Rob’s 30g Tonga Shroom Garden

[TheWB]

I know I had mentioned I sold some corals and did my first time shipping. Not sure if I updated you guys but it went smoothly and he said everything was happy and opened right up. I decided to take some of the money and buy some more corals, I know I'm bad and should have saved it for the frag system but I have a serious addiction, plus I had a little bit of store credit. Anyway I got them in yesterday and am very pleased.

BSA Rising Sun Chalice, really like the red rim and pink rainbowish eye.

BSA Jawbreaker Acan, had my eye on this one for awhile, really glad I decided to pick it up, probably in my top three favorites acans I own.

Those are both ridiculous by the way. You don’t have room though, better send them to me to hold until you upgrade

 

[intricate_reefer]

That's a nice looking acan ,, guess I need to start placing orders with BSA I am looking to get a tester acan for the shelf rock I have in the chalice tank ,, my plan is to cover that shelf piece with acan's BSA has some " I was looking the other day " not to expensive acan's that I can use as a tester frag ,, think I will place a order. They should do alright ,, checked the Par yesterday ,, was about 115 to 125 on top of the shelf piece. I really like those Japanese Acan's ,,

BSA is great and always takes care of me, super nice guy as well. His stuff isn’t cheap but has some really unique stuff. Like those Asian acans, you rarely see them. 115-125 should work good, I run mine at a similar level.

 

[Abeal17]

This is what I was using for the longest time, I then changed it and now I’m back. This is on a 36 x 11 x 13 tank. I do have 3D reefing diffusers as well. It’s basically the BRS AB+ prime setting with the UV/violet and blues reduced proportionality to the spectrum and whites at 10%. I do 3 hours ramp up, 6 hours peak, then 3 hours ramp down.

We're running close to the same schedule, my percentages are up more, and I have no green or red. I'm currently running a Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid setup w/ an AI Prime, but the T5's give way too much par for LPS and softies, great for montis but too much for everything else. I just got in a second prime and 2 3D Reefing diffusers so I can't wait to switch those on. Also I think we follow eachother on the gram

 

[NanoDJS]

Yeah glad you figured out the UV burn happening , and adjusted accordingly . Everything is looking insane ! Great work , coming out fantastic so far. Love the build / thread / pics / and insight of another chalice enthusiast. These corals hooked me hard , the first time I ever saw one, have not got old since lolz .They are not for everybody though and info is rarer than the corals themselves.

 

[intricate_reefer]

We're running close to the same schedule, my percentages are up more, and I have no green or red. I'm currently running a Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid setup w/ an AI Prime, but the T5's give way too much par for LPS and softies, great for montis but too much for everything else. I just got in a second prime and 2 3D Reefing diffusers so I can't wait to switch those on. Also I think we follow eachother on the gram

I was thinking about turning my lights up but I should probably leave them along. I measured with an older diy par meter with an apogee 210. Not sure how actuate it is but I was getting around 80-100 par in the majority of the tank and 60/100 in corners/high spots. I’ve found the diffusers cut down the par by like 10-15 percent, I think you will really like them. What’s the dimensions of your tank? That is cool we follow each other on IG, what is your name on there?

 

[intricate_reefer]

Yeah glad you figured out the UV burn happening , and adjusted accordingly . Everything is looking insane ! Great work , coming out fantastic so far. Love the build / thread / pics / and insight of another chalice enthusiast. These corals hooked me hard , the first time I ever saw one, have not got old since lolz .They are not for everybody though and info is rarer than the corals themselves.

Thank you for the kind words. I was the same way lol, hooked the first time I saw one. It was back in the day and my buddy had a JF crazy fox or My Miami when they first came out. At the time there was nothing like it and I was blown away. They are probably my favorite as well but man is it close to acans, I can’t get enough. Your right about the info, it is hard to come by. I just try click on any thread with chalice on the title and absorb as much as I can can. I find them to be pretty easy as long as your parameters are good but if you have one start receding or bleached it’s about a 50/50 shot if they will make it lol

 

[intricate_reefer]

Today was a good day. I organized a local frag swap and we had it today. There was a pretty good turnout for the kinda small town I’m in and I had a really good time. Sold some stuff and had a lot of restraint with not buying much. Only bought one $10 mushroom and another one free.

So I’m pretty mad at my female clownfish, at least I think she is the culprit. One of my chalices got knocked down and it fell on top of a yuma mushroom and got stung. I have seen the clown fish just head but different frags from time to time and knock them over. I don’t know what her deal is but she’s a PITA. She chases and bites me, doesn’t really hurt just startling, she pushes frags around, and also sometimes when I try and spot feed the corals with mysis she will turn around and fan her tail at the food, blowing it off before the coral can eat it. Then she has the nerve to not even eat the food she blew off lol. So this crazy fox chalice looks pretty bad and I know it’s my fault for not gluing it down and being lazy. Hoping it will pull through, I have a lot of hope.

That mushroom isn’t even suppose to be where it is. It came off the disk and floated around to a crevice and took a foothold. Grew a bit, left a baby and moved 3 inches and now it’s on a prime piece of real estate. Not sure how I’m going to move it but at this point I may just scrape it out lol.

This one I got it for my birthday this past year in November and was pretty bleached as you can see on the top of this split picture. The bottom split is after a couple months and the color was getting better

And this is what it looks like today, still think it’s got a little ways to go but it looks great. Man do these things grow slow.

This next one is a BSA Yellow eye Watermelon, at least I think that’s is the name. I’m normally pretty good with names but it gets to be a lot to remember. A bit ago I had it over near that same Yuma mushroom and the mushroom was like stretching its skirt on it. One day I checked it out and it got strung so I ended up moving it. Can’t see the damage in the picture but it’s been awhile and is mostly healed. I had no idea yumas were such monsters. Probably not going to get anymore unless they are spectacular lol.

 

[TheWB]

Today was a good day. I organized a local frag swap and we had it today. There was a pretty good turnout for the kinda small town I’m in and I had a really good time. Sold some stuff and had a lot of restraint with not buying much. Only bought one $10 mushroom and another one free.

So I’m pretty mad at my female clownfish, at least I think she is the culprit. One of my chalices got knocked down and it fell on top of a yuma mushroom and got stung. I have seen the clown fish just head but different frags from time to time and knock them over. I don’t know what her deal is but she’s a PITA. She chases and bites me, doesn’t really hurt just startling, she pushes frags around, and also sometimes when I try and spot feed the corals with mysis she will turn around and fan her tail at the food, blowing it off before the coral can eat it. Then she has the nerve to not even eat the food she blew off lol. So this crazy fox chalice looks pretty bad and I know it’s my fault for not gluing it down and being lazy. Hoping it will pull through, I have a lot of hope.

That mushroom isn’t even suppose to be where it is. It came off the disk and floated around to a crevice and took a foothold. Grew a bit, left a baby and moved 3 inches and now it’s on a prime piece of real estate. Not sure how I’m going to move it but at this point I may just scrape it out lol.

This one I got it for my birthday this past year in November and was pretty bleached as you can see on the top of this split picture. The bottom split is after a couple months and the color was getting better

And this is what it looks like today, still think it’s got a little ways to go but it looks great. Man do these things grow slow.

This next one is a BSA Yellow eye Watermelon, at least I think that’s is the name. I’m normally pretty good with names but it gets to be a lot to remember. A bit ago I had it over near that same Yuma mushroom and the mushroom was like stretching its skirt on it. One day I checked it out and it got strung so I ended up moving it. Can’t see the damage in the picture but it’s been awhile and is mostly healed. I had no idea yumas were such monsters. Probably not going to get anymore unless they are spectacular lol.

Great pics as usual. I’m feeling your pain on that chalice. A snail or a hermit crab upended my new rainbow Acan. It flipped upside down for a period of time and I lost one if the heads. Hopefully the chalice can recover since it’s still got some good tissue.

 

[Braves Fan]

Restraint lol ,,, bought one mushroom ,,, Restraint ,,, lol geez ,, wasn't Restraint ,,, you have no room in the tank to place another coral ,,, I would have said '' Forced Restraint ''

 

[Abeal17]

I was thinking about turning my lights up but I should probably leave them along. I measured with an older diy par meter with an apogee 210. Not sure how actuate it is but I was getting around 80-100 par in the majority of the tank and 60/100 in corners/high spots. I’ve found the diffusers cut down the par by like 10-15 percent, I think you will really like them. What’s the dimensions of your tank? That is cool we follow each other on IG, what is your name on there?

If the corals are happy, no point in changing your settings. I've had a diffuser for a year now, but haven't actually used it on my prime. With how it's set up on the hybrid fixture, the diffuser can't be put on, but I have held it up to see how well it gets rid of the disco and it does great. That's one thing I'll miss about the T5s is that when they're on, it eliminates the disco effect. I have a IM 25, the display dimensions are 24" x 18" x 12". My name on ig is @the603_lagoon

 

[Abeal17]

Today was a good day. I organized a local frag swap and we had it today. There was a pretty good turnout for the kinda small town I’m in and I had a really good time. Sold some stuff and had a lot of restraint with not buying much. Only bought one $10 mushroom and another one free.

So I’m pretty mad at my female clownfish, at least I think she is the culprit. One of my chalices got knocked down and it fell on top of a yuma mushroom and got stung. I have seen the clown fish just head but different frags from time to time and knock them over. I don’t know what her deal is but she’s a PITA. She chases and bites me, doesn’t really hurt just startling, she pushes frags around, and also sometimes when I try and spot feed the corals with mysis she will turn around and fan her tail at the food, blowing it off before the coral can eat it. Then she has the nerve to not even eat the food she blew off lol. So this crazy fox chalice looks pretty bad and I know it’s my fault for not gluing it down and being lazy. Hoping it will pull through, I have a lot of hope.

That mushroom isn’t even suppose to be where it is. It came off the disk and floated around to a crevice and took a foothold. Grew a bit, left a baby and moved 3 inches and now it’s on a prime piece of real estate. Not sure how I’m going to move it but at this point I may just scrape it out lol.

This one I got it for my birthday this past year in November and was pretty bleached as you can see on the top of this split picture. The bottom split is after a couple months and the color was getting better

And this is what it looks like today, still think it’s got a little ways to go but it looks great. Man do these things grow slow.

This next one is a BSA Yellow eye Watermelon, at least I think that’s is the name. I’m normally pretty good with names but it gets to be a lot to remember. A bit ago I had it over near that same Yuma mushroom and the mushroom was like stretching its skirt on it. One day I checked it out and it got strung so I ended up moving it. Can’t see the damage in the picture but it’s been awhile and is mostly healed. I had no idea yumas were such monsters. Probably not going to get anymore unless they are spectacular lol.

I have 3 huge trochus snails, and those guys are menaces in my tank. They push everything around, they even knock glued frags off the rocks. Only reason I've kept them this long is cause they do such a good job with algae.

 

[intricate_reefer]

If the corals are happy, no point in changing your settings. I've had a diffuser for a year now, but haven't actually used it on my prime. With how it's set up on the hybrid fixture, the diffuser can't be put on, but I have held it up to see how well it gets rid of the disco and it does great. That's one thing I'll miss about the T5s is that when they're on, it eliminates the disco effect. I have a IM 25, the display dimensions are 24" x 18" x 12". My name on ig is @the603_lagoon

I mean they are happy as in healthy but some of my colors are just horrible. Not really sure what it is. I found a sweet deal on some icp tests so I’m going to send that in to see if there is anything in the water. For anyone interested icp1999.com, they have $20 tests or 4 for 70. They are done by Fauna Marin.

Here is an example of s chalice I got a few weeks ago. Think I’m going to try moving it higher on the rocks.

When I got it

Now

I have other chalices that look great though. I’m at a loss

 

[TheWB]

That’s a bummer. Maybe post a couple of pics over in the LPS forum to get some different eyes on it. Couldn’t hurt?

 

[intricate_reefer]

Other than the color issues things are good in the chalice tank. That mushroom I got Sunday really colored up after it settled in. I even see a bubble forming, I hope it gets more

This is the punk yuma that stung my crazy fox chalice. Really need to get it out the tank lol.

This pink convict chalice came in really faded. I heard they don’t ship well, I think it is starting to get a little better.

A few of my acans in the lagoon aren’t doing great. It’s like they are getting irritated by algae or something. I think it was from cyano. There isn’t much cyano left at least not as much as before. I’m wondering if the vibrant is causing it.

Two of the rainbows I’ve had for a month or two have started changing colors. They still look pretty good, hope they don’t go all orange

I never post zoas, I do have some though lol

These speckled kraks are strange. These ones on the rock have been stuck with three heads for many months but they have gotten a lot bigger. My growout frag on a plugs continues to grow heads, strange.

Best looking favia there is in my opinion, TGC Favia of the gods

I had took a frag of zoas to school for the frag tank. I noticed it stoped opening so decided to bring it home. While looking at it, I saw some kind of flat worms on it. I dipped it but I’m worried about eggs. Im probably going to just chuck it, I don’t want them in my tank. Anyone know what kind of flat worms these are?

 

[Braves Fan]

I mean they are happy as in healthy but some of my colors are just horrible. Not really sure what it is. I found a sweet deal on some icp tests so I’m going to send that in to see if there is anything in the water. For anyone interested icp1999.com, they have $20 tests or 4 for 70. They are done by Fauna Marin.

Here is an example of s chalice I got a few weeks ago. Think I’m going to try moving it higher on the rocks.

When I got it

Now

I have other chalices that look great though. I’m at a loss

Well that doesn't look good ,, kinda have issues in my tank also ,, the up side is all the Chalices look good ,, some are growing great ,, some just a little bit and some not at all ,, I want to lean towards a light issue ,, but I have something else going on that could be the problem ,,

I have very few fish in the tank ,, I have a Red Sea screen top kit coming today ,,, get that on the tank ,, get more fish and see if that helps ,,, before I start messing with the lights ,, I off set the lack of fish by direct feeding the corals every few days with Reef Roids ,, I have been dosing Amino Acids to the SPS tank ,, started giving the Chalice tank a taste also ,, getting more fish into the tank is going to take awhile to see if the Chalice's improve any though ,,

I have a Convict Chalice in the tank ,, just a regular green one ,, eats like a pig every time I feed it ,, but after months ,, it hasn't grown any ,, still looks good ,, may just be a slow grower ,, but it should have grown some with the food its been eating ,,

I am going to try and turn down the white spectrum on the lights though ,, doing that shouldn't hurt anything ,,

I just got a frag a week or so a go ,, a really nice one ,, of the WWC Jelly Bean Chalice ,, all the colors on the Chalice still look great except for the Blue color , it was a bright in your face blue ,, the blue is now a lot darker ,, a far cry from the in your face blue it was ,, could just be from the shipping ,, a new system ,, I did have it out of the water a bit getting it onto a new frag plug ,,, will just have to wait and see ,,

 

[Abeal17]

I mean they are happy as in healthy but some of my colors are just horrible. Not really sure what it is. I found a sweet deal on some icp tests so I’m going to send that in to see if there is anything in the water. For anyone interested icp1999.com, they have $20 tests or 4 for 70. They are done by Fauna Marin.

Here is an example of s chalice I got a few weeks ago. Think I’m going to try moving it higher on the rocks.

When I got it

Now

I have other chalices that look great though. I’m at a loss

I've had a few chalices/ favias that have done the same thing, I can't really find their sweetspot. But as long as they're alive and growing it's all good with me.

 

[TheWB]

Other than the color issues things are good in the chalice tank. That mushroom I got Sunday really colored up after it settled in. I even see a bubble forming, I hope it gets more

This is the punk yuma that stung my crazy fox chalice. Really need to get it out the tank lol.

This pink convict chalice came in really faded. I heard they don’t ship well, I think it is starting to get a little better.

A few of my acans in the lagoon aren’t doing great. It’s like they are getting irritated by algae or something. I think it was from cyano. There isn’t much cyano left at least not as much as before. I’m wondering if the vibrant is causing it.

Two of the rainbows I’ve had for a month or two have started changing colors. They still look pretty good, hope they don’t go all orange

I never post zoas, I do have some though lol

These speckled kraks are strange. These ones on the rock have been stuck with three heads for many months but they have gotten a lot bigger. My growout frag on a plugs continues to grow heads, strange.

Best looking favia there is in my opinion, TGC Favia of the gods

I had took a frag of zoas to school for the frag tank. I noticed it stoped opening so decided to bring it home. While looking at it, I saw some kind of flat worms on it. I dipped it but I’m worried about eggs. Im probably going to just chuck it, I don’t want them in my tank. Anyone know what kind of flat worms these are?

Based on pictures I’ve seen that flatworm looks like Red Planaria except for the color, but that could just be your picture.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Based on pictures I’ve seen that flatworm looks like Red Planaria except for the color, but that could just be your picture.

Cool thanks, ill check that out and see what I can find. I ended up just chucking the frag but it came from the school frag tank so ill have to try and get it sorted some how. There is a sixtine wrasse in there from my home tank. I'll have to see what else eats them and maybe do a bunch of dips.

 

[intricate_reefer]

I haven't updated in awhile so this my be a little long. Its probably because I have been distracted lately with the new Call of Duty Warzone lol, If any of you play, let me know and we can link up. You would think with me being out of school for the virus I would be on here often. Another reason I think is because I haven't really been buying to much new so haven't been as excited. Also still having some issues, lost a couple corals and a few are just about on their way out.

Ok so the issues I am having. In the 30L, some of the colors are still off, although a couple seem to be returning the tiniest bit. Also a couple frags just seem to be melting away while 99% of them look perfectly happy. I really don't think it was when I changed my lights for a bit because all I did was change white from 10% to 8% and turned up the blues slightly. Really the only other things that were changed in this time was I was dosing microbacter 7 every week after water change, I have now stopped dosing it. And I did add chaeto because my nitrates were high and I was getting algae. Who knows, maybe I need to let me nitrates rise again, they are sitting at 3ppm now. I am just scared of getting algae again. I do have one spot in the tank now that has a small patch of green hair algae and a couple frag disks that grow some thicker stuff. I just manually remove it but it returns. Today I took a bag of marine pure spheres out. I did this one because am thinking with taking some out maybe my nitrates will rise a bit. Also I have heard about them leaching aluminum. I still do have one bag of maybe 10 or so spheres still in the back.

I came across some cheap ICP tests and bought some to see if they might give me some insight. They are from Fauna Marin and only $19.99, they also had a 4 pack for 69.99, I ended up getting the 4 pack. The website is ICP1999.com for anyone interested, free shipping to get the tests to you but you do have to pay to send it in, costed me around $3-$4. I sent it out a good two weeks ago and haven't gotten an email yet, it goes to Germany I believe but im not sure if this virus mess has effected it. I also thought maybe my TDS meter on my RODI unit wasn't working and maybe something was getting through and causing the issues. I have a dual meter that measures after the membrane and after the DI. When I start using the unit after it has been sitting, the readings after the membrane are around 10 but after flushing it a few minutes they go to 2 and after the unit has been making water for awhile to zero. I was really surprised I get zero before even going into the resin. My resin still changes colors so I guess its removing something. I ordered a cheap TDS meter to double check everything. Checked my RODI water in the jugs and it read 0ppm. Checked my tap water and it was like 48ppm. To me this sounds really low compared to some numbers I hear thrown out there. This was a pretty cheap meter but it did get good reviews and if it is that low, it kinda lines up with the meter on my unit. Really hoping this ICP test comes in soon.

So the 25 lagoon is where I am having the biggest issue. What I think was/is cyano was getting on the edge of acans, then they were just slowly receding. I ended up completely loosing one of my favorites and probably have 6 or so other ones not looking good. Also I had one goni that just stopped opening up. It was a cheap one I got from a buddy that orders wholesale. I believe it wasn't aquacultured and have heard that wild ones are really tough to keep alive. I was having the red cyano along with other nuisance algae. I added a fuge in the back to grow chaeto to hopefully help with it. I found someone that had a used Intank fuge basket and then I bought a cheap grow light off Amazon. The light was recommended from someone and seems to be doing really well(Let me know if anyone wants the info on it). Then one water change I pulled all the rocks out and scrubbed them in the water change water. Shortly after I started getting a ton of what looked to me like green cyano. Im not sure if thats even a thing but it just made the problem worse. I went ahead and got some Chemi-Clean and did the 48hr treatment while running an air stone. That stuff works great and no corals reacted negatively to it. It seems to have gotten all of the red and green cyano although there may be some tiny spots left, its hard to tell. I think I have that problem solved now and am praying it doesn't return. Now im also having some color issues on this tank as well. One of my electus mushrooms is looking super dull and the Holy Grail Micro lost pretty much all of its color. Looks healthy, the color just isn't there.

As far as new stuff. The only new thing I have got was a pair of Mollies. I was at my friends house and he had some in his frag tank and said they ate algae. Now these are fresh water fish, you just have to drip acclimate them over 24hrs. Supposedly the normal black ones are suppose to be the best ones for algae but when I went to the pet shop the ones they had looked like they may have had ich or something. I was inpatient and they had these other ones called Balloon mollies, I ended up getting a pair of them. At first I put them in the 30L because I don't have a lot of fish in there. Unfortunately the clown fish kept going after them so I put them in the Lagoon. I probably have too many fish in there but everyone seems to be doing good. The mollies are doing great and I have seen them picking at algae. If I ever get a frag system up, ill probably end up getting a bunch of the black ones. They are suppose to breed in the aquarium really easily as well.

My buddy is making another wholesale order and asked me if I wanted to add anything. I took a look at what they had and am getting 2-3 things as of now. His order doesn't ship til Thursday and they update stuff on Wednesday so I am going to see what they put up new. I am thinking about buying a mushroom box for the lagoon because I want to start trying to cut up some of my mushrooms and they need a place to heal and attach. I was looking around and am probably going to get the Zen Reef one. Also now that my zoas are doing good its making me want to get some more. Problem is, I don't have alot of room on my racks. I have some spaces but need them for when I cut frags. Since I all ready have two racks in the Acan tank now and am thinking about this shroom box, its not going to hurt to add one more rack, it will give me some room to get 16 zoa frags lol

That is pretty much the tank update. Outside of that my other hobbies are backpacking and Video games, I also enjoy watching a few tv series. I get bored of a games quick but when a new one comes out that I like, I tend to play alot. As far as backpacking, I was hoping to go on a trip here soon but with all these lockdowns, most of the trails are closed and traveling is suppose to be limited. Since I have all this free time I decided to take up another hobby, smoking meat. I am a big meat eater and have always wanted to learn how to smoke meat but never got into it. I saw an electric smoker on amazon and decided to go for it. Should be here sometime in the middle of the week and am looking forward to playing with it.

Broke out the camera today for the first time in awhile because I ran out of pictures to post on Instagram lol. My IG is intricate_reefer for anyone interested. If anyone else is on there drop your info.

 

[Braves Fan]

Now thats a update Corals look happy ,,