Blaxsun's Abyss: Red Sea 750XXL
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blaxsun
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May 9. Two Coins for the Boatman
Last night I had to make an offering to Charon to ferry several of my euphyllia corals over the rivers Styx. These two hammers had been doing great, but one small branching hammer got damaged from being constantly knocked over and the other larger one declined due to a suspected bacterial infection. Both had some initial signs of BJD so they were unfortunately just not worth saving. They will join my growing list of "greatest hits" on the ledge in my office (bleached pearly white).
In other exciting news, I "bagged" a wrasse today - albeit unintentionally. My fish get super excited around feeding time, and I've got one big anthias splasher in particular. Today he managed to spook my Lubbock's fairy wrasse so in addition to a small quantity of water I also ended up with a very wet wrasse on the floor. Note to self: Whenever you hear a splash, look for fish and do a head count...
I've been managing some higher levels of nitrates of late (probably due to the bio system catching up with the new fish added over the past few weeks), but I've managed to get the nitrates down to under 20ppm with some judicious use of NOPOX (phosphates tested in at 0.025ppm - so pretty much ideal at this point).
So aside from the slightly elevated nitrates else is doing great. I tweaked a few changes with my Radion lighting setup to add a bit more cyan and white, and the corals seem to have responded well (if we could get the long promised WiFi update so the Radions would consistently update I'd be a happy camper).
The three black bar and bicolor chromis I added a few weeks back have come out from their respective hiding spots to patrol with the rest of the fleet. The female clownfish is no longer being a complete ***** and chasing them every time they venture within 6" of "her" anemone (although it was incredibly hilarious watching the chromis play hide and seek - something the clownfish really suck at). I'm still actively trying to find the Rainford's goby that I know is in the tank - but he has several lairs and he moves around quite a bit.
Last night I found my first official bristleworm! I couldn't catch the little sucker as he slithered under a sea cucumber and then under a rock. No doubt there are more, but I have wrasses. Very hungry wrasses - so I suspect they're keeping the population in-check. And all the spare shells and pieces of rocks are firmly lodged in one of my barnacle cluster openings, so this means it's molting time for my Hawaiian strawberry crab (at least he didn't drag off too many small frags this time).
Tomorrow I'm picking up a small blue lithophyllon frag and going to expand on my acros with a Hellfire millepora and Fox Flame acropora (I have a large Chip's acropora colony that's doing really well). I have two montiporas that I've been struggling with for the past few months as I have a roving Condy anemone, disco mushroom and rockflower that have been taking turns stinging them. One has completely recovered and I'm just waiting for it to grow and expand over the plug and the other one about the size of a golfball is still hanging in there.
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blaxsun
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I actually have a pair of Red Sea ReefWave45s on the sides (they're faintly visible in the image in the upper left and right) and I run the Maxspect XF330s on battery backup on either side of the overflow.
powers2001
started reefing 1999
@blaxsun sorry for your velvet losses!! When faced with set backs we must move forward learning from our mistakes and strive to do better next time. I'm glad you have a good attitude about it.
Interesting I had velvet break out in a new tank set up too. Around the same time as you 2months. I kept a 60g with quarantined fish and I bought a few not quarantined and everything went to crap fast. The only fish that survived were the ones never quarantined!??
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blaxsun
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I had 4 quarantined fish and 2 died (subject zero and a red coris wrasse a few days after). The melanarus wrasse and marine betta didn't seem to be affected at all.
Lookong good, any up dated tank pics? Build thread is a little slim on progress pictures 
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blaxsun
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Yes, I really should get some updated images in here (possibly this weekend).Lookong good, any up dated tank pics? Build thread is a little slim on progress pictures
AwwwwwYeeeah!
Nice! Is he going in the tank or sump?
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blaxsun
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May 19. Lazy Thursday
Here are some assorted fish shots just quickly taken with my iPhone 8 (I'll dig out the new camera this weekend). I just took these with the tank lights - no white adjustment in Adobe Lightroom.
In this photo is my sailfin "Finn", one of the Marcia's anthias, "EMP" the juv. emperor angel, one of the three fat blue devil damsels ("Huey", "Louie" or "Dewie" - I can't tell which), "Roy" the royal gramma trying to blend in against a black background and part of "Sway" my Lamarck's angel.
Same anthias and one of the "Jailbirds" - the banggai cardinal twins.
Bit of a tank panoramic with the last 3 images so you can get a bit better view of the corals.
Close-up of the same anthias with my fat tentacle plate and "Finn" photo-bombing (of course).
Good shot of two anthias and a chromis in formation.
"Rivel IV", my fat and very content lawnmower blenny. I have not had great success with lawnmower blennies in smaller tanks, hence the "IV". Named after Rigel in Farscape for any sci-fi fans out there.
One of the banggai cardinals and the emperor hiding in the main 'bat cave'.
A not to bad shot of "Sway" - my female Lamarck's angel.
And last but not least - "Turdeau", one of five black sea cucumbers. If you're Canadian you'll get the inference...
Here are some assorted fish shots just quickly taken with my iPhone 8 (I'll dig out the new camera this weekend). I just took these with the tank lights - no white adjustment in Adobe Lightroom.
In this photo is my sailfin "Finn", one of the Marcia's anthias, "EMP" the juv. emperor angel, one of the three fat blue devil damsels ("Huey", "Louie" or "Dewie" - I can't tell which), "Roy" the royal gramma trying to blend in against a black background and part of "Sway" my Lamarck's angel.
Same anthias and one of the "Jailbirds" - the banggai cardinal twins.
Bit of a tank panoramic with the last 3 images so you can get a bit better view of the corals.
Close-up of the same anthias with my fat tentacle plate and "Finn" photo-bombing (of course).
Good shot of two anthias and a chromis in formation.
"Rivel IV", my fat and very content lawnmower blenny. I have not had great success with lawnmower blennies in smaller tanks, hence the "IV". Named after Rigel in Farscape for any sci-fi fans out there.
One of the banggai cardinals and the emperor hiding in the main 'bat cave'.
A not to bad shot of "Sway" - my female Lamarck's angel.
And last but not least - "Turdeau", one of five black sea cucumbers. If you're Canadian you'll get the inference...
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blaxsun
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Here's "Hermes" at the LFS prior to picking him up (hopefully everyone can view the video - I can't in Safari). He's actually turned out to be a really awesome hermit crab. He just keeps to himself - making the rounds in the tank.
All my crabs go in the tank!
Dude you beat me to it! I had this on a meme ready to go!
Hahah
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blaxsun
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May 20. Fish Friday
New fish day at my LFS! Been waiting months for a blue star leopard wrasse to come in... I picked the fattest, healthiest and most active one of the lot (he did not like having his picture taken, hence the ripples). 40-minute drip acclimation with the Innovative Marine tool and he's "sleeping with the (other) wrasses". This is essentially my level of pre-quarantine: healthy fish selection » bag » acclimate » tank.
Oh, small tip: the green strainer serves two purposes. First, it seems to calm the fish down (maybe the roundish concave shape or possibly just the color). Second, when I go to place the fish in the tank - I just lift the strainer out, the fish lies on its side relaxed (no splashing) and I gently slide him off into the display.
The first transport is away!
New fish day at my LFS! Been waiting months for a blue star leopard wrasse to come in... I picked the fattest, healthiest and most active one of the lot (he did not like having his picture taken, hence the ripples). 40-minute drip acclimation with the Innovative Marine tool and he's "sleeping with the (other) wrasses". This is essentially my level of pre-quarantine: healthy fish selection » bag » acclimate » tank.
Oh, small tip: the green strainer serves two purposes. First, it seems to calm the fish down (maybe the roundish concave shape or possibly just the color). Second, when I go to place the fish in the tank - I just lift the strainer out, the fish lies on its side relaxed (no splashing) and I gently slide him off into the display.
The first transport is away!
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Nice fish, all your fish are nice, getting a good list of them going!May 20. Fish Friday
New fish day at my LFS! Been waiting months for a blue star leopard wrasse to come in... I picked the fattest, healthiest and most active one of the lot (he did not like having his picture taken, hence the ripples). 40-minute drip acclimation with the Innovative Marine tool and he's "sleeping with the (other) wrasses". This is essentially my level of pre-quarantine: healthy fish selection » bag » acclimate » tank.
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