J
jokersplayground
Guest
Take baby steps man. Take the crabs out see how that goes.
I'm about to quit this hobby. someone please help
- Thread starter Tooch81
- Start date
Okay. Referring to the crab issue
I do agree the the pinkish crab. He could be an issue. Especially if he has black tipped claws. Crabs can be good or bad. I do reccomend them for any CUC. I have Halloween, and various other types of small hermits. My snails are not touched. Did you obtain any kind of rock from someone recently that could have a dangerous hitchhiker like a mantis? Seeing you're running a low nutrients system, I recommend lowering your KH to 8-9. What kind of test kits are you using? I recommend Red Sea.
I do agree the the pinkish crab. He could be an issue. Especially if he has black tipped claws. Crabs can be good or bad. I do reccomend them for any CUC. I have Halloween, and various other types of small hermits. My snails are not touched. Did you obtain any kind of rock from someone recently that could have a dangerous hitchhiker like a mantis? Seeing you're running a low nutrients system, I recommend lowering your KH to 8-9. What kind of test kits are you using? I recommend Red Sea.
oh....i've learned to take baby steps the expensive way. the buffer is already in and should raise the pH by tomorrow. Catching the crabs is going to be challenging, but i like a challenge.
Thanks again to all for your help. I'll let you know how it goes.
Taking the crabs out is very easy.
-Water bottle
-frozen fish food chunked
Remove wrapper on the water bottle. Put the food in he water bottle. Sink the bottle to the bottom and near some rocks. And just remove it in the morning when you get up. That's what I've done in the past.
-Water bottle
-frozen fish food chunked
Remove wrapper on the water bottle. Put the food in he water bottle. Sink the bottle to the bottom and near some rocks. And just remove it in the morning when you get up. That's what I've done in the past.
reefstarter
Non-member
First off , make sure you have some good test kits , and bring water samples to your LFS to verify . you are a little out of balance . calcium should never drop below 400 for almost every coral . the crabs are an issue as well . A good steady alk for a Mixed reef In My opinion is around 8 ish plus or minus so more accurately between 7.5 and 8.5 should keep most things happy . baby steps indeed once you have those params in check , then start to dial in your nutrient levels like Nitrates and phosphates etc . one thing at a time youll get it
interesting. Do you cut the top or is it like a lobster trap. They can go in but not out?
Steviereefs
Non-member
Test for copper, inverts and corals have a bullseye but fish can be ok. Actually if you added fish from a pet store with a fish only tank and you added the water from that fish you could have introduces copper.
With all my respects , reading Tooch81 answers my feeling is that is a little confused with the marine system.
As been written.....step by step.
First step: have the correct water quality. And I am not thinking in Water to keep acroporas,
Second step: take out the suspected bad crab, but there is no need to take all the crabs.
As it was written :
Alk : 7-9 dkh (achieve 1 value and get it stable). To make it easy : "with a low number of corals and being most of them soft and LPS a 10% weekly water change will keep your Alk in line with the salt you are using. So NO NEED of thinking in dosing Alk, Ca or Mg".
Ca: ~420 ppm and Mg will be replenish with the Water Changes, like the Alk and Ca.
Phosphates and Nitrates : keep them low (Phos below 0.05 ppm and nitrates below 5 ppm) those numbers are general indicators of good quality water
The marine tank is not rocket science. Is very easy if you follow some husbandry and rules.
Snails die from time to time, also in the most stable tanks. Zoas can be closed for weeks and they are alive, just not happy, but alive.
You will see that after you stop doing changes and just keep the basics the system will start to work. Example, DO NOT CHASE PH. John K wrote it very clear. Moreover, when you measure something try to do it at the same time. Example: ph in the morning is at its lowest level and increase during the day. In the late afternoon its at its highest and start to decrease after light are off. The ph level, as John wrote very well, depends on many factors. The most important is bicarbonate (Alk) and photsynthesis (CO2 levels). Do not chase it, as John K wrote.
Start to buy good test kits. Salifert are cheap and excellent. Measure your Alk, Ca and Mg levels in you tank and in you new salt water. Compare, they have to be very similar with such low bioload you have. Post those values and we all can continue discussing.
Cheers
Daniel
As been written.....step by step.
First step: have the correct water quality. And I am not thinking in Water to keep acroporas,
Second step: take out the suspected bad crab, but there is no need to take all the crabs.
As it was written :
Alk : 7-9 dkh (achieve 1 value and get it stable). To make it easy : "with a low number of corals and being most of them soft and LPS a 10% weekly water change will keep your Alk in line with the salt you are using. So NO NEED of thinking in dosing Alk, Ca or Mg".
Ca: ~420 ppm and Mg will be replenish with the Water Changes, like the Alk and Ca.
Phosphates and Nitrates : keep them low (Phos below 0.05 ppm and nitrates below 5 ppm) those numbers are general indicators of good quality water
The marine tank is not rocket science. Is very easy if you follow some husbandry and rules.
Snails die from time to time, also in the most stable tanks. Zoas can be closed for weeks and they are alive, just not happy, but alive.
You will see that after you stop doing changes and just keep the basics the system will start to work. Example, DO NOT CHASE PH. John K wrote it very clear. Moreover, when you measure something try to do it at the same time. Example: ph in the morning is at its lowest level and increase during the day. In the late afternoon its at its highest and start to decrease after light are off. The ph level, as John wrote very well, depends on many factors. The most important is bicarbonate (Alk) and photsynthesis (CO2 levels). Do not chase it, as John K wrote.
Start to buy good test kits. Salifert are cheap and excellent. Measure your Alk, Ca and Mg levels in you tank and in you new salt water. Compare, they have to be very similar with such low bioload you have. Post those values and we all can continue discussing.
Cheers
Daniel
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delta
Impatient Reefer
stability and if you are having trouble give yourself a buffer zone.
People post 7dkh as a acceptable range which is fine in some scenarios. But in a tank that is not low nutrient you will most likely have trouble keeping Acros. In the case a of a standard nutrient or high case IME 8-10 is a preferred range. But give yourself the buffer of not keeping it at the Edge of the range. So in this case I would run it at 9dkh and so on and so on. People will tell you all kinds of things but remember they have dialed those things in with there basic reef keeping nature in mind. So there is a translation to make and you are going to need to make your reef your own. Working between different systems of reef keeping will drive you right out of the hobby.
Find your tanks natural flow with your nature of reef keeping. This is easy for some as they have the equivalent of a green thumb in reefing, others not so much. See one item no one can advice you on is yourself. You can't just copy someone else, it never works that simply as you are not them.
At this point take the hit and let things work themselves out. Obviously not without getting another set of eyes on the situation/parameter readings. Once the tank is stable and you can see it moving forward growth, color & texture then dial in your basic habits. polyp extension is a poor indicator by itself. Once you get a feel for how the coral tissue should look you will see major issues before they becomes major issues. But it is a balance between growth, color and tissue texture that help you asses the health of your corals.
Just remember its reef keeping, so the problems will always be there, You just get to a point where you are adept at managing them as they come up. We all go through periods where we are done and want to get out due to frustration.
People post 7dkh as a acceptable range which is fine in some scenarios. But in a tank that is not low nutrient you will most likely have trouble keeping Acros. In the case a of a standard nutrient or high case IME 8-10 is a preferred range. But give yourself the buffer of not keeping it at the Edge of the range. So in this case I would run it at 9dkh and so on and so on. People will tell you all kinds of things but remember they have dialed those things in with there basic reef keeping nature in mind. So there is a translation to make and you are going to need to make your reef your own. Working between different systems of reef keeping will drive you right out of the hobby.
Find your tanks natural flow with your nature of reef keeping. This is easy for some as they have the equivalent of a green thumb in reefing, others not so much. See one item no one can advice you on is yourself. You can't just copy someone else, it never works that simply as you are not them.
At this point take the hit and let things work themselves out. Obviously not without getting another set of eyes on the situation/parameter readings. Once the tank is stable and you can see it moving forward growth, color & texture then dial in your basic habits. polyp extension is a poor indicator by itself. Once you get a feel for how the coral tissue should look you will see major issues before they becomes major issues. But it is a balance between growth, color and tissue texture that help you asses the health of your corals.
Just remember its reef keeping, so the problems will always be there, You just get to a point where you are adept at managing them as they come up. We all go through periods where we are done and want to get out due to frustration.
The crabs are definitely your snail issue, don't trust any not even emeralds, found 3 munching on my favorite coral recently, if they hadn't been in my tank for years I would have flushed all 3 but they now reside in the sump, however the dragonet could eat the snails also, most like live food so if there isn't enough pods and he isn't eating frozen she'd definitely eat snails, as for the corals its kind of hard to say calcium seems a bit low, do you test for magnesium? What do you use for supplements
reef87
Non-member
just for curiosity.
have you dipped anything with bayer or any bug chemical solutions?
the reasons I ask is because if you dip anything with bayer and you did not wash them off completely,
if you didn't clean them well enough after the Bayer dip. . The bayer can kill all decapod crustaceans such as shrimps or small crustaceans such as pods...etc.
It is toxic to pods/inverts.
have you dipped anything with bayer or any bug chemical solutions?
the reasons I ask is because if you dip anything with bayer and you did not wash them off completely,
if you didn't clean them well enough after the Bayer dip. . The bayer can kill all decapod crustaceans such as shrimps or small crustaceans such as pods...etc.
It is toxic to pods/inverts.
