Startin up a 24gal AqPod Reef

perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
In the right enviroment shrooms.. (at least mine anyway) can get many many times larger than what they are at night when they are shriveled. I have one green striped shroom in particular that will be the size of a quater at night and when the lights are on it has gotten to be almost 3" across. It is absolutly enormous.
I have a bunch of Yellow star polyps and they have propogated all over my tank. My red shrooms have done the same, I really cant control where they are going to pop up next. But what I have observed is a small cluster of yellow polyps emerging and a large shroom nearby. This was potentially a bad situation for one of the corals. I let things be and the polyps that were close to the shroom have colapsed and the shroom took over. Just on the outside of the shrooms covered area the polyps remain and everything is doing fine. IMO I think its cool to see how everything adapts and gets along.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Thats a huge shroom. On my top rock, I have at one end, green palys, and at the other a green stripe shroom, and in the middle front some yellow polyps, since they need the light theres really no other spot I can put them. I will move the yellow polyps to the shrooms spot today and the shroom over to the other green stripey. My FTS shows it better than I can describe. Hopefully theyll be able to live for a while without hurting each other that way. It is quite amazing to see how things get over time.
My next addition to the tank will be a Frimandi Dottyback, or pseudochromis, whichever you'd like to call it. Then hopefully like a B&W clown and thatll be it for fish. I really want to get my hands on some ricordeas too, when I do Im going to buy a new rock to put on another spot so I know they can grow nice and spacious, because those look amazing to me.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
I was looking at the rockwork, and realized that I had a really good piece that I could use to hold the frag rocks really well, so I rotated it, replaced it with another rock to support the cave-esque feature, and I think it looks better. Pics once it gets less cloudy.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
I just got back from the LFS. Theres an attachment to replace the splitter jets that allow you to redirect the flow of the tank better. I now have current going behind the LR which is great, and you can visually see a counterclockwise current going on in my tank now, very cool thing to see.
Andddd the star of the trip. They had their frag tank on clearance, and I just happened to notice a green ricordea florida hanging out in there for 5$. So I couldnt pass it up and its acclimating right now. Hopefully it'll grow big and strong and reproduce quickly haha.
Pics once its in, this time with updated rockwork and all.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Well Ive been neglecting my own thread. Since I posted, I did usual cleaning, glass, water, filter, the usual. I think I made a huge mistake and I need everyones opinion.
3 of my mushrooms had planaria on them, 4-5 each mushroom. So I got some distilled water and arranged a freshwater dip. Each mushroom spent about 5 seconds total in the water, watching every flatworm shrivel up and fall to the bottom of the bowl. Thing is, I think the water was a bit cold. It was room temperature, but my water is about 76-78, and that was at least 70. 2 of the mushrooms seem to have recovered alright and discharged a mucus barrier around them right now, but theyre spread out and open. The 3rd is really shriveled. Not how mushrooms are usually closed though, its open but its like bare bones, figuratively. Will it live?
 
er..md

er..md

Member
I have a system for my water changes that is relatively easy....At the moment I have no access to RO water, but will in the next few weeks have a system installed.
I "borrowed" about 6 bottles from our ozarka distributor
I keep them all filled with water (tap at the moment....good water source no nitrates phosphates or metals...just chloramine) and immediately add chlorine and ammonia remover/conditioner....They sit in my office shower for a few days and then I add the salt and let it sit a few more days. When I pull one out to use for a water change I put the water in a bucket add a heater and a power head to mix furhter then use it in an hour or so when the temp is good...
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by ER..MD
I have a system for my water changes that is relatively easy....At the moment I have no access to RO water, but will in the next few weeks have a system installed.
I "borrowed" about 6 bottles from our ozarka distributor
I keep them all filled with water (tap at the moment....good water source no nitrates phosphates or metals...just chloramine) and immediately add chlorine and ammonia remover/conditioner....They sit in my office shower for a few days and then I add the salt and let it sit a few more days. When I pull one out to use for a water change I put the water in a bucket add a heater and a power head to mix furhter then use it in an hour or so when the temp is good...
If at all possible its a good idea to use the power head all the time. Aged salt water is better for your tank. Its more stable, it has had time to stabilize and establish an equilibrium between the carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange, pH too. Just a thought.
 
er..md

er..md

Member
I would keep the powerhead in but there is no outlet in the shower....and my staff whine if I leave jugs of saltwater scattered around....
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Round 2. As you can see with the last picture, CVS only had wood and leather super glue. How lame. And I found a resizing program so no more photobucket links.


 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Glad to see people commented on the pics
. LFS trip was today. Got a API test kit because my other ran out, and man my water is so perfect right now, except for the phosphates. Found the food source for my cyano, so I bought a phosphate pad for the refugium in the back.
I got fish! A firefish goby, and a true percula clownfish. They seem to have taken a nice liking to the tank and are eating 10 minutes after being put in. Frozen brine is a good sign too, no wild/tank-raised trouble. I watched my cleaner shrimp pick at a zoa of mine cuz it had a piece sticking out of it, thought it was kind of funny.
Everything is good, cyano will be gone in a few days. Pics to come.
Water Parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Trite: 0
Trate: <5
pH: 8.2
Sal: 1.027
One quick question, do clowns host things right away or does it take time? Because I would really like it for the clown to host my GSP or some zoas, but it didnt show any interest right off the bat.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
!^@!$%!#$!#$

So I woke up today. Both my clownfish and my firefish are COMPLETELY covered in ick. Youve gotta be joking or something. My LFS sucks so bad. Time to head over to the Disease and Treatment forums
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Sorry to hear that bout your fish.. yep this is where you say "Man I wish I had a QT tank." FYI your salinity is a tad high, 1.024 to 1.025 is IMO where you want to be.
Other wise nice pics... looks good.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Originally Posted by PerfectDark
Sorry to hear that bout your fish.. yep this is where you say "Man I wish I had a QT tank." FYI your salinity is a tad high, 1.024 to 1.025 is IMO where you want to be.
Other wise nice pics... looks good.
Thanks, I gotta top it off this week so ill be adding some distilled to it and itll go down a bit. I do wish I had room for a QT tank, or at least a UV sterilizer or something. Sad thing is, I know 100% its from the LFS's tank. Makes me wanna buy more from them
. What can I do next time I bring home fish to make sure they dont have ick? I guess QT is my only option :(
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by paintballer768
Thanks, I gotta top it off this week so ill be adding some distilled to it and itll go down a bit. I do wish I had room for a QT tank, or at least a UV sterilizer or something. Sad thing is, I know 100% its from the LFS's tank. Makes me wanna buy more from them
. What can I do next time I bring home fish to make sure they dont have ick? I guess QT is my only option :(

Yea unfortunatly that is your only option. Unless you have the means to observe them in the LFS display for a while. My LFS will hold my fish for me for at least 2 weeks if I want them too. So aside from a QT tank I get the benifit of that too.
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
I think I might be able to arrange something. My friend has a bracket holding tank system (like those little cubicles that you see fish in at the LFS) and I might be able to get him to hold my fish for a bit in there for me. Now all I need to do is trust him
Or I could just buy from him too, but either way, Im like severely disappoint in the LFS. I love how you go there and the fish looks fine and you bring it home and thats when it messes up. Always! Lol
 
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