This is it. My last build thread

[exnisstech]

Video update on the 330 Fish are really getting along well.




Reefer 300 is coming along.
Found a sale on acro frags at a lfs. I've been looking for a red dragon and they had some for $15 so I bought two

They had TNT frags which I have no idea is but the guy said they color up more red than red dragon so for $15 I'm all I'm.

Got two free tiny frags cuz I'm clumsy. This is one. I learned not to throw aways scraps. The other piece shown is growing back from a nub left on a frag plug.

This was it prior. This is cool stuff for me :face-with-hand-over-mouth:

I've been spending a bit more time here. It's like I now have a fish tank and a coral tank which is cool.

Basement tank which is everything from the reefer 170 and the 29g. This is the quiet place.

 

[tbrown]

Video update on the 330 Fish are really getting along well.




Reefer 300 is coming along.
Found a sale on acro frags at a lfs. I've been looking for a red dragon and they had some for $15 so I bought two

They had TNT frags which I have no idea is but the guy said they color up more red than red dragon so for $15 I'm all I'm.

Got two free tiny frags cuz I'm clumsy. This is one. I learned not to throw aways scraps. The other piece shown is growing back from a nub left on a frag plug.

This was it prior. This is cool stuff for me :face-with-hand-over-mouth:

I've been spending a bit more time here. It's like I now have a fish tank and a coral tank which is cool.

Basement tank which is everything from the reefer 170 and the 29g. This is the quiet place.

TNT might be an Anacropora.

 

[exnisstech]

TNT might be an Anacropora.

Looks like you are right. I need to study up on my coral ID. I have another that was sold as a digi that turns out it's anacropora. The one I already have is a decent grower, it's the bright green/yellow one in the bottom right next to the acro. What's interesting is I have several pieces of the yellow and they will not encrust on a plug at all. When I asked folks said they do not encrust but this TNT is encrusting on the plug so I dunno. Care requirement are similar to acro so we'll see how it does.

 

[twentyleagues]

Looks like you are right. I need to study up on my coral ID. I have another that was sold as a digi that turns out it's anacropora. The one I already have is a decent grower, it's the bright green/yellow one in the bottom right next to the acro. What's interesting is I have several pieces of the yellow and they will not encrust on a plug at all. When I asked folks said they do not encrust but this TNT is encrusting on the plug so I dunno. Care requirement are similar to acro so we'll see how it does.

If you find out the difference or if someone were to just volunteer the info I'd be up for tagging along!

 

[tbrown]

Looks like you are right. I need to study up on my coral ID. I have another that was sold as a digi that turns out it's anacropora. The one I already have is a decent grower, it's the bright green/yellow one in the bottom right next to the acro. What's interesting is I have several pieces of the yellow and they will not encrust on a plug at all. When I asked folks said they do not encrust but this TNT is encrusting on the plug so I dunno. Care requirement are similar to acro so we'll see how it does.

My Anacropora are hit or miss when it comes to encrusting - mostly miss. I think that's the easiest to identify difference between the Montipora Spongodes and the Slimeball Anacropora.

 

[Mschmidt]

Anacropora corals can be white, cream, green, and brown. Unlike Acropora, Anacropora corals are slow growing. Their corallites are spaced further apart on their skeleton and are much smaller. Their skeletons are typically thinner than those of Acropora corals, and therefore, are more prone to breakage.

from salty underground. But my tnt anacro grew a lot faster than any of my acros. could be because:

These are usually found on soft substrates, like the muddy bottoms of lagoons. They like lower water flow, but will adapt to a variety of water conditions. Coinciding with their prevalence in lagoons, briar corals will thrive in water with high nutrient content and turbidity.

 

[tbrown]

from salty underground. But my tnt anacro grew a lot faster than any of my acros. could be because:

I've got a Green Goblin growing into a ball almost. It's crazy. Looks like one of those Plasma Balls.

 

[Mschmidt]

I've got a Green Goblin growing into a ball almost. It's crazy. Looks like one of those Plasma Balls.

My GG was more branchy and easily twice as thick as the tnt. tnt was a pretty tight ball and arguably the fastest grower in the tank, second maybe to the plating monti. even then though, it doubled faster than the monti but started significantly smaller.

 

[exnisstech]

Update 2/2/25
CoralVue sent me a free FM ICP so I sent it out and got the results back the other day. Looks like some toxic stuff at high level and some trace elements low. I really want to keep this system simple so rather than dosing trace elements and freaking out about the toxic stuff I'm just going to step up my water changes and maybe retest in a few months. I've been lazy doing changes and didn't realize I skipped the whole month of December :face-with-hand-over-mouth: . I'm going to start doing 10% weekly. My PO4 was up to 0.9 and NO3 over 20 when tested Friday. I would like to keep PO4 at 0.5 or less and NO3 20 or less. They're just levels I'm comfy with so I need to work on them.
I'm figuring out the ATS and the maintenance or lack of that can cause issues. Last problem I had was a smart plug that failed. Now I've discovered the air tubing needs to be cleaned or replaced or it gets plugged and doesn't work very well. It's like on the job training lol. I cleaned them but they have short sections at the end that plug so I'll just start replacing those section before they plug. Since N and P are elevated I went ahead and started the skimmer back up. I also tossed a reactor with some GAC and rowsphos in and PO4 is down to 0.5 today. I think I've underestimated the amount of waste a group of fish like mine can produce. I'm not going to starve my fish and have them start fighting for food so nutrient export it is. I think adding the skimmer, getting the ATS running as it should along with the water changes should work but time will tell. Livestock are all doing well and zoas are opening up after two 10% WCs .
My melanarus has been acting strange. Hiding a lot and just not acting normal. If I were to guess the way he swims always having to be in contact with rocks or glass I think he may be going blind. It's not flashing but reminds me of a blind person that runs their hand along the wall when walking. If he passes I'll probably replace him just to make sure the nasty flat worms don't make a comeback.

My acro tank is doing well. Almost too well like the calm before the storm. Sorry my glass is always half empty, it's just me :zany-face:

Basement tank with the haddoni is plugging along nicely. I added two black ocelaris clowns that are cuter than you know what. I bought them from different sources and one is quite a bit larger than the other so hopefully they pair up without too much fighting. I always felt strange buying two clowns from the same clutch and pairing them. I'm not breeding them or anything but I would rather pair up with a stranger than my sister so I treat them like I would want to be treated. I'm a huge believer in the Golden Rule lol.



The little one is out of the acclimation box now and so far so good. Now if they start hosting in the nem I'll be a happy camper. So far it's power heads.

That's about it for now.

Well almost. You didn't think I was going to go without a pics if the kids did you?

Narbe eating frozen snow

Lady wishing I would stop with the pics and throw her ball.

 

[Stang67]

So glad things are going well. Never a dull moment with this hobby.

 

[exnisstech]

The solution to pollution is dilution, or adding a skimmer, fixing the ATS, or running gfo or all of the above. I'm comfy with todays results



Calcium is 460 and alk holding steady mid 8s.
Another 10% WC today.

LPS are puffing up. I bought this coral Xmas eve 2016 at That fish pace That pet place in Lancaster PA I think it had three heads.

This pectinia has been with me for a few years. It's living stress free now.

This is what it did nightly 2-3yrs ago. It was in a smaller tank with quite a few other meaty LPS. Probably that chemical warfare stuff. It had a whole corner to itself.

This one is thriving in the acro tank which is pretty much ULNS This one also used to send out sweepers every night in the same tank as the other one and never here.

 

[exnisstech]

I started a thread to document my first AIO build .
I added a link to my signature since we can only have one build badge but sigs aren't visible on mobile unless folks rotate their device to landscape mode :crying-face: . The thread is to document things and keep them all in one place. I've actually been able to go back through my old posts and recover some images that I would have lost otherwise so this is a great backup system as well as fun place to hang out.

Teaser :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[tbrown]

I started a thread to document my first AIO build .
I added a link to my signature since we can only have one build badge but sigs aren't visible on mobile unless folks rotate their device to landscape mode :crying-face: . The thread is to document things and keep them all in one place. I've actually been able to go back through my old posts and recover some images that I would have lost otherwise so this is a great backup system as well as fun place to hang out.

Teaser :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I go back and edit post one of my "main" build thread linked from my badge and add the links to my multiple build threads there.

 

[exnisstech]

I go back and edit post one of my "main" build thread linked from my badge and add the links to my multiple build threads there.

Done. thank you sir. Will make it easier for my old self to find the new one. I'm going to keep this one my main thread for now and try to keep the gibberish to a minimum in the AIO thread lol

 

[exnisstech]

Last day to enter to win a light so.... :face-with-hand-over-mouth:

Tank is plugging along so not a lot to report. My melanarus has gone missing. I think it may have gone blind because it started swimming odd. Normally it would be hunting in and out of the rocks. I noticed it no longer swimming in the rocks but along the outside and against the back glass. It looked like it was rubbing against them as a way of finding it's way around kind of like we would do touching the walls in a pitch dark area.
The 40g in the basement has a bunch of pumpkin flat worms no doubt from the rock I used and the reason I added the melanarus to the other tank.
I decided to use flatworm exit. I used a full dose but never saw any dead ones which I thought was strange. So I did another full dose and still no dead ones. Funny thing is I'm also not seeing any live ones so I dunno. I guess I'll just keep an eye on it.


We made a batch of dog food the other day. My pups are like my fish, I feed them well so they aren't food aggressive lol.

More nasty white stuff last night :crying-face:

My boy dreaming of spring

Spring can't come soon enough. I'm getting cabin fever and really don't need to set up any more tanks to stay occupied so I decided to start playing Skyrim again. It's a pretty emersive game and with all the mods available on PC hopefully it will keep me busy for quite a while while Lisa and her mom watch TV all day. The older I get the less I like television. Stupid stuff like repeatedly pulling the trigger on a semi auto that is out of ammo really annoys me. If it isn't something stupid they throw something in that I find offensive which has no bearing on the story line and that's usually the end of it for me.
Testing and water changes due today. Hope you all have a good rest of your weekend.

 

[exnisstech]

Sunday test results
Alk 8.2 dkh steady with weekly 10% WCs with no dosing which isn't too surprising with the type of corals being kept. It is nice not having to fuss with things much.
NO3 27.2
PO3 0.41
I keep forgetting to turn the skimmer back on after feeding so that may be contributing to the higher than usually NO3. I need to put the skimmer and return on a single switched circuit. I'll probably just get a splitter and share an outlet on my power strip since I'm not running any smart plugs or controller.

My bubble and fox coral are responding well to the scheduled weekly WCs

Everything else is doing well. I did pull my large purple pincushion last night because it was on one of my zoa colonies. I can't blame the critter because there's hardly any algae on my rocks for it to feed on but that's a problem I'm more than happy to deal with.

I put the urchin in 10g tank in the basement with a grow light over it and I can rubber band nori to rocks for it to eat in case I need to bring it back up.

My 40g B in the basement is doing very well. Just running a hob but I did add the surf 4 2 ATS that was in the 170 I broke down. Appearance isn't a concern so I just have it floating in a corner.

It's really starting to take off. More tang food.

I'm not testing this tank for the time being. I'm going to try using my duncans as indicators if something's off. They've always been one of the first to get pouty. I am doing 4g WCs every 7-10 days and just watching it.

These little clowns are so cute. I haven't decided yet but they may end up being the sole occupants of the IM 20 in our bedroom. I have them trained to come up and pretty much suck baby brine out of a pipette.
I'm fond of the misbar

That's it for now. All you folks in warm weather I'm jealous. My boy loves the cold but me not so much.

PS: before I forget. I bought some flake food for the clowns and decided to toss some in the 330 and much to my surprise my oldest CBB I've had over two years immediately started chowing down on it and the male was right behind her. I've never been able to get them to eat anything but frozen. Might be worth a try for yours @JoJosReef

 

[exnisstech]

Things are plugging along smoothly. Tested today
NO3 24.1
PO4 0.32
Alk 8.2
28g water change later. Need to go outside and enjoy the sun after the snow we had the other night

I hope that's the last of it but often we get some in April :crying-face:

I tested the 40g basement tank this morning for the first time and was shocked to see alk at 5.5 dkH and corals loving life. I posted over in the Chemistry forum . Every thing I've read says alk 7-11 is good but I have coral turning around in 5.5 that were deteriorating in the other tanks at 8-9 so I'm curious what others think.
Hope your Sunday is well.

 

[Stang67]

Interesting how solid is the skeleton? I found that when my alk or calcium is low the skeleton tends to be really fragile and will tend to snap really easily.

 

[tbrown]

Good point. My alk got high while my mag and calcium were low. Skeletons stopped growing but the flesh kept going. I wonder if lower alk makes growth slow down but improves overall health?

 

[exnisstech]

Interesting how solid is the skeleton? I found that when my alk or calcium is low the skeleton tends to be really fragile and will tend to snap really easily.

Good point. My alk got high while my mag and calcium were low. Skeletons stopped growing but the flesh kept going. I wonder if lower alk makes growth slow down but improves overall health?

I just checked and I haven't tested alk in the 40 since 1/6 and it was 6.4. I only tested today because of how well the Duncans are doing and the pectinia perked up overnight. They probably just like the flow and lighting better and alk has nothing to do with it. I can't imagine alk at 5.5 dkH is good so I'm going to start bringing it up with water changes and will report back.