RSM 130D Rebirth for 2012
- Thread starter magnetar68
- Start date
magnetar68
Member
Thanks all. I am really surprised how interesting these guys are to watch. Once I fix my cameras, I'll try to post another video. They have gotten a lot more colorful over the past couple of days.
magnetar68
Member
Bad news. I added a Red Blood Fire shrimp (Lysmata debelius) from my 120G to this tank last weekend. I wanted to add another as a book I read talked about the benefit of pairs of shrimp breeding and providing live food for the seahorses. The shrimp was an issue in my 120G also because he nested under a torch coral and was killing the polyps by licking them clear all day long. So yesterday, I went to the LFS and purchased another Fire shrimp. THere was a little scuffle at first between the two shrimp, buy they settled down very quickly and started hanging out. Last night, however, with lights out, I noticed one of the shrimp (I assume the new one) go after the smaller female mandarin. She gave him an aggressive snap like jack Russel that does not care how small he is and the shrimp quicly retreated into the rock work. Well, this morning, my $90 ORA female was dead. Clearly she had been attacked (she was quite plump and eating well). The large male seems OK and I have not seen the shrimp go after him, so I am pretty sure he is OK. Anyway, that's a real bummer. The pair had been in the tank since the end of February and we doing well. I am bummed. I just did not know the Red Blood Fire shrimp could be so aggressive, but I guess in nature it's all about size for opportunists. I should have bought a smaller shrimp, although a book I had read said to get a bigger one otherwise the seahorses will try to eat it. Still learning.
+1 ^
magnetar68
Member
More bad news. The larger male mandarin died today. It seemed like he was not eating as much the past few days (his food would be left untouched in the diner), but yesterday he seemed fine. He ate a bunch of OVA and was pretty active swimming around the tank, but this morning he had labored respiration. I put him in a breading net box so the shrimp did not harass him and put some food in there, but within a few hours he was dead. Not sure what happened, but it sucks to lose both ORA Red Mandarins within 3 months of acquiring them. The one thing that pissed me off a little is that ORA says they are eating pellets, but these guys never touched the New Life 0.5 mm pellets. They ate OVA and finely chopped blood worms and sometimes they ate some of the mysis parts that floated away from the seahorses when I feed them.
A couple of theories.
(1) he got sick,
(2) he got stressed (I wonder if having his mate die could have stressed him),
(3) harasses by the Fire blood shrimp like the smaller one, although I never saw the shrimp go after him like I did with the smaller manadarin,
(4) not the right diet -- maybe he wan't getting enough nutrients from the OVA, bloodworms, and pods in the tank
Anyway, really bummed. I spent a lot of money on this ORA pair in the hope I could keep them with the seahorses, but it just did not work out.
A couple of theories.
(1) he got sick,
(2) he got stressed (I wonder if having his mate die could have stressed him),
(3) harasses by the Fire blood shrimp like the smaller one, although I never saw the shrimp go after him like I did with the smaller manadarin,
(4) not the right diet -- maybe he wan't getting enough nutrients from the OVA, bloodworms, and pods in the tank
Anyway, really bummed. I spent a lot of money on this ORA pair in the hope I could keep them with the seahorses, but it just did not work out.
Very sorry to hear !
Have always wanted one and the ORA ones tempt me, but this makes me re-think it.
Have always wanted one and the ORA ones tempt me, but this makes me re-think it.
magnetar68
Member
Another Setback
This tank has been a lot harder than my other two tanks. Ironically, I have been much better with water changes and maintenance, but the atypical requirements of this seahorse/soft coral/algae tank (overall lower flow but some higher flow areas plus some light) means I am in virgin territory as far as my experience goes.
I have been battling cyano -- a very bad case of cyano. Biopellets can be tough enough without the added complexities of the lower flow and the need for enough light for soft corals/macro algae. This combination has yielded a fair amount of cyano on the sand and rocks. Within a week of suctioning it out of the tank, I was seeing it cover everything again in a thick sheet.
My nitrates are 0 (API) and phosphates are 0.03 (Hanna), but clearly the cyano was consuming these nutrients, since it was growing. I focused on the typical remedies for cyano: manual removal, probiotics, flow, a good skimmer, red slim focused CUC, and CAG (/GFO):
This had really turned for the better and the cyano was getting very much under control. I decided to try CAG as well. I had been putting ChemiPure Elite in my media basket, but I decided this weekend to add a TLF 150 with CAG. I had some Kent Marine Reef Carbon (not a recalled batch, I checked) so I used about 1/3 cup. I also used some ocean water from my LFS. It is at nearly the same salinity as my tank water (1.025 versus 1.026), so I figured a 5 gallon water change would be OK. I had done this before without any issues.
Well, something did not work out as I woke up this morning and my tank was partialy crashed. The Xenia was withered, the Toadstool was gray, but the worst part, was that my awesome 5 months of growth of my Red Grape Algae (Botryocledia spp.) was all coming apart: the little grapes all floating loose in the tank. The seahorse and snails seemed fine and were eating and showed no signs of stress. The only good thing is there was no sign of any cyano anywhere. Maybe I did not rinse the GAC well enough or there was some contaminant somewhere. I don't think it was an issue with the salinity since the snails were fine or it was an issue with copper since the shrimp and pods seem OK. The Red Gracilaria and my sea fern also seem fine.
The Xenia was toast, but I moved the toadstool and the Red Grape to my 120G. Time will tell. I also removed the GAC for now. I wish I know what the cause was, but I made two changes at once: water change with water from a new source and added GAC. There were also a few different containers involved since I added the TLF reactor and rinsed the GAC (in tap water, not RO). One idea is that is was too much GAC too soon and it stripped the water?
This tank has been a lot harder than my other two tanks. Ironically, I have been much better with water changes and maintenance, but the atypical requirements of this seahorse/soft coral/algae tank (overall lower flow but some higher flow areas plus some light) means I am in virgin territory as far as my experience goes.
I have been battling cyano -- a very bad case of cyano. Biopellets can be tough enough without the added complexities of the lower flow and the need for enough light for soft corals/macro algae. This combination has yielded a fair amount of cyano on the sand and rocks. Within a week of suctioning it out of the tank, I was seeing it cover everything again in a thick sheet.
My nitrates are 0 (API) and phosphates are 0.03 (Hanna), but clearly the cyano was consuming these nutrients, since it was growing. I focused on the typical remedies for cyano: manual removal, probiotics, flow, a good skimmer, red slim focused CUC, and CAG (/GFO):
- I found a 1/4" I.D. tubing works great as a cyano vacuum. It removes only a small amount of water but has enough suction to get the cyano whereas my gravel vacuum did not -- it removed mostly water and sand.
- I started dosing Microlift Special Blend which has certainly helped reduce the amount. I could go a couple of weeks and only about 1/2 the amount was growing.
- I upgraded my skimmer to an CPR AeroForce 2 AP (Air Pump version) and that helped even more (I love this skimmer, but not the best fit for an RSM 130D).
- I added a bunch of CUC which eat it so that has been helping: a fighting conch (great in helping the sand floor). a few banded trochus, a few ceriths, and a few Chibanarius digueti hermits.
This had really turned for the better and the cyano was getting very much under control. I decided to try CAG as well. I had been putting ChemiPure Elite in my media basket, but I decided this weekend to add a TLF 150 with CAG. I had some Kent Marine Reef Carbon (not a recalled batch, I checked) so I used about 1/3 cup. I also used some ocean water from my LFS. It is at nearly the same salinity as my tank water (1.025 versus 1.026), so I figured a 5 gallon water change would be OK. I had done this before without any issues.
Well, something did not work out as I woke up this morning and my tank was partialy crashed. The Xenia was withered, the Toadstool was gray, but the worst part, was that my awesome 5 months of growth of my Red Grape Algae (Botryocledia spp.) was all coming apart: the little grapes all floating loose in the tank. The seahorse and snails seemed fine and were eating and showed no signs of stress. The only good thing is there was no sign of any cyano anywhere. Maybe I did not rinse the GAC well enough or there was some contaminant somewhere. I don't think it was an issue with the salinity since the snails were fine or it was an issue with copper since the shrimp and pods seem OK. The Red Gracilaria and my sea fern also seem fine.
The Xenia was toast, but I moved the toadstool and the Red Grape to my 120G. Time will tell. I also removed the GAC for now. I wish I know what the cause was, but I made two changes at once: water change with water from a new source and added GAC. There were also a few different containers involved since I added the TLF reactor and rinsed the GAC (in tap water, not RO). One idea is that is was too much GAC too soon and it stripped the water?