I received a box of rocks today.

[neoGeorge]

These were captive bred. That LFS does not breed, but they do QT (well, copper and low salinity fish tanks). I meant same source as in LFS, not breeder as you probably guessed.

Honestly, I am taking this as something of a sign of fate. What I mean is after much thought I decided I would go with ocellaris clowns that were not a natural match for our host anemone. I debated long and hard about a Clarkii style clown, but I worried he would get too large and aggressive for our tank.

I enjoyed these ocellaris in their short stay. They were beautiful fish and the classic orange one had a lot of character. That said, it bothered me more than I expected that they were an unnatural match.

If I do get another Clownfish, I will get what I always really wanted, a Spotcinctus (A. bicinctus). It would be a natural species for our Bubble Tip Anemone. It would be the last fish I would add, leaving us with three total. I think the size could work with only three. As far as aggression, Ruby is fast and good at hiding, so Skyler would be the main concern. Skyler’s rock hole home is on the other side of the tank from the anemone, so there is a good chance it would work. A Spotcinctus does tend to venture further from the anemone than the smaller species, but I have decided I want to try. I am going to monitor the other fish for a couple of weeks and see if they show any signs of weakness or disease and go from there.

What bugs me is that Nemo, the classic orange ocellaris, showed no signs at all of ill health. No marks, no poo issues, very active and eating well. I have to think something external to his body killed him. I considered that he may have choked on something large. I had a couple of fish in my lifetime that died from choking on large food pellets or live feeder fish, so that thought occurred to me. The only disease that would kill overnight seems to be velvet, but that would be visible (I am a novice to disease study though for sure). For the other Darwin ocellaris, his passing was not a surprise.

I have seen articles talking about fish and invertebrate trauma causing sickness or death weeks or months after the event even though the animals seem fine at time of purchase - for example cyanide poisoning (wild caught fish) and salinity shock (invertebrates)

 

[neoGeorge]

I went with the Jebao DP-2 for the price as most folks probably do. I know the reviews on longevity are mixed, but frankly, the mechanics involved are pretty simple. It would seem good monitoring and maintenance should help prolong its life. It was very simple to set up and has worked flawlessly for the past couple of weeks (still early).

The only minor thing I noticed is the the buttons really need to be pressed in hard and correctly to activate them. This is a good thing in a way, because it indicates the buttons are solidly made. The position I mounted the doser on my system though puts my hand at an angle that is slightly awkward for this, so I mention it. Test it out before mounting it!

I have 3 Jabao dosers and they've all worked fine for many months now. The only review comment that really concerns me is "buyers" claiming that a Jabao doser stuck in the ON position and dumped a whole container of liquid into the tank; wondering if this comment is legit...

 

[NY_Caveman]

I have 3 Jabao dosers and they've all worked fine for many months now. The only review comment that really concerns me is "buyers" claiming that a Jabao doser stuck in the ON position and dumped a whole container of liquid into the tank; wondering if this comment is legit...

I have heard it happening with other brands as well. Always a risk. I check it at least once a day, just like my ATO. I am a bit concerned about both systems, but they are ridiculously convenient compared to the alternative of manual replenishment.

 

[neoGeorge]

NO3 and PO4 bottomed out, but I want to keep the benefits of gas exchange. I was getting a dark skimmate, but its rate had slowed considerably. I am hoping letting it run back into the tank will allow me to avoid dosing chemicals. I really want to avoid that in this tank.

Wow, how did you get NO3 and PO4 to bottom out? I've had my tank running for 3 years now and still need to dose NOPOX and run GFO to keep levels down...

 

[NY_Caveman]

Wow, how did you get NO3 and PO4 to bottom out? I've had my tank running for 3 years now and still need to dose NOPOX and run GFO to keep levels down...

I attribute it primarily to my use of real Pacific Ocean live rock. The biofiltration has been incredible.

EDIT: My Phosphate fluctuates, Nitrate is always <2 ppm.

 

[neoGeorge]

I have heard it happening with other brands as well. Always a risk. I check it at least once a day, just like my ATO. I am a bit concerned about both systems, but they are ridiculously convenient compared to the alternative of manual replenishment.

I'm adding a series of photosensors to my Arduino controller to monitor each dose channel ON LED - if the controller detects an excessive ON period for a pump it will turn power off to the doser and display an error message. This addition is still a work in progress, but parts are on their way (all I need to figure out is the coding ;-)

 

[neoGeorge]

TIME IN: 1 Year, 2 Months
ROCKS WET: 1 Year
TANK WET: 5 Months

Big maintenance day today.

• Cleaned out all back chambers.
• Changed carbon out.
• Swapped the heater in the return chamber to the second chamber where the refugium once was.
• Cleaned both return pumps, then swapped the remaining stock pump out with an MJ 1200. Both return pumps are now MJ 1200.
• Cleaned the gyre.
• Blew all rocks off blowing away detritus and Cyanobacteria. I added filter pads to the overflow chambers to collect the debris. May leave them there and keep blowing every day this week for some solid cleaning.
• Changed 10% of the water.

Only two minor casualties, I knocked off the Miyagi Tortuoso and the Toadstool Leather. The Leather was simply placed back easy, but I knocked the rock over. I had to rebuild the whole right structure. It did not take me 45 minutes like last time thankfully. I had to reglue the Tortuoso.

The flow is back to normal and really strong again. Hoping this helps combat the bits of Cyanobacteria I am seeing. Here is a photo right after. Everyone is still angry at me in the tank. I will try and get a photo later after the dust settles.

Curious about changing out the pumps to MJ1200s? Should I consider changing out the stock pumps on the JBJ 65g's (been looking at Sicce)? If I recall correctly, the MJ1200 use about the same amount of power as the stock pumps (MJ900s use much less power though, with similar gph).

 

[Hemmdog]

Curious about changing out the pumps to MJ1200s? Should I consider changing out the stock pumps on the JBJ 65g's (been looking at Sicce)? If I recall correctly, the MJ1200 use about the same amount of power as the stock pumps (MJ900s use much less power though, with similar gph).

I use a mj1200 in my biocube 32 lol. It’s a good little pump.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Curious about changing out the pumps to MJ1200s? Should I consider changing out the stock pumps on the JBJ 65g's (been looking at Sicce)? If I recall correctly, the MJ1200 use about the same amount of power as the stock pumps (MJ900s use much less power though, with similar gph).

Mine were Accela stock pumps (265 GPH). One broke within 3 months. I swapped to the MJ1200s because I had two laying around. I did consider the Sicce Syncra Silent 1.5s, but the MJ1200s (on my 45 JBJ) were more than enough.

 

[neoGeorge]

Some sad news this morning (I said that too often lately). No, the reef is doing well. Our Betta fish, however, is on his last legs. Today he simply could not eat. He tried, but he just spit the food out finally. We have had him for four years and he had a great life in his 6.4 gallon planted paradise. I took a picture of him, but it was just too sad to post the way he was positioned.

The reef on the other hand is doing well. I shot some LPS pictures this morning and the growth has been crazy.

Duncans
Remember when these guys were not even fully opening in my tank? For about 2 months? The heads have doubled in numbers now and look what I saw today when it curled up feeding.... a bunch of tiny new heads

Caulastrea
These Neon Trumpets started as 4 heads. There is at least 7 now

Alveopora
These used to stretch out about an inch long, but since I raised the lights they stay very compact. Still, the number of heads has probably doubled

Bonsai Valida
I could not resist one SPS. This Acropora seems to encrust at least a millimeter every day

Love the Duncans and Alveopora!

 

[mattzang]

BTW, those hitchhiker Palythoas are completely gone now thanks to the anemone.

what what what! i have a bunch of hitchhiker zoas that i'd love to extinguish. howd you do it? anenome just had an inner hatred for hitchhiker zoas and went around stinging them? my master plan of putting in a flame angel hasn't worked.. he has no interest in the zoas , but seems to enjoy picking at my green digi

also, i got the icecap 1k today and played with it a bit before work. that thing is powerful even at 10-20%.. sure seems like a lot more than 100 or 200 gph lol.

 

[NY_Caveman]

what what what! i have a bunch of hitchhiker zoas that i'd love to extinguish. howd you do it? anenome just had an inner hatred for hitchhiker zoas and went around stinging them? my master plan of putting in a flame angel hasn't worked.. he has no interest in the zoas , but seems to enjoy picking at my green digi

Yes. The anemone killed all the Palythoas. Took him a few months, but I see no trace of them at all. Good riddance. This post shows the progression pretty well.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-received-a-box-of-rocks-today.335926/page-73#post-5454638

 

[mattzang]

Yes. The anemone killed all the Palythoas. Took him a few months, but I see no trace of them at all. Good riddance. This post shows the progression pretty well.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/i-received-a-box-of-rocks-today.335926/page-73#post-5454638

man! i'd love that lol. your hitchhikers weren't even that ugly, mine are the brownest ugliest things possible. i put a galaxea and then a torch next to them and they just kept on trucking. and i'm too scared to do any fragging lol

 

[NY_Caveman]

The uglier and browner ones tend to be reputed as the more toxic. Whatever you do be careful!

 

[mattzang]

The uglier and browner ones tend to be reputed as the more toxic. Whatever you do be careful!

yeah that's what i've been told, so no way i'm going to frag them. they're all over this nice huge shelf live rock i bought. on the plus side it has a lot of cool live rock things like sponges and pyramidelid snails all over it!

 

[Raege]

Meant to post this morning but got sidetracked. Sunrise in the tank.

Awesome picture looks like a fish mag cover shot. Get that clown an agent

 

[neoGeorge]

Everyone should have a Midas Blenny. I can easily say in my return to reefing Skyler is the greatest surprise. He makes our reef awesome.

@NY_Caveman I added a Midas after seeing your initial posts on this thread - beautiful and entertaining addition to the tank!

 

[NY_Caveman]

@NY_Caveman I added a Midas after seeing your initial posts on this thread - beautiful and entertaining addition to the tank!

That is great. Every tank needs one really.

 

[neoGeorge]

FTS, just for fun

Tank is looking great! Really impressed that you anemone settled into the spot you planned for it and stayed there! What's the secret? I have seen so many posts from people commenting how their anemone keeps roaming around and parking in undesirable spots...

 

[neoGeorge]

Thanks! I do not highlight the bubble algae. It is everywhere right now. Still, prettier than a lot of other algaes. I could almost explain it away to muggles.

My emerald crab does a great job at keeping the bubble algae in check. GHA, though, is another story! My lawnmower blenny won't touch it, and said blenny attacks anything that shows an interest in algae (snails and lettuce nudibranch all dead as a result). So yesterday I dosed Vibrant to address the issue...