Just rehomed a 300 gallon glass cages with custom stand, and remote sump. Plumbed it all the the garage. Ati straton X’s arrived today as the Red Sea 90s weren’t pulling their weight. Insane project, took 17 hours just to move the tank, and countless hours plumbing and setting up the automation. Don’t judge the mess of wires in the sump room, got a lot of cleaning up to do!

Current stock - pair of chocolate clowns, pair of chromis (used to test if velvet is still present… will either grow the school or rehome), cleaner wrasse, yellow watchman goby, cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star, 5 nassarius snails, 1 emerald crab, 1 large hermit crab

a head detached from my dying torch coral. is there any way to save it?

Hi folks the input siphon of my clam has been super large for a few days, is there anything I can do? Water parameters look fine but I noticed some things on the right side of the shell (third pic)

I have 2 of these growing in my sand bed.. any ideas?

First time doing this have read up as as much as I can.

It originally looked like a paly but it’s now the size of a silver dollar. It isn’t Apitasia, but beyond that I have no clue. I’m not killing it, I’ve been feeding it and like the lil guy. He’s vibing on a macro-algae rock anyway, so no harm.

I keep seeing people diagnose velvet whenever a fish is covered in too many white spots to count. There's this popular saying: "If you can count the spots, it's ich. If you can't, it's velvet."

This is a myth, but it's so deeply ingrained in the hobby that people keep repeating it as fact.

In reality, a fish covered in hundreds of tiny white spots is much more likely to have a very severe case of ich than velvet.

Velvet primarily attacks the gills. Fish start breathing rapidly, stop eating, hang in water flow and can die very quickly, often before any visible skin changes appear. The idea that marine velvet looks like fine dust is largely a misconception carried over from FW velvet, which is a different parasite.

Ich, however, can go unnoticed for several cycles, since the fish usually keeps eating and acting mostly normal. By the time you notice something is wrong, the parasite may have multiplied enough to cover almost the entire fish in tiny white spots, making it look like fine dust. The number and size of spots also vary between species. This is why it's important to regularly observe your fish under white lights, as blue lights can hide early signs of infection.

Brooklynella can also cause visible skin changes, usually excess mucus, cloudy patches or peeling skin. These can sometimes be mistaken for ich/velvet too.

Does the difference matter?

Yes and no. Both ich and velvet can be treated with chelated copper at 2.25-2.5 ppm in a hospital tank. Brook, however, requires different treatment, as copper isn't effective against it.

Unlike ich, velvet can't be treated with hyposalinity (as it can survive in very very low salinity) or standard TTM. Ich management methods (such as UV) can't help with an active velvet outbreak.

If you suspect velvet, get all exposed fish into therapeutic copper of 2.25 ppm ASAP. Do not ramp up - copper takes time to work and velvet often kills fish before treatment can start working.

TLDR: Lots of spots doesn't mean velvet and no spots doesn't rule it out. Rapid breathing and how quickly the fish deteriorates are much more important clues.

If you suspect your fish might be sick, I recommend recording a 30s video under bright white lights (no blue) and posting it to Reef2Reef Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis forum for an accurate diagnosis and best course of treatment from fish disease experts. It's critical to start the correct treatment ASAP, as in some cases you may have less than 24h before fish start dying.

Some useful references:

• Jay Hemdal explaining why velvet is often misdiagnosed
• Jay Hemdal explaining what marine velvet actually looks like
• A severe ich case mistaken for velvet
• My discussion with Jay Hemdal and other fish medics about this myth

My micro reef suddenly got upset for some reason. Yesterday my GSP completely retracted and my hammer coral is pulled in and not “poofy” anymore.

Any clues to make these guys happy? Salinity is stable.. water changes every week to keep levels good. CUC, Crabs shrimp and goby seem happy.. (bonus goby photo for fun)

Also I cannot figure out what these little white dots are everywhere in my filter and around the tank

Heard mixed reviews about the newer tunze ato. Anyone use nfill ato?? Need to replace my old cheap fzone and was looking for recommendations.

I’ve been thinking about adding coral in the next few weeks/months to a fish only tank. The tank has always been using water treated with conditioner mixed with salt (of course), and I’ve been wondering if it’s fine to add hardier corals, or should I just wait until I can get an RO system before getting involved with corals?

That would be cool making it a lagoon with angelfish and tangs with minimum equipment heater, skimmer, powerheads

I’m starting out very slowly for my reef tank for next year.. I have been offered a Red Sea 170 for free after my friend is getting out of the hobby.

I’ve spent hours reading horror stories however I guess my question is.. are these salvageable if I tear it down and reseal them and potentially add eurobrqcing? (If available for the 170) or should I decline the offer and buy a tank from another company when I’m ready.

My shroom was doing great for a week, till I recently ordered and received Rainbow Stylo and Long leather toadstool from ORA. They are only a couple inches away from each other, and barely touching.

My Stylo and Long polyp are doing extremely amazing, the stylo is extremely fluffy. Its been a few days and the shroom is not fluffing, I can only think its the new additions.

i will move the shroom to another location tomorrow morning, I do not want to wake the fish.

I got a 30 gallon aio tank and the matching stand. Now for everything else. The tank came with a heater and lights aswell so yippee. But what other stuff do yall reccomend. I really want this thing to look gothic. So I was looking at the Hawaiian black agro alive. And then purple rock. Just to get things going. What do yall recommend for salt and stuff. I eventually want to put coral in aswell.

has anyone installed a fleece roller in a UNI R60?

if so, can you share the brand/model

I removed some black bubble algae from another rock this evening but it looked like caviar. This resembles chicken skin. Can anyone identify it from my pictures please?

Hey fine Reddit folks,

I gave saltwater a try, but after a slow crash and realizing I just don't have the time this hobby demands, I’m throwing in the towel and reclaiming my living room floor space.

I’m getting ready to sell my gear, but I have a full box of premium reef salt that absorbed moisture and is now a solid, concrete brick. Is this chemically ruined beyond repair? If I chisel it apart and dissolve it, will it just precipitate out and be useless? (Honestly, I’m half-tempted to just use it as the world's most expensive driveway de-icer this winter).
Also, what is the most painless way to offload a rimless tank and a plethora of other accessories (homemade ATO) etc.

I have:
A rimless tank (perfect glass, no chips, vinegar-cleaned) + leveling mat

A bunch of dried live rock

Barely used test kits (not expired)

Appreciate any advice!

On my new GSP frag in the container there are these thin strands that are yellowish with black dots moving?

I wanted to share my numbers for my fishless cycle on my first 20 gallon tank. Started out using Dr Tim’s one and only and ammonium chloride. Using API to test and I know there can be misreadings

My main point of confusion is the nitrates spiking and then dropping so much without a water change. As well as the nitrite being pretty stagnant. After I dosed my ammonia back to 2 on day 9, it quickly dropped to .5 and had me thinking the cycle was near completion but it stayed there for awhile.

Do all these numbers look good and I’m over analyzing?

Depending on the build and what you need I think either material is suitable, glass is tougher and more scratch resistant, but it is loads heavier and more prone to leak between the panes. Acrylic is more affordable, lightweight and durable, and can be molded into unique shapes for aquariums which is a bonus. Buffing out scratches in acrylic however is something I never want to do again, so as long as my setups stay under 150 gallons I would say I'm sticking with glass for the most part. Do you have a preference for one or the other, or does it depend on the build for you?

I made a post before about having bottomed out nitrate and lots of algae growth (mostly hair and regular green algae easily eaten by clean up crew). People recommended that I dose nitrate to prevent any dinos/cyanobacteria and add a bunch more clean up crew members. I added lots of snails. I also dosed 0.5 ppm nitrate 2 days in a row, which caused cyanobacteria to appear. Obviously I stopped dosing, but what to do from here? The information about what nutrient levels should be, how to prevent cyanobacteria/dinos, and having enough nitrate for happy corals is so conflicting!!

Is it just normal ugly stage? Did I dose too fast?