IM 25 lagoon build

[Llorgon]

Got a new screen lid for the tank since my old one was starting to fall apart.

Been having some issues with one of my frogspawns. It's looking quite unhappy and I'm not sure why. The frogspawn and hammer near it are doing well. I can't see any pests on it that might be bothering it.

I seem to have this problem with euphyllia. The hammer I have was growing well then was unhappy and 2 of 3 heads died. Now it's back to 3 heads. Same with another frogspawn I had. Was doing great then all of a sudden started dying off.

Since I haven't changed anything with the tank I sent away an ICP test to see if it could tell me anything.

All other fish and corals are doing well. The jack o lantern I glued to the back wall is growing which is great. I hope one day it covers the back wall.

 

[Llorgon]

So the frogspawn continued to retract and looked a bit bleached. So I moved it to the sand bed on Saturday.

The frogspawn has been on the sand bed for a few days now. Still not getting the extension it was on top of the rocks, but I think it's looking a little less bleached out.

 

[Llorgon]

Today was water change day and I got my alkalinity reagent refill on Friday.

Current tank water
Alk: 6.8ppm
Cal: 500ppm

I dosed some 2 part that I have, but obviously it's too much calcium and not enough alkalinity. I have some bulk calcium and alkalinity I will have to mix up later today.

Water change water:
Alk: 8.8ppm
Cal: over 500ppm. Salifert calcium test never turned blue.

The Salt I'm using is instant ocean reef crystals. Seems like odd params for that salt. I thought alkalinity was supposed to be higher.

After water change:
Alk: 7.2ppm
Cal: 500ppm

After mixing up some of the alkalinity solution I brought the alk up to 8.3ppm.

Other than needing to get on top of dosing, the tank isn't looking too bad. I still have some algae, but things are growing. The aiptasia are a pain though. Seems like there's new one popping up daily.

The frogspawn that was having issues still isn't looking great, but isn't looking worse either.

I have a big empty spot in the sand right in front/below the mp10. What would work well there? I think it's higher flow since it's right by the mp10.

 

[Llorgon]

Looks like the tank is using up a good amount of alk, but very little calcium.

Alk on Sunday - 8.3ppm
Alk on Monday night - 7.4ppm
Alk Monday night after dosing 8.7ppm.

I'm going to try and keep alk at 8.7ppm. I didn't test calcium last night, but it seems like water changes are keeping up with calcium demands. I will test tonight and see how much is being used.

 

[Llorgon]

Added a couple corals. A peach frogspawn and a mystic monti.

I'm hoping the monti will encrust and fill out the front of the rock. Would be nice if it overtook the zoa's, but the frogspawn touching them doesn't seem to slow them down so I doubt it.

 

[Llorgon]

For the most part, the tank is doing well. Still fighting aiptasia, but I'm seeing less in the tank so hopefully winning on that front.

I'm going through a bubble algae bloom right now. Hopefully I can get that more under control. By removing the bubbles during water changes.

Tank is using up much more alkalinity than calcium. I'm dosing 3ml alk a day, but calcium seems to be kept in check by water changes.

 

[Llorgon]

Finally got my ICP test results. Took over a month to get them.

Looks like I have some things to adjust. Mainly trace elements.

 

[Llorgon]

I picked up some aiptasia X to try and get them under control. I killed about 15 yesterday. Hopefully I got them all, but I'm sure more will show up.

The frogspawn that was having issues seems to have lost 2 of the 3 heads. Hopefully the last one comes back.

A local reefer here is selling his entire acan collection. About 13 different colonies/frags. So I am going to pick all those up from him. About half next week and the rest in the new year.

Since the ICP test revealed a imbalance of trace elements. I'm going to give the red sea coral program a try in the new year and see if that helps with the trace elements that don't seem to stay replenished with weekly water changes.

 

[Llorgon]

Got the acans yesterday. Everything is settling in well so far. Will probably rearrange them in a day or two.

 

[Llorgon]

I rearranged the acan garden a bit. Tried to group them together better. I've got a lot of orange so I'll need to pick up some other colours to balance it out.

It's interesting the acans that have been in my tank awhile have huge heads compared to the ones I got from the local reefer. My 2 head acan is bigger in size than a lot of the small colonies I got from him.

I wonder if it's just due to lights and nutrient levels?

 

[Llorgon]

I got some gift cards for Christmas so I decided this year I'm going to try out the red sea program.

My main goal with this is to improve coral colours and get my trace elements straightened out. Water changes didn't seem to be keeping up with a lot of the trace elements according to my ICP test.

 

[Llorgon]

As an overall, the tank is doing well. My main issues right now are aiptasia and bubble algae. For the aiptasia, I've been killing the ones I see every few days with aiptasia x. The bubble algae, I'm trying to remove as much as I can with each water change. I haven't tested nitrates and phosphates in awhile so I assume they are getting a bit high.

I ordered a media caddy for the tank so I can replace the filter socks. I might try and modify it to create a little refugium or something like that.

On the fish side, I have 2 clowns and a royal Gramma. They are doing well eating like pigs. The royal Gramma is pretty shy, but the clowns will come right up and nibble on my hands when im working on the tank.

The corals are doing pretty well for the most part. Seeing growth in pretty much all of them which is great. I've been feeding the acans about twice a week with reef roids. Most seem to be enjoying it, but one of my older pieces is having some issues and looking a bit deflated. It's also lost a head. I can't see anything bothering it and it hasn't moved much in quite awhile. So hoping it turns around.

 

[Llorgon]

Some more shots of the tank

 

[Llorgon]

Picked up a few frags from a local reefer this weekend. Got a sunset monti for cheap because it wasn't doing well in his tank. I decided to give it a try since the mystic monti I got from him is growing like crazy. I also picked up some starburst montipora and added a small piece of an SPS frag that had a branch break off on the way home. Can't remember the name of it though. Unfortunately when I glued it, I glued the side that was facing the light away from me so I will have to wait for the colour to return. The other frag is red with some green.

 

[Llorgon]

Not the best picture since I haven't cleaned the glass, but it seems I got a hitchhiker on the sunset monti.

 

[Llorgon]

Some full tank shots post water change today.

I have a big empty spot on the back left of the tank under the mp10. Need to find some good corals to fill that space.

 

[Llorgon]

Long overdue, but no longer living dangerously. Picked up a temp controller

 

[Llorgon]

While looking for a suitable coral for the back left of the tank, I came across some nice euphyllias. I picked up a rainbow hammer and purple frogspawn. Although the rainbow looks more gold to me.

Still always nice to add to the euphyllia garden.

 

[Llorgon]

For awhile now I have been dosing by hand twice a day. Works fine during the winter, but spring and summer we go camping a lot and I'll need to setup an auto doser.

I added a couple shelves and got the tubing from the reservoir to the doser done. Now I'm wondering how to fit the dosing lines into the back of the tank. The holders seem to be about 3.5" wide and right now, I don't really have the room for that. I guess I could lower the water level and make room that way?

 

[Llorgon]

I finally finished off the box of rpm salt and I am now switching over to red sea coral program.

I did my first water change with the red sea salt and mixed up the calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. I was going to get the doser setup, but when I poured everything into the dosing containers, the alkalinity and magnesium had a lot of sediment at the bottom. I must not have mixed it enough.

I had my manual dosing down before switching. Seems like I will need double or so alkalinity and about half the calcium from my previous dosing liquids.

Other than that, fish are doing well. Corals are growing. I'm hoping that the red sea program will help with some trace elements I've been low on and improve colours.