Journey to a Reefer 750XXL

[mygsris2slo4u]

Went to pick up another 20 long at petco and saw they had a trio of Benghazi cardinals that looked healthy (though the kid working said they were treating the system for ich). The manager gave me a good enough discount that I decided to pick them up. They are currently eating in a 5 gallon bucket and will be going through TTM to see if we can cure them.

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

Went to pick up another 20 long at petco and saw they had a trio of Benghazi cardinals that looked healthy (though the kid working said they were treating the system for ich). The manager gave me a good enough discount that I decided to pick them up. They are currently eating in a 5 gallon bucket and will be going through TTM to see if we can cure them.

It’s been awhile since any updates, but the cardinals above along with several wrasses that arrived in poor condition did not make it through QT.

I have stopped running my skimmer and have nitrate readings of 0 and phosphates at .034 ppm using the Hanna ULR. PH has stayed in the 7.8-7.9 range without the skimmer(with outside air).

I currently have eight lyre tail anthais females in QT running @HotRocks QT practices. Started with nine but one took a Nemo style trip through the filter. Felt bad because it was still alive but in bad shape physically.

Added a fourth kessil a360we to the light fixture and produced the following par readings with an apogee sq-420 usb sensor. I suspect I have a bad power supply with one light as it flickers and changes color settings at higher intensity settings and it carried over to a different light when swapping power supplies.

Added a few @WWC to the coral QT

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

FTS today at feeding time...

It’s been a while since I updated. I finally added the anthias but lost a few more I believe due to aggression. The 5 in the tank are doing great. One has transitioned to a male.

I’ve taken my skimmer offline and my chaeto and marine pure are maintaining 0 nitrate and .035 phosphate with minimal algae in the tank. I’m feeding 1-3 cubes of frozen daily and the auto feeder is dropping pellets twice a day.

Also got my AWC setup using a DOS unit and it’s changing a little over 1 gallon per day.

I’m due for another @WWC coral order, but will be waiting till I get back from a long over due vacation in June.

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

Male lyretail front and center

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

I wanted to post an update...

Of the 5 lyretails placed in the tank I had one more die due to being picked apart by the others. I have since increased my feedings to 4 times a day from the auto feeder and I feed a cube or two of mysis/cyclops throughout the evening.

On the fish side I just got a white tail kole and yellow tang through my modified version of @HotRocks QT process and they were added to the DT last light. I will get some pics when lights come on this morning.

I also had a kessil A360we die on me which was an originally purchased in 2014. My other light from 2014 needed a fan replacement and still cuts out intermittently. I love the kessils, but a 5 year life span is pretty short considering the high initial costs of LEDs. They're also not as easily repaired as Radions. I'm currently debating whether to buy another kessil or to make the jump to two gen4 pro xr30s or four xr15s.

Lastly, I've been battling what I believe is a lyngbya bloom which I've managed to knock back significantly and a few spots of bubble algae which I've been manually removing. I had let my nitrates and phosphates get to zero, so I've been dosing nitrates and along with the increased feedings I seem to have a handle on the algae.

I hate when life gets in the way of reefing!

To do list:
Clean up QT tanks/area
Clean up basement fish area and organize wiring finally
More manual removal of algae in the DT
Remove dead kessil from aqualife fixture and rearrange the three still working.

 

[HotRocks]

Looking good! Lyretails unfortunately have to figure out the hierarchy and sometimes it just happens. I have 2f/1m in my SPS tank and they definitely bicker some.

I would highly recommend adding the radions to your fixture. I use the same fixture over my 425xl with a pair of xr30pro4s. It’s great, SPS especially love it!

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

Looking good! Lyretails unfortunately have to figure out the hierarchy and sometimes it just happens. I have 2f/1m in my SPS tank and they definitely bicker some.

I would highly recommend adding the radions to your fixture. I use the same fixture over my 425xl with a pair of xr30pro4s. It’s great, SPS especially love it!

This group of anthias seems to have their hierarchy figured out now.

The only issue jumping to the radions right now is needing 1 $350 kessil vs $1600 for radions. Quite the sticker shock for the initial switch.

 

[HotRocks]

This group of anthias seems to have their hierarchy figured out now.

The only issue jumping to the radions right now is needing 1 $350 kessil vs $1600 for radions. Quite the sticker shock for the initial switch.

Yes there is always that! .

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

I've finished up a few month battle with varying algae and thanks to some nitrate dosing I finally have detectable nitrate (1-2ppm) and phosphate hovering around .060. I've also removed a good portion of my sand bed as I do not maintain it the way it needs to be.

I am currently trying to decide what fish to add next. I'd like to add 2-4. Any thoughts or input is appreciated.

Current fish list:

2 gladiator clowns
1 helfriche fire fish
1 yellow tang
1 white tail kole tang
4 lyretail anthias (1 male, 3 female)
1 benggai cardinal

I'd like to add a CBB though the last one I added ended up dead within a few days. Not sure if it was aggression from the other fish or just not eating. He was very skinny in qt.

Thoughts on the following?

CBB
PBT or goldrim/white cheek
2 fairy wrasse or 3 blue reef chromis


Please throw some ideas at me. I can't make up my mind.

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

Thoughts on my next batch of fish?