Small update. The Monti is still pale where it was shaded but is slowly coming back. You can see now where the tissue ends. I might take even more of the red side, or try and frag some of the green and glue it to the red to try and get it to blend more.
I also got a small frag rack for my pink Goni. It was one of my first corals and did great for a while. But the hermit crabs started picking on it every time I fed it coral food, and it started to fully retract when fed or slightly disturbed. As a result it has been shrinking. I want to be able to feed it and not worry so I got this small frag rack for it. I tried feeding it today but it still retracted fully and didn’t feed. I’m hoping it turns a corner soon because I’m sure the hermits were the problem. Here it is right after feeding both gonis today. The green one has done great and grown a lot but the hermits never bothered it for some reason but you can see how the pink one has retracted from the food.
At first I was planning on mounting the corals directly to the rock including the zoas. But since then I’ve decided that the plugs don’t bother me that much, and that the advantage of having the corals on plugs outweighed the aesthetic issues for now. I’m still learning and like being able to move things around. I’ve surrounded some of my faster growing zoas with small plugs in order to create frags which can be removed and different varieties can be added in order to mix up the colors. I have a couple, the scrambled eggs and the twizzlers, that grow super fast and would probably take over the rock before some of the others have a chance to make mini colonies.
I also got a small frag rack for my pink Goni. It was one of my first corals and did great for a while. But the hermit crabs started picking on it every time I fed it coral food, and it started to fully retract when fed or slightly disturbed. As a result it has been shrinking. I want to be able to feed it and not worry so I got this small frag rack for it. I tried feeding it today but it still retracted fully and didn’t feed. I’m hoping it turns a corner soon because I’m sure the hermits were the problem. Here it is right after feeding both gonis today. The green one has done great and grown a lot but the hermits never bothered it for some reason but you can see how the pink one has retracted from the food.
At first I was planning on mounting the corals directly to the rock including the zoas. But since then I’ve decided that the plugs don’t bother me that much, and that the advantage of having the corals on plugs outweighed the aesthetic issues for now. I’m still learning and like being able to move things around. I’ve surrounded some of my faster growing zoas with small plugs in order to create frags which can be removed and different varieties can be added in order to mix up the colors. I have a couple, the scrambled eggs and the twizzlers, that grow super fast and would probably take over the rock before some of the others have a chance to make mini colonies.
Things are going pretty steady. Still have gha. I’ve been doing a lot of 10gal rather than 5gal water changes, hoping that will help. Also pulling as much as possible and doing some scrubbing. I’ve also been trying to feed less and using pellets rather than frozen most days. Chaeto is growing well and I feel like the algae is slowing down, but I was expecting better results.
On a better note, my zoos are growing very well and my acros are encrusting. I had been dosing alk for a few months but every time I had tested Ca it was fine, so I had neglected it for a while thinking that water changes and kalkwasser were enough to keep it up. Finally after testing last week Ca had dropped pretty low, so I am dosing that as well now. I also added a dosing pump for alk so I don’t have to do it by hand anymore. I found a great deal on a single doser and am just using it on a timer for now.
The Goni I put on its own rack is still struggling, but has stopped retracting fully when target fed. Hoping that helps it turn the corner.
My 2 hammers don’t extend very well, but that’s been happening for a while. I figured there was too much flow but have since lowered flow and they haven’t come back fully yet.
I dipped my zoo frags in peroxide today and some tiny red bugs seem to have come off. I have no idea what they could be. They look like red bugs but not sure why they would show up on the zoos or where they came from. I’ve been using Bayer dip so I figured I was good. Anyways, I guess now that’s something else to monitor. I’m considering using flatworm exit as a precaution.
Of course I look at the tank and see issues, but the corals are really looking pretty good. I’ve recently passed the 1 year mark and was expecting things to get significantly easier as far as algae and all that, but that just hasn’t been my experience yet. Fingers crossed for that happening.
On a better note, my zoos are growing very well and my acros are encrusting. I had been dosing alk for a few months but every time I had tested Ca it was fine, so I had neglected it for a while thinking that water changes and kalkwasser were enough to keep it up. Finally after testing last week Ca had dropped pretty low, so I am dosing that as well now. I also added a dosing pump for alk so I don’t have to do it by hand anymore. I found a great deal on a single doser and am just using it on a timer for now.
The Goni I put on its own rack is still struggling, but has stopped retracting fully when target fed. Hoping that helps it turn the corner.
My 2 hammers don’t extend very well, but that’s been happening for a while. I figured there was too much flow but have since lowered flow and they haven’t come back fully yet.
I dipped my zoo frags in peroxide today and some tiny red bugs seem to have come off. I have no idea what they could be. They look like red bugs but not sure why they would show up on the zoos or where they came from. I’ve been using Bayer dip so I figured I was good. Anyways, I guess now that’s something else to monitor. I’m considering using flatworm exit as a precaution.
Of course I look at the tank and see issues, but the corals are really looking pretty good. I’ve recently passed the 1 year mark and was expecting things to get significantly easier as far as algae and all that, but that just hasn’t been my experience yet. Fingers crossed for that happening.
This Goni really glows. The brightest coral in my tank
JB is the runner up for brightest. I like watching how it drops babies as it moves along and am hoping it continues to do so.
I can’t really get a good pic of them but my AOIs are doing good and adding polyps.
This one is still doing great along with all the other shrooms.
Monti is healing up nicely. The part that was shaded retained the green polyps but the base seems like it’s coming back red. It will be interesting to see if it stays like that or not. Today I fragged it back even further to encourage more growth there.
Really liking this new toadstool.
Yumas are growing fast in my tank. I’m seeing some show up on places I’m not sure I want them and am planning on thinning out the herd hopefully before they get out of control.
Zoas are growing.
This is my Madri Gras Acan. It’s tiny but I have high hopes for this thing.
Update time, it’s been a while. Still fighting with the hair algae, still reluctant to try a chemical approach. I watch Melev’s stuff on YouTube and am considering using phosphate RX since he seems so confident in recommending it. I’m also considering getting the Hanna checker, but I’m kind of cheap and I don’t love the price. I’ve changed the cartridges on my Rodi and they did seem a lot worse than I expected. I’m on a well and do get dirty looking water a couple times a year, and the new filters looked brownish after just a couple uses.
Contributing to my issue, my strawberry crab has started going after snails. I replaced some last weekend and am trying to keep an eye in how fast he eats them. I’ve had a tuxedo urchin since setting up the tank and I love how much it algae it mows down. So last weekend I decided to add a pencil urchin and a long spine. I figure there is plenty algae for all 3 and I don’t think the crab will go after them. So far I’m happy with them.
I also traded a bunch of zoa frags and mushroom frags for store credit. Yesterday I got some more corals with the credit. I picked up a couple new zoa frags, rainbow infusion and sunny d. Also a couple different gonis and a couple SPS, strawberry shortcake and bubblegum digi.
I already had a Forrest fire digi but I like the bubblegum more.
Here is the tank today, getting pretty full. I’d love to add another fish or 2 but I’m worried about aggression.
Finally getting some growth on my PC rainbow, my first acro. I accidentally broke part off a couple months ago but it is growing on the plug at least.
This acan got stung a bit by a mushroom that was carried there by the tuxedo urchin. I saw it there but wasn’t too worried since the mushroom was tiny. Finally noticed what was going on and since then it lost a couple heads. I’m not too worried though because it had grown pretty fast. Lesson learned. I traded lots of those mushrooms away but should probably get rid of the rest that aren’t on my Yuma rock.
And finally, a little update on my Monti after fragging it back further. Doing good
Bonus pic of this acan. It looked nice and fluffy today
Contributing to my issue, my strawberry crab has started going after snails. I replaced some last weekend and am trying to keep an eye in how fast he eats them. I’ve had a tuxedo urchin since setting up the tank and I love how much it algae it mows down. So last weekend I decided to add a pencil urchin and a long spine. I figure there is plenty algae for all 3 and I don’t think the crab will go after them. So far I’m happy with them.
I also traded a bunch of zoa frags and mushroom frags for store credit. Yesterday I got some more corals with the credit. I picked up a couple new zoa frags, rainbow infusion and sunny d. Also a couple different gonis and a couple SPS, strawberry shortcake and bubblegum digi.
I already had a Forrest fire digi but I like the bubblegum more.
Here is the tank today, getting pretty full. I’d love to add another fish or 2 but I’m worried about aggression.
Finally getting some growth on my PC rainbow, my first acro. I accidentally broke part off a couple months ago but it is growing on the plug at least.
This acan got stung a bit by a mushroom that was carried there by the tuxedo urchin. I saw it there but wasn’t too worried since the mushroom was tiny. Finally noticed what was going on and since then it lost a couple heads. I’m not too worried though because it had grown pretty fast. Lesson learned. I traded lots of those mushrooms away but should probably get rid of the rest that aren’t on my Yuma rock.
And finally, a little update on my Monti after fragging it back further. Doing good
Bonus pic of this acan. It looked nice and fluffy today
Things going good. I’ve mounted some new frags. Mostly SPS. I also have started dosing Ca and Mg. I hadn’t been testing them very often since every time I had they were within the right range. But even before adding my new frags I tested and noticed both had dropped. I’ve been dosing about 15ml per day and they are slowly returning to where I want. I also increased alk dose. I’ve read that tanks with higher nutrients can have higher alk and also that higher alk can help increase growth. I changed the dose a couple weeks ago and tested today. Alk was around 10, which is a little higher than I anticipated. I might try and keep it there or back off a little. Anyways, here is what things look like now.
PC rainbow finally getting some growth/ color after nearly a year
Moved the toadstools a little to make room for sticks. I’m not really happy with the placement and will probably rearrange.
My JB is getting pretty big and adding more babies. But colors are coming in slowly. Just a couple tiny specks of green still. Was hoping there would be more red too by now.
Zoas doing well.
Long spine urchin has grown way faster than expected. Seems like it already doubled in size.
New gonis are mounted. I’m going for a little Goni garden. The red and pink have been growing but blue doesn’t seem quite as happy.
My monti has done well and has some neighbors
The clownfish mostly hang out in this candy cane. But at night they sleep on a ricordea
Pom Pom at night
PC rainbow finally getting some growth/ color after nearly a year
Moved the toadstools a little to make room for sticks. I’m not really happy with the placement and will probably rearrange.
My JB is getting pretty big and adding more babies. But colors are coming in slowly. Just a couple tiny specks of green still. Was hoping there would be more red too by now.
Zoas doing well.
Long spine urchin has grown way faster than expected. Seems like it already doubled in size.
New gonis are mounted. I’m going for a little Goni garden. The red and pink have been growing but blue doesn’t seem quite as happy.
My monti has done well and has some neighbors
The clownfish mostly hang out in this candy cane. But at night they sleep on a ricordea
Pom Pom at night
reef r madness
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Very cool crab
Well I watched the video from BRS and read some of the long thread on here and decided I would give Vibrant a try for my algae issues. I used an fairly moderate dose, about 3.5 mL every 10 days or so. I’ve dosed 4 times so far I believe. Algae hasn’t changed much, except for spreading a bit. It’s also started to get easier to pull from the rocks, which I’ve been doing from time to time. Chaeto has been growing well still. It really started taking off a month or two before the Vibrant and is continuing to do well. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is there seem to be less pods and less micro brittle stars. Also I’ve noticed what I think are Dino’s on the tufts of remaining Algae. I tested nitrates and they seem to have fallen to near undetectable levels. Phosphates tested a bit higher than normal, although my test kit isn’t very precise. I’m currently on vacation and set up an auto feeder with a very modest amount of food per day. I’m a little worried about what I might come back to and thinking I should have probably left the skimmer cup off. I’ve noticed since adding the Vibrant the skimmer is pulling a lot more than normal out of the tank, which probably has something to do with the low nitrate reading. I’m super reluctant to dose nitrates and am planning on just using more coral food to try and get nitrates back up a bit.
I also get a 24” reefbreeders photon to replacemy black box and so far really like the new light. Everything was doing good other than the Dino thing. I’m thinking I will maybe start water changing every other week rather than every week and see how it goes. I also replaced my phosguard, which I’ve been using for a long time. Just hoping the Dino’s haven’t gotten much worse while I’m gone. I’m hoping the vibrant is just taking its time and am planning on continuing the current dosing.
I also get a 24” reefbreeders photon to replacemy black box and so far really like the new light. Everything was doing good other than the Dino thing. I’m thinking I will maybe start water changing every other week rather than every week and see how it goes. I also replaced my phosguard, which I’ve been using for a long time. Just hoping the Dino’s haven’t gotten much worse while I’m gone. I’m hoping the vibrant is just taking its time and am planning on continuing the current dosing.
Also I forgot to add that I installed dosers for both Ca and Mg, since I had been hand dosing them and they had both needed as much as I was dosing for Alk. I really don’t mind dosing by hand, but knowing I was going on vacation I thought it made sense. Plus I had forgotten sometimes when working long days. I just use the BRS Drew’s doser on a timer, since that is what I had for Alk and it seemed pretty reliable.
Wanted to give a quick update on how things are going. The vibrant has helped with hair algae, though slowly. I’ve been dosing 3.5 mL every 10 days. I’m reluctant to do more since I have chaeto in the fuge. When I got back from vacation there was a good amount of bryopsis growing. After pulling as much as possible I recently went with a dose of Flux RX. It worked on the bryopsis within 5 days or so. Now there is just a small patch of hair algae remaining. Things are doing good. I ordered a frag of Pink Floyd and one of beach bum from aqua SD. The prices seemed decent and they are two of the frags I’ve had my eye on for a while. Here is a pic of a shrimp molt on an urchin I thought was interesting
I guess I forgot to put in my updates that I changed my light to a reefbreeders photon at New Years. But yes, when I had my black box light at some point I started slowly turning the light up until I had blues at 100% and whites around 80 or 90%.
It’s been a while, overdue for update. I’ve been continuing with the vibrant because I still have a little GHA. After coming back from vacation I had quite a bit of bryopsis growing so I decided to try a dose of flux rx and it worked very well. No more bryopsis. I took out the Chaeto for 4 days during treatment and it did fine. Here is some current pics.
I got a couple frags I’ve been wanting for a while. Beach bum and Pink Floyd. I moved them up pretty quickly as I had with my other SPS. Big mistake as 3 or 4 days after mounting them I woke up to the Pink Floyd with half its flesh missing. I quickly moved it to a frag rack near the bottom and it’s recovering. Beach bum is fine though. Lesson learned.
I got a couple frags I’ve been wanting for a while. Beach bum and Pink Floyd. I moved them up pretty quickly as I had with my other SPS. Big mistake as 3 or 4 days after mounting them I woke up to the Pink Floyd with half its flesh missing. I quickly moved it to a frag rack near the bottom and it’s recovering. Beach bum is fine though. Lesson learned.
Also of note. My small colony of Bowsers got eaten one night. I strongly suspect the pencil urchin. They were doing alright, but not super great. The urchin had taken a chunk of a polyp the week prior and must have decided it tasted pretty good. Of course the only zoas it liked happen to be the most expensive. I’ve been trading a bit of zoas and hoping to get another frag and try again. If I do I will probably get rid of the urchin so it doesn’t take the new ones out.
Haven’t done an update in forever. Figured I would since thangs have been happening lately. For one, I chipped my tank putting the glass lid on a couple months ago. It was the top corner but it looked pretty ugly so I decided to get a new tank. I wanted bigger but I didn’t want to build a new stand or add lighting. Went with the Waterbox AIO 50.3. It arrived a couple weeks back and I made the transfer from my JBJ. I’m really happy with how it looks and the added width, which gives me more space. I had some corals start to crowd each other. I also added a stone top to the cabinet to support the extra width. Here’s how it looks.
Last week I picked up a couple nice frags since I have more room.
SCOP
And torch
Last week I picked up a couple nice frags since I have more room.
SCOP
And torch
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