Idaho-Tank build... Starting over

Another Idaho reefer here as well. Where are you from?

 

I have added 2 peppermint shrimp to take care of hitchhiking aiptasias on two different occasions over the past few years and the aiptasia have disappeared and I have never seen the peppermint shrimp again! Just my experience.

 

From Boise

 

Day 16

Got home today after being gone for 6 days. I lost about 5 gallons of water to evaporation which is about what I expected. Everything looked fine other than a small amount of micro algae that was growing on some of the sand and glass. I had the lights running for 6 hrs per day while I was away.

I immediately saw the YW Goby and eventually found one of the peppermint shrimp so I assume everything is alive and well. My wife is convinced that the Goby grew... lol. Still have not seen the tiny pistol shrimp since putting him in the tank.


My water tests looked great

SG = about 1.025 +/- (still waiting for my refractometer)
Temp = 78.5
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0

After the tests I siphoned off some of the algae from the sand and did a 20% water change. My clean up crew from John at Reefcleaners.org will be sent out tomorrow - so help is on the way. Fortunately the algae bloom was a minor one and is no where to be found except on some of the substrate and glass. The macro algae I have in my sump is doing really well and growing. Won't be long before I will be thinning some out.

Good news is that I had around 10-15 aptasia in my display tank when I left.... I now have 2!!!! And they are the larger sized aptasia. So the peppermints appear to be doing their job! I will be buying a 3rd peppermint to put in my sump as I have a few aptasia on some of my rock in the fuge as well. I just hope I can keep it from going through the bubble trap and into my return chamber.

I did notice however that it appears I have something else spreading in my tank that may not be good.... Need help identifying this guy. It appears to be out more when lights are off and when the lights come on it shrinks. When I touched it, it would retract but slowly - not nearly as fast as the aptasia. It almost looks like a mushroom when the lights are on but when the lights are off it looks more like an anemone with white balls or tips on the end of each tentacle. So any ideas?

Here are some photos of what Im talking about - this is not the same one but looks the same - its just that one was out of the light and easier to photograph. So here it is when contracted:


And here is a similar one that is shaded from the lights and not contracted.


Other question... I will be heading to Boise this coming weekend and might be adding another fish or two or coarls if my water tests keep looking good. Wondering what tests I should think about adding to my pH, Ammonia, Nitrate & Nitrite tests. Calcium? Additionally, what supplements or anything else should I be considering if any?

Lastly a couple more photos from the tank...
Mr. YW Goby and some Zooanthids that was on a piece of my live rock.

 

nice eagle eye zoas! defienetly one of my favorites

 

Received my CUC from John Maloney at reefcleaners.org today. I purchased a crew rated for 60 gallons to start.

I didn't try to count them but I was supposed to receive this:

60 Dwarf Ceriths
22 Nassarius
30 Florida Ceriths
22 Nerites

Im sure I received this many or more of each.

Two blue legged hermits snuck their way into the shipment too... lol. One of the Larger snails has an Oyster growing on his back and on the back of the oyster is a barnacle.

This is by far the most snails I have ever had in my tank. This is a CUC rated for only 60 gallons! The snails all appear to all be alive and well and were packaged great. I received the package 2 days after it was sent - shipped via priority mail which was free.

In addition to the CUC I also bought a third type of macro algae - some Gracilaria. I also bought 2 red mangrove seeds. I've never grown macro algae or mangroves in my sump before so I am actually enjoying this part too. For the Mangroves I followed directions and also added them to my Refugium.

My CUC pile right after being added to the tank.



Current photo of my sump... The Caulerpa and Chaeto are growing great - wont be long before I will need to start trimming. I have live rock in both the refugium and filter chambers - I have Caulerpa in both but Chaeto and Gracilaria in only the refugium.



Here you can see the two Red Mangrove seeds and how I put them into a piece of foam so they float half in half out of the water.



Anyway, I would recommend talking to John at reefcleaners.org to anyone looking for snails, hermits, macro algae etc...

 

Nice Sump. I talked to John also and I will be ordering my CUC soon.

 

I dont know if we covered this, but be sure to up your Magnesium to over 1300 for those seed pods. I had low mg and 3 of the five shriveled and died. The last to I abuse in my fuge but with the high mg they are flourashing

 

^ nope... haven't covered this. From the reading I have done - the mangroves should grow without any supplements (although may do better with some macro-algae fertilizer or iron etc..) as long as they have adequate water flow, light etc..

I don't currently have a test for Magnesium or a magnesium supplement.. So you are suggesting I get both huh?

FYI, Here is some of the info I found on working with mangroves.
Working with Mangroves

 

its good to have your MG up around 1300-1400 anyway, so yes, i would suggest a kit and suppliment. It will last a long time since most corals use just a little. Without a good bit of MG in the water the seedpods get alll black and nasty and die.