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

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.

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

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

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

Title says it. One of my snails pushed my torch frag off my small island and it seems the skeleton is broken where it was hit. What should I do?

Alk is at 8.1 and calcium is good. Switching over to coral pro salt. Flow is somewhat strong and I am thinking of moving it to a lower flow area in the tank to hopefully heal. The flesh around the top looks healthy other than the damaged area.

A rainbow trachyphyllia

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.

It’s been 3 weeks and I’m still at 2ppm ammonia .75 nitrite and 0 nitrates iv never had algae before the cycle was established in my freshwater tanks.

Oh well it’ll give my clean up crew something to do instead of eat wafers when I get them and give me something to watch while I wait.

(Unless this isn’t algae 🙄)

has anyone installed a fleece roller in a UNI R60?

if so, can you share the brand/model

When I first got this tank there was an imperfection in the silicon. When I asked them about it, they said that it was a blemish that is a non-issue. And a year later it looks like this. Sent it to them and they said it’s fine again. We shall see…

EDIT: I want to answer these reoccurring points. Last week I already ordered a new tank (an I’m 200 peninsula, cause why not upgrade) to move too, to avoid catastrophe. However, they are made-to-order so it may be a few months. Also, I’m plan on constantly photographing that spot and I will keep reaching out to red sea between now and when the new tank gets here.

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?