Turtle's Fairy Tale

[SashimiTurtle]

Update time, I've been slacking. Biweekly waterchange came on Wednesday, instead of Saturday... but it got done. We also trimmed the sump so we could fit the smaller 3.5 skimmer in the front chamber. The eurobracing around the top needed about an ⅛" cut off so it would fit in. It's running dead silent, and pulling skim. It's a little wetter than I'd like but I think that was from some old funk in the skimmer and mixing ul some dead spots in the sand. I'll probably make a stand for it anyway.

Here is the home of our future cryptic zone. I'm thinking about adding a base layer of some refugium mud, a few pieces of live rock and then maybe seeding a few sponges.

Nutrients are still next to nonexistent even with removal of the fuge, but the tank still looks fine. Maybe a slight improvement. NO3 tested below 0.25 but detectable color with the Red Sea test. The Hanna Phosphate LR checker showed 0ppm. No issues with dinosaurs or cyano, so I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. I have a feeling the vibrant is eating up nutrients.

Speaking of vibrant... it's junk for algae removal. Should have just gotten fluconazole to start with and had this algae dead by now. I might keep it set up on the doser as a small maintenance dose, but that's about all it's good for. I may have noticed a slight reduction in the amount of film on the glass, but it's still there after a day or so.

Corals! We glued some new ones, moved some old ones... I'll just share some pics.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Corona virus update... still working like normal... for some reason people still expect electricity right now.

Tank tested at 7.6dKH the other day during maintenance. Forgot to add that little bit in. I upped my dose to 5ml a day, but have a feeling it will need more than that now that we have some SPS growing.

I backed the Vibrant off to 0.5ml a day, where I was at 2.5ml a day... roughly a quarter of what I was dosing or the recommended dose for a "clean" tank. I ordered some Fluconazole and am going to nuke the ulva, while maintaining the maintenance dose of Vibrant.

After doing some research, all Vibrant is, is a heterotropic bacteria and a carbon source, which is vinegar. The heterotropic word just means an organism that uses carbon for energy instead of sunlight. Its basically ramped up carbon dosing by also adding the bacteria in the bottle, instead of relying on the bacteria in the tank alone. Sp that's exactly where my excess nutrients have been going.

I've also found 2 buckets of Walt Smith Fiji Mud. This stuff was discontinued after the Indo ban 2 years ago... I have 12 lbs of it on the way to put a base layer in my cryptic fuge. Along with the Fiji Mud, I also got some KZ Sponge Power. It's supposed to be a food source that boost sponge and clam growth and also enhances colors for SPS. I also plan on dosing phytoplankton and some oysterfeast to really load the water column up with available food without completely blowing up my nutrients. Heavy in, heavy out.

Once I get the mud I'll add a few pieces of live rock with sponges plus some more bare rocks to grow new sponges.

My current sump flow is main drain to dump chamber, thru a sponge filter, cryptic fuge chamber, probe holder/skimmer chamber, bubble trap/large sponge filter, return chamber. As you can see I've removed the filter sock and only have the large cell sponge filters in place.

Since doing the few changes that I have done, the tank is looking a little happier. I checked the acropora this morning with a flashlight and they both have healthy tissue with good polyp extension. All other SPS is happy and showing growth. LPS has been super fluffy lately also.

 

[Katrina71]

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

 

[SashimiTurtle]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[SashimiTurtle]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[SashimiTurtle]

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.

 

[Katrina71]

I want a big green slimer in ours! One of my favorites!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

One week ulva update... looks like it's grown.