Sugar's 30g reef tank
- Build Thread
- Thread starter SBlisters
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
Kind of you, but yours will be amazing. I've been shocked how fast my coral has grown.
domination2580
Reef-a-nator
Some say emerald crabs will eat it but that's a hit or miss. If you can take the rock out that would be easiest as you can then scrape it off...if you pop them they will release spores. So what I reccomend is doing a water change put the rock in that bucket start a siphon to another bucket when u have it in there and when u scrape it off so I get as much of the spores as possible away from the rock
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
I'd read that about emerald crabs, but they creep me out. The spread has been so slow, I've not been frantic about it. I like the scrape suggestion- TY!
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
1. Today I added a ninja star snail. Other tank updates:
2. Tried Doc's instead of phyto-feast, but am back after just a week. My coral don't react to Doc's, and that makes me very nervous.
3. Burton, the Halloween Hermit crab has just moved into one of his larger shell options
4. My golden CBS has been missing for a week and is presumed dead. NOT happy about that. She made it through 2 molts and seemed fine until ~ week ago, when I saw her fighting with the Peppermint shrimp. She went missing the next day.
5. I've been really pleased with the turbo snail. It is a eating machine, and rather pretty
6. There are still 2 unidentified hitchiker crabs in the tank for sure. A nasty brown one and a little red one.
7. I scraped off the bubble algae and it hasn't reappeared.
8. My pH has dropped a little bit. It's been holding around 8 now instead of 8.2. KH 9, salinity 1.025, 28°C
Reef Nutrition
We Feed Your Reef
Had you been using our Phyto-Feast before trying Doc's? And now your back to using our phytoplankton concentrate? Your comment has sparked my interest. Nice tank.
Chad
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
Chad: yes, I started with phyto-feast, which the coral seem to like, as does the Peppermint shrimp. I've not had crazy algae problems and everyone has been growing. I went to buy a new bottle, but the place i was at didn't have it and suggested Doc's instead. The coral didn't even appear to be eating with the Doc's. Even shooting it directly into the lobophilia elicited no response. So now I'm back to phyto-feast.
Reef Nutrition
We Feed Your Reef
Good to hear you got to do a comparison. Thanks for the feedback. What store do you shop at?
Chad
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
Sm. Biz. LFS in IL (Chicagoland area) for the phyto-feast. I was at Reefwise for the Doc's. Both have a lot of coral, though Reefwise has TONS of coral that they frag themselves, so they can't be food fools.
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
I added more flow & rearranged the tank because of the stylophora.
The bubble algae has yet to reappear. The scraping suggestion was an excellent one.
The green star polyp does NOT like the extra flow, but is still opening.
1.025 salinity
8.0 pH
28°C
9 alkalinity
400 calcium
Feeding coral 2xs/wk, clown fish 1x/day and now brittle star 2xs/wk
The bubble algae has yet to reappear. The scraping suggestion was an excellent one.
The green star polyp does NOT like the extra flow, but is still opening.
1.025 salinity
8.0 pH
28°C
9 alkalinity
400 calcium
Feeding coral 2xs/wk, clown fish 1x/day and now brittle star 2xs/wk
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
My pH is too low now. I've been opening windows more. I bought an Aquavitro product called "Balance" that is supposed to increase pH, but not spike the alkalinity or calcium.
I dosed 1ml on the 19th, but it made no change.
Today I added 1ml and will check again later. I'm doing this very slowly because I don't want a pH jump.
I had a drop in calcium too.
bdare
Well-Known Member
Don't put anything in your tank to chase pH other thank Alk supplement. If your Alk is in range then the low pH is due to either CO2 buildup or something which is dead / rotting in your tank.
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
I'm missing a snail. I wonder if that's it. Would putting an air stone in for awhile help? My KH is 9. TY for the advice!
bdare
Well-Known Member
I really wouldn't worry about it. From that test it looks like your pH is 7.8 to 8 which is still in the "safe" range. Do you have a skimmer? That would introduce more fresh air assuming you're windows are open. Even surface agitation allows for gas exchange. Hard to tell because it looks like you "won" this tank, but it doesn't appear to be very old. Swings like this are pretty normal in the first 6 months in the life of a tank. This is why folks don't suggested adding hard to keep animals like clams or nems till at least 6 months.
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
PH 8.0, salinity 1.025, temp 29°C
Halloween hermit crab was perched on the branching frogspawn. Now a big chunk of it is missing.
All my snails except the ninja star are dead. Since November that is the 2 snails the tank came with, then 2 trochus, 1 Mexican turbo and the conch nassarius. This is a problem. I'm going to get another Mexican turbo, but this time try a different acclimation method.
2 other problems. My stylophora is very angry and mostly closed up and the brain coral got knocked over and is upset. Both looked angry yesterday and today both.
Soon, I'm going to do a revive dunk on the GSP to try to rid it of worms.
Halloween hermit crab was perched on the branching frogspawn. Now a big chunk of it is missing.
All my snails except the ninja star are dead. Since November that is the 2 snails the tank came with, then 2 trochus, 1 Mexican turbo and the conch nassarius. This is a problem. I'm going to get another Mexican turbo, but this time try a different acclimation method.
2 other problems. My stylophora is very angry and mostly closed up and the brain coral got knocked over and is upset. Both looked angry yesterday and today both.
Soon, I'm going to do a revive dunk on the GSP to try to rid it of worms.
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
Revive dunk didn't produce any dead worms [emoji53]. Did a 2g water change, and my pH is finally back to 8.2.
Frag of branching frogspawn now has split into 2 heads.
Bubbletip brittle star seems to love the Rod's.
GSP is permanently angry at the increased flow in the tank. Polyps still open, but not as many, and not as far. Everybody else has adjusted.
Blue legged hermit crab has grown quite a bit.
Salinity 1.025, temp 28°C
Frag of branching frogspawn now has split into 2 heads.
Bubbletip brittle star seems to love the Rod's.
GSP is permanently angry at the increased flow in the tank. Polyps still open, but not as many, and not as far. Everybody else has adjusted.
Blue legged hermit crab has grown quite a bit.
Salinity 1.025, temp 28°C
OP
OP
SBlisters
Active Member
Everything is TERRIBLE.
I completely moved everything around in the tank and went to 2 days if only blue lights to try to save the stylophora and get it into lower light. This process accidentally kicked up my sand bed and clouded my water.
Today, my margarita snail is missing (I got that instead if another turbo), my peppermint shrimp is dead, my candy cane looks crazy and weird, the brain coral is dying and the xenia is flopped over. Good news is that the stylo out out some polyps again.
The leather toadstool is really happy, as are the mushrooms, but wow- bad situation.
These 2 weird, clam looking thing appeared out of nowhere too.
I completely moved everything around in the tank and went to 2 days if only blue lights to try to save the stylophora and get it into lower light. This process accidentally kicked up my sand bed and clouded my water.
Today, my margarita snail is missing (I got that instead if another turbo), my peppermint shrimp is dead, my candy cane looks crazy and weird, the brain coral is dying and the xenia is flopped over. Good news is that the stylo out out some polyps again.
The leather toadstool is really happy, as are the mushrooms, but wow- bad situation.
These 2 weird, clam looking thing appeared out of nowhere too.
Similar threads
