Quentin and Shell's JBJ 28

[QuentinB]

Quentin, tank looks great. I am pretty much sold on the goby and pistol. I only have a 20g long. I really like the pair. I dont have too many options in regards to fish. I also dig your selection of corals...looks great.

Thanks man, really appreciate it. We love watching these guys, I just wish the shrimp would quit digging already! I guess you can create PVC tunnels they will host, so I might look into that. He really makes a mess on the rocks.

lol, my coral selection... Got my cabbage leather from craigslist, its my little "tongue" of the ocean. And my zoas have thus far been a headache, but are slowly pulling through. Can't wait to get this tank really going though

 

[yungreefer2410]

I would take that sponge out or change it/wash it off every two weeks or so

 

[QuentinB]

I would take that sponge out or change it/wash it off every two weeks or so

I've washed it a couple times, maybe I need to do it every water change. I'll give it a try. I'll be cutting it down if I ever get some purigen to run in the thing...

 

[InLimbo87]

Quentin,

The tank looks like it's off to a great start. Ive found you need to ride a fine line with nanos and feeding. Also, I'd consider replacing the sponge with filter floss (pillow stuffing works great and is cheap.) This way you can throw out and replace often.

I really liked the drying rack, simple and effective!

 

[Reefmack]

Good point by Yungreefer. I'd recommend making rinsing that sponge part of you water change routine. Sponges trap a lot of stuff and can be big nitrate generators. I always rinsed mine in tap water - I wanted to kill the bacteria in it.

 

[QuentinB]

Thanks Ian, I actually have some floss running. In my media rack I have the sponge on top, carbon in the middle, and the poly floss stuff on bottom, which I replaced about a month into it's use. The owners' manual suggests cutting the sponge to make room for cheato, so I may end up doing that sometime.

Hey Terry, I actually rinse my FW stuff in tap water, figuring that with the tank size and fish hardiness, it wouldn't hurt a thing. With my cube, I've been almost afraid to let unconditioned tap water anywhere near it. I'll start doing that, though! I also wanted to tell you that you might not've been far off when you suggested my ammonia might be a die-off problem. I turkey basted my rocks off, back in the corners where it's hard to get to, and underneath some sand that Fiskeboller kicked up, found some black algae. I guess I need to baste more thoroughly with him in there...

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Reefmack]

I guess a purist would never let a drop of tap water in their SW tank, but I rinse any sponges, my skimmer cup, etc. in tap water. Squeezing out a sponge well will get almost all the water out. I figure if I get a few drops of tap in my tank water the amount will be totally insignificant. Yep - that algae die-off will decompose and increase nitrates, as well as release the nitrates "exported" by the algae.

 

[QuentinB]

Alright, I've got a plan. Just got back from home, and while I was down I got to wander around a much better stocked pet store(still no iodine test). Picked up two different cut-to-fit filter pads, by HBH. One was a plain white poly, and the other was a bit thinner, but it's supposed to lower phosphates. I haven't tested, but I know phosphate fuels algae(and isn't good for corals), and I don't think there'd be any problem in trying to remove it(please correct me if I'm wrong), so I'm planning on running both pads, and cutting my sponge in half or so just to keep that chamber of the media basket organized. It'll also open a chamber up for purigen, when I get some of that.

Actually, just from a quick glance at the tank, the snails took care of quite a bit in three days. I'll try to grab a pic sometime tomorrow.

 

[QuentinB]

Alright, played with my media rack last night, now the top chamber is empty, second chamber is carbon, and last chamber is half my sponge, white poly, and phosphate sponge. Still seems to be good flow, as well.

Everyone seems to be well and happy in the tank, Gordon eats like a horse, and they even seem to be much more tolerant of Pierre.

Noticed more aiptasia today. Two heads. I wasn't able to reach their locations well, so another day. Still upset with my LFS.

Zoas stay open for most of the day now, or until Fiskeboller starts digging and sending them sand.

Did some major hair algae removal of the back wall, which was just about the only place that it still was. Pulled the most of it out while it was being blown around, but there are still some small chunks floating around, so I'll have to scrape the overflow grill off again after a bit. Blew the rocks off as well.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with where the tank is at, I'll try to snap a FTS after everything settles. Hoping for some new additions before the end of the month, we'll see what the boss has to say about that...



On another note, I'm thinking of raising either guppies or mollies in my 10 gallon hospital tank. I'd like to keep it running saltwater, but use the babies to feed my cichlids, so I assume I would just slowly acclimate them back to freshwater?

 

[Reefmack]

"the top chamber is empty, second chamber is carbon, and last chamber is half my sponge, white poly, and phosphate sponge."

On the media rack, wouldn't you want the sponge, white poly, and phosphate sponge on the top shelf, to make it easier to rinse/replace, without having to pull the rack all the way out? Those will be the quickest things to plug up and need frequent rinsing/replacing to keep flow maximized. Plus they'll be nitrate generators if not cleaned frequently. Maybe I don't understand the JBJ 28 setup - doesn't the flow go through the top of the rack first?

 

[QuentinB]

Got two IDs!

First, the "Chiton" I thought I had turns out to be a "Stomatella", according to Melev's Reef:

And those eggs I mentioned a while back? Definitely not spirobid worms, although I seem to have quite a few of those, especially back in the sump. Again, on Melev's Reef, cerith eggs are mentioned:

Although mine aren't that numerous, or in that pattern, the size seems to be comparable. Still wondering if it isn't my dwarf ceriths.

Still no FTS yet, but the tank is mostly clear, so hopefully I still get around to it today.

 

[QuentinB]

Pics, as promised!

FTS:
Front:

Left:

Right:

Gordon, "Snail? What snail?"
Its funny, they never hurt them, Fiskeboller just rolls them around a bit:

Cerith on the glass:

And a bucket of nasty hair algae:

That's all I've got for now! Hopefully the hair algae stays under control

 

[Reefmack]

Great pictures Quenton! Well, except for the yukky hair algae LOL! Did you miss my post 110 above?

 

[QuentinB]

Great pictures Quenton! Well, except for the yukky hair algae LOL! Did you miss my post 110 above?

Wow, I did! Looks like you posted it as I was working on mine.

I know they should be on the top, but I knew that I would be cleaning hair algae, and I wanted to see if it would catch in the top compartment(and a lot did!). After most of the hair algae settled, I did end up putting a chunk of poly on top to help catch smaller bits. I'll move everything back Friday when I do my water change. Also, you pretty much have to pull the rack out anyway, the handle on top complicates things a bit.

I'd also like to point out how much fun it is to see how people write my name(especially when it's plastered all over this thread ) Even my boss doesn't get it right

Thanks for the input and compliments, Terry!

 

[Reefmack]

Crap - I thought I spelled it right, and I even double checked first. I'm a lousy one finger typist, which doesn't help at all LOL! My apologies.

OK on the rack setup. Maybe I missed seeing that too!

 

[Uslanja]

Hi Quentin! FTS looking good! Nice colour on the Goby!

 

[QuentinB]

Crap - I thought I spelled it right, and I even double checked first. I'm a lousy one finger typist, which doesn't help at all LOL! My apologies.

OK on the rack setup. Maybe I missed seeing that too!

No worries man, I'm so used to it by now, I just sit back and laugh(and sometimes point it out to make people feel a little dumb )

I don't think I said it, but I did have a mental process in putting together my rack

Hi Quentin! FTS looking good! Nice colour on the Goby!

Hey guys, thanks! I love how yellow he is, I was actually thinking of buying an ORA yellow watchman goby, because it was in the WYSIWYG section, but it was the more silver/gray coloration. I still don't know if its a juvenile coloring or a feeding thing or what, but I decided to get the regular YWG anyway(much cheaper anyway ) and I couldn't be happier with my choice. The fact that he and Fiskeboller paired up right away just put the icing on the cake.

And that's all I've got to say about that

 

[QuentinB]

Alright, so I came home from a flight tonight and we sat down to watch Gordon and Fiskeboller do some work. They're so interesting to watch. Anyway, after a few minutes, Shell got the bright idea to grab a camera(which was conveniently within reach). So, I'm hoping that by scrolling through these you can get some idea of how they work...

Them posing:

And a couple of Pierre:

I think there's some Christmas light glare in some pictures, so sorry for that. Hope you guys enjoy!

 

[Eric]

looking good

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Great pics love the yellow watchman !