Neptune Aquatics

My 170g cube

Update from the last week or so. Switched brands of bacteria that I dose (from brightwell to seachem) because I don't want to wait for delivery and the lfs has some. Must have introduced a strain that really likes biopellets because I have a bloom. Lost 2 heads of a torch coral but all else seems OK. Bumped up the Skimmer a little to prevent O2 depletion.

Phosphates tested at 0.05 so I took the carbon/gfo out of the reactor. Nitrates are still sitting at 12 (though will probably go up as this bloom progresses through its cycle) so I put chaeto back in the reactor and have it lit 24 hours.

New 5 gallon bucket of CO2 scrubber media should be here soon. Running a Skimmer line outside has bumped my ph up to 8.0-8.1 but I want more. Adjusting the apex to divert air through the reactor if it drops below 8.2. I was going through a canister of media a week with the Skimmer pulling air from inside (small house with too many pets) but pulling in outside air has helped extend that to almost 2 weeks a canister.
 
grizfyrfyter said:
Update from the last week or so. Switched brands of bacteria that I dose (from brightwell to seachem) because I don't want to wait for delivery and the lfs has some. Must have introduced a strain that really likes biopellets because I have a bloom. Lost 2 heads of a torch coral but all else seems OK. Bumped up the Skimmer a little to prevent O2 depletion.

Phosphates tested at 0.05 so I took the carbon/gfo out of the reactor. Nitrates are still sitting at 12 (though will probably go up as this bloom progresses through its cycle) so I put chaeto back in the reactor and have it lit 24 hours.

New 5 gallon bucket of CO2 scrubber media should be here soon. Running a Skimmer line outside has bumped my ph up to 8.0-8.1 but I want more. Adjusting the apex to divert air through the reactor if it drops below 8.2. I was going through a canister of media a week with the Skimmer pulling air from inside (small house with too many pets) but pulling in outside air has helped extend that to almost 2 weeks a canister.
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If I recall correctly, 18 hours is the max lighting period that chaeto should be lit for before it loses efficiency. It needs a chance to “rest”.
 
My daughter got to take her clownfish to class today for their Sea Life Exploration day.
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NelsonCh said:
Did you get it for a good price? I was debating on getting rid of one or all my clams since Im having a nightmare keeping up my alk and calcium for them + all my coral.


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If you do decide to get rid of them, pm me a package price. My wife has a weak spot for clams and it's just another tool in the box to convince her to get a calcium reactor (she hears the dosing pump run and knows it's money being pumped into the tank. I'm already dosing 160ml/day of alk.
 
Coral reefer said:
Why such a nightmare?
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Nightmare might have been an exaggeration. My calcium and Alk didnt drop as much before but I think since the clams are happy and growing, they have started sucking up calcium like crazy. I saw them shoot out some substance that I thought was just sand but ive been noticing little clams or mollusks pop up on my frag plugs. Do you think a 7inch clam could spawn?




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grizfyrfyter said:
If you do decide to get rid of them, pm me a package price. My wife has a weak spot for clams and it's just another tool in the box to convince her to get a calcium reactor (she hears the dosing pump run and knows it's money being pumped into the tank. I'm already dosing 160ml/day of alk.
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I have one that is teal blue and one is teal blue with dark streaks when viewing from top down. What color is yours? I may be interested in rehoming later if I get lazy to mix and dose so much. Did yours attach its foot to a rock yet? Mine started blowing up with growth once it attached its foot.

My girlfriend likes the way their mantle looks too. Its a kind of blue shade I havent been able to see from corals yet. Could be my lack of knowledge or LFS variety. So you have to mix every month if you are dosing 160ml a day right? Assuming you are making on a gallon batch a month.


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grizfyrfyter said:
It's doubtful their spawning would become fertile and less likely they would survive without proper zooplankton in the system.
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I was reading that a clam releases sperm and then eggs in the wild to not self fertilization but honestly, no clue. Maybe the mollusks popping up were already on the corals and unnoticeable till now. One has gotten significantly bigger so maybe a few more weeks and I can ID whether or not its a maxima.

I drop highly enriched phytoplankton as well as reef roids mixture in my tank twice a week as well as feed my fish 4 times a day with bloodworms, mysis, pellets, and live brine. So I should have a good amount of nutrients in the water.

Online forums say photosynthesis for big clams is enough but I always like overfeeding haha.


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I know clams can be aqua cultured and it would be awesome if they are growing.

Mine has teal edged, dark male with teal streaks and a teal center. It's foot came attached to some crushed coral rubble. Going to make a cradle for it, either with epoxy or 3d printed, when I get home from vacation.

I traded a symphyillia and $90 for mine. It's about 7" long. It's reacting to shadows a lot, it's definitely not used to this many fish in a system.
 
grizfyrfyter said:
I know clams can be aqua cultured and it would be awesome if they are growing.

Mine has teal edged, dark male with teal streaks and a teal center. It's foot came attached to some crushed coral rubble. Going to make a cradle for it, either with epoxy or 3d printed, when I get home from vacation.

I traded a symphyillia and $90 for mine. It's about 7" long. It's reacting to shadows a lot, it's definitely not used to this many fish in a system.
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I think thats how they always are. Their reflexes to shadows indicates how healthy they are. Mines have been in my tank for over a month and they still retract when my naso swims over. Only difference is their mantles are maybe an inch out compared to before. 150 for a 7inch sounds like a pretty good deal.

Was your symphillia the rainbow kind or was it red or green?


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It was a red one with a little yellow.
NelsonCh said:
I think thats how they always are. Their reflexes to shadows indicates how healthy they are. Mines have been in my tank for over a month and they still retract when my naso swims over. Only difference is their mantles are maybe an inch out compared to before. 150 for a 7inch sounds like a pretty good deal.

Was your symphillia the rainbow kind or was it red or green?


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The substance that you're seeing being shot up is most likely some extra zooanthellae that they're ridding themselves of as they adjust to the lighting and nutrient levels. You'll know when clams actually spawn when your water column looks murky and you see both sperm and eggs being expelled.
 
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