Are frog spawn considere difficult or delicate? Do they need a special intro to the tank besides a water and temp intro? I got one, floated it in the bag to get temp, added some of the tank water (parameters were in okay ranges) let it sit. Then introduced it to the tank-good for 3 days. on 3rd day-nice in the morning, deflated by 6pm. :-("
Also-had (key word) a trumpet/candy cane coral- okay for a week, then kaput. Same intro method.
Suggestions? (I will post the parameters later this afternoon)
perhaps I am choosing things that are too difficult or not suitable for the 2.5? I am planning on moving in the next few months, then I might start looking into maybe getting a 5+ gal tank (depending on how big a stink DBF pitches). Not too large, but then I could make the 2.5 an all one thing tank and have a little more space and stability in the larger one.
Also-having difficulty with green algae on the rocks. not too much, but enough to be annoying and kind of overgrowing the rock. Was thinking about getting an emerald crab to keep it down. Trouble is, I have the pom-pom, the sexy, the goby and the porcelin, plus the snails and 2 hermits. Oh and a starfish for the sand. (I will trade him in when he finishes the sand bed, don’t want him to starve!)
Too many creatures? There is really only the one cave for hiding. I am also hoping to change the lighting and get a better/working timer, which may also help the algae. Should I wait until this is done to consider the Emerald?
Also-temperature. It has maintained about 82 degrees. I had a suggestion to maybe try lowering it. Suggestions?
I don’t think frogspawn are considered difficult, delicate maybe, but not difficult. The first thing that conceerns me (aside from the fact that it is a 2.5g system ;D) is that there are a fair number of occupants in it. Not that the bio-load is too high, but little room to move around without hitting other things in the tank. If something walks over the head of the frogspawn it will retract and “close up”.
82 is generally considered the “ideal” temp, but I actually prefer to keep mine a little lower - between 78-80. Other then that, until we can see parameters I can’t suggest anything further.
I don’t think anything walked over it. Relatively speaking, it is high up (off the sand bed, not on rocks). It looked like soemthing had poked it with a pin and it deflated into itself. All of it’s supportive ridges were sticking up and the mushy part was sucked into the base.
sometimes they do that especially when new to your system. i would let it go and see what happens or it may not like the area in your tank so maybe move it . post a pic of your tank so we can see where everything is.
Mine deflated when first introduced, and opened after 3 days. Not the other way around. I would not add the emerald crab.
If the tank is steady at 82 degrees I say fine but thats as high as I would let mine go. I average in the summer 80.3 and 78.5 in the winter.
i wouldnt recommend emeralds to a reef tank either because i just added 3 and they are picking at zoos and my sps. i wish they would eat my damsels tho >LOL<
Well, I am gonna wait a while on anything new anyway. Just got the greenlight for a slightly bigger tank in the new place ^:|b So my new plan is to keep as much as I can alive in this tank until i can get a bigger one established.
I am afraid I tossed the frogspawn. It looked dead-dead, completely sunk into nothingness. Even when I first put it in it was shrunken, but nothing like this.
Parameters-ammonia-0; ph 8.8; nitrite-0; nitrate was at 10-20, which is bad. Temp had climbed to 85. And i just finished watching one of the narcarius(sp) snails eat my last sexy shrimp. He was sitting on the sand bed (normally hanging on the temp reader). I moved him with a stick, no reaction. Then the snail rose out of the sand and started to eat him.
[quote=“tamuchick02, post:7, topic:602”]
Well, I am gonna wait a while on anything new anyway. Just got the greenlight for a slightly bigger tank in the new place ^:|b So my new plan is to keep as much as I can alive in this tank until i can get a bigger one established.
I am afraid I tossed the frogspawn. It looked dead-dead, completely sunk into nothingness. Even when I first put it in it was shrunken, but nothing like this.
Parameters-ammonia-0; ph 8.8; nitrite-0; nitrate was at 10-20, which is bad. Temp had climbed to 85. And i just finished watching one of the narcarius(sp) snails eat my last sexy shrimp. He was sitting on the sand bed (normally hanging on the temp reader). I moved him with a stick, no reaction. Then the snail rose out of the sand and started to eat him.
This is a truly depressing hobby. awe i hope you feel better . this hobby can be depressing at times when lives are lost but with such a small tank i woud go with more snails than crabs and shrimp. and more coral and ess fish and other livestock. with a lower bioload and less inhabitants coral will thrive better. with me just removing one tang who was a super pooper >LOL< helped my tank alot. post some pics if you can so we can see your setup and help a lil better. 10-20 ppm nitrates arent that bad if all you have is softies. less food and more water changes will help alot. i have started to use and old method of water change habits wich is 10% every 10 days and its working great!! better than 20 percent every 2 weeks for me. it seemed like because of the 2 weeks waiting period my corals would start to look a lil off then perk right up the day after a water change. so now with the increased amount of times and less water being removed at a time my corals dont get long term exposure to high nitrates…[/quote]
How do you post a pic? I am afraid it is a little overgrown with green right now, I need to get a handle on the light situation. I have some pics from right after I put in the hermit crabs, when they went great guns and ate every bit of algae. Boy it was clean!! now they are slackers. Although one did clean up the rest of the shrimp. I feed the tank about once a week with a pinch of the Rod’s food. I tried to target feed the trumpet and the frogspawn, but that was a day or so before they croaked. I think the trumpet was on it’s way out anyway. :-("
I am not going to stop trying, but I feel bad about the poor little things dying!! I’m a bad god! My little civilization is doing poorly. The zenia looks good though. And the porcelien crab is doing great. and the hermits keep molting. and none of the snails have died. So I’m not completely bad at this. The fish is doing well.
Why not try a 10g tank? Still fairly cheap and you can make a fairly stable system that way. If you ever come down this way (there may be a meeting coming up here soon) you can check out Keleigh’s 15g. Its got some corals, about 10lbs of rock, a DIY light hood and fan to cool it. With the macro algae’s in there it keeps the nitrates at 0 and it looks pretty good to boot. 10-29g is a pretty good size and not very hard to move.
[quote=“tamuchick02, post:7, topic:602”]
Well, I am gonna wait a while on anything new anyway. Just got the greenlight for a slightly bigger tank in the new place ^:|b So my new plan is to keep as much as I can alive in this tank until i can get a bigger one established.
I am afraid I tossed the frogspawn. It looked dead-dead, completely sunk into nothingness. Even when I first put it in it was shrunken, but nothing like this.
Parameters-ammonia-0; ph 8.8; nitrite-0; nitrate was at 10-20, which is bad. Temp had climbed to 85. And i just finished watching one of the narcarius(sp) snails eat my last sexy shrimp. He was sitting on the sand bed (normally hanging on the temp reader). I moved him with a stick, no reaction. Then the snail rose out of the sand and started to eat him.
This is a truly depressing hobby.[/quote]
Your pH is 8.8? That’s not a typo? Because if it’s that high, I think I would start by bringing that down at least half a point.
What is the best way to lower the pH? I have seen the bottles of stuff for lowering it, would it be suitable to use that? Or would changing the water more often be a better soultion?
Lighting-this is the lighting I have “7400K Daylight on one side and 14000K True Actinic light”. Is this sufficient for my soft corals?
It is on the sit at bar between the kitchen and the livingroom. Normally I would think that it is the heat from cooking or running the dishwasher. Except that I do not cook. or, consequently, run the dishwasher. I will set the water up tonight to change tomorrow.
what could cause the different things to not open? I have zooas and polyps right now, and they are alive, but they do not open fully.
Plus how do you keep the tank sparkling, like in the stores? Maybe I need to get some things out of the tank? I would love to get rid of the 2 hermits. That would leave me with 6 snails of 3 different vatieties, the goby, the pom-pom crab (assuming it is still alive), the procelien crab and the starfish (which will eventually go back after he runs out of food).
I think by changing the lighting or at least the timing, dropping the temp a degree or 2 and removing a couple of the crabs, that should hopefully get the algae under control, and the z&p’s will open up.
I really want my tank to look like the ones in the store! :-("
A small filter bag of carbon will help remove the yellow in the water. Most likely ammonia and waste build up. Recheck the pH and see if it comes out the same. Without adding anything to the water I find it hard for the pH to be that high.
Ive got to agree with Al, i have no idea how your PH could be that high without dosing anything. I also feel that that temperature is dangerously high. I think a lot of problems your having are simply the problems associated with pico tanks. They have a reputation for being VERY challenging.
If i had a pico, the only two things i feel that you need to do are
consistent water changes
consistent temperature
You may need to put the tank in a cooler part of the house or play with a fan. I would shoot for 78deg that way if you have a spike it hopefully wont be fatal. As far as water changes, i would make up 5 gallons at a time and let it age. Make sure your using RO or distilled and let the water age. Be sure to keep it aerated and a heater might not be a bad idea. I would incorporate a small water change into your daily maintanence. Maybe when you feed you can take out 10-12 oz of water and replace with the aged water. I think a large water change could be detrimental to such a small system. If you keep your temp constant and do small daily water changes with high quality aged SW i think all of your problems will go away.
I see the picos in the store that are nice and clean, sparkling even, with loads of little corals and even a fish or two. Of course, those tanks are surrounded by people who know what they are doing, stare at it 8 hours a day and can react whenever something looks ill or dies or the tank needs a tweak.
The water is not yellow, just there is a lot of algae on the sides and on the rock and particles in the sand. the sand has never been clean and white, although the star is helping.
I have a scraper to help with the sides and I try to pull off and brush off as much algae off the rock as I can, but i do think the animal load is too much. (2 free hermits!!!) I would like to go in a more coral way, if at all.
I have some charcoal, I will try to add some to the filter. It has a pad, but that might be cashed.
Okay-fixes so far:
water change
add a bit of charcoal to filter
remove some animals
drop temp a degree or 2
I will try these this weekend and see what happens.
Dont get discouraged about any problems you may be facing… you are trying to start out with probably the hardest tank size possible. The larger the tank, the less work that goes into maintaining it, and the problems dont get as bad as quick. Your doing well so far, dont worry.