I received a box of rocks today.

[mahindra.dev]

I have been trying to get fish pictures all week. I have been posting a lot of corals and FTS, but been a while since I focused on fish. Mostly because my iPhone camera is not great and fish move faster than corals.

Ruby

Skyler

Nemo

Not great, but nice to show them off. Here are a couple of other critters

Hope you enjoyed them!

Nice very nice. I love the Wrasse.

 

[Fudsey]

Looking really good ! !

 

[NY_Caveman]

Just spot fed the corals with my wife. It is getting to be a regular Friday occurrence. Next week I will tell her it is her turn.



And now for no reason, an artsy Anemone shot

 

[SPR1968]

I have been trying to get fish pictures all week. I have been posting a lot of corals and FTS, but been a while since I focused on fish. Mostly because my iPhone camera is not great and fish move faster than corals.

Ruby

Skyler

Nemo

Not great, but nice to show them off. Here are a couple of other critters

Hope you enjoyed them!

Great pictures!

Is that last picture an asterina starfish ?

If it is, certainly the ‘versions’ I had went into plague numbers and then started eating the corals big time. They definitely weren’t the sweet little white starfish I initially thought they were.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Great pictures!

Is that last picture an asterina starfish ?

If it is, certainly the ‘versions’ I had went into plague numbers and then started eating the corals big time. They definitely weren’t the sweet little white starfish I initially thought they were.

Yes. I think so. Only the second Asterina I have seen in 3 months. Cool looking, but definitely keeping my eye one them.

 

[WallyB]

TIME IN: 11.5 Months
ROCKS WET: 9 Months
TANK WET: 2.5 Months

Today’s numbers

09/17/18
NO3 = 0 ppm
PO4 = 0.132 ppm
dKH = 8.8
pH = 8.1

Well, it happened. After 2 months Nitrates finally went to 0 ppm (Red Sea). They had been running between 2-4 ppm for two months, but finally something is using them. I mixed up a solution of Potassium Nitrate and dosed to a level of 0.4 ppm. As this is a new tank, I want to do this very sparingly and not overreact, just adding a little bit. Phosphate continues to drop as well. The fact that Phosphate is higher than I would like and Nitrate is 0, though, meant simply feeding more was not the best option. I do have about 3 lbs. of live rock in a back compartment and perhaps I should try slowly removing that to keep Nitrate measurable. Not too worried mind you, but I want to have some level.

The Hammer coral I mentioned yesterday is both bad and good. The left head is in worse shape today and likely on its way out. The right head, however, seems to have responded very well to the move and is fuller than he has ever been in my tank. Seems so far that too much flow was the issue.

When I looked at this photograph I immediately thought “Bad Hair Day”

Hey Caveman,

I'm back in action on Threads again. Figured out how to make my Watched threads email me, so I know when people post.

This is very interesting, Nitrates too low, but your phosphate could be lower in the (Ideal world). My tank is P=0.19-0.21, and my N=25 without issues.

I am on the other end of the spectrum....N Slightly too high, but have been wary of not going too low (so I have to add Nitrate like you just started).
This Nitrate/Phosphate game is something I wish to figure out, and achieve balance.
Going to look into this rumoured 16:1 balanced ratio of N to P.
Are you adding bacterial of any sort with Carbon (vinegar, Vodka, NoPox, etc).

My approach has been a little bit of PhosGuard to bring down P, and for N nothing specifically. More frequent water changes are best, since it fixes both N&P and also boosts Major/Minor Elements.

Lots to Catch up on your thread...but notice you mention a issue with your hammer.
Euphylia, I have a ton of variety, including one special Assuie Golden hammer (that I treasure).
Keep an eye out for Jelly Disease. Look for Brown Jelly spongy stuff on your Hammer, etc.
Otherwise, I've seen hammers, and others blasted with flow (short term), and it's actually good for them to get clean. But of course not constantly.
When I noticed it (Frogspawn wasn't doing well), I rinsed it and dipped it in Melaxfix bath. It made a complete healthy recovery in a couple of day.

And last but not least. Be patient, and take things slow. One of my biggest downfalls was changing things (and even worse....more than one at a time).

 

[WallyB]

I did not ignore the tank this week despite being busy. Here is some catching up. First off, I mentioned in the Good Morning thread that I had challenged myself this week to go seven days without putting my hands in the tank. I had a little bad algae starting, but I wanted to wait and see how the tank handled it. I kept them out and met the challenge, but I cheated one day with the tongs.

The left rock is now ready for SPS which will be coming soon. I have coralline growing at a good pace right now all over the tank. The few spots of nuisance algae that popped up have stayed small and are not spreading. Tank is really looking good to me this weekend.

Hands out of tank is a good thing, however pruning a bit of algae if fine before it gets out of control.
Especially Green Hair Algae...... with SPS as you are planning on adding them. SPS hate it, probably due to other factors too, that fuel algae.

I think you have a leather in your tank. One thing I've read/heard is mixing SPS with certain soft corals like leathers isn't ideal.
It leads to chemical warfare and SPS loose. That's why I went Soft (no SPS) in one of my tanks, and SPS only in the other.
It hard to find the perfect condition for all corals.

Another thing I learned from having Trumpet Corals like you have. Watch them. They will tell you about the water condition in your tank.
I noticed that after a good water change, and elements are replenish they puff up all healthy.
When things are not good they look smaller and tight.
If things are really bad, the trumpets shrink more, and will not extend feeders, even at night. So check on them a few hours after lights are off.

 

[Rakie]

Everything looks like it's going well to me. I mean, a little thing here or there, a little cyano, or a little algae.. It's not the end of the world. I sound older than I am because I've been in this hobby since middle school... My first reef keeping experiences were literally going hungry to save lunch money for corals! I've seen it all. There's nothing new under the sun -- All algaes and bacterias come and go. Corals may die. Fish may jump. It's all part of the game. The only way to lose is to overreact and try too many things to fix small issues.

I half-jokingly like to tell new people that our tanks have one goal -- To self destruct. Our tanks want to die. Our corals, and fish, will do anything in their power to kill themselves. It's our job to learn how to keep them from succeeding.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Hey Caveman,

I'm back in action on Threads again. Figured out how to make my Watched threads email me, so I know when people post.

This is very interesting, Nitrates too low, but your phosphate could be lower in the (Ideal world). My tank is P=0.19-0.21, and my N=25 without issues.

I am on the other end of the spectrum....N Slightly too high, but have been wary of not going too low (so I have to add Nitrate like you just started).
This Nitrate/Phosphate game is something I wish to figure out, and achieve balance.
Going to look into this rumoured 16:1 balanced ratio of N to P.
Are you adding bacterial of any sort with Carbon (vinegar, Vodka, NoPox, etc).

My approach has been a little bit of PhosGuard to bring down P, and for N nothing specifically. More frequent water changes are best, since it fixes both N&P and also boosts Major/Minor Elements.

Lots to Catch up on your thread...but notice you mention a issue with your hammer.
Euphylia, I have a ton of variety, including one special Assuie Golden hammer (that I treasure).
Keep an eye out for Jelly Disease. Look for Brown Jelly spongy stuff on your Hammer, etc.
Otherwise, I've seen hammers, and others blasted with flow (short term), and it's actually good for them to get clean. But of course not constantly.
When I noticed it (Frogspawn wasn't doing well), I rinsed it and dipped it in Melaxfix bath. It made a complete healthy recovery in a couple of day.

And last but not least. Be patient, and take things slow. One of my biggest downfalls was changing things (and even worse....more than one at a time).

Thanks @WallyB ! I do not carbon dose. I only dosed a tiny amount of KNO3 over a few days. Algae seemed to pop up quick so I weaned it off. Seems my best course of action with algae has been to do nothing (well, I added some more snails) and the tank has adapted to it well.

 

[Rakie]

Hands out of tank is a good thing, however pruning a bit of algae if fine before it gets out of control.
Especially Green Hair Algae...... with SPS as you are planning on adding them.

A friend gave me some corals that had GHA on it, he wanted to scrub it off and I told him not to because my Trochus would eat it up. They polished those plugs clean overnight.

If GHA is a problem, try to find banded trochus snails, they absolutely demolish it at a staggering speed!

 

[Rakie]

Thanks @WallyB ! I do not carbon dose. I only dosed a tiny amount of KNO3 over a few days. Algae seemed to pop up quick so I weaned it off. Seems my best course of action with algae has been to do nothing (well, I added some more snails) and the tank has adapted to it well.

Some interesting food for thought -- when my no3/po4 bottom out I was hit by cyano, dinos, and bryopsis seems to come back. I have a pretty hard time keeping nutrients up, I have to dose kno3/po4 pretty often.

 

[NY_Caveman]

A friend gave me some corals that had GHA on it, he wanted to scrub it off and I told him not to because my Trochus would eat it up. They polished those plugs clean overnight.

If GHA is a problem, try to find banded trochus snails, they absolutely demolish it at a staggering speed!

Yeah I have several Trochus and Ceriths. I recently added some Turbos and the combination has done wonders. The Trochus though seem to really be the workhorses.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Overall I had diatoms, then a really long stringy algae, then Cyanobacteria, then the tuft like green hair algae. I now am only getting Cyano in the back chamber where the grow LED is for the Chaeto. I have a little bit of hair algae remaining in the display. Other than adding snails and manual removal, the best thing I did for algae was go away for a few days and stop fiddling with Nitrate and Phosphate. My new plan is to not worry about those parameters for a while. This tank is only 3 months old, so it is finding its way.

I mentioned I was increasing light intensity 5% each week. The biggest tell for me is that algae continues to diminish as lights increase, rather than blooming.

 

[WallyB]

I mentioned I was increasing light intensity 5% each week. The biggest tell for me is that algae continues to diminish as lights increase, rather than blooming.

That is a very good sign that it's just tank aging. My fairly new tank did that, even with old rocks. And if you remember when I added ONE NEW Dead ROCK, it went thru the Ugly Stage. Now it's fine.

On the topic of snails. I learned not to overload the tank with them (unless really needed). Too many and when they clean off the Algae, they starve, die, and pollute the tank. Trochus snails are great. I'll never get Mexican Turbos again. Budozers, and never last long.

 

[WallyB]

I half-jokingly like to tell new people that our tanks have one goal -- To self destruct. Our tanks want to die. Our corals, and fish, will do anything in their power to kill themselves. It's our job to learn how to keep them from succeeding.

Not funny, but true.

 

[WallyB]

With names

VERY NICE selection of SPS Frags. Can't wait to see them grow up.

 

[NY_Caveman]

That is a very good sign that it's just tank aging. My fairly new tank did that, even with old rocks. And if you remember when I added ONE NEW Dead ROCK, it went thru the Ugly Stage. Now it's fine.

On the topic of snails. I learned not to overload the tank with them (unless really needed). Too many and when they clean off the Algae, they starve, die, and pollute the tank. Trochus snails are great. I'll never get Mexican Turbos again. Budozers, and never last long.

I do worry about the Turbos I added. Especially since gravity is the only thing holding my rock together. They went all through my freshly superglued SPS frags though with zero casualties. I found that impressive for almost 2” snails.

There are about 16 snails and 5 hermit crabs.

 

[jsker]

Stopping by, and things are going well with your system

 

[NY_Caveman]

I half-jokingly like to tell new people that our tanks have one goal -- To self destruct. Our tanks want to die. Our corals, and fish, will do anything in their power to kill themselves. It's our job to learn how to keep them from succeeding.

I have been thinking about this since I read it. It is rich with possible analogies and anecdotes. It immediately incorporates into my reefing philosophy. It made me think about approaches to suicide prevention. Certainly one of the chief ways to let the tank meet its demise is neglect. Insensitivity can also contribute. The best way to stop our tanks from dying is spending time with them, getting to know them.

 

[WallyB]

I do worry about the Turbos I added. Especially since gravity is the only thing holding my rock together. They went all through my freshly superglued SPS frags though with zero casualties. I found that impressive for almost 2” snails.
There are about 16 snails and 5 hermit crabs.

The Turbo's are ok for PROPERLY Glued down corals. Also you need space around corals so that they don't pass by wedging themselves and jarring the coral/frag loose.

In my case, I had plugs that I placed loosely (like Zoa's) while I figured out where to make final placement.
The Turbos would push the plugs and usually bad luck the plugs would fall into a crack making it a nightmare to retrieve them.
You will be fine with the Turbos, and they will do excellent work.

Will the turbos last? Keep us posted, since I've never had one last very long. (Sometime they would die in a few weeks, or couple of months).
I did learn that ALL Snails are Super Sensitive to changes in Water parameters, and they will survive much longer, if not forever (if acclimatized "dripped" over several Hours). If not they will appear fine and they just die one day.
I used to take them for granted as Hardy. Just tossed them into Tank from Store baggy.