Worried About New Octopuses

[schmunkel98]

Hey Everyone,

I received 2 Octopus Bimaculatus from MarineDepotLive.com three days ago. They made the trip successfully and were transferred to my tank without and problems. I have a 135 gallon reef ready tank with 8 blue damsels, 7 turbo grazer snails, 30 hermit crabs, and 4 peppermint shrimp. I have only seen one of the octopuses, and I fear that the other may be dead. I am also worried that they are not eating enough. None of the shrimp, snails, or fish have disappeared, and the crabs are too hard to count. These guys were about 6" from arm to arm when I got them. This was a bit smaller than I expected. Has anyone had experience with adding new octopuses to an aquarium? Any tips or suggestions? Please let me know.

Thanks,

Mike
www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Hey michael.
Well one octo could be hiding. Some times they hide for days. Some times octos dont eat for the first few days. Most of mine have though. One octo could have eaten the other but you would see remains. Or one could have crawled out of the tank, did you look around? What is your water quality like?
Are you sure you got two of the same species?
-chris

[schmunkel98]

Chris,

I saw where they both went when I initially released them, and I think they are still in those same areas. I think you are right and the other octopus is just out of sight. My ammonia and nitrites have been at minimum levels for about 2 months after the initial cycling. The two octopuses looked like twins, so I am pretty positive they are the same species. I hope they come around soon and make a showing during the day so I can give them some bigger meals. Any tips for getting them out in the open for a snack? I'm afraid that the blue damsels that I have scare them, even though the fish will be food eventually. Any tips or suggestions you may have would be much appreciated.

Mike
www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

New octos take a couple of days to settle in. Some are more night acitve then others. Young ones can be night active when there small. If you have very bright light on the tank that can cause them to hide more as well. I think with all the hermits in the tank, that should keep them fed ok for now. The only hermits I have seen my octs not to like were blue legs for some reason, Maybe because they were too small to bother with.
I feed all my octos raw frozen shrimp I buy in a bag. I have never had a octo that did't like shrinp. Grass, glass and ghost shrimp are nice treats too. If you see your octs out in the open you can try feeding them by offering them food from a probe by spearing the food. I use wooden shish ker bob skewers from the super market. My mimic octo is a small eater compared to any thing else I have had and seems to like frozen shrimp the best. This species is active dusk and dawn and at night mostly.
Give your octos a few weeks and you wiil see them come around. But you might want to be careful with your fish. Damsels in a school can attack and peck at your octos eyes. So they could be scaring them too. Most fish stores will buy back fish, I do that when im between octos. I call it rent a fish lol.

[schmunkel98]

There are some pictures of the little guys I've been talking about on my web site. The pictures are from when they were first released.

Mike
www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

I don't think your site is working. I see nothing but 3 little pics.

[schmunkel98]

Cephalopoder,

My site is based on an imagemap. Wave your mouse over the image of what you want to look at and click it. My whole web page is like that. Sorry if it is confusing.

Mike

[cephalopoder]

Maybe my browser is out of date or something. I tried both my laptop and my desktop. I can't get the image link working. Any one else have this problem?

[Daniel]

no problems hear but it was slow opening

[schmunkel98]

If you have trouble using my site, try getting the latest version of your browser. I use Internet Explorer and it works just fine. Anyway, I ordered an assortment of crabs and snails from Flying Fish Express to add more food to my tank. That same night I got to see one of my octos pounce on a hermit crab and go back to his den. I think they are getting used to the tank and are more willing to come out of their dens. However, I still haven't seen the other octopus. Now if I can only get them to come out during the day!

Mike
www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Hows the octos doing?

[schmunkel98]

Hey everyone,

Well both of the little guys are still there, though I can't ever seem to find them in the daytime. I have seen them a few times at night when they are out and about. I still have the three peppermint shrimp and the eight blue damsels in the tank. I was hoping that they would have been food by now, but I guess the octos aren't big enough yet. Anyone know about how much they grow per month? I'm looking forward to the day when the shrimp and fish start to disappear and my guys start showing themselves during the day. I still have a bunch of snails and small crabs in the tank too, so they have plenty of food. I have some additional pictures of the octos that I will also add to my web site soon.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

Good to hear they are still doing okay! Any luck with getting cuttles yet?
Colin

[schmunkel98]

Well, I'm going to hold out on the cuttles until these guys expire. I hope that they will live a very long time. I guess about 2 years should be their life span if I am lucky. I just can't wait until they get a little bigger and come out during the day more. I guess it just takes time. I liked the extra pics of your cuttles Colin. You should take tons more. I would appreciate any info you have on them. Such as what your water has been like, growth rate, and so on. Any chance of a small video? If I can catch mine in the daytime I would like to get a video of them eating. Anyone know how to shoot aquarium videos at night?

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

The camera i have will allow upto 15secs mpeg filming. I have several of the cephs feeding and the cuttles catching goldfish etc but dont know how to post them??? Anyone know?

The cuttles are getting big! here's one eating a goldfish...

[schmunkel98]

Colin,

You could make them downloads on your web page. You may want to zip them up to make them smaller. I would love for you to e-mail them to me as well!

Mike (schmunkel98@yahoo.com)

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[msjn771]

I have had work with them but the thing I found was they are very sensitive. Your best bet is try to get them in the open but don't stress them out for at least four to five weeks. If one of them is dead you better get it out was quick as possible or your water will go down the drain, good luck.

[schmunkel98]

Hey Everyone,

This is just an update on the octopus situation here. Frankly, I am a little disappointed in these guys. I finally saw one of them after nine straight days of looking late at night and in the morning. I have had these guys for about three months now and I have tried everything to get them to come out during the day. I thought that they have died at least four times, and I still don't know if one or two of them is alive. I am currently trying to get some cuttlefish since they are supposed to be more active. They are what I originally wanted, but I had thought they were unavailable. I'll see if my LFS can come through with the cuttles, but in the meantime I would really like to get my two Octopus Bimaculatus out in the open. Any tips on turning these guys into the wonderful day active pets everyone else seems to have would be most appreciated.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Well Mike it could be a number of things.
The first thing is you have to remember that if your looking for a animal you will see all the time, a octo might not be your first choice lol. Some of the octos I have had were just like that, you only caught a little look at them late at night. Some times they are out all the time. Maybe having two octos together are making them hide more out of fear of being eaten by each other? You said you have a bimaculatus. Maybe you don't really have a bimaculatus. Have you been able to see the broken chain in the ocellus? Thats the way to tell a bimaculatus I know of.
I have heard that a bimaculatus is more night active than a bimaculoides. Bimaculatus also live in a litte deeper water than bimaculoides and may be harder to catch for a collection diver. I'd be psyched if Marine Depot could get bimaculatus becase they get bigger than biamculoides. Most octos in the trade seem to be bimaculoides out of the two. Young octos will some times be active at night when younger and be a little more day active when they get older. How is your nitrate level?

[schmunkel98]

Don't worry, I wasn't expecting to see my octopuses out and about every day. I had expected to not see them very much, but I guess I figured with two I had a good shot of seeing them more often. I have not been able to see the eye spots on them, however, this is mainly because they aren't seen in the open very often. The few times I have seen them in the open it is usually in a curled up manner. Anyway, I have been testing weekly, and my levels are all extremely good on the nitrates, ammonia, etc. I do know that the octos have not grown very much in the 3 months that I have had them. They are still about two inches in body length and probably six inches with their arms fully extended. Let me know what you think of the pictures and I'll try to figure out a way to entice them to come out during the day.

Mike

[cephalopoder]

I have seem your pics and its hard to tell from them what species you have. From their size is sounds like they are either very very young or not bimaculatus. After 3 months if there eating well, a bimac would grow quite a bit.
chris

[schmunkel98]

I have never been able to ID these guys, especially since I only see them during the night time. I have no idea where they hide during the day, but I assume it is in one of the many small holes in the live rock. I know they are eating well since I have had to continuously supply them with small crabs and snails. They have yet to go after the three Peppermint Shrimp or the eight Blue Damsels in the tank. Is this rather odd? The shrimp have no claws and are pretty much defenseless. I guess the fish have speed and could bite if not secured properly in the octo's arms. I have attempted numerous things to get my octopuses to eat in the open. I have tried putting one of the shrimp into a clear container to entice the octos, but it didn't work. I also caught one snail and tried to hand feed one of the octos. The little guy put one arm on it and wouldn't take it. I finally had to drop the snail when my arm started cramping from being in the same position for fifteen minutes. This made the octopus freak out and ink. Any other tips for seeing these guys in the daylight or getting them to come to me to feed? I'm not giving up on them, but I really hope the cuttlefish guy comes through.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

I forgot you had the damsels in the tank. Your octos could be scared of them. Damsels can be evil and can peck at a octos eyes. Your octos are real small so that could be part of it and they only come out when the fish sleep. The other thing is they could be a night dwelling species. Some species only come out at night, and hide in the sand or rock during the day. Your best bet might be to remove all your fish and possible octo food for a few days. With the threat of the fish gone, and your octos getting hungry, they could start to come out more to look for food.
Your dealing with tiny octopuses that see you as a giant and possible threat. When they associate you with being the food god they will look forawrd to seeing you more.
Your little one also inked at you, so he could now be scared of you . Not all species or eat snails so your better off offering thawed frozen shrimp to them.

[schmunkel98]

I guess I could try getting rid of the damsels. Would they be a threat to the cuttlefish that I might get? I had hoped that they would be a good food source for the octopuses, and they did serve as a good bio-load for the tank. I know that the octos have eaten the snails since I have seen many empty shells left over. There is still a considerable amount of them left in the tank, which is good for fighting algae buildup. I hope these octopuses aren't nocturnal only. I will try your suggestion of removing the damsels and offering food. I will leae the live shrimp in there as they are an easy target in my opinion. Now for some feeding questions. How do I get them to notice the food without scaring them away? Should I use my hand or a stick with the shrimp I am offering? Should I offer the food even if I don't see them or only if I do see them? Should I try the shrimp in a clear container thing again? Should I offer the food during the day and at night or only one of the two?

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

When it comes to cephalopods. I am a firm believer in a species only tank. I have used fish to cycle my aquariums but have sold them back to the LFS when my ceph was orderd.
I had a domino damsel in with my last bimaculoides, a food offering. It was a big octopus when I put the damsel in there. The fish was too quick for the octo to catch at first. The two seemed to get along ok for a few weeks. Then one day it was "Here's Dominos" and the damsel was gone.
I think the octo got bord of his tank mate and snacked on him when the fish was sleeping.
As far as cuttles go. The fish would be gone real quick. I haven't got my cuttles yet. I have been getting my 180 ready for that day and I am still designing my system..sump,uv,macros, skimmer.....
My next venture before cutttles will be... Well you'll have to wait and see hehe.
As far as feeding your little ones. I would wait till you see them, then offer shrimp on the end of probe. A chunk the size of a sugar cube should be good to start.

[schmunkel98]

Ahh, so I'm not the only one having a hard time getting cuttles for their home aquarium. Let me know where you get yours from when you do in case my LFS fails to deliver. Anyway, I think I'm going to wait a week or so until I hear back about if I can get the cuttles or not. If I can then great, but if I can't then I will double my efforts with the octopuses. Thanks for the feeding tips. Do you know of anyone out there that actually has shots on a web site of an octopus getting fed? Other than Jimbo Louis and Colin, I haven't seen many sites out there.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

Mike/Chris
I have some short (15 seconds) MPG of me feeding the cuttles dead shrimp and stuff. Is it possible to upload them onto this site????

On another note. I can now see developments within my briareus eggs. Everything seems okay so far. I will post a pic of my rearing tank when i get that off scraps of paper and into reality...

Colin

[Rinaldi]

I've often used Blue damsels to cycle octopus tanks and then left them in there. The Octopuses never seem interested or able to catch the daring little buggers. On one ocassion years ago one did finally turn up missing ...

[cephalopoder]

Colin, I don't think you can post them out here.
Can you post them on your web site?
chris

[OctoMonkey]

I dont think i can do that on geocities. Better invest in a better site soon!
Next set of videos i do i will email a couple to you or anyone who wants them........

[schmunkel98]

Please send me a copy of them Colin! Movies are great!

Mike

[amcarrig]

Hi Colin: E-mail that movie to me when you get it done. Can't wait to see your animals in action!

[cephalopoder]

If you goto www.tonmo.com Colin was nice enough to post two cuttle videos there for all to see.

[amcarrig]

That video is SO......FRIGGIN......COOL! Thanks for the link Chris!

Colin: I won't hold it against you for not sharing sooner....

[schmunkel98]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Now I really want to get my cuttlefish order in! I have had to call the distributor myself to check up on whether or not my LFS has ordred them. It has been four days since I told my LFS that their own distributor carries cuttlefish, and they still havne't ordered them! I'm not sure what else to do to get them to order except try to ask another store to do it. There is a Petland near me, but I'm not sure if they would order from another distributor that isn't on their list. I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

Annick, first off, I only recently figured out i could send those videos by email. So dont think i was keeping it a secret!

Second, dont worry. I'll make sure I can come up with some sexy dance and email it to you or something :D

Chris,
Any chance some of the scientific places in the us would send eggs rather than young uns????????????

[cephalopoder]

Colin
I have actually been talking to Richard Stride about importing cuttle eggs this spring. I have a local dealer that has a import licence that is willing to work with me and order some cuttle eggs. As things progress I will keep you all posted. If you want some information colin email me and I will give you his contact info if you don't allready have it.
chris

[schmunkel98]

I now have two different LFS's trying to get me some cuttlefish. I have almost given up on Dallas North Aquarium, and when I asked Saltwarer Paradise about it they said they had ordered them before! Hopefully one of these two will come through for me with some cuttles, but if not then I will return to looking for other methods of getting them. Colin, keep those videos coming! They were both great to watch.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

Thanks Chris
It was Richard who i bought my cuttles from. He was excellant to deal with. I still stay in regular contact with him.

In fact, when i opened my bag of "five" cuttles he had left a tongue in cheek note saying something like "oops, i cant count!" and there were seven in the bag!!!

Richard has the packing and shipping down perfect. I dont see any reason as to why eggs in the post wouldnt work....

I have also recently come across another guy over here who also deals with cuttles from time to time. He is due more eggs in March / April. This guy is only about 50 miles from me. Richard is the opposite end of the UK (probably about 450 miles). However, Keith hasnt exported to the US before whereas Richard has. Both are great guys!

[amcarrig]

OK Colin. I forgive you only due to your lack of technological knowledge about your camera. Have you figured out the self-portrait thing without the picture being upside down? Make sure you're wearing those "tank shorts" when making movies. :-)

[schmunkel98]

This is just a quick update for everyone. I will be getting my cuttlefish next week for sure, and I can't wait! Ok, go about your business now.

Mike,

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[OctoMonkey]

just for interest........
2 new videos at tonmo. I managed to make the pic size bigger and easier to see this time............. em, er thats it.....

[cephalopoder]

Mike
Your not going to put the cuttles in the same tank as your octos are you?

[amcarrig]

Very very cool Colin.

[schmunkel98]

Dooh, I forgot to mention this. I found octo corpses a few nights ago. I hadn't seen them in about two weeks, and I suspected the worst. I had plenty of food in there for them and my levels are great. I think the damsels might have stressed or attacked them since they weren't that big. The corpses I pulled out were about 2 inches in the body section. I guess they weren't eating enough because I thought they would have been much bigger. I was going to empty out my 55 gallon for them and put my cuttles in the big tank, but now I will just keep my 55 gallon a freshwater and prep the 135. If I keep octos again I'm going to make it a point to not have any other animals in there besides the ones I'm feeding them that night. The cuttlefish are active enough that they should clean up on the damsels and shrimp according to Colin.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Sorry to hear that Mike. Have you checked your water for copper?

[schmunkel98]

No, actually I haven't checked for copper, but I only use RO/DI water in the tank, and I have no copper parts in the system. How would I get this checked? Take a water sample to my LFS to have in analyzed?

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

If you use ro/di you should be all set unless its time for a ro filter change. I thought I read one of your posts though that said you toped off tith tap water, I may be wrong. You can buy a copper test kit and do it yourself. I use aquarium systems fast tests. I just think its strange that both octos died so soon. I would hate to see something happen to your cuttles. They are more delicate than octos in a lot of ways.
chris

[kelhuffman]

Without stating the obvious, octos are very nervous and intelligent creatures and will be highly stressed when shipped. Next time you might want to refrain from zapping them with flash photography when you first acclimate them and every time they come out exploring their new environment. FWIW.

[schmunkel98]

I have topped off with tap water on occasion, but usually it's when I can't get to the store to get the purified water. I have a water purifier on the faucet that I use that claims to remove 99.9% of metals and such. Hopefully this helps for the few times I use it. I thought about getting a RO/DI system myself, but I'm not sure which is a good brand and I know the cost is a little high. Any ideas? I really think the octos were stressed and just not eating as much toward the end. I should have totally removed the damsels and maybe even the shrimp. The shrimp were dragging the corpses around in the sand, otherwise I never would have found them.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Well Mike it could any one of many different things. Or a combination of few. I am very choosy about everything I put in my tanks. Recently my mimic has become very distant and started to act strange. I did tests on water and found nitrate to be a little higher than normal so I did a water change. Well my mimic started to act even stranger. Sleeping all the time, not eating well... I was worried that old age was setting in and octo was on its way out. I checked my log I keep and started to look at things. I keep a temp data logger on the tank and my temp was steady and fine, did repeated tests with new test kits all were fine. I did another water change to see if the water could have had some contamination in it my tests did not/ could not see. Things still seemed to get worse. I tested my water right out of my ro/di and that seemd fine. Finally after looking at my log I realised A month or so ago
I switched from reef crystals to instant ocean salt. The reason being was my local store was out of reef crystals and I was due for a water change on my tanks. I had noticed in my mantis tank too that my tube anemone was looking crappy. So I went to my favorite LFS to get some reef crystals and wound up having a interesting discussion with the people I trust there very much.
It turns out they stopped selling instant ocean a few years back after they too had wierd things happening... My suspicions about instant ocean were peaking.
I got home with the reef crystals, mixed up a batch, let it get to temp and oxygenate over nite and did a large change the next night when the mimic was under the sand sleeping. I also changed some water in my mantis tank.
The next morning my mimic came running out to greet me, fed nicely on a piece of shrimp and seemed a lot more active. That evening it was up exploring the tank all night, something it had not been doing in a month. My tube anemone in my mantis tank looked a lot better too and was taking food. I will continue doing water changes till I am sure all the instant ocean is out of my tanks!! Now I am not sure if the 25 gln box of IO I bought was bad or it just did not work for my mimic. All I know is that I have always had luck with reef crystals since day one and will never change again.
Instant ocean might be a fine salt and might not even have been the problem. But it takes a variable out of the equasion for me and things seem to be better.

[schmunkel98]

You know it's a funny thing you mention this because I had been using Tropic Marin for the salt in my tanks until my last bag. I have been using Instant Ocean instead(like you, because my LFS was out of Tropic Marin), and the bag is about empty. I think I am going to switch back to the Tropic Marin and see if that helps. I hope this switch didn't cause the death of my octos! I will also test my water for metals to see if that is a factor. I only use the purified tap water on rare occasion, but it would be nice to know how pure it really is. Maybe I will do a filtered and unfiltered test on the water to compare. I will do another water change when I get the Tropic Marin tomorrow to weed out the Instant Ocean from my system. I'll let you know what the test results are.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

I doubt it was your salt mike with the size tank you have. I can't say for sure it was the salt for sure in mine but the switch back to reef crystals did seem to work real well and fix my problem.
I was worried from day one when you first wrote to ceph list because at the time your tank had only been cycled a month whenyou added octos. I strongly feel that this my be a key part of it. I know your tank tests fine but if your not testing every day then you might get a killer spike you dont see. I really hope it is ok and ready to handle your cuttles. Only time will tell.

[schmunkel98]

How often should I test now? I have been testing once a week for ammonia, nitrate, and ph, while salt levels and temperature readings are checked daily. When I first started out I did these all every day. I even have a log of my readings. I also have been adding Kent Essential Elements, and Super Buffer once a week. I am going to do all of the tests and add all of the supplements tomorrow after I do a water change and use the new salt today. I hope that by now my tank is seasoned enough for the cuttles I will get this week. I hope I didn't push the octos too hard by getting them so early into my tank's development.

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

Mike
When you first wrote to ceph list we tried to explain it takes about 6 months for the tank to be cycled for cephs. It's a slow process thats takes time to do right. The first month of a tank set up you should have your sand, rock and some thing to seed the bacteria and get it going like a piece of raw shrimp. While the shrimp sits in your tank you test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate every couple of days and record your results. You should see a spike of ammonia then nitrite then nitrate in that order. The levels should then reduce when the bacteria builds up its army.
After that you need to keep the army fed and keep slowly adding more waste to get the bacteria army growing bigger and bigger.
Your army needs to be huge. Cephalopods put out 3 times as much waste as the same weight in fish. So you should be testing twice a week at this time so you make sure you see any spikes.
After a while your tank should be seasoned and ready. The process takes about 6 months to be very solid and stable.
What I think happend is you added your octos too soon and your army was not big enough. Your tank is large so the volume of water buffered you for some time. Then you got a spike that weakend or stressed your octos and lead to their demise. By the time you tested the water, the levels corrected them selves because the bacteria had now adjusted to the spike.
I know that its hard to wait and over come the excitement of getting your first cephalopod but they do require specific care and in the long run your success will be worth the wait!

[schmunkel98]

Ok, here are the test results today after my water change two days ago:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: <.3
Nitrate: 12.5
Salinity: 1.021
Temp: 73.5 F
PH: 8.0
Copper: Negative

Everything is looking good from what I can tell. I will keep testing every day until the cuttles arrive on Tuesday to make sure I don't have any spikes. Also, I found out the other day that my LFS carries ghost shrimp for 14 cents each! I think these guys might become my regular food serving for the cuttlefish. They are supposed to be better for them than goldfish, and much more nutritious. Please let me know if anyone has had any problems with feeding these shrimp to their fish/inverts.

Thanks,

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

P.S. I am trying to keep the web cam on every day, so check it out if you get a chance from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time. The lights don't come on until noon though!

[cephalopoder]

What brand of tests kits are you useing mike? Nitrite is more dangerous than ammonia to cephs. You should read 0 for nitrite. Or the lowest scale on your test kit.
The other thing is your salinity is tooo low. It should be up around 1.025. Cephs like full strength sea water. They will not live long in weak sea water.
Ghost shrimp are great. And thats a great price on them.
If you get a bunch I would enrich them with some good food to gut load them. You can even use selco, selcon or zoecon to help boost their hufa value.
Good luck on the cuttles keep us posted.

[schmunkel98]

My test kits are the Tetra brand(came with when I got the tank). The Nitrite reading is the lowest on the little color card from the kit. By the looks of the liquid it was more like 0, but I put down the lowest reading on the card. I know that the salinity is too low, and I have been beefing it up since the water change. It always drops a little when I do one and I have to get it back up. Have you had any experience with the automatic variety of aquarium products that keep the salinity, water level, and so on constant?

Mike

www.schmunkel.0catch.com

[cephalopoder]

I have used tetra and they are ok. I switched to Tropic Marian for nitrite/nitrate because they have a more defined smaller scale. The other thing to remember is test kits are no good after a year.
For a safe margin I would upgrade every 8 months.
As far as keeping salinity up. Most of the salt should stay in the tank when the water evaporates.
You will have some salt creep. I just add fresh ro /di water every day to top off. Some folks I know add a little salt to the top off water to compensate for any salt loss. This can be tricky though. I would just get a good hydrometer and test weekly. I orded a new hydrometer called a aerometer sold by fishsupply.com. It should be here today. I am interested to see how it compares with all the other salinity gauges I have. I hear they are excellent. You cal also build your own water top off system, they are very easy to make.

[OctoMonkey]

Is nitrite more poisonous to cephs than ammonia? I always presumed that ammonia would be worse. I did read an online report that suggested that nitrate only affected cephs when it came to breeding.
Still, I know what this hobby is like; ask a hundred different aquarists and you get a hundred different answers.

Chris, do you add iodine and other trace elements for your octos?

[cephalopoder]

Here is a great link on care Colin written by John Forsythe at the NRCC. According to this, nitrite is more dangerous.
http://www.nrcc.utmb.edu/cephhusbguid.htm

I use reef crystals, so with water changes I don't need to add any thing. I add it to my mantis tank, but I have coral in with the mantis, I don't have any coral in with octo because lighting is too low.