Molting?

amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
My fiance and I have had our first 55gallon SW tank since October/November (2007) We purchased an Anemone crab about 2 months ago and he has molted twice. Is this normal? We also have a scarled hermit (who just molted as well). Just wanted to know if there might be something wrong, or if this was normal.

Specs:
55 gallon
60 LBS of LR
40 LBS of LS
Inhabitants:
1 emerald crab
1 anemone crab
2 blue legged hermits
1 scarlet hermit
5 turbo snails
4 Nass. Snails
1 Conch
3 red shrooms
2 watermelon shrooms
orange centered zoas
1 head of frogspawn
2 stalks of Xenia
Parameters:
Cal. 500
Alk. 10-11
pH- 8.3
Phos-0
Nitrates-5 ppm
Nitrites-0
Amm-0
Thanks in advance everyone!

Amy and Brandon
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
that sounds pretty normal. your calcium is a little high, BTW, but i doubt its causing any problems.
 
amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
Originally Posted by alix2.0
http:///forum/post/2542149
that sounds pretty normal. your calcium is a little high, BTW, but i doubt its causing any problems.
Will it hurt anything being that high? What could I do to lower it? Is there a specific coral that really likes calcium and will help to use some of that calcium? Also, what should the Cal. be?
 
alix2.0

alix2.0

Active Member
calcium should be around 450, so your not too bad. if it gets too high though it could start to precipitate ("snow") in your tank or even nuke it. are you dosing calcium or is that just from your salt mix? there are corals that will consume it but they are mostly SPS and i dont know if your system can support them. your best bet is just to increase water changes with RODI water.
 
amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
Originally Posted by alix2.0
http:///forum/post/2542167
calcium should be around 450, so your not too bad. if it gets too high though it could start to precipitate ("snow") in your tank or even nuke it. are you dosing calcium or is that just from your salt mix? there are corals that will consume it but they are mostly SPS and i dont know if your system can support them. your best bet is just to increase water changes with RODI water.
Oh wow...wouldn't want the snow look in our tank. We use RO water only, and we aren't dosing any calcium so...I'm going to assume its in our water/salt mix. Our lighting system is a retro fit (4) 54 watt bulbs if that helps.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
an abundance of iodine can also provoke shrimp and crabs to molt. have you been dosing iodine?
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
:) your crab is growing. Did he molt the same night you brought him home? All of my shrimp have molted during the first night. From what I've heard, it's a natural thing for them to molt and if they didn't at all, I'd be very worried.
 
amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/2542299
:) your crab is growing. Did he molt the same night you brought him home? All of my shrimp have molted during the first night. From what I've heard, it's a natural thing for them to molt and if they didn't at all, I'd be very worried.
Nopw, not the 1st night. It was w/in the first week though.
 
amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
Originally Posted by jamesvishiou
http:///forum/post/2542393
Its normal. You know iodine will help the process of the molting. Its just a part of nature.
So is there a test kit for us to be able to know what our iodine level is and then add it accordingly?
Also..anyone have any idea(s) on our calcium level?
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by amyandbrandon2
http:///forum/post/2542397
So is there a test kit for us to be able to know what our iodine level is and then add it accordingly?
Also..anyone have any idea(s) on our calcium level?
There are iodine test kits out there, but I've never found one that can actually be used by someone who isn't a chemist. If anyone knows of one, I'd be interested as well. As for your calcium level, if its that high, and you are not dosing anything (purple-up, turbo calc, etc), then its a result of your salt mix. I personally wouldn't worry about it. My new 65gal has been running at 600 ppm Calcium since I set it up, and I've never had any issues with snow, although I am playing around with salt mixes in order to drop it into the 450 to 500 range, as I'm sure that 600 is too high. Doing water changes with RO/DI water isn't going to affect your calcium levels as long as you keep running the same salt. Test your premixed water in the bucket next time to see what levels your calcium is starting out at ~ then you'll know for sure that its the salt. As for corals that use calcium, all your sps corals consume it quickly as do your lps, but I don't recommend trying these unless your running a halogen or T5 light, and your tank has been set-up and stable for at least 6 months. Hows the hair algae going? Is it under control?
 
amyandbrandon2

amyandbrandon2

Member
Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2542776
There are iodine test kits out there, but I've never found one that can actually be used by someone who isn't a chemist. If anyone knows of one, I'd be interested as well. As for your calcium level, if its that high, and you are not dosing anything (purple-up, turbo calc, etc), then its a result of your salt mix. I personally wouldn't worry about it. My new 65gal has been running at 600 ppm Calcium since I set it up, and I've never had any issues with snow, although I am playing around with salt mixes in order to drop it into the 450 to 500 range, as I'm sure that 600 is too high. Doing water changes with RO/DI water isn't going to affect your calcium levels as long as you keep running the same salt. Test your premixed water in the bucket next time to see what levels your calcium is starting out at ~ then you'll know for sure that its the salt. As for corals that use calcium, all your sps corals consume it quickly as do your lps, but I don't recommend trying these unless your running a halogen or T5 light, and your tank has been set-up and stable for at least 6 months. Hows the hair algae going? Is it under control?
I am by no means a chemist, and Brandon would have no patience so maybe I should stay away from iodine until we know more about them, or someone knows of a test for the everyday person.
When you find a salt you like and one that doesn't shoot your cal. up to 600 let us know!
We have some water all set up ready for a slight water change, so we'll test later today and let you know.
We do have a (4) 54W t-5 lighting system with individual reflectors, but we'll wait on those corals "harder" corals until we have some other corals under our belt. The hair algae is GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE!! Thank goodness! I've been closing the blinds during the day so the tank gets no "natural" light. That seemed to help a lot. We also got our Skimmer working and that makes the world of difference in water quality. We still have to wipe down the glass 2-3 times per week, because it does seem to become green, but not the hair, just the slime. We also got some Xenia (that we had soooo much trouble with in the beginning) When they arrived the were off of their rocks, and looked terrible!!! So i got one stalk to attach to a rock, and the other attached to a piece of an orange bag
so it is rubberbanded to a rock. That hair algae is some nasty stuff!!
 
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