rdriggett
Guest
Was on vacation, I’ll swing by!
Ryan’s 40G first reef
- Thread starter rdriggett
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rdriggett
Guest
Sweet, thank you!!
Probably, depending on the amount.
What're you feeding and how much? Cutting a cube of mysis into quarters, thawing 1/4 in some water followed by pouring off the small loose bits and most of that water, then feeding the rest is very different than tossing a cube of Calanus or Reef Frenzy in there 3 times a day.
I don't recall if you had a protein skimmer, but you also might as well let that run wetter while you let the snails eat the algae. Check again after they get further.
rdriggett
Guest
I feed one dime sized pinch of LRS reef frenzy nano thawed in tank daily and nothing else.
Current stocking: 2 clowns, 1 royal gramma, 1 bicolor blenny, 1 cleaner shrimp.
I don't claim to be an expert in foods, but if you want to be paranoid and reduce your nutrient load, I'd try switching to mysis and do that rinse. Reef frenzy leaves a lot of really small pieces in the water column that in my experience fish can't/won't eat.
Mysis aren't necessarily perfect, but if you do that defrost, pour off, feed process you'll get a much higher ratio of eaten food to waste.
Pellets also have a bad rap. If you feed enough that the fish eat them all, there's literally no wasted nutrients. Far better than things like reef frenzy.
I personally do mostly mysis, sometimes small pellets, and I use reef frenzy in my mostly fish only, dirty water, tank because it's fine enough my Clown Goby can eat it. I'll use it more often in my main once I get more grow out and have my own nutrients totally under control.
You don't need to worry about getting food in your water column for your coral at this stage of your aquarium. Save that for when your tank is stable and you're looking for marginal gains.
Qwiv
Supporting Member
I hate to give you my advise (old salty reefer here), but your tank looks to be 1-2 month old and you have it stocked up to already including SPS expecting success, which means your lights are on full kilt and its limitedly cycled. There is way more to cycling the tank then the nitrogen cycle. You should get the SPS frags in someone else's tank and turn your lights down. Put the softies/LPS up high so they have enough light and enjoy the tank for a while, let the tanks biology evolve.
I am in the middle of a restart/new tank as well and it is roughly as old as yours. It only has a toadstool leather in the tank because it was donated to me with some live sand and the lights roughly 25%. Just got a few easy corals in the QT tank this weekend and they aren't going in the tank for 6 weeks. I added a lot more biology with my restart then you and my clean-up crew is tiny. It isn't ready for all the corals you have and this is like my 20th tank over the years. I know waiting a few more months will make the next few more years 10x better in the long run and I want nothing more then to start stocking, but I know not to now.
The Saying that "Nothing good in a reef tank happens fast" is 100% true and you have stocked a new tank with new sand and dry rock in a matter of weeks, hence the issues and future issues. Your tanks biology can't be very robust yet and probably can't support your clean up crew let alone SPS corals without headache. Get some more live sand and wait to see some Coraline algae and repeated success before moving forward. Enjoy your fish and the low light corals. They are awesome just by themselves.
You are starting the path of "add this to deal with that" which ends up being an endless cycle as everything you add just creates another issue, money wasted, sad losses and the typical path to giving up. Add this CUC to deal with this, dose that to deal with something else really does end up a terrible experience. You will end up in the same place quicker if you just let the tank catch-up by itself and won't waste a bunch of money on stuff and stress with things dying/endless algae cycles. It seriously is fast to go slower, trust me. I you could do it, I would be doing it. I don't think an experienced reefer on here would say you could go new tank with dry rock to SPS corals in 2 months and expect success, especially the 1st time.
You should 100% not be feeding corals at this point. Just keep the fish fed and happy.
I am in the middle of a restart/new tank as well and it is roughly as old as yours. It only has a toadstool leather in the tank because it was donated to me with some live sand and the lights roughly 25%. Just got a few easy corals in the QT tank this weekend and they aren't going in the tank for 6 weeks. I added a lot more biology with my restart then you and my clean-up crew is tiny. It isn't ready for all the corals you have and this is like my 20th tank over the years. I know waiting a few more months will make the next few more years 10x better in the long run and I want nothing more then to start stocking, but I know not to now.
The Saying that "Nothing good in a reef tank happens fast" is 100% true and you have stocked a new tank with new sand and dry rock in a matter of weeks, hence the issues and future issues. Your tanks biology can't be very robust yet and probably can't support your clean up crew let alone SPS corals without headache. Get some more live sand and wait to see some Coraline algae and repeated success before moving forward. Enjoy your fish and the low light corals. They are awesome just by themselves.
You are starting the path of "add this to deal with that" which ends up being an endless cycle as everything you add just creates another issue, money wasted, sad losses and the typical path to giving up. Add this CUC to deal with this, dose that to deal with something else really does end up a terrible experience. You will end up in the same place quicker if you just let the tank catch-up by itself and won't waste a bunch of money on stuff and stress with things dying/endless algae cycles. It seriously is fast to go slower, trust me. I you could do it, I would be doing it. I don't think an experienced reefer on here would say you could go new tank with dry rock to SPS corals in 2 months and expect success, especially the 1st time.
You should 100% not be feeding corals at this point. Just keep the fish fed and happy.
Well said.
rdriggett
Guest
Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to help me along my reefing journey! I take all advice to heart. I do appreciate it!
I rushed the setup because I wanted a beautiful SPS tank without a year of waiting. I knew that was impossible going in and I am prepared for setbacks. Cutting back on feeding, dosing, and an increased CUC has helped the uglies.
Positives: Clowns, blenny, gramma, cleaner shrimp have all been alive for a month now! My montis are visibly encrusting. Hammers seem to be doing fine.
Negatives: A turbo snail knocked over my favorite SPS I have (healthy green slimmer with great PE) and it RTN'd while I was on vacation. I need to get a magnetic frag rack ASAP. Acros are losing color with poor PE but that's to be expected @ 150 PAR with some param swings.
I rushed the setup because I wanted a beautiful SPS tank without a year of waiting. I knew that was impossible going in and I am prepared for setbacks. Cutting back on feeding, dosing, and an increased CUC has helped the uglies.
Positives: Clowns, blenny, gramma, cleaner shrimp have all been alive for a month now! My montis are visibly encrusting. Hammers seem to be doing fine.
Negatives: A turbo snail knocked over my favorite SPS I have (healthy green slimmer with great PE) and it RTN'd while I was on vacation. I need to get a magnetic frag rack ASAP. Acros are losing color with poor PE but that's to be expected @ 150 PAR with some param swings.
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rdriggett
Guest
My sand bed is stagnant and growing TONS of GHA. I'd like a critter to stir it up constantly. Thoughts on a Tiger conch?
Waiting on my magnetic frag rack to arrive today. My turbo snails have killed 3 acros by moving them from the sandbed into rocks and flipping them upside-down.
Waiting on my magnetic frag rack to arrive today. My turbo snails have killed 3 acros by moving them from the sandbed into rocks and flipping them upside-down.
Qwiv
Supporting Member
Re-read my post, remove the SPS, turn the lights down. You have a pAR meter now to set values for later and to turn lights down to minimum temporarily for your LPS relocated to the top of tank temporarily. You don't need a frag rack or a Conch to kill your sand bed before it even developed. Get rid to the turbo snails when your algae goes away.
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rdriggett
Guest
My current CUC is keeping my algae at bay everywhere but the sand. What do you mean by "a Conch to kill your sand bed before it even developed"? I thought you want to keep a sand bed moving since cycling to prevent gas build up, detritus clouds and old tank syndrome? I'm not a huge fan of these turbo snails bulldozing everything but they seem to put in work again GHA.
The only SPS I have left is a hardy purple stylo and a hardy encrusting monti. I'll try turning the lights down to 175-200 par at the water line.
What can I add to my tank to increase biodiversity? Is there pest free live rock from a long established tank for purchase somewhere locally/from the club?
Qwiv
Supporting Member
Get live sand. You will need to make the call on Pests, but I am assuming you didn't QT your frags, snails, fish, etc so You make the call on that. They sell "clean" LS online but its expensive and tough to come by. You might as well get some from people locally since you took their frags too without QT.
Conch is pretty active eater that doesn't eat what you have in your sand.
Conch is pretty active eater that doesn't eat what you have in your sand.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
You can add the least expensive and most difficult...PATIENCE
See what grows
Maintenance
Husbandry
Keep a proper ideal environment
See what grows
Maintenance
Husbandry
Keep a proper ideal environment
rdriggett
Guest
I've dipped every coral and inspected the big inverts that went in in addition to RO dipped my cheato. I know where to get LS but I dont want the pests it would be nearly guaranteed to come with. I'll start my search for clean live sand now.
So I have to feed it to keep it alive? Or it will eat my fish/corals?
Qwiv
Supporting Member
Well, dipping corals and macro will guard you against some things, but it is not 100% miracle cure and will not eliminate everything. Good example is ick will survive every dip you put your coral through, can come in on a snail, hermit, etc. that you didn't dip.
I'll let you research how to keep a conch alive, but what is the point if you need to add food to your tank to keep critter alive that you think is going to clean your sand that should not even be dirty 2 months in? You are just ADDING more food to a system for what? Just leave it alone, it will happen in time. Vacuum algae out with a water change.
Clean Live Sand:
Get in line. There wait list is months long.
IPSF.com
isn't guaranteed, but its probably the 2nd best available.
rdriggett
Guest
I have all maintenance on my calendar, I’m on here to learn husbandry and everything is growing except for acros.
I get what you were saying now. thanks for the links to clean live sand.Well, dipping corals and macro will guard you against some things, but it is not 100% miracle cure and will not eliminate everything. Good example is ick will survive every dip you put your coral through, can come in on a snail, hermit, etc. that you didn't dip.
I'll let you research how to keep a conch alive, but what is the point if you need to add food to your tank to keep critter alive that you think is going to clean your sand that should not even be dirty 2 months in? You are just ADDING more food to a system for what? Just leave it alone, it will happen in time. Vacuum algae out with a water change.
Clean Live Sand:
Get in line. There wait list is months long.
IPSF.com
isn't guaranteed, but its probably the 2nd best available.