My two new hydrometers plus the two calibration solutions arrived today. Had some interesting results.
First I double checked my refractometer’s calibration with RODI water, as I have been doing. Next I tested both calibration solutions. Each read 1.026 without any adjustments. Finally, I tested the tank water which read 1.026.
The swing arm hydrometer read 1.027 without any bubbles.
The 12" floating hydrometer read 1.024. Junk.
Pretty sure I’m at 1.026 and salinity isn’t my problem. That being said, does anyone run lower than 1.026? I know I was running 1.024 for the longest time because of the clownfish breeding I was doing which required lower salinity. The LPS frags in my other broodstock tanks are at 1.024 and appear to be much happier.
My range is between 1.024 and 1.026
if your interested I could bring our hydrometer over and give it a test just had ours calibrated at fish bowl short while ago
Thanks, lee. I wouldn’t mind a 2nd set of eyes on the tank. I just finished up a small project adding some stepping stones to the front lawn. Was getting some heat from the lady about dragging mud into the house. I’m in middletown. Shoot me a PM if you’d like to swing by this afternoon or early evening.
Found a guy in Florida on ebay that sells 50 blue leg hermits for $24 plus $10 shipping. Going to see if they can help out with the dino/cyano/algae whatever problem.
If its dino you could wasting 40$
[quote=“beadlocked450r, post:248, topic:7613”]
If its dino you could wasting 40$[/quote]
Worst case scenario they help break down fish poop and left over food and indirectly help with the dino. ;D
But yeah, I don’t have high hopes that they are going to eat it.
Does anyone have a microscope? It might be fun to look at it under magnification and try to positively ID the stuff.
I never trust anything but a refractometer. Those swing arms and floaters are just too unreliable.
If I were in your spot, I’d drop the bioload in the tank to an absolute minimum and let it run dark for at least a month or two. It sounds to me just like immature tank issues. If you give it some time to stabilize now, you’ll have a whole lot less trouble later down the road. Otherwise, you’ll probably be chasing minor nuisance after minor nuisance until you get sick of it and take the tank down.
[quote=“icecool2, post:250, topic:7613”]
I never trust anything but a refractometer. Those swing arms and floaters are just too unreliable.
If I were in your spot, I’d drop the bioload in the tank to an absolute minimum and let it run dark for at least a month or two. It sounds to me just like immature tank issues. If you give it some time to stabilize now, you’ll have a whole lot less trouble later down the road. Otherwise, you’ll probably be chasing minor nuisance after minor nuisance until you get sick of it and take the tank down.[/quote]
I appreciate the feedback but I’m not ready to net the fish just yet. If come June I’m still fighting these issues, I’ll consider pulling the livestock and running dark for a few months. I want to give a good maintenance routine and nutrient export the opportunity to deal with the problem first.
The tank has had a drastic reduction in the brown slime over the past 48 hours. It’s virtually non-existent. The sand bed is spotless. The rockwork has a few remaining clear filaments of what used to be the slime. In addition, my BTA has doubled in size, mushrooms and LPS are all opening back up and looking great. I’m not sure if the Red Slime Remover just took a week to do the job or if my aggressive wet skimming over the last week helped to get the water parameters in check. Either way, tank shows 1000% improvement. Definitely heading in the right direction.
Same rock a few weeks apart. First one was taken just now…
Good deal. So just thinking it was tail end of the cycle?
[quote=“Gotasplinter, post:255, topic:7613”]
Good deal. So just thinking it was tail end of the cycle?[/quote]
I’m not entirely sure, Lee. There were a couple of variables in play. Red Slime Remover, aggressive wet skimmimg, snails getting ahead, algae scrubber out competing, phosguard treatment or just getting over the new tank uglies.
My guess would be it was either the red slime remover or phos guard treatment. It feels pretty sudden.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap LED strip for moonlight purposes.
Not looking for anything powerful. But would prefer blue and water resistant if it’s going under a 5’ canopy.
The tank is gloomy at night. I feel that we’re missing out on some night time viewing opportunities.
EDIT: Do the cheap-o Blue LED rope lights work for some supplemental moonlights? For the $10 they cost, I might just buy a strip and give it a shot. I’m curious if they cause glimmer lines.
I just wanted to give a quick update.
Last week I added the 50 little blue legs and 25 small nasarrius snails from the ebayer out of Florida. Let me tell you, these guys did some work. The sand bed is absolutely pristine. If there are dead zones on my bed, I can’t tell. The sand looks like it did on day 1.
There were a few other snail species mixed in with the hermits that are hanging out on my glass. Some of them are laying eggs and I’m getting a bit of the seasame seed effect. I’m not thrilled about this because I could see it eventually leading to a scratch in the glass while cleaning. I might pull the culprit if I catch them in the act.
I’ve begun feeding the Rose BTA and it looks like it wants to split. I wouldn’t mind a few clones of that anemone. It looks great under the blue LEDs.
There has been no signs of a rebound in the dyno/cyano. Maybe it was just a little new tank syndrom. I’m feeling confident that I’ve got a much more stable system than a few weeks ago. Just in time for the swap! ;D
I had my first encounter with Brown Jelly this week. Man, that stuff moves fast.
I purchased three Acan frags at the frag swap this past Saturday. All three frags received 30 min dips in Revive prior to introducing to my system. The frags looked great and were even eating on Sunday. Monday I left for work and everything seemed fine. By the time I got home Monday afternoon, two of the new frags were about 50% melted with a Brown Jelly substance where the polyps used to be. I don’t think it’s coincidence that these two frags were next to each other.
I immediately pulled the two infected frags and sumped them in separate chambers. Several hours later they weren’t worth saving and I tossed them for fear of it spreading.
The remaining Acan frag that I got at the swap seems perfectly happy, as do my other Acan frags that I got from our frag swap a few weeks before.
I’m finding a lot of mixed info about what causes this online. Any thoughts?
As far as the rest of the tank, things are progressing nicely. I’m seeing my first bits of coralline algae popping up on the powerheads and black glass. The corals have all gained color, especially my Rose BTA which is showing all different shades of green, yellow and orange that I had never seen before. Every zoa and mushroom in the tank is opened up nice and fat. The clams are doing ok but I think I need to find a shell or something to place underneath them in the sandbed. I can tell they are looking for something more solid to attach to.
