NeverlosT's 140g Cube in Paradise

[drawman]

I have the two Potters wrasses, they aren't active at night when the Berghia are, but nonetheless, they may have eaten them...

That being said, I am doubtful that they are still in there an building up their numbers because we have a newborn so I am up all hours of the night, and I creep on the fish at night and I haven't seen an active Berghia in a month.

Yeah I think I noticed they were easier to see at night. I would see them in the overflow at first and see egg circles on the glass. Hopefully they weren't an expensive snack good luck!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

On the CO2 issue, have you considered running your skimmer airline outside?

 

[NeverlosT]

On the CO2 issue, have you considered running your skimmer airline outside?

I have, that is a good idea though! The tank is an island in the middle of the kitchen/living room so it may be tough to get the line outside. The good news is that the CO2 scrubber is working quite well and hopefully I wont need it anymore come spring/summer.

 

[Payday]

I have the two Potters wrasses, they aren't active at night when the Berghia are, but nonetheless, they may have eaten them...

That being said, I am doubtful that they are still in there an building up their numbers because we have a newborn so I am up all hours of the night, and I creep on the fish at night and I haven't seen an active Berghia in a month.

From what I have read, the peppermints were a bad move in regards to the berghia's. The berghia's take a little while for there population to increase and the peppermints will in the mean time eat there eggs. On the other hand, wrasse's can be a threat as well so there is no way to say that they weren't eaten already. Good luck!

 

[NeverlosT]

I agree that the peps are probably bad news for Berghia, but I was 99% sure that there weren't any left alive in there, so I decided to try the shrimp. They seem to have at least slowed the spread of aptasia... not stopped it though. Lazy shrimp!

 

[NeverlosT]

Update:
Peppermint shrimp, or possibly reduction in nutrients, has led to a decline in the Aptasia population.
I got rid of the marinepure block in favor of going back to old fashioned liverock in the fuge, added Chaeto as well. The Chaeto did nothing though for weeks until I started dosing a couple of drops of lugols daily (system must have been low on iodine).
Potters wrasses have been mating regularly, they do some cool dancing, broadcast mate, and the other critters eat it all.
Corals are doing pretty well, I started dosing Dr. Tims waste away and I think that the tank appreciates it.
Other than that just keeping up with sock, carbon, GFO changes.

Only plan for the immediate future is to plumb in a masterflex pump that I just bought for the calcium reactor to control the effluent delivery. Finally!

I'll post some more coral growth pics soon.

 

[s2nhle]

Can't wait to see your latest pics. Thanks,

 

[NeverlosT]

 

[NeverlosT]

 

[NeverlosT]

I finally managed to find a minute to upload some pics.

My update is that nutrients continue to come down and the corals continue to improve and grow. It was high nitrates that had my growth severely stunted, and now that those are resolving, things are improving dramatically. It is amazing that some systems like that of WWC run at like 40ppm nitrate successfully, and I am less than half of that and was crippled by it. Every system is unique.

My only other update is a sad one, our Japanese Elegance Blenny of 5 years "Gus" passed away last week. I think just old age, not sure how old he was when we got him but he was fully grown. He was my wife's favorite fish and a heck of a character. He had started slowing down these last few months. I like to think that he enjoyed his twilight years in our fishbox as much as we enjoyed having him.

 

[NeverlosT]

Heres a fun pic of Titus, the Achilles Tang:






And the frag that has been consuming all of our time these days (and brought so much love into our lives):

 

[s2nhle]

Wow, that frag looks so cute. It is worth it. Congrats!

 

[revhtree]

Beautiful frag and tang! HA!

 

[NeverlosT]

Some new shots, growth has really taken off on some pieces despite me having to travel a bunch lately. I credit the Masterflex pump on the calcium reactor to maintaining stable ALK in my absence and preventing hiccups.

 

[NeverlosT]

 

[Keenan]

Looking good!

 

[s2nhle]

Awesome. Very healthy and colorful SPS

 

[NeverlosT]

Thanks guys, my nutrients crept up while I was gone (old filter socks and such) so I am dragging those back down with some carbon dosing and water changes, then we will be back on track.

Probably time to change out my bulbs too... going on 10 months now.

The only other significant change that I am contemplating is switching to two MP40 QDs to improve my flow a bit over the current gyre and wp25.

 

[Keenan]

The only other significant change that I am contemplating is switching to two MP40 QDs to improve my flow a bit over the current gyre and wp25.

I for one say go for it. I love my mp40, although in my 40 AIO I only have it and a mp10 each at about 50%.

Was the gyre not cutting it for you?

 

[NeverlosT]

The gyre is nice but I would need another one to really cut it. Also, its strength drops off a ton as it gets dirty. My old MP40s didn't lose that much push when dirty. Also it is easier to clean the MP40 wet side.

We'll see, gotta check the piggybank!