Fluval Flex 15 Jellyfish Conversion

[New9742]

Hey All,

If you're reading this, welcome! I'm basically starting this thread as a way to document my own progression (all of the ups and downs) with building a Jellyfish Tank out of a slightly modified Fluval Flex 15. Admittedly I did get the idea from the Omni 8/9 which seems to be chronically out of stock so I decided to do it my own way. I initially thought I would save some money as well doing it this way, buuutttttt as I've learned with this hobby in the short time I've been trying to get into it, that is apparently not going to be as money-saving as I initially thought and hoped. I will say that so far, my experiment has been much cheaper than any of the common tanks of similar size available for purchase today and maybe this can be a starting point for others who are on a bit of a budget like me.

If you want to follow along, feel free. I'm happy to hear any input, advice, or criticisms you may have as I go along but I will preface this a little and say that I do not want to hear that Jellyfish cannot be in a tank with edges- we all know it and to be fair the concept has been proven false with the right modifications in mass produced tanks. If you are curious look up the Omni 8/9 by Jellyfish Warehouse, or the eon10 by Sunset Marine Lab.

I have done dozens of hours of research thus far learning about the basics of starting and keeping a saltwater tank, to the parameters needed by Jellyfish for this to be successful so I'm not just jumping into this blind, however I realize how much there is to learn and acknowledge I basically know enough to get myself in trouble ha ha. There is not a ton of information available online for Jellyfish keeping it seems, though I have found several good sources to help guide me and get me started in the right direction.

Now onto my build. I'm going to focus on what I specifically bought and put into my tank as well as what I bought to feed the Jellyfish and my slightly unorthodox stand. I think we all know that there are other basic supplies we need/keep outside of this and I won't go out of my way for those here. Since this is basically only going to be a Fish Only/FOWLR tank, I did select and use the API Saltwater Master Test Kit and added a Salifert Alk test kit a little later. With consistent water changes and the lack of any coral or similar organisms, I don't think I need to monitor any other parameters (though I'm open to hear if I'm wrong).

The goal is to create a unique tank to especially exhibit the Clownfish and Jellies I wish to add to it. Making it easy and stable are high on the priority list, hence the higher water volume for the tank, the use of a UV light, the addition of the hermit crabs to eat the scraps, and the sand to help make a better living area for the crabs and additional bacteria and trace elements.


Build:
-Fluval Flex 15 Gallon AIO
-Fluval 100 Watt heater
-Coralife Biocube 5 Watt UV sterilizer
-Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0
-An adjustable spray bar off of Etsy
-Small Shrimp-sized filter grates off of Etsy
-10 lbs of Aragalive Reef Sand
-StartSmart Complete
-Chemi-pure Blue
-Serra Siporax Mini Bio Media
-AquaVitro 8.4
-Tetra Whisper 20-40 Gallon Air Pump
-Plastic Mesh Sheets
-Brine Shrimp Hatchery Dish + Eggs
-Heavy Duty Metal Storage Shelves (400lb capacity per shelf)
-Aquarium Assistant App to help monitor it all and watch trends


Livestock (Current and Planned):
x4 Blue Legged Hermit Crab (Initially had 5, but one died within the first day I added. I firmly believe it was because my water was not oxygenating and I quickly added the air pump which seemed to save the rest of them as they were all looking poor.)
x1 Green Reef Chromis (currently in the tank to help what seems to be a totally stalled Nitrogen Cycle as I will explain later. Will rehome before Jellies are added)
x3 Jellyfish (I have bounced around a lot as to which ones I would like. More than likely Moon Jellies, but I have thoughts about different ones as well so I haven't fully decided. Either way, my tank will be designed to work for them)
x2 Clownfish (See Sunset Marine Lab keeping fish and Jellyfish together. I recently contacted them and was told this was a success on their end. I think I can replicate this as well.)


Mods:
The tank has some more... interesting... modifications, I think, in order to make everything I have planned for this project work. I will describe the best I can and include pictures when able.
-First, the addition of the UV light was problematic due to the tight space in the compartment. I had to take additional hose and create a sort of loop in the compartment to make it fit right. This hose actually proved to be beneficial for a DIY mod for heating my brine shrimp hatchery as well. It looks crazy, I'm sure it affects the flow rate coming out of the spray bar and probably adds some stress to the pump (which I have dialed down anyways so it isn't pumping anywhere near its max anyways), but it works well.
-Second, the etsy spray bar. It has an adjustable flow rate and each of the nozzles are adjustable to control where they spray to. It is a little shorter than I want and I'm not happy with how uneven the stream coming out of each nozzle is, but it is a quality part that I think may work for the Jellies.
-Third, the mesh netting. Before fully starting the cycle I ran a leak test and general test with tap water to mess with the tank and try out the spray bar. I noticed some slight dead zones near the rear and bottom of the tank (using tissues and paper towels to simulate a Jellyfish) and one or two of the "Jellies" getting caught on my bottom intake with the shrimp grate. I didn't want to take a chance so I bought some craft mesh and suction cups and added it to the back, creating curves in the mesh to keep Jellies away from those corners, my intakes, and to keep them closer to the current. It isn't as pretty as I would like, but it is fairly unobtrusive and looks fine enough. Plus, the Jellies being OK is more important
-Fourth, the sand layer. I used a relatively thin layer of AragAlive (about 1.5 inches or so) along the bottom of the tank. It is there purely for some bacteria, but mostly for the hermit crabs to be happy and for an easy place for food to settle and not be unsightly in the tank.
-Fifth, Brine Shrimp Hatchery. Especially now in the winter, I found my house too cool (in the 60s) for the recommended Brine Shrimp Hatching Temp. So I built a radiator inside the hatchery to help heat the water. The radiator runs from my return pump, pumping the aquarium water through the closed loop system and back into my return compartment heating the shrimp water without cross-contaminating or clogging. I have been able to get my hatchery water to read about 71 to 72 degrees in a room of about 66-68 which has been a mild success, though I was hoping for closer to the tank temp of 75.
-Sixth, a tank stand. I initially had some problems with a tank stand. I didn't like the one Fluval made (way too small and I wanted better storage options). The problem was money and the more unique shape of the Flex making it difficult to find something that would work. I made another post asking for help on a different stand, but ultimately decided it wasn't for me. I went ahead and purchased the steel shelfs to support my tank and can confidently say that it has now been about 10 days and everything seems to be working just right and shelf was perfect for me allowing both storage and not breaking the bank or my tank.


Starting:
I initially set up the tank and started the cycle on 1/22/23
-Day one was saltwater bought from my local aquarium shop. I checked the salinity and gave it a basic once over with API pH test. All parameters read fine and I added it to my tank on 1/21/23 along with the AragaLive sand and all of the filter media except the chemi pure. The UV light has also remained off as well. I allowed my heater to run for a day to get the tank up to 75 F. The next day I added the instructed amount of Start Smart Complete along with fish food and waited. I monitored the tank for about 4-5 days and never saw any increase in NH4+, NO2, NO3. Yup, they all read zero and StartSmart claims it would take one day to a week for the tank to cycle. This was after several mornings of adding fish flake food and even Baby Brine Shrimp from my hatchery at the beginning as well. I added another dose of StartSmart and gave it another day without results.
-On 1/27/23 I added the 5 mentioned Hermit Crabs in an attempt to help produce more NH4 and again monitored without any noticeable quantities of of NH4, NO2, or NO3. I only checked all 3 because I didn't know how the StartSmart may affect spikes and didn't want to miss one of them if it neutralized the NH4 and NO2 well. I did have a mild panic attack when I saw my pH plummet to 7.6 and even a little lower over the course of a day using my pH probe (even after calibrating) and I dosed using the 8.4 several times over the next few days but did not see any significant increase and my pH hovered around the 7.8-8.0 range. I stopped dosing after this and let it sit. Up to this point I had not done any dKh tests (and didn't even own a kit for it either). After another 3 days of nothing, I went to my local aquarium shop and got some advice/assistance. I had them check my water for me and we got the same results I had been getting. a pH of about 7.9 and no real noticable NH4, No2, or NO3. They gave me the Chromis to help with producing NH4 for the cycle and advised no more 8.4 as it could increase my dKh too much.
-I added the Chromis and began monitoring for NH4 only along with pH and I bought a dKh test to use as well. As of 1/29 I finally got a reading of .25 ppm for NH4! It was something and better than the straight 0 I was getting. pH still read low at about 7.8 in the morning. I was tempted to add more 8.4 but I held off. I just monitored the tank and fed as little as possible to help limit any massive bio dump using more brine shrimp and the occasional pellet food for the Chromis and Hermit Crabs. I also began dosing one capful of StartSmart to the main tank and a second directly over my filter sponge/media in the mornings after adding the Chromis.
- As of 1/31 I saw a bigger increase of Ammonia to 0.5ppm and it has held there as of 2/1 too. I'm optimistic this is the start for the cycle. I also did my first dKh test and it turns out I'm right at about 11 dKh which is much higher than I personally want and I'm aiming for about the 8 range. I need to figure out how to lower this.

Current Goals:
-I am not trying to chase numbers, but at a minimum, I will have to lower my temp a bit more to about 73 for the Jellies, I do need to lower my salinity from about 1.026 to about 1.023 or so, and I need a more consistent pH of about 8.1-8.2 which I just can't seem to be trending towards right now (despite the bubbler, open windows/doors, and added buffer). I am considering a large water change (30-50%) with a gravel clean to clean up any debris or problems in the sand, clear the high Alk a bit and maybe give better water for the cycle to continue in.

Future Plans:
-Install an ATO, install a skimmer, and install a mini refugium.

Some Encountered Problems:
-Difficulty in estimating if current spray bar is adequate for the flow I need in the aquarium, and whether it will damage jellies from its jets. Other thoughts and DIY have come to mind so I may modify at a later date.
-The Hermit crabs love climbing the netting to the top, and sometimes over, putting them into an area I don't want them in the main tank. I used to move them when I saw them. Now I'm seeing if any ever appear trapped. I actively saw one climb back over from the other side with little difficulty so this may not be as dire as I initially thought.
-Brine Shrimp Hatchery still running a little cool for my liking.
-May not have needed to upgrade my return pump, but time will tell.

Photos to come when I can.

 

[New9742]

First Tank Setup Pics

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is off to a good start!

 

[New9742]

Hey, thanks! I appreciate it

 

[New9742]

Small update time!



THE JOURNEY SO FAR:
Cycling the tank has been a real bear. After I finally saw NH4 I started regular testing for Nitrites. These took awhile to come in, but after about a week or so I started getting my Nitrite spike! Only for my NH4 to not go away when I finally did... I was consistently seeing about .5-1.0 ppm of NH4 despite getting my Nitrite spike. Then, to make it more confusing and frustrating, I got my Nitrates to start registering and climbing WITHOUT a decrease in NH4 or Nitrites with levels consistently of about 0.5 ppm NH4, 1-2 ppm Nitrites, and 20-40 Nitrates over the course of a couple of weeks. These levels remained very consistent, even with four water changes (~20% each time) over the course of 2 weeks (2 water changes occurred back-to-back over 2 days and barely changed my measured levels). I was still using my StartSmart bacteria bottle and I began to dose a capful or two once in the morning for a week to try and help build a bigger population. It never really worked and I gave up with it as I saw no short-term or long-term change on my measured parameters. Can't say I would ever buy it again or recommend it to anyone else. I focused on cleaning my substrate (gravel vac during water changes and mixing it up a little on other days to free anything bogged down in it), monitoring my feedings a little more closely and added a couple of Nassarius snails (Vibex) to the tank to try and help deal with my leftover food and detritus issues as well as do some sand bed aerating. I also removed the two mesh screens I had installed. I had a chronic problem with my crabs getting behind it and I wasn't comfortable with the idea they may be getting stuck. In addition I didn't need them at the moment given my current live stock. If I need to put them back in at some point, I will modify them so that the crabs can't climb up and over anymore. I also upgraded the lower return intake with a bigger, more high-flow version of the previous guard I had. I kept getting a lot of food stuck in the small holes of the other one and this bigger one allows more of it to flow into the filter chamber for better/easier removal.

I started having a small algae bloom during all of this as well and noticed my Chromis eating these white, paper-like flakes that randomly appeared in my tank and seemed to keep growing steadily over the course of a couple of days. This happened at about week 2.5-3 of the cycle. I didn't really know what it was at first as I saw no signs at all of any algae in my main display. I found out they were heavily growing in the clear vinyl tube wrap around I had made in order to run my UV sterilizer in-line. I have no idea what algae exactly I had growing in the tube, but it appeared to be different kinds, including a nice red streak I took to be cyano. As a stop-gap, I took the tube apart from my system and cleaned it out best I could. I then started to run my UV at about this time to help kill off any other unwanted Algae. This got rid of the flakes luckily and I haven't had any issues with it since. I also purchased and installed black vinyl pond tubing later in its place to prevent growth inside the tube this time and updated the connector for my shrimp hatchery radiator to something a little more stable, professional, and sleek looking.

During this time I realized how much I hate trying to read (more accurately decipher) the API test kit, ESPECIALLY for the pH. I ended up buying Salifert kits for pH, dKH, and PO4. While they were shipping and I continued to battle my high Nitrates and the like. I bought a new Chamber 2, 3-tier media basket off of Etsy to force all of my water to go through the sponge, bio media, and chemi pure media rather than the crappy way Fluval originally designed it (all of the water never hit all of the media as it went through and a majority of the surface area of the sponge was useless with how the flow worked). After installing the media basket I could tell it did something beneficial for directing the flow as my return chamber immediately started running lower by several inches as the return flow of the water was a bit more restricted. I think it helped significantly in increasing proper water flow through the filtration chamber and am very happy with it. Much easier for maintenance too now.

I loved the new Salifert kits when they arrived. SO MUCH EASIER TO READ! pH has consistently been coming back at 8.15 now (API still read low to me at about 7.8 or so after many minutes of staring and comparing trying to see if maybe it was closer to an 8 or even an optimistic 8.2), my dKH was high at first but after the water changes is now back down to about 8.6, almost exactly where I want it. My replacement salt water seems to have a dKH of about 7.3 or so so I may dose a little with the pH 8.4 bottle just to raise my pH a tiny bit and keep the dKH around 8 where I want it. I did install a 5.5 oz bag of chemi pure blue a few days prior to the PO4 kit arriving and when I tested twice, it showed zero. I haven't seen any bad outcomes from this (Fish or otherwise) over the past week, so I guess it's ok. Tank water is much cleaner looking and smells better too with the Chemi Pure so thumbs up for that. Still no signs of bacteria or algae too which I take to be a huge plus.

I also began to lower my salinity to my target range of 1.023 and have achieved and maintained it. I was having some wild swings the first couple of weeks and bought an ATO off Amazon (Fzone Aquarium ATO). I love it. It makes my life much easier, though I do worry about it failing or not maintaining my salinity well enough. As a redundancy I placed the power jack onto a smart plug and programmed the plug to turn on 3 times a day for a minute or so, in order to top off my aquarium and mitigate the risk that the ATO will keep running and flood everything. I have experimented a little with leaving it on all day when I have been around and found it to work perfectly fine that way as well. I also reached out to the manufacturer who told me it wouldn't harm the ATO to have it turn on and off throughout the day on my smart plug set up. Every time I check my salinity, I find it to be pretty much exactly where I want it to be and am happy with how it is working so far.

I officially added so many cords and tubes coming out of the back of my tank that I could no longer put my lid down all the way as designed and it looked horrible to me. It also made maintenance harder as I had to completely remove the lid as it would no longer stay pivoting on the back of my tank. I bought some lid risers (again off of Etsy. Thank God for affordable 3D printing) and installed them. They give me about an extra inch of clearance all the way around which is perfect for allowing me to run all the tubes and cords I need while keeping the aquarium shielded and allowing me to use my stock light still. And I can still use my lid holders to keep my lid up and out of the way during maintenance! A cheap fix instead of buying a new, custom lid and still keeps everything looking clean. This did aggravate my evaporation problem though and I am glad I bought the ATO to help it keep balanced.

With so many issues with NH4, and Nitrites, I did some more research and bought MicrobBacter7. I just started using it, so no updates yet, but I'm hoping it will assist with finishing my cycling problems and get me the rest of the way where I need to be.

I'm hoping and praying this cycling problem I have ends soon so that I can read the zeros I need to feel comfortable with adding more to the aquarium and am confident my parameters will be kept.

Current Parameters:
Temp: ~75 F
NH4: 0.5 ppm
NO2: 0.5 ppm
NO3: 20 ppm
PO4: 0 ppm
dKH: 8.6
Salinity: 1.023
Week 3.5 since start of cycle


SHORT-TERM GOALS:
- Buy a couple of small Clownfish and add them. I think I like the Mocha variation and will get those through my LFS
- I am heavily considering buying a single cleaner shrimp for the aquarium because no matter how little I seem to feed I always have a decent amount of leftover both in my display and getting sucked into my newer, better filter. I want something more mobile that can help eat the meaty leftovers, wherever they end up.
- Add a protein skimmer
- See about installing a small refugium for Chaeto in the space available at the bottom of Chamber 2 just to help manage a bit of my Nitrate problems, if possible.


LONG-TERM GOALS:
-I think I have decided on which Jellyfish I want to add to the tank. I want to add a couple of Upside Down Jellyfish and a couple of Australian Spotted Jellyfish. From what I've found the two seem to be able to get along well together, aren't too big, and seem to be a bit hardier than Moon Jellyfish as well (at least where becoming damaged from collisions is concerned). It's just too bad both are so hard to find in stock.




HELP:
If you're reading this, I wouldn't mind some help and insight for a protein skimmer.
I am caught between the Tunze 9001, and the Reef Glass Nano Protein Skimmer. Based on the measurements I can make, I am doubtful the Tunze will fit in my aquarium (it is close though, that's why I'm not totally sure. I may also be able to make the room by breaking some of the plastic pieces that stick out back there). Knowing that it may not work though has kept me from fully committing. The Reef Glass will undeniably fit back there though and seems like it would do an excellent job too based on all the reviews. So why not just buy the Reef Glass? Because my tank has an oxygenation issue. Due to the low and slow current needed for Jellyfish, I cannot get a lot of surface agitation and am currently relying on an air stone in my rear chambers to do the work, and it is doing it perfectly. In addition to skimming, I need a skimmer that can adequately oxygenate my water for me too, which the Tunze will definitely do, but I am not sure Reef Glass can based on how it works. If anyone has some insight to this, I would appreciate it.

 

[ryanjohn1]

Small update time!



THE JOURNEY SO FAR:
Cycling the tank has been a real bear. After I finally saw NH4 I started regular testing for Nitrites. These took awhile to come in, but after about a week or so I started getting my Nitrite spike! Only for my NH4 to not go away when I finally did... I was consistently seeing about .5-1.0 ppm of NH4 despite getting my Nitrite spike. Then, to make it more confusing and frustrating, I got my Nitrates to start registering and climbing WITHOUT a decrease in NH4 or Nitrites with levels consistently of about 0.5 ppm NH4, 1-2 ppm Nitrites, and 20-40 Nitrates over the course of a couple of weeks. These levels remained very consistent, even with four water changes (~20% each time) over the course of 2 weeks (2 water changes occurred back-to-back over 2 days and barely changed my measured levels). I was still using my StartSmart bacteria bottle and I began to dose a capful or two once in the morning for a week to try and help build a bigger population. It never really worked and I gave up with it as I saw no short-term or long-term change on my measured parameters. Can't say I would ever buy it again or recommend it to anyone else. I focused on cleaning my substrate (gravel vac during water changes and mixing it up a little on other days to free anything bogged down in it), monitoring my feedings a little more closely and added a couple of Nassarius snails (Vibex) to the tank to try and help deal with my leftover food and detritus issues as well as do some sand bed aerating. I also removed the two mesh screens I had installed. I had a chronic problem with my crabs getting behind it and I wasn't comfortable with the idea they may be getting stuck. In addition I didn't need them at the moment given my current live stock. If I need to put them back in at some point, I will modify them so that the crabs can't climb up and over anymore. I also upgraded the lower return intake with a bigger, more high-flow version of the previous guard I had. I kept getting a lot of food stuck in the small holes of the other one and this bigger one allows more of it to flow into the filter chamber for better/easier removal.

I started having a small algae bloom during all of this as well and noticed my Chromis eating these white, paper-like flakes that randomly appeared in my tank and seemed to keep growing steadily over the course of a couple of days. This happened at about week 2.5-3 of the cycle. I didn't really know what it was at first as I saw no signs at all of any algae in my main display. I found out they were heavily growing in the clear vinyl tube wrap around I had made in order to run my UV sterilizer in-line. I have no idea what algae exactly I had growing in the tube, but it appeared to be different kinds, including a nice red streak I took to be cyano. As a stop-gap, I took the tube apart from my system and cleaned it out best I could. I then started to run my UV at about this time to help kill off any other unwanted Algae. This got rid of the flakes luckily and I haven't had any issues with it since. I also purchased and installed black vinyl pond tubing later in its place to prevent growth inside the tube this time and updated the connector for my shrimp hatchery radiator to something a little more stable, professional, and sleek looking.

During this time I realized how much I hate trying to read (more accurately decipher) the API test kit, ESPECIALLY for the pH. I ended up buying Salifert kits for pH, dKH, and PO4. While they were shipping and I continued to battle my high Nitrates and the like. I bought a new Chamber 2, 3-tier media basket off of Etsy to force all of my water to go through the sponge, bio media, and chemi pure media rather than the crappy way Fluval originally designed it (all of the water never hit all of the media as it went through and a majority of the surface area of the sponge was useless with how the flow worked). After installing the media basket I could tell it did something beneficial for directing the flow as my return chamber immediately started running lower by several inches as the return flow of the water was a bit more restricted. I think it helped significantly in increasing proper water flow through the filtration chamber and am very happy with it. Much easier for maintenance too now.

I loved the new Salifert kits when they arrived. SO MUCH EASIER TO READ! pH has consistently been coming back at 8.15 now (API still read low to me at about 7.8 or so after many minutes of staring and comparing trying to see if maybe it was closer to an 8 or even an optimistic 8.2), my dKH was high at first but after the water changes is now back down to about 8.6, almost exactly where I want it. My replacement salt water seems to have a dKH of about 7.3 or so so I may dose a little with the pH 8.4 bottle just to raise my pH a tiny bit and keep the dKH around 8 where I want it. I did install a 5.5 oz bag of chemi pure blue a few days prior to the PO4 kit arriving and when I tested twice, it showed zero. I haven't seen any bad outcomes from this (Fish or otherwise) over the past week, so I guess it's ok. Tank water is much cleaner looking and smells better too with the Chemi Pure so thumbs up for that. Still no signs of bacteria or algae too which I take to be a huge plus.

I also began to lower my salinity to my target range of 1.023 and have achieved and maintained it. I was having some wild swings the first couple of weeks and bought an ATO off Amazon (Fzone Aquarium ATO). I love it. It makes my life much easier, though I do worry about it failing or not maintaining my salinity well enough. As a redundancy I placed the power jack onto a smart plug and programmed the plug to turn on 3 times a day for a minute or so, in order to top off my aquarium and mitigate the risk that the ATO will keep running and flood everything. I have experimented a little with leaving it on all day when I have been around and found it to work perfectly fine that way as well. I also reached out to the manufacturer who told me it wouldn't harm the ATO to have it turn on and off throughout the day on my smart plug set up. Every time I check my salinity, I find it to be pretty much exactly where I want it to be and am happy with how it is working so far.

I officially added so many cords and tubes coming out of the back of my tank that I could no longer put my lid down all the way as designed and it looked horrible to me. It also made maintenance harder as I had to completely remove the lid as it would no longer stay pivoting on the back of my tank. I bought some lid risers (again off of Etsy. Thank God for affordable 3D printing) and installed them. They give me about an extra inch of clearance all the way around which is perfect for allowing me to run all the tubes and cords I need while keeping the aquarium shielded and allowing me to use my stock light still. And I can still use my lid holders to keep my lid up and out of the way during maintenance! A cheap fix instead of buying a new, custom lid and still keeps everything looking clean. This did aggravate my evaporation problem though and I am glad I bought the ATO to help it keep balanced.

With so many issues with NH4, and Nitrites, I did some more research and bought MicrobBacter7. I just started using it, so no updates yet, but I'm hoping it will assist with finishing my cycling problems and get me the rest of the way where I need to be.

I'm hoping and praying this cycling problem I have ends soon so that I can read the zeros I need to feel comfortable with adding more to the aquarium and am confident my parameters will be kept.

Current Parameters:
Temp: ~75 F
NH4: 0.5 ppm
NO2: 0.5 ppm
NO3: 20 ppm
PO4: 0 ppm
dKH: 8.6
Salinity: 1.023
Week 3.5 since start of cycle


SHORT-TERM GOALS:
- Buy a couple of small Clownfish and add them. I think I like the Mocha variation and will get those through my LFS
- I am heavily considering buying a single cleaner shrimp for the aquarium because no matter how little I seem to feed I always have a decent amount of leftover both in my display and getting sucked into my newer, better filter. I want something more mobile that can help eat the meaty leftovers, wherever they end up.
- Add a protein skimmer
- See about installing a small refugium for Chaeto in the space available at the bottom of Chamber 2 just to help manage a bit of my Nitrate problems, if possible.


LONG-TERM GOALS:
-I think I have decided on which Jellyfish I want to add to the tank. I want to add a couple of Upside Down Jellyfish and a couple of Australian Spotted Jellyfish. From what I've found the two seem to be able to get along well together, aren't too big, and seem to be a bit hardier than Moon Jellyfish as well (at least where becoming damaged from collisions is concerned). It's just too bad both are so hard to find in stock.




HELP:
If you're reading this, I wouldn't mind some help and insight for a protein skimmer.
I am caught between the Tunze 9001, and the Reef Glass Nano Protein Skimmer. Based on the measurements I can make, I am doubtful the Tunze will fit in my aquarium (it is close though, that's why I'm not totally sure. I may also be able to make the room by braking some of the plastic pieces that stick out back there). Knowing that it may not work though has kept me from fully committing. The Reef Glass will undeniably fit back there though and seems like it would do an excellent job too based on all the reviews. So why not just buy the Reef Glass? Because my tank has an oxygenation issue. Due to the low and slow current needed for Jellyfish, I cannot get a lot of surface agitation and am currently relying on an air stone in my rear chambers to do the work, and it is doing it perfectly. In addition to skimming, I need a skimmer that can adequately oxygenate my water for me too, which the Tunze will definitely do, but I am not sure Reef Glass can based on how it works. If anyone has some insight to this, I would appreciate it.View attachment 3027332View attachment 3027333View attachment 3027334View attachment 3027335View attachment 3027336View attachment 3027338View attachment 3027339View attachment 3027341View attachment 3027342

Maybe look at the new aquamaxx”mini” hob skimmers out there. I got the tiny one on a small tank and I like it. Quite and it does some work too

 

[New9742]

I will definitely give them a look! I've been hesitant with HOB anything as I personally am trying to keep everything inside the aquarium itself, but also because I don't want to add more noise pollution to my set up, which I understand HOB things tend to do. But if this is the only way to do what I need, I will give them a try. Thank you ryanjohhn1!

 

[ryanjohn1]

Some of them hang in the tank. Small foot print

 

[New9742]

It has been an interesting few days since my last post.

The morning after my previous update, I awoke to discover my Chromis was nowhere to be seen in my display. I began looking for it anywhere (tank stand, floor, one of my chambers), but I wasn't having any luck. I began to think maybe it had jumped out of the tank and my pup had found it and eaten it. I got very lucky and happened to notice a flash of silver in my very cramped return chamber and upon closer inspection found the Chromis hiding at the very bottom in the smallest of crevices by my pump. I never would have seen her if I didn't catch that flash. Had to basically take everything out of there to net her and return her to the display and so far she has remained there happily.

I went to restock my water supply at my LFS but before I went I did another parameter test with the following results:
Temp: ~74 F
pH: 8.15
NH4: 0.5 ppm
NO2: 0.25 ppm
NO3: 40 ppm
PO4: <.03 ppm
dKH: 8.6
Salinity: 1.023 (calibrated/checked just before this test)

I also brought a bit of my water to my LFS for them to test and they got (API test kit):
pH: 8.0
NH4: 0.25 ppm
NO2: 0.25-0.5 ppm
NO3: ~0 ppm
PO4: <.03 ppm
Salinity: 1.021


After I left the first store, on a whim I went to a second store I knew about and asked them to test too. They did just a few tests but got these results (API test kit):
NH4: 0.25 ppm
NO3: <10 ppm
PO4: <.03 ppm
Salinity: 1.023


Ultimately the general consensus was that my cycle is somehow stalled, and that it might be Nitrite stalled too despite the low levels. There was never any explanation or speculation for my different results (backed up with photos) and my test kit expires in 2025 and there wasn't an explanation for some of the varying results between their test kits. One of the guys at my LFS spent a good amount of time troubleshooting with me and finally had an epiphany and asked if I was vacuuming my substrate during water changes. I told him I was and that sent the lightbulb off in his head and he told me to stop doing so as I was destroying any bacteria in there by doing so. So I'm going to take his advice and just let my clean up crew do their thing from here on out. He also told me to try and add some macroalgae to the tank to try and beat some of my parameter issues. I honestly have no idea for sure which ones he sold me but I got a bit of what looks like Gracilaria Hayi and Caulerpa Prolifera. They're now happily in the display area of my tank.

I was advised to keep dosing bacteria and to start mixing the StartSmart and Microbacter7 together, as instructed on their respective bottles. I am still doing the 2 week dosing as instructed for the Microbacter7 and did a full new tank dose of StartSmart last night after my ~12% water change. Moving forward I will continue to dose Microbacter7 daily until the 2 weeks are up and StartSmart will get a capful dosed daily with the weekly maintenance dose as directed. I'm adding about 1/2-2/3 of the dose directly to my filter compartment and then the rest into my display tank. At this point I have also completely turned off my UV for the time being just to encourage growth of anything.

For now I'm just going to sit back and watch my tank. I'm going to transition a little into my routine maintenance mode and just test the water twice weekly with a water change once a week. I have enough inhabitants in there that if anything goes wrong I will likely be able to see the different behaviors and act as needed outside of the regular maintenance.

Here's to hoping.

 

[New9742]

Midweek update just for the sake of the blog aspect of this thread:


I bit the bullet and ordered the Tunze 9001. It came in and I was right, it was slightly too large with the weird baffle layout in Chamber 1 of the flex. Some ugly work later with a pair of kitchen scissors and I had the baffle cut away enough to allow the Tunze to be installed. It is sitting at a very slight angle though still as there is a second baffle that is just ever so slightly in the way (I can't get to it at the moment). I also had to cut a large square into my lid in order to fit the Tunze into it and allow access to the collection cup. It was a project in itself that made me wish I had just gone with the reef glass skimmer (both for looks and ease of installment), but I like the reassurance that I know my water is being well oxygenated. It has been running for about 3 days now and is collecting more water than skim it seems (cup overflows 2-3 times a day so far and it is very, very clear). I assume this is just part of the break in process in a light bio-load tank and will give it a little more time before I start messing with the airline and immersion depth. I have noticed a reduction in my surface film though, so I think the skimmer is doing something positive.



More parameter issues it seems. For the past week I have been dosing Microbacter7 as instructed (turning off my protein skimmer for 4.5 hours after dosing and keeping my UV turned off in general) and have been dosing capfuls of SmartStart as well in-between the instructed doses. Most of my doses (2/3) are put directly over my media basket in Chamber 2 with a small portion (1/3) being added directly into my display area. I tested my water again just to see if there was any change over the past 4 days and received the following results:
Temp: ~75 F
pH: ~8.10
NH4: 0.5 ppm
NO2: 1.0 ppm
NO3: 40 ppm
Salinity: ~1.024 (calibrated/checked just before this test)

This was an increase in my Nitrates from 0.25ppm 4 days ago and about the same level of Nitrates and Ammonia I'm used to seeing. I took today's water in a 5ml syringe from an immersion level of about .5-2/3rds the syringe length from the middle of the tank, slightly in front of my spray bar. In the past, I have always picked one of the front corners of my aquarium and submerged the syringe just deep enough to draw up what I need. Using either method apparently does not change my results much based on this one comparison.

I went by one of my LFS taking some of my aquarium water to sample and to ask for some help and to double check if my Nitrite was really increasing like it appeared. Unfortunately they had no Nitrite testing available but did my Ammonia and Nitrates for me. Both effectively came back at zero, possibly 5ppm for Nitrates, but this is an uncertain reading. We even re-ran the test a second time for Nitrates following the API instructions to a T and did not get a different result. One of the guys were nice enough to break a few pieces of dry rock that had been pre-seeded with Bacteria (I think he said it was a Tropic Marin product) and gave them to me to put into my tank. This was not a lot of dry rock- a couple of ounces, maybe. But maybe it'll help? Either way, they are now in the tank and I used one of them and some coral super glue to anchor my red macro algae better so maybe that'll at least help it thrive.

Just to double check my test kit, I tested some of my fresh saltwater to see if the kit worked correctly, and the colors all came back at 0 ppm, as they should. So it appears I don't have a bad kit? Later in the day I also did a little experiment and removed water from my tank in a bag as if I was going to my LFS to have them test it, waited a little bit with the water sealed in in the bag (travel time) and used my test kit on it as usual. I got the exact same results as earlier when I tested as above.


I have no idea what is going on in my cycle and why I am having such different test results at home compared to in store. I am seriously thinking of doing an 80-90% water change in the near future and re-trying from there? I don't know. The gentleman who gave me the rock said I may have to start over with new sand, water, filter media, the works. I really am hoping this is not the case as I do not want to drop another ~$100 in materials just to relive this entire thing all over. My Ammonia level is consistently low so I know it is being processed and my Nitrates have never been very high so I don't think I nitrite locked my cycle; I'm just not sure what is going on. I'm going to give the cycle about another 10 days to solve itself with the continuous bacteria dosing and a weekly water change still. After that it will have been 6 weeks of cycling with bacteria in the tank and about 5 weeks since ammonia was first recorded. If my parameters are still weird by then I will start with a large water change and then, if needed, a full restart of the tank.

Any thoughts or advice on this cycling problem I'm having and why I have such drastically different test kit results would be appreciated.

 

[New9742]

INCONSISTENT API TEST RESULTS CONTINUE:
Last night I reached out to a friend who keeps a number of freshwater tanks and asked for her help in an experiment. I brought over some of my tank's saltwater and used her freshwater kit and my saltwater kit to do a simultaneous test under the same circumstances/environment to see what the results were. I followed the API test kit instructions and ran the test for NH4, NO2, and NO3 only. My friend checked the results with me and used her better eyes to confirm with me what color the readings were.

My results:
NH4: 0.25-0.5
NO2: 0.25
NO3: 40

Her results:
NH4: 0.25-0.5
NO2: 0
NO3: 40

Just for a quick cross-comparison, she let me use one of her planted beta tanks she's had for awhile to test the water with my kit. The results were:
NH4: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 20

The ammonia results for both kits with saltwater both had the same yellow/green tinge and were very cloudy. It was hard to tell exactly what the color was but it looked to be a little between 0.25 and 0.5. What I found odd was when I tested her freshwater, the ammonia results were a nice, clear, beautiful yellow (AKA 0). I'm not sure why there were opacity differences. I don't think it means anything, but I don't really know.

The nitrates for both kits both read the same color and opacity at about 40 so it was kind of nice to see other results showing nitrates instead of the low/zero amounts at my local fish stores. Though it makes me wonder still why there are such drastically different readings across multiple kits.

Nitrites was actually pretty confusing and frustrating. I was pleased to see a reduction in nitrites since I last tested (1.0 down to 0.25) on my test kit. What was frustrating however was that I clearly had a purple tinge to my test kit indicating a solid 0.25 or so of nitrites whereas her kit was that nice clear blue which indicated zero. We didn't really know why that was the case. Testing her freshwater with my kit showed a nice clear blue of zero, so it appears my kit does accurately detect it. Again, just another one of those things that are annoying and I see why people don't put a lot of stock/faith in API kits. I'm wondering if I should invest in the comprehensive red sea test kit as it seems to be a popular and more reliable choice based on the reviews I have seen.



HOW MY TANK IS DOING OTHERWISE:
I am still dosing bacteria daily and just monitoring things. The Tunze 9001 is still producing pretty much clear skimmate (honestly probably just water at this point), and is overflowing the cup multiple times a day and my oil film isn't really reducing anymore either. Many people seem to have a very quick break in with their 9001 so I'm bummed where once again it seems I have an outlier ha ha. I'm not in any real rush and willing to wait a little longer, but I may need to take the time and start tuning it so that it is actually useful (or at least not overflowing like it is now).

The macroalgae I added to my tank is growing though! I have seen definitive new growths on both the red and green and am excited for them to grow a bit more so I can do a bit of aqua scaping with them and help improve my tank's display aesthetics. Nice to have a bit of a win.




SOME MORE JELLYFISH PREP:
In the meantime I have been doing more research on what Jellyfish eat. Pretty much any of the online retailers list baby brine shrimp as a main food source with a supplement of what appears to be their own, unique, specifically-created jellyfish food. A little of the food goes a long way, but I'm not sure I want to place all of my reliance on them having their product always in stock (or if they go out of business). Coupled with the need to also feed my other inverts and hopefully clownfish, I needed a better solution. So, as with the main theme in this project, I am looking at a more reliable (and arguable cheaper) way to do it myself.

Since the foods jellies need/eat vary depending on which ones you specially have I'm going to focus only on the two I want to have. (If you are interested in a great beginning resource, 'How to Keep Jellyfish in Aquariums: An introductory guide for maintaining healthy jellies' by Chad L. Widmer was a great a lot of help for me. It has a lot of information about many popular jellyfish to help get you started). As a reminder, I'm looking at keeping Upside Down jellyfish and Australian Spotted Jellyfish.

Medusa stage Upside Down Jellyfish need full spectrum lighting and Artemia nauplii daily at a minimum and would even benefit from wild plankton when larger. I haven't been able to find a lot of direct information about Australian Spotted Jellyfish, so I have drawn some conclusions to a phenotypically similar (and if I'm correct, somewhat related) species, the Spotted Lagoon Jellyfish. I realize I need to do a better job at researching for this and basing off of phenotype is a poor substitute, buuttttttt I haven't yet and so this is where we are. From websites that sell the Aussie, I have garnered that like the Upside Down, the Aussie also needs full spectrum lighting and Artemia nauplii to survive. Based on conjecture from the similarity of the Spotted Lagoon Jellyfish and the Aussie, the Aussie may also be able to eat Rotifers, fish eggs, wild plankton, and what Chad Widmer calls a Krill shake.

Even if I just keep it simple and keep strictly to baby brine shrimp and lighting, I need to provide a bit more of a varied diet if not for the benefit of the jellyfish, then my other tank inhabitants. I do not want to feed anything too large to the system as I do not know the repercussions to the jellyfish if they catch the wrong-sized food so I am trying to find small food alternatives that would benefit all.

I visited reef nutrition and saw they had a specific recommendation of foods for Jellyfish (seem to be advertised more for Moon Jellies). A quick side note, according to most of the websites that sell them, Moon Jellies need baby brine shrimp and it is recommended to use the website's exclusive jelly food as well as a supplement. According to Chad Wilmer, small medusa stage Moons need baby brine shrimp and rotifers. As they grow larger they can even eat small krill, blended salmon, krill shakes, and wild plankton in addition to them.

I think my inverts will be fine eating whatever is left over from what I feed my Clownfish and Jellies (they are my clean up crew after all). But I will also continue to supplement with algae wafers and hermit crab pellets as well just to be sure as those are easy to keep on the bottom of my tank and away from my jellies. What particularly caught my eye on reef nutrition was that they recommended their Roti-Feast, Real Oceanic Eggs, and TDO Chroma Boost for the Jellies. All three of those food types are also on the recommended food list for the Clownfish. The only variable was the pellet size of the Chroma Boost being recommended.

I really like the idea of Chroma Boost as it would be very simple to use with an automatic feeder whenever I decided to get one and figure out how to install it on my tank. I am not sure what to do about the different sized pellets being recommended though for each type of livestock I have/ would have. If I could get away with it I would use the size recommended for Jellies and let the others eat that as well, but I have major concerns for if the adult Clownfish would go after something as small as a Rotifer (or smaller), or, assuming it all just isn't sucked into my tanks filtration system, if my clean up crew would find/eat what settles into my substrate. Conversely, going with a mix of sizes so the Jellies get what they need and allowing the Clownfish and others to have bigger sized ones, would it injure the jellies if they try to eat them? I know this sounds weird, but part of what I have found out about feeding baby brine shrimp to jellies in general (especially moon jellies it seems, and I'm not sure how far across other jellies this is a problem as well) is that it is essential for them to be Artemia nauplii (AKA BABY brine shrimp). If the Artemia is too old, it grows a shell which, if ingested, can hurt a Jellyfish and even ultimately 'burn' its way out leaving a dangerous hole in the bell/stomach. I would not want a similar thing occurring due to the Jelly ingesting way too large of a food pellet, if it even can.

Another plausible, but also hard to sustain solution for me is using a product I have seen recommended for various reasons called American Marine Selcon. I would use it with my baby brine shrimp as an additional nutrition source (let the brine shrimp soak in and eat it) and then feed those into my tank so that the Jellies would get some additional benefit to the brine shrimp and it would be a better nutrition source for my clownfish and other inverts and maybe I wouldn't need to do more than feed some of the algae pellets and hermit crab pellets in addition.

I'm still trying to problem solve in my head how to handle this whole feeding situation as a whole, but I think I'm making some good progress and have some plausible solutions lining up. I just need to figure out if Jellies can hurt themselves trying to eat something too big or not as that would simplify everything significantly if not. As always, open to advice, feedback, constructive criticisms, and the like. Thanks!

 

[New9742]

Continued to have parameter issues and I may have finally fixed them. Time will tell.

SUNDAY:
Did my scheduled water change on Sunday and tested a few hours after with API:
1500 hrs
Temp: ~75 F
pH: ~8.10
NH4: 0.25 ppm
NO2: 0.5 ppm
NO3: 40 ppm
PO4: 0.25
Alk: 8.3
Salinity: ~1.023 (calibrated/checked just before this test)

Still having my issues with the cycle it seems. I didn't like how high my Nitrates stayed after the change, nor how my Nitrites seemed to increase from the last test as well. Later that evening I found a Red Sea NO2/NO3 only kit on sale and bought it just to help me verify if what I was seeing was accurate.


MONDAY:
On Monday I was bored and curious and did a basic API test and Salifert Phosphate:
2100 hrs
NO2: 0.25
NO3: 80
PO4: 0.25

I was concerned and surprised to see such a massive spike in my Nitrates (and my phosphates too). I had to triple check that, but I was reasonably certain that's what I was seeing. I chalked it up to API being a bit inaccurate and my inability to fully differentiate between the shades of color on the scale.


TUESDAY:
On Tuesday my new Red Sea kit came in and I immediately checked the parameters with it:
NO2: 0.2
NO3: 50

The Red Sea kit only goes up to 50 for NO3 and I can reasonably say there was not a doubt I had at least that high of a number based on how well it matched the color scale. Coupled with the API results from before and I'm certain I had a massive Nitrate spike for some reason, almost over night.

I immediately went to my LFS for some help and ideas. I brought a large sample of my aquarium water as well as my API, Salifert, and Red Sea test kits. The gentleman manning the store was kind enough to test my water for me using the store's API tests (pH, NH4, NO2, NO3). As usual the store's tests varied from my results:
pH: ~7.8
NH4: ~0.25
NO2: ~0.5
NO3: ~0

The guy told me he saw nothing really wrong with the results and reiterated as before I seemed to just be stalled in the cycle with only Nitrites being visible on his test. Given the massive levels of Nitrate I had measured no more than 45 minutes previously, I asked him to humor me and brought my test kits in. I ran the basic panel like he did using my kits:
API
NH4: 0.25
NO2: 0.25
NO3: ~80

Salifert
pH: ~8.15

Red Sea
NO3: 50

When he saw my results he was clearly surprised and didn't really know what to say or think. He did concede he would trust my kits more than his and he deferred to their results from thereafter. We talked about what I could do and he said he wasn't entirely sure. Based on everything I talked about and told him, I had done just about everything I needed to by the book and that I 'got an A+ on the hw' for what I had done to try and get my tank up and going. In the end, we decided to do a 80-90% water change and see what happened.

As I was there, I picked up a pair of clownfish as well and they are now nicely settled in my QT tank for the next little while after being bathed in the rapid fish quarantine baths first. They are both happy and thriving.



WATER CHANGE:
The water change went relatively well. I did my best not to disturb my sand bed too much. I removed my Chromis but left everyone else in the tank. I suctioned off what I could from the top layer of the sand without directly suctioning my sand up into my gravel vac, but noticed that there still seemed to be a lot of particulate left in the 1.5 inch or so of water I couldn't fully remove. In total, my tank is advertised to have a 15 gallon capacity, and I estimate I removed likely about 12-13 gallons total from the system. I also took the liberty to take out my media rack and wash/rinse the sponge and bio media in the old tank water before replacing it. Everyone survived the ordeal and seem to be no worse for wear. Well, except for my Chromis, whom I noticed has a fairly large white spot (almost looks under her scales) forming just after of her midline which takes up a decent amount of space on her left side, mostly above the lateral line. She is still very active, feeding well, and does not seem to be rubbing herself on anything so maybe it's just a small infection that will subside.

A few hours after the water change, I did another test on the water to see where I was at:
2000 hrs

API:
Temp: ~73 F
NH4: 0.25 ppm
NO2: 0.0 ppm
NO3: 10 ppm

Salinity: ~1.024 (calibrated/checked just before this test)

Salifert
pH: ~8.15
PO4: 0.00
Alk: 6.7

Red Sea
NO2: .05
NO3: 10

I didn't like how much my Alk had dropped and my pH was reading somewhere between 8-8.15 on the Salifert so I dosed the recommended amount of 8.4 to the tank to try and raise both a little.

I was still surprised to see any Nitrite or Nitrate in the water given how much I had replaced with the water change. I'm starting to suspect I have a lot of nutrients trapped in my sand bed and they have been contributing quite a bit to my cycling problems. As I said, I tried to avoid disturbing too much in my tank, but it happened and my water was definitely cloudy after the change for a little while so I must have released some more.


WEDNESDAY:
0900 hrs (About 15 hrs after the water change)
API:
Temp: ~75 F
NH4: 0.25 ppm
NO2: 0.0 ppm
NO3: 10 ppm

Salinity: ~1.024

Salifert
pH: ~8.15
PO4: 0.00
Alk: 6.7

Red Sea
NO2: .05
NO3: 10

I dosed once more with the 8.4 and increased the flow out of my spray bar greatly, but otherwise touched nothing in the tank. I'm hoping the increased spray bar helps keep particulates in the water column longer for my Chromis to eat, and to also help it get sucked into my filter for easier removal as well. I'm still feeding sinking pellets for the crabs and snails just in case and am taking a turkey baster and blowing small portions of the sand throughout the day to agitate it, release what was trapped at the surface and get it into the water column for digestion or filtration. I did notice my macroalgae isn't looking quite as good as it did prior to the water change and I'm not noticing the rapid growth I was before (bummer), but it makes sense since I seemed to have roughly bottomed out my phosphates and have dipped my Nitrates a ton. At the suggestion of my LFS I also dosed a 4 oz bottle of their store-cultivated pods and phyto brew. My Chromis went nuts for them and I had to quickly add a healthy dose of baby brine shrimp to the water to give the pods a chance of surviving more than 5 minutes.

For now I'm sitting back and waiting. I do like that my API is finally a consistent clear baby blue for 0 Nitrites and even Red Sea is saying they are only present in a very small amount. It's one of the biggest parameter changes I've been waiting for. I wish my API kit showed a better 0-0.25 NH4 though; It still seems to be somewhere between 0.25-0.5. Maybe that's just my kit and for all intents and purposes, it's actually zero.

I'm watching for any major changes in behavior in my tank's habitants, but otherwise not doing too much to monitor my parameters on a daily basis. The one thing I'm happy about is that my tank has not done anything for an ugly phase (knock on wood) and still looks good. I'm still undecided if this is a good or bad thing but I'll chalk it up to a win that it still looks nice.

I'll see if I decide to do any water changes in the meantime. I'll monitor parameters and do so if I have a high spike of something, but I'm thinking about sitting back for a bit and letting the tank mature with the same water for maybe the next month or so. I don't really know which option to try so I'd be interested to hear what you may think.


SOLVED THE FEEDING PROBLEM (I think):
I think I have solved my feeding problems. I reached out to a group of jellyfish owners I found and voiced my questions about it. A very prominent figure in the jellyfish world replied quickly and gave me some much needed help and advice, at least in respect to the Australian Spotted and Upside Down Jellyfish. He recommended feeding mostly baby brine shrimp and also allowing them to photosynthesize 12 hours a day. He further said he would recommend feeding either Roti Feast or Oyster Feast every 2-3 days as an alternative to the BBS for a varied diet for them. This is perfect for me as it seems both of those products would feed my other tank inhabitants well! I figure I can supplement a little with sinking pellet food for the crabs and snails (allowing them to eat whatever Roti and Oyster Feast isn't eaten by the others) and the fish can eat some of the Roti and Oyster Feast with the Jellies. It seems like that would give the balanced diet I want for everyone in my tank and will keep everyone happy and healthy. I just have to figure out a good feeding method/schedule for them so that no one is over or underfed.



QUESTION FOR ANYONE READING THIS FAR:
Anyone have experience or suggestions (for or against) freezing Roti Feast and/or Oyster Feast for easy, portion controlled iced cube feeding out of something like the IM frozen fish food feeder. I'm thinking about making individual cubes of either pure Roti or pure Oyster Feast mixed with RO water (maybe salt water directly from my tank if that's the better option) and freezing them for easy feeding by me and any tank sitters. I don't think it's a bad idea, but nowhere on the product pages does it say they can be frozen, and the lowest storage temp suggested is 33 F. Thanks!


If everything works out, hopefully by early April I can finally get those jellies in!

 

[New9742]

It's been about a month since my last update and a decent amount has happened in that time.


First, an update on my current and expected tank inhabitants:
Currently in:
-- Green Chromis x1
-- Emerald Crab x1
-- Blue Legged Hermit Crab x4
-- Nassarius Snail x3 (x2 Vibex and x1 Super)
-- Tiger Conch x1
-- Mexican Turbo Snail x1
-- Pulsing Xenia x1


Desired for the future:
-- Clownfish x2
-- Australian Spotted Jellyfish x2
-- Upside Down Jellyfish x3
-- Bubble TIp Anemone x1 (if possible)



Unfortunately the two clownfish I wrote about in my previous post died in quarantine suddenly and unexpectedly. Lesson learned, I had them in way too small of a quarantine tank and this probably helped stress them out along with changing water parameters (from buildup of crud to the frequent water changes). I think it was Velvet and not Brook as they didn't develop any of the slimy coat and under certain light had many white spots. I'm upset it happened, but I have learned and hopefully fixed my mistakes for future quarantine events.

I swear I spent most of March glued to my tank testing water parameters and buying better test kits to help me read results more accurately and to also trust the readings I was getting. I have ultimately upgraded to the Red Sea Master Care Kit and use Salifert to shore up the lacking tests using API as a sort of cross-check if needed. I'm not testing for any of the typical reef stuff associated with coral care since I don't really have any drains on those resources and can replenish them easily enough with water changes.

I have been annoyed with my results on the test kits still though. I am still consistently measuring ammonia in my tank at about the 0.25-0.5 range depending on the kit; It doesn't seem to be going away entirely at all. I am however happy to report that my Nitrites seem to have finally been going away as I read zero on a couple of tests and subsequent tests showed a very low level below 0.05. These low level results only occurred after a 30% water change (explained below) in which I cleaned up my sand bed as much as I could and disturbed it a little as a result. I’m still confident it will reset itself quickly. Unfortunately I have been seeing a very sharp rise and spike in my Nitrates. I went from about a 5-10 all the way up to 20-40 in a matter of about 4-5 days and increased to at least 50 after. My phosphates also skyrocketed from about a 0.1 to a little below 1.0 in the same time frame. This prompted the 30% water change to try and keep levels from increasing too much more. I bought a small bottle of Dr Tim’s all in one and dosed the entire contents into my tank to try and help deal with the Ammonia and Nitrites as well. It seemed to have helped a little with my Nitrites, but not really my Ammonia.

I’m not totally sure what is causing my Nitrate and Phosphate spike, but it is annoying and I need to try to figure out how to manage it as Jellyfish start to do poorly with Nitrates higher than 20. I don’t really know what Phosphate levels to shoot for as I haven’t been able to find any documentation on it, but I suspect it’s low. I have tried to feed little into my tank twice a day. I do either live BBS or a combo of RotiFeast and OysterFeast (about 2 drops of each from the bottle). I turn off my return pump for 15 minutes when I feed and let the circulation in the water mix it up. My single Chromis can only eat so much in one go and while she goes crazy for the food, she doesn’t quite get it all before the pump turns back on. I can’t really seem to feed her less, so maybe I haven’t figured out a better way yet. I also feed twice a day. In addition, the Turbo Snail is an eating machine! He eats so much he destroyed my in tank Red Pom Pom algae literally overnight and cleaned up the glass well too. I got worried he would starve so I started putting in seaweed sheets. I typically leave them in for about 2 days at a time before I pull out any this is left (if any) and then replace it 1-2 days later with a new sheet. The Turbo Snail devours this sheet almost entirely by himself with the other inhabitants helping out as they want. As a result, the Turbo Snail also just poops continuously and I see pellets littering the floor of my tank. In the interest of total transparency, I also take a very small chunk of store-bought shrimp and place it into the bottom of my tank for my Nassarius snails, Emerald Crab, and Hermit Crabs to snack on. I only place a very small piece overnight twice a week and remove whatever is left in the morning so I doubt these are messing with my parameters. As I have the spray bar tuned back down to a very low level (like when I have actual Jellies) not much waste is kept in the water column and sucked into my filtration and it is difficult to use water flow to keep my sand bed clean. I think between some uneaten food from feedings, the leaving of the seaweed in for a couple of days at a time, and especially all of the Turbo Snail waste, these all combine and create a lot of my Nitrate and Phosphate spikes. I’m unsure if I should add more clean-up crew to help this or not to at least keep the waste eaten/down. In the meantime I decided to cut my feedings down to once a day. I'll monitor my Chromis and others if this is too little and change again if I need.

How I’ve been trying to battle the increasing Phosphates and Nitrates outside of water changes is by introducing Phosphate and Nitrate eaters. Since my Turbo Snail likes to snack on red Macroalgae (which happens to be my favorite in the tank and a great looking decoration in place of rock and colorful corals), I had to get creative. I used a breeding box and a small pump to create a small (emphasis on small) display refugium to hold some additional Macroalgae in it (Pom Pom, Dragon’s Breath, and Ogo). The plan is to use the refugium to grow the red algae as much as possible, keep it protected from the Turbo Snail, remove portions as necessary, and place the portions into the main display. My hope is to allow the Macroalgae to grow in the display tank as well as a food source for the Turbo Snail and any of the others who want to eat it but mostly to continue growing and keeping my Nitrates and Phosphates low. I have recently been trying Chaetogrow too to help the algae grow more as the growth was slow. I'm also hoping it helps with my Dragon’s Breath as it was near death after delivery and has been struggling since. I think it’s helping, but I can’t say for sure- It may just be wishful thinking.

In addition to the red algae in the refugium, I bought some Microbacter Lattice and seeded it for about 18 hours outside of my aquarium. I filled a small container with tank water, rinsed the lattice medium in RO, then placed it into the container completely submerging it. After that, I used 1 oz of TurboStart 9000 and dosed the entire bottle into the container. I let the medium soak in the tank water/bacteria solution for 18 hours and would consistently come back and shake up the medium in order to circulate the water around and agitate to get bacteria into all portions of the medium and keep it from settling at the bottom. After 18 hours, I put the medium into my refugium to act as a substrate inside of it and reintroduced the tank water/bacteria solution into my tank. I turned off my UV sterilizer and removed my protein skimmer cup and am going to let it run for the next 5 days that way, as instructed. I chose the Microbacter lattice because it claimed to be able to provide a large surface area for bacteria growth and because it also stated it contained anaerobic regions to house bacteria needed to help process Nitrate into Nitrogen gas. I just added this so I have no idea if this is helping at all or not yet. I hope to add some pods to the refugium sometime soon and hopefully they establish a small colony to help feed my tank, but more importantly attack my detritus. I want to use really small pods so that any that get into the tank can hopefully be eaten/utilized by the Jellyfish as well as I do not know if they can eat bigger pods than not. I suspect not since they eat BBS and Rotifers which are much smaller.

My LFS also helped me out some and gave me a very generous portion of Pulsing Xenia. It has been thriving in my tank so far, I think. I have noticed several new buds coming in already in less than a week and a half and it seems happy with long extensions and moving fingers. My only regret about it is that it is just a plain brown color and blends in with my substrate. I wish it had some color to it for contrast and excitement in my very plain display. Hopefully as it grows it helps my Nitrates and phosphates too. My Emerald Crab also loves it and has made it his new home and it’s funny to watch him climb in and out.

I have finally been looking more into trying to get Jellyfish as I feel like I’m ready to try. Unfortunately it seems like the ones I want are sold out almost anywhere online. I will keep looking in the meantime, but it appears it is going to be little more than a waiting game at this point unfortunately. I also plan to get 2 new clownfish. I’m debating about purchasing pre-quarantined ones online to save me the effort of doing a full quarantine myself; Jury is out and cost is a factor, but I’m feeling it may be worth the cost just to take something off my plate. I hope that by adding the fish and jellies it would also help me with my Nitrates and Phosphates as it will be much easier to feed and ensure there is little leftover food to mess with my water.

It has been hard not to buy additional corals now that I have the Xenia. I found some very attractive Zoa frags, hammers, and other corals I would love to put in my tank to look at/have. But I feel if I do that, it would defeat the purpose of trying to get Jellyfish into the tank and complicate things further. In addition I don’t want to have to start dosing my water and monitoring Ca, Mg, etc…. So even though I’m bummed by it, it is the best choice I think. I do however want to continue working towards an Anemone. Right now I really want to get a Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone into the tank. Hopefully the clowns choose to nest in it and provided an additional cool aspect to the tank and it shouldn’t be too terribly hard to take care of/feed with my current equipment and feeding parameters; I definitely don’t want to have to dose anything extra.

I’m thankful right now that despite the unideal water parameters (Phosphates, Nitrates, etc…), I have had very little issues with the infamous ugly phase. I absolutely have a diatom problem, but I am relatively unconcerned about it. With the introduction of my refugium, the Microbacter Lattice, and the consistent use of my UV sterilizer, it is a problem that I am confident will soon sort itself out without much input from me. I’m surprised to not see any microalgae growth otherwise though with my high nutrients (not that I’m complaining. Especially without signs of Cyano or Dinos in addition). So somehow I’m doing something right I guess? I don’t know. I’ve learned that no two tanks are alike and that sometimes what affects one doesn’t affects others. For now I’ll just count my blessings and hope I don’t do anything too extreme to upset the balance and open the doors to a whole new mess of problems I really don’t want to deal with.

So far this project has been difficult-filled with problem after problem that I had to change and make a solution for. It has been exhausting to be honest. It has been fun and I love a good challenge, but I’m wishing for some days where I can just sit back and enjoy it instead of having to tweak and modify. Hopefully that day is soon and I can enjoy my hard work once I get the Jellies in.

 

[Nman]

Great to read your thread . When I used api as ammonia test always got a reading 0.5 . I moved all my tests to salfert and ammonia is 0 My api test kits are in the bin they are not accurate. Iam using same tank as your self and good to see my thoughts be wrote out on your thread. Thank you will be following

 

[New9742]

Glad to hear you didn't wait as long as I did to move on from API ha ha. The funny thing is, on my Salifert kit I still am pretty sure I'm reading 0.25-0.5 of Ammonia and my Red Sea Kit is either 0 or 0.2 depending on if I use sunlight or the light in my house. I'll just deal with it I guess ha ha.

I'm giving it about a week since I put in the Microbacter Lattice before I test and see if there is any difference. I'll be updating as things progress but you can always reach out with a different question if you want.

 

[Netotek]

Any update on your progress? I’m very curious on your journey