Blog Comments

Yep, these are good guys. Quit killing them.

Yep, looks like Stomatella snails to me (from the second picture for sure). The description of super fast also fits. Melev's reef list them as reef safe.

Ok so I did some research and I believe they are Stomatella snails​ they are apparently great herbivores that should not be kept with peppermint shrimp or wrasse as they may eat them. They are mostly active at night and can drop their tails if attacked like a lizard (or so I read.)

couldn't tell you what they are exactly b/c I have yet to do any research on them but I can tell you that I have them as well and have never seen them do any harm or had any losses at all with them in there coral, shrimp, fish, or otherwise. I mostly just see mine out at night or just before the lights come on. I would be interested in seeing what they are so I may do some research and get back to you. Like I said though, I have never had a reason to put out an A.P.B. for them yet

After some more searching, I stumbled upon this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RtTu2iP4sE

Thanks for all of the nice comments and advice.

@melev - I'm at 5 RBTAs right now, which is about one over max capacity. I've been selling them as they split and wander. It's a good supplement to the electricity bill.

great pics! looking good! if you should check out mr. saltwater tanks no-nonsence guide to algae its a pretty nice and well written guide to battling nuisance algae

Awesome photos and critters.

you know everyone gets to deal with a little cyano eventually :P

Look at all these pretty pictures. Thanks for sharing. How many RBTAs are in this tank? There's irony here that you have a guy name cyano helping you with your cyano problems.

I have an old post if you want to see how bad my bryopsis problem got. All of my problems came with a patch about that size so very careful you could squash it quickly here or it could drag out for months and cause tons of heartaches so whatever you do be very careful with your approach.

Thanks for the input cyano. That frag was just transplanted from the frag tank. I should have cleaned it a bit better. I suspect my foxface will have that polished of in a week or so. He's kind of a glutton. Maybe I'll do some surgery tomorrow just to make sure I don't end up with a problem...

yeah that was a very bad thing as far as dumping that old water back in as I am sure that introduced some (though not enough to kill anything I assume) Hydrogen Sulfide into your system which could certainly contribute to all your stated problems. It in turn may have killed some of your bacteria and other unseen fragile creatures which in turn could provide unwanted nutrients for cyano and algae to munch on.

I love the tank though. Looks great and those pictures were all very appreciated/needed eye candy

Your algae looks like bryopsis to me, in fact thats what mine looked like (if you are going to pull it out don't let a single hair of it land anywhere else in the tank or it will grow where it lands. Look that up online and make sure that isn't what your fighting. If it is several of us have fought that fight and will be more than happy to help out based on experiences.

Oh - the other thing I neglected to mention is that I had water to my Ca reactor stop flowing for an undetermined amount of time (probably less than 2 days). Instead of flushing it out as I should have, I absent mindedly got it going and dumped the water back in my system (~300 gallon system). That could likely be contributing to some of my tank's recent problems.

Sorry - some of these are quite blurry at full res You get the idea though. Most things are humming along - good coral growth. I have had trouble with bleaching on a couple of pieces though. Haven't been able to track down the source of the problem. Ni, Na, Am, pH, alk all look spot on. salinity has been as low as 1.022, and I usually keep it up at 1.024-1.025 - but that kind of range hasn't been an issue for me in the past as long as changes are gradual.

I've also been in a constant battle with cyano since installing the bio-media reactor a few months ago. I use chemi-clean and it's ok for a month and then cyano comes back. Didn't ever have a problem before the reactor. Any I haven't noticed a slow down in algae growth either. Questioning whether it's a gimmick or what. May have to try another kind of bio-pellet.

Let me know if you have any tips/comments!

Thanks for the update Blennyman and good to hear you had a good time and got some nice stuff. Thanks for keeping an eye out for Kessil for me. Some day they will release the A350, just hope it is soon and worth the wait.

Mustang - I was keeping my eyes open, but didn't see a Kessil. The event had several local coral dealers (8-10ish), mostly the guys who sell out of their basement -yet are well known for quality corals in the area. A couple of LFS's made the trip, and other equipment vendors were also there - Vortech, etc. Numerous raffles. $10 entry was worth it IMO. I ended up getting a blue maxima, a gold torch, a wall hammer, and a spectacularly blue millipora. As reef shows go, it was the largest I've been to, but probably a quarter the size (or less?) of MACNA. I read that the founder wants to keep it small - but the demand is high enough that they make you wait in line to get in until someone leaves. Definitely worth the 50 minute drive for me.

Mustang - I was keeping my eyes open, but didn't see a Kessil. The event had several local coral dealers (8-10ish), mostly the guys who sell out of their basement -yet are well known for quality corals in the area. A couple of LFS's made the trip, and other equipment vendors were also there - Vortech, etc. Numerous raffles. $10 entry was worth it IMO. I ended up getting a blue maxima, a gold torch, a wall hammer, and a spectacularly blue millipora. As reef shows go, it was the largest I've been to, but probably a quarter the size (or less?) of MACNA. I read that the founder wants to keep it small - but the demand is high enough that they make you wait in line to get in until someone leaves. Definitely worth the 50 minute drive for me.

So did you see a Kessil A350? This inquiring mind would like to know

Dang im going to be in Durango Skiing!