Fish/Coral Advice

[nycmarisol]

Hello Everyone,

My first post went so well, I thought I would do a second one and see if you can all help me again...

My main question is if you guys can tell me what you have in your tanks of similar size, etc. and give me your opinions on whether adding the following is a good idea. I have researched a lot and it seems that many times there is no such thing as an absolute answer when it comes to ocean critters! All of my tank info is in the tank description section.

So please don't rip my head off if you disagree with the following. I am new and going on stuff I have read up on and advice from guys at LFS ...

Blue Tuxedo Urchin
Randalls Gobie
Marble Sea Star
Torch or Frogspawn Coral
Birds Nest Coral
Strawberry Crab

So what do you all think? Too much? Any problem children? Any recommendations for something different? Will everything get along with what I have in there?

Currently everyone is happy from what I can tell, but I know things can change quickly in my little man-made underwater world. My only "issue" at the moment would be that I have quite a bit of hair algae covering one rock and a little on another. Also my Pagoda cup had a little of the hair algae on the edge and when I got the Emerald he picked it all off and there was exposed skeleton under there. The rest of the cup looks really great, but I am curious as to whether that skin will ever grow back.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Dre]

A picture would be nice. First:-water parameters. Sec:-lighting. Third:-food.... Sps corals are more demanding, some people stay away from them. Your urchin may become a problem. They knock over corals if they're not fasten down properly...

 

[nycmarisol]

Yes of course, sorry! I originally put it in the post, but I thought it was so long that no one would want to read through it so I put it in my tank description. Here it is:

Tank Info
Red Sea Max 130D
It's a 34 gallon all in 1-Bought from a friend who had it up for a year after she had transferred her smaller tank into it (had smaller one for years).
There is a protein skimmer that runs all day and 2 circulation pumps. One I keep tilted up a little so it disturbs the surface of the water and the other points straight fwd toward the front of the tank.

Lighting
2x 55w 50/50 10,000k & Actinic T5 Power compact lamps
4x Blue LED Moonlights
I keep the "daylight" on for about 10 hours and the "moonlight" on the rest of the time.

Fish
1 Firefish
2 Ocellaris Clownfish
1 Pygmy Angel

Inverts
3 Turbo snails
3 Margarita snails
3 Nasarius snails
7/10 Tiny Baby Snails of Some Sort
2 Red Hermits
6 Blue Hermits
1 Emerald Crab (who just molted this morning- SO COOL!)
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 Randals Pistol Shrimp
About 1,000,000 little see through shrimp looking critters that come out at night- pods?

Coral
Lots of Zoas
1 Pagoda Cup
Lots of Mushrooms
2 Leathers (came together)
1 Hammer
Live Rock
Live Sand ( I think its Aragonite?)

Water Stats
(these are my numbers, which I double checked at LFS)
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates .25-.5
PH 8.2-8.4
Sp. Gravity 1.023
Calcium I remember was good when LFS tested 2 weeks ago, but they told me to get a test kit when I started adding more coral, so I am picking that up tomorrow)
(by the way, when the difference in readings depends on a shade of a color, it's really hard to judge which is which!)

Dosing/Products Used
MY friend I bought it from said she dosed 5ml each of the 2 part B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System, but I stopped when the LFS said to test before I dosed so I have only added is 2x a week.
3.5ml of the Purple up stuff 1x/week.

Food
1x a day and I alternate between pellets, flakes, brine shrimp I soak in Phytoplankton, and this fancy frozen homemade stuff I bought at LFS that is made up of clams, shrimp, fish, broccoli, etc. I didn't ask how much it was, but it's a really small amount and when it rang up for $16 (I think?) I almost had a heart attack. I think I can pay a visit to Agatha and Valentina or Citarella and get 1 lb of stuff for that price!

 

[nycmarisol]

 

[Dre]

Keep in mind everyone have different taste and what you find easy to grow might be difficult for another. A good place to look at members tanks is the tank thread forum.

 

[Dre]

Look nice, you need to know what your alk is though.

 

[nycmarisol]

Yes, I agree that difficulty level is partially opinion based.

I will check out the pictures- that is a good idea.

So you think the urchin would knock larger things over? I don't want a rock slide that could crush my firefish who hangs out in his cave under a rock and the pistol shrimp in his little cave. My rocks aren't cemented together and there are a few smaller pieces of rock covered in zoas that are just placed (bottom right and top left). but I think are large enough that they are okay. The hammer worries me because its not on a base, just its little body on the rock, but I didn't want to glue him down because I just put him in last week and I don't know where he will ultimately end up. The leather is in the sand (got him last night and took this picture yesterday morning) but I think I will ultimately put him top left corner because There is a good amount of space there and I have read that they get quite big.
What about the marble star? I have read so many conflicting opinions on sea stars :argue:

 

[nycmarisol]

Oh and I have the Alk test kit but that one and another one I can't remember (where you add 1 drop in at a time until it turns the right color) I cannot get to work. I think those tests are maybe bad because it just won't work. I will pick one of those up as well when I get the Calcium test tomorrow and post the results.

 

[nycmarisol]

Nervemind. What an idiot. PH has been ~8.2.

 

[Dre]

Nervemind. What an idiot. PH has been ~8.2.

What you mean? ph is different from alk. As for the starfish, i never kept one of those mentioned...

 

[nycmarisol]

Dre, double dummy. I got my wires crossed. Alk is one I have had a hard time measuring myself. Picking up Calcium test kit today and will pick up one for Alk too. Maybe mine is faulty?

I have read a lot about sand sifting stars and how quickly they can deplete your sand bed of all the live stuff that we work so hard to cultivate, but haven't seen a lot on the marble stars.

In the meantime, I can't find my teeny pistol shrimp, but I do think I kept hearing a pop in my tank last night. I also got to witness my cleaner shrimp working away on my pygmy even right in between her gills! AMAZING!

 

[nycmarisol]

My calcium is is 360 and my magnesium is 1400. How do I fix calcium and why is mg so high?

 

[BaaMNYC]

Mag seems fine. Your cal is low though. Should be around 450 IMO

 

[jaBX1]

in my 20 gal i never had much luck with starfish. i had two, one red and one blue (forget the correct name). they were both cool to watch but even with EXTREMELY slow acclimation neither lasted moe than 2 weeks.

my red star just seemed to disintigrate (still saw red pieces of him a month after) and the blue must have been eaten by snails/crabs.


Maybe 20 gal was just too small, idk

i always wanted a star but be careful and do your research

gl and keep us updated

 

[marrone]

If you're talking about blue linkia starfish, well they're very hard to keep and a 20gal tank wouldn't have enough food to keep one alive, which is probably why it died.

 

[dannyny]

what salt are u using? i have only used reef crystals and my calcium is always 450 after 10% water change.

 

[nycmarisol]

The one I really want is the Marble Fromia. I have read that they are reef safe and only grow to 3/4 inches, but the sea stars being so delicate is really persuading me to wait a long while til I have a good handle on the parameters.

I use sea water that is already mixed. I feel that I am too much of a novice and between that and living in a small Manhattan apartment, I don't know if I want to deal with making a mess. I got a few 5 gallon containers when I drove over to Manhattan Aquariums on 37th for $15 each I think.

Like I said, I acquired from a friend and did a 50% water change when we moved it (about a month ago), so I wanted to wait longer than usual to change water. I have researched the water change debate and I think I will do 5 gallons every 2/3 weeks. I had fresh water aquariums for a few years and I did water changes every 3 years. No one ever died and my fish (guppies, neons) spawned all the time. Yes, I know marine is different, but I have read up and many people don't do the weekly water changes. I think you cater it to your tanks specific needs and your own as well.

I dosed B-Ionic yesterday so I will test the Ca and Mg again tonight. Tried the Alk test again and just couldn't get it to work. I think it's definitely gone bad. I ordered a new one on Amazon Prime so will be here soon.

Will upping my Ca help my Pagoda regrow its little bald spot?

Any advice on the blue tuxedo urchin?

Am I supposed to make different posts for each question?

 

[nycmarisol]

Isn't Mg supposed to be 1300-1400?

 

[STHILL]

I have the same tank n its packed with stuff,
Actually to many fish, i do 10gal water change a week cause if the bioload

 

[nycmarisol]

Wow! It's so beautiful! What do you have in there? I see a ill firefish and clown how long have you had it?