Starting fresh

[Reefrookie220]

@cale0721 Updates?

 

[cale0721]

Quick update.

Tank is doing ok. Still recovering from the ugly new tank phase. Almost gone now, sand is white again. No more diatoms and I had a break out of Dino's that I treated with vibrant and a 3 day black out. I lost a few corals in the black out though. Mainly acros. Unfortunately.


I've been having issues with low ph here in this town home we moved into. My ph hasn't went above 7.8 so I recently invested in a co2 scrubber to connect to my skimmer. Should be here next week. Other than that I'm just waiting for my tank to stabilize a little more before adding more corals.

Current fish stock list

Blacker ice clown pair
2 fire fish
1 blue star leopard wrasse
1 green mandarin

Hoping to add a few more fish soon.

 

[cale0721]

I did add a dersa clam couple weeks ago that's doing well.

 

[cale0721]

Another update!

I've added two new fish. I added a red/blue flashed wrasse and a lubbocki wrasse. Both are doing well so far.

My algae has almost disappeared. I'm a believer in vibrant. I can't tell you the last time I had to clean the glass! Pretty awesome.

I've seen been struggling with 0 nitrate even tho my phosphate is around 0.03-0.05. So I bought ME coral nitrate which is just like stump remover but I couldn't bring myself to add something to my tank that said stump remover on it. Company actually threw in a free 8 oz bottle of amino's too. Which I've been wanting to try from them.

My co2 scrubber media from BRS has worked wonders. 1 week in my PH is steady at around 8.0 to 8.05. It could take another few days for the media to continue to break even but so far it's doing its job.

 

[Joshua Hurst]

I had 2 beautiful clams. They looked so healthy, and then one day I come home, and one is shriveled so far up in his shell, and then a month latter the other dies too. Im assuming it was because my tank isn't very mature(1 year), and I was told not to feed clams. (How do you feel about feeding clams?)

 

[BlueDevil]

I had 2 beautiful clams. They looked so healthy, and then one day I come home, and one is shriveled so far up in his shell, and then a month latter the other dies too. Im assuming it was because my tank isn't very mature(1 year), and I was told not to feed clams. (How do you feel about feeding clams?)

I don't think age of the tank matters with clam keeping. My tank is ~9 months old and the clam I got at the swap is doing great. You need to make sure you have sufficient light to keep it alive. If I remember correctly you had said that your clam had not attached its foot to the rock? That's a bad sign to begin with.

And as far as feeding clams is concerned, they are primarily photosynthetic and filter feeders and do not need to be fed separately. In fact, target feeding can often cos the food to get clogged inside the shell.

 

[Nibejeebies]

I don't think age of the tank matters with clam keeping. My tank is ~9 months old and the clam I got at the swap is doing great. You need to make sure you have sufficient light to keep it alive. If I remember correctly you had said that your clam had not attached its foot to the rock? That's a bad sign to begin with.

And as far as feeding clams is concerned, they are primarily photosynthetic and filter feeders and do not need to be fed separately. In fact, target feeding can often cos the food to get clogged inside the shell.

what he said. I got a clam at the swap as well when my tank was 9 months old, its doing well.

 

[Reefrookie220]

Hey @cale0721 , are you experiencing any of the cyano issues with vibrant that a lot of other folks are starting to see ?

 

[Esage]

I've been dosing once a week for 5 weeks and have not had a cyano issue yet.

 

[Reefrookie220]

From all the reading I've been doing (several threads here on r2r), once dosing starts and clears up the issues (algae ECT) It causes a bacterial bloom leading to cyano issues.

My theory is that once the nutrient sink (algae) dies back and isn't there to eat the food source that was there, the cyan starts.

 

[cale0721]

I also haven't had any issues but I was only using it against diatoms nothing extreme like GHA or bryopsis etc. i think the more aggressive you use the product like 2-3 times a week the higher the chance of cyano.

 

[Reefrookie220]

That also seems to be a trend... Fighting an outbreak, getting the desired result, then boom cyano!

 

[Reefrookie220]

@cale0721 I know you've done something nifty lately! Update?

 

[Joshua Hurst]

@cale0721 I know you've done something nifty lately! Update?

I had a problem start up around 4-5 weeks ago, but its dying down finally

 

[BlueDevil]

I had a problem start up around 4-5 weeks ago, but its dying down finally

Are you dosing Vibrant too?

 

[cale0721]

@cale0721 I know you've done something nifty lately! Update?

Nothing too amazing yet. Taking it slow for right now. Tank is nearly over the ugly phase now. I've added several fish. And my co2 scrubber has worked wonders and worth the money in my opinion.

Taking it slow on adding nitrate from ME corals. I'll get some updated pictures soon. Don't have a whole lot in way of corals right now but will change soon.

My lubbocki wrasse didn't make it. That's the 3rd one I've tried so I give up on them. However I got a beautiful melenaurus wrasse that I absolutely love.

Current stock list

Blacked ice clown pair
2 red firefish
Blue star leopard wrasse
Male green mandarin
Melenaurus wrasse
Red/blue flasher wrasse
Tail spot blenny

This weekend I'll be adding a goby/shrimp pair
Hi fin banded goby with a candy pistol shrimp.

 

[cale0721]

A view of the sump area.

 

[cale0721]

Adding a goby and shrimp pair. Decided on the yasha goby and a candy cane pistol shrimp.

Currently drip acclimating them now. Then they will go into a breeder net basket to hopefully pair up.

 

[Esage]

Adding a goby and shrimp pair. Decided on the yasha goby and a candy cane pistol shrimp.

Currently drip acclimating them now. Then they will go into a breeder net basket to hopefully pair up.

Nice! I've been thinking about yasha goby

 

[Nibejeebies]

keep up the good work Sir Caleb!