Beginner's 150g CDA Tank

[kevgib67]

Don't worry, he knows a guy. One thing about Kev, he's not got a serious bone in his body! I think he used to, but then he broke it so...

I think you are thinking of your wife Tim, poor gal. I hope she is feeling better!

 

[tbrown]

She's currently snoring....

 

[Brisk]

Man! Two Mantis???

Yes, your tank is ready for a fish or two if you're seeing nitrates, but I'd tend to agree with the Mantis being a possible threat.

I hope it's not two! Unless the mantis can change color from green to brownish. I know nothing about mantises. I just go crazy hearing 2 - 3 consecutives clicks from the left, then from the right, and starting to go crazy hearing it from the top.

 

[tbrown]

Congrats!!!!!

 

[Brisk]

Congrats!!!!!

Thank you. Not sure if I qualify since I won the same item back in June. I left a message with Daniel if this was an oversight.

 

[tbrown]

Thank you. Not sure if I qualify since I won the same item back in June. I left a message with Daniel if this was an oversight.

True. Sometimes they go with it, other times they redraw.

 

[tbrown]

Offer to trade for the Mini with Felda?

 

[Brisk]

Offer to trade for the Mini with Felda?

Daniel switched it for us.

 

[Brisk]

Update for this week...

Bad News:

• Confirmed there are 2 mantis shrimp in my tank. I saw both of them at the same time sticking their heads out of different rocks. I put bottle traps next to the holes, but they never fully come out. What I'm going to do now is try to see if I can use a shop vac to suck them out of the hole when they stick their heads out.
• My phosphate went up to .139 because of the frozen shrimps I've been using trying to bate the mantis shrimps.
• I have byropsis in my tank. I ordered a couple of Reef Flux coming tomorrow.

Good News:

• This weekend attended 2 frag swaps and won a gold hammer, a goldenrod, and not sure what the last one is. I gave a try at dipping for the first time but I think I may have over done it. I dipped the corals in potassium chloride for 10 mins, then Coral Rx for 10 mins, and then Revive for 10 mins. I think I need to do more research on dipping corals. I thought I may have killed them, but the next day it looked fine.
• I also won a pair of Ocellaris clownfish about 1" - 1.25". With the mantis shrimps still in the tank, I couldn't put them in there. I put them in a 10 gallon tank that I'll be using as a QT tank later. For now, I'll just use it to observe this pair.

 

[Brisk]

So.. I feel like the past week has not turned out too great. It started out good, but it lead to other issues. Let's begin... The bottle trap was not working for me to capturing the mantis shrimps because they never seem to want to come out, so I decided to give a wet vac a try. I saw one of the mantis stick its head out and I baited it with a frozen shrimp while I get the hose ready. When it started to nibble on the shrimp, WHOOSH, it got sucked into the bucket. +1

Next, I'm on day 6 of using the Reeflux FIuconazole to get rid of the byropsis. It seems to be working. I see it turning white. It doesn't seem to be affecting the macro algae and GHA so far. Down side is that per the instruction, I have to wait another 2 weeks before I can do a water change. +1 and -1

The 2nd mantis shrimp is being very evasive. I have my wet vac ready but I haven't seen it stick its head out. Until then, it is probably killing off some snails and holding off adding the pair of Clownfish to the tank. -1

As the byropsis clears up, I started to notice what I believe to be dinos. -1

I tested my water parameters today. This is probably why I'm getting dinos? -1

• Nitrate - 2.1
• PO4 - .009

So my plan now is to try to bring the NO3 and PO4 up by ghost feeding flakes and pellets (will that work?). As for the dino, I tried to vacuum as much of it out and turned off my lights with the UV running. I'm planning to do a blackout for 3 days but deciding if I should wait till after the mantis shrimp is caught so it doesn't kill the inverts. I believe the dino should be my priority before it spreads?

 

[Brisk]

This week I found my emerald crab dead while trying to molt and a bumblebee snail dead too. There's another bumblebee snail, but I haven't seen it in a week, so probably dead too.

Now for the good news... I finally caught the 2nd mantis shrimp . I'm not sure if there is a 3rd one now because this one was found at the other end of the tank. So I'm waiting out another week before adding fishes.

The byropsis seems to have all disappeared but per the instructions, one more week till I can do a water change.

As for the dinos, I bought a microscope to try to ID it but it seems to have disappeared. The past week I've had the light turned down to 15% with only the blues. Today when I put the whites back on, I'm not seeing any. I have also been trying to get my nutrients up with ghost feeding dry foods. It is now NO3 at 5.1 and PO4 at .013. I ordered some sodium phosphate to try if I can bring the PO4 up.

My 3 corals so far seems to be doing fine and I am starting to see coralline forming on the dry rocks.

Not sure what coral this one is...

 

[tbrown]

This week I found my emerald crab dead while trying to molt and a bumblebee snail dead too. There's another bumblebee snail, but I haven't seen it in a week, so probably dead too.

Now for the good news... I finally caught the 2nd mantis shrimp . I'm not sure if there is a 3rd one now because this one was found at the other end of the tank. So I'm waiting out another week before adding fishes.

The byropsis seems to have all disappeared but per the instructions, one more week till I can do a water change.

As for the dinos, I bought a microscope to try to ID it but it seems to have disappeared. The past week I've had the light turned down to 15% with only the blues. Today when I put the whites back on, I'm not seeing any. I have also been trying to get my nutrients up with ghost feeding dry foods. It is now NO3 at 5.1 and PO4 at .013. I ordered some sodium phosphate to try if I can bring the PO4 up.

My 3 corals so far seems to be doing fine and I am starting to see coralline forming on the dry rocks.

Not sure what coral this one is...

Looks like a Zoa most likely. Colors when in blue light will help determine variety but too much blue washes them out.

 

[Brisk]

Looks like a Zoa most likely. Colors when in blue light will help determine variety but too much blue washes them out.

Thanks! I'll try to get a better photo of that one in blue.

 

[tbrown]

Describe the colors and we might be able to get a decent guess as well.

I'm thinking Eagle Eyes, Gatorades, Dragon Eyes, Gorilla Nips, Bam Bams, or Orange Oxides based on the color banding but who knows.

 

[Brisk]

Describe the colors and we might be able to get a decent guess as well.

I'm thinking Eagle Eyes, Gatorades, Dragon Eyes, Gorilla Nips, Bam Bams, or Orange Oxides based on the color banding but who knows.

I googled the list you're thinking and it looks nothing like what I see lol . Under blue light, it looks like almost purple in the middle and yellow on the outside?

 

[tbrown]

Maybe a Purple People Eater.

 

[Brisk]

Update for this week - the dinos started to come back and it looks like it is only on some of the dry rocks. I siphoned and brushed out as much of it as I could. The tank is now in a blackout for 3 days hoping this will fix it. My nutrients are NO3 - 7ppm and NO4 - .035. I started dosing the DIY phosphate to bring it up. At the same time, I've been doing some reading on Randy's DIY ammonia dosing.

The pair of oscellaris clownfish in the 10g tank are doing well except all of the little one's fins is jagged. They will be going into the 20 gallon long frag tank I'm planning to set up. For the main tank, I ordered a pair of Picasso clownfishes for delivery on 10/24. These will be the first fishes into the main tank and QT them in there. Thanks @tbrown for that suggestion.