Jestersix

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

phc567 said:
It’s a hierarchy. It’s going to happen every time you add a new fish. That’s why your supposed to add least aggressive to aggressive.
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Yes, I knew about this principle but was unaware that the Whitetails were so aggressive, and we thought it was the least aggressive. We thought the trigger was more aggressive, and I was not planning to add a yellow tang (purple was the plan previously, but heard it was too aggressive).
 
Looking great so far Alex! What app are you using to keep inventory of your fishes? I like how it shows how long you’ve had them.

Tangs will always be aggressive with each other no matter when you add them. Great to hear they are buddies now!

As for additional fish I would recommend a couple reef safe wrasses. Maybe some type of Fairy Wrasses or a Blue Star Leopard Wrasse since you have sand. A few Anthias would look cool too since you have an open aquascape. Also highly recommend a tiger’s tail cucumber to keep your sand clean.
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Looking great so far Alex! What app are you using to keep inventory of your fishes? I like how it shows how long you’ve had them.

Tangs will always be aggressive with each other no matter when you add them. Great to hear they are buddies now!

As for additional fish I would recommend a couple reef safe wrasses. Maybe some type of Fairy Wrasses or a Blue Star Leopard Wrasse since you have sand. A few Anthias would look cool too since you have an open aquascape. Also highly recommend a tiger’s tail cucumber to keep your sand clean.
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Thanks so much, TJ. I am using Aquarimate for the app to log everything and to schedule chores etc. Has been super helpful except synching across devices had some issues for a while but these seem to have been resolved.

I have not had really experience with aggressive fish except the pygmy angel that @DaddyHook took into his care since he was not getting on with the other fish (probably tank was too small).

Thanks for the fish recommendation. Hard to find agreement in our house :), there is still some disappointment that we cannot have a foxface, now all other options seem to be second best choices only…I def want wrasses, I like the Melanarus wrasse, but all the Leopards are great too. The Anthias issue is that we would need to feed them super often, so I am hesitant with that commitment - still not sure how we should handle vacation…

As for the cucumber, Kenny also recommended this to me, I am just worried if they die and release all their toxins, but given the depth of the sandbed, this could be needed soon.
 
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Need practical advice: The blue throat has been eating (very) well, and is super extrovert when it comes to feeding.

There is no bullying (anymore) from the tang(s).

However, almost 100% of the time I am in front of the tank, he would be in his corner, as per this picture, except an hour or so before feeding time (feed twice a day).

Is this normal behavior? Or something that will improve over time? Or something which tells me to do something different?

IMG_1338.jpeg
 
Yeah. It’s normal. He’s scared of you. Mine was like that too for a long time. That’s why nfs scapes aren’t good. He has no place to hide. They like to wedge themselves in the rock. Don’t stand in front of the aquarium like a giant. Instead sit on the same level or a little below.
If you really want to see what your fish are doing. Put a Wi-Fi camera on it.
 
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phc567 said:
Yeah. It’s normal. He’s scared of you. Mine was like that too for a long time. That’s why nfs scapes aren’t good. He has no place to hide. They like to wedge themselves in the rock. Don’t stand in front of the aquarium like a giant. Instead sit on the same level or a little below.
If you really want to see what your fish are doing. Put a Wi-Fi camera on it.
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Thank you. Could clarify a couple of things. What is a NFS scape? Also, I could build him another hiding space with the live rock, but he actually never wants to go to the bottom of the tank. What type of hiding space would you recommend for him?
 
Alexander1312 said:
Thank you. Could clarify a couple of things. What is a NFS scape? Also, I could build him another hiding space with the live rock, but he actually never wants to go to the bottom of the tank. What type of hiding space would you recommend for him?
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I don’t know how your aqua scape is. I can only speak to what mine likes. He likes holes. Not really caves. The hole has to be where he can pop his top fin up and wedge himself in there and watch you.
Sorry. I got fat fingers. NSA aqua scape. Your fish need hide holes. Basically. Even if you make them. They might not go in there.
Blue throat is pretty hardy. I wouldn’t worry too much. When you look in feed them. Then they will know your the guy with the food.
I would put a cheap camera on your aquarium. Just to see if there is aggression. Keep an eye out for torn fins. My fish usually hid in the corner like that when there’s aggression. Cuz a fish keeps him there.
 
Thank you very much for this insight.

NSA = negative space aquascape. Sorry guys, I am not great with these acronyms and had to google this :).

I have a webcam for the glass I used previously during vacation. I might permanently install this now for the larger tank.

Panasonic HomeHawk Window Home Monitoring Camera

IMG_1339.jpeg
 
Last Saturday I sent out a Fauna Marin ICP to try out their testing, which appears to provide additional content and insight. So it took 6 days including shipping to Louisina to receive the results, which is pretty good.

This was meant to be a baseline test, and the next step would be to share the results with Captiv8 to adjust the trace element dosing according to these results.

Several parameters were out of balance but overall not a bad result. However, the one item that confused me was the difference between PSU and PPT when it comes to salinity. Apparently my salinity was too low as my PSU was 33.8.

My Milwaukee can measure PPT, PSU, and SG. I typically use PPT after several reading in my earlier reefing days (not too long ago :)) that this would be a reliable measurement to go by. Several rounds of Triton ICP testing confirmed that my salinity was at around the 35 PPT I am targeting, confirming that how I use the Milwaukee and the Milwaukee itself being reasonably accurate.

Fauna Marin states that PPT and PSU are equal, i.e., 1 PSU = 1 PPT. However, when I measure PSU with the Milwaukee, this is typically one unit below the PPT amount. So their ICP results appear accurate and suggest that I should increase salinity, but I am concerned that this would overall be too high - any thoughts on what I should do?

Other parameters out of balance were the following:
  • Idodine is rather high: apparently a common issue when using Captiv8 IsolMT. I might need to reduce the dose for now and dose their individual traces.
  • Zinc too low
  • Copper too low
  • Manganese (far) too high: This is interesting, but the gonies currently LOVE this.
  • Iron too high: This is something I had previously too, I feel this is a Tropic Marin Pro Salt issue, and probably not a big issue.
  • No Chromium detected - need to be dosed
  • No Cobalt detected - need to be dosed
  • Aluminium too high - I might need to act on this rather soon.
 

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Alexander1312 said:
Last Saturday I sent out a Fauna Marin ICP to try out their testing, which appears to provide additional content and insight. So it took 6 days including shipping to Louisina to receive the results, which is pretty good.

This was meant to be a baseline test, and the next step would be to share the results with Captiv8 to adjust the trace element dosing according to these results.

Several parameters were out of balance but overall not a bad result. However, the one item that confused me was the difference between PSU and PPT when it comes to salinity. Apparently my salinity was too low as my PSU was 33.8.

My Milwaukee can measure PPT, PSU, and SG. I typically use PPT after several reading in my earlier reefing days (not too long ago :)) that this would be a reliable measurement to go by. Several rounds of Triton ICP testing confirmed that my salinity was at around the 35 PPT I am targeting, confirming that how I use the Milwaukee and the Milwaukee itself being reasonably accurate.

Fauna Marin states that PPT and PSU are equal, i.e., 1 PSU = 1 PPT. However, when I measure PSU with the Milwaukee, this is typically one unit below the PPT amount. So their ICP results appear accurate and suggest that I should increase salinity, but I am concerned that this would overall be too high - any thoughts on what I should do?

Other parameters out of balance were the following:
  • Idodine is rather high: apparently a common issue when using Captiv8 IsolMT. I might need to reduce the dose for now and dose their individual traces.
  • Zinc too low
  • Copper too low
  • Manganese (far) too high: This is interesting, but the gonies currently LOVE this.
  • Iron too high: This is something I had previously too, I feel this is a Tropic Marin Pro Salt issue, and probably not a big issue.
  • No Chromium detected - need to be dosed
  • No Cobalt detected - need to be dosed
  • Aluminium too high - I might need to act on this rather soon.
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If you want to bring down the Fe and Mn, try growing chaetomorpha in a refugium. Mine is constantly stripping the water of these two elements. As for the Al, is your stand aluminum? That's an odd one to have high since it's not in many pieces of equipment in our tanks.
 
Darkxerox said:
If you want to bring down the Fe and Mn, try growing chaetomorpha in a refugium. Mine is constantly stripping the water of these two elements. As for the Al, is your stand aluminum? That's an odd one to have high since it's not in many pieces of equipment in our tanks.
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I do have a refugium with cheato and a couple of other macros. I only started this a few weeks ago so still growing I assume and not taking up the traces enough apparantly.
 
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