ZipAdeeZoa's Fluval evo 13.5 Build thread

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Alright I'm not super proud of what happened this morning... I checked my email this morning and saw the newsletter from the company I ordered my corals from- there had been an update all the frags just posted were 50% off for thanksgiving. When I placed my last order someone swooped up a wysiwyg purple monster frag before I got them into my cart but when I saw them today along with a frag of utter chaos and a colony of rainbow incinerators- Purple monster and utter chaos made into the cart but the rainbows were grabbed by someone else So I just added a frag of pipe organ and called it a day ;Hilarious

The corals from the last order are doing really well and only things of concern are spirorbid worms (although I hear they are just an eye sore and it doesn't seem realistic to avoid them- looking for opinions on this) and a tube or two of vermetid snail on the blasto, I never saw any sign the worm was in the tube suggesting the dip may have killed it but I still crushed the tube and then super glued over it.

The new corals are coming in this Wednesday and by then the corals will have been in QT for 19 days so I have plan A and B. Option A is scrub the plugs of the old corals, add them to the dip with new corals and restart the 45 day QT clock.

B scrub the plugs as best I can, add the corals I currently have (short the blasto until I'm more confident I've gotten rid of the vermetid snails) before I dip and add the new corals to the qt.

Leaning toward A because I feel it's the more responsible option but open to suggestions. I realize getting new coral while other corals are in QT is far from responsible but I've dreamed about these zoas for so long I'm ok with that risk especially since all the coral are from the same supplier. I'll be sure to update on Wednesday or shortly after!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

The new corals arrived! I'm not going to lie I have no regrets about this decision, the corals are stunning and I noticed some bonuses in the bag with the pipe organ- two micro brittle stars on the skeleton of the pipe organ! I pulled them off with some tweezers and placed them in cup with a little water from thee bag before I dipped the corals since I knew the dip would spell their end. I dipped the corals and flushed them in the dip for 15 minutes with a turkey baster focusing on the pipe organs extraordinary skeleton.

Despite my aggressive coral dipping there is quite a bit of life that seems to be un-phased by the coral RX, notably some sort of limpet, spirobid worms, some pods and what appears to be sphagetti worm of sorts (only one I have reservations about). The quarantine clock has been reset so 45 todays began on Wednesday and I'm hoping that I'll get my mp10 sorted in that time. Until then enjoy the photos!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Well its time for the 1 year update! I'm in Florida right now (where I was when I started this thread)

Unfortunately the tank isn't quite where I want it to be... Due to the lack of a pump, despite my best detritus sucking efforts- the hair algae got away from me. I haven't just rolled over and let this happen, I feed minimally, do two 2-4 gallon water changes a week and manually remove as much as I can every time but with in a few days it comes back exactly as it was. After doing this for a few months and not seeing any changes I went on algae battle reading spiral and after a ton of research and debate I've decided to try Vibrant upon my return in tandem with my manual removal.

All the tanks residents don't seem to mind and have all been doing well, the only recent drama was that Atlas appears to have split his lower jaw. How he managed to do this I do not know but he can still eat just fine so it appears to just be cosmetic.

The goodish news is that my QT tank looks better than my DT ;Hilarious Unfortunately I did have my first coral mortality- I lost my LA lakers after they're plug grew some cyano. I did my best to brush it off consistently and I did it get it to the point where stopped coming back however the little zoas could't handling of them and one by one they melted away. I'm bummed a lost my first marine creature doing so nearly 1 year in suppose is a pretty good track record.

With the exception of LA lakers, all the other corals are thriving! All of the zoas added quite a few polyps, the blasto has small head poking out the side, the nepthea shed and nearly doubled its mass and the pipe organ is having no issue laying down new skeleton! With all the corals thriving and my confidence in keeping them growing I decided to go ahead and order some more!

Fragbox had an intense "Fragboxing day sale" and I scooped up 8 new corals! All but two are WYSIWYG but I couldn't resist 2 polyps of Sunny D's and 2 polyps of WWC illumanti! Outside of that I got two more frags of blasto (another of the same colour and one with a purple skirt/green center), A sweet looking duncan, more utter chaos, rainbow clove polyps and beautiful splatter hammer! I get home on January 6th and they'll all be showing up on the 8th if everything goes as planned!

Lastly but not least I got a few new inverts to help keep the corals cleaned off make some food for them so I decided to join the snail club! I picked up two trochus snails over the last few weeks one of which is a normal size and the other is about the size of a dime. I have named them Artemis and Persephone and really enjoy their antics and effectiveness!

In other news I fin ally got a working MP10 last week and got everything hooked up to the batter backup before I left! The next big thing I have to worry about is I need to move both tanks across the house shortly after I get home. I have a plan... ish... Anyway until then enjoy the photos! (Also the hair algae is way worse than in the bottom photo since that was right after plucking... I'll take an updated one after I get back).

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Hello everyone!

A lot has happened in my life and that has meant less time on R2R and certainly less updates but the tank has been progressing so I'm going to break it down into different post over the next few days- today is all about the corals!

I got a bunch of new coral- I ordered 9 pieces because the coral shop I buy from had a nice sale and I could't resist! This happened over boxing day while I was in Florida but they don't ship any livestock over the holidays and it worked out that the first day they started shipping again was the day I got home! Now heres where things didn't work... There was a storm brewing and I in my excitement forgot to check the weather... the result was next day delivery taking a full 3 days to reach me. Icing on the cake was that when I got fedex to drop off the package my nearest staples I arrived to discover the driver had noticed the box said perishable and figured that meant keep it cool- so instead of leaving it at the staples he put back in the truck and I wasn't able to get it for an additional 3 hours... I really feared the worse.

However out of 9 corals only 2 didn't make it, full credit to the awesome packing job! The only bummer was that one of them happened to be the coral I looked forward to the most, a gorgeous splatter hammer that was set to be my first euphyllia but is simply wasn't meant to be. II kept the hammer in the QT tank hoping it might bounce back it continued to recede until there was nothing but the hauntingly beautiful skeleton. after giving them a week to show any signs of life I put the hammer and a frag of rainbow clove polyps that also didn't make it into the green bin... But the damage was done.

The next day my favourite coral- the bright green nepthea was very upset and several nub where polys would have been where black. Fearing the worst I posted on here and the consensus was the dreaded black bugs. I panicked and called my reefing coworker- He said if you don't want to loose everything we have to act now. I didn't sleep that night, knowing what I had do the next day and the thought of loosing everything I couldn't find it in me to shut my eyes.

the next morning I bagged up all of my corals and took them to the shop for my co worker to perform his intense dipping regiment that he was confident would do the trick. The process would take an hour and half and in that time I zoomed home and completely broke down the QT tank. I pulled my two snail and left them in a cup of tank water while I worked, I made all knew frag racks, tossed all the filter media and soaked the heater and filter in icy RODI after individually scrubbing every component. I wiped out the hole tank with a scrubby brush and tap water, hot, cold, hot again and then wiped it all out. I then doused the entire thing with peroxide and let scrubbed each side of the tank once again making sure to let the puddle of peroxide sit on every pain while I scrubbed its adjacent. I finished with an RODI scrub and rinse. I started mixing as much saltwater as I could. I re assembled the tank and took a breather until a got the text that the corals we're ready to go.

I arrived to see my prized corals all looking amazing! the nepthea had even started to extend some polyps! I brought the corals home with some ceramic media from one of the stores established tanks, put them back into the tank and then grabbed the two snails and and gave their shells the scrub of a life time before placing them back into the tank.

That was January 13th- Since then I have been watching my corals like a hawk and am happy to report that I have not seen any evidence of those black dots since. All the corals have been continuing to grow and thrive, I even fed some of them some pellets for the first time with great results! For those wondering what the new additions are I got frags of an awesome duncan, Sunny D's, 2 frags of WWC illumanti, more utter chaos, more candy apple blastos and another type of blasto with much larger polyps. I'll try and get some photos of them all ASAP but my computer has been acting up so don't hold your breath ;Hilarious

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Hello Everyone!

Well I'm really out of excuses for not updating my build thread- can't say I have anything better to do now ;Hilarious

So far so good with the GHA, I believe I'm on week 8 or 9 with the vibrant and its considerably better than it was! definitely not a quick fix but the algae is thinning out and after Its removed it really doesn't seem to come back in that spot. Also any new surfaces introduced to the tank don't develop the algae so I think its really just a waiting game with my continued manual removal.

Due to Covid 19 I was away from my tanks for a full month instead of the planned 2 weeks and although things weren't pretty when I got back I'm happy to report that there where no losses! In fact several corals added many more polyps although they all certainly perked up after a long over due water change.

I promise this will be the only downer in this update- a few months before I left for my trip my first ever salt water fish passed away. Atlas somehow split his jaw and despite my best efforts his ability to eat was compromised. I leaned a lot from that fish and I will really miss him. Rest in peace Atlas.

I was honestly heart broken and after thinking about it long and hard I've decided that my little evo won't have any more fish in it going forward. I just feel the tank is too small for any fish I'd want and I think invert only is better for me at this point in my reefing adventure.

With that said after the incident with the coral, then Atlas and a few non reef related events I became a bit depressed. My girl friend noticed and talked me into visiting a new reef store that had opened up a little ways away. I realized I needed to do something to get out of the house so I agreed. The store was amazing and the coral were phenomenal. I brought some rainy day bills I had stashed away for reef stuff just in case although I'm not getting any new corals until the ones in QT are in the display after the last incident...

Any way I had become enamoured with the cleaner shrimp at the store I worked at had talked about getting with my girlfriend before but before I could scoop one up they were all sold. With this in mind as I peaked around the store I noted a few shrimp. After my GF saw I was interested in them it was all over, I wasn't leaving with out something to breathe some new life into my tank. One blood shrimp I was looking at came right out of hiding when I peered into his tank and I knew that was the one. So without further ado- the newest addition to the family is Helios, a fire shrimp. Although I've had for a few months he's only just started to come out of hiding every know and then but when I do see him he certainly puts a smile on my face. Below are photos of him and the corals mentioned in the last post, Enjoy!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Update time! A lot has changed in my little tank over the last few months so let's break it down!

Corals are in the tank! Between my continued manual removal and adjusting my vibrant dose (I was doing once a week because I thought I had GHA, now I'm dosing twice a week which is much more effective on turf algae and explains why treatment was taking so long ;Hilarious ) I've really started to win the war! On top of the DT looking much better I foolishly moved my pipe organ to a part of the QT tank with lover flow- next day the frag was covered in cyano... I new I had to act quickly so I moved all the other unaffected corals to the new tank so I could deal with the cyano on its own.

I couldn't believe how full the tank looks after adding my frags! I know the epoxy everywhere looks bugs a lot of reefers (especially the amount I used) but I can see the bigger picture and know that eventually my precious coral's growth will cover them up. Despite having my tanks setup for over a year I've never felt this happy with my progress, where my tank is and the direction that its going. Its been one heck of a ride but I'm loving it! my biggest issue at the moment is my nepthea being extra floppy due to the flow and my tank looks so full already I really need to be more selective with what corals I'm getting and where they go!


Now onto the best part, I got some new additions! After a lot of research I decided a pom pom crab would be my next resident and after some waiting I was able to pick one up at one my LFS's. I went to the store with my girlfriend and although it took a few tries to locate and then catch the pom pom it was well worth the wait! although it only has one claw and one nem I'm confident it will have two of each eventually! On our way out I was looking at some coral and something caught my girlfriends eye. In the frag tank some sort of porcelain crab had come in as a hitchhiker. She was fascinated by the way it fanned and I had done enough research on them to know what was about to happen next... We left with two crabs that day;Hilarious. Although I don't know exactly what kind he is I think he's really cool addition.

Lastly for this update- For the first time in a long time i saw a piece on my coral vendors website that I just couldn't pass up (actually a few of them). I had been discouraged from my last order and the although I only lost 2 out 9 corals in that fedex fiasco A dream coral of mine was one that perished. I can't explain why I'm so drawn to hammer corals but I knew from the beginning that a few varieties would be part of my reef. Since a few weeks after that incident I had been waiting, checking the sight daily for a hammer that spoke to me and although a few pieces caught my attention over the last few months a few days ago I saw one and I just knew I couldn't let it get away. Asides from a gorgeous hammer I grabbed a frag of Palythoa grandis, rainbow clove polyps and a long tentacle toadstool leather. Better yet I had credit for the last hammer and the clove polyps are a replacement for the ones that didn't make it from the shipping incident before. They all arrive tomorrow and I'm beyond stoked!

I guess that wraps its up, apologies for long winded updates... I really need to try and do more frequent smaller ones. As always here are the photos! The two frag photos are the Wysiwyg shots from the site the others are just frags but I'll be posting photos once I get them and once they open up!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

They arrived!

I knew the corals we're supposed to show up today although I was really expecting them to arrive while I was at work- not halfway through my breakfast- I'm a slow eater but that changed today since the corals showed up 30 minutes before I had to head to work;Dead

I was so nervous opening the box, I just kept thinking of the box before where the first thing I saw was the white skeleton of a dying hammer- Luckily when I opened this box the first thing I saw was my gorgeous hammer partially extended! Work was pretty stressful today so when I got home it was awesome to see everyone starting to open up. I pulled stool up to the QT tank and just sat there for about an hour taking it all in. Nothing of concern showed up in the dip although I noted two vermatid snails on the hammers skeleton so I'll hit them with the super glue 1 2 punch in a day or two after they've settled in a little more. Here are some photos of everyone except the clove polyps since they haven't really committed to opening yet and honestly look really ugly when they are closed up;Hilarious

 

[najer]

They look very happy.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

They look very happy.

Thankfully they all seem to be! I'm surprised the hammer seems to be settling in the fastest, I had it in my head that would be the finicky one- definitely not complaining though!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Well only a week after I ordered my new corals the website I buy from added some new coral and one of them was a beautiful splatter hammer like the one I lost in shipping before. So I grabbed it... And a few others... They will be arriving on Tuesday! In the order they are pictured (hopefully). A Splatter hammer, Forest fire mushroom, Rainbow clove polyps, Magician and Princess 99 zoa's. All of them are wysiwyg!

 

[EagleEye121]

Looking good! Watching this one

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Looking good! Watching this one

Thank you very much!

Today I got a call from Fragbox, the gentleman who called said there was an issue with a coral and I immediately knew it would be with the hammer. I don't know why the world decided I can't have a splatter hammer but Its getting old;Hilarious

Apparently there was a mix up at the store and some lucky reefer bought my hammer! I was told that they had other splatters although none we're exactly like the one I had colour wise. With that said he told me there was one nicer one left and sent me a photo. I'm not going to lie, I like this one better! I received confirmation that all the corals have been shipped and will be arriving tomorrow (with any luck before I go to work). I'll be sure to post pictures once I get home from work. In the mean time here is the new hammer!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Once again just before I had to leave for work they arrived! Although the bar was pretty high they all exceeded my expectations and I could't be happier! They definitely sent me the wrong Princess 99 frag since the one I ordered had 4 heads and the one that showed had 2 but I really don't mind, growing them out is one of the best parts! The splatter hammer is somehow more awesome than I thought it would be despite 8 months of hype

They also sent me a freebie zoa for the troubles with my hammer! I believe they sell this variety as a Dracula but googling that doesn't show them- I love the way it looks nonetheless! Once again nothing alarming in the dipping process but I'm still going to keep a close eye on them all. I'll try and get some better photos in the next few days, here are some "I need to be at work right now but corals" photos ;Hilarious

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

So... shortly after the last impulsive coral order the site had an update... This time I'm really done ordering for the next month or so. When I placed the last order I told the GF I would only add more to it if they posted some sweet ricordea, turns out I jinxed the heck out of myself... The day after I received my last order they posted all the pieces pictured below. Including a pretty nice blasto colony (idk why but I have a real soft spot for those) so I picked them all up to add to my blasto garden and get started on my ricordea garden! I can't believe the colours on these things and although I probably should I have no regrets ;Dead

I also noticed my magician from the last order seemed irritated so I took a closer look and found 2 small aiptasia growing from the base of the small rock the polyp sits on. While I had my hands in the tank adding the new corals I pulled out the magician and put a stupid amount of super glue all around the base of the polyp. Unfortunately a tiny nub was starting to develop at the bottom of the polyp right where the larger aiptasia was. For the good of the future colony it was also encased in superglue. I'm keeping a close eye on all the corals now but I'm pretty confident I got those suckers early enough but only time will tell. I saw pretty much instant improvement after gluing so I'm sure it will bounce back. So far this QT tank has stopped vermetid snails, black bugs and know aiptasia. It's certainly proven to be worth the effort!

The only other concerning thing is my toadstool still hasn't opened and I feel like it should have after 21 days. I had to shuffle some of the corals around to make room for the new additions so while I was doing that I moved the toad stool to an area with higher flow, hopefully thats all it needs. I'm new to toadstools but I'd be surprised if their shed cycle was this long- if anyone has any tips I'm all ears!

I know I need to clean the glass of the qt tank... that will happen during this weeks water change!

 

[EagleEye121]

How are all the frags doing? Let’s see some pics

 

[Melanie Fish]

Aquasacape looks really cool!!

 

[Corncracker]

The new corals arrived! I'm not going to lie I have no regrets about this decision, the corals are stunning and I noticed some bonuses in the bag with the pipe organ- two micro brittle stars on the skeleton of the pipe organ! I pulled them off with some tweezers and placed them in cup with a little water from thee bag before I dipped the corals since I knew the dip would spell their end. I dipped the corals and flushed them in the dip for 15 minutes with a turkey baster focusing on the pipe organs extraordinary skeleton.

Despite my aggressive coral dipping there is quite a bit of life that seems to be un-phased by the coral RX, notably some sort of limpet, spirobid worms, some pods and what appears to be sphagetti worm of sorts (only one I have reservations about). The quarantine clock has been reset so 45 todays began on Wednesday and I'm hoping that I'll get my mp10 sorted in that time. Until then enjoy the photos!

Very nice indeed...may I as where you bought them and what light are you using....thanks

 

[revhtree]

Nice additions!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

How are all the frags doing? Let’s see some pics

They're all doing good! No proof of life from the aptasia, hopefully that continues! The Toadstool was/is just shedding and it's been a few days since it started. I moved it to a spot with some higher flow but it still looks like it might need a little more. I'm going to give it a few more days before I try and do anything drastic but I really want to see it open ;Hilarious I had to reshuffle some corals around as the clove polyps were reaching onto some surrounding plugs. There was also an incident with the splatter hammer... I lost track of where the syphon was and sucked off a few tentacles. Luckily the damage appears to have just been cosmetic, its just slightly less fluffy on one side now. Lesson learned;Dead

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Aquasacape looks really cool!!

Thanks! I'm a lot happier with it since I pulled out that piece of branch, it looked really nice but it will look so much better when my nepthea fills in that space!