A complete newbie who needs a way to start!

[Laz]

I would get two peppermint shrimp and see if the eat them. If they dont start spot treating with aiptaisa x. Either way pests are just something we all deal with in this hobby, it doesnt have to be the end of the world just take some steps see how that works and re-evaluate.

I honestly have no idea how I'll be spot treating these, Ted. There's way too many. What I was thinking, since I have no coral or fish, can I not just inject it into the water and let it run through the Aiptasia? My only other method is to just go on a mission of spraying the rock everywhere with Aiptasia X, because I can literally see Aiptasia in every corner and crevice.

For sure. By the way, what affect do these have on fish? Can they still live alright if I can't control the problem?

 

[Kelz88]

the Aiptasia x is a small bottle of paste like substance, you wont be able to just pour it into the water. I had a tonne of it, I just went about killing what I could and in a day or two I would go on said same rampage.

Peppermints werent an option for me because I have a lionfish and peps = lunch.

 

[Laz]

I guess I shall attempt to do the same. Hopefully it'll work out alright.

I'm probably going to increase the stock in my tank tomorrow.

Was planning to go with:

1 Hermit
3 Nassarius Snails
1 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Fire Shrimp

I was thinking of also getting a couple of Oscellaris' as well, but shall I leave them till next Saturday? I don't want to add too much at once.

 

[Ted]

Dont feel so bad. I kill 2 or 3 aiptasia a week, have no idea where they keep coming from. Starting to think there must be a big one behind the rocks that I cant see. One of them today was a challenge popped up in the middle of a zoah colony. The zoahs where not to happy with him for sure.

 

[Laz]

Woke up to something horrible.

My RapidLED bulb has stopped working. Something I paid £105 (incl custom fees) has failed after three weeks of use.

 

[little_fish]

Thats odd, can you contact the company about what to do about it?

 

[Laz]

Yeah, I turned it off as usual and when I hit the switch today, nothing. All the LED's look fine, they don't look burnt out. I have done. Just waiting back on an email.

I'm really gutted, because I was already thinking about how it's not worth it, but now I'll have to pay shipping fee's probably to send it back and then custom fees to receive it in the UK. And it sounds like a 3-4 week process with shipping and all. :/

 

[little_fish]

Have you tried to use it in another socket?

 

[Laz]

I don't have another socket, unfortunately. I tried a standard bulb in the same fitting and it worked, so it can't be the fitting.

 

[little_fish]

That is such a bummer, I'm sorry :(

 

[Reefer916]

Just get a bio cube off Craigslist. That would probably be the least expensive for a complete setup that is somewhat reef capable.

 

[Laz]

I already have a tank, bud.

---

Update:

The Aiptasia X arrived. I squirted the stuff in every small hole & Aiptasia I could. There's been quite a significant wipe out, so it looks like it was definitely Aiptasia, which is great.

The suck-ish thing in the UK is, marine stock is unbelievably hard to get hold of. I've gone to three LFS' today and none of them had any peppermints. A couple had some Fire shrimps, but they were £30 ($45) - Would that be considered expensive?

Other thing is I'm just waiting on RapidLED to get back to me. Still no reply, so I'm guessing they don't work on weekends. Still really frustrated about that.

 

[Neno reefs]

That is a bit exspensive for a fire shrimp, most are $20-30 here, but it all depends on the LFS

 

[Laz]

Yeah, I thought so. I've found an online stockist in the UK which have them relatively cheap so I'll give them a go. Question on acclimation guys, I've read a lot on how people mention that you should always net the fish before adding it into the tank instead of adding the water of the LFS, but doesn't this ruin the acclimation? I say this because, if you ever stick your arm into your tank, it's somewhat warm, but when you take it out, it's suddenly hit with air and you feel the cold, so I was thinking that this must completely ruin the acclimation of the fish because the fish is exposed to the air, and even if it may be for a short second, it's still exposed to much colder temperatures. Little bit of knowledge would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[little_fish]

Their body temp won't drop that fast, just like you. It's only the outer layer that gets chilled

 

[Laz]

That makes sense, thanks.

I found this gorgeous aquatics center today and their displays were stunning, with a lot of CUC, shrimp and fish. I shall be grabbing a few things tomorrow. :)

 

[Laz]

Guys, my tank's temp peaked at 84.2 today and was curious at to what's the temperature I can keep a couple of oscellaris' in? I've added a few computer fans to help but not sure how much of a help it'll really be.

 

[little_fish]

84 is a little high, but stability is almost more important than what the actual temp is. And you would be surprised at how well evaporative cooling works

 

[Laz]

You were right, little. It had quite a drastic effect. The evaporation is quite significant, but the cooling really works so much that I had to turn it off. Only if I had a controller which could control when to turn on/off itself. It would be so useful in terms of having good stability. I don't know why, but my temperature swings are very fast. Sometimes it'll be very low, other times it'll be very high.

In other news, RapidLED have said they'll send me a replacement bulb. I was really surprised. I half expected them to want me to send it back, review it and see if it was their fault or mine, but it was no hassle at all, didn't even question me or anything. Really excellent people.

 

[little_fish]

Awesome!