90g living room reef

[Schnizzle]

Updates! Work has been busy but I have a lot to share. Good, bad, indifferent(?) and ugly.

Let's start with the bad:

My Mandarin died. (She is just waking up in the sand bed here. She was not emaciated.) Whatever looked like a grain of sand or a fluke behind her left eye came back while I was out of town the week after Thanksgiving, but this time red. It popped like a pimple and the fish died. My fiancee got it out of the tank quickly and all other inhabitants are doing fine to this day. They were all treated with Prazipro in QT prior to introduction to the DT. I'm hoping this was an isolated incident. I froze the fish if anyone has any suggestions for analysis. I'm very curious as to what happened to her as I don't like anything is my care dying unnaturally.

The Ugly:

Bryopsis. It's amazing how fast this appeared and spread. However, finding it rather quick was helpful. After some research I decided to treat with Reef Flux (Fluconazole). One treatment and all Bryopsis was gone within a week. My Chaeto and Gracilaria survived the treatment unscathed. Some people indicated it killed their macros but other said no way. My experience with this was fantastic. Cheap and easy fix. I like those.

The indifferent(?):

Hydroids. Where did they come from? Who sent them? What do they want? These little alien looking jellies have made their way to my tank. At most I saw about 20 tiny ones. Currently I see around six that extend to 1/4". They appear to only want to sit on the glass in the display tank. I cant spot any on the rocks or in the sump. I don't know if it's possible but I always brace myself to get stung by one hiding in the Gracilaria when I remove pieces to trash or feed the Foxface. I'm told they are neither good nor bad, they just are. So long as I keep them in check. I'm going to source a long dropper/turkey baster to start sucking them out. They are kind of fun to watch when they travel.

Time for some good news:

The Foxface and Hi-Fin Goby are doing great. The Goby somehow picked a cave location front and center in the tank which I am hoping it will do again after we move. (Did I mention that as soon as I set this all up I found out we're moving 20 miles away?) The Foxface is all about eating. Food is literally it's life. I need a profile shot of this fatty. I've reduced the amount of seaweed I put in because I was a little concerned.

We have new friends that will be joining the display tank this Sunday if all goes well. A Royal Gramma and 4 Firefish. I wanted six but these four are great and I'm afraid to upset the balance. There is no aggression between them. The Gramma however, is ignorant at times. I have a suspicion it may become the tank boss. Another added bonus was when the LFS owner scooped out the Gramma a pair of Astrea Snails (I believe) were in the net so he just gave them to me. They have been keeping the QT tank cleaner than ever and will be moving with the group to the DT this Sunday. All 5 fish come swimming to the front of the tank when they see me, looking for food. I'm hoping this friendly nature brings the Foxface out to explore a little more. It's been holding down one the cave it is in front of in the photo of it.

The same day I got these, I picked up 6 dwarf blue leg hermits for my refugium. It was getting little nasty. Those guys have been putting in work. The detritus and algae is definitely reducing in size. I think they made the few Ceriths in the refugium nervous as I found them in the skimmer chamber so they got a reprieve to the DT.

I decided against the Copperband Buttery that was in my initial fish list because I really like Feather Dusters. I have been keeping an eye out but never saw any colors I liked locally. To my pleasant surprise this little one just appeared out of nowhere! It looks redish-brown, I'm hoping it goes more red but I like this color either way. Even better is that it attached at the top of the rock that the Goby cave is under. FRONT AND CENTER. It's the little victories and positives that we should always focus on. I never thought I would get so much amusement and joy out of one tiny little worm...

That's about all for now. I'm shutting down the quarantine tank as I don't want to risk anymore critters through the upcoming move. Unless I find a deal this weekend on a few Fairy Wrasses. I'm going to install a new booster pump and filter on my RODI station and convert one barrel to a salt tank. This way I can do DT water changes easier. All basic water parameters are still fantastic. I just need to do I couple more changes to remove the elements from the rusting metal flakes I found.

Anyone know a good tank moving company in the Maryland/Delaware area? haha

 

[Schnizzle]

Small update: We are not moving now so back to stocking the tank.

First up is three fairy wrasses. I managed to find the three I really wanted but tragically one did not make it. c. aruantidorsalis, c. brunneus and c. lubboki. I did not notice in the LFS but the c. brunneus was extremely thin when I got home with him. I ended up picking up a c. naokoae as a replacement. I'm hoping that he stays peaceful as I have seen some stories about them being rude but he was beautiful.

c. aurantidorsalis


c. lubboki (thank you @evolved for the confirmation on him)


c. naokoae (not looking his brightest)


These guys are still a bit shy around me but I catch them swimming all around from across the room quite often. I've never had a set of fish make me want to skip QT as bad as these guys. I cant wait to see them exploring the display tank.

Speaking of the DT, all is going pretty well there. Doing weekly water changes to lower the heavy metals found with the ICP testing. Something sent my iodine way high but that has leveled off with water changes. Manganese and Molybdenum were both low so I ordered them and have brought them back to suggested levels. My green hair algae got a little unruly in the refugium and overtook my chaeto. However, it is contained to the refugium so I will gladly take that sacrifice. I have some sea lettuce incoming and will completely clean out the GHA when it goes in. I spoke with @AlgaeBarn who was very knowledgeable and eager to help me succeed in out competing the unwanted algae with the desired macro. An added bonus is my Foxface and future tang will love this algae when I have to trim it.

For anyone looking for a timeline, my hydroids appear to have died off at this point. For a while there I thought they would not stop multiplying but they are gone.

To add to my prior post about finding a feather duster, as luck would have it I found another. This one was in the sump attached to a block of marine pure that I needed to move. I took a chance and ran a credit card up the base of its tube and scooped it up to transplant into the display area. Upon inspection in my hand it appeared that I split the little guy in two or it just dropped its crown. As I watched with each passing day it either reconnected or the bottom half died and the crown half regenerated. I now have two nice looking worms in the tank that the hermits, snails and crab leave alone.

To keep the excess food cleaned up I added a couple nassarius snails. They do great work and are just as amusing to watch as everyone says they are.


A little GHA appeared to be creeping into the display tank and the Foxface is too spoiled to eat off the rocks so I caved in to the fiancee and we got an emerald crab. It's been a model citizen so far, doesn't appear to care at all about the fish or worms. Just wanted to pick algae off the rocks.


Finally when cleaning the skimmer one night I felt like I was being watched.

Sure enough, two of the four Firefish were peeking out of their cave window. It's amazing how small an area they can squeeze into for the night.

 

[Schnizzle]

Sea Lettuce and phyto has arrived. Time to clean up the GHA and see if I can get this stuff growing.

 

[Schnizzle]

I'm overdue for updates. A lot of good and some bad bad has been going on. I want this to be as much a record for me as a reference for others.

First off, the Ulva Lactuca is growing GREAT. Because it floats, I had to make a grid to keep it in the refugium. A side effect of this was the sea lettuce growing so well it covered the grid and nearly overflowed my refugium. The solution for this was to place a small power head in the refugium to blow the sea lettuce off the grid and allow water to flow through. The green hair algae, cyano and diatoms in the refugium are basically gone. I've had to relocate snails and hermits to the display tank for fear of starvation. I'm down to two large snails and 2 blue leg hermits in the refugium. I noticed the diatoms on the sand bed went away "on their own". However, green hair algae took its place. The GHA is slowing in growth in the display tank, I can now go almost two weeks between scrubbing. This has to be in large part to the sea lettuce. Just last week I started to reduce the amount I feed the fish. Nitrates stay around 3 and phosphate shows 0. I know the phosphate reading is due to algae soaking it all up.


I wanted to give credit to the person who did a write on the square aluminum tube light stands but it is on another forum and I'm not sure if that is a proper thing to do or not. I believe it was done by @Sandeep64 ? I really didn't want to build something off the wall and I couldn't hang them as my air return is directly overhead. I found a great DIY thread that had a very simple solution. 3/4" aluminum square tubing and various fittings found in any hardware store. The rubber caps for the exposed ends were tricky to find but Amazon saved the day. Very stable and clean enough for me. It's small enough that most people don't even take notice until I point out that I built it. I keep toying with the idea of a canopy but I really don't like the look.


The wrasses that were in QT did not make it. I still don't know for sure what happened. They were under observation and not being treated with anything. One evening while I was out of town the fiancee fed them and they were fine. The next day on her lunch break she found them all dead and the water had a foul odor. No obvious signs of disease or injury. Still really bummed out about it and things haven't gotten much better on the new fish front. I got a new wrasse (c. solorensis) and a Powder Brown Tang. I started copper treatment knowing that tangs are supposed ich magnets and this particular fish came from a place that I hadn't purchased from before. Nearly two weeks in the wrasse started looking real bad and the tang was swimming oddly. I couldn't deal with killing another fish so I did a visual inspection, saw nothing of note and in the display both fish went. Huge mistake. I knew it was a risk and I swore I would obey all the rules but in the moment I talked myself down a different path. Learn from my mistake and obey the rules, I now have a fish invested with ich in my display tank with 11 other fish. The rest of this week will be spent setting up a 75 gallon QT, fishing in the display tank and trying to get chloroquine phosphate. Acquiring CP is proving to be a real challenge. I don't want to go copper again as I feel that is what was messing with the fish in the first place but I may have no other choice. I have cupramine and a Hanna checker.


This guy is the one I am most concerned about trying to catch. Mr. Goby RARELY leaves his cave. I've seen it happen twice. Maybe I can team up with the nassarius invaders somehow to scare him out when the time comes.



To leave this post on a positive note, I highly recommend the VIP tour at the Miami Seaquarium. Our guide was awesome and so were all the animals. I even got a kiss from an overly affectionate seal who was quite strong.


More to follow, hopefully today, about the new coral addiction. It all started with just one frag...

 

[Schnizzle]

I saw the Top Shelf Aquatics live sale going on and figured I would watch, just to see what was going for sale. Well, a Space Invader Pectinia came up and I did a thing... I was very please with the packaging and instructions provided. The frag was exactly as pictured and bigger than I expected. I absolutely love this thing. It's fun to watch it puff up and pull food in when feeding it.


The addiction is real. I was in one of the LFS's and saw a Duncan that looked neat. Four large heads/polyps going up and two small ones behind the top one. It was on the list of corals I wanted so in the bag it went. Along with a pair of clowns that are doing quite well that are doing quite well. I'll post a fish stock update later during the re-QT process I have forced myself to put them through. The emerald crab loves hanging out on this thing. I don't know if she likes the smell or what but she hasn't left a mark and I haven't seen any damage so I am okay with it, for now. The polyp extension on this thing is insane. Its hard to comprehend that the tiny holes you see at night or when the crab climbs it, can actually house these massive things.


Somehow, a week or two later, I found myself watching the WWC live sale. Again, just to see what they had. Well, that didn't go well either. Ended up with two leptoseris, a pipe organ, montipora cap, blastomussa wellsi and pulsing xenia. I'm hoping to use the leptoseris to act as a barrier against the zoanthids. The leptoseris are on the two rocks branching off of the center rock, which is slated to be a zoa garden. I haven't seen much with the Sun God but the Lethal definitely puts out some sweepers at night. This gives me hope that my idea may just work.

Jason Fox Lethal Lepto


Jason Fox Sun God Lepto


WWC Fifth Element Blastomussa


Pulsing Xenia, which I can hopefully keep contained to this isolated rock in the corner. We both really like this coral and I know it grows like a weed but I'm willing to chance it. I already scrub algae weekly so I can pluck any that leaves it's allowed territory. Since this picture was taken it has really puffed up nicely and continued to "pulse".


WWC Peter Piper Pie Organ. I didn't expect to see this offered up so I was happy to snag it. Forgive the horrible pictures. For some reason I just can't seem to get a good one of it.


WWC Grafted Montipora Cap


It is really neat seeing the eating and "sleeping" habits of these different species. I'll get some good night photos and make a follow up post soon.

 

[Schnizzle]

Going through the extreme uglies, crypto and some coral struggles. This is brutal but I will not be beaten!

GHA and cyano is running rampant. I'm working on getting a weaker light so I can run a longer photo period in my refugium. The H380 is too strong and cooks my ulva. Thinking about a H80 or E200 if anyone knows someone that wants to trade up? I'm willing to trade down. These photos are one day after cleaning the "mat" off the sand bed. The nassarius snails must be happy as they are laying eggs in a couple spots.

The xenia, duncan, blasto and pipe organ are quite happy. The monti cap is not growing but still looks good. The pectinia (my favorite) is receding and it's killing me. The lethal lepto is looking real bad. The sun god lepto is completely gone.

Crypto came in on my Powder Brown tang. Yay me. I am still working to catch the last firefish and get it into QT so I can start treatment and the fallow period. Again, in the way of horrible news, crypto claimed the life of my foxface and 2 firefish. Everyone else is doing very well in QT though. I'm feeding NLS pellets and LRS algae sheets with the occasional LRS fish frenzy treat. Ammonia management is going VERY well (knock on wood). A really interesting observation is that everyone is REALLY active and they all hang out together in QT. I'm hoping this behavior carries on after the return to the DT.

I'm quite surprised at how well the GHA is still going considering I'm barely feeding the tank since the fish are out. I take a piece of the fish frenzy about the size of a thumbnail and hand feed the cleaner shrimp and hermits. The rest gets snatched up by the nassarius snails.

I've ordered some more clean up to combat the algae as mine is pretty light. Does anyone have any insight on how long the uglies last on average? I know I put coral in way too early, I couldn't help myself. As for the crypto, it's my fault, lesson learned. If you are reading this and don't QT your fish, DO IT. I really miss my foxface and doubt I'll ever find another one with a heart for a spot.

 

[Tyler Bullock]

Nice build! Sorry to hear about your fish. I have started a 90 as well! I have a tomini in QT right now getting treated with copper tonight.....for 30 days. I wish you the best of luck with QT. I have not been very successful with QT, and I hope to change that.

 

[Schnizzle]

Nice build! Sorry to hear about your fish. I have started a 90 as well! I have a tomini in QT right now getting treated with copper tonight.....for 30 days. I wish you the best of luck with QT. I have not been very successful with QT, and I hope to change that.

QT is going very well this time for me. I did lose the Powder Brown tang after a freshwater dip which seems really odd. He appeared perfectly healthy before the dip. Interestingly enough I also got a Tomini Tang to replace him. I just picked up a Tomini, Foxface, Lubbocks Wrasse and Bangai Cardinalfish. They are all being treating with meds and copper starting today in my small QT before graduating to my 40b that all my “clean” survivors are living in. 28 June will be the 76 day mark on my display tank that is going fallow. I can’t wait. Barring anything happening to these guys I just picked up I now have my stock list complete. Hopefully I can update this thread with pictures and all by this weekend.

 

[Schnizzle]

Just a quick update. Having a little "writers block" when it comes to updating my own build thread. I have tons to say but just need to sort it out. These are my eight survivors of the crypto outbreak. I managed to catch them all out and about in an extremely rare moment.

Royal Gramma, Firefish x2 (thought to be a pair until the fighting in the small holding tank), Ocellaris pair, High Fin Red Banded Goby, Solorensis Wrasse and Lawnmower Blenny "Mario"



I also acquired some new and maybe final additions this past Sunday. They are in a separate QT system in another room.

Lubbocki Wrasse, Blotched Foxface, Tomini Tang and Cardinalfish






The Cardinalfish could care less about anything and just hangs out eating and will come up to me if I wiggle my finger by the glass. The Foxface eats a lot IF I'm not seen watching. It loves to play dead by going camo and just laying on it's side. The Tomini hides when I come into the room but eventually comes out to say hi. The Lubbocki is still very shy and slow to eat. I'm adding tigger pods to entice "hunting". I can't wait to add them to the rest. Hopefully they see how mellow everyone else is and they open up.

 

[DiscGolfRob]

Great thread! The detailed and organized information in it is awesome. I somehow had not seen the BRS recommendation for the cardboard, so thank you for sharing that. I love the stand, and your rock work! Sorry about your fish losses. I'll be following along. I believe that you said you were in the Maryland?Delaware area, so not terribly far, as I am in northern VA.

 

[Schnizzle]

Thanks! I'm trying to get all my pictures and details in order for another big update. Fish additions and losses, copper treatment in QT, cyano, new additions... Work has just been nuts. I'm just about centered on the Eastern Shore so not very far at all. I feel like I've done a lot wrong and a good bit right so I hope I can help others and show how long the battles actually are. "Nothing good happens fast" is a huge understatement. I'll get discouraged and then realize it's been a week. haha

 

[saintsreturn]

Love this thread and the posts! Congrats on knocking out a beautiful system and stay stubborn. Things will cool down and you will get to the point of enjoyment again soon

 

[Raege]

Great thread hopping on for the ride

 

[Jon Fishman]

You had me at “work trip to fiji”

 

[Schnizzle]

Lets try for an update today. I have a lot to say but short on time with work and taking custody of my four year old cousin. That could be an update in itself. haha

I want to post this one first because of all the people that seem to struggle with copper treatment and quarantine, myself included. I had a very successful treatment this time around. Honestly it was twice as I screwed up by being impatient.

I had a happy tank until I purchased a powder brown tang from a local chain store. Along came the dreaded crypto. What happened here was my first failed copper treatment. I had a solorensis wrasse and the tang in QT. I attempted to treat with ionic copper. Around 6 days in the wrasse started displaying symptoms of copper poisoning. I had already had a few losses in QT that werre rather disheartening so I was going to have it no more. I figured I didn't see anything on the fish that were in QT so into the DT they went. Bad idea. A week later the tang was covered and just about everyone was flashing.

I had a large group of fish that needed treatment so I decided to use my spare 75 gallon tank. Foxface, tang, four firefish, wrasse, goby, blenny, two clowns and a royal gramma. Upon grabbing it I realized it was a 40 but at this point time was against me, I had to use what I had on hand. 40 breeder, aqua clear 110 HOB with only a sponge, 75 gallons worth of Bio-Spira, a 600gph hydor powerhead, 150W eheim jager, a veggie clip, ammonia alert badge and various pipes and a house for hiding. I set it up in another room to avoid aerosol transmission. Rather you believe in that or not I assure you, in this situation you will.

This pic is after new stock was added.

In the time it took to setup my QT and catch everyone I lost my foxface and two firefish. After finally catching everyone and a lot of research I followed guidelines set forth by @HotRocks and @Humblefish and chose copper power for treatment. You can find them here: QT method and Copper power

I want to emphasize how easy this is to actually apply once you set everything up. Water changes via five gallon buckets were easy to pre-dose with copper. I absolutely will be running everything through QT from now on. I never had a problem with ammonia. I did a 10 gallon water change every other week. I fed everyone NLS pellets in the morning and frozen food with selcon in the evening. I always had about 1/3 sheet of seaweed available for everyone. I was very concerned about my lawnmower blenny but he(?) remained chubby throughout treatment.

After 20 days everyone looked great so I moved them to a smaller tank while I sterilized the 40. There was a very sad/interesting complication with my tang in the transfer. I gave everyone a 4 minute freshwater dip between tanks, the tang being one of three in a batch. Everyone else was fine but he went neurotic and died a day or two later. Eyes were twitchy and he kept swimming in circles. I have videos that I posted from before and after. I cannot explain it, nor could anyone else.

To sterilize I hosed and scrubbed everything. Soaked it all in bleach and then hosed and scrubbed again. It all then sat outside for 72 hours to dry in the sun. I set it back up with new bacteria in a bottle and clean sponges. Again, I couldn't use anything seeded by my DT as it was contaminated. Transferred everyone back to the 40 and prayed nothing bad would happen. Everything went perfect. Everyone settled right back in to the same positions as before.

The timeline on the photos is a little off but these were the best I had. I was a little lacking in the photos of this process as my cousin came along at this time.

Here is where I made a mistake. I had pick up a lubboki wrasse, cardinalfish, new foxface and tomoni tang. As they were in another QT tank I got an alert on a fish I had been waiting months for. Of course I ordered it... My lubbocki was not doing well and when I added the new TINY wrasse it started beating on the lubbocki. I gambled and lost, again. All but the lubbocki went into the clean QT tank and guess what? Everyone started flashing days later.

Thus starts round two of copper on these poor fish that just got clean a couple weeks prior. Same method same result, great success and another peon fully educated. At the end of this round of copper my fallow period had ended and I was finally able to go back to a reef tank with fish.

The irony here is that in both cases of lapse of judgement, I lost the fish that caused it. The tang that brought crypto in died in the FW dip. I also lost the lubbocki that refused to eat and the other new one to what looked like swim bladder issues.

At this time I now have a clean and happy tank with 11 fish. Blotched Foxface, Tomini Tang, Cardinalfish, two Firefish, Lawnmower Blenny, High Fin Red Banded Goby, Royal Gramma, Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse and my Ocellaris Clownfish pair. I still want one or two more wrasses but they WILL be going through a complete QT period first.

 

[Schnizzle]

Time to talk about my Space Invader Pectinia. It was and still is my favorite. However, there isn't much data in the way of care out there. Much of my information on it came from the label on the bag from @TopShelfAquatics and talking to other reefers that have them. Successful or otherwise they all had some great info. @telegraham was immensely helpful and appears to have given me the final pieces of information needed to save this one from the boneyard.

I added coral way too soon, in my opinion. This tank started in October of 2018. In February of this year I decided to "watch" my first live sale on the forum. I was amazed at the selection of coral available. Then I saw it and to my delight and then panic, I purchased it.

I received this coral 8 February and was thrilled with how beautiful it was. I felt it looked better in person than photos.

I placed it in the home I had planned for it and fired up the lights. I like to think this is every reefers first mistake, or two. First, I have no experience at this point in coral placement. I can follow the "rules" all I want but I didn't know my flow dynamics. Second, WOW was I not prepared for the onslaught that is The Battle of the Uglies. This will be covered in more detail in another posting.

Come 19 March I saw the first sign of trouble.

"No big deal", I told myself. There are lots of posts with people talking about coral recession and the changes they made to counter the event. I currently believe there are lots of people that have experiences like mine and give up. I chased parameters and stability. I had a Duncan coral that looked nice so I thought this thing should be doing good too. I started up my dosing pump to bring up and stabilize the alk. In doing so I failed to take into consideration that I use reef crystals (high cal and mag) and only have 2 pieces of coral at this point. This sent my cal and mag way too high. Even with water changes I was struggling to get my parameters back in the proper ranges.

Come 20 April it was clear whatever I was trying wasn't helping.

I found a few articles about people trimming coral skeleton to help them recover faster. I agree with this thought, less surface to grow over to reconnect and "seal" itself again. This is where reaching out to people helped save my coral. Sometimes you simply forget the basics and start reaching right past whats needed. I never once thought, "maybe it just doesn't like that spot". Maybe it did, maybe it didn't but this is one of the two things I did.

18 May all trimmed up and in a new home with less flow and light.

It was at this point that I was advised to stop the dosing pump. Which made a lot of sense. I think I was just being lazy or trying to be too techy. Perhaps a bit of both. I switched to the basic IO salt at this point as well in an effort to bring my numbers back down to where they belong. I got some equipment together to make water changes easier and it now takes me about 15 minutes from start to cleanup to change 20-25 gallons. From here I was able to breathe a sign of relief as recession stopped. Shortly after, recovery started. I could see new growth. I am ecstatic!

26 May

2 June

9 June

25 June

30 June

Today

This thing is FAT and I'm assuming happy. It eats like crazy and is growing again. There are also lots of short little tentacles popping out from around the eyes. Oddly enough, to me at least, the third eye reappeared right where it was starting originally. I don't know if this is memory or chance. Maybe someone out there can shed some light on this for me? I am thrilled and as with some of my prior posts, I hope this helps someone out or inspires someone to keep pressing on.

I have another success story that you can kind of see in the timeline above as well. You can see my GHA fading and the coralline coming in. That might be my next post. In the meantime, enjoy this time-lapse of my pectinia eating.

 

[DiscGolfRob]

Nice job helping this guy through recovery! I have the same concerns about knowing my flow and lighting well enough to make good decisions about coral placement. I'm still a long ways away from adding coral, but these kinds of posts are very helpful.

 

[Schnizzle]

My biggest concern is that it seems that no matter what I do with my gyres, the downward flow is concentrated in the middle. I was trying for the random that everyone talks about and it just wasn't happening. I settled on OGC at +30% to -50%. Still tends to move sand away from center but when they run in reverse it blows debris away from the tank ends. As for the lighting I found two people with the same depth tank and lights and averaged their numbers. One day I might rent or buy a par meter.

 

[Schnizzle]

I should also mention that ALL my corals seem happy with what is going on now. Polyps are huge. I'll have some good photos on a coral update soon. I've added more coral and started feeding @Polyplab Reef Roids

 

[NY_Caveman]

Time to talk about my Space Invader Pectinia. It was and still is my favorite. However, there isn't much data in the way of care out there. Much of my information on it came from the label on the bag from @TopShelfAquatics and talking to other reefers that have them. Successful or otherwise they all had some great info. @telegraham was immensely helpful and appears to have given me the final pieces of information needed to save this one from the boneyard.

I added coral way too soon, in my opinion. This tank started in October of 2018. In February of this year I decided to "watch" my first live sale on the forum. I was amazed at the selection of coral available. Then I saw it and to my delight and then panic, I purchased it.

I received this coral 8 February and was thrilled with how beautiful it was. I felt it looked better in person than photos.

I placed it in the home I had planned for it and fired up the lights. I like to think this is every reefers first mistake, or two. First, I have no experience at this point in coral placement. I can follow the "rules" all I want but I didn't know my flow dynamics. Second, WOW was I not prepared for the onslaught that is The Battle of the Uglies. This will be covered in more detail in another posting.

Come 19 March I saw the first sign of trouble.

"No big deal", I told myself. There are lots of posts with people talking about coral recession and the changes they made to counter the event. I currently believe there are lots of people that have experiences like mine and give up. I chased parameters and stability. I had a Duncan coral that looked nice so I thought this thing should be doing good too. I started up my dosing pump to bring up and stabilize the alk. In doing so I failed to take into consideration that I use reef crystals (high cal and mag) and only have 2 pieces of coral at this point. This sent my cal and mag way too high. Even with water changes I was struggling to get my parameters back in the proper ranges.

Come 20 April it was clear whatever I was trying wasn't helping.

I found a few articles about people trimming coral skeleton to help them recover faster. I agree with this thought, less surface to grow over to reconnect and "seal" itself again. This is where reaching out to people helped save my coral. Sometimes you simply forget the basics and start reaching right past whats needed. I never once thought, "maybe it just doesn't like that spot". Maybe it did, maybe it didn't but this is one of the two things I did.

18 May all trimmed up and in a new home with less flow and light.

It was at this point that I was advised to stop the dosing pump. Which made a lot of sense. I think I was just being lazy or trying to be too techy. Perhaps a bit of both. I switched to the basic IO salt at this point as well in an effort to bring my numbers back down to where they belong. I got some equipment together to make water changes easier and it now takes me about 15 minutes from start to cleanup to change 20-25 gallons. From here I was able to breathe a sign of relief as recession stopped. Shortly after, recovery started. I could see new growth. I am ecstatic!

26 May

2 June

9 June

25 June

30 June

Today

This thing is FAT and I'm assuming happy. It eats like crazy and is growing again. There are also lots of short little tentacles popping out from around the eyes. Oddly enough, to me at least, the third eye reappeared right where it was starting originally. I don't know if this is memory or chance. Maybe someone out there can shed some light on this for me? I am thrilled and as with some of my prior posts, I hope this helps someone out or inspires someone to keep pressing on.

I have another success story that you can kind of see in the timeline above as well. You can see my GHA fading and the coralline coming in. That might be my next post. In the meantime, enjoy this time-lapse of my pectinia eating.

This was awesome. Many reefers, old and new, could benefit from your honest account of the mistakes made, the learning done and the patience you should in the recovery. Great job!