Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)

[melev]

Mikester there are other flatworms that are evil too, but usually the ones we hear about most are the red planaria and then some larger ones that eat corals.

I wonder if these are harmful to fish perhaps? Can you tell if any are on the lethargic clownfish?

If you only see one, siphon it out.

For a cheaper top-off solution, check out floatswitches.net - it comes with everything you need, including DIY plans for free.

[thedude15810]

Let's all hope that Mike's clown pulls through tonight and eats like normal in the morning. And flatworms are infinitely annoying in my opinion. Hey Mike, maybe stop with the FWE as I've got another suggestion for us to try, that Prazipro stuff I've used for clam pinched mantle. It kills them dead and is reef safe so maybe instead of using rat poison, we use a cyanide (this is all in jest obviously as you should never put cyanide into your tank).

For others benefit, Prazipro is a diluted praziquantel (sp?) medication used to treat flukes and protazoans, including flatworms. I actually know of a wholesaler in LA that buys this stuff in bulk (not cheap) and flushes their systems every month. I've never experienced ill side effects from its use.

As to the overflow question, I've never had a problem with the CPR overflow (Mike has my old one). The main key is the aqualifter pump, or a gravity drain on the same hole, and the prefilter for the aqualifter. The only other HOB overflow that I can recommend with any certainty is the Lifereef overflow that uses U-tubes. Personally, I trust u tubes just about as far as I can throw them. Priming them is a pain in the ***, and if they lose their siphon (such as in the instance of a power outage) you have a potential flood.

Come on Dori... I mean Nemo... I mean Dori... Now Mike's daughter has me confused as to who is who.

[kuang0923]

thanks for your sharing!
i will get a new tank soon>_<
this is a good exps for me...hope i can do better then last time:P

[Dudester]

Last night as I was about to do the water change, something told me not to do it. Since my testable water parameters were fine (I specifically mention "testable" since who knows what else is going on in that microenvironment that we don't test), and I had been running a fresh pound of carbon for 3 days after my last FWE treatment, I felt like there was little chance of FWE toxicity and a water change would only stress the fish more. So I refrained. I checked on the fish in the middle of the night and it appeared to be OK. I didn't turn on the light so I can't comment on its respirations, but it was swimming upright in its usual spot. This morning when I left the house at 6:00 it remained in the same place without obvious signs of distress, although again I can't comment on its respirations. I saw it make some brisk movements while swimming so I hope that whatever was bothering it is resolving . I may have been a little premature with my "red alert" but I observe my tank very closely and this definitely represented a change in this fish's behavior and appearance.

melev - You're right in that I could have easily siphoned out that single flatworm. I didn't do it for 2 reasons. First, I felt like it would be like ****ing in the wind (can I say that?), since I assume that if there's one on the glass, there must be many, many more on the rocks. Second, I was going to observe this single worm to monitor the effect of my FWE treatment.

I inspected the lethargic fish very carefully last night when I noticed something was wrong. His skin and fins were free of any signs of trauma, infection, or parasites. His eyes were clear and his belly remained fat. I'm hoping that he has adequate reserves from when he was in the QT to keep him nourished after skipping a meal last night. Maybe tonight I'll offer him frozen mysis shrimp if he doesn't accept the usual prepared meal, that is, if he's alive when I get home. Yes, I'm worried.

John - Sure, I'll try the Prazipro. I have a bit of a prejudice against FWE (maybe this is unfounded), and I'd prefer to use it as a dip as opposed to the standard tank treatment. Do you know if the protocol (carbon out, treat, carbon in, water change, etc.) is the same?

bcoons - There's no problem having the level controllers of the Osmolator in your display tank. I did this before my sump arrived and it worked like a charm. If you choose to do so, however, make sure you use the included mounting devices and DON'T tape the cords to the tank like I did. Late one evening (actually early one morning) my tape came loose and the float alarm fell into the tank, which set off the alarm. LOUD!!

Like John said, I'm using his old CPR overflow. Aside from the noise, I'm very happy with it. This concern should not be minimized - it makes some noise! The AquaLifter pump and prefilter for continuous siphoning is a MUST, in my opinion. When I initially installed it my siphon didn't work for some reason. I basically had to stand there and adjust the flow from my sump return pump by tweaking the ball valve until the overflow was able to keep up with the return volume. I was extremely nervous that if I walked away, the tank would overfill and my living room would flood. Once the siphon was established, all of my concerns were completely alleviated. That sucker drains every drop of water it sees, and the CS-90 (the one I have) is rated to handle 600 gph. My Mag 5 return pump at 5' of head probably only returns about 250 gph, so I've got a lot of confidence in the overflow to handle the volume. I currently manually unplug my sump pump and CL pump during feedings, and before plugging the sump pump back in, I ALWAYS look to ensure that the AquaLifter pump is functioning. After using it for just over 2 months, the prefilter is already dark brown/black, so I'm going to change it out (also on my holiday list).

IMO, and as John already said, the sump would be worthwhile. With increased system volume, your water will be much more stable. The real estate in your tank can be used for fish, corals, and other livestock instead of a skimmer, heater and top-off device. And it's something else to tinker with! Afterall, this IS a hobby. I can't recommend a specific pump for your return until you give more specifics about your sump setup (head height, plumbing size, etc.), but I will say that I've been very happy with my Mag pump. Just remember that if you intend to use a SCWD, it will reduce your pump's output.

kuang0923 - What happened last time?

[Dudester]

Well, my paranoia about my fish was justified. I just got home and found him dead. Very discouraging. Very sad. Out.

[bcoons]

Damn, Dudester, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hate it when something like that happens for no apparent reason. You don't know whether you're doing something wrong, or if the fish is just succombing to something natural. I'm having the same problem with the neon tetras in my little FW tank at work. They occasionally die for no apparent reason. Testable water quality good, etc.

On a related note, after bragging about how well my little tank was doing, my purple chromis (probably dottyback) went MIA two days ago. No sign of a body, didn't jump out, no ammonia spike from a decomposing body. I'm pretty sure the condylactus anemone got it. It has the fully inflated, happy look it gets after it feeds.

I'll be interested to hear the forensics and post mortem on the clown, once you get over it. Maybe between all the informed folks on the thread someone can come up with some plausible causes.

Again, sorry.

Bruce

[Bax]

Sorry for your loss

But don't be discouraged sometimes you just can't prevent such a thing with a new specimen

[thedude15810]

To be perfectly honest, I have no real idea why this latest clown died but in no way attribute his death to Mike. In my experience (and as a sort of obvious) the shipping process on fish is very very stressful and many fish simply can't make it in the aquarium hobby, no matter how well you're able to care for them.

A good example of this is an absolutely gorgeous 12 inch naso tang I got for one of my store displays about 2 weeks ago. He had the beginnings of streamers and was about 3 inches fat, and was simply a perfect fish. I couldn't wait to see how my babying of him in a 215 gallon tank would result. However in a mere three days, he hadn't eaten. He then had a terrible bacterial infection beginning from the eyes of the tang and following him laterally. I tried a treatment with Melafix, was unaware that was I had was pond strength Melafix, and the fish died. This is after 100 gallons in water changes and a change in tanks. I blamed myself for this beautiful fish's death and estimated his age at some where around 4. But the fact remains, that I knew how to take care of him, provided him with the best environment I could, but this fish didn't want to live in captivity. It's fish like this that make this hobby a real challenge to stay in at times.

I guess the moral of my story is that Mike treated this clown like a king and took every precaution to ensure his survival. Even with a QT tank, inevitably fish will be lost, it's our job to put this loss at an absolute minimum.

Every fish I lose and I'm sure all of ya'll lose is a terrible experience. Let us learn from every death to help as many new fish brought in as we possibly can.

John

[Dudester]

Moderators, can I change the title of this thread to "Come Watch My Little Tank of Death" or is that title already taken?

But seriously, I don't know what's going on in my tank that makes it lethal within 3 days. First it was the blackray shrimp goby that died after 2 days, then my previous female percula clownfish that died after 3 days, and now a juvenile clownfish who did EXTREMELY well in quarantine for 3 weeks, and dies in my display after 3 days. The problem is that I don't know what I'll do differently next time. Maybe the larger female picked on the little male so much that the stress was too much for him to handle, although aside from the one fin nip that I previously described, there were no additional signs of trauma. I also considered that maybe something in my food is poisoning the fish, but this is unlikely since my other clown is very fat and happy, and John feeds his tank from the EXACT same batch of food without any problems. My only other thought is that there may be a predator of some type in my tank that's killing these fish, but as closely as I monitor this tank without seeing anything suspicious and the lack of trauma to the fishes all but refutes this as a possibility. I'm not sure if I'm more sad for the fish or more disappointed in my husbandry skills (or lack thereof).

I'd hate to be the next fish introduced into my tank - the odds of making it are pretty bad. Maybe I should have heeded Borneman's advice that I quoted on p. 2 of this thread, when he mentioned not adding any fish to a tank until 8 months to a year? At this point I'm a little gunshy of getting any more clownfish. I really wanted to find a mate for my current fish, but she appears well-adapted to the single life.

bcoons - Unfortunately the post-mortem exam was extremely brief, just a gross inspection of all external surfaces. There were no worms, lesions, or evidence of malnutrition, and in fact that small fin loss was already regenerating. Sorry to hear about your chromis - they're a difficult fish to keep. On a lighter note, glad your anemone is happy!

Bax - Thanks. It would be easier to swallow if I could attribute the death to a new addition that I could presume was ill when I got it, but I can't ignore how well this fish did for 3 weeks while in quarantine. I won't give up and will certainly try again after the holidays are over, but maybe with a six line wrasse instead of a clownfish. I've sterilized my QT and I have a sponge soaking in the sump at the ready.

John - Thanks for the kind words, and I truly hope it wasn't my fault but I just can't be sure.

Let us learn from every death to help as many new fish brought in as we possibly can.

Ditto and well said, just not sure what I learned from this experience. I'll have to ponder this further.

[Dudester]

I can't go into the weekend with this thread on a down note, so I'll try to focus on the positives. I still can't figure out why that fish died, but I did learn a lot about quarantine tanks and I feel like I have a good one for my next fish. There are tons of spaghetti worms on my rock and substrate, and sponges are starting to grow on my LR. I've also seen several mollusks (bivalves) on and behind my aquascape. Aside from the toxicity from FWE treatment, my invertebrates are doing quite well. I'm also encouraged that I am able to not only keep corals alive (even SPS) but I have also demonstrated their growth in my system. I guess I must be doing SOMETHING right. And I thought corals were harder to care for than fish?

For all you Monty Python fans out there, "And now, here's something completely different."


Remember this zoo rock?


I had been wondering what the larger zoo-like things were and it was suggested that they were Palythoa, but after doing some research I believe that they are Protopalythoa. They had been growing and spreading at an alarming rate and crowding out the more desirable green zoos, so I decided to take action. Last weekend I removed this rock from my tank and in a separate container filled with tank water, I extracted them individually with a hemostat, then scraped the rock with a razor blade. I was never happy with the large size of this rock since it took up a lot of real estate, so I then broke it with a hammer into 4 different pieces. Admittedly a few of the green zoos were sacrificed in the process, but I now have several smaller zoo rocks with almost no protopalythoa (a few got past me) that I can disperse throughout my tank. A bonus was that during the "dissection" of this rock, one of my missing orange Ricordea florida polyps showed up, hidden beneath the zoos. It was completely retracted and shrivelled but alive nonetheless. I placed this small polyp on one of the fragmented zoo rocks, and enclosed this in a mesh bag which I placed in my sump. It's been 6 days since I did this and I think one evening next week I'll take it out of the bag to ensure that the ricordea frag had adhered. If so I'll relocate this to my tank.

[Dudester]

Almost forgot ... I need to add that while working with the zoo rock, I wore latex gloves. This is very important since zoanthids can release a toxin that can be absorbed through the skin and may not be well-tolerated.

[Dudester]

No comments? OK, I guess I'll just keep this thread rolling. I'm going to do a water change today, so I guess this is as good a time as any to tell/show how I do it. I was initially changing about 10 gallons every 2 weeks, but I increased it to every week in order to cure my clownfish of its lymphocystis. Now that it's cured I think I'll go back to every 2 weeks. I don't have the most simple or automated setup for water changes, but it's functional and I can do it in about 20-30 minutes.

First of all, I mentioned the specs of my RO/DI unit previously. I got it here, and here's a picture of it. Due to its weight when full of water I mounted it onto a piece of wood (that I painted and beveled the ends for improved appearance), and the wood was drilled into the wall studs. This unit is mounted over the utility sink in our laundry room. I collect the waste water and we use it for house plants, and any extra goes into the pool. The 5 gallon waste buckets fill about every 20-25 minutes and it's a PITA carrying the water outside to the pool, but I hate to waste the water. I place the waste water buckets in the utility sink while they're being filled in case I forget about them and they overflow, and that extra water goes down the drain, but I try to minimize that.



What's that you say? Overkill for my little 30 gal tank? Yes, I agree, but it will be just perfect once I get my monster system in the future . For those of you who don't remember, I'll describe the different chambers. Perched horizontally on top is the 50 gpd Dow RO membrane. I want to upgrade this since it takes about 1.5 hours to make 5 gallons of RO/DI water, so a 100 gpd membrane is on my holiday wish list. Looking from right to left, the first chamber is a 1 micron sediment prefilter. The next 2 chambers are the "blaster" carbon filters. They're more than just the standard carbon block filters in that they remove all chloramines as well. I'll quote the website: "Activated catalytic carbon for chlorine and ammonia removal (NH2CL). Also removes other volatile and organic compounds." There are two of them because this (supposedly) improves their efficiency. The last 2 chambers on the left are dual DI chambers that contain a color changing resin. This lets me know when they're no longer working and require replacement. The good thing about this is that they work on a one-at-a-time basis. The chamber on the right has nearly turned red all the way to the top (you can see the color difference in the above photo), and once it peaks out I'll shift the DI on the left to the right-sided chamber, and I'll replace the used DI. The blue square unit is a "total dissolved solvent" meter and the water I'm making has a TDS of 0.

Ideally the RO/DI water produced by this unit would drain directly into a storage container. I do have a 40 gallon storage container but it's in the garage (right outside of the laundry room), and I'm meeting resistance about putting a hole in the wall to pass the necessary tubing. Currently I have to remember to turn off the sink when my 5 gal container of RO/DI is full, and carry it out to my storage vessel. I have a feeling that all I have to do is "forget" that I'm making water one day, the laundry room will flood, and there will be much less resistance regarding that small hole in the wall .

I mix my saltwater in two 20 gallon trashcans, and the water is constantly circulated with a MaxiJet 900 powerhead (one in each can). There's also a heater in each trashcan so that my water is ready to use at an instant's notice. Through some trial and error I have figured out how much water and salt to add to these containers in order to make water at a salinity of 1.026. I marked the inside of these trashcans with a "fill line" for RO/DI water, and I have a separate container that I marked as well with a salt "fill line." I simply fill the trashcan with water to the fill line, then fill the salt container to its line, then slowly add the salt to the trashcan with the powerhead on. In less than 24 hours the water is clear and I always check it with my refractometer to ensure the salinity is where I want it.

Here's my garage work area. Forgive the sloppiness, I had just finished a FWE treatment and my mesh filter bags were being hung out to dry.



In the corner is the black 40 gal storage container for RO/DI. I have a float valve and an auto-shutoff device that I can plumb into it once I have "permission" to drill that little hole in the wall. By the way, for when I'm ready to do that, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should seal around the tubing that passes through the wall so that bugs/cold air don't get into the house from the garage? Next you see the 2 trashcans where I mix and store my saltwater. The rest of the gear requires no explanation.

So for my water changes, I suspend all detritus from my rocks with a turkey baster then siphon out two 5 gal buckets of water from my display. If there's detritus built up in my sump I'll siphon that out as well. Before draining the tank I have 10 gallons of mixed and aerated saltwater sitting beside my cabinet at the ready. Here's how I move water from one container to another. I used to use a bucket and scoop it, but now I use this.



It's just a MaxiJet powerhead fastened to some flexible tubing. When I want to transfer water, I just drop this into the source container, plug it in, and let the pump do the lifting for me. I also use this device to transfer my new saltwater from buckets into my sump during water changes.

If anyone has a better idea on how I can do this, please let me know. I'm considering plumbing some bulkheads into the storage container and trashcans and placing a Mag pump in each one of them. When I need to transfer water I could simply turn a ball valve on the external plumbing and bingo. This would kind of be like Weatherson's setup, but not nearly as sophistocated. Overkill? Maybe, but it seems like something fun to do.

[Yose]

Nice set up. I really like what you've done with the 30 Cube!

The only thing I would look into is those hose clamps you're using. Stainless steel, in or near saltwater, will rust. I'd consider getting some nylon wire ties to use as hose clamps. They work pretty well, especially on power heads.

That's one monster of an RO/DI

[Yose]

oops...

[Dudester]

Yose - Thanks for your comments, and that's an excellent suggestion about replacing the hose clamp. I just happen to have a gajillion electrical ties at home; I'm sure I can find an adequate replacement. I see in your sig that you have a 30 gal as well. I checked your gallery and didn't see any pics. What's up, no love for the 30 now that you have a huge tank?


By the way, ever since I saw that one rogue flatworm on my glass 3 nights ago, I haven't seen another one, and I didn't treat with FWE. Maybe they're gone?

[bcoons]

Nice set up, Mike. Very similar to what I am doing (but I wish my garage was as neat!)

I made a quick run to Austin this morning to get some items. Hit both the LFS, but managed not to buy anything.

I'm doing a 5 gal water change on my 20 gal tank every other week. I'm also mixing (store bought for now) RO/DI water and salt in a 20 gal Rubbermaid Brute trash can (in yellow, to distinguish from my (gray) FW set up. Also using a powerhead and heater, and use the powerhead and hose to transfer to the main tank.

I'd also like to do something like weatherson's setup. I'm looking to make some sort of a wheeled dolly that will get the can far enough off the floor to install a bulkhead fitting and a 90 degree right in the bottom of the bucket. Then a pump and a ball valve switch arrangement so I can use the pump to either circulate and areate water in the can, or pump it up to my tank.

Eventually I'll get an RO/DI unit under the kitchen sink, then try to get "permission" to put a Rubbermaid bin next to the microwave stand. It's not THAT ugly.

As for the tube thru the wall, an old ham radio trick to route co-ax cable outside with a neat seal is to use a couple of the wall plates designed to pass the TV co-ax cable. The hole in the wallplate is just over 1/4 in and can be drilled or reamed out a little if necessary. You can either just drill a hole through the walboard and just screw or RTV the wall plates on the wallboard, or go whole hog and cut a couple of back to back rectangular holes on either side of the wall and install the open back, plastic, low voltage junction boxes sold at any home improvement store. That's how my son and I did a lot of the wall penetrations when we were wiring the house for CAT 5e. I don't see why you can't do the same thing with the RO/DI plastic tubing. Hope that made sense! If not, I'll try to find some pictures.

One question - How long do you let your saltwater mix "age"? I've heard various guidelines of 1 to 4 days. I've been making mine on Sat mornings and usually do the water change on Sunday afternoons. Is that long enough, you think?

Bruce

[Dudester]

Hey Bruce, I think as long as all of the salt has totally dissolved and it's mixing vigorously enough to ensure good oxygenation, then 1 day would be long enough. I think you've already answered the question, though, since your tank inhabitants are doing well. If your technique was off, your fish/corals would rebel when you did a water change. I personally prefer to allow the salt to mix and aerate longer, which is why I have 2 trashcans for saltwater. Got room in your garage for another 20 Brute? I guess mine probably mixes for a week or more before I use it. I completely empty one can before tapping into the other. I read that you can store saltwater for a long time without it deteriorating in quality, so that's why I do it this way. Hope this is correct, and if not, someone please correct me. Hmm, maybe that's why my fish are dying? No, couldn't be.

The wheeled dolly idea is great, but you wouldn't necessarily have to elevate your can. The plumbing inside could simply rise up to wherever you place your bulkhead, right?

Thanks also for the info about passing the RO/DI conduit through the wall. I think I'd have a better chance for this project to be "approved" if I don't cut out a large rectangular hole and instead, make the cuts only as large as the tubing itself. I like the idea of using the wall plates, and I can envision a few 90 degree J-G fittings to keep things adjacent to the wall. Yep, that should increase the approval rating substantially.

Am I on the right track? Any other ideas?

[Dudester]

No updates lately, I know. I've been involved in a very intense experiment testing how much I can neglect my tank. The system is about 3 and 1/2 months old now, and I've been so busy the last 6 days that all I've done is make sure my topoff container has RO/DI. I've fed the tank only 4 times in the last 6 nights (usually an enjoyable daily task), I've emptied the skimmer cup only twice (usually every other day), and I've not run any water chemistry tests.

The good news is that everything is alive and well. The bad news is that there are many more gray flatworms stalking my glass, coralline algae is thickening on the glass, and I may have a bryopsis problem. Initially I thought it was just green hair algae but after seeing photos of bryopsis, I may have this as well. This weekend I plan to do a FWE treatment, large water change, and manually pick out as much of the GHA and bryopsis as possible. I'm preparing for a week-long trip away for the holidays, so I'll have to tune up the system as much as possible.

I have someone to come over to the house to feed the tank, but that's all she'll be doing. I'm going to label and wrap up individual portions of food for each day so that all she has to do is drop it in a cup of tank water, let it thaw, then drop it into the tank. She won't be turning off my CL flow pump or the sump pump, so I'm sure a lot of the food will drain into the sump. I think this is a better option than to have her turn off pumps and forget to turn them on. I think I'll have her feed every other day. The corals will do OK with just light, and my surviving clownfish is so fat I'm sure he won't become malnourished.

I'm not going to ask her to dose B-Ionic either, but I haven't been doing it myself over the past several days. Hmm, wonder what my calcium is? I'll check it this weekend. I think it's OK as my little acro frag is laying down a nice base.

[bcoons]

Dudester,

I hope your trip away from the tank goes better than mine. I just got back from a quick business trip to Pheonix. I left on Tues and just got back. I left the tank in the usually competent hands of my wife and son.

My wife says the Royal Gramma went MIA on Tuesday. Same as the Purple Pseudochromis. No sign of a body. But the Condy anemone looks happy and healthy. Then this morning she found the body of the Ocellaris Clown on the sand. No idea what killed it. I checked all tank parameters and the only thing slightly off was a little bit of nitrites, < 0.25 ppm, which is troubling. Did I miss an ammonia spike due to a fish being digested by the anemone, and only seeing the Nitrites?

Now I'm really wondering what the heck happened. Did the anemone really eat another of my fish? And what killed the Clown. This is really discouraging. It will teach me not to talk about how well my tank is doing.

I hope your trip ends much better.

Bruce

[hootie51]

Mike, this thread is incredible! I've just spent the last hour and a half reading from start to finish. I am about to embark on my own reef adventure in a month or so (with a 40 gallon stretch hex) and am doing some research and have found your story very helpful. I'm going to build my own sump/refug out of a 20 gallon and I cannot figure out how to make a closed loop system like yours. I'm not very "handy" and am nervous about attempting to do it so any suggestions or tips are appreciated. THanks, Steven
P.S. your tank looks AWESOME! truly an inspiration.

[Dudester]

Bruce - Sorry about your losses. This is a finicky hobby, especially when dealing with small volume systems like ours. Now imagine how fragile the really small (1-12 gallon) nanos are. Just yesterday I had mentioned how everything was alive and well. I guess I spoke too soon. When I got home last night, I found the tissue of one of my blasto polyps sloughing off into the water column right before my eyes. This morning the skeleton was completely denuded. The other 6 polyps are fleshy and healthy, so I'm not sure what happened. Admittedly I haven't been giving the tank the attention it deserves over the past week and maybe if I had been I could have intervened, but I can't say for sure.

I think you're right in that there probably was an ammonia spike while you were in Phoenix. I'd do a big water change if I were you. You may wish to spend some serious quallity time observing that anemone, and if it indeed is feasting on your fish, get him out of there . I think John may have warned you about that particular species of anemone as well.

hootie - I'm impressed that you've spent so much time on this thread, and glad you feel it was worth it. The closed loop was a little intimidating, I'll admit. I knew absolutely nothing about plumbing and in order to get the materials necessary, I simply printed a picture of the CL from Melev's website (I linked it earlier) and took it to Home Depot. After waiting 20 minutes for some help, one of the guys there looked at the image with me and helped me find all of the necessary fittings to make the CL. When it came time to assemble it, I had some help from John who showed me how to connect pieces of PVC. We did about 1/3 of it together and I did the rest myself. It was really quite easy and actually pretty fun, so don't be too intimidated. If you don't have anyone local who can show you how to connect PVC, let me know and I'll spell it out for you. Best of luck and keep us updated on your progress.


Anyone have any advice about anything else I should do in preparation for my week of absence?

[Dudester]

Today I got some green star polyps. I did a 15 minute dip in Lugols solution plus some Flatworm Exit before adding it to my display. I used 1 gallon of water and added 40 drops of Lugols and 5 drops of FWE. I placed the GSP at the bottom of my tank, and I'll move them up over time to acclimate them to the light. No pics as they've only been in the tank for about 5 hours and they're nearly maximally contracted from the dip (I presume). A few polyps are extended so I know the dip wasn't lethal. Interestingly my flatworm population is dwindling off in my tank without any treatment. Not sure why but it pleases me, and I didn't treat the tank with FWE this weekend. Wish I could say the same for my bryopsis population - it continues to thrive, but I'll get after it tomorrow.

Last night I got an early holiday gift - the Reef Keeper!!! It's taking all the discipline I can muster not to hook it up, and I'm resisting since I don't want to risk anything going wrong with it while I'm away next week. Hope I can hold out.

[bcoons]

Hey, I want to see that Reef Keeper, too!

I guess I'm also going to have to learn about this "dipping" stuff before I get any corals. I thought you just sort of plopped them into the tank after some acclimation. I guess I still have a lot to learn.

Check your PM!

Bruce

[melev]

40 drops of Lugol's Solution sounds like much too much to me. Where did you get that recipe from?

A few years ago, people told me to dose Iodine. I bought some Lugol's and put a drop in my 29g. Then I thought "what the heck will a drop do? I'll add another just for good measure." Suddenly my clownfish started seizing, gaping their mouths widely and struggled to swim, breathe and I swear their eyes got larger. What on earth could I do?! Nothing. I didn't have new saltwater made up nor a place to put my fish. I just stood there helpless watching my fish hoping they'd survive my stupidity. That was 2 drops in a 29g tank. The fish did survive, although it was scary for about 5 to 10 minutes. I never overdosed my tank again after that event.

40 drops in 1 gallon sounds like it could do quite a bit of harm to a new coral that is already stressed from bagging, transport, and reacclimation. But if someone reputable gave you this advice, please let me know because I really want to know.

[Dudester]

Bruce - There's definitely more to acclimating corals than that. They must be adjusted to the temperature and pH of your tank water, and each coral has different light and flow requirements. Be sure to read profusely about each coral you plan to aquire, and try to avoid the temptation of going to a LFS and buying something just because it looks good to you at that moment.

Marc - Interesting story about your fish, glad it ended well. The bottle of Kent Marine Lugol's Solution reads, and I quote, "To use as a dip for corals, in a separate bucket add 40 drops Lugol's Solution to 1 gallon aquarium water, and immerse coral for 10-15 minutes." I made up the volume of FWE (5 drops) based on Salifert's instructions to add 1 drop per gallon of system water. Following my "dip," I rinsed the coral off in a container of fresh, pure saltwater to rid it of the iodine and FWE before placing it into my tank. I presume it was stressed after the dip but I certainly didn't want to import any undesirable hitchikers. Do you have a better recommendation, I'd love to hear it.