cmcoker's Reefer 250

[cmcoker]

Well the Accurasea1 led me to figure out my calibration solution for the refractometer was reading low. Tank looks to have crept up to 1.030..
With the new salt, I was mixing 4g of water to read 1.026, instead of 4.5g... a new bottle of calibration solution and now that's all straightened out, so I'll get some parameters on the next batch.

Added the Yellowfin Flasher to the tank. The Linespot did not take kindly to his release.. they both spent some time individually in the acclimation box and now seem to be fine, just a little chasing now and again.
It has been interesting though. The Linespots dorsal filaments were damaged when he had a bacterial infection in quarantine, it's been months so I didn't think they would come back.. They were barely visible. Now, after close to 2 weeks of having another Flasher in the tank, he is starting to regrow them. They have at least tripled in size! He has also become more brazen, even charging the yellow watchman goby (he used to hit the screen top every time the YWG flared at him)

I received the Inland Diamond band saw I won here on R2R this past weekend. Looking forward to cracking it open tomorrow!

 

[alanbetiger]

You won that?!? Awesome!

 

[cmcoker]

You won that?!? Awesome!

Yep, haha. Now I just need stuff to grow so I can frag it. If you need to chop up some stuff, let me know I can bring it over.

Also won a member supporter contest in December for $100 to liveaquaria, they haven't had the fish in stock that I want though.. may end up using it on dry goods.

 

[cmcoker]

Thanks to @Inland Craft! I received the Band saw and got it put together today. Pretty sweet!

 

[alanbetiger]

I gotta get rid of all these Aiptasia first! I found one baby in the sump so far. No difference in the display yet

 

[cmcoker]

I gotta get rid of all these Aiptasia first! I found one baby in the sump so far. No difference in the display yet

Don't feel too bad, I have aiptasia popping back up in 2 of 3 tanks. Boo.

I haven't added any thing since either..

I am going to add a Molly Miller blenny, some articles suggest they eat small aiptasia as well as algae and other crap. So I am gonna try one instead of a lawnmower blenny. I'm looking to order one from sustainable aquatics, may post up on the local forum if anyone wants to do a group buy.. I hate to order one fish, but may just order from them off eBay, it'll be like $42 with shipping, I think.

 

[cmcoker]

Rearranged a little, think I'm gonna add some rock that's been cooking in a bucket for a year.. need to add Another flasher wrasse to divert the attention of the linespot wrasse from the Yellowfin. Not terrible aggression, but more chasing than I would like hoping changing the rocks around will help a little to give more hiding spots and such.

 

[alanbetiger]

Well I might be able to pay you back with more nudibranchs next month if you wanna do a second round.

 

[cmcoker]

Well I might be able to pay you back with more nudibranchs next month if you wanna do a second round.

You having luck growing them out?

 

[alanbetiger]

So I put your 8 straight into the display, probably not the best idea. I haven't seen anything from them since. So I ended up buying 3 on sale online about two months ago. I put them in the refugium sump and so far I have seen 5. Most of the aiptasia are gone so I'm going to keep putting more from the display sandbed to hopefully increase the population.

 

[cmcoker]

So plugging along, got a new Powerbar for the Profilux and put it on the Biocube. It's a small thing but punching one button to turn off pumps, etc for feeding is so nice.

Back in December I won a gift certificate to Live Aquaria. They haven't really had what I want for fish available so decided to use it on dry goods.
Picked up 2 containers of rubble rock, forceps, Hanna Alk checker, and a new aqualifter and accessories to change over from the stock ATO to a larger container controlled by the Profilux.
I plan to add the rubble to all the tanks, and use for mounting frags. I have a large Green Nepthea I want to cut down and let grown again so will frag that (again)soon.

 

[cmcoker]

Found an old filthy denitrator at the LFS in the used section for $25. So cleaned it up and made it my ATO container, holds about 5g so I should get a week before I have to refill now.
May need to play with the output line some, had a siphon going but caught it. .. think it's fixed so will monitor for now

#reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I demand an update

 

[cmcoker]

Haha, it has been a while. I'll be going to a frag swap this weekend, so will get a proper update done after that. Honestly haven't done much but watch algae grow, aiptasia return (think I tried to save the nudibranches too soon cause I've added nothing), and feed the fish.
I've started kicking into high gear on school, plus work, so just haven't done a whole lot but maintain status quo.

This tank has really given me fits with coral, I'm just now starting to get some decent coralline growth so hopefully the next trial frags make it.

 

[cmcoker]

Well, frag swap was fun. I picked up a few "easy" frags. A birdsnest, setosa, trumpet, and some zoas. Decided to stick around for the raffle drawing and won a Bubble Magus Curve 5! and a frag of zoas!

So got the frags acclimated into the biocube I use as QT and they seem to be doing ok so far, time will tell. Put the skimmer in a vinegar bath overnight.

Today, got the new skimmer installed. I had been debating about which skimmer to get and how to convince my wife that I needed a new one. I had been using a eshopps hob from my first tank which was a sumpless 55g. It was working fine but really unsighlty and cumbersome cause of how I had to put it in. I had unhooked the intake pipe and used some PVC to extend the out pipe...

The new skimmer is already pulling some gunk I stirred up in the sump, so will see how it goes.

Gotta get some pics of the frags still, the biocube glass is a mess right now.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

New tank toys are always fun !

 

[cmcoker]

New tank toys are always fun !

For sure, especially when they were free!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

For sure, especially when they were free!

Niiiiiiice!

 

[cmcoker]

Finally got around to taking a pic of the frags I got at the swap.

 

[cmcoker]

Picked up a few frags at Aquashella, along with a new powerhead, some pods, and f-aiptasia.