Basement Office with a View

[Gaspipe]

Well I fed Cheeto some frozen Mysis Shrimp. I purchased this as it's made in Canada vs the Brine as it was made in China. He ate some. I need to reduce the food I feed big time. I allowed myself three shavings off the cube (perhaps 20% of it) as I knew I would be turkey baster blasting, sucking detritus into the filter pad. I also changed the pad.

Currently the return pump is set to 1 (lowest click) and will wait a week before increasing. The powerhead is on random mode full speed but only on 3x a day for 2 hours.

He seems to be swimming easier AND when he's in the mood he swims around.

 

[revhtree]

Beautiful clown!

 

[Gaspipe]

Beautiful clown!

Thank you so much! I purchased him on Sunday at RAP NY, right down the booth from you guys. Neptune and Dynamic Tanks had Cheeto in their display.

Thanks for the towel btw, came in handy all week!

He has an amazing white; it shimmers as if it was mother of pearl. Perhaps i'm just biased

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

A tank gives an office life, we love our 40 gallon in the office

 

[Gaspipe]

So good news Cheeto ate 3 pellets of the SA DRY Hatchery 1.2mm this morning.

I kinda cheated. I should have fed him tmrw but he was swimming towards/with me as I was doing my daily maintenance. I just had to test.

What's great a about that is I tend to go away for weekends and a week vacation from time to time. Auto feeder in my near future.

He swims around great since I reduced the return flow to level 1. I now leave the SLW-10 on max with random mode on. From what the manual says it will cycle through modes and power at random. I may want to confirm this w/ the group.

 

[Gaspipe]

Isn't it lovely to dose something to the tank one day, to wake up and immediately panic the next morning?

LOL

So I walk into the room, turn on the lights and I see Cheeto on the ground with faded orange. I was like ahhh crap what did I do?? Did I not buy the right product?

But after 5 min he had his color, and acted normal. I even fed him today just to make sure. He ate and pooped, that's always a good sign.

 

[Lasse]

I see Cheeto on the ground with faded orange. I was like ahhh crap what did I do?? Did I not buy the right product?

Welcome to the knowledge that fish sleep How do you self look like if someone turn on the lgth in the middle of YOUR night?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Gaspipe]

Welcome to the knowledge that fish sleep How do you self look like if someone turn on the lgth in the middle of YOUR night?

Sincerely Lasse

heheh I said the same thing.. He really is like me.. He probably said what the heck! LOL

This weekend I hope to set up my lights... and add a Zoa as your recommendation. This Sunday (July 11th) will be two weeks!

 

[Gaspipe]

This weekend I connected my lights. It's two AliExpress LED bars w/ a used Kessil A360WE I purchased from a R2R member. Ignore the round light in the back.. I use that for ambient light if I am not in the room. I have no CUC so display lights are off for now.

I introduce to you.... THE CATAMARAN LIGHT KIT!!!

 

[Lasse]

Looks good

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Gaspipe]

Looks good

Sincerely Lasse

<humble bow> thank you Sir.

 

[Gaspipe]

Well I was gone for a week and a day and Cheeto is looking well and swimming around. I just turkey blasted some crap around, changed the filter floss and added some RO to the ATO.

On July 16th my salinity was 34.5 on July 24th it was 34.7. Over all I think that was good. I need to work on cooling off the tank during the summer if I am away. Waiting on a fan from AliExpress.

Tmrw I will look for a source for a CUC and run my lights for 4 days before adding. At that point I will need to get a PAR meter and "chart" my tank. Prepare for what corals I can handle.

Mid Aug I will add my first coral. I was thinking a torch or a zoa.. But I would like to see some movement so def leaning toward torch.

More to come!

 

[Gaspipe]

As of this morning I started my lights. I have two LED AliExpress XHO copycats found HERE. They are custom with 420/450/470 nm. I also have a Kessil A360WE.

Few questions if someone would be so kind... <cough> Mr. @Lasse

1. Run all 3 lights but lowest intensity on Kessil? (the 2 bars have no dial)
2. How many hours a day?
3. FYI I can turn each light on and off independently due to smart wifi switches. Should I do all 3 on at same time... perhaps stagger the lights?
- Example 1st bar in the AM, 15 min later 2nd bar, 30 min later Kessil. Then at night reverse order: turn off kessil, then later turn off 1st bar, then later the last bar?
4. FYI #2, I have no CUC... I will get some later this week (3-4 days)

Thank you in advance!!
Gaspare

 

[Gaspipe]

Updates regarding Cheeto. He seems happy and swimming around fine. He's always on the hunt for food and in true fish fasion is an opportunist eater.

I have an auto feeder to feed once a day a small number of pellets (4-6 pellets) drop. The auto feeder is his fav food SA Dry Hatchery Diet 1.2mm.

I have also feed him Neptune's CD (Crossover Diet) from Reef Nutrition. Cheeto sucks on it as it's larger in size.

The 3rd food I have is frozen Piscine Mysis Shrimp found HERE. Seems he's not a huge fan but chases after it.

My concern is he looks skinny. It's a new tank and he is my only inhabitant. I'm not really sure if he was fatter when purchased. I was away for a week, and confirmed the AF was dropping pellets.

Should I up the feeding to twice a day? SA pellets in the AM and frozen in the PM. I will be adding a CUC tmrw (hopefully).

I can clearly see a "line" going down his upper side. Almost spine like. Also, his head is bigger then his body. When he is swimming with his head up and you view the bottom it's a clear "V" shaped. Not sure if this pic helps...

 

[Gaspipe]

Well, I been very naughty! Seems I didn't calibrate my Hanna pen properly and my salinity has been a LOT lower than I thought. I just calibrated and what I thought was 34.6 was in fact 30.5. ***!

I went to reefco (LFS) yesterday and bought 4 Astraea snails, 6 blue leg hermit crabs, and 1 emerald crab. I brought sample water to be tested and seems my salinity was low.

Currently getting my SW bin to proper salinity and will be performing a one-gallon daily water change till I am at 34.6.

Like the great Mike Tyson said "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face"

On a side note all the new inmates are alive and eating. Cheeto is even gaining weight. I have an AF set up twice a day now with the same small amount of feeding.

 

[Gaspipe]

Little update:

1. Two days ago, one of the hermit crabs died

2. Since realizing my salinity pen was off (July 29th) and actual salinity was 30.5 I begin small WC and not topping off RODI. Today marks the 7th day, and after 6.5 gallons of WC (my tank's water volume is 21G) my salinity is now: 33.7

3. I walked in this morning on Cheeto laying on the floor. He was moving but not swimming up. I immediately thought the worse and panicked. Luckily after 5 min of him lying in "bed" he finally rose and swam around.

4. Friday i get my first corals! I purchased Halley Berry Zoas and a Red Mouth Ricordea mushroom from WWC's live sale here. My plan is to dip with CoralRx Coral Dip and remove from frag plug to glue on my rubble rock. Being my first time, this should be an interesting event.

 

[Gaspipe]

Mr. @Lasse Cheeto seems thin. I have increased the times I feed him pellets from once a day to twice. I'm now even doing a 3rd feeding with frozen mysis or Neptune/Reef Nutrition CD pellets.

Ever since I took off the week of July 19th I came home to a thinner fish.

My concerns are
a. He's sick
b. if I am over feeding will there be a breakout of algae or diatoms
c. he seems to have a belly/mid section near the head but I can clearly see his "spine" run down the side as well as his rear is very thin.

Look at an older post HERE vs a video from today.. Thank you in advance for your time!

PS: I do NOT think he is breathing heavy so please ignore that statement.

 

[Lasse]

Is he/she eating well?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Gaspipe]

He eats all of the Sa pellets, they are small 1.22mm size.

He will eat the smaller Neptune CD pellets and will try and eat the larger. May spit them in and out a few times.

The frozen Mysis he picks at, eats the smaller bits and will wiggle his head with larger trying to tear them free.

 

[Lasse]

Try frozen adult artemia (brine shrimp)

How many weeks have the aquarium run with fish?

Sincerely Lasse