Mayja's 90 Gallon Reef Experience

[Mayja]

I found a dead hermit crab this morning. I removed it as quickly as possible. Here's the funny part: I can't find its shell! I've looked everywhere! All nine other hermit crabs are present and accounted for. No extra shells. I have no idea why it died, why it looked half eaten (the front part with his legs and such was in tact, but not the rear), and why it's missing its shell. Curious.

 

[Mayja]

I found a dead hermit crab this morning. I removed it as quickly as possible. Here's the funny part: I can't find its shell! I've looked everywhere! All nine other hermit crabs are present and accounted for. No extra shells. I have no idea why it died, why it looked half eaten (the front part with his legs and such was in tact, but not the rear), and why it's missing its shell. Curious.

Son of a.... hey, did you guys know that crabs molt? :smack:

 

[Mayja]

I saw an amazing thing earlier this afternoon, but let me backup a second...

Last night, about 30 min after the lights shut off, I took a flashlight and inspected my live rock and substrate. WOW! Now, that was cool! Apparently, I have TWO brittle stars and they were both OUT! I also have stomatella snails - at least five of them, and one BIG one. I saw my first bristle worm climb back into a hole in the rock. All the spionid worms were out. It was quite the party. Of course, I Googled everything to make sure I knew what I was watching and read up on whether I would have to eradicate them from the tank or not.

Now, back to this afternoon. So, I'm walking by the tank and I notice this big poof of white cloud coming from the live rock. It was my big stomatella snail, and it looks like he was trying to attract a female! I've never been so giddy to watch such a spectacle.

 

[Mayja]

Copepods!! These babies popped out of nowhere onto the glass in the upper back right corner of the display tank:

 

[Bearjohnson]

Live rock can be costly so don't be afraid of checking places like craigs list. You can save a bundle searching around for many items you'll need. I would just boil the rock before putting into the tank. Just a suggestion to help you save a few bucks Congrats on the new tank! Take it slow and run any and all question through the forum regardless of what you hear from other people.

 

[AJ REEF]

You know that's one of the things I like so much about marine tanks, the micro fauna is just amazing!

 

[Mayja]

[video=youtube_share;dT5_IsxZlCs]http://youtu.be/dT5_IsxZlCs[/video]

Here's the latest video update - now with Mexican Turbo Snails!

 

[forestal]

Looks and sounds like a nice setup. On your ammonia test - did you use prime or similar to water initially? as that may make ammonia unusable but stay at low level. Any change in livestock to your tank or feeding will create a cycle with a small bump in ammonian/nitrite. Not surprising you may have one with just setting up. Cool you are enjoying the microfauna - one of my favorite parts.

In terms of skimmers and nutrients. If you want to keep corals, corals have to feed as well (not just light), and not skimming until your microfauna population grows to good levels (4-6 months) is a way a lot of folks will go, to help support their corals. Another way to pull out nutrients is water changes. I had a reef tank for 5 years with minimal skimming but did a lot of water changes to maintain health. If you decide to go just fish, skimming is not a bad thing to help out.

remember the mantra of patience and do not forget to quarantine any livestock you buy from here out to minimize infection spreads.

 

[Mayja]

Looks and sounds like a nice setup. On your ammonia test - did you use prime or similar to water initially? as that may make ammonia unusable but stay at low level. Any change in livestock to your tank or feeding will create a cycle with a small bump in ammonian/nitrite. Not surprising you may have one with just setting up. Cool you are enjoying the microfauna - one of my favorite parts.

Hi Forestal! Thank you for your nice comments! I do not use Prime, or any other chemical to treat water parameters. I am using water changes/top off alone to control it at this time. I do have macro algae in the refugium and that seems to be keeping a lot of things under control as it is growing very nicely. The API ammonia test looks like .25 every time, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it's just off. Nothing is unhappy, acting out of the norm, not eating, etc. Everything's peachy. I firmly believe it's at zero.

In terms of skimmers and nutrients. If you want to keep corals, corals have to feed as well (not just light), and not skimming until your microfauna population grows to good levels (4-6 months) is a way a lot of folks will go, to help support their corals. Another way to pull out nutrients is water changes. I had a reef tank for 5 years with minimal skimming but did a lot of water changes to maintain health. If you decide to go just fish, skimming is not a bad thing to help out.

remember the mantra of patience and do not forget to quarantine any livestock you buy from here out to minimize infection spreads.

I am currently in the mental process of switching to corals I am not currently using a skimmer, though I've discussed this with my LFS guy and he has one planned for me (Bashea Beckett), ready to go should the need arise (he'll even plumb it for free since I'm such a cutie... err good customer). Just kidding. The current plans/next stages are to add the rest of the live rock and finish my aquascape, let it continue to cycle/allow microfauna to generate, before adding my first corals. After that, it will be time for my Royal Gramma Basslet to enter the tank. Or vice versa. The fish may come first. It's just a matter of what I want to do by that time. Rest assured, my timeline is over many weeks, not days. I'm very much taking my time. I just like to know everything in advance so I can plan my budget accordingly.

In terms of feeding corals, I already am working with my LFS guy to stock Reef Frenzy so I can get it locally (he's agreed to contact Larry - hopefully I'll get my free packet of food!) and then I'll have access to premium reef ready food.

Again, thank you for the advice. I'm soaking it up like a sponge!

 

[Mayja]

During my recent research on which corals to start with, I've decided that I'll begin with mushrooms, leathers, and zoos. Please chime in if these are good beginner corals.

Since I cannot upgrade my lighting anytime soon, I think these will be the best choices once I build up my aquascape and get them closer to my T5's. I am also pricing out powerheads and how much more flow I'll need to add (currently looking at Hydor Koralias). I'm already working with my LFS guy to bring in better reef food before I begin this process.

Please note that these will not be added anytime in the relative near future. I'm thinking way ahead - weeks in advance. Just planning, so no freaking out.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

You should have good luck with those corals - checkout this link for some more ideas

https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

 

[ReefApprentice]

Leathers can be hardy but will pout for a day or two everywhile .mushrooms are a great place to start.they multiply like crazy and are very easy to care for. Zoas (depend on the how delicate it is) are very easy to care for but will sometimes melt for no apprent reason

 

[Mayja]

What are your thoughts about frogspawn?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I love lps corals, great colors & wavie/flowie Frogspawn is one of them Hammer corals too

Aquarium Corals: Corals of the Genus Euphyllia — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Euphyllia is a genus of large-polyped stony coral. Several species are commonly found in marine aquariums. The genus includes the following species:
Euphyllia ancora – hammer coral
Euphyllia cristata – grape coral
Euphyllia divisa – frogspawn coral
Euphyllia paradivisa – branching frogspawn coral
Euphyllia glabrescens – torch coral
Euphyllia parancora – branching torch coral

 

[Mayja]

All right... Here's an insight as to how my brain has been reacting to the new coral info I've been injesting. Enter at your own risk!

Reading reading reading.

Mushrooms look cool!
Mushrooms have easy maintenance.
Mushrooms sting other corals to gain territory. Bad mushrooms. Next!

Leathers look cool!
Leathers have easy maintenance.
Leathers will engage in chemical warfare to gain territory.
/facepalm Next!

How do you guys figure out which ones to purchase and where to place them on the rocks so they don't start WWIII in your tanks?

 

[ccrocks]

All right... Here's an insight as to how my brain has been reacting to the new coral info I've been injesting. Enter at your own risk!

Reading reading reading.

Mushrooms look cool!
Mushrooms have easy maintenance.
Mushrooms sting other corals to gain territory. Bad mushrooms. Next!

Leathers look cool!
Leathers have easy maintenance.
Leathers will engage in chemical warfare to gain territory.
/facepalm Next!

How do you guys figure out which ones to purchase and where to place them on the rocks so they don't start WWIII in your tanks?

They will find their own way eventually. Look at some tanks that are packed with corals they will do fine just give them space

 

[Mayja]

Picking up my final 50lbs of live rock today! Woohoo!!! BJ:

 

[Mayja]

Behold! My new aquascape:

The picture looks grainy because I had to take a photo of a photo on my desktop at work (work won't let me use photobucket.com and I had to upload it from my phone).

 

[AJ REEF]

Nice rock! Looking good! Lots of places for fish or coral.

 

[Mayja]

I came out to my tank this morning and saw only ONE clownfish! After a momentary heart attack, I found him swimming in the overflow zone. $#%@! So, I had to take down the lights, take off the glass cover, and get my net and arm into that area to fish him out. 15 minutes later, I had him back in the tank. I have no idea how he got there.