Tranquil Seas

[BonnieB]

It’s been a bit of a wild ride lately. The 70 was not level and on Friday we finally did the drain and refill. It is really such a cool looking tank and such a relaxing thing in my home office. Everything is settled back down. Next month we will do the first water change but I did just change the socks since we moved everything from the small tank, including water, sand, etc. so it definitely needed it.

Meanwhile, back at the 100, did a water change and dealt with the loss of two fish. Apparently Meshach & Abednego didn’t make it out of the fire Not sure if I will replace them but that leaves one small, shy fire goby. I see the issue as being out matched on getting food so I’m working on trying to feed it individually but that is so tough with aggressive eaters!

My LFS has had 3 wrasses in QT for me for 2 months now and they were finally ready to come live with us. Meet Sirius, my Mystery Wrasse, Remus, my Lubbock’s Fairy Wrasse, and Fawkes, my Naoko’s Fairy Wrasse. Yes I went Harry Potter this time! Pics to follow when the lights come on!

Updates…Picasso is still a delight to watch and thanks to @Reef By Steele I’ll be learning how to culture pods so I can be consistent in dosing and feeding! My protein skimmer went berserk a few days ago and we had to elevate it and make adjustments but it seems to have finally calmed down. It is still so new and hasn’t really had enough going in to get it “seasoned” yet! My LFS gave me what they said was a frogspawn, but as we all keep looking at it, it looks more like a frammer. Here’s the thing though…the frogspawn it was fragged from is definitely different and what I’d call traditional looking. The frag is these big, fat and part hammer/frogspawn shaped tentacles. I’ll attach a pic too later! Whatever it is though, it’s nice to have my garden growing!

I added a Mayan looking ceramic head to the 70…want to grow cyphastrea on it.. I’m thinking multi colors to give it that Mayan look!

@coralmonsters.judy PM me as I may have a client for you (and I’m still waiting for my 70 to mature a bit before I get my RFA going!).

 

[tharbin]

Very nice tanks Bonnie. I love the methodical approach you are taking to getting it all up and running.

 

[BonnieB]

Very nice tanks Bonnie. I love the methodical approach you are taking to getting it all up and running.

Thank you. Old “er” and lessons learned from my previous disasters!

 

[BonnieB]

Here are the pics…I just don’t know why the fish don’t hold still while I’m trying to take pics! They’re worse than toddlers! . I couldn’t find my filters so excuse the blue! And the frogspawn/hammer/frammer thing is there too!

 

[BonnieB]

Excited about how things are moving along. If I haven’t said it already, patience is definitely not one of my virtues and the one thing that this hobby teaches you, I have found, more than anything is that you have to have patience!

I finally got to work with the protein skimmer after raising it and adjusting the valves and finally it is working to where I actually had to clean it out this morning for the first time! I know it’s the little things that get me so excited!

One of the things that has me so happy is the health of the three wrasses and my little Mandarin, Picasso. I am so in love with the four of them!

I have a biofilm just about every day on the glass, which I am attributing to the fact that I’m feeding the copepods that I keep seeding for Picasso and the rest of the gang! Everything else (parameters wise) seems to be in order in my 100 now that I have the doser dialed in. Still not sure what I’m going to use the fourth dose for, but very possibly trace elements or if there’s something individual that I really need like manganese. Yet to be determined!

Corals are doing well. Got my first couple of aiptasia and some bubble algae,but in the, “I will never say never” mode, I now have two emerald crabs and a peppermint shrimp. The crabs have already started annihilating. The bubble algae will see if the little tiny peppermint shrimp is the fix or if we have to do something different with the aiptasia.

The 70 is just holding steady. I added more snails to both tanks. Okay @coralmonsters.judy ,let’s talk next week about adding some bling!

My success this week is that I just harvested my first phytoplankton, and my copepods are ready to be harvested as well! I’m so very proud of myself! I was a nervous wreck trying to set it all up. And then long story short, the transformer in my backyard blew up (way more to this including getting shocked myself!) two days after I started the cultures and we lost power for two days. I was hooking up every battery powered everything I own to keep tanks and cultures going. What a wild week it has been!! As crazy as it may sound, I’m loving all the trials and tribulations and the opportunities to learn and grow!

Till next report, Happy Reefing, my friends!

 

[BonnieB]

I’m sure I’ve said this before here or in other threads but reefing is a journey not a destination. As soon as we view it as a destination we lose sight of the living beauty that we are striving to grow and care for. That means there will be paths less traveled and roads we forever spin in circles in and those chill rides we wish would never end.

I entered the land of aiptasia and bubble algae a few weeks ago. No problem, peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs and voila done, right? Nah, aiptasia started spreading and so did the bubble algae… not to self to bring Mr. Crabs out of sump prison! Okay, well the peppermint shrimp in all honesty was the size of my pinkie nail so who knows if he’s even alive at that point.

Plan two - get two peppermint shrimp and a Foxface for the outbreaks. Shrimp went right to work…Foxface was like Seymour in “Little Shop of Hortirs” and just stared at me and said “Feed me” all day but I’m not eating that bubble algae junk!

Finally bit the bullet and got in and manually removed the bubble algae and what do you know, as long as it’s floating in the water column the Fishface will eat it!

My Foxface reminds me of Kung Fu Panda so I named him Po. He’s a good algae eater and a huge eater period.

Also added Mamba (Royal gramma) and while he’s the shyest of the bunch he’s making himself known a little more each day.

I also added a Ruby Red Dragonet and he is absolutely gorgeous…and a male with all the colorations. His name is Matisse because well why not stick with the arts. He and Picasso have already made friends and I see them exploring the rocks together. Keeping that pod population going is the challenge I’m working on since I failed at pod culturing 101 so far. I’m going to try again after the holidays so we’ll see. In the meantime it’s getting them here to populate. At least my phyto culture has given me three harvests so far!

That’s all the news for the 100 besides the skimmer tuning that’s making me crazy! The 70 I just added a skimmer and so that needs to go through its priming phase but for the moment it seems to be doing its thing. I was having an algae issue so I brought in a Lawnmower Blenny and he went right to work. He’s a big fellow so I have pellets for him to supplement. His name is “Plough”. I love how he comes out and sits and watches me while I’m working (70 is in my office).

I need to do some adjusting on both tanks bc I’m getting very fine air bubbles. Having my aquarium friends come look at it and advise me.

Sorry for the blurry pics but here are Po, Matisse and Plough (hiding in his favorite shelter!).

 

[BonnieB]

Most of my tank now from the other day…corals are taking off…for fish, Matisse (Ruby Red Dragonet) has now joined Picasso (usually they are paling around together but I didn’t see him no matter how much I looked for this video!) and Zeb (because he looks like a zebra), my Striped Dottyback, has comfortably settled in! A little long because I was hoping to get the mandarin with his buddy but serene and relaxing nonetheless! Enjoy

 

[BonnieB]

My buddies playing hide and seek!

And my nem finally moved off the bottom rock tonight…Not sure if Po is happy about that!

 

[BonnieB]

Look who decided to grow a zoa garden!