cvcdrk's 29g Mini Reef

[cvcdrk]

I test for calcium. It's ~420ppm right now and usually when I test it it's right in that range.

I haven't noticed a dangerous spike in any parameters from using it yet but I'm just using a little bit because it's concentrated stuff. Hopefully I have some purple algae already on some of the live rock that's in there. I know I have some of the bright green. :-)

 

[Smitty]

The tank is looking great so far...good job.

 

[cvcdrk]

Thanks man! :-)

 

[Jmck]

this all looks great! good to see you asking and taking the advice.

The days of cycling ones first tank :(

 

[cvcdrk]

No fish tonight.
I went to the Petco but the truck comes tomorrow apparently so I figured I would wait and see what they got in.

Hopefully there is something cool!

Oh, and I talked to the guy and he said that they sold both the Mandarin Dragonetes they had last week and I asked if they were eating frozen and he said they were ORA tank raised. I was surprised Petco could get these but it reassures me for when I want to get one! :-)

 

[Smitty]

Cool...just make sure you ask him to feed it before you buy it, to make sure it's eating and healthy.

 

[cvcdrk]

Update:

Ok so I went today to check out what they got in. I ended up getting 3 nassarius snails and a scooter blenny.
The story behind the blenny:
I know these are fairly difficult fish to keep. They are picky eaters, I know.
I had the feed the fish there. He gobbled up some frozen brine shrimp AND he ate a few flakes.
The websites I've researched it on have conflicted, but many have said they are not as picky as mandarins and they would sooner eat frozen than starve.
There were three reasons I chose this fish today:
1. I am aware of how difficult they are to keep, but someone else may not be. The guy at the store did not ask me any questions, which always bothers me, asked him pretty technical questions, though. My worry would be that someone would get this fish and not have the ability to care for it as well as I (who may not be qualified at all but am more likely to be than any of the other people I've seen at the store so far).
2. It ate in front of me. Gobbled up some frozen brine AND ate flakes at least twice while they were feeding it.

I did a water change again this morning...another 7 gallons. That set my levels to: 0ppm;0ppm;10ppm.

I got the fish and the three snails and floated them for 30 mins and then drip acclimated for two hours.

Got everyone in. The snails all went different directions. One found a piece of live rock and a bit of algae it seems to be happy with. Another buried itself in the sand already to sift and another went behind the rocks somewhere.

The Scooter is doing very well. He took a few bites of frozen brine I offered to him an hour after being in the tank but didn't want to eat a lot. I stopped. I'll try some more tomorrow. He is very active and moving around up and down the glass. My dog has never seen a fish before and is scared of him. He swims long the glass and the dog follows him. It's funny. He'll get used to it I'm sure.

So here's the pics:

1. Here he is. Excuse the crappy phone camera, please. This is the best picture of his color I could get. You can see he has a blood red tail tip and bright yellow side fin tips. His dorsal fin is tall and red with spots but he's kept it down for the most part. I've seen it twice so far. No pics of it yet.

2. Here he is swimming around the rocks. He was picking at stuff in the water. I haven't seen any pods at all but that doesn't mean he can't. Idk

3. This is a cool picture of him I think.

4. These are some pics I took at the store of the other things they got in. Most of which are far too big for my tank but I like to look at them. Flame Angel and Valentini Puffer

5. This anemone seemed to be very open and healthy for just having arrived on a truck. I admired it.

6. This was my favorite of the clownfish they had but they didn't have many good ones (in my opinion). This one is the black edge occelaris. He was swimming strongly in the current. I am considering getting him early next week if he is still there...but we will see.

 

[little_fish]

As long as they are eating, they actually arent hard fish to keep, so I would worry about him and just keep feeding him!

But that nem they have is actually in very bad shape, absolutely no healthy nem or coral is white. It means they are under extreme stress and have expelled their symbiotic algae and can no longer feed themselves. So unless give some intensive TLC, that nem is going to die. Sadly, LFS love to sell white nems because people think they are pretty when in fact they are very sick.

 

[cvcdrk]

Well it looked more yellow really but I also don't think they have very good lighting there.
They had a few other anemones that did have a lot more color but this one struck me 'cause you could see his mouth. :-)

 

[little_fish]

A gaping mouth is also a sign of bad health

 

[cvcdrk]

Oh I didn't know that! Good to know for the far away future when I try to keep one!

i really liked the Valentini Puffer. Too bad it would probably eat all the snails and stuff in my tank and wouldn't let me keep any shrimp either. :-(

 

[Smitty]

Very nice addition...that blenny looks great.

 

[cvcdrk]

Thanks! Yeah he's got really nice colors but I don't want to put the light on until tomorrow morning. He doesn't seem stressed, though. He's very active around the glass and vertically (which is difficult for them). He's swimming well back and forth and freaking the dog out...
I'm going to try feeding again tomorrow and hopefully he will take some food. I bought Omega One food and Frozen brine. I'll try giving him a quarter cube tomorrow. I don't want to keep feeding if he's not eating because it will just pile up on the sand.
I've heard they sometimes eat uneaten food off the sand. I've read multiple stories of people keeping them for years with no special dietary requirements.

More questions!

Would adding clown and a flame angel be too much bioload for my tank?
The clown would likely be introduced a few weeks from now and the flame angel a few weeks from that as long as my levels remain constant.

I'm still trying to work out a stocking plan I like. I do plan to have an emerald crab and a fire shrimp after awhile too. Other than that just some snails (more nassies a turbo snail or two, and some ceriths). Would that be an overstocked system, though?

 

[little_fish]

Shrimps and other inverts dont count towards the bioload, so you can add as many as you like :)

And if you have a full pod population in a large tank, you wont need to feed them but in your case he will need to be fed. I would try training him to eat from a dish (like a jar turned sideways), that way you can offer lots of food and not leave to rot in the tank. Make sure he is eating something more than brine, its like fish candy. A good treat every now and then, but shouldnt be the bulk of his diet.

And i think you would be ok with 4 fish total, just add them slowly :)

 

[Smitty]

+1 lil fish...i think you'll be alright with those fish.

 

[cvcdrk]

OK....update time!!!

This is Bernard. He seems happy. He's very active all around the tank. He likes to climb on the rocks. At night he likes the front left corner of the tank and he will just swim up and down there. He still isn't eating as much as I would like. I ordered some copepods online and I plan to dump them in. $6 for an 8oz bottle and I just tagged it on to another order so shipping was free. I figure he will at least get plump on that and I can work him into more of the frozen foods. He nips at brine but I can't tell if he's eating it or not. He still seems happy and healthy to me, though.

This is the tiny polyp I mentioned before that came on my rock. It was withered when I put it in the tank and since I didn't have lights for more than a week I didn't think it would do anything but it has definitely perked up a bit. No clue what it is and it's difficult to get a better pic because of the position of that rock.

So here's the only question I did today. I ran some tests (API...the more I read the more I'm done with API plus they're very difficult for me to discern. I will be buying Salifert tests as these run out). My levels are now: .25ppm,0ppm,15ppm

I'm due for a water change tomorrow so the nitrates will come down again...but is it normal for there to be an ammonia spike when adding a few snails and a small fish to a cycled tank? I'm confident that it will go back down and I am half wondering if my ill-advises feeding attempts have caused a buildup of food to break down. I hope the bacteria catch up soon!

Anyway, when my levels are perfect again I plan to buy the clownfish and do the same thing...wait a little while and monitor the levels before adding in the Flame Angel. I plan o go to the pet store tomorrow, though, and see what kind of inverts they have. I want some more snails (these guys are great) and maybe a shrimp or an emerald crab...not sure which.

More updates to follow as always! I think it's really coming along! :-)

 

[little_fish]

You can have a mini cycle after adding fish or from leaving uneaten food in the tank. These tests can also give false positives, but just to be on the safe side I would do a water changes as soon as you can.

You need to wait at least 3 weeks between adding fish, so dont go rush to get that clown right away. You need to give the bacteria time to catch up to the new waste load before adding more. Otherwise you will see a larger ammonia rise.

Also you need to get that guy on froozen foods. It is not ill advised to try and feed him. It is a necessity. He will starve to death in your tank if you dont get him eating frozen. Dumping a bottle of pods in will only get him through a couple of days, and if there is lots of live food he is less likely to try the frozen stuff. Keep offering food, but I would try a few other things like sushi roe (can be found in asian markets), blood worms, small mysid shrimp etc. Brine has very little nutritional value, its more like fish candy. Good for a treat every now and then, but they shouldnt live off of it.


And the polyp looks like a mushroom coral! Excellent beginner coral!

 

[cvcdrk]

I'm willing to try to get him to eat other frozen foods. The store has mysis and blood worms so I will get both and see if he will eat either. I ordered a spot feeder tube thing on amazon too so I won't be spreading as much extra food around the tank.
If that doesn't work I am committed to the fish and will buy the copepods in bulk if necessary.

It'd be cool if it's a mushroom. It must have fragged in the store's tank while this rock was there.

 

[cvcdrk]

Would it be beneficial to my system if I bought one of those cheap hang on quarantine boxes and put it inside the tank and stuffed it full of chaeto? I could put a little sand and some rubble in it too and have a sort of mini in-tank refugium...and it would make the chaeto easy to control and manage.

How much nitrates would a small box like that filled with chaeto actually take out of the system? Would it be worth the time and effort?

 

[little_fish]

I think that would be a good addition, but no need for the rocks and sand. And how much nitrates the cheato removes depends on how fast its growing which is then also dependent on how much nitrates and phosphates are avaible for it grow on.