Fern's 54 Gallon corner reef

[Fernthereefer]

Little update.

My tank has finally reached a semblance of stability. It took a year. I think I am reaching the first milestone.

Nitrates are solid at 0.25ppm and po4 are at 0.02. Cannot raise them naturally (without dosing) but at least they don't bottom out. Corals are liking it.

Have a widespread bubble algae. But in the past month it has stopped spreading... but my emerald crab died without a clear reason. Too much food! Joke aside I never figured out why.

Also lost a fire red shrimp. Got eaten three days into the tank. Neon dottyback surely. Lesson learned. All other inhabitants are doing great, corals included.

 

[Fernthereefer]

So when everything seems to go perfectly well.... the tank wants to remind you it is a struggle you may never win:

Today I discovered the Scopas Tang I added 5 weeks ago.... developped velvet. I should have listened to myself and quarantined the fish. The LFS owner was assuring me that I should never do so since it is going to stress the animal and blablabla... Well now it is more then stressed. And so are my other fish. Great.

Good news is he is still eating, active, does not struggle to breathe. So I am at a loss regarding what to do. I have no access to controlled drugs or aquarium copper in Canada. Freshwater dip may confer some relief, but may also stress him more and render it susceptible to futher infection.

My current plan is to 1) limit any stress or major change to the aquarium inhabitants, 2) setup a UV sterilizer to aliviate the burden and hope for the establishment of immunity. For velvet I have little hope, but we will see. I am also preparing a quarantine tank. I read about a formalin bath in the forum's sticky about it, so I may try it. However, removing all fish for 90 days from the DT will be more difficult.

 

[Fernthereefer]

So when everything seems to go perfectly well.... the tank wants to remind you it is a struggle you may never win:

Today I discovered the Scopas Tang I added 5 weeks ago.... developped velvet. I should have listened to myself and quarantined the fish. The LFS owner was assuring me that I should never do so since it is going to stress the animal and blablabla... Well now it is more then stressed. And so are my other fish. Great.

Good news is he is still eating, active, does not struggle to breathe. So I am at a loss regarding what to do. I have no access to controlled drugs or aquarium copper in Canada. Freshwater dip may confer some relief, but may also stress him more and render it susceptible to futher infection.

My current plan is to 1) limit any stress or major change to the aquarium inhabitants, 2) setup a UV sterilizer to aliviate the burden and hope for the establishment of immunity. For velvet I have little hope, but we will see. I am also preparing a quarantine tank. I read about a formalin bath in the forum's sticky about it, so I may try it. However, removing all fish for 90 days from the DT will be more difficult.

Here is the emergency setup. It took me a little while to figure out how I would like set up. The sump is so tiny, and the delicate flow balance I have set up with the DIY refugium made it so I did not want to play with it.

So for the coming weeks its going to be this ugly set up:

 

[Fernthereefer]

So far so good. It may have been ich. Velvet would have killed them. Especiallysince the tang was covered in it. Now this is today:

He does not show any spots (forgot to take a pic when he was covered in it)
Neither does the coral beauty and ruby wrasse that were also showing spots when I started the uv lamp. Of course, will need to pursue because the trophonts are still around. But happy so far!

 

[Fernthereefer]

All is back to normal in the 54 gal. reef.

The new aquascape is taking shape. Ich is under control with no loss. I think that it finally reached cruising speed.

 

[Fernthereefer]

So I got my birthday gift.... polyp lab lenses .... my world just changed.

 

[Fernthereefer]

Little update. I wanted to add lights, but budgets being what they are this year, I found this DIY solution....lol

This is a very old t5h0 ramp I had in a freshwater tank. Ati purple and actinic.

In fact it changes the feel of the tank. Maybe it will also add to the spectrum that is lacking in the chinese blackbox.

Time will tell....

 

[JCTReefer]

Hey man, love what you’ve done with the scape. It flows really well aesthetically. It reminds me of an iwagumi style scape. Reminds me of mine a bit!!!! Coming together nicely!!!

 

[Fernthereefer]

Hey man, love what you’ve done with the scape. It flows really well aesthetically. It reminds me of an iwagumi style scape. Reminds me of mine a bit!!!! Coming together nicely!!!

Thanks, the corals growing also change the feel of the tank.

Added a dragon soul torch to the little torch island and a few mush here and there. THey are filling the space nicely. My concern is my acan (red one) that I had since the early days and just does not grow... I cannot discern what's up with it. Too much light? Not enough food? (reef roids 1 a week, nitrates and po4 stable (2ppm; 0.12ppm). I really don't get it.

 

[Fernthereefer]

Pics

 

[JCTReefer]

Thanks, the corals growing also change the feel of the tank.

Added a dragon soul torch to the little torch island and a few mush here and there. THey are filling the space nicely. My concern is my acan (red one) that I had since the early days and just does not grow... I cannot discern what's up with it. Too much light? Not enough food? (reef roids 1 a week, nitrates and po4 stable (2ppm; 0.12ppm). I really don't get it.

Acans have always been slow growers for me. Of course I don’t feed them much. Kind of like most favia with bigger polyps. For example a Dragon Soul favia. That’s why I have to take pictures and compare growth over a time period. It’s really hard to tell when you’re looking at the tank every day!!!

 

[JCTReefer]

If your ever looking for a large colony of Acans, Austin Aqua Farms is the place to go. They sell the biggest frags I’ve ever seen online. Way bigger than most vendors and half the price.

 

[Fernthereefer]

Little update.

Every parameter is the same. Dosing Red Sea colors every 2 days.

So far so good:

 

[Fernthereefer]

So I have not posted in a while. Newborn baby keeps me occupied. The reef is doing great. Stability makes it easy. Did lose 3 firefish (1 jumper, 1 through aggression and the other went into the mp40 for some odd reason)

Zoa garden coming along good.

 

[Fernthereefer]

With the new additions...

 

[Fernthereefer]

Little update

 

[Fernthereefer]

Been a while since last post:

Here is howiy looks now. I have been quiet on the buying side, mostly out of lack of space and since the birth of my second baby daughter.

Again, I confirm that the less changes you make the better corals are:

Now I am.thinking of an upgrade.... but this corner tank has been fun!

 

[revhtree]

Sweet!!

 

[Fernthereefer]

So the tank has changed a little. I sold some coral to make space for others... ended up filling the tank right back up.

 

[XtraKargo]

Looking great! I'll have to find your DIY section on the sump and refugium.