Turbo Snail on its Back

After four months in my tank, my Turbo Snail finally fell on its back, as I had read can happen.  It's not exactly clear how he fell, but I did notice that he was grabbing on to something gooey with sand and algae stuck to it.  I wonder if that was waste from the anemone.

I just picked him up and flipped him back over and he seems fine.

Bleached Anemone?

I was looking at old pictures of my anemone and noticed how much color they had when I first got them.  Articles like this one and this one suggest that they my anemones could be bleached.

The anemone seem to be doing relatively well in that they've found places to settle and haven't moved in months -- and there are plenty of places they could move to for more or less light, and more or less flow.  Their bubbles are also quite prominent, even more so than when I first got them.  On the downside, while the tips still have a pinkish color, the rest of the anemone is fairly colorless, whereas before they had both red and green coloration.  Also, they've shrunk a little bit, though not that much.  I've been feeding them some krill once a week, and they eat it.

However, I'm beginning to suspect that my light might be too weak.  I've had my AI Sol's set at 20% intensity for white, blue, and royal blue colors.  Looks like folks on Reef Central set the intensity in the 50% range.  So for the past couple of days I dialed up the intensity of all three colors to 30%.  We'll see how it goes.

Adding 20 lbs More Live Rock

I've been thinking about getting some Mandarin fish and coral, which need more live rock.  So I bought about 20 lbs more live rock and another piece of bowl rock (~3 lbs) for the aquarium.  Previously, I had added 15 lbs of Fiji live rock and 15 lbs of bowl rock and 12 lbs of Totoku to the tank.  So I'm now up to roughly 47 lbs of live rock and 18 lbs of bowl rock, or 65 lbs of rock in total.

I found a fascinating article about aquascaping. This really got me thinking about trying to create something that looked natural, but was also functional.  I wound up with a design that is part bridge, mound, curved wall, and terrace.  The flat terrace rocks are hard to come by naturally, so I found a couple pieces of bowl rock that I used to give the tank a multilevel appearance.  I also wanted to leave some open space for the active swimmers, so the right side of the tank has less rock.  I wanted to cover up a bit the overflow in the back left corner, so I wrapped the mound around it.  Also, I wanted to have plenty of places to put coral at different elevations (and light intensities) and with various flow options in the tank.  Finally, I wanted to provide the fish with more tunnels and hiding places.  The new arrangement allows the fish to swim in a straight line almost the entire length of the tank either in the back, middle, or front of the tank.

So far, the Yellow Tang and Coral Beauty seem to love the new arrangement the most, exploring just about every nook and cranny already.  The fire shrimp has found a new home that, thankfully, is much easier to see.  But the Clownfish still spend a lot of time swimming near the return and top of the tank, pretty much ignoring the rearrangement.

Tunze Turbelle 6105 Powerhead

Anemone and coral need water flow to help wash away waste and detritous, so I spent some time earlier this summer thinking about what type of flow I wanted to add to the aquarium.  Ultimately I decided to buy a Tunze Turbelle stream 6105, as pictured below.

I was quite intrigued by the Vortech MP40's.  The LFS did a good job of selling me on it.  I liked the minimum footprint it takes inside the tank and how the power cord is not visible inside the tank.  I also really liked the controller and the various programs to easily choose from.  However, I decided against the MP40's for two main reasons:  the noticeable whirring noise level and the power cord on the outside of the tank.  On the power cord, while I like how clean the inside of the tank looks without the power cord, I was worried that having the cord on the outside of the tank was not ideal with young kids running around.  On the noise level, I've already made some strides to reduce the noise level of my tank as it currently stands, so the last thing I wanted to do was to add more ambient noise.  Some YouTube videos gave me a good idea of how much sound to expect.

In leaning towards a Tunze, I considered both the Tunze 6105 and the newer 6095.  I actually used the Vortech flow calculator to determine how much flow I would need.  A single MP40 outputs 1000-3200 GPH.  For my tank dimensions, the site recommends 2380 GPH for SPS and 1428 GPH for LPS.  A 6095 produces 528-2510 GPH, while a 6105 can generate 792-3434 GPH. So eventually I should be able to get by with a single 6105 or two 6095.  I decided if I could get by with a single power head, that would be better then two.  Plus, I could mount it on my overflow chamber on one side of the tank, and it would not be as noticeable because both the power head and overflow chamber are black.  You can see what this looks like below.

When I got the 6105 power head, I set the jumper on the minimum setting and I was still getting more than enough flow for the anemone.  I've been really happy with how quiet it's been.  However, if I had to do it over again, I would probably have gone with a single 6095 to begin with because it's much smaller than the 6105.  Then, add another 6095 in the future.  For now, I'm not too worried though, and it's possible my 6105 may ultimately prove to be the right choice long term as I add more coral.  We'll see.

You may also notice some algae on the sand bed.  The chaeto morpha in my sump has really overgrown and I need to prune it.  Hopefully that will help.

Coral Beauty: Most Dramatic Introduction Yet

After two weeks of quarantining, the coral beauty started eating pellet foods and even started responding to some training:  I tap the tank gently ten times with the cap if the food container right before feeding.  Also, I noticed a white spot on its fin during the second week, and did a freshwater dip to clear that away.  Overall, my first attempt at quarantining was useful.

When I added the coral beauty to the display tank, the drama began.  First, it some how got caught in the net.  I thought it was its gills at first and fins, but after gently loosening the net around the fish, it appeared the fish was actually biting the net and not letting go.  So it took about five minutes of some careful shaking, and eventually it released the net, but only after it was nearly unconscious.  It sank immediately to the bottom if the tank.  It lay there for a little while, but finally came around and started swimming slowly.

The yellow tang immediately swam up to it and began brushing up against it.  I realized that it was wielding its blade, which was quite worrisome.  I read that the coral beauty should be one of the first species to introduce and the yellow tang the last because it is more territorial, but I didn't plan well enough in advance.  I'm hoping the coral beauty is hardy enough to avoid the tang.  I may ads some more live rock to the tank as well.

On the second day, I was happy to see the coral beauty chase down some pellets during feeding time.  And after hiding much of the first day, it has been exploring the tank much more, nibbling at the live rock.  The tang still takes swipes at it every now and then, but the coral beauty, which is currently the same size of the tang, seems capable of avoiding it.  There seems to be a slight discoloration/faded color in the scales of the coral beauty on the left side near its tail, which might be from the yellow tang's blade.  The coral beauty is swimming around fine, though, so hopefully it's not serious.

Coral Beauty One Week in Quarantine

At first, the coral beauty was not eating anything in my quarantine tank.  I fed some flake food and pellets, but no luck.  The next day, I tried the nori that my yellow tang likes so much.  But after a day the coral beauty mostly left it alone.

I called the LFS and he said they were feeding it mysis shrimp, but he thought it was also eating the algae in tank.  Since I didn't have any mysis, I decided to wait until the weekend to try that.

Later in the week, I noticed that the pellets were disappearing and eventually, the coral beauty started tracking down the pellets as soon as I dropped them into the tank.  Now, after a week, the coral beauty seems to be doing well.  It looks healthy and is eating.  If all goes well, I'll add it to the display tank at the end of this week.

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone One Week After Split

The anemone is looking good one week after splitting.  Both halves are almost fully formed again -- transforming from semicircles to complete circles around.  Also, the right half has finally moved out of the snail shell that it came attached to from the LFS.  I had to move it around a little and to lean it up against the top of rock, but I think it was also getting pushed around a bit much from the Turbo snail.  Here are some pictures from the past week.

Father's Day Present: A Coral Beauty

I got to check out a new LFS today and they had some Coral Beauties.  It's been on my list so I went ahead.  I liked the coloration of the one I bought, particularly the blue on the edges of the dorsal and tail fins.

This will be the first new fish I introduce via the quarantine tank.  I had a bit of a scare with white spots on my Yellow Tang the week I bought it, so I decided from then on out I would be quarantining all new comers.  Although the Yellow Tang seems fine, now, I figure quarantining is a good habit to get into.

I brought over the foam filter that's been sitting in the refugium of my display tank.  I removed some sponge fragments and detritus. I also turned the power head back on and added ten more gallons of new salt water.

Overall, the water parameters looked good.  Phosphates were a little high at 20 ppm, but pH, ammonia and nitrates were fine.

Fire Shrimp Molts Again

It seems like the shrimp has been molting every two weeks or so.  I'm not sure if this is normal or not.

Rose Anemone Splits

I woke up this morning and the first I see is that the Rose Anemone has split into two.  That's exciting at first, but I've also read that they sometimes reproduce like this when they are stressed in some way.  I'll have to research this.

In had been hoping it would soon release the snail shell it came attached to, and yesterday in had noticed that it had really started spreading out and widening it's base.  But wow.  Never would have guessed this was going to happen!

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone

I went into a LFS yesterday, looking for some more live rock and possibly a Xenia pulse coral.  I had read from multiple sources that Xenia is a good soft coral to start with, and that it's been shown to host anemone. They also have a fascinating pulsing behavior.  However, the LFS guy talked me out of it for a couple of reasons.  First, he said it grows like a weed, which I had read as well.  To contain it, he suggested keeping it on its own rock.  He noted that a lot of people start with it, and then eventually regret it after they get more established and accumulate more invertebrates.  Secondly, he noted that while they are fairly hardy, when something does go wrong with them they can basically fall apart really quickly and really cloud your tank -- or worse -- release some sort of toxins that can wipe everything else out.  He actually steered me towards getting an anemone, even though others in online forums suggest waiting for a year.  He pointed out that if you have the right lighting, water conditions, and feed the anemone properly, you should have no more problems than you might with starter soft corals.  So I thought about it for a day, did some more research, and then went back today and bought it.  Here it is.

Quarantine Tank and Totoka Live Rock

I've finally set-up a quarantine tank.  It's an old 29 gallon tank I've had.  I bought a sponge filter and a heater.

 

I bought about 12 lbs of Totoka live rock and watched it for a couple of days for stowaways.  They looked pretty clean, so added them to the tank today.

Foam Filter in Refugium

Since the Ick scare with my Yellow Tang, I've been motivated to finally get the quarantine tank going.  Here's the foam filter I'll be using -- really simple one that I put in the refugium of my Display Tank for now.

Fire Shrimp Molts Again

This is the third time he's molted since I bought him.  This time, I took the shell out right away before anything else would tear it apart.

Timer for Refugium Lights

Now that the chaetomorpha has been growing and the overall algae situation is better, I'm going to put the LED aquarium lights on a reverse daylight schedule.  It's supposed to balance the CO2 levels in the tank.

Mexican Turbo Snail

I wanted to wait a bit before getting a snail to see what impact the RO/DI unit, the Chaetomorpha and Yellow Tang would have on the nuisance algae.  But it turns out there is still noticeable algae growth on the sides of the aquarium, so I went ahead and got this Mexican Turbo snail.  The only warning the LFS had for me was to make sure that if he flips over on his back, to help him out.  Otherwise, he picked one with good suction and by my request, not too big.  Here he is.

LED Light for Refugium

The chaetomorpha has been growing very slowly.  So I've finally decided to get a 6500k LED gooseneck light for the refugium, which according to online reports is the right spectrum for chaetomorpha.  I'm a little worried about the suction cup design -- some reviews were down on that -- but I'm going to assume that this is such a fundamental part of the design that it has to work reasonably well.

Chopstick Nori Feeder for Yellow Tang

I've been worried about the Yellow Tang not eating.  So I've created a chopstick nori feeder that I bury in the sand to make the nori seem more natural.

Yellow Tang

I bought a Yellow Tang today.  They are supposed to be good swimmers, they add a splash of color to the tank, and help control algae.  Technically, you're supposed to add them later because they get territorial.  So it's possible I've added it too early.  I saw a pretty good specimen in the store today, so just went for it.

 

SpectrePure MaxCap RO/DI System

I had read that purifying tap water through reverse osmosis and de-ionization has numerous benefits for achieving a well-balanced, marine ecosystem.  However, since I never did that for my freshwater and it requires a new piece of hardware, I initially decided hold off.  Well, it's been a couple of months now and while my fish and shrimp are doing fine, the algae is still a problem.  And while my tap water only has a total dissolved solids (TDS) reading of 25 ppm (which seems pretty low), I considered purchasing an RO/DI unit an investment that was ultimately the right thing to do.

I decided to buy a SpectrePure MacCap RO/DI unit that's capable of producing 90 gallons per day.  This was more expensive than the cheapest models out there, but time is so precious these days that I was pretty sure I would appreciate having something faster than slower.  We'll see over time.

Plastic Cage for the Chaetomorpha

My chaeto has been getting stuck near the baffle.  Although it's a high flow area, part of the chaeto is exposed to the air and the rest of it does not tumble around as it's supposed to.

So I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and found a clear plastic crate that was the perfect size for my sump.  

I drilled out a grid of holes on the bottom of the crate.  

Then I set it on its side in my refugium, keeping the chaeto submerged inside of it.  The chaeto is also now directly in front of the light, so that may also help it grow.

Although I've had the lights off in my tank, the nuisance algae is still growing.  Hopefully this little adjustment will help the chaeto do its job.  If not, I may get a more powerful light for the refugium, as well.
 

Introducing a Blood Red Fire Shrimp and Chaetomorpha

Yesterday, I added a Blood Red Fire Shrimp to my tank and some Chaetomorpha (spaghetti) algae to my sump, $34.95 and $10 respectively at my LFS.  To support the chaeto, I also added to my sump a light from an old 2.5 gallon aquarium, which now makes my sump a refugium, I suppose.

I've never had a crustacean before, so after doing some reading about shrimp and crab I decided to give it a try.  Not only is the shrimp supposed to help clean the tank, but it also should help clean the fish of parasites.  It's supposed to be reef safe (thinking about the future, here).  The shrimp is brilliantly colored -- the red and the white coloration is striking.  But as my LFS predicted, it has pretty much stayed hidden underneath a rock for much of the day.  We'll see if it starts getting more confident.  I'm taking it one step at a time -- I may go back and add a cleaner shrimp to the tank as well, which should be more visible during the day.

I added the chaeto to help combat the nuisance algae that has been blooming in my tank.  Last week, I measured 0.25 ppm phosphates in both my tank water and the tap water, so I ordered an RO/DI unit to help as well, but that hasn't come in, yet.  I noticed the chaeto at the LFS and they said it was pretty rare that they have it in stock, so I went ahead and got it even though I don't have the RO/DI unit yet.  I figure there will always be some phosphates and having the chaeto should only help.  I held off on buying a turbo snail, though, until I see what the new algae situation will be.

Manjano Anemone Live Rock Hitchhiker

I was pretty excited to find what appears to be an anemone on my live rock.  But after some research, it appears that this is an undesirable species called a Manjano Anemone.  For now I'll just wait and see what develops.

Hair, Brown and Nuisance Algae Outbreak

I've had a lot of brownish green, hair algae growing in the tank.  It's pretty unsightly.

My First Livestock: Clownfish!

Exciting day.  Aquarium parameters have looked good.  So I bought my first livestock for the aquarium.  A pair of Ora Ocellaris clown fish.

Aptasia, Bristle Worm, and Feather Duster Found on Live Rock

Added about 15 lbs of Fiji live rock and 15 lbs of bowl rock.

Observed the first visible signs of life in my aquarium.  Unfortunately, the excitement has turned into some concern, as aptasia and bristleworms can apparently become big problems.  For now, I'll just wait and see what happens.

Custom 10 Gallon Sump and Future Refugium

Here's the 10 gallon sump I've built, which will eventually be a refugium.

Custom 75 Gallon Aquarium Hood with AI Sol LED Lights

Here is the custom hood I designed and built.

75 Gallon Salt Water Aquarium Launch

After years of preparation, my venture into the marine aquarium hobby has officially begun.  I've kept freshwater aquariums for over ten years and I've always wanted to set-up and maintain a salt-water aquarium.  I'm really ecstatic that the time has come.

A little about the system:  I bought the stand from Petco about five years ago.  About a year or two later, I bought the custom 75 gallon acrylic tank with a hole in the back of the overflow chamber (rather than on the bottom).  I also made the tank a tad deeper and shorter than standard 75 gallon tanks to give the fish more surface and swimming area.

Last year, I designed and built the hood myself (more on that in another post later).  And this year I've added all the plumbing (more on that later, as well).