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First Reef Tank - Beginning the Journey

It’s looking like this one closes after it gets enough light, before the lights turn off. It does seem like it might be getting too much light. Unfortunately it appeared in a bad location closest to the lights. Not sure if they can be moved without dying. @Wilson might know what kind it is since it came from his rock.
A good way with Zoas to tell how much light they like. Is as follows

if they tend to be fat and squatting they are getting to much light

if they are thin and long. As if they are reaching for the sky. They are not getting enough light.
 
Unfortunately I probably won't know what zoa's they are, I have a rough time keeping up with the names :dance:


Tanks coming together nicely!
 
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Salted

NJRC Member
Hi!!!!

Carib Sea Special Grade Reef Sand 40 Pounds ....Cheaper at PetSmart than Amazon. If you use PetCo points: Petco also carries the same sand and will price match the PetSmart price. PetCo will give you free shipping too. Search Results | PetSmart

Nice stand! Where did you find it?
And better yet @CosmicMan , if you have a local Petco, buy online and do curbside pickup and they take an additional 10% off.
 
Alright so first pair of clownfish came with the first set of issues. Ammonia, Nitrites zero and Nitrates low.

One of them has gills (both sides) that are protruding and it’s lips look injured. The fish is eating and appears to be acting fine. The other fish does not have any issues and seems to be showing dominant behavior. I am thinking maybe the dominant fish injured him? It appears submissive to the other fish after a week together.

Its hard to see in the photos but it’s the fish on the left. LFS said to come by and pick up some meds with no further information. What do you think? Have you seen this before? It looks worse in person.

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Mark_C

Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Moderator
Possibly gill flukes. If so, better treated sooner than later (antibiotics or freshwater bath).
 
Possibly gill flukes. If so, better treated sooner than later (antibiotics or freshwater bath).
Thanks a lot. I googled gill flukes and found a video of someone doing a fresh water bath. The fish looked like it had similar issues. Will try this out and see how it goes.
 
Just finished the bath. Did not see anything come out of him. Keeping an eye out now. Hopefully gets better soon.

Could it be anything else?
 
So looks like the fish is unchanged by the freshwater bath and a week of PraziPro. I am starting to think this gill issue is permanent damage. Not sure what else to try. The clown is acting normal and eating and appears to be enjoying the company of the other clown.
 
Hi All, thought I would post an update. It has been a while since I started and its been a journey for sure. Everything seems to be happy. Hoping to add more corals after the holidays.

Here are some photos that I took this week:

IMG_5257.jpgIMG_5252.jpgIMG_5251.jpgIMG_5249.jpgIMG_5250.jpgIMG_5259.jpg


I have been battling green hair algae so I tried adding a bigger clean up crew. Unfortunately, I think that the hermit crabs I have love to kill all snails.

To help I tried building an algae scrubber shown below. It seems to be working but its taking a long time to colonize with green hair algae.

Was thinking of adding a tuxedo urchin.

IMG_5027.jpg
 

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Looks great! Best of luck with it.

I don't buy crabs any more. They like to eat snails and small slow fish.
 
Love my urchin but just be aware if there is a loose frag he will eventually “steal” it and carry it around. I have removed so many things from mine but not enough to deter me from having him. He does a good job cleaning and is also entertaining to see what he decides to carry around. He also found a plastic screw I dropped in tank that I thought was lost.
 
Love my urchin but just be aware if there is a loose frag he will eventually “steal” it and carry it around. I have removed so many things from mine but not enough to deter me from having him. He does a good job cleaning and is also entertaining to see what he decides to carry around. He also found a plastic screw I dropped in tank that I thought was lost.

That's a great reason to get one. "Will find your lost screws".
 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
Hi All, thought I would post an update. It has been a while since I started and its been a journey for sure. Everything seems to be happy. Hoping to add more corals after the holidays.

Here are some photos that I took this week:

View attachment 33112View attachment 33113View attachment 33114View attachment 33115View attachment 33116View attachment 33117


I have been battling green hair algae so I tried adding a bigger clean up crew. Unfortunately, I think that the hermit crabs I have love to kill all snails.

To help I tried building an algae scrubber shown below. It seems to be working but its taking a long time to colonize with green hair algae.

Was thinking of adding a tuxedo urchin.

View attachment 33119

On the scrubber screen... What do you consider a long time? Usually you start to see growth the first week. Every week there should be more (nutrients permitting). You should scrape it weekly regardless otherwise the the underside of the algae spots that have growth will start to die and will fall off the screen and put nutrients back in the tank. After a 3-5 weeks you should be scraping a nice full screen.
 
On the scrubber screen... What do you consider a long time? Usually you start to see growth the first week. Every week there should be more (nutrients permitting). You should scrape it weekly regardless otherwise the the underside of the algae spots that have growth will start to die and will fall off the screen and put nutrients back in the tank. After a 3-5 weeks you should be scraping a nice full screen.
It’s been about 6 weeks now. I was wondering if maybe the algae in the tank was out competing it. It seems to be growing better now since I scrubbed all the rock. Might also need to rough up the screen a bit more. Right now I have random patches of green algae on it.
 

DangerDave

NJRC Member
It’s been about 6 weeks now. I was wondering if maybe the algae in the tank was out competing it. It seems to be growing better now since I scrubbed all the rock. Might also need to rough up the screen a bit more. Right now I have random patches of green algae on it.

As rough as you can make it. I take a hole saw and go to town. Make it as rough as you can...
 
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