A New Member And A New Tank

**CarmieJo** · 05-10-2009, 05:12 PM

I haven't used the nitrate absorbers so I can't help with their usefulness. The sponges in the HOB could be contributing as nitrifing bacteria will colonize them. Twenty is too high for stony corals but fish and most softies would be OK.

Your dKH is a little high. Are you adding buffer? If not what is the alk of newly made SW? Here is a good article Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com about parameters.

**Allowin** · 05-10-2009, 07:17 PM

86 is a pretty high temp.. Are you doing this on purpose or do you have a halide fixture?

**IRocky IFraser** · 08-18-2009, 10:21 PM

Guess who's back~ Lol, So This time my question is more of an advanced question...I have a small/med sized frogspawn frag and I have noticed a change in colour and transparency.Meaning when i first got it i dont remeber Beaing able to actually c though the tentecles and it seemed more darker.I also noticed that is slightly expanding less? I dont think im sposed to feed it like my bubble coral, Am I? I also noticed that the lfs has a frag, that is also tranperent.....I guess Im just wondering if its ok,or if u pro's know whats going on?

**CarmieJo** · 08-19-2009, 03:17 PM

I have not seen one look transparent like this. My torch (and my frogspawn before I lost it) get whatever I am feeding squirted at them. Not every head seems to take food every day but some always do.

**rayme07** · 08-19-2009, 04:30 PM

I have seen a frogspawn look like this in a LFS, he ate and was acting healthy. A few months later he wasnt in the tank but I never got to asking the LF Woman where it went to.

**IRocky IFraser** · 08-19-2009, 09:08 PM

So Im also losing 3 battles w/ my tank.1st is my battle with aptasia, now Ive asked abought this before and i know u pros mentioned joe's juice ,the "stick em" method,calck paste..Im still losing my battle...I remember in the shows something abought cooking the LR in the oven!! Now I know that everything will die on the rock, So essentually I was thinking, That If i could do all my rock at once I could dance around my oven crying "burn baby burn" and dancing happly abought. Then I also remembered The other things on the rock such as feather duster worms and micen shrimp and such..now my questions.. How long can I run my tank with out any LR? I do have a skimmer rated for 125gal my tank is 76gal. I think I can Do all My rock and let it dry with in 1 week. Is this a good plan or is it not worth it?

Secondly My temp wont go below 30C/86F, I dont have a heater in the tank~LOL. I looked on-line and the price of a chiller is a bit to much but i am saving up a bit 4 it...in the meantime im thinking of a plan to make a chiller using a closed loop system runing through a bucket of ice(like the pipe runs through the bucket, The waters do not mix) Anyhows any sugestions on how i can lower my temp~?

And 3rd is the above post abought my frogspawn...Are u saying i should be feeding it?Should i be feeding it the same thing as my bubble coral?(frozen planktion), i have never feed it, I admit, I was told You dont need to and when I did try that few times i got no reaction...so well I never fed it since it dint eat those first few times~

Anyhows thanks alot to everyone out there!!!!!!!! (specally the ones who help me)

**CarmieJo** · 08-19-2009, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by IRocky IFraser

So Im also losing 3 battles w/ my tank.1st is my battle with aptasia, now Ive asked abought this before and i know u pros mentioned joe's juice ,the "stick em" method,calck paste..Im still losing my battle...I remember in the shows something abought cooking the LR in the oven!! Now I know that everything will die on the rock, So essentually I was thinking, That If i could do all my rock at once I could dance around my oven crying "burn baby burn" and dancing happly abought. Then I also remembered The other things on the rock such as feather duster worms and micen shrimp and such..now my questions.. How long can I run my tank with out any LR? I do have a skimmer rated for 125gal my tank is 76gal. I think I can Do all My rock and let it dry with in 1 week. Is this a good plan or is it not worth it?

I don't think I would do this as you will loose all your biological filtration.

I have heard of cooking LR in a covered/dark vat of SW with just a heater and powerhead for circulation. This would not destroy the bacteria in the LR but I am not sure if it would get rid of the aiptasia or not. But to be effective you have to do this for a long while and your tank would not have its biological filtration.

If you aren't having any luck with Joe's Juice have you given peppermint shrimp a try?

Secondly My temp wont go below 30C/86F, I dont have a heater in the tank~LOL. I looked on-line and the price of a chiller is a bit to much but i am saving up a bit 4 it...in the meantime im thinking of a plan to make a chiller using a closed loop system runing through a bucket of ice(like the pipe runs through the bucket, The waters do not mix) Anyhows any sugestions on how i can lower my temp~?

Is this all the time with the lights on? Is there a lid on the tank? Can you leave the cabinet open? Have you tried blowing a fan across the sump and/or DT? What kind of pumps are you using for return, skimmer and in tank circulation? People have done what you have suggested using a small refrigerator. The results seem to be mixed from what I have read.

And 3rd is the above post abought my frogspawn...Are u saying i should be feeding it?Should i be feeding it the same thing as my bubble coral?(frozen planktion), i have never feed it, I admit, I was told You dont need to and when I did try that few times i got no reaction...so well I never fed it since it dint eat those first few times~

Anyhows thanks alot to everyone out there!!!!!!!! (specally the ones who help me)

I would try squirting food in its direction. Mine don't like to be hit full force with a turkey baster full of food. I use a gentle squirt and let the food drift towards it from the top or side. I turn off the circulation for a few minutes to let the food reach the tentacles.

**IRocky IFraser** · 08-19-2009, 10:15 PM

OMG! YEs, YEs of course~ Lol I forgot all abought natural predation, peppermint shrimp!! Gonna Have to Look Around for one that eats aptasia for sure~!! I think that combined is great because i cant get those smaller ones the shrimp can~ Im not running a sump or fuge because is summer and i cant keep up with the evaporation with two tanks, and im still looking for a refugium rather then just a sump! Im going set up a closed loop system, lol, i think freezing ice is cheeper then actually buying a chiller since im not quite at the 2k i need to spend on it~

Abought the feeding....omg, now why didnt i think of it that way, even though i love ice cream i dont think a pressurized cannon shooting it into my mouth would be such a great idea~

LOl, HAHAHAHA~

**rayme07** · 08-19-2009, 11:29 PM

I agree with Carmie try going natural. I know peppermint shrimp work great and the great thing is they are cheap. I would say to get about 3 in your tank. Just make sure you don't get the camel shrimp they look very similar and are not reef safe.

**IRocky IFraser** · 11-20-2009, 02:40 PM

WOW something crazy happened last night!!!

I was awakinged by a lil clacking sound, (yes i sleep beside my tank) Anyhows when i got my led flashlight to see what was going on i noticed lilttle tiny tadpole things in my water collum (i turn off pumps and everything at night so i can sleep) there must have been at least a few thousand of them!!!! I Continuied to stare im complete fasination as i watched these lil tiny things abought the size of a copopod swim around! Then i heard the clanking sound again continuing to search with my light i noticed a certian crab hitting the glass with its shell!!! What I saw next I thought and read was not possible (or was it) the source of the tiny tadpoles was one of my blew legged crabs! She seemed to be discharging it from her shell, after afew min she started this "dance" of comming out of the shell most of the way exposing her soft body and slamming her self back in forcing out more of these tadpoles!!!! Then I saw something i was like OMG!!!! cluched at the very back of her soft body near her last set of leggs there was a mass of little bubbles (eggs?) After abought 15 min of this dance there where practically thousandes of the lilttle tadpoles around her!!!!! I dont know How to post the Video i took with my blackberry!!!! IS THIS POSSABLE? I read several times blue legged hermits dont breed in captivity~ my tank is over a year almost 2~ Now a few days before i took a video of what i thought was two crabs fighting in the day time!( didnt seem like much of a fight and the two crabs are almost always within a few inches of each other) I also noticed one of my crabs is missing (killed by the other male crab) I guess they where mating~!! I also want to post the video of that~ can anyone help me with my video posting~ i think this is a disscovery worth sharing~

**rayme07** · 11-20-2009, 09:41 PM

Wow congrats that certainly is amazing. I heard you can post videos on Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket. HTH

**CarmieJo** · 11-20-2009, 11:06 PM

That is VERY cool! I would upload the video to Photobucket or a site like that and then past the link into your post.

There are some people over at MOFIB breeding them. Marine Ornamental Fish & Invert Breeders Association • View topic - Hermit Crabs & Relatives - Group Overview

**IRocky IFraser** · 01-07-2010, 06:37 PM

Is the a reef safe tape to use on pvc for leaky conections? Teflon tape safe or toxic?

**Amphibious** · 01-07-2010, 08:12 PM

Definitely safe. What type of leak you battling?

**IRocky IFraser** · 01-10-2010, 06:38 PM

I fixed the leak using teflon tape, Thanks IReef IKeeper (Bobby) for the quick reply~

So not i got my sump up and running i was looking on line for some micro algee. So i found two huge ziplock bags for 20$ (the person said it is chaeto (pic 2)) its like long green stands of what feels like plastic wires or a fiber (did i get the right stuff) anyhows with the two bags the was a little bag of an unknown algee, i need help with identifcation...

the algee is very slow growing, has tiny white roots(lots of them) other then that im stumped. Anyhows its pic 1 so that should help

And the 3rd pic is of my "red plant" witch grew from a tiny leave no bigger then a thumbnail (i was actually gonna rip it off long ago but i decided not to (good thing) i dunno if anyone can identify the last red one

Now should i be keeping the chaeto seprate fron the second algee? the red one is in the tank so is already seperate from the two others.

Anyhows if anyone can help me identify these 3.....it would help me alot!!

**CarmieJo** · 01-10-2010, 10:04 PM

That sounds like a good description of chaeto. The first picture looks like it could be Halimeda. This is a calcareous algae so the leaves should feel rigid. The red algae might be Halymenia AKA Dragons Tongue. This article Beyond the Refugium: A Macroalgae Primer by Sarah Lardizabal - Reefkeeping.com might interest you.