Feeling Better

It's only been 24-hours since I dosed the Ick medication, but the fish already seem significantly healthier. I couldn't be happier. All three fish are eating, even the goby. It's really amazing how much of a difference ther is between his demeanor yesterday and today. He's perched up, his fins are extended, his color has come back, and he's not hiding anymore. I think he looked right at me, with that wonderful smile that made me want him in the first place, as if to say "yeah, that's right, I'm the shit." So, it's official - his name is Bubba. Because, he's the shit. :)

Still shopping around for names for the two clowns. Any suggestions are welcome in the comments for this post.

Eek! It's Ick!

You can ask a hundred aquarium hobbyists if they use a quarantine tank, and you might get eighty of them that say "no". It's one of those things that many experienced aquarists recommend, but most people just don't do. I wasn't going to do it at first, but I decided that since I had my old 20-gal just sitting around I would give it a shot. Of those hundred aquarists that you spoke to earlier, you probably would get at least half of them to say they never had a problem with disease. I am, on the other hand, the one guy who gets his first case of Ick with my first fish! Yes, that's right, folks - one of the new ocellaris clowns has had a white spot on his dorsal fin. It was only one white spot, but it's definitely Ick. While I'm upset that I now need to quarantine the fish for longer, I'm quite happy that I decided to use the quarantine tank.

The medication that I picked up earlier tonight says that it'll take at least a week to cure the Ick, and then I plan to keep them in quarantine for another week, just in case. So, my two week quarantine period has just turned into at least a three week (if not four week) journey.

On a very positive note, I have been worried about the yellow watchman goby, but things have seemingly turned around. It has been very in active - hiding all the time, fins tight near the body, coloration darkening slightly. His breathing wasn't a problem, there were no visible signs of damage (rotted fins, spots, stripes, etc.), and he was eating occasionally, but I was still worried at how shy he was, because I picked the one that seemed to have the most personality when at the store. In any case, within five minutes of putting the medication into the tank, he came out of hiding, and had his fins outstretched.

The medication needs at least four days to take effect. I'll post again once something happens (good or bad).

Good News and Bad

Well, I'll start with the bad news. I had my first casualty. The blenny that came along with the rock was floating upside-down when I got home from work yesterday. I tested all of the parameters in the tank, and everything was well within the expected and acceptable ranges. I'm still not sure why it's dead. I was told that I didn't need to feed the fish, because it would eat the algae and other growth on the new live rock. I'm thinking maybe he didn't eat the algae, or maybe I should have fed it. Oh well, at least he was free.

Now, for the good news! I have fish! My quarantine tank has three new inhabitants for the next few weeks. I got a pair of ocellaris clowfish (as in, Nemo). They swim together, and seem to be very happy and healthy. I also got a yellow watchman goby. It is a sand-sifter, and will actually carry sand in its mouth. This fish has not looked the greatest - his color is darker than when he was at the store, and he also does not seem to be eating while I am watching him. His breathing has not increased, there are no spots, no fin rot, or any of that other type of obvious disease indication. I am obviously going to keep my eye on him for the next few weeks, and hopefully he'll pull through. Now, for some pictures:

Yellow Watchman Goby

Yellow Watchman Goby

Ocellaris Clownfish Pair

Ocellaris Clowfish Pair

Life and Color Arrive

I finally recieved my second shipment of "the Package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater. I had to wait for part 1 to cycle (see post below explaining the cycle, if you're interested), and now I have the rest of it. I was able to make a first attempt at aquascaping. Not 100% convinced I'm going to keep this layout ultimately, but for now it'll do. I think this is awesome... there is so much life and color in the tank, and I don't even have any fish, yet! Without further ado, here are some pictures:

Full Tank Shot (FTS)

From the left side

From the right side

An orange tree sponge (with yellow ball sponge below). There is also a red tree sponge, and two purple gorgonians (one is very branchy, and the other is more sticky).

Large Feather Duster Worm

Small, yellow, unidentified clam. I also have two jewel box clams.

Not sure, but it's either a rock anemone or a flower anemone.

Some kind of pinkish plant life. Came on the rock.

One of forty blue-legged hermit crabs.

Flame scallop.

White Condylactis Anemone with Magenta Tips. I placed it on top of the rocks, thinking anemones like a lot of light and a lot of water flow. He had something else in mind, and walked down the rocks.

Unfortunately, it was down the back of the rocks.

Some purple kind of sponge or coral of some sort. It started opening up as I was working on the final aquascaping.

My first fish! Salfin/Algae Blenny (I think). He came with the rock. Still shopping around for a name for this guy.

One of the coral frags I got from AMW yesterday (see previous post for explanation). It's a zoanthus sp., not sure which one.

Spider Crab or Arrow Crab, again not sure

Also, not shown, but included in the shipment were Culerpa Mexicana Algae (looks like small ferns), cup corals, barnacles, a peppermint shrimp, a red serpent star, a donkey dung sea cucumber, a tiger tail sea cucumber, a baby tiger goby, various snails, various sponges, small feather dusters, and plenty more. Most of them went into hiding once they were added to the tank, so I didn't get a picture of them in time. Who knows, we may never see them again. Or, maybe they'll come out when I start feeding the tank. Believe it or not, I'm not supposed to feed the tank for at least two weeks. This way, all these filter feeders and clean up crew actually do some cleaning.

I think I'm going to go to the LFS to get my first fish this week or weekend. I have the quarantine tank finally cycled, and it's going to take about 2 weeks for the main tank to finish cycling now that I've added all the above goodies - just enough time to quarantine the first fish. The main tank will finish cycling right around the time the first one is ready to come on up from the basement. Which one should I get?

Atlantis Marine World Adventure

Part 2 of my live rock shipment came today, and it is AMAZING. However, I haven't processed the pictures, so you'll just have to wait a little longer for that post. Meanwhile...

As many of you already know, I finally caught Larry, the Mantis Shrimp that was residing in one of my rocks. Larry would pick on the fish that will eventually make their way into my tank, so he had to go. I didn't want to kill the poor guy, and I didn't have anywhere else to put him. So, I posted on a LI Reefkeeping message board that anybody who wanted him and had a place for him could have him for free... well, I got a response that I was not expecting. It was the head reefkeeper at Atlantis Marine World (the LI aquarium) - Joe. Basically, Joe said that if I brought Larry to AMW, he would give me a coral frag or two for my trouble. We later found out, that if Larry is a decent predator of a certain type of pest in the main reef tank, he will be placed in there to hopefully hunt those pests (I think he said copepods, but don't exactly remember). If not, Larry will be the #1 backup to the display Mantis Shrimp. It's good to know he's going to have a good home.

My dad decided to tag along for the ride (it takes about an hour to get there). Well, we got the royal treatment from the minute we arrived, let me tell you. Joe showed us all the behind the scenes nuggets we could dream about. Let's just say that the back area of that place is just as big if not bigger than the display areas! We got to see the breeding and prep area, including the frag farm Joe runs. We also got to see the equipment he is running, and he explained a little bit about it. He has at least five or six protein skimmers running that are the size of a small swimming pool, each. The main reef tank that they have there is around 25,000 gallons, and we got to go on top of it, and look down. He has more lights running on top of that tank than I even own in my house! Just out of curiosity, we began to ask many questions, one of which was about the electricity use. In a normal month, their electric bill is around $30,000! For one month! In the summer, when they have to run several chillers, it can be as high as $60,000. Just for electricity.

Well, needless to say, we truly enjoyed our time at AMW today, and Joe, if you're out there in cyberland, thank you for the tour, taking the time to talk, and for the frags. So far (eight hours later), they are thriving well. Both have opened up nicely under my T5 lights - which are so very dwarfed by your system. :)

For the LI locals out there, please consider becoming a member at AMW. You get free admission as many times as you'd like, as well as several other benefits. I am seriously considering it after today. And for the rest of you out in cyberland, please support your local Aquaria. They are definitely in need of your business - it takes a lot of electricity to run those places!

I'll be back soon to post pics of part 2 of the live rock package. Trust me, it's worth the wait! Until then...

Cycled and Ready

I just confirmed with my live rock supplier. My tank is cycled, and I'm ready for part two of the shipment. I have Monday off from work for Presidents' Day, so I'm going to pick it up then. The clean up crew (CUC) will be shipped at the same time. CUC includes snails, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, peppermint shrimp, serpent star, and more. I'm told he also tends to throw in a few extras like ball sponges, gorgonians, etc. Can't wait to see what comes tomorrow!

I'll post pictures after putting the second part of the package into the tank. Until then...

Larry, 0 - Matt, 1

That's right, folks! I caught him! Last night, I fashioned a make-shift trap out of an old 2-litre soda bottle. I cut the top off, turned it around, and put it back into the base of the bottle. With the opening facing back in towards the back, Larry could crawl in, and then would be stuck in there. I cut several small holes in the bottom of the bottle, and on the side. I layed the trap down in the tank, put some sand near the mouth, and put a few small pieces of raw shrimp in the base. I left the trap there overnight - nothing this morning. I elet the trap sit, and when I came home from work - nothing. BUT! Yes, there's always a "but"....

I saw Larry in a different rock from where he normally hides... what was he doing there? I had no idea, but I thought I could try to scare him out, and hopefully catch him before he gets back to his original hiding place. Well, I scared him out, and he got right in to his original home... crap. This just enraged me to the point of now I HAVE to get him out.

So, I went down to the basement, got a 5-gal pail full of aged water, and I took the rock out of the tank. I put the rock in the cold water, hoping to shock him enough that I could poke him with a wooden skewer. I tried that, and it didn't work. I tried going in and out of the water in hopes he'll jump out of the rock to find the water. That didn't work. Eventually, I was resigned to try anything. So, I shook the rock violently above the bucket. Yep, that insane idea of shaking the rock worked. He fell right out... onto the carpet. Did I mention these bad boys can pierce your skin? So, I used my handy-dandy grabby claw thingy, and I grabbed him and put him in the bucket.

Larry is now calmly residing in my quarantine tank. I had nowhere else to put him except for down the toilet. For now, he is a welcome guest in that tank, however I will be doing my research. If he's no good for the main tank, I'm certain he'll be no good for the quarantine tank once I try to put a fish in there.

I'll try to get a picture or two of him this weekend for posting here. Just didn't have the camera at the ready tonight.

OK, OK, I know.... it really was more like Larry 4 - Matt 1, but hey, you don't have to win every battle to win the war!

Explaining the "Cycle"

It was brought to my attention that I overlooked the fact that not everybody knows what the "cycle" is. I apologize, and I'll explain it now.

One major byproduct of organic waste is the production of ammonia (NH3 or NH4+). Ammonia is toxic to most organic life (including fish and humans). So, we need to get rid of the ammonia somehow. There are naturally occuring bacteria that consume ammonia and produce nitrites (NO2-) as a byproduct. These bacteria are called nitrosomonas. Unfortunately, nitrites are also toxic in higher concentrations. Luckily, there are also some bacteria that consume nitrites and produce nitrates (NO3-) as a byproduct. These bacteria are called nitrobacter. This biological conversion of ammonia to nitrites and then nitrites to nitrates is called "nitrification".

Nitrates can be toxic in really high concentrations (well beyond that found in a home aquarium), however that is not the real problem. Nitrates actually are food for algae. By having too much nitrate in solution, algal overgrowth (or "blooms") can occur. These algae consume dissolved oxygen, and can essentially "choke" fish to the point of death. Plus, tanks full of ugly green and brown algae are not attractive. So, we need to continue the process of removing the nitrogen. One thing I didn't mention above about nitrification is that the nitrosomonas and nitrbacter need oxygen to consume the nitrogen products. In other words, the process is aerobic. Converting nitrates to nitrogen gas (N2), which bubbles off and leaves the tank, is called "denitrification". Since air is 79% nitrogen gas anyway, this is completely benign, and ends the nitrogen cycle. Denitrification occurs best in areas of low (anoxic) to no (anaerobic) dissolved oxygen concentrations. Since the water is well mixed, the only areas in the aquarium where low dissolved oxygen concentrations occur are within the sand bed, and within the caves and small crevices of the live rock where there is not a lot of water flow. These areas are not very abundant as compared to the entire volume of water in the tank, so this process is limiting. So, how else do we get the nitrates out of the water? Water changes - that is, we remove a certain amount of water from the tank, and replace it with fresh, purified water. Hence the RO/DI of the last post. Of course, this new water must be salted and aged before going into the display tank.

So, what does all of this boil down to? What's the bottom line? In order for the ammonia to be removed from the tank, the cycle has to get started... that is, the colonies of nitrosomonas and nitrobacter need to grow to handle the bioload (read: amount of ammonia created by daily activities within the tank). By "letting the tank cycle", what I'm really saying is "giving the tank enough time for the bacterial colonies to grow large enough to handle more of a bioload". When the analytical testing reads zero ammonia and zero nitrite, then I know I can add more of a bioload (ie, more live rock or more fish). Once the colonies grow enough, the ammonia readings will again drop to zero, and I'll be able to add more, again. Eventually, I will hit a point of maximum bioload, at which point the tank is fully stocked.

Interestingly, this same nitrogen cycle is the technique we use in my job. For those of you unfamiliar, I am a sanitary engineer - meaning, I design sewage treatment plants. In those plants, we have nitrification zones, denitrification zones, etc. etc. Generally speaking, we never add chemicals, or anything, it's just a complicated system of aerating and mixing with anoxic conditions - and human waste is turned into clean water! It's funny how our hobbies sometimes tend to mimic the rest of our lives. How many computer programmers do you know who are huge gamers? Exactly...

So, Scott, was that a sufficient answer to your question?

As an update to the actual tank build - the ammonia is still present in the tank. Nitrites have started to rise, which means the nitrosomonas colony is growing. It'll probably be another week or so until I'm ready to add the second shipment of live rock, which will include all of the "clean-up crew" (CUC), which eat detritus (solid waste) and other sources of ammonia - further preventing buildup of ammonia in the tank. My CUC will consist of snails, hermit crabs, a star fish, peppermint shrimp, and a sea cucumber. Once that arrives and cycles, then the tank will be ready for fish! It's a slow process, but done right, will be so very rewarding.

This has been a very long post... sorry if it put any of you to sleep. :)

Who's Thirsty?

Yes, that’s right, I now have very, very clean drinking water. Oh yeah, and water for the aquarium, too! Hehe… Yes, I now have my very own RO/DI water purifier. This is a very good thing from an environmental perspective (I can just see Dave rolling his eyes as he reads that), because it means I will no longer be buying bottled drinking water. It is also a very good thing from an aquarium hobby perspective, because it means that storing water, aging water, and keeping a steady water chemistry in the tank will all be easier now.

Disclaimer: This paragraph is about to be very technical… if you feel your eyes roll into the back of your head, just skip down to the pictures.

So, what is RO/DI? It stands for reverse osmosis/deionization. Osmosis is any transfer through a membrane in the presence of water. Reverse osmosis, is the opposite. It is the transfer of water through a membrane while resisting transfer of other ions. It is about 95-98% effective. That’s where deionization comes in. The remaining ions are attracted to a particular resin that binds the ions while the water passes through. After the DI stage of the device, the water should be 100% pure… but don’t drink it! More on that later…

Here are some pictures:


Here are the hoses leading to and from the basement slop sink and RO/DI (supply/waste). The tubes wrap around the back of the water heater and boiler, along the back wall.

I have the drain line going into a bucket underneath the unit. From the tests I'm running with it, I seem to be able to fill a 5-gal bucket in about an hour.

Here is a front view of the unit. From right to left, the cannisters are a mechanical filter, a carbon filter, a carbon filter geared towards removing chloramine, and the DI unit. The RO unit is on the top of the housing.

Top view of the unit - the cannister is the RO membrane. From top to bottom, the other pieces are the RO only valve, the by-pass valve, and the flush valve. An auto shut-off is underneath the flush valve. The way the flow path runs is through the sponge filter and the two carbon units, then the RO membrane, then the DI resin, and finally out. If you want, you can bypass the DI unit and have RO only water.

Here is the RO only valve. You might be asking why there is an "RO only valve". Basically, the human body can not handle pure water. We will get sick to our stomachs (read: diarrhea). So, the purest we would want our drinking water is RO only. This valve is the feed for drinking water.

Finally skimming

I finally got my protein skimmer! My friend James helped me set it up this afternoon. After a long ordeal in getting the device, I'm glad it's finally installed. It's really quite the interesting technology. And very simple.

So, you know how waves crash on the beach, and you get that white foamy stuff? Well, that's protein. And a protein skimmer is the same basic technology. It's the air that gets entrained with the wave that creates the foam. So, the skimmer is a pump that gets water and air to mix inside a vessel. When the two are mixed, a large amount of turbulence breaks the air up into tiny micro-bubbles. These bubbles provide ample surface area to create air/water surface tension - which causes the proteins to come out of solution. The bubbles rise to the top, collect as a foam, and dump into a collection cup. The water goes out the overflow and back into the tank. Really quite genius. So far, no foam, but the thing has been running less than an hour. Give it time!

Still waiting for the nitrogen (aka ammonia) cycle. It's only been two days since installing the live rock... patience is a virtue in this hobby.

Thanks for your help, James. :)

It's Alive! (rock)

I got my first shipment of live rock last night. It really was quite the experience. I had to pick it up at the airport at the air freight terminal (around the back of the "real" terminal). It was eerie, and felt like some back-alley drug deal. I was waiting for all the sirens and lights. Freeze!

After finally lugging the stuff home, and with the gracious help of my buddy, Dave, I got the live sand bed and the first bit of live rock into the tank. Overnight, the tank cleared up from the silt that was with the sand. Thanks again, Dave, for all your help last night. :)

Before I get to some pictures, here's an update on the protein skimmer. I still have not gotten it from the LFS. I am going there tomorrow, and I am getting something - either my skimmer, or my money back. There are plenty of fish (stores) in the sea, so to speak, and I'll bring my business elsewhere if need be. If this guy wants to argue with me, I'll just never shop there again... it's finally come to that.

OK, so here are some pictures, most of which were taken within an hour or two of the installation of the rock and sand, and so are somewhat cloudy:

FTS - the sand and rock aren't in any particular location... just in the tank was the important part. I've started arranging the rock, but that discussion is for another post

There were at least a half-dozen of these tiny snail dudes. My first livestock!

This was the only hermit crab I found. He was gone this morning, and I haven't seen him since.

Is that a coral? Not really sure, but it looks cool. Somehow, I doubt it's an actual coral, but you never know!

That red golf-ball looking thingy is really weird. Is that a red ball sponge? Not sure, but we'll soon see if it does anything.

Snails, snails, everywhere... how many do you see?

In the center, there is a tiny feather duster - hard to see, because of the cloudy water. Better pictures of feather dusters and other worms in future posts.

This morning, I woke up to find out that an anemone crawled out from hiding overnight. I think it is a curlycue anemone - which don't host fishes, but aren't detrimental to the tank. I fed it some shrimp when I got home from work, and it ate it like it hadn't eaten in a long, long time. Just gobbled it up. I hope it doesn't die, but we'll have to see what happens as the tank cycles.

In addition, I also found a creepy crawler inside one of the rocks. I'm not sure, but I think it's a mantis shrimp - which will have to come out of the tank if it truly is that. I tried enticing it with some shrimp, but he just ate it and snuck right back into his little cave. Dave has named him "Larry". Hopefully, I'll be able to get Larry out of his cave, so I can trap him. If I can see him out of the cave, I can more easily identify him, and also get him out if he's bad.

I have to let the tank cycle before I can request shipment #2 of the live rock. Evidently, the second shipment has more decorative creatures living on it, like sponges, maybe a coral or two, or some other such creatures. Also, I will get my clean up crew (CUC), which include many snails and hermit crabs, a peppermint shrimp, a sea cucumber, and i think a serpent or a brittle starfish. It'll be fun to be able to watch all of that life get settled into the tank. Once the second shipment cycles in the tank, I'll be ready to go get my first fish. Yay! It's only about a month away now! Seems like forever to just go get a fish, but patience is the name of the game with this hobby.

Until next time...

Purified... or Petrified?

Well, I broke down and ordered a Reverse Osmosis/Deionization (RO/DI) Water Purifier today. I realized that I don't have the storage space to be air sparging my tap water all the time, and efficiently do water changes. So, I'm going to skip that step, and use the buckets and shelves purely for aging saltwater... after I install the RO/DI. I ordered online to gain a reasonable discount, even with shipping.

I need to focus more on my ability to efficiently do water changes. This also means I need to be getting more heaters. I might try to ebay them to save a little coin, or I might go to the LFS and find the cheapest I can. It's only for storage water, so I can't kill anything with them. :)

Supposedly, I will be getting my protein skimmer on Friday. If they don't have it, I am going to be pissed... either I'm getting my skimmer or my money back on Friday... it's going to be one of those two. I really hope I don't have to cause a fight.

I also ran into some issues with Live Rock supply. Apparently, the only LR the LFS can get now is too expensive ($12-14 per pound), so I've been looking into ordering online. Even with shipping, I'm finding some really good looking specimens at around $8-9 per pound.

More blogging this weekend, I suppose... until then...