Never that!
New 55 Gallon Budget FOWLR tank
Ok so here's an update! Madness over here! The same day I thought my other puffers were sick, my girlfriend thought she was doing me a favor by bringing 2 more puffers home! This was in our plan eventually but not at this point in the setup! Saving them from Walmart is good but talk about stress..
They all are pretty tiny at <2" and I haven't noticed any nipping or anything so far. I got my DT all cycled and everything, my levels are:
High Range PH-8.0
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5-10
Added 10 more lbs of dry rock, some decor (because they looked bored swimming up and down the sides), and a 425gph circulation pump. Also hung up my power supply to set up drop loops.
Any suggestions to our setup? Next on my list is 20 lbs dry rock, secondary filter (not picked out), refugium (picked out $60 from Elite Reef, full setup HOB), and the quarantine tank (not picked out). A list of things and costs for my QT would be greatly appreciated..
They all are pretty tiny at <2" and I haven't noticed any nipping or anything so far. I got my DT all cycled and everything, my levels are:
High Range PH-8.0
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-5-10
Added 10 more lbs of dry rock, some decor (because they looked bored swimming up and down the sides), and a 425gph circulation pump. Also hung up my power supply to set up drop loops.
Any suggestions to our setup? Next on my list is 20 lbs dry rock, secondary filter (not picked out), refugium (picked out $60 from Elite Reef, full setup HOB), and the quarantine tank (not picked out). A list of things and costs for my QT would be greatly appreciated..
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beaslbob
Well-Known Member
Actually what I used for the partition was 1/4" square plastic grid "egg crate". It's a light diffuser for dropped ceilings and is about $12 or so from building supply places. (sometimes in the ceiling section instead of the lighting section. Just crammed it in 3" in front of the back glass and held it in place with rocks at the bottom and power heads at the top. I also added 2 utility lights behind the tank pointing forward. (2 tube florescent that cost ~$20/fixture with tubes.
the macro algae the grow out between the square grid were eagerly eaten by tangs and other fish.
(nitrates dropped to 0 in three weeks and phosphates followed a few months later)
But an hob refugium and even an algae truf scrubber will work also.
my .02
OK! Little update and a few questions...everything has been going pretty good with the tank so far. I do water changes every Sunday and record all my numbers so I have them. PH 8.0 AMM 0 NITRATES 0 NITRITE was pretty high at 20 ppm! Everything else is great but I just chalked that off to my tank being relatively new. Any suggestions on getting that down?
My big concern is my puffers now. They aren't eating and have been a lot less active. I am using the same krill. I have tried bloodworms and even regular fish flake. It seems the only thing they will eat are pest snails from my LFS. They ate em tonight. I don't have enough and am really trying to avoid going to my LFS everyday. Any suggestions?
I usually feed them krill twice a day until their bellies get round and skip a day out of the week. They always have big appetites but come to look at their food and swim away.
The exact time they quit eating was when I did the water change Sunday and added more salt like I always do! They usually love it and light up the brightest after the water changes. I also added 2 fake plants from my freshwater tank (washed off with tap water of course). After that, they have been real shy and I noticed a little grey belly on the outer sides of each of them.
No idea what to do...their eyes are clear and they are active..just wont eat. I use InstantOcean by the way.
Thanks for the help!
My big concern is my puffers now. They aren't eating and have been a lot less active. I am using the same krill. I have tried bloodworms and even regular fish flake. It seems the only thing they will eat are pest snails from my LFS. They ate em tonight. I don't have enough and am really trying to avoid going to my LFS everyday. Any suggestions?
I usually feed them krill twice a day until their bellies get round and skip a day out of the week. They always have big appetites but come to look at their food and swim away.
The exact time they quit eating was when I did the water change Sunday and added more salt like I always do! They usually love it and light up the brightest after the water changes. I also added 2 fake plants from my freshwater tank (washed off with tap water of course). After that, they have been real shy and I noticed a little grey belly on the outer sides of each of them.
No idea what to do...their eyes are clear and they are active..just wont eat. I use InstantOcean by the way.
Thanks for the help!
Kristin1234
Active Member
Are these snails from there freshwater tanks?
I'm not 100% sure but maybe they aren't getting the nutrients they need from these snails, unless these snails are gut loaded which I'm sure they aren't since they are pest snails.
I know some aggressive fish, like lionslfish, that when they eat live food from fresh water tanks, they can get liver diseases due to the fatty acids in the freshwater fish. I wonder if this can be the same with freshwater snails? Possibly.
I'm not 100% sure but maybe they aren't getting the nutrients they need from these snails, unless these snails are gut loaded which I'm sure they aren't since they are pest snails.
I know some aggressive fish, like lionslfish, that when they eat live food from fresh water tanks, they can get liver diseases due to the fatty acids in the freshwater fish. I wonder if this can be the same with freshwater snails? Possibly.
Kristin1234
Active Member
Where is your salinity at now?
Thanks for replying and I never thought about that. The snails aren't gut-loaded just like you thought..I mainly feed them that because I don't want their beaks getting out of control.
My salinity is at 1.010
Just to give an update: I tried the same exact bloodworms (same package) on them this morning and they were all over it. They are still being super shy and hiding in my rocks. I'm still not seeing any ick on them and their bellies are still a little grey on the outsides. Don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Tested the water this morning and it's still at 0 AMM and 0 Nitrites.
They are getting pretty big at about 2" and I want to get some live food for them soon. Anybody have a favorite site they order bulk live snails/crabs/crawfish from?