Gulf Coast

Snoopdog · Jan 8, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
Petco has Instant Ocean Reef crystals salt on sale for $39.99 right now. If you buy online and pick up in store you can get an extra 5% off. I bought two from Daphne and two from Biloxi. According to vetteuy53081 instant ocean is increasing their prices on the 15th.

$39 on amazon

Snoopdog · Jan 8, 2023

What you do is wait for the big drop.

.Haliax. · Jan 8, 2023

I usually just order online from petsmart. Its always like $60 in store, but 39.99 if you buy online and pick it up.

Snoopdog · Jan 8, 2023

I am not changing my water nearly as often as I was, just occasionally do a larger water change. No ill effects so far.

BamaCoastPyrat · Jan 8, 2023

@.Haliax. @Snoopdog I now have 24 gallons of salt for a 40 gallon system. I don't think I will have to buy salt until the next time prices bottom out.

I finally got a couple of Hannah checkers for nitrates and phosphates. With the way green hair algae grows in my tank, I assumed that they would be sky high. My nitrates are at 2.0 and my phosphates are at 0.07. So now I'm not sure what to do to combat this stuff.

Snoopdog · Jan 9, 2023

Something is feeding it. How long has the tank been setup?

BamaCoastPyrat · Jan 9, 2023

Snoopdog said:
Something is feeding it. How long has the tank been setup?

2 weeks shy of a year. I finally got rid of the bubble algae and cyano. I suspect the nutrients are so low because of the rapid GHA and chaeto growth

Snoopdog · Jan 9, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
2 weeks shy of a year. I finally got rid of the bubble algae and cyano. I suspect the nutrients are so low because of the rapid GHA and chaeto growth

Although those may test low, maybe they are low because of the GHA. How often are you feeding, and what amount of food? We have had a GHA issue for dang near a year after all the cycles. What we noticed is that it was all tied to feeding and flow. I absolutely added to the flow and that did help, what was causing it was the SO feeding twice a day. I am sure she thought the fish were starving but it is a balancing act. We had to run phosguard to get the phosphates down (25) and manually remove the GHA. We are getting to a better spot now, seeing a difference. Hopefully in a month or two we notice very little GHA.

.Haliax. · Jan 9, 2023

Snoopdog said:
I am not changing my water nearly as often as I was, just occasionally do a larger water change. No ill effects so far.

Approximately how often are you doing water changes?

BamaCoastPyrat · Jan 10, 2023

Snoopdog said:
Although those may test low, maybe they are low because of the GHA. How often are you feeding, and what amount of food? We have had a GHA issue for dang near a year after all the cycles. What we noticed is that it was all tied to feeding and flow. I absolutely added to the flow and that did help, what was causing it was the SO feeding twice a day. I am sure she thought the fish were starving but it is a balancing act. We had to run phosguard to get the phosphates down (25) and manually remove the GHA. We are getting to a better spot now, seeing a difference. Hopefully in a month or two we notice very little GHA.

I guess I didn't word that well, but that is what I mean. I think I am showing low phosphates and nitrates because the chaeto and GHA are rapidly consuming all of them.

I am feeding PE Mysis pellets, TDO Chromaboost, brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp. They don't get all on the same day but I try to mix it up a bit. My wife feeds the system about 50% of the time because I am on shift or working the second job. I'm sure she is feeding too much. I have an Avast plank I am going to add that should help with that problem. I also have a protein skimmer that I need to add to the system but can't do so until I remake the system. I think those two items will help a lot. I also pulled a ton of it out by hand yesterday. Hopefully the chaeto will start out competing it soon.

I'm not sure what I can do to increase flow without blowing the clowns all over the tank.

On a positive note, I was snapping vermetid snails off of the rocks yesterday and accidentally shifted a rock. All of the zoas on the rock closed up and a little later I noticed my favorite colony has split and 8 of the heads had moved about 4". So hopefully they will start spreading faster. Snoop, did these come from you? Do you know what they are called?

Snoopdog · Jan 11, 2023

Pretty sure everyone of them did. I am not that good at the names so I will reply again tonight with the names, I have to ask the zoa professional of the house.

Snoopdog · Jan 11, 2023

.Haliax. said:
Approximately how often are you doing water changes?

Like once a month.

Snoopdog · Jan 12, 2023

Eagle eyes

Eagle Eye Zoanthids

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www.tidalgardens.com

Snoopdog · Jan 12, 2023

On your vermetid snails, get some bumblebee snails, give them a few months. I had literal thousands of them at one point. I cannot find a one now.

BamaCoastPyrat · Jan 12, 2023

Snoopdog said:
On your vermetid snails, get some bumblebee snails, give them a few months. I had literal thousands of them at one point. I cannot find a one now.

Eagle Eyes! Nice, thank you!

How many bumble bee snails did you have? I have 4, they are active but I have never noticed them on a vermetid. I'm not even sure if they are keeping up with new ones.

Snoopdog · Jan 12, 2023

BamaCoastPyrat said:
Eagle Eyes! Nice, thank you!

How many bumble bee snails did you have? I have 4, they are active but I have never noticed them on a vermetid. I'm not even sure if they are keeping up with new ones.

I had like 30-40 at one time. You will not "see" them do their work. It is just a slow progressive decline in the vermetid population.