Rob’s 30g Tonga Shroom Garden

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Some new ones. The bounces don’t have too many bubbles and they are not that big but I have faith in them, plus I got a decent deal

JF raunchy red
B0155AA8-A4D4-4583-A3B4-1E873D779D2E.jpeg


Uranium bounce
80DF66B5-48F4-4F39-86E7-262D11DDC318.jpeg


Yellow fever yuma
56894ACD-A658-4B32-AEE3-D19C8B2F263E.jpeg


Tangerine Convict chalice
F4344A4C-656A-4771-8C57-58573BBDA232.jpeg


Top, Peyote Dreams Monti
Bottom Z’s Dream Monti
I know they look similar, hope they just have some coloring up to do
FA767132-15F0-42B4-94C7-B9EBB64A8B54.jpeg
 
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Vibrant seems to be weakening the algae on the new acan tank, snails seem to be helping. I took this airline tubing and found plastic tube at school. If works really well because you can use the hard end to scape/dislodge the algae then it gets sucked up. It doesn’t get every little bit but a majority of it. At least it shortens it up enough where the snails will eat it.

60C97901-B952-47B3-BB7B-815BA535AD76.jpeg


No new corals because I’m really going to be trying to save up for the new frag system, hopefully I can have some restraint. I did cut up a bunch of frags for a local swap in two weeks. I also had a guy that was in state that saw some of my corals posted on Craigslist. It was too far for him to drive and he wanted me to ship them. I agreed because I want to get some experience shipping. Suppose to ship out Wednesday so I’m hoping it goes well.

Some better pictures of the gonis I got earlier this week

Gonzos XXX Rainbow Goni
DB3FFE2F-63D9-464E-B390-663A5280982C.jpeg


LL Rainbow Goni
(not sure what vendor LL stands for? Lol)
D4FB429D-5D09-418E-9D6E-F427F150C559.jpeg


Really loading up the 25 lagoon as the corals seem to be doing pretty well. I moved over most of my mushrooms to make room in the 30g for new cut frags.
FBF36E07-EA8E-42D0-B558-609614BE88A3.jpeg
 
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Still working on the algae on the new tank. Hopefully after I suck most of it out during water change tomorrow is will slow down. Some of the algae is like this reddish color that blows off easy. I am really bad with ID's on algae so am not even sure what it is. Well I didn't even notice but its like it got on a couple acans right on the edge of the skeleton. This agitated a couple of them and they started receding a bit. It happened and didn't even notice for awhile. I blew it off with a pipette and dipped in iodine and am now keeping a close eye for algae around the corals. Its really disappointing because the one that looks the worst was on one of my nicer ones. I want to buy a bottle of that Purple Helix coralline algae, I have had good luck with it in the past and heard if it takes hold it's harder for pest algae to grow. I am waiting because I'm still dosing vibrant and when I used it in the other tank I noticed coralline kinda went away and my alk consumption dropped. It may just be a coincidence but I wanna wait till I stop.

I am having an issue in the 30g. I have had a few chalice corals change colors pretty drastically. Not bleaching or fading, just changing colors. I have dozens that still look the same. I am thinking it is one of two reasons. I was dosing Iodine per Seachem's recommended dosage. I was using it because I was having problems with the zoas and thought it might help. BTW im still dealing with a few acting up, I threw some away but can't bring myself to with a couple high end ones. I really need to though as I think whatever they have is contagious. The most effective dip for whatever they have is hydrogen peroxide and I have tried many. Its like they seem to bounce back but them stop opening. I think I need to continue to dip them maybe like twice a week instead of doing it sporadicly. I am thinking maybe I was overdosing iodine as I am not testing for it so I stopped that about a week ago. The other thing it might have been is I changed the spectrum and schedule to my lights a bit. I made them a little more blue and had all blues a couple hours in the morning and at night. I changed back to what I was using, the BRS AB+ setting for the prime at a reduced level with white at 10%. Really hoping these changes will bring the colors back. The colors don't terrible but not as good as they were, they do look healthy though. I'll try and get some pictures some time this weekend. Not everything in this hobby is sunshines and rainbows but I do enjoy problem solving and tinkering with things.

On a happy note, I won the January Photo of the Month contest. Im almost more excited about the fancy Photo of the Month badge next to my name than the camera port hole from Avast lol. Maybe its a sign I need to get a DSLR but I have been really happy with my underwater point and shoot. Im sure ill put good use to it at some point though especially when I eventually set up a bigger frag system.
 
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Abeal17

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Still working on the algae on the new tank. Hopefully after I suck most of it out during water change tomorrow is will slow down. Some of the algae is like this reddish color that blows off easy. I am really bad with ID's on algae so am not even sure what it is. Well I didn't even notice but its like it got on a couple acans right on the edge of the skeleton. This agitated a couple of them and they started receding a bit. It happened and didn't even notice for awhile. I blew it off with a pipette and dipped in iodine and am now keeping a close eye for algae around the corals. Its really disappointing because the one that looks the worst was on one of my nicer ones. I want to buy a bottle of that Purple Helix coralline algae, I have had good luck with it in the past and heard if it takes hold it's harder for pest algae to grow. I am waiting because I'm still dosing vibrant and when I used it in the other tank I noticed coralline kinda went away and my alk consumption dropped. It may just be a coincidence but I wanna wait till I stop.

I am having an issue in the 30g. I have had a few chalice corals change colors pretty drastically. Not bleaching or fading, just changing colors. I have dozens that still look the same. I am thinking it is one of two reasons. I was dosing Iodine per Seachem's recommended dosage. I was using it because I was having problems with the zoas and thought it might help. BTW im still dealing with a few acting up, I threw some away but can't bring myself to with a couple high end ones. I really need to though as I think whatever they have is contagious. The most effective dip for whatever they have is hydrogen peroxide and I have tried many. Its like they seem to bounce back but them stop opening. I think I need to continue to dip them maybe like twice a week instead of doing it sporadicly. I am thinking maybe I was overdosing iodine as I am not testing for it so I stopped that about a week ago. The other thing it might have been is I changed the spectrum and schedule to my lights a bit. I made them a little more blue and had all blues a couple hours in the morning and at night. I changed back to what I was using, the BRS AB+ setting for the prime at a reduced level with white at 10%. Really hoping these changes will bring the colors back. The colors don't terrible but not as good as they were, they do look healthy though. I'll try and get some pictures some time this weekend. Not everything in this hobby is sunshines and rainbows but I do enjoy problem solving and tinkering with things.

On a happy note, I won the January Photo of the Month contest. Im almost more excited about the fancy Photo of the Month badge next to my name than the camera port hole from Avast lol. Maybe its a sign I need to get a DSLR but I have been really happy with my underwater point and shoot. Im sure ill put good use to it at some point though especially when I eventually set up a bigger frag system.

I have the same problem with algae growing on my acan skeletons right now as well. It looks like cyano that is growing in between the polyps, which is weird. This stuff doesn't blow off the frags either like typical cyano does. I have yet to find a way to stop it so I'm no use there. But congrats on photo of the month!!
 
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I have the same problem with algae growing on my acan skeletons right now as well. It looks like cyano that is growing in between the polyps, which is weird. This stuff doesn't blow off the frags either like typical cyano does. I have yet to find a way to stop it so I'm no use there. But congrats on photo of the month!!
Thank you! I think that is probably cyano on mine as well but does blow off with a bit of force. I find any algae growing on the edge of any lps really bothers them and cause recession. I have had it happen on acan, chalice, and favia. I have used hydrogen peroxide with good success with other types of algae. Not sure if it works on cyano but It might be worth a shot. I do 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 5 parts tank water for like 3 minutes, 5 max. If you did do this a would agitate the polyps a bit so they retract in.
 
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Still working on the algae on the new tank. Hopefully after I suck most of it out during water change tomorrow is will slow down. Some of the algae is like this reddish color that blows off easy. I am really bad with ID's on algae so am not even sure what it is. Well I didn't even notice but its like it got on a couple acans right on the edge of the skeleton. This agitated a couple of them and they started receding a bit. It happened and didn't even notice for awhile. I blew it off with a pipette and dipped in iodine and am now keeping a close eye for algae around the corals. Its really disappointing because the one that looks the worst was on one of my nicer ones. I want to buy a bottle of that Purple Helix coralline algae, I have had good luck with it in the past and heard if it takes hold it's harder for pest algae to grow. I am waiting because I'm still dosing vibrant and when I used it in the other tank I noticed coralline kinda went away and my alk consumption dropped. It may just be a coincidence but I wanna wait till I stop.

I am having an issue in the 30g. I have had a few chalice corals change colors pretty drastically. Not bleaching or fading, just changing colors. I have dozens that still look the same. I am thinking it is one of two reasons. I was dosing Iodine per Seachem's recommended dosage. I was using it because I was having problems with the zoas and thought it might help. BTW im still dealing with a few acting up, I threw some away but can't bring myself to with a couple high end ones. I really need to though as I think whatever they have is contagious. The most effective dip for whatever they have is hydrogen peroxide and I have tried many. Its like they seem to bounce back but them stop opening. I think I need to continue to dip them maybe like twice a week instead of doing it sporadicly. I am thinking maybe I was overdosing iodine as I am not testing for it so I stopped that about a week ago. The other thing it might have been is I changed the spectrum and schedule to my lights a bit. I made them a little more blue and had all blues a couple hours in the morning and at night. I changed back to what I was using, the BRS AB+ setting for the prime at a reduced level with white at 10%. Really hoping these changes will bring the colors back. The colors don't terrible but not as good as they were, they do look healthy though. I'll try and get some pictures some time this weekend. Not everything in this hobby is sunshines and rainbows but I do enjoy problem solving and tinkering with things.

On a happy note, I won the January Photo of the Month contest. Im almost more excited about the fancy Photo of the Month badge next to my name than the camera port hole from Avast lol. Maybe its a sign I need to get a DSLR but I have been really happy with my underwater point and shoot. Im sure ill put good use to it at some point though especially when I eventually set up a bigger frag system.
Congrats on the win Rob. That’s fantastic and well deserved. You’ve posted quite a few really great pictures in this thread and I’m not a bit surprised that you won. Well done.
 

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Thanks for the kind words man!
Your welcome. By the way, check out post 161, I called your shot there :). Owww, just hurt my arm patting myself on the back for your victory.
There were many really nice pics in the contest but I believe it was the extended tentacles that put you over the top.
 
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Your welcome. By the way, check out post 161, I called your shot there :). Owww, just hurt my arm patting myself on the back for your victory.
There were many really nice pics in the contest but I believe it was the extended tentacles that put you over the top.

Your are right you did, you must just have the eye for it hahaha. I agree, I think the tentacles are what won it for sure lol

Speaking of the contest I got my prize in. It’s really nice and well built. Now I need a dslr or at least a better iPhone, I still have the 6 lol.
4AC57963-1CF1-4CDB-8BF0-404ABFA7DAE7.jpeg


Moved over some of the Asians acans the other day. Still left my nicer ones to see how these do first. Seem to be doing pretty good.
71AC81DE-7227-4028-AB50-BA8262E89A12.jpeg


Notice all the algae, I’m so frustrated. Never starting a tank with old tank rock again. Maybe if I cure it for a really long time, would think that may help. Vibrant doesn’t seem to be doing to much. I have been dosing twice a week as well. I’ll probably give it another week of so and if it doesn’t improve, I’ll probably stop and try some chaeto. I ordered a led light and fuge basket so I’m ready to have it set up but heard you can’t dose vibrant with chaeto. Wondering if I can use nopox and vibrant together. My nitrates are starting to creep up a bit, they are at like 10. Phosphates are under control with phosphate Rx. Maybe I could try some purigen, I think that’s suppose to help with nitrates.

Another shot of the holy grail
673AA029-F4A5-430B-B0E3-0B2BEAB77492.jpeg
 

Abeal17

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Thank you! I think that is probably cyano on mine as well but does blow off with a bit of force. I find any algae growing on the edge of any lps really bothers them and cause recession. I have had it happen on acan, chalice, and favia. I have used hydrogen peroxide with good success with other types of algae. Not sure if it works on cyano but It might be worth a shot. I do 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 5 parts tank water for like 3 minutes, 5 max. If you did do this a would agitate the polyps a bit so they retract in.

I've had algae grow near or on the skeleton of the growth edges, but that went away with manual removal or when I started dosing Vibrant. The cyano has on the acan has stopped growing, which is good enough for me.
 
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Algae continues to be slowing down, at least the what I think is cyano. Hair algae seems to be growing back a bit slower after I sucked a bunch out during water change. I did get in some purigen I am thinking about using if my nitrates are above 10 after testing. I know they arent super high but I think it’s allowing the algae to grow. I heard it doesn’t reduce the actual number of nitrates but helps prevent them from forming, figured I’d give it a shot.

Said I would share how the corals have changed colors so here they are.

WWC Kingpin Chalice

Was
5E1E71A4-733C-45ED-A19B-71CA66A31F91.jpeg


Now
C4ED11E4-6AF4-421D-B4C5-FA2BA15437CA.jpeg


BSA Yellow Flame chalice

Was
CD677A2B-8D7D-4EC2-8309-61ED245CD4EB.jpeg


Now
F6D2E35B-DB98-447C-A906-2F89B3649F1F.jpeg


Flame thrower chalice. It has been fragged and the now picture isn’t that great but you can see the body is almost solid yellow now instead of red with blue streaks and it’s kind of dull. I thought maybe I was giving it to much light so I moved it but hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s because I messed with the spectrum a bit. I have now went back to what I was using.

Was
EE35F2BF-C181-4FC8-A650-5DB231D70654.jpeg


Now
39AC9CE8-FCCE-42F2-AF11-90330A4BC3B0.jpeg


I am working on getting my fish to eat pellets (they have been spoiled with 100% frozen)because I want to go on some trips and not have to worry about someone feeding them. I had a sample of TDO pellets and after a bit I think everyone is eating them but I’m having an issue with them in the auto feeder. I have an Ehiem one and it doesn’t dump a consistent amount. Not sure if it because the pellets are so small or because they aren’t s uniform size. I need small pellets because of the gobies.

Think I’m going to try and get them on a different pellet now that they are used to them. Before hey turned their nose up to new life spectrum and were only semi interested in Hykari Marine small pellets. Probably gonna try the Hykari again.

Down at the aquaculture lab they are working on raising gramma and peppermint shrimp larva so they culture copepods to feed them. They gave me a bottle to take home that I was excited about. They were really dense as well, he said he put them through a strainer to collect a lot. They are also going to be doing tiny brine shrimp and said they will have them for me often as well. Apparently they are only nutritious when they are really small.

All the tiny dots in the background are baby ones with some of the older ones on the surface plus a bunch of phyto. I don’t know if I should put them in the new tank or old.
8409F106-39AB-415F-B395-233E7ED14D8B.jpeg
 
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Just wondering, but what's your light schedule look like?

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.
921A138D-002E-493F-BE33-5C1A376729A8.png
 

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Ok.
I'm all caught up.

Great reef and it's really something to see reefers go through trials and situations but keep pushing through.
You have done (are doing) just that and it's paying off for you.

Great job!
 
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Ok.
I'm all caught up.

Great reef and it's really something to see reefers go through trials and situations but keep pushing through.
You have done (are doing) just that and it's paying off for you.

Great job!

Thanks for the interest and likes! :)

Reefing is defiantly a journey and has hurdles to overcome. That is something I really like about it. Figuring stuff out and tweaking to what works really feels rewarding when you get it right. I tend to get bored with things quickly, especially if they come easy so this is perfect for me.
 

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I am not getting notices when stuff is posted on your thread ,, not sure what up with this ,, guess I have some catching up to do :) am just on page 8 right now ,, you seriously need a larger tank :) caught up ,, took awhile ,, had to look at all the pictures 2 or 3 times lol fixing to go thru them again :)
 
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I am not getting notices when stuff is posted on your thread ,, not sure what up with this ,, guess I have some catching up to do :) am just on page 8 right now ,, you seriously need a larger tank :) caught up ,, took awhile ,, had to look at all the pictures 2 or 3 times lol fixing to go thru them again :)

Same thing happened to me with your thread, just stopped getting notifications lol. Need to go check out anything new. You are right I do need a larger tank, I need more room!!!. Im hoping to be able to set up a pretty large frag system in the garage. It will probably take some time to get going but once I get it in place I can really take a lot of the frags out of these tank and turn them into prettier displays. Just a shame all the corals I like take forever to grow, besides the favites.
 
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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.
P3043616.JPG


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.
P3043624.JPG
 

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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 ,,
 

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Algae continues to be slowing down, at least the what I think is cyano. Hair algae seems to be growing back a bit slower after I sucked a bunch out during water change. I did get in some purigen I am thinking about using if my nitrates are above 10 after testing. I know they arent super high but I think it’s allowing the algae to grow. I heard it doesn’t reduce the actual number of nitrates but helps prevent them from forming, figured I’d give it a shot.

Said I would share how the corals have changed colors so here they are.

WWC Kingpin Chalice

Was
5E1E71A4-733C-45ED-A19B-71CA66A31F91.jpeg


Now
C4ED11E4-6AF4-421D-B4C5-FA2BA15437CA.jpeg


BSA Yellow Flame chalice

Was
CD677A2B-8D7D-4EC2-8309-61ED245CD4EB.jpeg


Now
F6D2E35B-DB98-447C-A906-2F89B3649F1F.jpeg


Flame thrower chalice. It has been fragged and the now picture isn’t that great but you can see the body is almost solid yellow now instead of red with blue streaks and it’s kind of dull. I thought maybe I was giving it to much light so I moved it but hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s because I messed with the spectrum a bit. I have now went back to what I was using.

Was
EE35F2BF-C181-4FC8-A650-5DB231D70654.jpeg


Now
39AC9CE8-FCCE-42F2-AF11-90330A4BC3B0.jpeg


I am working on getting my fish to eat pellets (they have been spoiled with 100% frozen)because I want to go on some trips and not have to worry about someone feeding them. I had a sample of TDO pellets and after a bit I think everyone is eating them but I’m having an issue with them in the auto feeder. I have an Ehiem one and it doesn’t dump a consistent amount. Not sure if it because the pellets are so small or because they aren’t s uniform size. I need small pellets because of the gobies.

Think I’m going to try and get them on a different pellet now that they are used to them. Before hey turned their nose up to new life spectrum and were only semi interested in Hykari Marine small pellets. Probably gonna try the Hykari again.

Down at the aquaculture lab they are working on raising gramma and peppermint shrimp larva so they culture copepods to feed them. They gave me a bottle to take home that I was excited about. They were really dense as well, he said he put them through a strainer to collect a lot. They are also going to be doing tiny brine shrimp and said they will have them for me often as well. Apparently they are only nutritious when they are really small.

All the tiny dots in the background are baby ones with some of the older ones on the surface plus a bunch of phyto. I don’t know if I should put them in the new tank or old.
8409F106-39AB-415F-B395-233E7ED14D8B.jpeg
I’m not sure how it happened but I stopped getting update notices on your thread and a couple of others. Weird. What’s also weird is those radical color changes. Hopefully going back to the old spectrum fixes it. I’m pretty sure the brine shrimp are only nutritious when they are small because they still have their egg sack which is where the nutrition is located. Thought I read that somewhere in a thread about hatching live brine to feed mandarins. Not sure why I would have been reading that thread as I have zero interest in keeping a mandarin.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.2%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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