NickF's RSM C130

[NickF]

Thanks Glenn & Diana, the fish are doing very well, I'm feeding them frozen brine shrimp / flakes on alternate days. The coral are also doing well except for the tree coral which hasn't opened up for a few days but I've read that this can be normal with them so I'll have to keep an eye on that. I feed the corals with Gamma Nutraplus every few days (the fireshrimp goes mental for it as well)

I think I may have spotted some aiptaisa on one of my rocks, but it's only about 5mm diameter. It's too small to get a clear picture. It also closes up, I've not seen aiptasia doing this? I've got some aiptasia x, but I'm not sure if I should let it get bigger first or use now?

I'm not going to add any stock for a few weeks to let everything settle in, I've just got to avoid looking at the stock at the lfs in case I'm tempted.
This will give me plenty of time to decide on my next purchase.

Thanks

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Use it now... they are nems & do retract - the quicker the better, they are a pain & reproduce prolifically

 

[NickF]

Use it now... they are nems & do retract - the quicker the better, they are a pain & reproduce prolifically

Thanks Glenn. I've just blasted it, worked a treat.

 

[NickF]

I've taken some pics of all the life on my live rock & I thought I'd share some of them. The zoom on my phone camera is pretty good, it's just the full tank shots that I can't do yet.

Feather duster:



not sure what this is:



or this:



???:



these look fluorescent green:



a bug pondering the meaning of life:



more critters:



one of the snails with added camouflage:



& this one seems to have a pompom attached:



The fish and coral all seem to be doing well, but one of the 2 water cooling fans stopped working yesterday. I'll have to get in touch with Red Sea to see if I can get a replacement.

Thanks

 

[NickF]

I've emailed Red Sea regarding the broken water cooling fan last week and I'm waiting for them to get back, I might give them a nudge if I've not heard back by the end of the week.

I was going to buy some more turbos for my cuc but they didn't have any in so I got 6 nassarius snails instead, which immediately buried themselves in the sand not to be seen unless I'm feeding the fish and any food drops on the sandbed.

I also got a red legged hermit and that crawled under a rock & I've not seen him since. I saw this earlier tonight:





I think it's a stomatella?

It crawled out of a rock and sprayed across the tank, not sure if it was sperm or eggs? I managed to get a pic:



I saw it a couple of days ago but I've only seen this one. You might have noticed on the last pic I've also got some green bubble algae. I've managed to pick a couple of them out but some are right at the back, has anyone had experience of using an emerald crab to take care of green bubble algae? I was thinking of giving that a try but I'm not sure how safe it is.

The fish will be 4 weeks old on Saturday so I might get another one, the clowns seem very settled so I think I'm ok to add another one to the mix. I haven't decided what to get yet, possibly a firefish or an electric blue damsel.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I think it's a stomatella? yes good members cuc

on the bubble algae, just syphon it out during wc, you can bump it with the hose... works well

 

[NickF]

Added a new fish at weekend, an Electric Blue Damsel:



Really like the colour and he's already found himself a home in a cave.

I managed to get a pic of my Red Legged Crab & I noticed it'd got what looks like aiptasia on it's shell (bottom right):



I didn't notice till I was looking at the pic, I'll have to see if I can grab him next time I see him but he's an elusive bugger. The shell looks like it's seen better days so hopefully he'll go for one of the spares in the tank although these are Turbo shells and I think he'd prefer one of the nassarius shells (currently being occupied by the nassarius snails so they'd better watch out)

I got some more Turbo snails as I'd lost a few due to them tipping over & not being able to turn themselves upright. I've also got one that hasn't moved for over a week but he's still stuck to the rock so I'm not sure if he's dead or what.

I'll try to wait another month before adding another fish, I will probably settle for 5 total as I don't want to overstock. Plus I've got various algae & plants that I want to try & get under some control. I've been picking some of the green bubble algae & sargassum off the rocks when doing my water changes but there are still some green bubble algae that I can't get to without taking the rocks out so I've added an emerald crab to see if he'll help (not seen him out yet)

Thanks

 

[NickF]

I've changed my bag of carbon today for some CPE & Purigen & I put some filter floss on top, as I see this is the combination that many of you use with good sucess. I also took the oportunity to syphon the water out of the sump and give it a good clean, and cleaned the media rack & skimmer.
I also purchased the Red Sea Reef Foundation Complete Pro Test Kit, I'm liking it more than the Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit as it's a lot easier to use with the titrator rather than the colour charts and the results are much more accurate.

Current readings are:

Mag - 1300, KH Alk - 3.65 meq/l, 10.3 dkh, Calc 400

These all seem good to me?

My other readings are:

Salinity 1.025, p/h 8.2, temp 27.8, amonia 0, nitrate 0, nitrite 0.

I had to buy a new thermometer as my old one was reading 29.4. I bought another the exact same make and it's reading 28.0, a little high but I'm still waiting for a replacement water cooling fan from Red Sea as only one of my 2 fans is working.

I've ordered some new corals to come tomorrow I'll take some new pics when they're settled in.

Thanks

 

[NickF]

Added some new corals.

Red Blastomussa wellsi Frag:



Duncan Frag:



Green Hairy Mushroom Polyp:



Cultured Yellow Tip Toadstool:



& finally here's a full tank shot:



I know it doesn't compare with most of the tanks on here & the rockscape isn't great but I'm really happy with how it's going, I can spend hours relaxing watching the tank (until I spot some green bubble algae and have to fish it out !)

I think I'm done for now with the corals, although I would like to add a Bubble tip Anemone for the clowns when the tank is more mature. I do need to add a couple more fish, I'm thinking a Royal Gramma or a Goby next but I've got a couple of weeks to decide before I add another & it will depend on what the lfs has in at the time.

Thanks

 

[yorkieUK]

That's a nice selection of corals you've added to your tank.
You should be proud of what you have achieved. Beats a Picasso if you ask me!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Beautiful ! Great pics & additions !

 

[DianaKay]

Looks great & I like your rock scape
I'd hold out & wait for the fish you really want instead of what the LFS has in stock.
But I'm not in the UK so I don't know the limits of your fish supply there. If my LFS doesn't have what I want, I can usually find it on-line.
How many LFS do you have access to where you live?

 

[Oxylebius]

It is gonna look fantastic when those corals grow in a bit, give it time.
What are you plans for that nice flat rock on top? Would be a great place for a light loving coral or two.

Back on 3/30 you posted lots of photos of critters you were looking for IDs of. I didn't see any responses id'ing them for you. Did you find answers finally? b/c some of those are hitchhikers you don't want in your tank.

 

[Mark9]

& finally here's a full tank shot:



Thanks

Tank looks great, nice job.

 

[NickF]

It is gonna look fantastic when those corals grow in a bit, give it time.
What are you plans for that nice flat rock on top? Would be a great place for a light loving coral or two.

Back on 3/30 you posted lots of photos of critters you were looking for IDs of. I didn't see any responses id'ing them for you. Did you find answers finally? b/c some of those are hitchhikers you don't want in your tank.

Hi Oxy, I think the 2nd & 3rd pics were glass anemone and the 5th pic colonial hydroids? I blasted them all with aiptasia x and I haven't seen any more, though I will probably have more hydroids somewhere as they're tiny & hard to spot. I was messing with the zoom on my phone camera when I took the pics & was amazed by all the stuff I found that I couldn't see with the naked eye but I'm trying not to worry to much about the things I can't see as I've got a green bubble & green hair algae problem on some of the rocks so I'm concentrating on trying to control that at the mo, scrubbing the hair off the rocks when I do a water change & picking off the gba when I see it and it seems to be under control.

I'm not sure what corals to put on the top rock, I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any as to what would be good there. I've not glued any of my corals down so far I'm just wedging them in so I don't know how I'd place one there. I have got some coral putty but I've not used it yet.

I'm just letting the corals I've got grow for now, the toadstool has really grown & the duncan is looking a lot better:



& I've picked up a new fish, a peacock wrasse:



she's a beautiful looking fish, I'm afraid it was a bit of an impulse buy when I saw her. I've since read up that they are quite hard to keep but she has settled in well and is eating the frozen mysis & brine shrimp. The damsel was a bit aggressive towards her when I first put her in but they are getting on ok now.

Thanks all

 

[Oxylebius]

& I've picked up a new fish, a peacock wrasse:



she's a beautiful looking fish, I'm afraid it was a bit of an impulse buy when I saw her. I've since read up that they are quite hard to keep but she has settled in well and is eating the frozen mysis & brine shrimp. The damsel was a bit aggressive towards her when I first put her in but they are getting on ok now.

Thanks all

She's a beauty!

Interesting common name, I've not heard it called a peacock wrasse before. It is a Macropharyngodon bipartitus, I believe. I have two of these on order and waiting for them to come in. They are a little $$ over here and are available on occasion, not a regular fish you find in a lfs, particularly the ones from Maldives.

They are labeled expert only, it is recommended to have established tank, deep sand bed and they are difficult to get eating food. I'm glad she is eating for you. They also don't ship well.

With a singleton do you think she'll transition into a male? Males have different color/ pattern but equally beautiful. With a singleton I've heard of some staying a female, while others transition into a male.

 

[NickF]

I've read that it may turn male, it will be interesting to watch and as you say the males are just as beautiful looking. My sandbed is deep enough, she dives in at night to sleep, it's amazing to watch as it happens so quick.

 

[Oxylebius]

I've been slowly building my sand bed up over the last couple of months, little at a time on the surface so I don't bury my sand dwelling snails, in prep for these fish. I've read that you have to make sure you don't have larger grain sand or large buried shells, rocks, etc., that they dive so fast into the sand that they can harm themselves (if they hit or graze a large piece of something or other).

 

[NickF]

Picked up a couple of new corals at the weekend, a neon green trachy & some purple mushrooms:








Not decided where to put them yet, just letting them acclimate. I've moved a couple of things around in the tank & everything seems to be growing ok, I can see some new heads growing on my duncan and the hammer looks like it prefers its new placement.








I've been worried about the lack of flow behind the rocks so I bought a hydor nano pump for the other side of the tank, I'm not sure why Red Sea went with only one circulation pump on the 130c, there are 2 on the 130d right? The lead on the hydor is a bit short as I wanted it a little lower but other than that it's good.


Still got a problem with gha & gba, but just trying to keep everything stable & remove both when I do my water changes. Also got 2 more emerald crabs to help as my first emerald crab didn't make it , not sure why, but I don't think it ever settled in. Only got these 2 yesterday but they are both munching away, even with the lights on, I never saw my first one at all.





The fish are all doing well, really happy that the peacock wrasse is doing so well, I was worried as I didn't know that they were considered hard to keep unitl ater I bought him but he eats everything I put in the tank and they are all getting along nicely.








Can't believe the tank is 3 months old already, just wish I could get my algae problems under more control.

I've got coraline growing on the plastic under the gate, is there anything I can get to help remove it as I dont want to scratch it off, or should I just let it grow over all of it? The snails take care of the plastic running at the edges of the glass, but don't remove it from under the gate.





Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Oxylebius]

How's the behavior of the wrasse? Any aggression or mild aggression with the other fish?