Tank Progression: 60 gallon

[*GSP*Fan*]

So we had a power outage. It went out around six yesterday evening and didn't come back on until about noon today.

I was at work when it went out and wasn't off work until midnight. Because the power wasn't back on by the time I got off I went to my parents house where our daughter was while my boyfriend was at our place. He didn't pick her up after he got off work because the power was out with the biggest concern being the house getting cold as it was only about 30F outside.

Needless to say I was freaking out over the tank especially having just set it up and had added the CUC yesterday that had arrived. The temperature in the tank got down to around 60F. Once I got back to our place today (after power was finally restored) I immediately checked the tank. The heater is slowly getting the temperature up and I also put in an extra one I used for WCs to help speed it up a bit. The temperature was at 68F in the tank when I had to leave for work. I am not sure what I may have lost in terms of the CUC just yet, some were moving around some but most were still. I am sure that what is alive won't me very mobile until the temperature raises. After much searching and panic I found my starry blenny hiding in the rock, as usual just switched spots on me, he is alive and I hope he makes it.

I'm worried for the blenny and CUC as well. I'm hoping that because it was such a gradual decrease in the temperature that it helped save them. I would expect the snails and hermits to be hardier to these sorts of situations but am not sure if I would even be able to find the ones that have died, assuming some did. I'm worried about possible ammonia spikes and further problems with water parameters.

I know that when I get the chance I will be investing in a generator. I'd hate to see this happen down the road when I will have much more invested and more fish lives at stake.

Before leaving for work my boyfriend installed the new lights and I am hoping they will help with the temperature raising some as well.

[bertie 83]

They should be ok, try not to worry too much, fish and inverts are tougher than they look. The temperature would have dipped slowly and then you raised it the correct way. Chucking buckets of warm water in can be dangerous. Well done for staying calmish

[*GSP*Fan*]

They should be ok, try not to worry too much, fish and inverts are tougher than they look. The temperature would have dipped slowly and then you raised it the correct way. Chucking buckets of warm water in can be dangerous. Well done for staying calmish

Haha. Thanks. Most of my freaking out was done in my mind at least. Well that and I was texting my boyfriend pretty frequently at first checking up on the situation. I could have acted worse I'm sure. Glad to know the temperature is being raised in the right way.


Does seem they are tougher than I expected. I really thought I'd come home to at least the blenny being dead with both the temperature drop and no water circulation. But he was still alive when I left for work and seemed fine. No idea about all of the snails or hermits yet.

Would it take a lot of the snails/hermits passing to produce a large enough amount of ammonia to cause any issues? I know there is no way I'd be able to actually account for every snail and the hermits would all be tough to find as well.

I'll definitely test my parameters when I get home from work tonight and go ahead and get started on a batch of saltwater for a water change. I didn't think about that before leaving for work otherwise I may have had the time to at least have gotten it started so it could be mixing and warming up. Just so much going on right now.

On the bright side, my lights arrived without any broken or missing parts. They were being set up when I was leaving so I have yet to see them in person but am loving the look of the blue from the picture I was sent. I also have to do something about a top. Hopefully I can make a trip to Lowes tomorrow and at least see if they have what I need to know if I may have to order online.

Also, I don't know what sort of lighting schedule to set, I have a timer. The fixture has 2 T5HO 54W 10k lamps, 2 T5HO 54W blue actinic lamps, and LEDs that I believe are called moonlight or something. No corals yet but I do plan on getting some when possible (like zoas, mushrooms, and there is an LPS or two that I'm interested in-from my reading the lighting would be sufficient for those right?) and would like to go ahead and get on a regular lighting schedule. Also, I have some macroalgae (ulva and red gracilaria). Any advice for the lighting is appreciated.

[bertie 83]

Stop worrying, snails are rock hard.

[PufferMe!]

I just looked up a star blenny. What made you decide to get one of those? Makes me wonder if that is a good choice as a fish that would help clean algae? I've read to avoid fish that lay on the bottom with GSP's.

Gwen

[*GSP*Fan*]

I just looked up a star blenny. What made you decide to get one of those? Makes me wonder if that is a good choice as a fish that would help clean algae? I've read to avoid fish that lay on the bottom with GSP's.

Gwen

When I was browsing through fish on liveaquaria he was just one that really stuck out to me. I think he's cute I did more research afterwards and read about his eating habits, behavior, and owner experience. He will eat algae but I wouldn't get one just for that purpose, or any fish for that matter.Mine was eating brine shrimp at the LFS along with what algae and such was in the tank. I've got seaweed sheets, brine shrimp, pellets, and spirulina flakes for his feeding. A lot of owner experiences I have came across online have said that their starry will eat everything they feed the tank. So I don't expect him to be too picky. I intend on stocking snails on a somewhat regular basis to take care of any real cleaning. They aren't bottom dwelling (I've never even seen mine on the bottom) but are perching fish to a point. Mine hides a lot now within the rockwork. He has his one favorite nook in the live rock and gets way up in there. I've actually seen him out quite a bit today picking at the rock and the macroalgae I bought but he's just going from hole to hole for the most part. If he sees he's being watched, especially close up, he'll usually go back to his little cave. I'm sure he'll stay more out in the open as he warms up.

I know it may not work out between him and the GSP. I really hope it does as I already love the little guy but if not, I'll give him his own tank with maybe more peaceful tankmates. He will get as big as the GSP, 6 inches was the length listed as his mature size. I've also read about some owners having issues with them for aggression. So I'm hoping between his max size, being the first addition, and potential to be a little tough, that they'll get along.

I'm about to upload some more pictures and got some of him actually.

[*GSP*Fan*]

A few more pictures

Full tank view with new lights. Both the day and actinic are on in this photo.


Some of my starry blenny.

He's kinda hard to see especially if you don't know what you're looking for


Little closer up. I think he's easier to see in this photo.

[bertie 83]

I hope that white arrow wipes off your tank ok lol. Looks good.

[*GSP*Fan*]

I hope that white arrow wipes off your tank ok lol. Looks good.

Lol. Me too.

And thanks!

I've seen the blenny out more today, even if he is mainly going from hole to hole in the rockwork. He appeared to be eating, picking at the live rock and all. He was also perching outside his little caves but would usually dart back in once I got to the tank otherwise I could have gotten better pictures. Its nice to see him warming up more and especially after the tank going without power and all. Makes me feel relieved. I was so worried he wouldn't have made it.

I think it will look so much better once I can get the background on the tank. I have one I'm just trying to figure out how to best apply the background with what limited space I have. Think it will be a little difficult. Might try and do that tonight.

[*GSP*Fan*]

Well the red gracilaria I ordered from reef cleaners is now all gone.

There was three bunches of it I placed around the live rock (only maybe 2-3 inches tall at the time). It can be seen in the pic above. Now I had noticed some had gotten loose and had attached to the powerhead/filter in the last few days but also seemed like some was also missing aside from that.

When I went to bed last night there was some still in the tank in two patches on the live rock. However, when I got up this morning those two patches are gone and I have not seen them in the filter/powerhead as before.

I'm guessing the starry blenny had himself a little snack

Now I know his diet is regularly film algae and whatnot but wasn't sure about red gracilaria and similar. He hasn't touched the Ulva, yet.

Not a huge loss or anything I just found it kind of funny. I do wish I was able to get those sorts of macroalgaes locally to include in his diet from time to time.

[Pufferpunk]

You can order it dried, online.

[*GSP*Fan*]

I managed to get my background on the other night, finally.

It was rather difficult since the tank is full and there is not much space between the tank and the wall on two of the sides. I applied it with vegetable oil and that did go better than expected. I think it looks pretty good but am kinda wishing I would have done just a solid dark blue or even black.

So here is a picture of the tank with the background and the led moonlights on. I'll have to take a picture with the day lights on so the background is more visible.



I am having a little bit of an issue with nitrates so any insight from anyone who happens to read would be appreciated.

I guess all things considered everything is going pretty well. My only issues has been with nitrates. They were staying at around 10 ppm shortly after I added some life to the tank but in the last week or so have been staying pretty high. I have been performing about 50% water changes at different times. It seems to stay at around 80ppm or so according to the API liquid test kit. It was reading the 80ppm last night before I performed a water change, afterwards it was reading about 40ppm. I know more water changes are in order to bring them down even further and I will be doing another larger water change when I get home tonight, allowing the water to mix for right at 24hrs. I'm just slightly confused as to why they are getting so high and so quickly in the first place.

I did have two HOB filters on the tank. I put them on initially to help clear the tank after adding sand. All that was in the filters was filling (from the fabric section to help catch any particles) and some live rock rubble. I used two because they are both rated for smaller tanks, one for about a 15 gallon and the other for a 30 gallon. They were extras I had sitting around. Anyway, I left them both on since I do not have a sump or a protein skimmer yet.

During tank maintenance last night I clean them both out and only placed the larger back on the tank. I also removed the live rock rubble in case it was trapping anything causing any issues. I know HOB filters can cause nitrate problems and I'd think it is part of my issue but don't see how it can be causing such a quick and high increase. There is only one fish in the tank, the starry blenny, along with a few snails and hermits. I feed sparingly every other day. Also, in regards to the filter, I had been changing the filling about every other day and just tossing it.

I may make a separate post regarding the nitrate issues I seem to be having but thought it'd be worth a shot to mention here as well.

Oh, I about forgot, I tested my water source and it is reading zero nitrates.

[Pufferpunk]

What are you using for nitrate removal?

[*GSP*Fan*]

What are you using for nitrate removal?

I have to say I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, sorry. I am not using any chemicals or similar specifically for nitrate removal or anything.

My attempt at reducing nitrates once they began to climb was the water changes, which help obviously, just not as much as I would like. More so because they seem to climb back up quickly. Which is what I am not understanding.

I did remove the one HOB filter last night and cleaned the other throughly and removed the live rock rubble before placing it back on the tank. Hoping that would help reduce some of my nitrates.

I used the siphon/vac for water changes and try to pick up some detritus but my suction is not that great with it so I know I'm not picking up all that I'd like to. Even so, I am feeding very little and every other day. That on top of such a small bioload at the moment is why I am not sure of the source of the nitrates.

I want to add some corals here in the next month or so but definitely want to get this solved first.

[Pufferpunk]

Nitrate removal in marine tanks:
1 1/2-2lbs LR w/good flow
Protein skimmer
Refugium with macro algae
Water changes