ac7av tank build

[thatguy559]

you are every welcome they will be much happier in a larger tank

 

[thatguy559]

how are they doing?

 

[ac7av]

Those two are doing great. The way they eat is interesting, the large one will put a big piece of food in its mouth and not eat it right a way, just holds it. I wonder if it’s looking for an anemone to feed. Were these two hosting a nem at some point?

 

[ac7av]

some times these fish just amaze me.

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16981335" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/16981335">P1140498</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3321973">Erik M</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[NC2WA]

Erik,

RBTA looks good..Now that you have clowns hosting it, it will definitely get food and start growing.

 

[Krish]

Cool video!! I was never able to get any of my clowns to host an anemone. Always wantesd to experience that first hand.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Cool video!! I was never able to get any of my clowns to host an anemone. Always wantesd to experience that first hand.

Get a maroon...haha mine hosted in less than an hour :lol:

 

[ac7av]

Get a maroon...haha mine hosted in less than an hour :lol:

HaHa!
These two were the same way, less then an hour when the big one noticed the nem it was love at first site. It was like watching someone finding a long lost loved one. They were just rolling around for hours and I don’t know why the nem didn’t seem to mind. The fish seem kind of ruff on it.

 

[Frankie]

Nice mature pair you have there. Great video also.
I see you have one of my favorite wrasses, a yellow Coris. Great clam keepers

 

[ac7av]

I see you have one of my favorite wrasses, a yellow Coris. Great clam keepers

What do you mean great clam keepers? I don’t know much about that fish. It was an impulse buy from a local reefer because I just like the look of it.

 

[TJL]

Hey Erik, all is good with your Wrasse being a good clam keeper as he meant they take care of them by eating pests like pyramidal snails, bristle worms and such.

Todd

 

[ac7av]

That explains it then. I had pyramidal snails in the tank and noticed lately that I don’t see any more live ones. That’s interesting to know.

 

[NC2WA]

Erik,

Six line wrasse is another one that eats them.

 

[ac7av]

Erik,

Six line wrasse is another one that eats them.

I knew that fish was worth more then its good looks.

 

[NC2WA]

yup, if you are going to keep clams a six line wrasse is a good addition.

 

[ac7av]

I’ve been struggling with a bit of cyno bacteria in my tank since raising the water salinity up to what the average natural sea water is of approximately 35 ppt or 1.026. I made the changes in order to incorporate some more hard corals into my fish tank. In reading articles upon articles about the chemistry of natural sea water in the worlds most divers reefs I discovered that the water temperature that I usually run my tanks at seems to be very low compared to the average reef water temperature of 82 to 87 degrees. So I figured I would rase the temp up to 84 and see how things do. I’ve had the temp slowly raising and now is at 83.8-84.2. Things in the tank look good. The water is clearer and the softies look better then they had except the toadstool. It started taking a time out a couple of days ago and Im hoping its just going threw one of its shedding cycles since all the other leathers in the tank look great and Xenia are just going nuts and the anemone is looking awesome. The cyno is dissipating and Im hoping to get it down to a minimum in a few days again. I tried blowing off the rocks yesterday but there wasn’t really much blowing off. I hadn’t done it in a few months but there really wasn’t much blowing out. The sump must be catching most of what’s floating around in the water.

 

[thatguy559]

with cyano you should siphon it out not blow it around. 84 deg seems a bit on the high side. i have always had my tanks at 78.5 never had a cyano out break. all my livestock seem to be happier at that level.

 

[Frankie]

Yes, the temperatures around the worlds reefs are higher then the suggested aquarium would be. There is a reason for this. Those temperatures are fine if you could maintain the perfect year round water parameters like the ocean does. But even the most dialed in aquarium has fluctuations due to the closed system. Bacteria will flourish and do better in higher temperatures such as cyano, and have found the cooler temperatures tend keep it at bay when present.
Also higher temperatures cause drops in oxygen levels. Randy talks about this in his article:
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Temperature

Temperature impacts reef aquarium inhabitants in a variety of ways. First and foremost, the animals' metabolic rates rise as temperature rises. They may consequently use more oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, calcium and alkalinity at higher temperatures. This higher metabolic rate can also increase both their growth rate and waste production at higher temperatures.

Another important impact of temperature is on the chemical aspects of the aquarium. The solubility of dissolved gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, for example, changes with temperature. Oxygen, in particular, can be a concern because it is less soluble at higher temperature.

So what does this imply for aquarists?

In most instances, trying to match the natural environment in a reef aquarium is a worthy goal. Temperature may, however, be a parameter that requires accounting for the practical considerations of a small closed system. Looking to the ocean as a guide for setting temperatures in reef aquaria may present complications, because corals grow in such a wide range of temperatures. Nevertheless, Ron Shimek has shown in a previous article that the greatest variety of corals are found in water whose average temperature is about 83-86° F.

Reef aquaria do, however, have limitations that may make their optimal temperature somewhat lower. During normal functioning of a reef aquarium, the oxygen level and the metabolic rate of the aquarium inhabitants are not often important issues. During a crisis such as a power failure, however, the dissolved oxygen can be rapidly used up. Lower temperatures not only allow a higher oxygen level before an emergency, but will also slow the consumption of that oxygen by slowing the metabolism of the aquarium's inhabitants. The production of ammonia as organisms begin to die may also be slower at lower temperatures. For reasons such as this, one may choose to strike a practical balance between temperatures that are too high (even if corals normally thrive in the ocean at those temperatures), and those that are too low. Although average reef temperatures in maximal diversity areas (i.e. coral triangle centered Indonesia,) these areas are also often subject to significant mixing. In fact, the cooler reefs, ( i..e. open Pacific reefs) are often more stable at lower temperatures due to oceanic exchange but are less tolerant to bleaching and other temperature related perturbations.

All things considered, those natural guidelines leave a fairly wide range of acceptable temperatures. I keep my aquarium at about 80-81° F year-round. I am actually more inclined to keep the aquarium cooler in the summer, when a power failure would most likely warm the aquarium, and higher in winter, when a power failure would most likely cool it.

All things considered, I recommend temperatures in the range of 76-83° F unless there is a very clear reason to keep it outside that range.

 

[ac7av]

Thanks Frankie
That was actually one of the articles I had read that made me want to raise the temperature. As pointed out in this wright up, increasing the temperature also increases the metabolic rate of the entire system. Fish, corals, and bacteria. My thought was to burn out quicker what ever it is that was fueling this new cyano outbreak I was having since raising my salinity levels to 1.026 from 1.020. It was actual working but because my toadstool didn’t seem to be happy I have dropped the temperature back down to 78-79 and it looks fine again. The cyano seems to be coming back and Im just going to let it go for now and see if it works it self out. Because of the texture of the rock it doesn’t blow off easily and trying to vacuum it out is just a futile experience. Anyway the fish don’t care so Im not going to let it bother me too much at the moment until Im sure there isn’t any more cycling going on at the new levels.

 

[Frankie]

I am responding to your first post to try and figure out the cyano issue. I responded in red

4, 96 watt 50/50 bulbs and moon lights.try killing these lights until the cyano go's away


My sump/fuge is a rubber maid container inside a large rubber maid container (I don’t remember the exact sizes).
The container in the container has 40 pounds of very porous volcanic rock. This is more then likely your source of nitrates that are fueling the cyano

On top of the rock is mangrove trees, cheto and the heater. Another detritus trap