Cali Kid Corals

Cymen's 20G tall

ifarmer said:
i think having a mix station near your boiler or hot furnace is not good. the salt evaporation can harm those copper pipes.
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Oh, that is just my RO water storage. I mix in 5 gallon buckets next to the tank (with a spare power head and heater). Good to know though!
 
I've had a few spots of green hair algae break out (and some of the hermits are sporting green hair algae wigs). In changing my rocks, I put a lot of rubble/smaller rocks around the big ones. I realized this was a bad idea as it made it hard to clean the sand bed. So I moved all of those smaller pieces to the sump. Then I did a couple of water changes over the last couple days and each time vacuumed the sand bed quite a bit. I also turned the lights off and cut back a little on feeding.

There are also some good signs though: the coralline algae is continuing to spread over the rock (and a little on the glass). The Clownfish are happy. One of the rocks has a cave and the smaller clown is using it as a hangout when the bigger is a bully. But the smaller clown is also being more aggressive at feeding time which is great as I was worried it wasn't getting a fair share.

I think I'll do a couple more water changes over the next couple days then start the lights back up on a reduced schedule. If the green hair algae continues to grow, I would continue to do water changes (and vacuum the sand bed). I am also removing the green hair algae from the rock by pulling it off during water changes. So far, it's only two small patches so hopefully I can knock it out before it spreads.
 
Flagg37 said:
Are you sure it's hair algae? Do you have any pictures?
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Ah! I am only guessing. The patch on the rocks is fairly far back so it's hard to get a good shot but it looks the same as that growing on a couple of the hermits. Here are two photos:

DSC02040.jpg


DSC02037.jpg
 
Coral reefer said:
Consider running some gfo if you can
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I don't have any - it seemed to slow down though. I think tool many nutrients with the uneaten frozen food. I'm going to try the frozen Mysis again once out of the woods. But I'll let them get good and hungry so the actually eat all/most of It.

For now, I'll keep doing the water changes and vacuuming the sand. I'm starting to understand more some of the benefits of bare bottom.
 
Keep in mind that dry foods like pellets and flake food are much more nutrient dense than frozen food. So if you are over feeding with frozen food it's not nearly as bad as over feeding with dry food.
 
Flagg37 said:
Keep in mind that dry foods like pellets and flake food are much more nutrient dense than frozen food. So if you are over feeding with frozen food it's not nearly as bad as over feeding with dry food.
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And not all foods are created equal. Definitely matters what you are feeding
 
Cymen said:
Actually, I have a tiny pump and could DIY a reactor. Amazon has 1lb GFO for $17 with prime. I'll try.
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The AC will work well with a fine mesh bag containing gfo. Make sure to rinse it well first! Make sure you are getting decent quality gfo. Not sure what you are looking at on Amazon, always worries me what people might be selling online...
I like the two little fishes 150 phosban reactor and use gfo from bulk reef supply. I think any gfo from a reputable brand should work just fine.
 
Also make sure it tumbles in the reactor or it will end up as one solid mass. You can also add activated carbon to help make sure that doesn't happen.
 
This is the GFO I bought from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RI5LE5K

I looked around for a suitable DIY container. My wife had some unneeded glass baby bottles with plastic screw on lids. I drilled a hole to fit an R/O tube and used some synthetic filters that came with my AeroPress. So water comes in the R/O tube and goes out via the filters at the top of the bottle. I tripled up on filters although they are fairly robust and work well.

I used this pump that I had sitting around:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZW6OHHY

This is not enough power. It's not tumbling the GFO really. It also had a hard time getting started so not really sure it is legit on 80 GPH. The R/O tube is probably too narrow to be ideal but with a stronger pump, it should work. Any thoughts on what pump and tube size to use? I need to measure the top to see if a 1/2" tube would fit -- it's hard to describe but the baby bottle top piece has a center portion connected by ribs. That center portion might not be big enough to drill out to 1/2". It might be worth picking up something already made or switching to a filter bag with the GFO -- I don't have any filter bags on hand though so couldn't try that.

That is good to know about dried food containing more phosphates than live. If you're feeding the tiny Spectrum pellets, how many per day would be reasonable per small 1.25-1.5" Clownfish? And better to spread it out to two feedings per day? I'll keep working on feeding them frozen Mysis too.
 
Coral reefer said:
I think any size maxi jet works. If you don't have mesh bag a piece of ladies stocking will work.
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Okay. I was worried it was too fine for a stocking. But I did rinse it well yesterday and it looks like that would be better. Just not enough tumbling with my small pump. I'll try the ladies stocking in the 10g hang on back filter next.
 
Oh, and it doesn't seem to be growing fast -- it is two small patches plus on a couple of the hermits. I think part of the problem was I'd get some pretty heavy deposits on the skimmer neck. That plus not vacuuming the sand bed and likely overfeeding. I cut back, cleaned more, did more water changes and so far it seems contained. But I get ideally I want to knock it out by lowering the potassium enough that it goes away, right? Else it's a long term nuisance?
 
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