a sudden hatred for your cleaner shrimp when he always seems to go after your anemone's food. He'll stick his claws right into the mouth and yank it out like the thief that he is.. I find that feeding him before or during anemone feedings doesn't make a difference because it'll steal food even if it won't eat it all. My solution is waiting around until the anemone swallows it COMPLETELY and goes back to normal which sometimes can take a while. Once it seals its mouth the scent of the food is no longer coming out so the shrimp won't continue to pursue it.


----------



## Kweli

Thanks Marble, same price as online, yep!

Thanks for the tips... My cleaner shrimps are already hated by me.. ive tried multiple times to remove them but they are to fast for me.... One day I will get them out... I hate them

Now i hate them even more.... I was actually hoping that my anemone would eat them, but i guess not.....

I was just going to squirt some mysis into their tentacles with a turket baster... do you suggest bigger food with tweezers?


----------



## Kweli

When I "anemone" proofed my tank I changed some of the return nozzles... turns out I left a big dead spot in the middle of the rockwork and cyano has been growing. It was the justification i needed to

*Buy a Vortech MP10ES!*

I ordered it on Ebay for 210 + 18 Shipping = in US Dollars... Cheaper then anything we can get in Canada.. Brand new in box.

Received it yesterday and setup, I feel like a kid in a candy store.. So many options I didnt know which to choose. The swaying motion is pretty cool and it kicks up detritus like mad.

*Looking forward to seeing if it does anything to the Cyano, will update shortly.....*


----------



## explor3r

Kweli said:


> When I "anemone" proofed my tank I changed some of the return nozzles... turns out I left a big dead spot in the middle of the rockwork and cyano has been growing. It was the justification i needed to
> 
> *Buy a Vortech MP10ES!*
> 
> I ordered it on Ebay for 210 + 18 Shipping = in US Dollars... Cheaper then anything we can get in Canada.. Brand new in box.
> 
> Received it yesterday and setup, I feel like a kid in a candy store.. So many options I didnt know which to choose. The swaying motion is pretty cool and it kicks up detritus like mad.
> 
> *Looking forward to seeing if it does anything to the Cyano, will update shortly.....*


Great you got it, worth every single penny
The swaying motion is one of my favorites too plus at the same time clean the bottom of the tank..


----------



## Kweli

Didnt think I had a picture of the anemone when it was looking pretty bad. It looked like this off & on for a few days. 









Here is a shot from today. The tentacles are no longer short and bubbly like they were in the store. So far its been colouring up nicely, it readily accepts food and will quickly close around it.









New front tank shot after setting up the Vortech MP10. I have it running reef crest mode at about 80% power:









So far im really liking the vortech; with the feed mode and ability to fine-tune the power and settings. Reef Crest mode will randomly go from heavy current to very calm waters. Corals have seemed to like it so far


----------



## PACMAN

man your tank is awesome!


----------



## sig

I like content of the tank. It is very nice, but looks like you are ready for the bigger one 
There is no place to put more stuff

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----------



## caker_chris

tank is still looking good man, I still would love a frag of those zoanthids you have. You should see those mushrooms I got from you they grew like crazy.


----------



## Kweli

caker_chris said:


> tank is still looking good man, I still would love a frag of those zoanthids you have. You should see those mushrooms I got from you they grew like crazy.


Glad to know = ) Have they increased in size yet?
I got that rock with only 1 mushroom on it, and after 3 months I had about 8. Its a good thing they are such a vibrant red.

I am planning on fragging some of the zoa's in the upcoming weeks, ill keep you posted


----------



## Kweli

Thanks for the nice comments, It even impresses me how nice the tank has become (and stayed)

AT first I was buying the biggest corals which filled my tank VERY quickly. I started to sell those off and I am only left with a few.... My Elegance will always have a place in my tank.

Its cool to see some of the starting corals doing so well. My first coral purchase was the frogspawn on the right, it was a tiny head for 10 dollars. It now has 3 heads, and the 3rd one is splitting. Soon it will be too big and ill have to sell something to find a spot for it = \

Sig... I think your right, its time for a new tank.... Although im not sure my wife is ready for that sales pitch yet


----------



## PACMAN

Kweli said:


> Sig... I think your right, its time for a new tank.... Although im not sure my wife is ready for that sales pitch yet


With the success of this tank, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch!


----------



## caker_chris

Kweli said:


> Glad to know = ) Have they increased in size yet?
> I got that rock with only 1 mushroom on it, and after 3 months I had about 8. Its a good thing they are such a vibrant red.
> 
> I am planning on fragging some of the zoa's in the upcoming weeks, ill keep you posted


the rock is completely covered in them and starting to spread to others and yes they are massive now.

good to hear that your fragging soon, you got some nice zoas.


----------



## Kweli

Interesting developments lately...

My Midas blenny disappeared a few days ago. I have a net over my tank so I knew that he didnt jump out. I looked EVERYWHERE and couldnt find him. The next day I found my cleaner shrimp eating his bones (cleaned very well). Pretty sad, as he was my favourite guy in the tank.

Something must have been up because he stopped swimming around as much as he used to and stuck to his "home" more often. Im not sure what it was, maybe the heat? the tank reached 82-83 degrees at some points.

Then, the next day I found my feather duster inside the mouth of my plate coral. Interesting position because the featers were sticking OUT of the plates mouth, so it looked like some mutant coral. I have pictures of this that I will upload shortly.

Did tests and all levels (amm, ni, na) are at perfect still. Not sure if its just bad timing, or something that im not measuring. Everything else looks happy


----------



## PACMAN

Sorry to hear that


----------



## Kweli

This has been a slow accumulation over a few months... I went away for a vacation and had my brother feed the tank and since then its been bad.

Its a mixture of "hair" like algae and what appears to be cyrano...

It also started to occur when i replaced my bulb about 6 months ago

Not sure what it is, so not sure how to combat it!!!

Pictures:


----------



## SourGummy

more WC will help, maybe twice a week 10-20% each time. Also hand remove as much as you can


----------



## sig

clean rocks out of the tank, put in the bigger tank and sell this Solana. Bigger will be more stable and you can go on vacation without worries

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----------



## TypeZERO

For sure more water changes and manual removal would help, try to increase the flow to those areas without causing a sandstorm. Also cut back on lighting period, even blackout for 2 days while your combating the algae from multiple directions. Myself, and others had luck dosing Microbacter7 by brightwell to hold back cyno and eventually get rid of it.

Even though you get rid of it, you have to find the root cause of the excess nutrient that's in your system.


----------



## Kweli

The tank is finally on its way back to full recovery.

There was a long spell of neglect mostly because of the newborn in the family (turned 6 months today)

The little guy LOVES to look at the tank..... So thats my motivation to get it back.


----------



## 12273

Hey man. Read through this post. Long but it's fun to see day one and now the tank in its current state. 

It's so exciting and it takes every bit of patience in my body LOL. I also have a 34 gallon and it's nice to see I can get variety in the tank. Great job the nem is so cool . I want a carpet maxi mini.


----------



## Kweli

Picked up the Evergrow 16" LED fixture. My MH bulb needed replacing and i figured it was a good time to switch over. 170 dollars and I reduced energy consumption AND less evaporation.

My only problem was mounting it:
I didnt want a 10 pound box hanging from a 9 foot roof (as there is nothing above the tank, and i didnt want to install anything there either.) Anytime the front door would open the lights would become a swinging lethal weapon.

I made this rail/mount out of acrylic. Its pretty cool working with acrylic and i was lucky enough to find a local plastics company that would cut to spec. They couldn't do circular cuts so i had to stick with 90 degree angles.










If i could do it again I would chose a thicker acrylic. While this system will support the system i would have liked a sturdier (tank like) system. Cost me 30 dollars for the acrylic to be cut to spec, 6 bucks for the weld-on 3 and 4 bucks for the applicator. I used so little of the weld-on that it would be better to ask some friends if they have it on hand.


----------



## conix67

That's a pretty good idea! Never thought of that.. Please keep us posted on the performance of this lighting system.


----------



## FragCave

All you need is time to spend in your system and get it back on track you know that, looking forward to see it clean and thriving.
Im sure with LED vs Halide you will have less algae too, is great to have you back....


----------



## PACMAN

please update us on your experiences with that light. I could use an LED alternative over my biocube and this would be perfect for the price! 

Does it support SPS?

Thanks!


----------



## 12273

Hey awesome set up! Me like! 

Hey pacman apparently my set up I have of 3 ecoxotic 19w LED will support SPS. According to there website. I plan on softies and shrooms etc... So I won't be able to tell you results. But I can say that my mushroom has doubled in size in less than a week with LED. 


Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


----------



## PACMAN

Dont you worry, I'm watching your thread as well


----------



## 12273

LOL. Hopefully it's clear and concise. I try and document everything. I'll be keeping my eye in that LED thingy. I might do a custom job on my Red Sea max 


Sent from my iPhone with auto correct. Can't you tell?


----------



## Kweli

The LED's go by the name of "reefbreeder" while the Canadian distributor has it labeled as "evergrow"... they are the same unit from china. You should be able to find alot of information by looking up reefbreeder LED's

Ill give you my personal experience once ive had it running for a little longer. I'll keep you guys updated. Going to post some before/after pictures of my anemone once it settles.

*My clowns finally started hosting the anemone. * Well, thats not the whole story. The female of my mated pair jumped out of the tank a few months back... little blackie was all alone. I purchased a smaller clownfish two weeks ago... it was the ONLY clown out of the bunch that was hiding in the fake plants (as if it was an anemone).... I picked that one.. and within 2-3 hours he was swimming around in my BTA. Now, 1.5 weeks later, my original black clownfish is swimming in my anemone too.


----------



## Kweli

So far i have been really liking the LED system. Alot of my corals have responded well to it.... most noticeably my anemone. I could tell it was time to change the bulb when my anemone spent most of its time stretched as far as it could towards the bulb..... It was around this time that i realized my bulb was overdue by 8-9 months.

Here, 3 weeks after getting the new LEDs, you can see the anemone is settled nicely into its nook and the tentacles are more bubbled instead of long


----------



## Kooka

Dang that anemone is nice. Is it really that purple in person or is that just your camera?


----------



## Kweli

No no, not that purple. I had to do some auto-adjusting on the picture because the new LED's dont make good pictures (too blue i guess)

It was more to show its position and 'happiness' then to show off the color (which has been altered)..

This is a closer representation of its color:


----------



## Tropicana

Sweet Reef! I have the same fixture as you on my 20gal nano. I agree the light makes the tank look great yours and mine, but pics are very difficult to get lol. My coral seem to be adjusting well. The red/blue/royal blue leds make the corals Pop like crazy.


----------



## sig

I think this month marks 3 years as I visited you to pick up mushrooms and you still with 34G tank 

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----------



## Kweli

Hahahaha, Yep, i am also surprised at how long ago I setup this tank.

Ill upgrade my tanks when i upgrade my house


----------



## Kweli

I have to fix something that has been causing me headaches... my fine sandbed. Not only do the powerheads (at the speed I want) cause the sand to shift, but it causes cloudy water because I never rinsed it properly (double doh)

What are my options? 
I was thinking of siphoning off about 1CM (its about 3-4CM deep) during the next water change.... Or should i do .5CM over the course of two/three weeks?

Then, i want to add a layer of thicker sand above this, to give me more waterflow options without the fear of a sandstorm.

Question 3 - Im thinking of going with some of the black reef sand... I'm really digging the idea of that type of contrast between rocks/corals.

Thoughts?


----------



## 12273

That's the reason I rinsed my sand . 

As far as black sand. It will make all the colour POP ! The coral and fish will look a little brighter. Same effect with fresh water fish and black substrate. 


Sent from iphone using auto correct! Can't you tell!?


----------



## sig

you wanted fine sandbad - you have it  .Was it before you set your tank? I vacuum my sand bad monthly, but and what do you mean by (never rinse) Was it before you set your tank? 
with fine sand probably try to play with locations and output of Power Heads. I assume you have plenty of sand in the back section of the tank as result of these clouds. Even with medium size arganite , I always had small particulars in the sump.
Another option to replace sand with arganite



Kweli said:


> I have to fix something that has been causing me headaches... my fine sandbed. Not only do the powerheads (at the speed I want) cause the sand to shift, but it causes cloudy water because I never rinsed it properly (double doh)
> 
> What are my options?
> I was thinking of siphoning off about 1CM (its about 3-4CM deep) during the next water change.... Or should i do .5CM over the course of two/three weeks?
> 
> Then, i want to add a layer of thicker sand above this, to give me more waterflow options without the fear of a sandstorm.
> 
> Question 3 - Im thinking of going with some of the black reef sand... I'm really digging the idea of that type of contrast between rocks/corals.
> 
> Thoughts?


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----------



## Kweli

One of my big mistakes was not rinsing the sand. I knew about it but just forgot it when it was time.

Second mistake was getting very fine sand

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk


----------



## Kweli

I mounted my new LED lights (evergrow) late November and snapped a picture of my new monti. Less then a month later you can see that its polyps are always fully extended and the growth is coming in nicely

Picture white balance isnt matched though


----------



## Kweli

Hydor Smart ATO came in today. Bought it from JLAquatics over boxing week for 66 dollars. Uses internal sensors instead of moving float valves.

I used a tom's aqualifter with it and its been working perfectly so far.

Few things:
1) it doesnt accept standard US plugs (where one prong is bigger than the other, so i had to file down the tom's aqualifter plug)
2) it needs to run for a minimum of 10 seconds, so picking a pump that is too powerful can flood your system before it shuts off









*Iphone here for size reference


----------



## Kweli

This is the reason I'm back


----------



## fury165

Kweli said:


> I have to fix something that has been causing me headaches... my fine sandbed. Not only do the powerheads (at the speed I want) cause the sand to shift, but it causes cloudy water because I never rinsed it properly (double doh)
> 
> What are my options?
> I was thinking of siphoning off about 1CM (its about 3-4CM deep) during the next water change.... Or should i do .5CM over the course of two/three weeks?
> 
> Then, i want to add a layer of thicker sand above this, to give me more waterflow options without the fear of a sandstorm.
> 
> Question 3 - Im thinking of going with some of the black reef sand... I'm really digging the idea of that type of contrast between rocks/corals.
> 
> Thoughts?


Kweli what did you end up doing? I have had it with the sugar fine sand blowing around and want to either replace it or put coarser sand on top...


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## Kweli

I ended up living with it... Adjusted the flow in the tank for now.

It might be something I do with the next tank unfortunatly. Time gets away from me too quickly with a 10 month old kid...


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## Kweli

*I'll be selling the coral i have. * Ideal customer would be someone with a coral cutter to remove as much rock as possible....

I have been battling an algae for over a year... a loosing battle.
It looks like B. plumosa but does not have "hairy/feather" features.

Lesson here... inspect new corals closely for problematic algaes that are extremely difficult to remove. I lost my tank to 1 frag with a bad hitchhiker


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## PACMAN

Kweli said:


> *I'll be selling the coral i have. * Ideal customer would be someone with a coral cutter to remove as much rock as possible....
> 
> I have been battling an algae for over a year... a loosing battle.
> It looks like B. plumosa but does not have "hairy/feather" features.
> 
> Lesson here... inspect new corals closely for problematic algaes that are extremely difficult to remove. I lost my tank to 1 frag with a bad hitchhiker


That's too bad. will you be restarting the tank?


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## Kweli

This was my first tank and i've learned alot.
Next tank will be completely built for ease of maintenance. I would be looking to have pipes going to the basement for a sump, etc..

So not until we get the next house.... So it may be years


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## PACMAN

Kweli said:


> This was my first tank and i've learned alot.
> Next tank will be completely built for ease of maintenance. I would be looking to have pipes going to the basement for a sump, etc..
> 
> So not until we get the next house.... So it may be years


Nuts. Good luck on the house hunt, whenever it may be! I look forward to your next tank!


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