Cautions: things to do (and not) very conservatively

Sk8r · 01/05/2014, 06:33 PM

1. disturbing a sandbed. If you have a strong sandbed in a large fuge that can take up some of the slack, you're safer than if you had nothing; but any time you stir up your only sandbed, you run a certain risk of a tank problem, from mild to bad. The deeper the sandbed, the worse the risk. That said, I run a deep sandbed myself, and find no need to disturb it. Not overfeeding and maintaining enough bristleworms, brittle stars, and crabs keeps my sand in pretty good shape; add a couple of watchmen and a jawfish and my sand gets cleaned by experts, without disturbing too much of it at one time. ANYTIME you have no choice but work with a sandbed, do just a little section at a time.

2. Removing something like bioballs or filter medium that's been supporting your tank only so-so. YOur sandbed may not be adequate yet if a filter has been taking a lot of the nutrient. It's like the disturbance-thing in #1. Go slowly. Take out a few or a layer at a time, and let your sandbed recover between jolts.

3. don't get too impatient with an algae situation: sure beats a wasteland of white and death. A tank goes through a lot of changes: gets green, gets brown, gets a lot of varieties of algae. It seems to go hair > bubble > cyanobactera (not actually an algae, but bacterial) ---and the more exotic forms that may have drifted up from your sump/fuge or come in on a rock. If you have algae arriving on a rock, don't cultivate it unless you're sure what it is, and if it's caulerpa, get it out, especially if you have a small tank. But in general, don't freak. Rock and sand (and tapwater) arrive with megadoses of phosphate, which fuels algae blooms: the worse news: it's not all on the surface of the rock, so it just keeps leaking out into the water. I've been battling hair algae for a couple of months, and it's just a matter of using GFO, NPX, and phosphate remover until the last of it has gone. Ultimately you'll win. If a rock's really bad, consider flipping it: the dark underneath will help kill off the algae so the GFO can grab its phosphate and get it out of the system. The problem with getting something to eat it WITHOUT a GFO reactor---the critter poos it back into the system, and algae takes it up again as fertilizer. You need a reactor or something similar.

3. dosing stuff: in general, if you have stony coral, just dose magnesium, calcium, and buffer. And do your regular water changes. If you don't have stony coral, just do your water changes. As a beginner, you're going to make a few mistakes: don't make them with additives or go putting things into your tank that you don't have a specific test for. In general, your water changes and salt mix take care of these things. Read the label on your salt mix: you'll see.

4. adding new fish. If you had something die, DON'T replace it until you know what killed it, and if it was disease, be sure your tank is clean. Quarantine new fish. Again,a s a beginner, you're going to have water quality issues, and if there's some parasite loose or a disease available, the water quality problems are going to make it far, far, far more likely your fish will catch whatever it is. Bad water compromises a fish's slime coat: that's what he uses as a barrier between himself and problems. So keep your water spot-on in parameters (my sig line has good ones), quarantine, and don't run get another fish too soon, and you can get into this hobby without losing fish.

CoralReeForrest · 01/06/2014, 01:37 AM

Bump! I'm confused lady's and gentleman, you're in the noob section. That implies your probably a noob! So read Sk8trs posts, then read them again! Then ask noobish questions! So that way we all as noobs learn! Lol thank you for a quick tip write up sk8tr!

Fisher2014 · 01/06/2014, 12:22 PM

Are there species of watchmen and jawfish that can reside in a 55 gallon tank?

CoralReeForrest · 01/06/2014, 05:02 PM

Most of them can, jaw fish are jumpers and as such you will want a screen on the top of the tank.

Dan90 · 01/06/2014, 07:13 PM

Thanks for the tips. I do have to ask about a Emerald Crab I had. Just got him and had him about 30 hours is my best guess. I put him in QT but he died. He was shipped to me and when arrived had almost no water in the bag. I could not check salinity. I floated the closed bag about an hour then opened it up and with a turkey baster added very small amounts of tank water over 20 minutes. Then put him in my QT. I feel really bad he didn't make it. Do you see anything I should have done different? I would have done a longer drip acclimation but felt with the small amount of water he had it would be bad to leave him in that bag with the ammonia concentration.

My water

1.024 Salinity
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5 nitrate
8.4 Alk
500 Cal
80 Temp

01/06/2014, 07:13 PM	#5
Dan90 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Concord,Ca Posts: 101	Thanks for the tips. I do have to ask about a Emerald Crab I had. Just got him and had him about 30 hours is my best guess. I put him in QT but he died. He was shipped to me and when arrived had almost no water in the bag. I could not check salinity. I floated the closed bag about an hour then opened it up and with a turkey baster added very small amounts of tank water over 20 minutes. Then put him in my QT. I feel really bad he didn't make it. Do you see anything I should have done different? I would have done a longer drip acclimation but felt with the small amount of water he had it would be bad to leave him in that bag with the ammonia concentration. My water 1.024 Salinity 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 5 nitrate 8.4 Alk 500 Cal 80 Temp Last edited by Dan90; 01/06/2014 at 07:20 PM.

01/05/2014, 06:33 PM	#1
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Cautions: things to do (and not) very conservatively 1. disturbing a sandbed. If you have a strong sandbed in a large fuge that can take up some of the slack, you're safer than if you had nothing; but any time you stir up your only sandbed, you run a certain risk of a tank problem, from mild to bad. The deeper the sandbed, the worse the risk. That said, I run a deep sandbed myself, and find no need to disturb it. Not overfeeding and maintaining enough bristleworms, brittle stars, and crabs keeps my sand in pretty good shape; add a couple of watchmen and a jawfish and my sand gets cleaned by experts, without disturbing too much of it at one time. ANYTIME you have no choice but work with a sandbed, do just a little section at a time. 2. Removing something like bioballs or filter medium that's been supporting your tank only so-so. YOur sandbed may not be adequate yet if a filter has been taking a lot of the nutrient. It's like the disturbance-thing in #1. Go slowly. Take out a few or a layer at a time, and let your sandbed recover between jolts. 3. don't get too impatient with an algae situation: sure beats a wasteland of white and death. A tank goes through a lot of changes: gets green, gets brown, gets a lot of varieties of algae. It seems to go hair > bubble > cyanobactera (not actually an algae, but bacterial) ---and the more exotic forms that may have drifted up from your sump/fuge or come in on a rock. If you have algae arriving on a rock, don't cultivate it unless you're sure what it is, and if it's caulerpa, get it out, especially if you have a small tank. But in general, don't freak. Rock and sand (and tapwater) arrive with megadoses of phosphate, which fuels algae blooms: the worse news: it's not all on the surface of the rock, so it just keeps leaking out into the water. I've been battling hair algae for a couple of months, and it's just a matter of using GFO, NPX, and phosphate remover until the last of it has gone. Ultimately you'll win. If a rock's really bad, consider flipping it: the dark underneath will help kill off the algae so the GFO can grab its phosphate and get it out of the system. The problem with getting something to eat it WITHOUT a GFO reactor---the critter poos it back into the system, and algae takes it up again as fertilizer. You need a reactor or something similar. 3. dosing stuff: in general, if you have stony coral, just dose magnesium, calcium, and buffer. And do your regular water changes. If you don't have stony coral, just do your water changes. As a beginner, you're going to make a few mistakes: don't make them with additives or go putting things into your tank that you don't have a specific test for. In general, your water changes and salt mix take care of these things. Read the label on your salt mix: you'll see. 4. adding new fish. If you had something die, DON'T replace it until you know what killed it, and if it was disease, be sure your tank is clean. Quarantine new fish. Again,a s a beginner, you're going to have water quality issues, and if there's some parasite loose or a disease available, the water quality problems are going to make it far, far, far more likely your fish will catch whatever it is. Bad water compromises a fish's slime coat: that's what he uses as a barrier between himself and problems. So keep your water spot-on in parameters (my sig line has good ones), quarantine, and don't run get another fish too soon, and you can get into this hobby without losing fish. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/06/2014, 01:37 AM	#2
CoralReeForrest Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Redding,Ca Posts: 1,010	Bump! I'm confused lady's and gentleman, you're in the noob section. That implies your probably a noob! So read Sk8trs posts, then read them again! Then ask noobish questions! So that way we all as noobs learn! Lol thank you for a quick tip write up sk8tr!

01/06/2014, 12:22 PM	#3
Fisher2014 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 90	Are there species of watchmen and jawfish that can reside in a 55 gallon tank?

01/06/2014, 05:02 PM	#4
CoralReeForrest Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Redding,Ca Posts: 1,010	Most of them can, jaw fish are jumpers and as such you will want a screen on the top of the tank.