Daphne's_Reef
Community Member
Got busy with work for a while last year, and sort of lost control of the tank. Trying to get it back into nice shape again.
As to chemistry, I don't have an accurate test. I don't tend to use the kits before they expire, but since I live 100 miles from where I work (there having the closest places that'll test with liquid instead of dip strips) it took about a day and a half for me to get the water (sitting in the jug with the gunk I'd pulled out of my aquarium) to the store. That said, they use salifert kits and said that as it was the phosphate was .1 and the nitrate was 2 ppm. Their suggestion was to use some sort of bottled bacteria (not Vibrant, but I don't remember the name) BUT I have some macro (not the caulerpa, I want it dead) in the tank, attached to the rock and not, that I don't want to kill. Got a pincushion urchin instead.
The algaes in question are the reddish bubbles which get a lot bigger/lumpier then sort of break off the rocks and rise to the surface, the red and green turfy stuff, and the red wirey stuff. Know what the valonia (and aiptasia, lol) are, sadly.
I feed a pinch or two of micro pellets (currently have omega one) 3-4 times a week, and I'm not giving any other foods to it at the moment. It's a 40 breeder with a sapphire damsel, a royal gramma, and a two spot bristletooth tang (will rehome if she ever gets large/acts stressed in the tank). I think I have a hermit left (I don't know if the popping is a mantis or the pistols that I know for sure came in on my LR, but the cuc doesn't vanish overnight, though I've definitely lost some of it) a limpet, and a turban snail in there, plus a flame scallop (from the LR, over a year and a half old, so likely not too much longer, sadly) a pencil urchin (hitchhiker) and the pincushion. I am running an aquamaxx skimmer, and it seems to be steadily pulling waste out and filling a trash can I let it drain into. Lights are a reefbreeder LED set to the lowest setting and running 12 hours a day. I didn't fiddle with the controls other than to set no moonlight since it's in my room.
Half the rock is from the keys, the other half is from the Gulf of Mexico, so it either came in on that, or on a frag plug unnoticed (fairly certain that's where the aiptasia came from).
Any ideas? Should I see how the urchin does before trying anything else, or should I change anything in the routine now to help fix this?
As to chemistry, I don't have an accurate test. I don't tend to use the kits before they expire, but since I live 100 miles from where I work (there having the closest places that'll test with liquid instead of dip strips) it took about a day and a half for me to get the water (sitting in the jug with the gunk I'd pulled out of my aquarium) to the store. That said, they use salifert kits and said that as it was the phosphate was .1 and the nitrate was 2 ppm. Their suggestion was to use some sort of bottled bacteria (not Vibrant, but I don't remember the name) BUT I have some macro (not the caulerpa, I want it dead) in the tank, attached to the rock and not, that I don't want to kill. Got a pincushion urchin instead.
The algaes in question are the reddish bubbles which get a lot bigger/lumpier then sort of break off the rocks and rise to the surface, the red and green turfy stuff, and the red wirey stuff. Know what the valonia (and aiptasia, lol) are, sadly.
I feed a pinch or two of micro pellets (currently have omega one) 3-4 times a week, and I'm not giving any other foods to it at the moment. It's a 40 breeder with a sapphire damsel, a royal gramma, and a two spot bristletooth tang (will rehome if she ever gets large/acts stressed in the tank). I think I have a hermit left (I don't know if the popping is a mantis or the pistols that I know for sure came in on my LR, but the cuc doesn't vanish overnight, though I've definitely lost some of it) a limpet, and a turban snail in there, plus a flame scallop (from the LR, over a year and a half old, so likely not too much longer, sadly) a pencil urchin (hitchhiker) and the pincushion. I am running an aquamaxx skimmer, and it seems to be steadily pulling waste out and filling a trash can I let it drain into. Lights are a reefbreeder LED set to the lowest setting and running 12 hours a day. I didn't fiddle with the controls other than to set no moonlight since it's in my room.
Half the rock is from the keys, the other half is from the Gulf of Mexico, so it either came in on that, or on a frag plug unnoticed (fairly certain that's where the aiptasia came from).
Any ideas? Should I see how the urchin does before trying anything else, or should I change anything in the routine now to help fix this?
