stalkem's Deskmate office tank

[stalkem]

Fish day!

 

[stalkem]

That light looks great on your tank!

Thanks!

 

[stalkem]

I think I have an overfeeding problem. Phosphates are .3 ppm and nitrates are 10.4 ppm. I feel like I barely feed, but I guess I barely feed too much.

Noticed a small ammonia and nitrite spike. I did have some hermits take down an astrea, but that's all cleaned up by them. I've also been continuously dosing Microbacter7, and I read that overdosing that could cause some small spikes... hopefully it's just that. I'll give it a few days and test again.

 

[stalkem]

This little guy is getting pretty active and fun to watch!

 

[stalkem]

Sad day. The clowns didn't survive... wasn't at work yesterday, but the carcass was pretty well picked over by the time I saw this morning. Bummer.

Haven't seen either goby today, but they're little and hide in the rocks the majority of the time.

Pom pom crab was grooving. The snails and hermits seem happy. Maybe this will end up being a invert tank? Gonna wait another few weeks to a month and try again.

Here's a pic from Monday. Pom pom, YWG, and clown all out!

 

[stalkem]

Well, I think my Rainford Goby is presumed dead. I did have a small ammonia spike shortly after adding the YWG and prior clown. Around that time, I saw the Rainford go into a hole in the rock, and have not seen it since. During that spike, the first clown also died. I waited a few weeks for ammonia and nitrite to level back out and did my regular water changes. The YWG seemed to be thriving, so I went and added a tiger pistol shrimp. The 2 of those paired up instantly... they are fun to watch, although any sudden movements and they both vanish again... but they have quite the little tunnel under my rocks, and the YWG keeps popping up on different sides.

I also got a new Mocha Gladiator clown. Seems to be doing great.

I did notice my flow seemed to suck, but I took my Sicce Micra Plus apart to clean it, and that little sponge was caked full of yuck. So I just threw out the sponge, and will run it and plan to clean it. Flow improved a million % upon that change. I'll get some new pics soon. Have few more corals coming from @SaltwaterAq... plus some lined up on my rack at home that I plan to bring in for this tank soon as well!

 

[stalkem]

Brought in some coral today. Had 2 new zoas that I bought, then ripped off the old frag parts glued down from my biocube since they had spread to the rock, and brought those in for more color. Will have a nice little zoa garden going.

Added my space invader chalice, an acan I bought, an acan I had that was in a bad spot and not thriving so brought that in too, and I bought a monti to try to get to grow up the back wall.

Let's see how this comes together, and I'll get some pics soon!

 

[stalkem]

Shrimp and goby are already best of friends!

 

[stalkem]

Everyone was out yesterday. Nitrate was 1.7 ppm and phosphte at 0.05ppm. After I did a ~30% water change, I dosed a little seachem nitrogen to get nitrates up a little... Trying to avoid a dino battle in this tank.

 

[stalkem]

This little guy is fun to watch. He tried to steal a hermit crab today!

 

[stalkem]

Anyone have any tips on birdnests... mainly attaching them to the rocks? My hermits keeps knocking it off, and of course it's over the weekend, so by the time I get back to work to reattach it, damage has been done from sitting on the rocks. We'll see if this one recovers, but it's lost quite a bit of polyps from the trauma.

Chalice has been receding, and isn't doing great... I think I need to up my CUC a bit. The Chalice has been getting some algae.

Digitata isn't the happiest. Zoas have been doing ok, except for one that got some algae covering... I pulled that and did an H2O2 dip. We'll see if that one turns around.

I've been batting some low alk in both this tank and the biocube, so been dosing a bit to get that up. PO4 has been pretty stable around 0.04, but the nitrates have been fluctuating a bit between water changes, so I've been dosing a bit to keep it just under 10ppm. Still dosing some MicroBacter7, until the bottle is gone. I think I'm going to start some daily dosing of All For Reef.

The acans are fat and happy. One of the favias seem to be doing great. All the inhabitants are happy... the pistol shrimp keeps busy, and it's fun to see where the YWG will pop out next.

 

[stalkem]

I got a 2nd pom pom. I read a post from someone that got 2 and they paired up. Hoping for the best!

Also got a 2nd little clown because my human brain felt bad that the solo clown was lonely.

 

[stalkem]

So I had to be away for about 6 weeks due to knee surgery. I left some lovely coworkers instructions, an they did a pretty good job. All critters are alive. Most corals... just realizing my montipora must've gotten knocked over and is missing :( Had a bit of hair algae outbreak, so going to try to address that. I'll try to get some updated photos once it's cleaned up a bit.

 

[stalkem]

Overcame the GHA with some help of a little urchin. Things look on the up and up, except I just lost one of the clowns :(. I'll have to get some updated picks on here soon!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Overcame the GHA with some help of a little urchin. Things look on the up and up, except I just lost one of the clowns :(. I'll have to get some updated picks on here soon!

Glad you were able to beat the GHA! Sorry about the clown loss

 

[stalkem]

Ok, I promised some pics of where we're at.

The favia and acans were in here, and I pulled them to recover at home when battling my GHA. I did some pretty extended blackouts, so I lost all my zoas except for 1, and then brought in a couple that had broken loose in my biocube. Somehow the Leptoseris and the Darth Maul monitpora survived with just the tiniest polyps left.

Pom pom crab has hung in there, although I don't think the pom poms survived the blackout and peroxide dosing. I think we've turned the corner and this will all fill in great.

Open to ideas for what would go well in here to fill in these rock patches!

 

[stalkem]

Ok. Maybe someone knows better than me. I brought in some favites from home, one of which was a "ACI Gummy Bears Favia" ... and now looking at that next to the "RR Spicy Lemon Favia" that I had purchased for this little tank, they look more or less the same.

 

[stalkem]

I feel like I need some fillers. Any suggestions on what might go well and where?

I saw a post with @coral reeftank on instagram where they had a toadstool growing low to the sand bed... was thinking of maybe trying to do the same out of that little cave area on the front bottom left.

 

[stalkem]

Look at these little guys. The one has a whole clutch of eggs under her (?) belly. I wonder if any of them will make it!