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29gallon newbie

JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Small more frequent water changes are better.
I coppied the below piece from Mynd's tale in the nano section. Don't know if it is true but for sure everything I have read the more frequent the water changes the better. Better to do 10% a week then 20% a month. Go do your water change and quiet talking to us ;).... BTW get a turkey baster and blow the stuff off the rocks before you take the water out and you can siphon some of the crap with the old water.

Re: Mynd's Aquapod - 01.07.07
« Reply #141 on: January 06, 2008, 02:22:40 AM »

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Thanks everyone for the kind words and I appreciate you actually reading the whole post Rehype. Just an update on the tank as it is.

After installing the new lighting I have since moved my phosguard and purigen which I change out every 2 months now into the first chamber under the filter floss. I basically just rinse this off each week when I do a 3 gallon water change on Sunday, every week without fail. Read an article awhile ago that basically said that your fish and tank get used to the change and actually look forward to it. You should not deviate or extend your water changes even by a few days as the tank will suffer if you do.

I have added a nice patch of Cheato to chamber 2 along with a digital thermometer probe. ( best place since I know what the temperature is prior to chamber 3 ) which now has a stealth 50 watt heater in it ( during the winter only ) I did this to keep the thermoelectric chiller/heater from turning on so often. Now it does not come on at all and is basically there as a redundancy.

Since the changes were made I am happy to say I have a big fat ZERO on my nitrates, no matter how much I may pollute my tank during the Wednesday Feeding.. lol jk.. a little on the true side. However, and I strongly urge those who are considering phyto in their nanos. Only dose 1ml a week after a water change and no more. Use of phyto in a tank will promote red algae growth ( not to terrible but its there ) so only 1ml a week! Other than the small areas of red algae that appear out of no place. oddly enough there is not one strand of green algae anyplace.. the rocks are bare.

Everything seems to be growing well and the colors are starting to really POP. Unfortunately my camera does not have white balance so you are just going to have to deal with these photos as they are

Enjoy... I know you have seen them all before, but I have to show something .. heh
Click to expand...
 
T

timdmb

74 def not on purpose, been having temperature issues, i have a 150 theo hydor in the main tank, when i tried keeping the temp higher 76 at least i was having large fluctuations in temperature, 74 has been the best temp to really keep the fluctuations smaller, i do have another heather (that i had been using on a freshwater 100w hydor, but i feel its not reliable either so i guess that basically means im in the market for a better heater... ive posted here about it before but have had no real conclusion on what to get.... i know most people like using multiple heaters but with what i have id really like to try and keep it to one... more frequent smaller changes it is... (just another excuse to stare at the tank more)
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
No need to change a thing. That's not the start of hair algae. Looks like green coraline. Not the prettiest, but it won't hurt you either.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Heaters are like opionions everyone has one and they are all different.
I think the days of duel heaters are bit past. First most heaters now break in the off position. If you notice your temp going lower you will usually be able to run to Walmart for a replacement(not saying you should shop at Walmart but they are there and open 24hr). So with that said I would definately go out and buy a decent heater...I have the Stealth. Shatterproof black and die in off position.
They are on sale at Drs Foster.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...ubref=AA&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=0018715000000

I have 150W in my tank. Don't think you go wrong with a good heater...but don't have to spend a fortune either.
 
T

timdmb

yeah theyre at 2, i did about a 20 percent water change and used the phosban pro, i will recheck tommorow, and dose again as directed, i think i may be overfeeding, only becuase to initially get the gramma out of his cave i have to put some food in and then again once he comes out
 
K

KillaGoby

timdmb said:
ive been using anywhere from a half a cube of mysis to a whole cube a day
Click to expand...

Yikes! That might be alot. I can stretch a cube of Mysis out over the period of 2 days. I have a 70 gallon now with a male/female pair of Bartlett's, a female Bellus Angel, a male McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, and a FP Clown, with a bunch of corals in it. I melt the cube in SW, then I use a plastic syringe to squirt a small amount of food in to the tank. Just enough for them to eat before it drops to the bottom. I'll do that over the course of days with most frozen foods. Rod's Foods in my new favorite.
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
In my 29g I feed my fish ~2 quarter sized flakes of food every few days.

I don't really filter except for the rock and the chaeto in my HOB fuge.

If your phosphates are that high and you are using good ro/di water, I'd definitely cut back on the feeding.

29g FTW! ;)
 
T

timdmb

the problem is i only have the gramma and he hides in the cave mostly he wont come out if i put only a little food in the tank, ive seen him eat off the bottom once or twice so i dont think he's picky in that sense, even still if the food doesnt go into "his" corner he def wont eat it.... i dunno its a lil frustrating actually... maybe i need another fish wth him?... im using bottled distilled water but i have tested it in the past and came up with barely detectable phosphates (thats what i use for top offs) today i used carib sea water... i detected 0 phos in it
 
T

timdmb

ive never kept a fish that hid this much i have had somewhat reclusive fish but never like this guy, so feeding is kinda still a mystery to me, im obviosuly over feeding the tank, however i see my hermits loving the mysis to death... either way its a decent AH HA! as far as where the phosphates are coming from and why im noticing some change in the tank...
 
T

timdmb

so the saga continues today i found another dead snail but whats worse is my large halloween hermit had his legs ripped off him... removed everything he was still alive but i spared him the misery of dying slowly... altho over the last couple days i have noticed a slight decline in activity there was no real other indicator he was sick he was previously all over the tank doing hhis job happily... could this be a case of improper molting? could i have some other culprit running around that im missing?
 
T

timdmb

oh and parameters all check out similar to yesterday except calcium came up to 400 and phosphats were down between 1 and 2... temp still remaingin at 74,
 
K

KillaGoby

timdmb said:
oh and parameters all check out similar to yesterday except calcium came up to 400 and phosphats were down between 1 and 2... temp still remaingin at 74,
Click to expand...

Getting better. Make sure you test for alk too... Mag if you are dosing it...
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

Yep- if you are dosing anything-be sure to have a good kit to measure it. Personally I don't think mag needs to be dosed for a 29 gallon as I would hope your water changes are frequent enough to replenish trace minerals like that.

I am a wee bit concerned about the second snail death and the hermit losing it's legs. I have seen my hermits cannibalize each other by pulling one out of the shell to go after the soft abdomen - but never one to lose legs. Still it could just be "luck of the draw" and the inverts dying for natural causes. But best to keep an eye on the rest...what inverts are left? Also when you say snail dies - can you specify what type? I mean, the hermit isn't wearing the dead snails shell right?
 
T

timdmb

the astrea was flipped on his side and he had no suction leftlike u could see he was shriveled inside... but the hermit is a total mystery to me two legs looked as if they were pulled off and the rest of him was fine he was i spotted the legs first then i saw him under the elephant ear mushroom (spot he seemed to go to often) he was out of his shell(what was left of him at least and he seemed to be picking at whatever and eating like always just minus two legs, i dunno, its got me on edge tho... i dunno what else i could chalk it up to i highly doubt it was the other hermit i have becuase the other hermit is about 4 times smaller, all my other inverts consist of astrea and turbos, and a sand sifting star
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

oh - he was out of the shell but alive? That sounds like a case of the hermit outgrowing his shell - not having a new one to move into and dying. Most hermits that lack a suitable shell to grow into will try to kill a snail (hopefully bigger) to get the home...but it sounds like your hermit was bigger than all your snails and just couldn't find a new place. Years ago I had one of those hermits you pick up at Atlantic City (you know the ones they sell in souvenir stores, or the kiosks at a mall) - anyways - he lived for a long time (at least it seemed like it when I was young) and one day popped out his shell. He died in like two days. I read later that hermits without suitable shells to move into will force themselves out of their existing home...and from sheer shock die without a new home. In nature though they usually just get eaten if they don't have a shell.

The asterea- one could argue that it fell on it's side, couldn't get back up (common) and died. Or - it was malnourished already, fell off the glass and succumbed. Either or...when they are on their side it doesn't take long for the scavengers to come...
 
T

timdmb

and i have a ton of shells in my tank for him, a couple weeks ago he was trying them all out, and finally found a suitable one, in the last week i did see him switch shells once but he went back to the when he finally lost his legs in...
 
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