Cirolanid Hunter's 75g New Tank Journal, Research, Pics and Hunting Tips

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by melev
Great. After you post the pictures, I'll decide if I want to go to that trouble. It is easier to just slip in a new membrane, which I have on the shelf. But i do want to know how long this one will last.

Wait a minute. You stated above you flushed it and ended up with sludge, but then your next post states you forgot, need to bring it home and install it. What am I missing here?

I need to be more clear huh? Clear as mud? Anyway, I temporarily removed the flow restrictor from the waste tube so that I could flush the membrane. I put it back in to make my water last night.

I'll be installing the flush valve kit probably Tuesday night and testing everything again.

Brian

[melev]

Doh! That's right, you did say that.

[BrianPlankis]

Day 290 Update

Yet another mixed bag update, is there ever an awesome update? Maybe someday.

I did a 5gal WC Sunday and took some readings:

Salinity: 1.0275
Ca: 410
Alk: 9.0
pH: 8.0
Nitrate: 0.0

So my readings are right where I want them, just need to raise the alk and pH slightly and I'll be just maintaining from now on.

My monti cap has passed away. It looks like I'll wait a while for my next SPS coral. The funny thing is that the birdsnest, while still brown, is growing like crazy, 4 new branches already. My yellow porites, even though at the bottom of the tank, is growing as well. I think I'll try a motipora digitata next before I try another cap.

Things are looking slightly better now that the RO/DI water is 0 TDS. 3 of my zoa colonies are still sick though. The RC zoa dip has been performed, we'll just have to see how they do. I personally think it is the salt. I'll be switching back to Kent salt after my current Crystal Seas salt runs out (2-3 months from now). At least the cyano is starting to die back with the 0 TDS and more frequent skimmer cleanings.

The fish have started writing demands for a bigger tank in the algae covering the walls of their QT. I expect to see a picket line next.

I had not seen any cirolanids for about 10-14 days or so and my much downtrodden hope was starting to piece together. So I decided to crush it again and try a new trap. I'll post a picture soon, but I think this will be THE trap to get rid of the cirolanids. I basically took a jelly jar, rubber banded an inverted water bottle top with one hole for entry. I caught 3 adult cirolanids last night on the first attempt! I saw one in the trap and decided to shine the bright flashlight at it to see if it could escape. It swam around and around the trap and could not find its way out. I think I saw it flipping a certain middle appendage at me as I laughed at its futile attempts to escape.

Adding those 3 to the count, I'm approaching 400 of the buggers caught. This new trap looks really promising though, I'm excited the fish might be able to move in by Christmas.

Brian

PS. My flush valve kit has disappeared. No clue where it went. I personally think Tim the super mantis heard I was mocking him from Texas and decided to have the flush valve kit kidnapped. I'm expecting a poorly written and wet ransom note to show up soon.

[patsan]

Sorry to hear you caught more c-pods Brian. But....if this is the trap of all traps, then you should get them all soon (hopefully)

I wonder why your monti cap died?
What do you want to get the alk up to?

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
Sorry to hear you caught more c-pods Brian. But....if this is the trap of all traps, then you should get them all soon (hopefully)

I wonder why your monti cap died?
What do you want to get the alk up to?

Yeah, my never ending bug supply. I really think this trap will help, at least that is what I'm hoping

Not sure why the monti cap died, although my Ca was low (around 310-320) when I first put it in the tank and it also fell on the sandbed a couple of times. My next SPS will be securely mounted.

I want my alk to get up to around 10-11.5 dKH. Mainly because when meaty foods are fed to the tank the alk drops by .5-1.5 dKH units.

Brian

[patsan]

Originally posted by CirolanidHunter
I want my alk to get up to around 10-11.5 dKH. Mainly because when meaty foods are fed to the tank the alk drops by .5-1.5 dKH units.
Brian

For everyone's tank or just yours?

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
For everyone's tank or just yours?

For everyone's tank, depending on the chemical makeup of the food. I think it was Eric Borneman or Randy Holmes-Farley that first talked about the alk dropping when fatty foods are added to the tank.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

I am planning on a large tank and propogation setup at my next house and I'll occasionally place useful information here as reminders to me.

I was lucky enough to buy three Icecap 430 electronic ballasts for VHO/T5 lamps for DIRT cheap, so I have my propogation lighting ballasts taken care of.

An Icecap430 will handle up to 12 feet of total lamp length.
An Icecap660 will handle up to 16 feet of total lamp length.

An interesting thing from an icecap thread is that a 660 makes actinics 20% brighter, since I'm using a 660 to run a little under 8 feet of lamps, I wonder if that is the reason my actinics make things pop so much....hum....

I might even use NO bulbs over one of my softie prop tanks, here is a good article:
http://www.icecapinc.com/rev1.htm

Some interesting large tank threads I've found:
450 gallon system:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=664086
400 gallon system:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=574147
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=672541
1000 gallon system
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=694341

Some interesting propogation setup threads I've found:
33 Long tanks:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=669994
Show off your prop system:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=588631
Aussie Reef:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=587528
Anthony Calfo's Improving Progation Thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=708423

That is about it for now. Can't wait to have the new house

[BrianPlankis]

Hello all,

I just realized that I have made 1000 posts! I must really babble on RC Anyway, Melev pointed out an article that I want to read in the future when I think about bubble tips anemones:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/in...ipanemones.htm

Anemones in Captive Systems Part 1:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/in...a/anemones.htm
Part 2:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anempt2.htm

Clownfish and Anemone FAQ on RC:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=282136

A brief note on my tank:

When I made the switch to Crystal Seas salt I noticed that 5 of my corals went into decline (1 colt, 4 zoas colonies). The 4 zoa colonies are showing signs of recovering now, but the colt coral remains bleached and I'm worried about it. Due to my cirolanid problem I am unable to feed food to the colt. I am feeding phytoplankton, but I'm not sure that helps colt corals, I'll be reading my Sprung book on soft corals tonight for tips.

I'm not sure it was the switch to the new salt, or the fact that my RO/DI water was a TDS of 70-100 for 2-3 months. Now that the RO/DI is back to zero, my corals look better with each new WC. I'm debating about doing a 25-35% WC soon to see what happens. I'm happy to report that this colony of zoas has recovered after losing about 1/4 of its polyps to the decline:



I'll keep monitoring things to determine if I need to switch back to Kent salt sooner. The cyano in the tank seems to be diminishing and taking longer to come back after siphoning out.

Brian

[jnarowe]

zoas look beautiful!

[melev]

There really isn't much you can feed a colt coral. It is a leather, and healthy water is ideal. Leathers like dirtier water with more nutrients, as do ricordia, zoanthids, and other softies.

I've used a few salt brands now, but for the most part I'm happy with Kent.

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

I'm always trying to make sure I don't make bad livestock choices for my reef tank. I've always liked the colors of the cleaner wrasses and was even considering buying one at some point in the future. Luckily, I found this article that changed my mind:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/labroide.htm

So please read it and realize that cleaner wrasses are a bad choice due to their poor survival rate and how the natural reef suffers after their removal.

A pretty alternative that is tank raised is the ORA Neon Goby that readily accepts flake food, sometimes acts as a cleaner fish and is not hurting the natural reef

http://www.orafarm.com/gobies.html

I would be interested to hear if anyone has had either of these fish and how they were/are in your tanks.

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

Well, the time is approaching, my 2 large agrocrete rocks are nearly cured and I think I'll be adding them to the tank this coming weekend. This will mean a complete restructuring of the aquascaping. I'm going for a more open rock structure with less rock touching the sand and one of the pieces I'm adding is a large shelf, so it should look a lot better after the redesign.

Here are the before pictures I took this weekend, excuse the dirty glass, I decided to wait to clean that until I rescape:

Full Tank:


Left side:


Center:


Right:


I also got a decent picture of my orange ricordia. It still is not fully attached, I'm not sure if it doesn't like this rock or what, but I'm going to see if it will attach the rest of the way with no mesh irritating it.



Brian

[melev]

Looking at your coralline growth, it doesn't appear that your urchin is doing too much damage.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by melev
Looking at your coralline growth, it doesn't appear that your urchin is doing too much damage.

Nope, although they recently worked over my rock with my two brain corals (right side photo with the two brains on it). It is pretty white now. I actually have three urchins in the main tank, all the size of the one on the right side.

They seem to focus on one or two rocks for a while and then switch to their next victims. So far my coralline has no trouble repopulating faster than they eat.

The odd thing is that they don't seem to eat it off the walls that much, maybe harder to remove?

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

Hey all,

I've been on RC for a few years now and I still find threads that are amazingly helpful almost weekly. They often trigger thoughts like "If I had ONLY known this a year ago". Here are a few threads/articles I think are GREAT:

Tank Maturity Discussion (Extremely good discussion on beginning a tank and the cycles that take place!):
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=249112

DSB installation
http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

Algae issues:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=687314

Quarantining:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=684888
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ature/test.htm

Skimmer Production:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=554786

Refugium Tips:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=462212

Chemistry Issues (More than you ever need to know!):
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=102605

Brian

[BrianPlankis]

The tank continues to chug along. Of course there continues to be good news and bad news.

The good news:
1. No cirolanids seen for 12 days now, including a couple of baited trap nights. I will continue to monitor and be on the lookout for these nasty guys.

2. It looks like my job and my wife's job will both be changing next year and I think that will increase our income and possibly lead to my dream of a larger tank and a dedicated fish room in 2-3 years

3. Water parameters continue to remain stable and my clownfish are happy and growing in the QT.

The bad news:
1. Many of the corals in the tank are not looking very good, even with water parameters stable. A couple of the zoanthid colonies are in complete decline (including my favorite mean greens) and the colt coral has never recovered and is shrinking. While there could be other factors at play, I've decided to abandon the Crystal Seas salt and switch back to Kent.

2. I found Kent salt for $40 + tax locally! I bought two 200gal buckets I'm going to perform a 5-10gal water change tonight with 30% Kent and 70% Crystal Seas and follow up with another WC on Saturday when I rearrange my rockwork with a 50/50 mix. I'll be doing 2 WCs a week to hopefully get it back to nearly 100% Kent by Christmas.

3. I discovered a 6 inch long Eunicid worm living in my sand bed. I was too tired to remove it, hopefully it is there again tonight and I can fish it out.

I know, boring post without pics, but thought I would do it anyway

Brian

[patsan]

Brian, you've got good and bad news in that post. Good no bugs, you might earn more $$ and the Kent salt find locally. Bad about the corals not looking too swift. Hopefully, with the salt change, things will perk up and start growing back for you.

[melev]

Double check your salinity against another measuring tool (maybe at your LFS perhaps), and run some carbon actively. That may help your unhappy colt and zoos.

[BrianPlankis]

After 6 hours the rock rescaping is done. Except for minor changes to the top rock I think I won't be doing that again Unfortunately all pictures of the aquascaping didn't turn out good, need to wait for MH to show the new design.

I found another reason why my cirolanids were still reproducing despite no food being added to the tank. I found 8 dead turkey wing clams when moving the rocks. DOH!!

I tried capturing my mantis, but putting seltzer in the three rocks I thought it was in yielded no mantis. I'll have to try the mantis traps later, otherwise it will be a permanant resident!

Tank parameters this morning:
Salinity: 1.028 (need to get this down, I forgot to measure the salinity of my 10 gals of WC water!! It must have been high)
pH: 8.0
Nitrite: <2 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Mg: 1200
Ca: 370
Alk: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.03 or less

Need to raise the alk and Ca a little and we'll see if a little cycle happens from this work.

I went to the holiday party yesterday and I picked up 4 frags: 1 red shroom with blue dots, 1 green nepthea(won it, probably will sell), 1 green tipped frogspawn and 1 green acro with blue tips (Probably acropora Icantpossiblytellthespeciesata). Here is the acro (mounted like Eric Borneman suggests) and the frogspawn. It was two heads, but one broke in transit We'll see how much of the broken head survives.

acropora Icantpossiblytellthespeciesata


Frogspawn last night:


Frogspawn today:


Here are the two big rocks I added, a three footed arch and a shelf:




More pics in my next post....

[BrianPlankis]

I took advantage of the extra time I had last night and did some fragging:

This one will be to establish a second colony:


This one will be to trade at the next local frag swap:


A pretty picture of some cup corals:


A couple of pictures that show my two candy canes almost exactly what they look like under actinics in my tank




Days without Cirolanids spotted: 16

Brian

[patsan]

Days without Cirolanids spotted: 16

That's the best news so far!
Your corals look great. I just love those candy canes.
How can you tell the turkey wings were dead? Do they have a gross smell or something?

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by patsan
Days without Cirolanids spotted: 16

That's the best news so far!
Your corals look great. I just love those candy canes.
How can you tell the turkey wings were dead? Do they have a gross smell or something?

Yeah, the longest I've gone without seeing any is 3 weeks, approaching that mark, and I've used the trap 3 times during those 16 days, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Some of the shells were actually wide open, so those were easy. But several more looked normal, just felt really light, so I peeked inside the shell and saw it was empty. At least they were all past the smelly stage

Brian

PS. Oh, one very sad note I found one of my three porcelain crabs from TBS dry on the canopy this morning It must have jumped off a rock when I was taking them in and out. I might need to order some from Richard the next time a Houston group order goes out.

[jnarowe]

I found a fish from my FWP DOF (dead on floor) today. What a maroon!

[BrianPlankis]

Jnarowe,

Sorry to hear about the fish loss, gotta hate those jumping fish!

Days without Cirolanids spotted: 18 (6 trap attempts)

I finally got pictures of the reaquascaping! Here is the before full tank shot:



And after the aquascaping:


Now for the closeups:

Left side:


This will be mostly zoas and ricordia up top and mushrooms at the bottom since the rock structure isn't too high here. The brains are in a much better spot now.

Left center:


This is where my zoa rock is and one of my candy canes will be epoxied under the left arch if it likes that spot.

Right center:


My shelf up top will be my SPS area, directly under my right MH light. The big rock under the shelf has two great sides to let monti caps grow out and not block light for anything below.

Right side:


This will be home to my frogspawn and hammer corals and I left a lot of open sandbed for a clam (my wife wants one). A lot of the hitchhiking TBS corals were put up top so they won't grow up into the flow of the SEIO.

While I'm sure I'll tweak it a little, this is very close to what I pictured in my head. At least 50%, probably closer to 70%, of my sandbed is open for my fighting conchs and a clam. I have many tunnels and openings for fish to swim through and amaziningly enough I have PLENTY of places for frags I'll slowly be epoxying things in place over the next couple of months.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. The fire coral colony is going to be sold as I can't find a good place for it. Other than that this is pretty much how I want the rock structure.

More pictures in a minute.

Brian