Pancho's Reef S-500 Roller Coaster

GoVols · Nov 11, 2018

Pancho,
Clowns are pretty tough boogers and I used to cycle a new reef with those.

Just thinking outside the box:
Could your female have turned on your male?

Either way, I'm sorry for his lose.

PanchoG · Nov 11, 2018

GoVols said:
Pancho,
Clowns are pretty tough boogers and I used to cycle a new reef with those.

Just thinking outside the box:
Could your female have turned on your male?

Either way, I'm sorry for his lose.

Thank you Freddie, yes that clown cycled two tanks with me, when he came back along with the female they did not seem as attached to each other as before. Maybe she did turned on him.... scary.

PanchoG · Nov 13, 2018

100L water change and the nitrates are going down, still high but trending in the right direction, no signs of stress in either the corals or the fish. As the days have gone by I am more and more convinced the female clown turned on the male, as they swam apart of each other.

Now I am starting to think I may change my aquascaping next month to generate more area for corals.

PanchoG · Nov 14, 2018

Yesterday FTS, look at the fat pig (fox face) going into the Eheim Feeding Station LOL ! ! he bullies out any fish trying to get into the stations as he does... these guys are not good at sharing.

SPR1968 · Nov 14, 2018

PanchoG said:
Yesterday FTS, look at the fat pig (fox face) going into the Eheim Feeding Station LOL ! ! he bullies out any fish trying to get into the stations as he does... these guys are not good at sharing.

That’s quiet a funny picture, I hope he doesn’t get stuck!! Lol

Are you back home yet or still travelling?

PanchoG · Nov 14, 2018

SPR1968 said:
That’s quiet a funny picture, I hope he doesn’t get stuck!! Lol

Are you back home yet or still travelling?

The fox face is still growing and one of these days he will get stuck!! LOL

I am traveling a lot but not to my house in Mexico! I haven’t been able to go back home since August. Sometimes is hard to be able to see the tank in the cam and notice something that seems not ok and not been able to act immediately. But in the other hand, the tank is working with minimum maintenance and has been very stable, at least until the two recent deaths without my mad Huns a.k.a. hermit crabs. During this time I already went troubles with the chiller, the cam and main control valve (yes the one in the back!) I was able to sorted them out with help from my LFS friend.

PanchoG · Nov 24, 2018

This week update: nitrates continue to trend down now at 30 ppm, the reef seems to keep enjoying the high nitrate levels.

GoVols · Nov 24, 2018

PanchoG said:
This week update: nitrates continue to trend down now at 30 ppm, the reef seems to keep enjoying the high nitrate levels.

Pancho,
Do you have a nitrate # that your shooting for?

PanchoG · Nov 25, 2018

GoVols said:
Pancho,
Do you have a nitrate # that your shooting for?

I am normally looking to stay between 5 to 10 ppm but I have been reading mature reefs do better above 10 ppm, who knows!

What about you? do you have a target level for nitrates?

GoVols · Nov 25, 2018

PanchoG said:
I am normally looking to stay between 5 to 10 ppm but I have been reading mature reefs do better above 10 ppm, who knows!

What about you? do you have a target level for nitrates?

It's been at about 7 ppm for a fairly long time, but I really could careless if it rose to 15 to 20 ppm.
I've seen too many wonderful reefs / including world wide corals / with high nitrates and I really don't chase it to a certain # anymore.

Funny how things change, but it's good to be able to share and learn as we go.

SPR1968 · Nov 26, 2018

GoVols said:
It's been at about 7 ppm for a fairly long time, but I really could careless if it rose to 15 to 20 ppm.
I've seen too many wonderful reefs / including world wide corals / with high nitrates and I really don't chase it to a certain # anymore.

Funny how things change, but it's good to be able to share and learn as we go.

This is so true Freddie

When I started out, everything I read was ultra low nutrient, but as you learn and see wonderful tanks, you realise nitrate is not the enemy, it’s a corals friend within reason. Some of the best tanks around here have high nutrient levels.

And Pancho, 5-10 is a good level that’s what I ‘sort of’ aim for but am generally slightly higher

PanchoG · Dec 2, 2018

Today finally is the day the nitrates are back under 10 ppm. Everything is still cool, now looking for aquascaping ideas.

SPR1968 · Dec 3, 2018

PanchoG said:
Today finally is the day the nitrates are back under 10 ppm. Everything is still cool, now looking for aquascaping ideas.

If your looking to redo it try this. Are you doing major work or just ‘fine tuning’ do you think?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brand-new-aquascape-forum.386276/

PanchoG · Dec 3, 2018

SPR1968 said:
If your looking to redo it try this. Are you doing major work or just ‘fine tuning’ do you think?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brand-new-aquascape-forum.386276/

Thank you Shaun, that thread is really interesting. I am currently looking at a “tuning” to create space, as some corals are getting closer to each other and want to avoid it as I consider to have still a lot of space.

PanchoG · Dec 28, 2018

Yesterday I really worked in the tank with one friend literally all day, deep cleaning the skimmer, return pump, circulation pumps, skimmer, changing the aquascaping, fragging the duncan and the candys and settling new tank mates.

Here is one of the new tank inhabitants.

SPR1968 · Dec 28, 2018

PanchoG said:
Yesterday I really worked in the tank with one friend literally all day, deep cleaning the skimmer, return pump, circulation pumps, skimmer, changing the aquascaping, fragging the duncan and the candys and settling new tank mates.

Here is one of the new tank inhabitants.

Great picture Pancho!