KingOfAll_Tyrants

Finally I actually found two (vice one) 2" ghost shrimp which I never added. This is in addition to bristleworms, feather dusters which hitchhiked in. Very strange.

The answer is, yes. Last time I was in Hawaii in July, this was obvious in many places. One area in particular (Kapoho Tide Pools - yes I know not a reef haha), we had huge (as in like 5 foot long) Montiporas. But many of them had massive bleached areas; even there it was clear that it wasn't because there wasn't too much sun, it had to be some sort of external influence. A professor at UH-Hilo stated it was due to El Nino events over the past few years: for many years temperature was fairly steady, but an El Nino even raised temperatures enough for a long enough time in the summer that any monti that had decent sun exposure was at least 50% bleached. (oddly enough, the darkest monti was in a relatively shaded and high flow area. Almost 6ft in diameter) UH-Hilo has a website which compares bleaching rates there; if people want I can go through my email and dig it up.

And, in other news, I found a large ghost type shrimp, which I never added. As in, about 2 inches long; peppermint/banded coral/skunk cleaner shrimp this size are sellable. I added some live mysis shrimp before a previous business trip to feed the jawfish (they consumed them greedily); it's possible a small ghost shrimp, possibly Palaemonetes vulgaris, was in there. But I don't know if they can grow from 0.5 inch-2 inches in two months! Off to clear out some white slime I noticed growing on the sandbed.

Boring minor update, just mainly for journalistic reasons: 50% water change done, stirred up and cleared out a lot of detritus, nuisance algae, and did a lot of caulerpa pruning (frags available in B&S forum). Tank had a strong algae smell (brings back my freshwater fishkeeping youth), and has been cloudy, but at least now the smell is gone. I didn't add enough salt (red sea reef) I suppose, so salinity is now 33ppt (would have preferred 34 but still roughly my target; I'm not going to mess with it more) pH is also up 0.3 points (!!!), and alkalinity is down to 216 (after going down to 231 before the water change; i.e. 14ppm alkalintiy drop in about 24 hours). Anyway, definitlely no more baking soda for at least the next few days, until my calcium test kit comes in and I really understand my tanks Ca/Alk relationship. With the new RODI (thanks molcott) I will probably try to do smaller, ~18% (5gal) weekly water changes vice 15 g every two weeks.

If they were compatible with jawfish, and I had more space, I might add in my own 29G an algae blenny. I will add a royal gramma, someday. Other fish I considered were firefish, and PJ or Bangaii cardinals.

I'd think the spectrum is wrong, but I'd be curious about your results.

I'm not dosing, per se, just looking to understand it. If you consider adding a bit of baking soda dosing, then yes I started experimenting with it the week I left due to losing like 10 ppm alk every day. (when I left, I had to decide to just let it go for three weeks or to get my friend to occasionally add some baking soda. I chose the latter, and the tank is generally OK save for the way to high alk, which will be down to like 200 or so after the water change). All this actually exposes the weaknesses of my go on the cheap (use petco grade tanks, using a marine pure someone else kept in their sump, but putting it in the display instead of live rock) and jawfish decisions. - If I had a sump, and had more funding to devote to this, I think I would probably try limewater in the ATO to keep up alk/calcium. (and yes measure both of them). -And I'd keep the marine pure in the sump, where hopefully it would not have accumulated all the feather duster and algae that it has accumulated, and be a proper nitrifying and denitrifying thing; it's doing the former but clearly not the latter. It's rather ugly as it is, and it crowds out other life rock for decorative purposes. - I'd aesthetically prefer an MP10 or some such compared to bargain bin powerheads, but that's not in the cards for the immediate future. - more active fish would have been nice -going with standbys like clowns and blennies would have been easier. Right now, I'd like to eventually add a royal gramma but it would need much more rock work to be comfortable. (the Mrs. did not like either PJ or Bangai cards, but loves the RG). However, I have to work with what i have.

Got home after three weeks abroad, leaving (basic) instructions with my neighbor (which he followed). No water change since early Nov, since 10/25; I intended to do it before I took off but was unable to. (I need to do it ASAP) Tank’s in OK shape. Lots of macro growth (in the form of lots of smaller fronds, not really any super big fronds). Some pretty long gha. Most of the fronds will be removed, and the GHA will be removed during the water change. Bispira worm population is stable. CUC seems OK. Jawfish have made an additional entrance to their den through a rock I placed (with this very intention) and ate only a week ago. (I think the cat is still a problem). Salinty is 35-6; Nitrates are about 25. PH is around 8.1-2, with alkalinty at 244ppm (4.8 meq, 13.6 DKH; I asked him to add half a teaspoon of baking soda 3x a week, and that was clearly too much. I will watch consumption, and use that as a dosing basis. And modify my dosing regime - a topic of current high interest research for me). Hanna LR phospate readings were 0.80, 0.33, 0.44, 0.42, 0.38. I am very unhappy about the odd reading (reagents are new and I “zeroed” it a month ago), as well as the fact that this thing’s acuracy is +/- 0.1ppm. A protein skimmer (and a calcium test kit) is on its way, arriving Friday, as well as 3 lbs of gulf live sand which I will add. Sorry no pics this time. I want to sleep now after a 22 hour flight + arrive at home errands. :D

2-7 inches here. Newby with new tank. There are lots of anecdotal opinions out there about many things on reefkeeping, giving reasons for almost any action, very little of which is even remotely correlated to things that would pass undergrad bio. (Of course, some people's anecdotal experience is worth more than others, a function of the number and type of tanks they've kept for how long, their marine bio cred, and the logic of what they say) Why, how deep, and how to manage a sandbed in the display tank is one of them. (To say nothing about sandbeds in the fuge or remote deep sandbeds. Or dead sand with nitrifying bacteria versus wild collected live sand with lots of critters it). I keep it at that depth for my jawfish; they force me to have a partial deep sand bed( i am on the fence whether or not a "jawfish hill" is better for them than a full 7"'dsb) If it weren't for them, I'd only keep enough probably two inches or so in the display; i simply don't want crap accumulating in it and don't want to bother always vacuuming really deep sand. What I'd do in a fuge or remotely is a seperate issue. One supposed benefit of a dsb is a place for denitrifying bacteria to live. However, macroalgae. marinepure and some filter media also claim to be able to do that. Regardless, i am not sure that I'm seeing this effect yet in my tank. It remains a subject of intense interest to me (though I am not sure that i'm going to change anything, and don't want to change things quickly)

The blender thing reportedly does not work with all sponges. I'd just frag it normally.

Thanks, Tom. Correct, neither he nor anyone sensible would advocate just leaving junk to rot in the tank. Or to not do water changes, etc.

John Tullock, in his book “Natural Reef Aquariums” (TFH, 2001) states Reading this blew my mind. Not in a “I am the first to lean that my 20 year old brother is actually named Aegon Targaryen, and the past 20 years of political/military history is all a lie” sense. Nor even a “the Sith Lord who killed my dad is actually my dad. And both halves of that statement are true, from a certain point of view” sense. I mean this in the sense that, if true, it’s fundamental philosophical reset. I don’t think I’ll be doing anything really different for my nascent, albeit temporary tank, but the way I approach things will be different. Right now, my tank is about 2.5 months old. I tried to jump start the ammonia-> nitrate process by using a seeded marinepure block from someone else's tank, as well as a bacteria bottle and ammonia drops. That worked, but my nitrates steadily increased even before I added fish (and even more afterward because the fish I chose are finicky about eating, which is a separate story). I had a diatoms/algae outbreak, which I was not too worried about in small portions because I intuitively (from previous long term FW tanks as well as AP bio many years ago) sensed what Tullock was saying, and that the algae cycle was normal. But, algae grew more than I thought, and nitrates can easily go over 20 if I don’t do water changes or feed too much. My alkalinity loses like 10ppm a day, and there are resultant pH problems. Also, there is rampant growth of Bispira feather dusters on the marinepure*. I thought this was due to bad management on my part, and part of it probably is. I thought that getting macro algae and a small cuc would help with the nitrate/microalgae problem (which they have, some). I'm a bit worried about the tank, to be honest. But, if Tullock was correct, I think that this is the normal post ammona-nitate cycling process, and that while getting macro algae and a small CUC are good (especially with a few fish), many of these things will be settled with time, especially since I have most everything I need. Now, if I start to add stuff (Especialy a lot of stuff) I’ll throw off the equilibrium. I think this is why people recommend not adding SPS and the like for at least several months in a new tank. Anyway, just some things I'm thinking about while I'm away from my tank for two weeks. * A few would be good; 50 is more than I wanted. Besides, the Mrs. thinks the MP is ugly and the Bispira disgusting. I would sump the marinepure but I don’t have a sump yet, and since this tank is to be temporary before a larger one that I need to get this summer, lest I lose hundreds of dollars of credit I have with one manufacturer. I feel I’m in a bit of a catch-22. For that matter, for this future tank, I will jump start the system again with bacteria in a bottle, as well as by adding lots-of-life aquacultured rock and all the trouble I know that can bring. But when I do, I’ll let it ride for six-ish months before adding much more livestock, or doing anything drastic with parameters. And probably not take down/move the stuff in my old tank until the new one’s been running at least 2-3 months.

Indeed. I'm just a few blocks from you Clownfish4. KoAT

Indeed. Thank you very much! I am going to be on a plane for the next 24 hours or so, I cannot edit the OP, I will do so when I arrive.

Phil, if I could edit my post, I gladly would. There are numerous typos in it besides. I will take you up sometime on your test offer, but it will probably be in December sometime. I think I got the water 10/9.

Thanks, Phil, for replying and to providing such good detail! Unfortunately, I don't have any of the sample anymore. And it could've been simple determination or even (gasp) user error.

I’ve seen the jawfish more. I may be because they are out more, but I think its’ because I’ve figured out (and am home more) when they come out (10AM-6PM or so). Anyway, I saw the Mrs. out, and fed her amply (and she ate amply), in the morning on Thursday and then again in the evening. Most of the time when i see them, they are still in den with the door closed, but on Friday and Sunday I’ve seen them out and fed them. I also think that Mr. and Mrs. swap out when they eat - first one grabs food, then the other - while there’s always one in the den at any given time. I have an extra largish piece of rock which I’ll put in the next few days near their den, which they can use to expand their den (i’ve noticed their den is always near a largish piece of rock they’ve now buried under ~7”of sand). I also received two zoas in a swap (since I got too many snails from reefcleaners. Or so I thought - maybe I’m wrong). I’ve kept them in quarantine for a week (after a FW dip) and have seen nothing untoward, so I’ve added them. They are open under my kessil 360 and apparently quite happy. So, overall, I'm pleased with things well. I wish I had some more things (a skimmer, RODI unit, and an MP10 - none of which I can afford at the moment) - but I'm still content with the tank as it is. However, this feeding has caused, I think, Nitrates and Phosphates to go through the roof. Nitrates today are 10 and Phosphates are ~0.2 according to the Hanna LR checker, I think about 0.1 according to Salifert. (I don’t like this disparity, and am in fact unhappy with the Hanna because it’s not a precison instrument; I think it’s not accurate past tenths PPM phosphate. The results I got were 0.28, 0.18, 0.25, 0.20, and 0.21) I need to learn how to better manage their feeding.

Finally had time to post an update. I have been keeping measurements and observing the tank, but I haven’t had time to type out my thoughts. I apologize that this is disjointed; I’ve written it over several days and it integrates several posts, which probably leads to some syntax errors. Video link is below as well…… (just to remind people: inhabitants were previously a large marinepure subbing for live rock, about 2-3” of sandbed, a mated pair of pearly jawfish from KP aquatics and some nassarius snails, and a hermit crab) Anyway, several things have happened since my last post in this build thread: Algae cycle: I only heard about the nitrogen cycle when I first planned the tank; I thought that once ammonia was reliably turned to nitrates I was done cycling and I could add fish. That happened at about the one week mark with Dr. Tim’s bacteria in a bottle, ammonia drop additions and a “live” marinepure. However, I did not know that people recommended several months wait AFTER the nitrogen cycle was stable, to allow the algae cycle to go through: briefly said first diatoms, then cyanobacteria, then green algae. I *think* that’s gone through now, because as of my last water change I had a good amount of green algae in the tank. With that said…. Pest algae: was growing a bit before my last water change - not out of control, but noticeable. During my water change I wiped a lot of that out. I also have added a few more snails. Finally, I’ve also added some macrolgae which I hope will absorb the nitrate and the PO4 Lighting: after having gotten a Kessil 360 tuna, I decided I needed something in the greener spectrum to grow the macroalgae and replaced it with a $40 supposed growth LED. Macroalgae: I added some macroalgae from live-plants.com: Caulerpa sertulariodes (a somewhat less prolific, fern shaped species of this genus) - with C. prolifera and cupressoides mixed in - and Rhipocephalus phoenix (calcerous “pinecone” algae). I chose the Rhipocephalus because I wanted one of the odd-shaped calcerous macroalgae. I chose C. sertulariodes because I wanted a fast growing, nitrate absorbing and easy to care for macro; this one looked less dangerous of overgrowth and sexual sporing than others of its genus, its fern shape is quite pretty, and I found that it’s edible for humans. (though in the end I also got prolifera and cupressoides in the bag as well; the former being particularly fast to grow, and neither of which are palatble to humans) The growth of the various Caulerpa has been good with the new light, but not spectacular. I’m not seeing any growth in the (much slower growing) Rhipocephalus. Part of me wants to get a proper grow light, and perhaps dose a small amount of iron. Given that i don’t have any algae eaters right now in the tank, I intend to prune it occasionally. I will first let the fronds grow big (maybe 6-7”) and then start pruning it. Cats: my cat discovered the tank and would regularly harass the male jawfish (discussed more below) by jumping up to him and chasing him corner to corner (I've put newspaper all over the front of the tank as a temporary measure) - since then, both the male and female jawfish been very skittish. I am going to get a paper, magnet attachment to make a “front cover” on the tank to be placed when I’m not at home. Bristleworms: they’re apparently quite common in the sandbed now. I saw about a 3” one a few days ago (my first notice they were there) and now looking there are little ones under most of the small rock rubble pieces, and I’m sure I’d see more if I dug through the sandbed. I presume they came with the algae, and that I did not rinse/quarantine. However, reading about this on the web, I’ve come to conclusion that they are generally beneficial, pending anything actually eating my (presently nonexistent) corals. Snails: I added about 25 small snails. I intended only for 10; reefcleaners sent me double my requested amount. I’ve given about half of them away; I regret it a bit now because there is still lots for them to eat, but we’ll keep cool about this. I *think* one of my nassarius snails died, but my accounting of them is nowhere near reliable. Bispira worms: there were 1-2 of these on the Marinepure block at first. I now dub the population officially out of control. There are like 50 of them on the Marinepure. Obviously, this means that there’s too much detritus in the tank…. Detritus: when I stir up the sand a bit, a cloud of small stuff comes out. It isn’t big and doesn’t go far, but still……. Two water changes ago, I was feeding the jawfish everyday, about 2-5mL of rehydrated (with tank water) mysis a day. Since they stopped eating, I’ve cut that down, and I’m really struggling with their feeding schedule right now. Measurements: two water changes ago, Nitrates got to be about 30 and pH went down to 7.5-7. After that water change, it went down to like 8, and now that the macroalgae are growing it’s went down to around 5 (going back up to 11 after a week), now down to around 2 after the last water change . I got a phospate kit (Salifert and Hanna), and the measurements went from 0.3 or so before the last water change down to 0.1 right after, now back up to about 0.18. This again suggests I’m letting stuff build up and I need to cut feeding. Alkalinity absorbtion has been pretty heavy; since my last water change (with Red Sea Coral Pro salt), the alkalinity went from 177 to 160 over the course of four days. I attribute this to the Bispira, and possibly to things living in the sandbed. Anyway, my raw measurements as 10/29, about four days after the last water change, are: Ammonia 0, Nitrate 2.5 (up from 1 in the past week), pH 8.0ish on salifert (7.7 on the pH pen), Alk 164 (down from 177 4 days ago after the water change), Phosphate 0.10-0.13 (from the Hanna. Salifert suggests darker than 0.1 but much less than 0.25), salinity 34 (side complaing: my copy of the Hanna PO4 checker is not an instrument for measuring PO4 down to two significant digits ppm; variations between measurements can easily be up to 0.07ppm between readings. Unfortunately, I'm also having a hard time discerning the differences the Salifert PO4 kit; next time I'll double the dose per the instructions. Jawfish: I got Mr. and Mrs. Jawfish about a month ago, shipped from the Keys right before Irma hit (due to the cluster that inevitably was UPS in that area at that time, the next day air shipment took two days. I drip accumulated over, I think, 30 mins. There are no other inhabitants of the DT besides some snails. And yes, I intend to quarantine future purchases, or purchase quarantined fish from a trusted vendor and WAMAS supporter/member). Mr. Jawfish (the problem one) has not been active in that time, and has not been visibly eating*. (feeding regime: freeze dryed mysis kept in 5ml tank water for a few minutes, with garlic powder and selcon added) Usually, he just stayed in the den while Mrs. generally poked her head out and used to eat in my presence (and come out when I stood next to the tank). From the point they arrived, one or both of them have been very active building and rebuilding their den. Come about two weeks ago, when algae growth picked up in the tank and water parameters suffered, they both started hiding themselves. Mrs. would never appear. Mr. would hang out outside their den, in the corner. Den modifications appeared to stop for 2-3 weeks (that being said, I've not done rockwork before and after pictures; they may have done comparatively subtle modifications). During this whole time, I've not fed them; I tried feeding once or twice in the hopes they'd get food but I've seen no evidence they emerged and ate it, so I stopped feeding them absent Mrs. Jawfish coming out of the den. However, after a Wednesday water change which made the Mrs. emerge, on Thursday PM I put in around 100 live mysid shrimp. She promptly emerged and ate a few. By Friday AM I could only see a few mysids and by Sunday I saw none (other potential consumers: I have a plague of tiny, 5mm tube diameter fully extended Bispira-type feather dusters). Since the Wednesday water change she also seems to open the den in the late morning; when I turn on the lights and leave for work it's closed but by the time I get home it's open, she looks out some, but closes it within 15-20 minutes of my return. I got Mr. a piece of PVC pipe to hang out in a week ago, he lived in it for a bit, then under it, then next to it. Then, a few days ago, he put a whole bunch of sand and live rock rubble in its entrance, which I took as a good sign (I want eventually to get another piece of largish-rock to bury in the sand, to form their second den/the second bedroom of their den). Friday, he was under the PVC pipe, with his tail flat on the gravel behind him. I thought he was dead and dying, especially since he had not (appeared) to move much in the preceding week. I poked him with a net very gently, and he moved under the pipe quickly (dispelling my dying theory, fortunately). By Sunday I believed he was under the pipe, but nthen I looked and he's no longer there; he either died and was eaten by my snails (far less likely) or he went back into their den (far more likely). Anyway, I have not observed him eating in the past month, and for the past several weeks he's been generally hanging out in the corner of the tank and listless. Thus, I've been worried he might have a disease, Brooklynella as a WAG from reading various fish books. The trip certainly stressed him out, as well as the cat. However, I cannot see any signs of anything odd on his fins or body. And for each time I'm about to judge him "definitely sick", he does something oddly normal like go back into the den or start covering his pipe with sand and rock rubble. As of today (Monday), the jawfish do appear to open the “door” to their den in the late morning and close it when the see I’ve gotten home from work, seeing me over the newpaper I’m using to keep the cat from bothering them. However, today, it seems they did a lot of burrowing work - two water changes ago I redid the sandscape and made them a “hill” about 6” high of sand and rubble. I’ve seen evidnece they’ve been playing with it; to include changing the location of their “door”, possibly building secondary and tertiary “doors. And today the “hill” has to be at least 8” high. If read the above, thank you. but of course I understand if folks don’t want to go through it all. In summary, it seems to me that I need to seriously get the nitrates and phosphates under control. It may not yet be disastrous scale yet, but if I ignore it it might. It’s made harder by the deep sandbed. Given that the jawfish are not regularly out and are skittish when I feed them, and possibly, sick, I’m in a bit of a bind, especially now that I need to take off for two weeks. I kind of wish now I didn't use the marinepure block, and that maybe I got different fish instead. But what's done is done; I wanted jawfish (and they are fun when they come out!) and the already live marinepure helped the tank get up to speed fairly quick. I am thinking of changing things around, though. What next: - I need a skimmer. I’ve identified one. Even though I’m in a big financial rut right now (only necesities in the tank, for now), I think this counts as a necesity. - I would like to add some live rock; premium aquacultured rock from Florida. 1-2 large boulders, maybe 10-15lbs. - I have received a zoa in trade; it’s in quarantine -I’d like to get a Kessil H80, or other good looking grow light for them. - I’d like an MP10; but unfortunately my financial situation has put me off a good deal for one, and I don’t see getting one of these for another few more months. (current pumps are two cheap marinelands; maybe a total of 10X flow. - future livestock would be maybe at most 3-4 individuals of some the following: Royal Gramma, filefish, PJ cardinal, maybe a small flasher wrasse. I do hope to upgrade this to a bigger tank, but this is looking more like next summer vice this winter as I originally hoped. :( I also, after I’ve got a lock on the parameters, want to add at most 1-2 of some of the following: Porites lobata, a Montipora,or a nonphotosynthetic gorgonian. - part of me is even thinking about getting and oveflow and sump, especially if the larger, apex controlled tank is more and more of a pipe dream. But, again, I have very limited resources now and other priorities. Video of the tank: https://youtu.be/hHXpIlJPh1Y

It's not out of the question at all. As I said: I thought I could sort of get away with this for a FOWLR tank, a bet which doesn't look like it's paid off. I can't afford an RODI unit right now, but when I get out the first thing I'm going to do is get a RODI filter.

I tried that actually, the problem is that they come out of their dens for like a few seconds a piece, and otherwise hangout in the dens. So even if I did a 1/10s time lapse, I'd only get the occasional view of the fish. That being said, that would solve many of my "proof of life" questions. And I could watch them building their den; I assume they do but I'm not comparing rubble patterns. Too bad, the ones I've seen on youtube and in other tanks are really cool fish, I wish the cat didn't scare them. Thinking about it and looking at others, I really should get more rock to bury in the sandbed; I think their dens are dug into sand next to rocks (reinforced by rubble) and the rock is helpful for them. I also should add that I considered getting the Mr. out of the den so I can put him in quarantine, namely by basically digging them out (and destroying their home in the process). I actually did that before, because I hadn't seen them for days and was worried they were dead, and I felt very guilty about it afterward....

Thanks. I have all I need, BUT this AM Mr. Jawfish disappeared; I presume he's back with the Mrs. in their den. If he comes out in the next few days I'll catch him and put him in quarantine. Unfortunately, they're still spooked- I saw Mrs. Jawfish when I got home at around 3 today, but after looking at me for a few minutes she closed the "door" and hasn't opened it since.

I'm thinking of breaking out my hospital setup and treating one of my two yellow headed jawfish for brooklynella (WAG diagnosis; only major disease that shows his symptoms). What to people think? I apologize for the wall of probably mostly irrelevant unorganized data that follows. I got Mr. and Mrs. Jawfish about a month ago, shipped from the Keys right before Irma hit (due to the cluster that was UPS in that area at that time, the next day air shipment took two days. I drip accumulated over, I think, 30 mins. There are no other inhabitants of the DT besides some snails. And yes, I intend to quarantine future purchases, or purchase quarantined fish from a trusted vendor and WAMAS supporter/member). Mr. Jawfish (the problem one) has not been active in that time, and has not been visibly eating*. (feeding regime: freeze dryed mysis kept in 5ml tank water for a few minutes, with garlic powder and selcon added) Usually, he just stayed in the den while Mrs. generally poked her head out and used to eat in my presence (and come out when I stood next to the tank). From the point they arrived, one or both of them have been very active building and rebuilding their den. Come about two weeks ago, when algae growth picked up in the tank and water parameters suffered, they both started hiding themselves. Mrs. would never appear. Mr. would hang out outside their den, in the corner. Den modifications appeared to stop (that being said, I've not done rockwork before and after pictures; they may have done comparatively subtle modifications). During this same time, my cat discovered the tank and would regularly harass him by jumping up to him and chasing him corner to corner (I've put newspaper all over the front of the tank as a temporary measure) - since then, they've both been very skittish. I got him a piece of PVC pipe to hang out in a week ago, he lived in it for a bit, then under it, then next to it. Then, a few days ago, he put a whole bunch of sand and live rock rubble in its entrance, which I took as a good sign (I want eventually to get another piece of largish-rock to bury in the sand, to form their second den/the second bedroom of their den). During this whole time, I've not fed them; I tried feeding once or twice in the hopes they'd get food but I've seen no evidence they emerged and ate it, so I stopped feeding them absent Mrs. Jawfish coming out of the den. However, after a Wednesday water change which made the Mrs. emerge, on Thursday PM I put in around 100 live mysid shrimp. She emerged and ate a few. By Friday AM I could only see a few mysids and now I see none (other potential consumers: I have a plague of tiny, 5mm tube diameter fully extended Bispira-type feather dusters). Since the Wednesday water change she also seems to open the den in the late morning; when I turn on the lights and leave for work it's closed but by the time I get home it's open, she looks out some, but closes it within 15-20 minutes of my return. Friday, he was under the PVC pipe, with his tail flat on the gravel behind him. I thought he was dead and dying, especially since he had not (appeared) to move much in the preceding week. I poked him with a net very gently, and he moved under the pipe quickly (dispelling my dying theory, fortunately). Today I believe he was under the pipe, but now I looked and he's no longer there; he either died and was eaten by my snails (far less likely) or he went back into their den (far more likely). Anyway, I have not observed him eating in the past month, and for the past several weeks he's been generally hanging out in the corner of the tank and listless. Thus, I've been worried he might have a disease, Brooklynella as a WAG from reading various fish books. The trip certainly stressed him out, as well as the cat. However, I cannot see any signs of anything odd on his fins or body. And for each time I'm about to judge him "definitely sick", he does something oddly normal like go back into the den or start covering his pipe with sand and rock rubble. Should I separate him and start treating him? * big caveat: I'm not watching them 24/7 and I know that they do all kinds of things while I'm not watching.

Thanks, all. My apologies for the typos in the the OP - I was up too late. :D Rob, Ah, good to know. I believe the only one you can get in the grocery store is Deer Park Spring Water. :( At least that's the case here in Arlington (and again, distilled water is cheaper than the Spring Water) Thanks, Tom. Do you have more info/a link to more info about this?

RODI Alternatives Since I have a small reef tank (29G) I wanted to get away with not buying a RODI unit, at least initially, so I started looking for alternate water sources. By now, two months into my tank, I’ve done enough measurements of all the alternate water sources. TLDR: the only worthwhile alternative is to go with is distilled water, Petco boxed water, or your LFS if, and only if, their water is very good/reasonably priced. Other things are not reliable enough to be worth it. LFS’ aside, I’d probably go with just Petco if I had a 10 gallon tank because I wouldn’t want to bother with salt mixing (and because you can have them drop ship to your home), but if you are very concerned about your parameters you must go with distilled. I’d be on the fence if I had a 10-20gallon tank. But if it was over 20G, I’d go with a RODI unit. I’ll give some measurements plus my comments on the alternatives. Petco Pacific Ocean Seawater pH 7.8 Nitrate: ~2 Salinity ~32 Phos ~0.06 (two of four were odd readings from Hanna) Alk ~182 (one off reading of 174 out of 5 in the 181-184 range) Comment: they claim this is filtered water from the Pacific ocean (presumably collected in a clear, reasonably deep area near the US west coast, without any pollution. This is actually fairly good water, though not perfect. Of note, it’s like $9.50 per five gallons at petco.com ($12.50 in store, but you can show them the online price and they’ll match it). I would go for this, save for the fact that it’s far and away the most expensive option. Primo filtered fresh water machine TDS 25 Phos: ~ 0.06 (0.06-0.08 over 5 measurements) Nitrate: ~1-2 mg/L Comment: these RO machines are in walmart as well as MOM's organic market, for $0.40/gallon (fresh water, so about .90/gal after mixing in salt water). This is far and away the cheapest and most convenient RODI alternative, assuming one lives near wally-world or said grocer (as I do). The problem is that no one really knows how well the Primo company maintains each particular machine. I’ve measured a few samples over time and the TDS remains fairly constant; however, the machine at the Arlington MOM’s was been broken for a month as of the time I originally wrote this. So, I judge this no-go. That being said, their water tastes awesome. FYI, Arlington tap water TDS is 244. Deer Park Spring Water 117 tds Nitrate 4-5 (two instances) Phos: 0.30 Comment: not worth bothering with. I made a mistake when I started with this; Zygote2k uses Deer Park *purified* water, not Deer Park *spring* water. I take purified water to be their near-distilled water, which I have not seen available at retail stores and thus have no ability to measure (I would trust his experience, though - if it works well it should work well). At my local grocer Deer Park spring is the same price as as distilled water, so I see no value in using it over distilled water. I would not go with other, especially smaller store/botique drinking water brands simply because no one know’s what’s in it; I’d imagine Deer park is among the most consistent brands. Reef Escape Alk: 180 Phos 2.03, 2.11 (very colored when I mixed in the Hanna reagent; basically you didn’t even need the actual measurement because it’s clearly very high. NOTE THAT IMO there was likely some sample contamination, given their discussion of their procedures below, or that I screwed up my sample collection (I kind of doubt the latter, but you never know). Anyway, don't take this as necessarily The Eternal Truth about phosphates in their water; I'd trust what Phil wrote below) pH 7.8 Nitrate: ~0.5-1 Comment: I was told the salt mix was Omega Reef salt. Assuming their parameters are good, this is a viable option.

Thanks! Yeah, I have their Alk and PO4 checker. The only nitrate tester I've seen from them is a $200 probe-thingummy.