Marimo Moss Balls in Saltwater Reef Tank?

[quicklynx]

Nitrite = 0 is great. Untill you get your ammonia gets to 0 though, your nitrate will not drop. Just keep doing your water changes and all should be good. Just in the future, please cycle fishless. The ammonia is not good on the fish.

Yea, it wasn't the best move on my part, but they were free from a guy breaking down his tank so I took them. I figured they would help speed up the process. I haven't had big issues with ammonia yet, or any huge spikes, but of course, I'm doing water changes every day to every other day. I will definitely do one tomorrow.

 

[Huladad]

Again, not to bust on you, but any ammonia in any salt or freshwater tank with fish in it, is an issue. Adding constant waste to a cycling tank, only prolongs the cycle... Live fish add a constant waste. If you really love this hobby find these poor fish another free home in a ammonia free aquarium and finish cycling your tank...

 

[quicklynx]

Good news is I found about 6 gallons of DI water, so i went ahead mixed it up and then did a water change. It wasn't much but the nitrates at least went down some. Tomorrow I'll do a 12-18 gallon change. I'll just try to maintenance it for the time being.

As for the Clowns, I'm going to keep them for now. If things really start to go south it shouldn't be hard to get rid of them quickly.

Either way, I'm hoping the Marimo Balls do well in the saltwater. it's not their natural habitat but hopefully I can either open or close some doors on the subject. I haven't found anything online about the balls in salt, nor have any of the LFS tried it. The only thing I have found is that some people have used seawater to grow them quicker, but it was more of a brackish system.

 

[quicklynx]

Another question.... any experience with the Vodka method to reduce nitrates? Would adding fireworms to the tank be a bad idea? I haven't noticed any on the live rock.

 

[quicklynx]

To update I did a 60% water change today, using a different type of salt. Congressional Aquarium has a 50% off sale on salt so I bought the Instant Ocean Reef Crystals 5 gallon bucket for $40!

Before the water change My ammonia was pretty much down to 0. My Nitrite was also at 0, and my Nitrate was at about 30ppm. An hour after the change I tested and the ammonia was a bright yellow which means 0, and the Nitrate is around the 0-10ppm range, I'd say around 5. My pH is a little lower than I'd like, 7.8-8.0, but my lights were off for a little while. I'll recheck it in an hour or so after the lights have been on awhile.

I went to my LFS today and they gave me some fireworms out of their 5 year sand bed. Also got a few starfishes with it.

An update on my Marimo Ball. It looks good. I shook some salt out of it and noticed some critters made a home in it, including my newly acquired fireworms and starfish. Luckily, I didn't get stung!

 

[FLESHY]

Hmmm I heard that marimo balls can tolerate some salinity...will be intersting to see long term what happens.

I wouldnt have added fireworms to your tank...but no worries.

Good to hear that you are getting the nitrogen cycle under control, and the tank looks pretty decent to me!

Dont worry about that pH man, it is perfectly fine...even for reefing if you can keep it stable...that is the main key for reefing.

 

[quicklynx]

Hmmm I heard that marimo balls can tolerate some salinity...will be intersting to see long term what happens.

I wouldnt have added fireworms to your tank...but no worries.

Good to hear that you are getting the nitrogen cycle under control, and the tank looks pretty decent to me!

Dont worry about that pH man, it is perfectly fine...even for reefing if you can keep it stable...that is the main key for reefing.

Awesome. I rechecked last night and the pH looked good, so I'm getting my fluctuation which is normal.

I like the fireworms, but I may regret it. I'm going to get some thick rubber gloves to wear when working on the tank to prevent the stings.

Question about the brown algae on my front rock. It was there when I purchased the rock. I read that as I use DI water over time it will die off, however it is still there and seems to be doing just fine. Should I be worried?

I only have a few scavengers in the tank and I will probably get some more in the future. I saw on one of the online fish stores that I can get a variety of hermit crabs, including red, green, blue, white legs, etc.. The ones in there now are red legs. Is there a big difference between them or should they be fine? Also how many are good for a 24g reef tank?

Thanks

 

[FLESHY]

I wouldnt use any hermits other than the dwarf blue legs...the rest can be predatory towards snails and other stuff, and are also big enough that the knock stuff over.

Astrea snails are good against brown algae as well.

Good to hear bout the pH as well. I would test for pH now once right before lights on, and once right before lights off, so you can see the two extremes of the tank pH wise.

 

[quicklynx]

I wouldnt use any hermits other than the dwarf blue legs...the rest can be predatory towards snails and other stuff, and are also big enough that the knock stuff over.

Astrea snails are good against brown algae as well.

Good to hear bout the pH as well. I would test for pH now once right before lights on, and once right before lights off, so you can see the two extremes of the tank pH wise.

Thanks, Fleshy. I did some reading up on the Hermits and I'm hearing a bunch of horror stories. I guess for now I'll just leave the 2 hermits I have in the tank now and call it a day. I was in the Petco today just browsing and saw they have Astrea Snails that are quite large compared to my hermits. Would I have to be worried about my hermits attacking them?

Are there any safe crabs to put on the reef? I like the little Sally Lightfoots but saw they can be dangerous for a reef, plus my tank isn't big enough.

Those nudibranches I see at the store are so incredibly awesome looking, but I see they are a pain to keep alive longterm. Are the lettuce nudis the easier of the bunch?

 

[FLESHY]

Thanks, Fleshy. I did some reading up on the Hermits and I'm hearing a bunch of horror stories. I guess for now I'll just leave the 2 hermits I have in the tank now and call it a day. I was in the Petco today just browsing and saw they have Astrea Snails that are quite large compared to my hermits. Would I have to be worried about my hermits attacking them?

No worries, glad to help. I am of the opinion that most hermits wont kill snails unless they are starving, or the animal was already dead/dying. Like I said, I only use blue leg hermits, and if you have those, you should be fine.

Are there any safe crabs to put on the reef? I like the little Sally Lightfoots but saw they can be dangerous for a reef, plus my tank isn't big enough.

Yes, but almost all of them are opportunistic, and mean. At least in my experience. I have had several emerald crabs that were reasonably well behaved...ie...I never noticed them attacking or killing anything. Also know of several people who kept sally lightfoots with reasonable success.

Those nudibranches I see at the store are so incredibly awesome looking, but I see they are a pain to keep alive longterm. Are the lettuce nudis the easier of the bunch?

I have no experience keeping nudis...but I wouldnt recommend them to the beginning hobbyist. Most only eat one thing, and when that thing is out of your fish tank, they will die. I dont think they make very good aquarium candidates.

Hope this helps! Eager to see where this reef ends up.