Cody & KCs Newbie Reef Tank!

[lcstorc]

Do you have any other livestock or is it just the shrimp? If it is just the shrimp I would feed a very tiny bit every couple of days. If you are feeding other fish and such I would just continue as usual. They will eat the uneaten food left by the fish.

[cynicechoes]

Thanks Lynn!

So apparently we gotsome very hungry peps because we put those 3 guys in the tank & the next day when I went to feed them, there was no more aiptasia & we had quite a bit! It's crazy! We put the frozen bloodworms in the tank and they all bolt out of the rocks & start chowing down the second they hit the water! My snorkel snails even come up out the sand and get some! One of the shrimp like jumped on him & started snatching the worms away from him! It was entertaining to say the least! lol I guess they are happy & healthy if they are eating so well!

The zoa seems to be doing very well! He opens right up as soon as the lights come on & closes for the most part when they go out. The xenia appears to be a little droopy, in certain places it almost looks withered, but I am hoping that it is just adjusting & will perk up! Time will tell!

Pics soon! Later guys!

[Melanie]

How exciting! Sounds great. I'm so happy the peppermint shrimp attacked your aptaisia.

If your xenia is anything like mine, it will perk up and start growing like crazy!

We'll miss you when you go on your long cruise.

[cynicechoes]

Aw Thanks Mel! I am going to miss RS & my tank so much! I am going to be so worried about it the entire time! I'll freak if I come home to a crash! *knock on wood* But I am trying to think happy thoughts! It is the reason why we bought smaller cheaper corals, aside from the fact that they are easier to keep & our tank is so small & it will give them room to grow.

Oh yeah, when we went to the LFS to get the latest we asked about our white spots on the walls & they said it was most likely featherdusters that had encased themselves in calcium... so I think you guys were basically right... anyhoo nothing new to report as yet... later guys! Happy Reefing!

[Craig Manoukian]

Originally Posted by cynicechoes

My snorkel snails even come up out the sand and get some!

Would those be Nassaurius Snails?

[cynicechoes]

Yeah Craig, they are nassarius snails, I just call them that cuz my husband can't remember the different names of the snails... plus Im retarded lol

So it appears the xenia isn't doing well & will probably be going back to the LFS very soon. One part of it seems to be fine but the other parts have gotten more and more withered looking & one part seems to be receeding... I wish that there was something I could do, or that I knew what was causing it... hopefully we just picked a bad one...

the zoa seems to be doing just fine however! I'm glad we got 2 corals because if we had only gotten the xenia I would be afraid to try anything else... needless to say i won't be adding anything else for a little while until I figure out what is causing the xenia to die...

anyhoo later

[cynicechoes]

Yeah, so, the pulsing xenia tanked it... we threw it out today because it was a goner! It really sucks! I don't know what caused it... we were hoping that the microplankton we put in would help out, but it didn't. I wasn't sure how bad it was to leave it in the tank if it was decaying so we didn't want to risk it once parts of it started to break down and then the last stading part flopped over to the side. I dunno... i thought they were hardy! Our tank parameters are good and everything...

[Melanie]

I don't think my xenia eats anything. It appears to be photosynthetic only. I haven't seen any mouth parts.

How is your salinity now? I know you were having some issues with it before. Could that be the culprit?

I think they are very hardy and perhaps you just got a bad batch. I've heard they don't ship well. Mine are spreading like weeds all over the place.

What were you last test results? What is your lighting schedule?

[cynicechoes]

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since my last post... The xenia is still doing well, it seems to be growing! We lost one of the peppermint shrimp, i think due to salinity issuea, but the rest are still good. We started our fuge finally! We used mineral mud for substrate and got chaeto and 2 other types of macro algae. The protein skimmer isn't producing any foam, but I was told it won't until it breaks in. We also added some carbon to the media reaction chambers from the fuge. We are still battling high temps but we are managing it with a big fan... that's about it... happy turkeyday in advance ev1 I leave for the cruise on thur... later

[Craig Manoukian]

Thanks for the report, good luck!

[cynicechoes]

sorry I meant that the zoa is doing well... xenia's been done for a while

[hma]

[Melanie]

Have fun on the cruise and take some photos for us!

[cynicechoes]

hey whats up guys its cody not kc for a change

So we just got back from are cruse and are tank looked good other than i think the shrimp dying i think we had to big of a temp change bacause the heater wasnt working properly it was from 75 lowest 80 highist so i think thats the reason salinity is good and nitrates but ok my main question is in are refugium all are plants are turning white i dont know if they are dying or what we put the mud in there and the plants but other than that ........... anyone have any suggestions.
thanx
cody

[DrHank]

Pull all of the white plants out of the fuge and throw them away. Keep any green ones but watch them. You may want to run some carbon for a few days and definitely replace that bad heater. I personally like Jagers. I've used them for years and they are very reliable. Welcome home!