My First Reef Build Journal - Follow along for the ride wave your hands and scream if I am driving off a cliff :)
- Thread starter cryptics
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cryptics
Member
Need advice. Some guy is selling a RBTA really cheap but it is only 2''. Will the clowns kill this thing?
Last night I did a water change and switched my salt to ESV. The mixing isn't actually too bad and if you follow the instructions it comes out exact. Interested to see if it is as good as everyone says.
My pincoushin Urchin has pissed me off. He picked up a large frag of Chinese Firecracker Zoas last night and his them in the rockwork. Took me and hour and a half to find them. He is always carrying snals but needs to leave the corals alone.
Last night I did a water change and switched my salt to ESV. The mixing isn't actually too bad and if you follow the instructions it comes out exact. Interested to see if it is as good as everyone says.
My pincoushin Urchin has pissed me off. He picked up a large frag of Chinese Firecracker Zoas last night and his them in the rockwork. Took me and hour and a half to find them. He is always carrying snals but needs to leave the corals alone.
cryptics
Member
The female rubs on it pretty good. Male basically just stays under the tenticles hanging off the side of the plate. I passed on the RBTA. If there is a chance they will harm it I decided not to take it. I will find a nice 4-5 inch eventually 
So far I like the ESV but that is purely from a mixing standpoint. The instructions were clear and easy to figure out how much you needed and came with a full set of measuring spoons and a cup. After I mixed it up I expected to see the salinity close but it was dead on 1.025. I was kinda impressed. Other thing I like is you can mix it and use it 10 minutes later because the hard to disolve stuff comes in liquid form. Will be good in a pinch. I will test all my parameters tonight and see how alk, calc and mag are and report back.
So far I like the ESV but that is purely from a mixing standpoint. The instructions were clear and easy to figure out how much you needed and came with a full set of measuring spoons and a cup. After I mixed it up I expected to see the salinity close but it was dead on 1.025. I was kinda impressed. Other thing I like is you can mix it and use it 10 minutes later because the hard to disolve stuff comes in liquid form. Will be good in a pinch. I will test all my parameters tonight and see how alk, calc and mag are and report back.
cryptics
Member
I have a few updates:
I got a GBTA. He was not happy the first two days and kept closing up and the shrimps were screwing with him. He seems better now but he is in the back corner of the tank so the clowns have not found him yet I tried to get them to go there with a net which all they did was hide in the plate. I also tried just feeding over in that corner but the clowns just wait for the food to get to them and the shrimp ran over there and was jumping on the GBTA which he didn't like. I have resorted to telling the GBTA that he would be much happier in the front of the tank but he doesn't seem to understand He is walking around some at night but just in a circle back there.
I am getting long stringy brown algae now that only developes when the lights are on. It is very easy to blow off but seems to love to cover the frags. It seems to grow mainly in places of med-high flow. This happened after I switched out the phosban and carbon in my reactors. Is this normal? I am also getting a pale light green color on some rocks that doesn't grow out or blows off. Someone told me this may be the first stages of coraline growth? Is that right? I can't find anything about it.
Since I switched to ESV salt my red slime algae basically disapeared overnight. My levels are better but not perfect yet but I am going to get some Seachem tests and try them. Corals have been growing like crazy since the ESv I have like 7 new heads sprouting on my Duncans
I picked up a bunch of chalice frags and blue zena from a guy that was moving. They are with me at work right now. I will post pictures of those and my other additions hopefully tonight.
I got a GBTA. He was not happy the first two days and kept closing up and the shrimps were screwing with him. He seems better now but he is in the back corner of the tank so the clowns have not found him yet
I tried to get them to go there with a net which all they did was hide in the plate. I also tried just feeding over in that corner but the clowns just wait for the food to get to them and the shrimp ran over there and was jumping on the GBTA which he didn't like. I have resorted to telling the GBTA that he would be much happier in the front of the tank but he doesn't seem to understand He is walking around some at night but just in a circle back there. I am getting long stringy brown algae now that only developes when the lights are on. It is very easy to blow off but seems to love to cover the frags. It seems to grow mainly in places of med-high flow. This happened after I switched out the phosban and carbon in my reactors. Is this normal? I am also getting a pale light green color on some rocks that doesn't grow out or blows off. Someone told me this may be the first stages of coraline growth? Is that right? I can't find anything about it.
Since I switched to ESV salt my red slime algae basically disapeared overnight. My levels are better but not perfect yet but I am going to get some Seachem tests and try them. Corals have been growing like crazy since the ESv I have like 7 new heads sprouting on my Duncans
I picked up a bunch of chalice frags and blue zena from a guy that was moving. They are with me at work right now. I will post pictures of those and my other additions hopefully tonight.
cryptics
Member
The GBTA is dead
I think there was something wrong with him because he couldn't attach to anything. Last night he tried to walk and got sucked up to the top of the tank on the side of a powerhead. I found him right away and got him off. I put him down in a low flow are sheltered by rocks and waited until it looked like he was trying to hold on. I turned on the powerhead and he looked like he was with everything. When I woke up this morning he was attached to the powerhead again and nearly pulled through the side of it. He didn't make it. Do they usually have such a hard time grabbing on? There was no direct flow on him and the powerhead has 3/4 the way up and pointing towards the top of the water. He would just tumble along if he got in the way of any flow. Did i do anything wrong? I thought his foot may have been damaged when I got him because he could only move on the sand. He couldn't climb on the glass or rock. Whenever he tried he fell off.
I was picking up some Purple Death Zoas last night so didn't get picktures before the lights went out. I will take them today.
I was picking up some Purple Death Zoas last night so didn't get picktures before the lights went out. I will take them today.
btldreef
Moderator
Bubble tips usually don't have much of a problem attaching, and once they're attached, it's really difficult to get them unattached, so if the person you bought it from really yanked it off the rock, more than likely, the foot was damaged (and it sounds like that's what happened). I try to buy my anemones attached to a rock, it saves the ripped foot factor a lot of the time. It's no guarantee that they'll stay on that rock once in your tank, but at least you don't have someone who doesn't know what they're doing ripping its foot apart. I actually ended up with two BTA's because the one I wanted was attached to a rock with another smaller one, so I just took both. My RBTA is attached to a rock that it's been with since it was collected (I actually know the diver that collected it). It moves around the rock, but it's food is so far embedded inside the rock that I wouldn't dare try to pull it off that rock, even thought it's ugly and wish I didn't have that rock in the tank! Haha
If I can't get an anemone already attached to a rock, I try to find one that is attached to glass. Then you know the foot is capable of attaching to something. When they're in the sand, it's hard to really tell. Small tears usually can repair themselves, but with the stress of moving into a new tank, etc, it makes it less likely that they will. And when they try to attach to a rock, it sometimes can make the tear worse.
If I can't get an anemone already attached to a rock, I try to find one that is attached to glass. Then you know the foot is capable of attaching to something. When they're in the sand, it's hard to really tell. Small tears usually can repair themselves, but with the stress of moving into a new tank, etc, it makes it less likely that they will. And when they try to attach to a rock, it sometimes can make the tear worse.
cryptics
Member
I got it from Tropical Island. He was in the sandbed but looked to be attached to a rock. When he brought it to the register the rock wasn't there. I had a bad feeling about it and should have listened to it. It was not fully open but either was the others in the tank so I figured it was normal.
1guydude
Well-Known Member
Also i hear people cover theyre powerheads with like those socks u use as trial socks when trying on shoes....or nylons or watever. Sry to hear that cryptic! I dont even have an anemone yet just cuz im afraid of it dying in my tank or me killing it all together.
I figure that will be the last hurtle in my advances of the hobby.
I figure that will be the last hurtle in my advances of the hobby.
cryptics
Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394550
Not being fully open after it's removed from the tank is common.
I'd run it by Mike (owner of Tropical Island) the next time you see him, tell him the foot was torn when you got it home and it didn't survive. He might work with you.
It wasn't fully opened in the store. It was kinda pulled in on itself
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394554
Also i hear people cover theyre powerheads with like those socks u use as trial socks when trying on shoes....or nylons or watever. Sry to hear that cryptic! I dont even have an anemone yet just cuz im afraid of it dying in my tank or me killing it all together.
I figure that will be the last hurtle in my advances of the hobby.
I didn't even think about the side of the powerhead. I made sure the piece was in there to cover the front. I guess i got lucky he didn't nuke the tank.
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394550
Not being fully open after it's removed from the tank is common.
I'd run it by Mike (owner of Tropical Island) the next time you see him, tell him the foot was torn when you got it home and it didn't survive. He might work with you.
It wasn't fully opened in the store. It was kinda pulled in on itself
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394554
Also i hear people cover theyre powerheads with like those socks u use as trial socks when trying on shoes....or nylons or watever. Sry to hear that cryptic! I dont even have an anemone yet just cuz im afraid of it dying in my tank or me killing it all together.
I figure that will be the last hurtle in my advances of the hobby.
I didn't even think about the side of the powerhead. I made sure the piece was in there to cover the front. I guess i got lucky he didn't nuke the tank.
btldreef
Moderator
Was it Mike that sold it to you or someone that works for him? That's so unlike him to sell something that wasn't healthy.
Don't feel too bad, I've never covered my powerheads, I just hate how it looks. Some people use fish/pond netting, just double layered. The nylons can really restrict flow and get clogged with fish food.
Don't feel too bad, I've never covered my powerheads, I just hate how it looks. Some people use fish/pond netting, just double layered. The nylons can really restrict flow and get clogged with fish food.
btldreef
Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by cryptics http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394591
BTLDreef,
It was Mike but that tank he had it in had really no flow and he was on the sandbed. Probably had no idea the foot was damaged if it was.
1guyDude,
FTS?? now I feel old like my mom asking what does OMFG mean
FTS = Full Tank Shot
I'd still mention it in passing to him. Sometimes he's good about stuff like that
Originally Posted by cryptics http:///forum/thread/385310/my-first-reef-build-journal-follow-along-for-the-ride-wave-your-hands-and-scream-if-i-am-driving-off-a-cliff/140#post_3394591
BTLDreef,
It was Mike but that tank he had it in had really no flow and he was on the sandbed. Probably had no idea the foot was damaged if it was.
1guyDude,
FTS?? now I feel old like my mom asking what does OMFG mean
FTS = Full Tank Shot
I'd still mention it in passing to him. Sometimes he's good about stuff like that
cryptics
Member
Ahh. I will get you guys pictures tonight. Here is a list of the things I have in there now.
Fish:
Yellow Watchman Goby
2 x Clowns one misbared
5 pep shrimps
1CBS
Sally Lightfoot
Emerald Crab
Long Spiny Urchin
Pincushion Urchin (Hate this guy lately. He picks up frags and hides them around the tank)
Corals
LPS
Green/Blue Acan
Orange/Red Acan (I think. Just got him yesterday and didn't color up by the time the lights went out)
War Coral frag
Red Blasto frag
2 heads of Frogspawn (Brown/purple tips)
Green Plate 2-3 inches
2 Frags of Blue Xenia
Totally Green Cloves frag
12-15 head Duncan green
Long Tenticle plate Pink/blue 5-6 inches
Small bright red with white eye chalice frag
Red with pink eye chalice frag
4x5 Hollywood Stunner Chalice
3 Head Lobo Brain
Pagoda coral
Pally/Zoas
Brown pally
frags:
Jokers
King Midas
24k
Nuke Green
Magician
Kent Reds
Rastas
CC Purple Hornets
Chinese Firecrackers
I think that is it. Pictures to follow tonight
Fish:
Yellow Watchman Goby
2 x Clowns one misbared
5 pep shrimps
1CBS
Sally Lightfoot
Emerald Crab
Long Spiny Urchin
Pincushion Urchin (Hate this guy lately. He picks up frags and hides them around the tank)
Corals
LPS
Green/Blue Acan
Orange/Red Acan (I think. Just got him yesterday and didn't color up by the time the lights went out)
War Coral frag
Red Blasto frag
2 heads of Frogspawn (Brown/purple tips)
Green Plate 2-3 inches
2 Frags of Blue Xenia
Totally Green Cloves frag
12-15 head Duncan green
Long Tenticle plate Pink/blue 5-6 inches
Small bright red with white eye chalice frag
Red with pink eye chalice frag
4x5 Hollywood Stunner Chalice
3 Head Lobo Brain
Pagoda coral
Pally/Zoas
Brown pally
frags:
Jokers
King Midas
24k
Nuke Green
Magician
Kent Reds
Rastas
CC Purple Hornets
Chinese Firecrackers
I think that is it. Pictures to follow tonight