GSP nose rub?

[Jkingsley3923]

I have my little 1.5" T. nigrovirdis in my marine 10 gallon with a HOB Aquaclear running Seachem's Seagel and Purigen (only while my 29 is cycling in the mean time, only a couple weeks or so left). There is about 10 lbs of live sand, and about 15 lbs of live rock along with a couple soft corals and some macroalgae. There are plenty of broken lines of sight and plenty for the little guy to explore, he is fed twice a day enough to make his belly round out on frozen squid, clam, mussel, live blackworms, earthworms and ghost shrimp and snails once a week. My question is that he looks like his upper lip is puffed up a bit because he paces the tank wall a lot. so I'm assuming it's just because of rubbing on the glass all day. Is there anything I can do to alleviate this? I've tried re-decorating twice..or should I just wait for him to go in the 29?

thank you!
-Jordan

also, I picked up some Melafix today to hopefully alleviate the little bit of swelling and allow it to heal.
parameters are as follows:
PH: 8.4
KH (Alkalinity): 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <10
Salinity: 1.026

[jus85411]

its probably just that hes bored and needs more room to explore. how are his colors? does he have a white belly? the melafix should help out with that just make sure you dont have any carbon running in your filter and hopefully that 29 is ready for him. most people will say that may be just too small for him and might suggest a little bit bigger tank. with live rock and decorations your taking a lot of water volume away for his waste to be diluted so upkeep will have to be pretty frequent. and if your thinking about tankmates possibly down the line definitely get a larger tank. bigger tank the more area you can provide caves and places to investigate

on a side note, my GSP used to pace all the time in my 29 before i got him in a 75. but when i moved to the 75 i put nassarius snails in there for the sand bed. once he figured out there were snails in the sand he started digging around in the sand looking for them so that kept him quite occupied lol

[sevenyearnight]

Saltwater filtration is different from fresh, the liverock is not taking away per se, since it *is* the filtration. So saying the liverock is taking away water volume that would dilute the waste doesn't really apply.
29 is "OK" short term, if it's all you can afford right now, but ultimately you will want a bigger tank. And of course, the sooner the better.

[jus85411]

i have to disagree. water volume is water volume(different than filtration), if you fill your tank exactly half way and then fill with live rock it will raise the water level. and you will use less water than what you used to fill it half way. and its not like with HOB or canister filters where there is water inside the (external)filter, in SW its all in the tank.

i had a 54 gallon corner saltwater tank i recently broke down. i took about 20 gallons out, then worked on taking rock(about 35-40lbs) out and i probably only took out another 20-30 gallons. i didnt note these things, just a guestimate. its also why when your setting up a tank you are told not to fill right away until you fill with substrate and decor

[sevenyearnight]

I understand water displacement, I'm not disagreeing with that. Obviously any items in the tank are going to take up space. Same concept of not filling the bathtub up to the rim before getting in it, or jam packing your cereal bowl before adding milk.
I'm saying that if you have a 29 gallon tank, and atm that is the largest tank you can afford, then NOT putting liverock in it because you want to make sure you have more water volume to dilute waste is imo not a good idea. The water might dilute, but the liverock actually breaks down waste.
What I'm trying to say is that although the live rock will displace water, its effectiveness on water quality out weighs the dilution effects of the same amount of water.

[jus85411]

lol i gotcha i figured you knew better, just kind of how it was worded made me think that way. definitely dont leave live rock out just to make more water just try to upgrade if you can

[sevenyearnight]

Yeah, I'm on an android phone and I have to swype on this little touch screen so my answers aren't as elaborate as they should be sometimes.
:/

[Pufferpunk]

although the live rock will displace water, its effectiveness on water quality out weighs the dilution effects of the same amount of water

+1

[Jkingsley3923]

yeah, he will be in with my 55 leather/mushroom tank when he gets some more size on him, the 29 is just to get him up to size, my green carpet blenny, or green wolf eel would probably have a go at him for only being just over an inch in length. That was the original purpose of the ten, but he is much more active than I planned for I guess. Working at the LFS does have it's advantages..haha used tanks save my life. His colors are great though, bright green, brighter green between the eyes, very white belly, all of that good stuff. The only other things in that 55 are the wolf eel, some royal damsels, and a royal gramma. I figure that the damsels and the gramma are quick and pugnacious enough to not get picked on too bad and if they are, they will go in the 29. The twenty nine is definitely short term for the puffer though. Even on his ten I'm finding myself doing at least two 25% water changes a week out of paranoia. haha. Despite all parameters reading fantastic. the 55 is running a 20 gallon long sump (not too big but hey...it's extra water volume) and a protein skimmer rated for a 75, as well as over 50 lbs of live rock, aragonite substrate and two koralia power heads.

[Pufferpunk]

Sounds like a plan...