Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

No

Awesome. I’ll keep them in mind.

 

[Fishy888]

If there was any doubt, there certainly isn’t anymore. My system’s definitely transitioning from mainly cyano to mainly hair algae. I want to get more CUC members soon. I’ll probably add more hermits to the mix, like maybe five more. I’m also considering a tuxedo urchin. I know they eat coralline so I really have to think about that. Then again the hermit crabs already clean down to bare rock so I assume they will also eat coralline.

I didn’t get the sump maintenance done yesterday. Hopefully today I’ll get it done.

My corals are doing well. My duncans fell over yesterday, so I put the frag plug they’re on back in the sand right side up. They’ve made a good bit of skeleton though. They’re quite heavy now considering their size which makes them top heavy. I’ve got to mount them permanently so this doesn’t keep happening.

My fish are all looking good and eating like pigs. Since I now have GHA growing the wrasse in particular picks off any pods he finds in addition to the DIY frozen food and pellets.

I haven’t seen my brittle stars out like I was. They’re still in there somewhere but they’re in the old rocks at the bottom of the bommie. Hopefully they’ll increase in number as well as my micro dusters, spirorbids, bristle worms etc and colonize the new rock. I might increase feedings a little to encourage them to grow and spread out.

 

[Fishy888]

I realized today that I need more salt to be able to do the sump’s water change and maintenance. Fortunately we get paid fairly soon.

I got some more of the cyano out of the DT today. It looks better certainly but there’s more that needs to come out.

I’ve noticed that my brittle stars and bristle worms haven’t been out since I put the new rock in. I would think they’d be all over the hair algae since it can trap food in it. I’ve started upping the amount I feed so they’ll spread to the new rock.

I’m going to start putting rubble pieces in the sump tomorrow. If I can get some pods, worms, and starfish to colonize it I can put them in the DT. It’ll help colonize the rocks in the DT. I wish I thought to do it sooner.

 

[Fishy888]

I just blew a ton of crud off the rocks tonight. Even though I have decent flow I have some notable dead spots. As a result I kept blowing the crud off the rocks and not allowing it to settle. I also took the turkey baster to every hole and crevice I could access. I did that for almost two hours. It started clearing out even as I kept blowing everything off the rocks.

I still have a ways to go but it’s better than what it was like not all that long ago. The water is a bit cloudy looking in part because of the small particles adhering to the glass as well as what’s still in the water column.

This is the front view.

This is the view from the couch.

It looks like pods are trying to colonize the new rock. I scared a couple of them out of the hair algae. There are probably more. I also saw a bristle worm tonight even though it was only on the old rock. Hopefully I’ll start seeing brittle stars out again soon.

I put a couple larger pieces of rubble in the sump tonight. I’m going to leave them in there for a month or so.

 

[tbrown]

One thing you can do after basting the rocks is take a teaspoon full (some people use more) of calcium carbonate, shake it up real good in a cup of water, turn off your sump but keep your power heads on, add the calcium carbonate to your tank, and then let it stir for about 2 hours before turning the sump back on. It'll bond with all the junk you just stirred up and when you turn th sump on it'll help clear up your water. Another good thing to do is scrape the glass AND baste the rocks, then add the calcium carbonate.

 

[tbrown]

 

[Fishy888]

One thing you can do after basting the rocks is take a teaspoon full (some people use more) of calcium carbonate, shake it up real good in a cup of water, turn off your sump but keep your power heads on, add the calcium carbonate to your tank, and then let it stir for about 2 hours before turning the sump back on. It'll bond with all the junk you just stirred up and when you turn th sump on it'll help clear up your water. Another good thing to do is scrape the glass AND baste the rocks, then add the calcium carbonate.

I’m going to get some calcium carbonate powder. There’s a DIY flocculant recipe that calls for microbacter7. I’m going to try that out eventually but I want to see how well it works with just the calcium carbonate.

 

[Fishy888]

I finally saw a brittle star poke an arm out. I also saw a few bristle worms mulling about. The lights were still on at that point because I wanted to see if any of my CUC would come out. The starfish and worms were all on old rocks. With the lights off now and all the stuff I blew out of the rocks settling down I imagine my entire CUC are out feasting by now.

 

[tbrown]

I’m going to get some calcium carbonate powder. There’s a DIY flocculant recipe that calls for microbacter7. I’m going to try that out eventually but I want to see how well it works with just the calcium carbonate.

I've done both. I try keeping some phosphates which is difficult for my tank currently so I don't run MB7 everytime but I definitely see less cyano on the sand bed afterwards. I usually have a light dusting of red cyano in calm areas of the sand bed, after MB7 my sand stays pretty white for two or three days. Then again, sometimes after dosing phosphates it clears up as well...

 

[Fishy888]

Although there isn’t anything earth shattering happening in my reef I’ve been watching an area where I suspected a baby mushroom polyp was growing. Now I know that’s what it is.

I’ll take it. I also found a couple of pest nems I do believe. They’re in the worst place possible as far as being able to access them is concerned.

Sorry for the blurry image but I had to take the picture at an angle. It looks like a majano. There’s one that’s been in there a long time on one of the old rocks. It just hasn’t been visible for a long timein part because I thought I got it when I killed the rest seven months ago. Since I rearranged the rock work when I added the new rock; I think it’s getting enough light again to do well. From there it appears to have split. I’ll still have to deal with them.

I heard about dosing ammonia for corals since it’s their preferred means of obtaining nitrogen. The only reason I didn’t start doing this when I heard about it nearly a year ago is that I didn’t know how to implement it. I had, and of course still have, fish. It was one of those things I meant to look int more but slipped through the cracks. Today I happened across a thread on this subject.

Zero nitrate, 0.2 phosphate

I have a one year old 120gal tank with a 40g sump. It’s been looking pretty good for the last couple months despite a small chrysophyte outbreak in the last couple weeks. I’m not super worried about that. The potential issue is my nutrient levels. I just tested at 0.0 NO3 and 0.2 PO4. I don’t...

www.reef2reef.com

In it is an article by @Randy Holmes-Farley detailing how to properly dose ammonia. Thank you Randy if you happen to come by. Your article is going to help many of us, certainly me.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

Nitrates are crazy hard to hold onto in my system but if I can dose ammonia then I should in theory be able to keep ultra low nitrates.

 

[tbrown]

Check Strawberry or Ball Anemone. Can't tell for sure but those look like little white balls on the tips of the tentacles?

 

[Fishy888]

Check Strawberry or Ball Anemone. Can't tell for sure but those look like little white balls on the tips of the tentacles?

I’ll check but they look completely brown in person. There are definitely bubbles though.

 

[Mschmidt]

Although there isn’t anything earth shattering happening in my reef I’ve been watching an area where I suspected a baby mushroom polyp was growing. Now I know that’s what it is.

I’ll take it. I also found a couple of pest nems I do believe. They’re in the worst place possible as far as being able to access them is concerned.

Sorry for the blurry image but I had to take the picture at an angle. It looks like a majano. There’s one that’s been in there a long time on one of the old rocks. It just hasn’t been visible for a long timein part because I thought I got it when I killed the rest seven months ago. Since I rearranged the rock work when I added the new rock; I think it’s getting enough light again to do well. From there it appears to have split. I’ll still have to deal with them.

I heard about dosing ammonia for corals since it’s their preferred means of obtaining nitrogen. The only reason I didn’t start doing this when I heard about it nearly a year ago is that I didn’t know how to implement it. I had, and of course still have, fish. It was one of those things I meant to look int more but slipped through the cracks. Today I happened across a thread on this subject.

Zero nitrate, 0.2 phosphate

I have a one year old 120gal tank with a 40g sump. It’s been looking pretty good for the last couple months despite a small chrysophyte outbreak in the last couple weeks. I’m not super worried about that. The potential issue is my nutrient levels. I just tested at 0.0 NO3 and 0.2 PO4. I don’t...

www.reef2reef.com

In it is an article by @Randy Holmes-Farley detailing how to properly dose ammonia. Thank you Randy if you happen to come by. Your article is going to help many of us, certainly me.

DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems

Some reef aquaria have chronic low nitrogen availability. One indicator is very low nitrate. Nitrate dosing is a fine remedy, but it is possible that ammonia dosing may be more beneficial for some organisms since ammonia can be energetically easier to assimilate than is nitrate. For this...

www.reef2reef.com

Nitrates are crazy hard to hold onto in my system but if I can dose ammonia then I should in theory be able to keep ultra low nitrates.

Nah man, that's a picture of sasquatch.

speaking of sasquatch, @Eagle_Steve doses ammonia and may have something useful to say on the matter.

 

[Fishy888]

I’m starting to see more of my brittle stars again. I caught a bristle worm checking out the new rock tonight. I take it as a good sign that the new rock will be populated by starfish and other animals soon.

I have a friend who’s giving me some Molly fry born in saltwater. They’ll need to mature a bit so I’ll place them in the sump until they get big enough to survive in the DT. Once the algae issue is taken care of and my long awaited coralline takes over I may leave a couple of them in the DT.

 

[Fishy888]

The baby mushroom is growing nicely. I managed to get a better image of “Sasquatch” yesterday.

Okay a couple of images. It almost looks like my original mushrooms are splitting.

My hermits are doing an awesome job taking care of the hair algae in the DT. There’s still a bit of cyano left but not much. The hermits should be able to take care of all the algae in the system. I might add a couple more hermits but I don’t want to go crazy with them.

I fed my anemone Wednesday night for the first time in several weeks. Today it was looking great.

I wish my pictures showed how much fluorescence is present. The nem and the GSP are coloring up by the day. I’ve never seen that happen with a “6000k” lamp before. I’ll still get a 14000k lamp ultimately. It’s still neat that this lamp is capable of that as can be seen in the image with the GSP and the rainbow BTA.

 

[Fishy888]

So, @Lost in the Sauce, @fishguy242, @Goaway, @F i s h y, @tbrown3589, @Mschmidt, @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal, and anyone else who happens by, what are your plans for the weekend?

 

[fishguy242]

Going to @F i s h y 's...

 

[Goaway]

So, @Lost in the Sauce, @fishguy242, @Goaway, @F i s h y, @tbrown3589, @Mschmidt, @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal, and anyone else who happens by, what are your plans for the weekend?

Park, maybe a chat with the lfs.

 

[Mschmidt]

So, @Lost in the Sauce, @fishguy242, @Goaway, @F i s h y, @tbrown3589, @Mschmidt, @EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal, and anyone else who happens by, what are your plans for the weekend?

work tomorrow. sleep Sunday and Monday. haven't done a lot of that one (more than Danyella but she sets a low bar). I owe my tank a water change and should get some prints made for the lfs too...

 

[fishguy242]

work tomorrow. sleep Sunday and Monday. haven't done a lot of that one (more than Danyella but she sets a low bar).

Is that supposed to be funny ?? I think NOT....