Office Tranquility (75g)

madweazl · May 7, 2018

I increased alkalinity dosing on Saturday to bring the levels up a bit (I try to keep it around 7.5 dKh) and yesterday it came up enough (7.2) that I figured today I'd have to level it off or even decrease from the norm but apparently the corals are doing well enough through the transition that alkalinity had leveled off at 7.2. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of days. The monti undata is extremely upset (likely due to lighting levels that are higher than it was receiving before because of rock placement) but everything else looks really good (Vivid rainbow delight browned out but I can deal with that).

madweazl · May 8, 2018

Yellow tip sure has grown a bunch.

The rock that the rainbow delight is on has been turned 180° with the move. It has spread out quickly and has a ton of new polyps; I imagine it will take off pretty quickly now.

madweazl · May 9, 2018

Oh, I found the pressure regulating valve (PRV) down in the basement and was able to bring the home water pressure up to 55psi (could have gone higher but I kept it between 50-60psi based on some recommendations I'd see). All is well, for now...

madweazl · May 10, 2018

Added a Royal Gramma and Copperband butterfly on Saturday while I was at the LFS picking up some LRS. I've wanted a CBB as long as I can remember and finally decided it was time. I also grabbed a bag of whole clams from the grocery store and have offered them the last two days. There was a bit of interested yesterday but I'm not sure the CBB actually ate any but this afternoon, he is picking at it pretty good. Hopefully before long it is eating what I offer the other fish but if I have to keep on doing this, I'm willing and able.

reeferfoxx · May 19, 2018

Great thread! Loved reading about the changes and responses. Thanks!

madweazl · Jun 2, 2018

Having trouble getting a decent image tonight for some reason. It continues to encrust well, has a little bit of vertical growth, and is starting to color up (though not depicted well in this image).

madweazl · Jun 9, 2018

I really need to cut back and relocate one of these as they're now growing on top of one another (the pink acro on the right is literally growing onto the other now).

The yellow tip is growing like a weed and is coloring up nicely.

Couple of new additions:

Tyree's Pink Lemonade

SC Orange Passion

madweazl · Jun 19, 2018

Ordered a Kessil H160 to replace the H80 today. Be interesting to see if there is any measurable difference in parameters. If not, I'll put the H80 back on and migrate the H160 over to the 150g build.

madweazl · Jun 22, 2018

The monti undata is going downhill again and one of the monti caps has paled out quite a bit as well. I've slacked off on the written journal since I started updating AquaticLog so I probably dont have any data to cross reference to identify a trend in chemistry. Obvious differences are a substantial increase in nitrates (from barely detectable to approx 5-10ppm). Phosphates are slightly higher than they were prior to the move. About a week after transferring the fish back into the original tank, I had a pretty good ich outbreak so I stepped up the already heavy feeding and added another meal (three times daily plus the algae sheet and a whole clam). The ich subsided and all the fish pulled through.

I also swapped the two ATI Blue+ with a pair of ATI Actinics and increased the color channel of the Kessil's substantially to offset the appearance. The problem child acropora browned out big time and some of the other blues I have lost some intensity though everything else looks great. The yellow tip is showing some great coloration.

I suspect the changes are from a combination of the elevated nutrient levels and the lights but it's impossible to know right now. I may shift the AquaticLife fixture I just grabbed for the 150g over to this tank for a few months just to play with things a little further. I can bring the nutrient levels down easy enough by backing down on the food a bit (no need to continue the extra feeding) but I may just leave that as a constant to see what the lighting change will bring (2x Blue+, an ABS, and a P+).

madweazl · Jun 23, 2018

Went ahead and placed the AquaticLife fixture over the the (this) tank. Hate the light in the room (wont fit under the canopy) but I want to see how everything reacts. Also started dosing vinegar to reduce the nitrates (I'd like to maintain the current feeding regimen). Mixed up 20g of IO for a water change tomorrow; speaking of which, the granules have changed. I'll test it tomorrow to see if any of the levels have been adjusted as well.

Edit: Oh, hung the H160 over the refugium as well ("Grow" and 100% intensity).

The fixture sits 9.25" above the water now (about 4.25" above where the previous lights were mounted. I also reduced the intensity of the Kessils to 40% until I can measure the PAR again (hopefully have the club meter in the next couple weeks)

madweazl · Jun 23, 2018

This was the yellow tip above on 2 Jan 2018.

madweazl · Jun 24, 2018

This started as food for the CBB but after about a week, everyone had it figured out...

madweazl · Jun 26, 2018

Butterfly fish have always been one of my favorites but this is the first one I've attempted to keep. I thought feeding was going to be considerably more difficult but it immediately took to clams. Last night, they gutted the clam almost instantly so I stuck it in the veggie clip. After a couple of minutes, the butterfly started picking at it! I'll continue to use this technique for another week or so and start offering some other foods in it.

Haggisman14 · Jun 26, 2018

madweazl said:
This was the yellow tip above on 2 Jan 2018.

WOW! That sure is some great growth in just 6 months! I like your setup! Keep up the good work!

madweazl · Jun 26, 2018

Haggisman14 said:
WOW! That sure is some great growth in just 6 months! I like your setup! Keep up the good work!

Appreciate the kind words but I cant take much credit for that one, it just grows like a weed.

madweazl · Jun 27, 2018

Sent some water into ATI for analysis; I've used Triton in the past (three times I believe) but was wanted to give ATI a shot.

My test results at time samples were taken:

Salinity - 35ppt ATI - 35.91
Alkalinity - 7.4 dKh ATI 7.18
Calcium - 395ppm ATI 428
Magnesium - 1350ppm ATI - 1426
Phosphate - .028 ATI - .02
Nitrates - >4ppm* ATI - 11.83

ATI ICP results can be found here.
RO/DI results can be found here.

* I tried the high range with the Red Sea Pro kit and I get a light lavender vice a pinkish color so it is pretty much useless. Before I ran out of the Salifert reagents, I was hovering in the 7.5 range but the last test showed 25ppm. No clue if it was a valid result or not but hopefully we'll see something valuable with the ATI results.

In light of the increasing nitrate results since the move, I began carbon dosing again (vinegar). Skimate has become darker already but I don't know if the nitrates have started to drop yet or not (only day five so there probably isn't any measurable change at this point).

Edit: Test kits used:

Salinity - ATC refractometer (measurement taken after resting for 45 seconds)
Alkalinity - Hanna
Calcium - Red Sea Pro
Magnesium - Salifert
Phosphate - Hanna ULR
Nitrates - Red Sea Pro