First reef tank
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OP
OP
InterventionalReefiology
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I had been checking nitrite and nitrate with a test strip, and had 0 but also had ammonia below false positives threshold before I added the fish so I thought I was good, but my last test strip came back with nitrite. Ammonia is maybe 0.5 but all the fish are doing well so hopefully my fishless cycle just became a longer fish-in cycle and it'll be complete soon. The scooter blenny/dragonet actually seems to be eating some of the food in putting in, even though I added a jar of copepods last week. I'm taking as a good sign that overall he'll get enough food, but I'm still going to restock the copepods occasionally. And for fun, here's a picture of him spilling the tea to one of the snails.
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OP
OP
InterventionalReefiology
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2 weeks later...
Was on vacation for a week so I had someone just feeding. Apparently at one point the ripples from the return head breached the top of the glass, so some water leaked. Fortunately it seems it was caught early enough that there were no issues with the water level going too low. I think the lid on the biocube32 saves a lot of evaporation as there was minimal evaporation loss over that week.
The scooter blenny died yesterday. It was pretty lazy for a day or two before that, but no other unusual behavior (eg no scratching, no heavy breathing), so I'm assuming the copepods didn't take enough to keep him fed despite supplementing with other foods it seemed to eat. Hopefully it wasn't something more serious that will makes its way through the other fish.
I added chaeto to the refugium, another jar of copepods, and a pincushion urchin as there is now some hair algae as well as more green algae. I'm hoping to get some corals soon, too.
Was on vacation for a week so I had someone just feeding. Apparently at one point the ripples from the return head breached the top of the glass, so some water leaked. Fortunately it seems it was caught early enough that there were no issues with the water level going too low. I think the lid on the biocube32 saves a lot of evaporation as there was minimal evaporation loss over that week.
The scooter blenny died yesterday. It was pretty lazy for a day or two before that, but no other unusual behavior (eg no scratching, no heavy breathing), so I'm assuming the copepods didn't take enough to keep him fed despite supplementing with other foods it seemed to eat. Hopefully it wasn't something more serious that will makes its way through the other fish.
I added chaeto to the refugium, another jar of copepods, and a pincushion urchin as there is now some hair algae as well as more green algae. I'm hoping to get some corals soon, too.
OP
OP
InterventionalReefiology
Community Member
Long overdue update...
Added coral (see one of my other posts) from a friend. Since then have added some more from my LFS. Also have added some more fish and inverts. Had a six line wrasse that died within a week of unknown causes. I think I had some dinos, turned the lights off a few days and decreased filtration to bump nitrate from 0, it's now between 10 and 20. If like it a little lower but finding a balance is difficult. Also have vermatid snails (just a few) and spirobid (sp?) snails.
Current stock list:
2 clowns
Royal Gramma
Yellowtail damsel
Firefish
Longnose hawk fish
Canary wrasse
3 nassarius snails
2 bumblebee snails (bought 3 from LFS but one was DOA and now serves as an urchin hat)
2 turbo snails (the true workhorse snails)
Pincushion urchin
Emerald crab
Frogspawn
Random SPS from initial coral batch, the larger piece only has one chunk still alive
2 frags of the same favites?
Plate
Red chalice
Zoas (initial piece that also has a devils hand and a second piece, total at least 5 color morphs)
Platygyria
Space invader pectinia
Trachyphylia (LFS sold it as a mushroom at a low price, but I think they just have their label wrong still)
The pectinia seems to be growing slowly, the others not as much which is a little disappointing, I'm not sure if I'm too impatient or something is a little off.
Added coral (see one of my other posts) from a friend. Since then have added some more from my LFS. Also have added some more fish and inverts. Had a six line wrasse that died within a week of unknown causes. I think I had some dinos, turned the lights off a few days and decreased filtration to bump nitrate from 0, it's now between 10 and 20. If like it a little lower but finding a balance is difficult. Also have vermatid snails (just a few) and spirobid (sp?) snails.
Current stock list:
2 clowns
Royal Gramma
Yellowtail damsel
Firefish
Longnose hawk fish
Canary wrasse
3 nassarius snails
2 bumblebee snails (bought 3 from LFS but one was DOA and now serves as an urchin hat)
2 turbo snails (the true workhorse snails)
Pincushion urchin
Emerald crab
Frogspawn
Random SPS from initial coral batch, the larger piece only has one chunk still alive
2 frags of the same favites?
Plate
Red chalice
Zoas (initial piece that also has a devils hand and a second piece, total at least 5 color morphs)
Platygyria
Space invader pectinia
Trachyphylia (LFS sold it as a mushroom at a low price, but I think they just have their label wrong still)
The pectinia seems to be growing slowly, the others not as much which is a little disappointing, I'm not sure if I'm too impatient or something is a little off.
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OP
OP
InterventionalReefiology
Community Member
Another overdue update...
Looking back at older photos of the tank, I'm either stubbornly optimistic or just ignore my own failings. I've lost probably more fish and coral than I have. From the last update, the branching sps, platygyria, 1 of what I thought was favites, and others have died. I also tried firework clove polyp once and failed (I went on vacation right after putting it in), lost a hammer coral, and probably some others that I'm forgetting.
As for fish, I've lost my long nose hawk, a fire hawk, the original fire fish, the royal Gramma, 2 separate attempts at a bangai cardinal, and again probably some I'm not remembering. And I've gone through 3 emerald crabs. And my chaeto in my refugium. Currently have 2 clowns, yellow tail blue damsel, canary wrasse, and new fire fish.
So now that the depressing part is over, I'm actually fairly happy with where things are. I now think the one colony is a leptastrea, and it is growing nicely. I also have a leptoseris, I think, that is also growing nicely. The pectinia had some die off, but is now growing and not just slowly. I got a monti cap, and when it arrived only about 1 cm2 was still alive, but it has grown a fair amount, too. I got a larger colony of firework clove polyps that will hopefully do better. The frogspawn had all but 1 polyp die, but that polyp seems to be dividing. A ricodia mushroom is also dividing, so that's good. Through it all, the plate coral is unchanged, and I do like the plate coral...
Oh, and I have aptasia. I was able to get a few colonies with f-aptasia, but I have some that are really hidden among the zoas, so I've ordered some nudibranchs from salty underground. And some more things to get free shipping. I guess we'll see how it goes!
Looking back at older photos of the tank, I'm either stubbornly optimistic or just ignore my own failings. I've lost probably more fish and coral than I have. From the last update, the branching sps, platygyria, 1 of what I thought was favites, and others have died. I also tried firework clove polyp once and failed (I went on vacation right after putting it in), lost a hammer coral, and probably some others that I'm forgetting.
As for fish, I've lost my long nose hawk, a fire hawk, the original fire fish, the royal Gramma, 2 separate attempts at a bangai cardinal, and again probably some I'm not remembering. And I've gone through 3 emerald crabs. And my chaeto in my refugium. Currently have 2 clowns, yellow tail blue damsel, canary wrasse, and new fire fish.
So now that the depressing part is over, I'm actually fairly happy with where things are. I now think the one colony is a leptastrea, and it is growing nicely. I also have a leptoseris, I think, that is also growing nicely. The pectinia had some die off, but is now growing and not just slowly. I got a monti cap, and when it arrived only about 1 cm2 was still alive, but it has grown a fair amount, too. I got a larger colony of firework clove polyps that will hopefully do better. The frogspawn had all but 1 polyp die, but that polyp seems to be dividing. A ricodia mushroom is also dividing, so that's good. Through it all, the plate coral is unchanged, and I do like the plate coral...
Oh, and I have aptasia. I was able to get a few colonies with f-aptasia, but I have some that are really hidden among the zoas, so I've ordered some nudibranchs from salty underground. And some more things to get free shipping. I guess we'll see how it goes!
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