Turtle's Fairy Tale

Katrina71 · Mar 21, 2020

I'm glad you're able to work, and I'm worry at the same time.

SashimiTurtle · Mar 21, 2020

Katrina71 said:
I'm glad you're able to work, and I'm worry at the same time.

How is Myrtle Beach? You still down there?

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

Quick alk check earlier today before I left for nightshift... last shift this rotation, going on my week off this week. Whole world is probably going to be different by the time I go back. May end up "quarantined" at work.

Anyway, alk was 7.5, down 0.1 since Wednesday. I bumped up daily dose to 7ml, or an increase of 2ml a day from the last increase. 6 is probably the magic number to hold steady at 7.5, but I want to raise it up to 8.0... and usually once you get things back stable, you have to increase the dose because corals start growing that much more. Tank is still looking good, SPS has good color and I may see a tiny bit of encrusting action going on from the acros.

Magellan · Mar 22, 2020

Robin Haselden said:
Quick alk check earlier today before I left for nightshift... last shift this rotation, going on my week off this week. Whole world is probably going to be different by the time I go back. May end up "quarantined" at work.

Anyway, alk was 7.5, down 0.1 since Wednesday. I bumped up daily dose to 7ml, or an increase of 2ml a day from the last increase. 6 is probably the magic number to hold steady at 7.5, but I want to raise it up to 8.0... and usually once you get things back stable, you have to increase the dose because corals start growing that much more. Tank is still looking good, SPS has good color and I may see a tiny bit of encrusting action going on from the acros.

Are you testing at the same time every day/time you test?

Katrina71 · Mar 22, 2020

I hope you don't get QT'd there. Been forced to stay at work like that too.

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

Magellan said:
Are you testing at the same time every day/time you test?

Probably not... usually test mid day but it's not exactly on the hour accurate. I know you're supposed to test at the same time every day, my schedule doesnt often allow for that tho.

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

Katrina71 said:
I hope you don't get QT'd there. Been forced to say at work like that too.

They are currently asking for volunteers. It's still a maybe anyway. 2 weeks of straight 12s is rough, especially when you don't get to go home. If it happens, I'll likely be in the second wave.

Magellan · Mar 22, 2020

Robin Haselden said:
Probably not... usually test mid day but it's not exactly on the hour accurate. I know you're supposed to test at the same time every day, my schedule doesnt often allow for that tho.

What interval is your auto doser set at?

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

Magellan said:
What interval is your auto doser set at?

Every 4 hours it doses part 1 one the hour, and part 2 on the quarter hour.

Magellan · Mar 22, 2020

Robin Haselden said:
Every 4 hours it doses part 1 one the hour, and part 2 on the quarter hour.

Ah so definitely doesn’t matter as much as it does with my “schedule” (once a day!), but still could easily account for .1 or even more.

I keep meaning to spend an entire day repeatedly testing in order to chart my consumption, but somehow have found an excuse to never, ever do that ;Hilarious

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

I say every 4 hours... I'll have to check the doser. I can't look at it right now, I have to be on the same wifi as the doser to look at it.

Magellan · Mar 22, 2020

Robin Haselden said:
I say every 4 hours... I'll have to check the doser. I can't look at it right now, I have to be on the same wifi as the doser to look at it.

Dosers scare me. I feel like I can hear Murphy and his Law start laughing anytime I think about getting one...

SashimiTurtle · Mar 22, 2020

Magellan said:
Dosers scare me. I feel like I can hear Murphy and his Law start laughing anytime I think about getting one...

My Coralbox has been rock solid. Do not get a Jebao...

SashimiTurtle · Mar 23, 2020

We got our fluconazole in today. Super fast shipping. I was expecting it by the end of the week. I cut open 10, 200mg capsules (totally didnt look like I was up to anything nefarious) and dissolved it best we could in some tank water. After that I unplugged the skimmer and dossed the sump so it could slowly get pumped up to the display. I need to read the thread on this stuff again, but I think 3 days without skimmer and 2 weeks treatment...? maybe more for ulva.

Anyway, I have an FTS and some close ups of the bad spots to track progress. Water is cloudy in the pictures but cleared up shortly after.

T0

Victoria M · Mar 30, 2020

It worked for me. It was a few years ago, but it worked.

SashimiTurtle · Mar 31, 2020

So far, no sign of progress on the ulva... what's it been, a week? I lose track of things. That's why I record them here... I also added some to my Menagerie tank. Hopefully it doesnt kill the mangroves, but I have some kind of algae that feels like a scotch brite pad and will not come off the rocks in there.

Corals are looking good... the KZ Sponge Power, I can't give a long term review, but I can tell the corals know when I dose it. All 3 acropora are doing well. The green slimmer is GREEEEEN...

I know most people think of it as a weed acro, but I've always loved it. FHC Kryptonic is showing some nice encrusting. Not on rock yet but it's working on the glue. I'm certain moving it down was the right choice. TSA Carolina Reaper isnt as colorful and hasn't really grown much at all. Pretty sure it's too high also.

Which leads me to discuss some changes... the tower rock. I'm pretty certain I'm going to remove it. I think I'm going to replace it with at least 2 boxes of the caribsea shapes. My reasons are,

It's too tall. Even high light acros, it's just too much of a hot spot up top, and why adjust light for one coral when the rest of the tank is perfect.
It's impossible to light properly in my tank. It's mostly shaded, this gives me some unique higher placement options for my LPS, but it takes up a lot of room and has very limited SPS placements.
It has almost no cover for fish. It has a few ledges, but since adding it my tomini tang has gone postal.

My female clown has a torn dorsal fin, 2 cuts on one side and 3 on the other. They all look like they are healing and I see no signs of infection, but she's taking a beating. I added a second nori clip to the tank yesterday and watched them. It seems to be territorial, as in there isnt enough. The only "cave" is the shapes over on the left side. The tomini used to stay over on the right side of the tank in all the branch rocks... I removed his cover and he's stressed, and taking it out on the only other fish his size, who also wont back down from her trachy host, which is in the center of the tank.

I can think of one thing to do with that rock... cut it in half and use it at a later date on a later project. Both the top and bottom are perfectly flat. You can stand it on either end. I put the large end on the bottom for obvious reasons, but it is stable either way. I think it would be at a much better height for coral placement and lighting at half its height.