Fishy Business

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

Even the urchins like eating dandelions now.

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DELTEC’s newly released media reactor - FR 90- is so new, they do not even know which hose size fits. I found out by accident that it is a 14 mm ID. Very nice build and very versatile.

It's their smallest reactor with 1,200 ml capacity, which I will be using for activated carbon (replacing my lifeguard reactor which I am not a fan of (albeit good enough for a nano tank)).

I am already using its predecessor for adsorber media and a tiny sicce nano pump.

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psidriven said:
why does it have those extra fittings for? It looks similar to their carx lids.
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Yes, I believe they merged a kalkstirrer with the media reactor in that new product design. They still have their CARX, but you are right, it seems that this can be easily upgraded to a CARX at a later point, by purchasing the accessories they sell for this.
 
I thought I had dinos again, but I am glad I always have a microscope ready to check, and given the high nutrients I am running these days, it seemed unlikely.

Looks like these are diatoms - tank video with focus on the sandbed and three different videos of the microscope slide taken from the sandbed.


My working assumption right now is that the significant reduction in flow by removing two of the four gyres I was running previously might have contributed to this. It also only in the front part of the tank.

A good reason to activate the Tunze Stream 3 I had bought but not yet installed.

I also sent out an ICP today (lets see how long it takes this time) to get more insight.

Any other thoughts?
 
Darkxerox said:
How's your copepod population? They usually bulldoze diatoms.
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Good question. I have been thinking about them in a different context, but it would not harm to add a gallon of them.

Update: Ordered 1/2 gallon from them, plus 25% off with code Summer25.

dinkinsaquaticgardens.com

Reef Snacklebox™ - Three Species Copepod Blend

Our Reef Snacklebox™ is a mixture of three different species of copepods: Apocyclops, Tisbe, and Tigriopus. It's specifically designed to feed even the most finicky of fish, provide excellent nutrition to your coral, and provide a serious boost to your cleanup crew.
dinkinsaquaticgardens.com dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
 
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Current status update, re the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Flatworms (LPS, softies) are the biggest annoyance at the moment. I have no clue how to get rid off them in a non-medical way, and I do not have space for more fish, except some smaller dragonets, etc. Lanthanum dosing (to fight flatworms) works to some extent in the nano tank, but I am still hesitant to use this for this tank.

I recently dipped all leather corals in RODI for 1 minute. Terrible idea. Not sure what I was thinking. The yellow leather recovered the quickest. The neon green toadstools seem to be slowly coming back after 7+ days, looking very dead; some small polyps are occasionally showing.

Still need to remove some rocks from the tank and replace potentially with arches from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I am also interested in getting more of their live sand. If anyone from San Jose/due to the airport location, is interested in sharing an order, please reach out.

Sand is mostly ‘white’ again after replacing the gyres with freshly cleaned ones.

Performing 30% water changes for 9 weeks in a row. Very little impact on nutrients, unfortunately. This happens when you address a symptom and not the root cause.

 
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Alexander1312 said:
Current status update, re the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Flatworms (LPS, softies) are the biggest annoyance at the moment. I have no clue how to get rid off them in a non-medical way, and I do not have space for more fish, except some smaller dragonets etc. Lanthanum dosing works to some extent in the nano tank, but I am still hesitant to use this for this tank.

I recently dipped all leather corals in RODI for 1 minute. Terrible idea. Not sure what I was thinking. The yellow leather recovered the quickest. The neon toadstools seem to be slowly coming back after 7+ days looking very dead, some small polyps are occasionally showing.

Still need to remove some rocks from the tank and replace potentially with arches from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I am also interested in getting more of their live sand. If anyone from San Jose/due to airport location is interested in sharing an order, please reach out.

Sand is mostly ‘white’ again after replacing the gyres with freshly cleaned ones.

Performing 30% water changes for 9 weeks in a row. Very little impact on nutrients unfortunately. This happens when you address a symptom and not the root cause.

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I added 3 wrasses to my frag tank haven't seen a flatworm in 2 months. Took them 2 weeks to pretty much wipe them out.
 
MichaelB said:
A melanurus, a green corsis wrasse and a yellow corsis wrasse.

Your melanurus wrasse must identify as a tang lmao.
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Tempted to buy a couple of more wrasses, but my son will not allow me to. This was a planning mistake when thinking of utilitarian fish and flatworms were not an issue until a year ago when we added the vegetarian melanurus wrasse.
 
Will your son allow one or two Chrysiptera springeri Damselfish which are known flatworm eaters? That is if wrasses are out of the picture..Or trading in the melanurus for another melanurus in hope it may be a better pest eater..Also may try feeding live black worms or white worms..They stay alive for a few days on the bottom. Most all fish love them including the vegetarians.. Live food can trigger more aggressive feeding responses and may get the wrasse to start picking off flatworms. ..Sometimes may have to cut down on overall feedings to get wrasses hangry so they will go after flatworms which other fish will disagree with splashes! Lol . I normally feed twice a day, sometimes once, at times I skip a day due to short camp/fish trips. Fat happy fish can get lazy going the tv dinner route when they don’t have to hunt their food at all. Have you observed your wrasse hunting amphipods on the rocks?
 
I'm surprised about the melanurus not eating flatworms. Turn off the flow and use a pipette or turkey baster to blow the flatworms off the corals so the fish can see them wriggling in the water column and develop a taste for them. I did this when I was had planaria on my lps. All the fish from wrasses to royal gramma learned that it was meal time and would wait near the coral I was blowing off. Haven't seen any since.
 
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