Susan's RS Reefer 3xl 900 Fantasy-Dream Build

Susan Edwards · Oct 2, 2022

Mystery Solved! Didn't know I had a mystery haha. Talking about DAVE's mysterious behavior, Dave who is a sand sifting cucumber, Dave who apparently is not a sand sifter cuc but a filter feeding cuc!

He was on the glass last night again (and out and about) so I went to my pal google and learned there are 2 types of cucumbers: sand and filter. As I have NEVER seen Dave IN the sand or sifting sand but on rocks, and walls and along the edges of the tank, I conclude he is a filter feeder.

Susan Edwards · Oct 2, 2022

I saw briefly the 4 wheel drive goby this am, and have seen the cute and tiny red dragonet. Not the rainsford goby or the ruby head dragonet. I suspect the 2 dragonets will be among the rocks as they had an unlimited supply of pods now and will get fat like the mandarin. The Rainsford/Court Jester is prob. in the cave with the barber goby and pistol shrimp. Will 2 gobies share a pistol? Not even sure a Rainsford pairs with a pistol. The 2 new anthias are out and eating. One of my favorite fishes. need a bunch more

Susan Edwards · Oct 4, 2022

My alk has been dropping yet I'm dosing over 50. Did the hanna test and it was 7.5 yet trident said 8.1. I had done a hanna test a couple weeks ago a nd it was very close. So I did a calibration with their liquid. Alk higher, cal lower and mg lower, 1200 instead of 1500! So I tested again h anna alk (same) and hanna ca and got 585! So tested salifert and got 360 ca and 1350 mg.

what the heck. Calibrated with my tank water again. Using hanna and salifert. Now I havae to go adjust dosing just in case. Very disappointed in hanna cal checker.

ca 360
mg 1350
alk 7.5

redoing the calibration now so we'll see

Susan Edwards · Oct 4, 2022

Saw the ruby head dragonet tonight so yah!

Susan Edwards · Oct 4, 2022

Ruby and Red together. Wonder if they can be a mated couple as I think 1 is male, 1 female per lfs. Haven't seen the Jester goby or 4 wheel drive goby today. Anthias doing good

these guys are too stinkin' cute!

Lbrdsoxfan · Oct 4, 2022

My LFS constantly has the red ones, I never tried them. My amphipod population is stupid bad in the 50g, to the point I'm adding a wrasse ASAP!

Sean Clark · Oct 4, 2022

So small. How long have you had them?

Susan Edwards · Oct 5, 2022

Sean Clark said:
So small. How long have you had them?

Since Sunday lol's. And they are super tiny! I also have a 4 wheel drive goby and court jester goby, all got on Sunday and all so tiny I don't know if they can survive in my tank! In the 45g I picked up a tiny yellow watchman goby, also so tiny. At least they don't add much to the bio load haha

Lbrdsoxfan · Oct 5, 2022

What's a 4wd goby, never seen one. I'm weird about goby's, tried them in the aio and the 50g before. They like to be astronauts too much for my liking.

Sean Clark · Oct 5, 2022

Susan Edwards said:
Since Sunday lol's. And they are super tiny! I also have a 4 wheel drive goby and court jester goby, all got on Sunday and all so tiny I don't know if they can survive in my tank! In the 45g I picked up a tiny yellow watchman goby, also so tiny. At least they don't add much to the bio load haha

Hopeully they hold on for you. 4wd are among my favs

Sean Clark · Oct 5, 2022

Lbrdsoxfan said:
What's a 4wd goby, never seen one. I'm weird about goby's, tried them in the aio and the 50g before. They like to be astronauts too much for my liking.

4wd are often called signal gobies.

Lbrdsoxfan · Oct 5, 2022

Sean Clark said:
4wd are ofren called signal gobies.

Found it! Got the photo from Live Aquaria. Small bugger that blends in!

Susan Edwards · Oct 5, 2022

Lbrdsoxfan said:
What's a 4wd goby, never seen one. I'm weird about goby's, tried them in the aio and the 50g before. They like to be astronauts too much for my liking.

I went to Randy's in stockton. They had the small fish. the 4wd goby was so cute going back and forth like a truck I had to have him. He blends in with the sand so hard to spot. My guy is brown and white not like the pic so maybe when it matures he'll have more color, assuming he survives. I got him just cause his behavior was so funny but he has nice colors! I have a tight lid on my tank!

Susan Edwards · Oct 5, 2022

He is cute. Can't wait for more coloring.

Susan Edwards · Oct 5, 2022

Anemone is out! NO3 up to 20, due to overfeeding for the new fish. Trying to get food to the sand and the piggies scarf it up before it gets even half way down lol's. I'm going to assume they are all getting food. The 2 dragonets should be piggy out on pods, the 4 wheeler goby hopefully finding food. Adding pellets once a day. Haven't seen the court jester goby in 2 days. Hope it is in there...

Couple pics. Hard to see the 4 wheel goby.

Fat mandarin!!

Susan Edwards · Oct 6, 2022

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! 1 YEAR OLD TODAY

I made it to the 1 year mark and survived and so did the tank lol's. In fact overall, I'd say my tank thrived. Had ups and downs but mostly ups.

Downs:
--issues with the atk from day 1. Replaced after it quit a couple weeks ago and been golden
--Trident had a green light yesterday. Orange today so no idea what that is about
--Also, had ca/alk/mg all drop yet all was good in trident-calibrated to my tank water. Recalibrated and doing double testing right now. Not sure if wasn't doing a few days of 5 gal water changes after reef flux. Always seems to affect the stability.
--Still have those dammed damsels....
--couple bouts with byropsis. Notice there is still some algae fuzz on some of the problem rocks. If it comes back, won't wait. Will reef flux sooner. Doing mb clean or 7 mostly daily--20-30 ml. Did 140 ml with skimmer and uv off for 4 hrs today. Once a week I do at least 80ml with sk/uv off.

Ups:
--Fantastic coral growth overall. I'm amazed and thrilled. A couple not doiing good, a couple a bit unhappy but that could be due to the alk and ca drop.
--All fish who've been with me for a while all doing good. Some new fish just disappeared, a couple diamond gobies didn't make it but once they make it the first few weeks, they are good. Current new fish doing good are the 2 blue eyed anthias, red dragonet and 4 wheeler goby. Not sure: ruby head dragonet and court jester goby. Not seen them for a couple days.
--no3 and po4 pretty stable. No3 a bit higher due to overfeeding of new fish

Numbers:
no3 23 today
PO4 .09 yesterday
ca 360 trident says 349
mg 1396 per trident
alk 8 7.48 per trident

Have a list of yearly chores to do. Wish I had a lfs who could do these as it makes me nervous. I'd gladly pay lol's
--replace UV bulb
--clean the cor 20s, skimmer pump, UV pump, reactor pump

Still have a list of to do's a year old now lol's
-led lighting under cabinet so I can see without a flashlight
-move uv pump to main sump
-fix apex/cor 20 issue and program the leak sensors for the floor.

Should come up with some goals for the next year. Not sure there really is much to add to the tank

enjoy a 1 year old video and some pics

Sleeping Giant · Oct 6, 2022

Susan Edwards said:
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! 1 YEAR OLD TODAY

I made it to the 1 year mark and survived and so did the tank lol's. In fact overall, I'd say my tank thrived. Had ups and downs but mostly ups.

Downs:
--issues with the atk from day 1. Replaced after it quit a couple weeks ago and been golden
--Trident had a green light yesterday. Orange today so no idea what that is about
--Also, had ca/alk/mg all drop yet all was good in trident-calibrated to my tank water. Recalibrated and doing double testing right now. Not sure if wasn't doing a few days of 5 gal water changes after reef flux. Always seems to affect the stability.
--Still have those dammed damsels....
--couple bouts with byropsis. Notice there is still some algae fuzz on some of the problem rocks. If it comes back, won't wait. Will reef flux sooner. Doing mb clean or 7 mostly daily--20-30 ml. Did 140 ml with skimmer and uv off for 4 hrs today. Once a week I do at least 80ml with sk/uv off.

Ups:
--Fantastic coral growth overall. I'm amazed and thrilled. A couple not doiing good, a couple a bit unhappy but that could be due to the alk and ca drop.
--All fish who've been with me for a while all doing good. Some new fish just disappeared, a couple diamond gobies didn't make it but once they make it the first few weeks, they are good. Current new fish doing good are the 2 blue eyed anthias, red dragonet and 4 wheeler goby. Not sure: ruby head dragonet and court jester goby. Not seen them for a couple days.
--no3 and po4 pretty stable. No3 a bit higher due to overfeeding of new fish

Numbers:
no3 23 today
PO4 .09 yesterday
ca 360 trident says 349
mg 1396 per trident
alk 8 7.48 per trident

Have a list of yearly chores to do. Wish I had a lfs who could do these as it makes me nervous. I'd gladly pay lol's
--replace UV bulb
--clean the cor 20s, skimmer pump, UV pump, reactor pump

Still have a list of to do's a year old now lol's
-led lighting under cabinet so I can see without a flashlight
-move uv pump to main sump
-fix apex/cor 20 issue and program the leak sensors for the floor.

Should come up with some goals for the next year. Not sure there really is much to add to the tank

enjoy a 1 year old video and some pics