cmaxwell39's 150

[Sahin]

Thanks for sharing that. You are a genuine reef keeper. It happens to even the best out there. Its a shame many nice SPS frags were lost. But you learn from your mistake and move on.

I prescribed another of this medication for your cleaning operation:

 

[cmaxwell39]

Thanks Sahin. Like I said, it is not my proudest moment as a reefer, but I figured I would share my experience so that maybe someone will be inspired to be more diligent in their maintenance routine, testing regimen, or if the are facing an overrun if algae like I was, for them to realize that there is hope. I will post later a write up on what I believe led to the outbreak.

As far as your prescription, the next time I get done working before midnight (17 hr. days) I will have to make sure to have that prescription filled. I may even have to take a double dose.

Thanks again for the kind words. I have some more top downs in my photobucket account that I need to get posted when I get a minute sometime as well. Stay tuned.

 

[Sahin]

Look forward to the top downs. :D

 

[cmaxwell39]

Here are my thoughts as to why the algae got so bad in the frag area and was not present to speak of in the rest of the system. First of all, the small yellow tang that I had in this area disappeared shortly before the phosphate spike caused the Algae to start running rampant, and I don't think I had enough snails and other critters to handle the load. The main display has two tangs and a large angel that are constantly picking at the rocks.

Secondly, between my work schedule, a new baby, and my other hobby, I didn't get down to look at that section very often this fall. In fact the Phosphate spike probably went unnoticed for a couple of weeks as I got a little lax in my testing regimen. The lights on the frag tank are also on a reverse cycle of the display tank lights so I am almost never home or awake when they are on.

Finally, I discovered that there was a lot of detritus trapped under the piles of live rock in that section. I normally take everything out and clean that whole section out two or three times a year, but it had been a while since I had gotten it done.

All of this created "the perfect storm" in this section of the system IMO, and caused the situation that you saw above. A lot of if is my fault, and I shared this part of my journey so that hopefully it will encourage everyone to keep a diligent eye even when life gets busy. It could have been much worse.

Top downs to come later this afternoon.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Enough talk of algae infestations, and major cleaning operations.... How about some more coral pictures. A few more top downs from the last photo session.


Setosa

Jedi Mind Trick

Pearlberry

The same coral that I had mentioned in an earlier post that had colored up some since the phosphate spike.

Valida

Thanks for looking.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Merry Christmas everyone.

A few more recent pictures....

Bonsai:

Sold to me as Jingle Bells Acro:

Pink Lemonade:

Yellow-tipped table:

Sunset Monti:

 

[Sahin]

Happy NewYear to you.

Nice photos. I like the Pearlberry and the Yellow tipped table. The others are nice too, but those two are amazing and stand out from the rest. :)

 

[Aquaph8]

Your acros are stellar man, we need some more pics:clap2:

 

[Sahin]

Your acros are stellar man, we need some more pics:clap2:

+1

Time for a 2014 update. :D

 

[cmaxwell39]

Thanks guys. I have been way too busy at work to take any updated pictures lately. I will try and get some in the next couple of weeks.

In some rather sad news, I lost my male rhomboid in the last month. I have had him for about 2.5 years. I am not sure what happened to him. He just started not being out in the open, and I would just catch glimpses of him at feeding time. Within a few days he was gone. Never got a chance to try and catch him, but I don't know if I would have been able to do anything anyway.


Some pictures of this amazing animal from the archives:

 

[Mr. D]

Sorry for the loss. I hope you can at least find the reason.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Thanks for the well wishes. This is one that I will probably never know why. Never really showed any signs of disease, or aggression, etc. Sometimes it just happens.

 

[nitro'sreef]

sorry for your lost

 

[cmaxwell39]

Thank you.

 

[Sahin]

Was a cute looking fish. Sorry that he died. Are you going to get another wrasse?

 

[cmaxwell39]

The Rhomboid will definitely be replaced. Trying to talk myself out of adding to the wrasse collection as well. Have to see what the budget allows for.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[cmaxwell39]

+1

Time for a 2014 update. :D

Better late then never, right....

I finally got some photos of the tank and some of the inhabitants. Everything has been going pretty well with the tank. Do have some new residents in QT right now as well, but will get to that later.

FTS:

A few fish shots that turned out halfway decent:

Phosphates have been testing a little high lately, but nitrates are always at 0, so I have started to dose some sodioum nitrate. I dissolve 10.5 gr 99.5% pure sodium nitrate into a liter of water and have been dosing between 10 and 30 ml of this solution per day. At this concentration each 10 ml dose should raise my 200 gal system .1 ppm nitrate. I know I could go a lot faster, but I am always overly cautious when trying out something new. So far I have managed to raise my nitrates to between .2 .and .5 on the salifert nitrate test kit.

I have also switched back to using microbacter 7 as my bacteria source instead of Microbe Lift Special Blend. My theory is that switching up bacteria sources from time to time helps keep the tank from becoming to monolithic in its bacteria population. I started the tank with MB7 and after a year and a half or so switched to special blend. It has been a couple of years so I am switching back for a while. Just got done reseeding the tank with MB7. I may try switching bacteria sources every 6 months to year and see if there is any benefit from running one bacteria source for extended periods.

A couple of coral pics to end this update...

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Aquaph8]

Very nice sir!

 

[rideit6578]

Wow. Looks great nice and clean.

 

[skinz78]

Wow very nice indeed!