Reef Rehabilitation 29g cube and equipment room build

[AaronFReef]

Yes. Three firefish. A flasher wrasse. That’s what I have right now with one large firefish in the DT and the rest in QT.

On my list still was a flame angel (now I’m unsure having been talked out of it), a clownfish, and a small tang to feed on algae (and to either be rehomed or placed into my large tank during that build).

Thoughts on that stock list?

 

[AaronFReef]

Well it’s been a rough week. I lost my whole QT. Again. It’s been hard learning again just the basics considering I used to propagate SPS and now I can hardly keep firefish alive. I’ve researched for months. Watched every single BRS TV video. Read forums. Still having a hard go of it! But I’m learning and that’s what matters. The whole purpose of this tank was to learn before I go big with my lifelong dream tank.

For others benefit, what I learned I was doing wrong was mainly over feeding. In my attempts to fatten up my skinny 1.5” firefish who were very shy, I was feeding far too much dense food with PE mysis pellets and some frozen PE mysis. I’d even allow it to stay on the bottom since a whirlpool would lift it occasionally right where the firefish were hiding, which they occasionally polished off while I was at work. The flasher was a pig so he helped.

Additionally, both times my tank went toxic was due to a 25% water change. Basically, I think ammonia had built up to just barely measurable levels from my testing. It just barely read non-zero on Salifert and read “safe” in seachem monitor. I’ve since learned that the salifert doesn’t read til 0.5 so I bought a Red Sea. My nitrite the day following the water change was 4(max) on salifert. So I think it must have spiked hard. Additionally the water change upped the pH from probably mid 7s to mid to low 8s causing all the ammonia to go from relatively benign ammonium ion to toxic ammonia. This caused a bacterial bloom both times further reducing the oxygen and combined with inadequate oxygenation in the form of a large filter sponge, I think killed my fish.

So this time I’ve bought an aqua clear 30 to use with sponges soaked in my display for preseeding and will do daily small water changes and feed much lighter to keep ammonia at bay. I’ll try some more firefish because “flounder”, the sole inhabitant of the DT is a lonely fella.

Meanwhile I’ve gotten my chaeto figured out and growing two golf ball size clumps with a chaetomax light in my awkward fuge. I think it will work great in the end. I bought the new Tunze fuge light too which I think will be perfect for this long narrow fuge due to it being a long narrow submersible LED strip. So for less than a Kessil 160 I will have a set of lights with much more light hitting my chaeto in my odd shaped fuge.

I also started hand dosing until I’m ready to set up the Neptune DOS. I just needed alk solution to bring my alk back from 6 to 8.3 over a week since organic acids had built up lowering the alk but not using up any calcium or magnesium yet. I did add some more coralline algae spores through the pink bottle. Had already added the purple early in and think I see some coralline at the edge of the water on my silicone. The DOS had been meant for auto water changing but I can’t figure out how to get a water station set up until my fish room is ready due to the layout of the patio.

I’ve also turned on my display lights and have officially entered the ugly phase. I have some heavy diatoms growing so I probably need another MP40QWD or MP10QWD to increase flow since the IceCap Gyre turned out to be too much flow for this small tank.

Okay that’s enough jabbering. Wish me luck with the firefish try 3. [emoji51]

 

[AaronFReef]

Ugly phase diatoms for journaling!

 

[AaronFReef]

So it’s official. It’s a fish genocide. I tried two more firefish from a reputable fish store and one died in 12 hours. The next in 72.

Here’s what happened: I drained the tank and let everything dry out over a week. I made new water in the tank and let it age for 24 hours before going back to the store. I added a Aquaclear 30 with a sponge that had been floating in my DT sump for a week 8 hours prior.

I removed that giant 4” PVC as I added the fish. First I floated the two new firefish for 30 mins. This time I slowly drip acclimated over two hours instead of one. This was because as I was starting the drip acclimation, I checked the salinity on the bag water which I’ve never done. It read 1.019. The dang fish store kept them in hyposalinity which I didn’t know! So now I’m freaking out cuz my QT is at 1.0265. So I top it off with RODI as the water is draining into the acclimation container to drop its salinity as much as I could which was only like 1.024. So the fish had a sizable salinity increase. I test the temp over time in the acclimation chamber which has dropped from 78 to 72. So now I’m worried they’re going to have a temp shock as well so I speed up the acclimation a bit after the container is more than half full (so the salinity increase won’t be sharp due to dilution). Still it’s four degrees shy. One of the firefish is already floating on his side on top a bit. What can I do... So I bag up the fish, put the bag in the tank to temperature acclimate for 15 and as the timer is ending, I fill their dip container with Ruby Reef Hydroplex in their recommenced dip dosing from QT tank water. I add the fish which probably gives them a mild shock of salinity as I doubt it was 100% matching at that point even after three times emptying their acclimation chamber, and I dip them for the recommended 10 mins.

The first fish is dead in 12 hours. The next in 72.

no sign of anything on the fish but a bit of mucus or decaying fin tips.

So now I’ve learned hyposalinity is a thing for stores now. So out of about 9 fish I’ve managed to keep one.

I’ve read the suggested articles on QT and read up myself but I just keep failing.

What would you guys do to get these fish to survive?

I do wonder if my 750 gph Hydor Koralia powerhead isn’t too much flow in a QT for fish which never seem to figure out to use the assorted PVC pipes.

 

[NY_Caveman]

In my experience, many LFS run 1.019. I always ask. I do not QT, but I drip fish for about an hour before adding, but have not dealt with any more sensitive fish. Many will start the QT at 1.019 and bring it up over time. Maybe @HotRocks has some QT advice, or check these out

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/unread

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

More in the stickies here
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/

 

[AaronFReef]

Thanks again NY_Caveman.

I grabbed three more firefish yesterday before I’d need to toss another tank of saltwater and filter set and did my best to match my store’s salinity. Problem is they had an event that caused them to be drastically off on their salt. They told me it was 1.024 and it was 1.030. I dropped the fish using a crazy method of dripping while in a warm water bath, checked by the minute with an instant thermometer, and gave them their dip and in they went.

They ate today and seem pretty happy and healthy. I’ve just got to keep the ammonia under control and hopefully in a month they will end up in my DT. Fourth try is the charm?....

 

[AaronFReef]

Update time. I quickly lost the smallest firefish who never seemed very healthy during the acclimation but the other two are doing quite well. My wife and I have been working together to feed once a day with mysis and siphon up any uneaten particles within 20 minutes. We have been doing water changes of four gallons every few days. The water is a bit cloudy probably from bacterial bloom but the water is much more aerated so hopefully that’s counteracting this. They both were eating very well until a few days ago when the larger guy started avoiding eating the shrimp even though he comes out first to eat and swims in the current with his little piggy friend. Hopefully he is eating after I walk away. I’ve tried pellets but he doesn’t care for them and they fail to the bottom quickly. I may have to go grab some cyclops or something smaller to try to prompt feeding.

Meanwhile, my DT is coming along great. I moved my skimmer input to pull from outside and the pH is now stable between 7.9-8.1. My alkalinity dropped when I stopped dosing for a few days in a row in an experiment but I started dosing and have it stable at 8.3. I’m going to set up my DOS doser if all goes well this weekend.

The pink coralline bottle I added seems to be working and I have small patches on my DT rocks showing up now. The chaeto seems to have worked too as my phosphate is 0 as is my nitrate. I’m trying to feed heavier to get it back up. I added a second fuge light a week ago which is a new Tunze fuge light. It’s not as red as the chaetomax which I dislike but it’s the perfect form factor for my long narrow tank. And I can submerge it so it’s very strong to the naked eye. In fact I think the combo burned my chaeto. It’s definitely had strands grow but it keeps floating up into the lights and not rolling due to its small chamber and the small size of the chaeto remaining. This doesn’t make it happy.

But clean chaeto it was not. I now have lots of GHA in the system. Particularly on the rock rubble in my fuge. I got bryopsis in small patches on my DT rocks as well. But the diatom phase seems to be over as of a week ago. These pests must have come in on that chaeto as the first patch I saw was within the chaeto itself before it was in the rest of the tank.

The window over my tank is spilling more diffuse light than my Kessil produces at 40% during the afternoon and I think that’s helping fuel the algae growth. I’m working on getting a mirror made to cover that window semi-permanently. Or else I will get blackout curtains for it.

I added four nassarius snails yesterday and four blue hermit crabs to begin keeping the DT clear.

One snail didn’t get added to the tank because he had a darn full blown aiptasia anemone growing on his shell. How does that even happen for a sand sifting snail?!?

The firefish will come out of QT April 10th (30 days) and then I can get the next QT cycle going with a pair of ocellaris clownfish and perhaps a flame angel. I haven’t decided no on him yet after all. That or a lawnmower blenny.

 

[AaronFReef]

Not a great pic but here’s the tank last weekend.

 

[AaronFReef]

Ah also I added my random flow generators to my return locking outlets and upped my return flow to 50% on my COR20 to get them really working.

I also added my IceCap 1k Gyre back and found a way to get it working without blowing up a sandstorm by facing it forty five degrees towards the surface and halfway down the wall. It’s on a minimum cycle of -10% to 10% causing quick little bursts of water that make very random flow when tied in with the MP40QWD which is usually on reef crest mode at 15%.

 

[DoctaReef]

I'm just curious, what do you think is using up your Ca and Alk that you have to dose it, if you don't have much coralline algae and no corals yet? Or is it just low from your salt mix?

 

[AaronFReef]

I'm just curious, what do you think is using up your Ca and Alk that you have to dose it, if you don't have much coralline algae and no corals yet? Or is it just low from your salt mix?

My calcium hardly ever drops honestly as I’ve only dosed it twice. Once to bring it to 425 and another time to bring it from 400 back to 425.

My alkalinity on the other hand drops daily. I read that perhaps the acid buildup from organics would decrease the alkalinity and so I’d need to dose to keep that at bay. I dose about 20mL of soda ash liquid daily.

Is that not what everybody else here observes and understands? I’ll look into that more when I have a second.

Edit: my salt mix was Red Sea blue and is now tropic marin pro reef. Both have similar numbers to my target Params.

 

[AaronFReef]

Here’s the man, the legend Randy Holmes-Farley explaining it for us:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alk-and-calcium-dropping-with-no-corals.293654/

 

[AaronFReef]

Between the hair algae in the fuge and the four nassarius snails and four blue leg hermit crabs in the display the tank is nearly sterile again. Some small coralline growing still. I tossed all the GHA covered rock rubble from my fuge into my display at night and by morning they were nearly spotless. Hopefully I can feed heavily enough to keep the CUC fed. I’m working to up my nutrients again.

Params are stable at:
Alk-8.3 dKh
Calcium-425 ppm
Magnesium-1350 ppm
Nitrate-0 ppm (high range salifert)
Phosphate-0 ppb (ULR Hanna)

Temp stable at 78.2 +/- 0.4 degrees. Adjusting the setup of my heaters in Apex fusion constantly to try and find a stable setup. I currently have the 100w neo-therm set to 78.2 on and 78.3 off. My 300w finnex is set to 77.9 and 78.1. Really the 300w is too powerful most of the time. Sometimes the room is 55 degrees at night and is necessary but often it’s in the 60s and just raises it too high too fast. I have it lower on the off range so it stops and lets the small heater take over but it’s still racing past the set temp.

 

[AaronFReef]

This weekend I got a lot of tasks cleared off my to-do list for my tanks.

Most importantly I got my firefish that had stopped eating in QT eating again with some fish eggs. They both seem to be doing great now. I’ve been feeding heavily trying to save my little remaining chaeto in the fuge and removed all the competing hair algae I could. Hopefully my levels begin rising again and it can survive.

I got my DOS plumbed in for Alk dosing and will add calcium when I make the second dosing container. I did the Voss water DIY container with a bit of RO tubing and a push-connect bulkhead. I tried rigid tubing but the standard 3/16” rigid doesn’t work in the bulkhead. It needs to be the same OD as 1/4” RO tubing which I’ll have to look up. I’ll post a pic later. I also replaced the standard BRS DIY screen corners with ones that have rims to keep it from falling into the tank. I have to remove a section to let the IceCap 1k wire pass through but it’s better still. The tank is spotless now and just barely growing some coralline. Here it is with the color now turned up a bit.

 

[AaronFReef]

Here’s some shots of my fuge set up right now. In the first pic you can see the mat of golf ball size chaeto in poor shape with some hair algae on it. The light on top is the Tunze fuge light. The light on the side is the Chaetomax:

 

[count krunk]

QT is much harder than people think.

A sterile like environment, with unnatural PVC pipe, no rock and no sand. Very unusual place for a fish to go.

Be sure to follow @HotRocks QT method. As he seems to have it figured out very well.

Or, join the dark side. and don't QT.

IMO, to do the not QT, you should let your tank mature more (those rocks are still very white and sterile looking), run UV or ozone, and feed delicious nutritious foods. You should do that anyway, but if you aren't QT, you really have to to keep your fish healthy and strong.

 

[AaronFReef]

QT is much harder than people think.

A sterile like environment, with unnatural PVC pipe, no rock and no sand. Very unusual place for a fish to go.

Be sure to follow @HotRocks QT method. As he seems to have it figured out very well.

Or, join the dark side. and don't QT.

IMO, to do the not QT, you should let your tank mature more (those rocks are still very white and sterile looking), run UV or ozone, and feed delicious nutritious foods. You should do that anyway, but if you aren't QT, you really have to to keep your fish healthy and strong.

Thanks. I totally agree it’s hard. Here I was thinking I was coming in with at least a mid-level of skills and can’t keep fish alive [emoji38] but I think I have it figured out after reading Hotrocks and Humblefish’s guide at least enough to keep them healthy and get them into my DT. 2 more weeks! Man am I excited.

My wife is helping me get an old 7.5g acrylic bowfront we used to have freshwater in cleaned up and ready to do another parallel QT for some clownfish as our next inhabitants. We want some basic ocellaris clowns. Not into the fancy designer line breeds. Plain old Nemo still gets me smiling. I’m sure I’ll get there though as my experience grows.

 

[AaronFReef]

I did some maintenance and got some shots of the tank this weekend. I have all parameters pretty stable but still haven’t hooked up calcium dosing. The chaeto is almost gone. It’s basically hosting GHA in it. It just seems to outcompete my chaeto. Anyone know why?

Here’s some pics. Firefish in QT have nine more days!!

The prettiest firefish I’ve ever seen. Fat and happy but hides all day.

 

[count krunk]

not sure why your cheato may not be thriving, not enough nutrients perhaps.

Peep post number 10075 on this thread.

@Rakie drops some Cheato info

 

[AaronFReef]

not sure why your cheato may not be thriving, not enough nutrients perhaps.

Peep post number 10075 on this thread.

@Rakie drops some Cheato info

Thanks. That was a great read.

I forgot to mention I have dosed Brightwell Aquatics ChaetoGro for a week early on with it but stopped because I read you shouldn’t dose without testing iron and then read that iron testing isn’t effective and all sorts of opposing theories as usual. I may try adding a capful of chaetogro once a day for a week and see what happens. Wish me luck.