Things that went away on their own

[Paul B]

It seems that there are so many people in this hobby that are stressed every time they see something either growing or just appearing in their tanks.
I figured I would post things that over the years just went away with no help from me.

Hair algae.

I have no idea when I took this picture but it must have been at least 15 years ago. That fireclown is stil with me and he is almost 18 now, but look at all the hair algae. The fish and corals were in great shape, but the tank looked horrible. It left on it's own like it always does

About 2 years ago I had so many flatworms that I could not find any rock that was not covered in them. Everyone was urgeing me to use "Flatworm Exit"
IN about 6 months, every one of them disappeared. I didn't use anything.

Last year I noticed one tiny spot of this bubble algae. Everyone said I had to remove it immediately or it would cover everything in the tank and the tank would crash.
Much of it has died off and it is only on a couple of rocks. I like the stuff and think it is interesting.

 

[kpiotrowski]

Reefkeeping less than a year and yep, I'm on board with you already. allthough I have stressed out at every turn from, 1000's of hydras, then hundreds of slugs, then 100's pineapple sponges, then hair algea...nothing like your pic though.then bubble algea.....oh and aiptasia was in there somehwere too. 10 months now and all gone. ( berghia were used for aiptasia)

at this point I am LOVING all the bristle worms that are multiplying....i'll trap if need be in the future.

and ALL of the above came in on the backs of snail, crabs, or fish as I started with all dry rock...out of fear in the first place!

my next tank will be a fallow 50g with nothing but live rock shipped to me direct so I can watch what hatches out over the months and years. AWESOME!

 

[Paul B]

my next tank will be a fallow 50g with nothing but live rock shipped to me direct so I can watch what hatches out over the months and years. AWESOME!

I add from the sea amphipods, mud, snails, shrimp and seaweed like in this five gallon bucket. I added a bunch today. Think anything will hatch? I have been doing this since I started the tank.

 

[kpiotrowski]

given that I had all i said hatch out that came in on the backs of fish,crabs, and snails I would have to guess that it has the potiental to hatch out somethings. however, my system was a new set-up, adding it to an established/balanced system....I would guess not.

what say you?

 

[Paul B]

I say, there is something always hatching in there. Biodiversity is an important factor which is why I add this stuff all the time

 

[kpiotrowski]

Granted. I meant that in a already biodiverse system the chance a 1000 hydras will hatch and overun your tank for a month like they did in my virgin system is not as likely.

 

[Paul B]

the chance a 1000 hydras will hatch and overun your tank for a month like they did in my virgin system is not as likely.

Yes, it is also not likely that 1,000 supermodels will over run my system either. But I am hoping

 

[kpiotrowski]

At 63, thats a pretty big aspiration! You plan to go out with a bang huh!

 

[Paul B]

At 63, thats a pretty big aspiration! You plan to go out with a bang huh!

OK one Supermodel. Stil a big aspiration :loco:

 

[kpiotrowski]

It's disapointing this thread hasn't taken off and become more informative. I would love to hear stories from people who have had what at first appeared a disasterous situation that eventualy reached and equilibrium.

 

[Paul B]

It's disapointing this thread hasn't taken off and become more informative. I would love to hear stories from people who have had what at first appeared a disasterous situation that eventualy reached and equilibrium.

I can only start these threads, I can't write all the poats myself.

This forum is filled with people with problems, almost nothing that is something good that happened. Much of this stuff abates on it's own with no help from us. Actually much of it would be better if we didn't touch anything, that is what causes problems. In all the years I have ben at this I have never once had to adjust my pH, yet I see every day people have to try to change it. Why doesn't mine need changing? Maybe because I never test it. I used to dose Kalk, that was the worst time for my tank, nothing ran correctly and corals were hard to keep. I stopped that a long time ago, don't have a test kit and just add calcium a few times a week. For the last ten years or so, the tank never looked so good. I can't keep the corals from growing and I ran out of space.
Many people feel thay have to change water every week or even month. Ever see a really good looking tank with all new water?
I wonder why

 

[kpiotrowski]

I can only start these threads, I can't write all the poats myself.

This forum is filled with people with problems, almost nothing that is something good that happened. Much of this stuff abates on it's own with no help from us. Actually much of it would be better if we didn't touch anything, that is what causes problems. In all the years I have ben at this I have never once had to adjust my pH, yet I see every day people have to try to change it. Why doesn't mine need changing? Maybe because I never test it. I used to dose Kalk, that was the worst time for my tank, nothing ran correctly and corals were hard to keep. I stopped that a long time ago, don't have a test kit and just add calcium a few times a week. For the last ten years or so, the tank never looked so good. I can't keep the corals from growing and I ran out of space.
Many people feel thay have to change water every week or even month. Ever see a really good looking tank with all new water?
I wonder why

Sorry paul this is where you loose me. Not on the same page as far as not testing and certainly not adding any kalk without getting a good idea of what its affects in the amt I am dosing are. I only test ammonia and nitrite after I have made major changes or large livestock additions, but pretty much test everything else with calcuim and alkalinty being the top 2.

you said the worst time for your tank was when dosing kalk and that you were not testing. in which case you dont know you wern't having ph shifts of 7.5 to 9.5 even. I recently got a bunch of mushroom covered live rock with 10 years of coraline covering it all. the guy never tested and had not done a water change in over 5 years. I tested and his nitrates were zero, but his ca was like nothing and ph 7.4. the urchin and serpant starts, and cuc, were surviving. after being in my care for about 3 months all mushroom have doubled in size and are splitting. he was having success as far as he knew cuz things were not dead. but little did he know how good they could be with just LITTLE testing.

not sweating problems too much I am with you. learing about them and being proactive (testing) is how I get my peice of mind to not worry.

 

[Paul B]

Sorry paul this is where you loose me

Dam, I always lose people. :doh:

Not on the same page as far as not testing and certainly not adding any kalk without getting a good idea of what its affects in the amt I am dosing are.

When I used to add kalk, I did test, (for calcium) thats how I know everything was off and hard to control. :|
Remember, I never said you should not test or anyone else should not test. This is what I do in my tank. But I have a lot of experience and know when all is well.

you said the worst time for your tank was when dosing kalk and that you were not testing.

Actually, I said I didn't test pH. But I can see where you would get confused because I said it all in the same sentence. I would not dose Kalk without testing calcium which is the reason I was adding kalk. But, yes you are correct I should have tested pH. I probably did but it was so many years ago that I forgot.

he was having success as far as he knew cuz things were not dead

LOL, :loco: that is one way to measure success I guess. I measure success by a few parameters. I measure by spawning. If your fish are spawning regularly, they are in the best condition they can be in. It is a huge burden for a fish to develop eggs which could be a quarter the weight of the animal.
I also test sucess by longivity. If your fish are spawning "and" living for 18 years or so, I consider that success.
I also consider success if my corals, including SPS are growing as fast as they should be growing.
My acropora went from a small frag to about 8" across in about a year.
I also consider success if your tank is very old and has never crashed.

not sweating problems too much I am with you. learing about them and being proactive (testing) is how I get my peice of mind to not worry.

I did test for many years but eventually you can guage exactly what your parameters are without testing for anything. If something does not look right, I would have to buy some test kits. but if I consider "my" tank to be a success by the parameters I stated above, what would "I" gain by testing?
My corals could not grow faster and the fish could not live longer, the tank never crashed and it looks fine to me. It is by no where near the best tank on here, but it is the way I like it.
The title of this thread is Things that went away on their own, not things that everyone should do or things that always go away.
(I did not put this in the Noob section for a reason)
About 3 years ago a testing company tested my water for free. They tested for just about anything that could possably be in water. My parameters came out fine and I think my nitrate was 5.

And kpiotrowski, I always appreciate knowlegable members keeping me on my toes :bounce:

 

[kpiotrowski]

ok, yes I am with you that you learn your tank overtime....its kinda like a marriage, and you can just "know" what it needs. for example after having few duncan and elegance in my tank for just a few months now i can tell in their color when my alkalinty drops to 9dkh. thats a pretty cool warning sytem in that 9 is not terrible. but holy cow did you throw me off when I thougt you would actually dose kalk without testing ph....which I guess you did. guess you will never know what its affects were at the time. how much of a spike and how long lived it is.

I use an apex unit and am surprized at the ph shifts I can have for different,seeminly minor things....for instance dosing kalk. I made up a half gallon with 1tsp kalc and then drained off the middle as you do. dripped just 16oz over about a 3 hour period into 180g of water and seen my ph go from low 8.2"s to 8.41. gave me a whole new respect for the stuff!

I respect your 60 years of experince. the great thing about these forums is I have been saying lately " its surprizing how much we know about our hobby as individuals, but whats humbling is how little we truly know compared to everyone as a whole" and this is why this forums is full of everones problems. I think its a good thing that we are not here just to brag about our success. Imaging that for a minute. lol

 

[Paul B]

My Kalk was in a DIY Kalk stirrer and it dripped in all day.
I have so much better luck now with DIY 2 part calcium and it only costs about $2.00 a year.
Every so often, maybe every year or two I will test pH at a LFS and it is always right where it should be.
I am looking at the last test readings from a commercial lab from about 3 years ago and everything is with in limits. Copper is a little high at .05 and so is lead at .0006. Iodine/Iodate was .00. That is odd but Iodide was .002, a little low.
Alk was 9.225 and at the time calcium was 516. NSW is 418 so that was a little high. Nitrate was 5. It is probably much higher now.
They also tested for everything under the sun but those readings don't mean anything to me as their value to marine animals was not determined.
But I fragged a large acropora about a month ago and the flesh is already covering the Epoxy, So that is how I rate success. Bu growth.
Anyway, have a great weekend.
Paul

PS, I just tested my pH and it is 8.4 like it always is. I knew I had a pH test kit around someplace.:suspicious:

 

[kpiotrowski]

Paul, I certainly was not trying to tell YOU anything, or tell you that YOU should be doing anything different. Iv'e been fw fishkeeping for a dozen years and do massive water changes on my african cichlid tank and add hardeness and alk right from the jar and when I do test every so often I'm pretty darn close too. so I do apprecaite how we come to learn what our systems need by intuition. I guess everything I respond to here is considering that many people come here for advice that will not be in the hobby long due to failure. so I keep it safe. honestly would you recomend that people just getting started dig up sludge from some random place on the beach for thier tank? not without your level of experience is what I would say. but I didnt say anything about you doing it and was right behind you.

have a good one too!

 

[Paul B]

I certainly was not trying to tell YOU anything

Kpiotrowski, you can tell me anything.

honestly would you recomend that people just getting started dig up sludge from some random place on the beach for thier tank? not without your level of experience is what I would say.

That is hard for me to answer honestly being I did start my tank like that. Not exactly sludge but a "little" mud for the bacteria. We used to put in a dead shrimp, clam or damsel to get the bacteria. The older books recommended a handful of garden soil. I think that would be a nasty mess although it would add bacteria.
Those things will work but I feel "IMO" that bacteria from the sea is better.
Maybe that is the reason I don't have any problems, I don't know but I still add bacteria from the sea all the time. I just did 10 minutes ago. I know most people, and especially some so called experts have a huge problem with it but if it worked for me, why would it not work for someone else. I didn't have any experience when I started doing that but no one else did either and there was no ASW that I could easily buy. (No one to yell at me either.)hwell:
I know and you know that my tank shouldn't exist, it is an enigma that throws a wrench in conventional wisdom but it was started way before conventional wisdom from natural ingredients from the sea.
(Duh, like a reverse UG filter will work :loco
Why is it that with all the modern lights, test kits, reactors and chemicals that so many people have so many problems? Just search for "problem" on any of these forums and probably 90% of the posts are about some sort of problem. Why is that? The salt water hobby has been around for 41 years and there are probably more problems today then there was in 1980. Why?
Why do so many people quit in less than 2 years?
I don't know either but due to the internet just about everyone runs a tank the same way.
We still have ich problems, Hair algae problems, cyano, diatoms, bubble algae, flatworms etc.
Almost all of the fish we normally keep with a couple of exemptions should live at least 15 years in captivity.
How many people do you think can keep a fish even 5 years? Probably very few. Why is that?
They certainly sell a wide assortment of food and have all sorts of medications, along with information about each fish.
From experience, I know some of these answers but When I try to advise on certain things, many people will say something like, you can't tell a Noob that, or that is too dangerous, or I can't get that stuff.
I once posted how to cure Pop Eye in a few seconds with a hypodermic needle. I got all sorts of PMs telling me that it is too dangerous or that it is too complicated and hobbiests are not Doctors.
I am an electrician and I figured it out in a few minutes, How hard could it be?
Hair algae posts drive me crazy and I now stay away from them. The first thing someone will say is to change the water. Does that ever work? No. :suspicious:
Many people feel that a water change will fix everything, many of those same people will argue with you that a cleaner shrimp will cure ich. I also try to stay away from those threads.
If someone has a sich fish, immediately people ask what are the parameters?
Parameters don't mean anything if one fish out of many is sick. The fish is most likely sick because you are not feeding it corectly, but I also try (unsucessfully) to stay away from those as well.
OK, did I rant enough? Sorry, these are not the Droids you are looking for, go on your way.:faint2:
Have a great day, whats left to it. And don't pay me any attention, I am old.

 

[kpiotrowski]

you have my attention. gonna have to go through and read some of your posts. maybee learn a thing or two.

so what did you do about the popeye, just basicaly suck out fluid/air

 

[Paul B]

You will most likely find that somewhere on one of my posts. But basically, thats it. If fluid comes out I sometimes inject an injectable antibiotic then remove it but it is probably not necessary. If you look at a fish skeleton you will see that there is no blood flow to that place behind the eye. It is just an impression in the bone with a small hole for the optic nerve. Perfect place for bacteria to live because the white cells in the fishes blood doesn't get there.

 

[kpiotrowski]

and with no blood supply how do you get systemic antibiotic to the infection. you don't, so you would have to count on them being absorbed. makes perfect sense. never had a fish with popeye but now I know what to do!