Office Tranquility (75g)

[madweazl]

Maintenance performed:

Increased duration of T5s to six hours (1400-2000)
Increased alkalinity dosing to 19 seconds (9.1 on 20 July and 8.5 today at 18 seconds)
Increased calcium dosing to 19 seconds (445 on 20 July and 440 today at 18 seconds)
Calibrated pH probe (ordered a replacement as well)

Everything is looking really good; all of the frags have been encrusting well and most have shown vertical/horizontal growth as well. The new Reef Raft Wolverine is coloring up really well; it was tan when I received it but the yellow is coming on strong now. The only thing that hasnt colored up much is the Cali tort; the green is coming back but most of the blue areas are still a drab tan with some blue. Seemed like I got some blue back in the first week but not much since. It is also encrusting slower than the rest. I may move it to the center of the tank where the light intensity is higher (currently on the far right and low).

 

[madweazl]

 

[madweazl]

Moved this guy into more light; the tips are still a bright blue but the base color has browned off from the original vivid blue. It sits between the two Kessils now and should receive about twice the light was getting even though it is a bit lower now. This has been the only coral to lose color, everything else looks great.

Maintenance performed:

Dosing increased to 20 seconds every 90 minutes. Of note, 20 seconds in the code is approximately 25 seconds of actual dosing. This only equates to about 12.66ml/day which seems to be quite low (possible since the frags are still very small). I'll have to mark the bottles to double check my math.

Color increased to 70% on Kessils (from 65%)
Intensity increased to 55% on the Kessils (from 50%)

 

[madweazl]

Combined with the .1dKH I'm dropping per day, looks like I need about 18ml to maintain current levels.

36 seconds per dose x 16 doses / 60 seconds = 9.6 minutes of dosing daily
9.6 minutes x 1.9ml per minute = 18.24ml
18.24ml / 16 doses = 1.14ml per dose

 

[madweazl]

Picked up the McCosker's wrasse I'd ordered a couple weeks back. It, like most of the fish I've purchased, has ich but looks well fed and otherwise healthy so I'm fairly confident he'll be ok. Also grabbed a Hector's goby that is pretty awesome.

As for the corals, everything is looking pretty good and encrusting well. The one below is encrusting unbelievably fast (cant see it in the picture) and is probably my favorite in the tank right now. The tips are a beautiful purple/blue as it grows out that contrast really well with the green polyps. I don't know if the base color remains tan but the contrast is really nice and I hope it doesn't change.

 

[madweazl]

Alkalinity crept up to 8.9 dKH; either my math was wrong or consumption has fallen off a bit. Dropped dose from 33 seconds to 29 seconds (leaving Ca at 33 seconds). Increased duration of T5s by one hour for a total of seven hours (1300-2000). A few months back, something took a bite out of the red monti and it happened again a day or two ago; not sure exactly what did it but it usually heals within a few days. If it doesnt heal rapidly this time, I'll take it as a confirmation that something is awry in the tank and do some significant water changes to bring things back to "normal." This will require a different salt mix to retain the levels I'm after if I end up replacing what will likely end up 100% of the water over the course of a week.

NO3 measured out at 0 today and PO4 was .153 and .175 (did two tests just to make sure). These results were fairly surprising as I'm feeding more now than when I took samples for the Triton test a month ago (PO4 and P were 0 on the Triton results and .04 on my Hanna ULR). I've added four fish the last month and have been feeding more which really has me puzzled on the NO3 front. I removed about 50% of the macroalgae from the refugium a couple weeks ago so that probably helps account for the fairly large spike to PO4. In the near term, I'll probably cut back on the vodka dosing until I see NO3 start to climb again (been 1.4ml/day for about six months I imagine). I'll also let the macros continue to grow out and just harvest what I must since it was working well.

Everything appears to be doing well in the tank so I dont want to make any drastic changes.

 

[madweazl]

I started to notice a lot of lime green sponge growing in the darker areas of the aquarium about six weeks ago. I have no idea what specifically they are but it got me curious, could these be contributing to the nitrate reduction?

 

[madweazl]

Reef Raft Wolverine has really started to color up and encrust now.

24 June 2017

8 Aug 2017

 

[madweazl]

28 Jun

8 Aug

 

[tsav87]

Looks great!! Following!!

 

[madweazl]

Dosed nitrates yesterday (Spectracide Stump Remover) to increase nitrates to 5ppm (from undetectable). In the 23 hours since, nitrates dropped from 5ppm to 2.5 and phosphates followed suit (.150 to .101). Also increased photo-period of T5s to eight hours.

 

[madweazl]

One of the bajillions (approximately...) of baby snails that have somehow survived this long.

 

[Giraffe0621]

Reef Raft Wolverine has really started to color up and encrust now.

24 June 2017

8 Aug 2017

Who is peeking out from behind the Wolverine coral? He's adorable!

 

[madweazl]

Tailspot blenny; lil guy is a total ham.

 

[Giraffe0621]

Perfect -- thank you

 

[madweazl]

This McCosker's wrasse is exceptionally pugnacious! He has taken over the tank; beat up the firefish (which I think will survive) and goes at with the yellow tang (tore up his fins a bit too). This is the third McCosker's I've had in various tanks but is the only one that has been mean (the rest were very peaceful). This one has the souls of many flushed six-lines in it I think!

 

[madweazl]

Little sticks with big dreams...

Time to do a lil trimming too

 

[madweazl]

When you stare at it every day it's tough to notice the growth but it is happening. Of the acropora's I have, this is about my favorite; it is also the fastest grower I have which makes me question a few things as it sits in an area of considerably lower light than the others and also gets considerably less water flow.

 

[jsker]

Outstanding build, great photos and congratulations on the success.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Very nice 75g , I am starting a 75g thread my self . Very nice