thirdchild's JBJ 24G

[thirdchild]

Day 109, Added a tiny Randall's pistol shrimp, False Percula Clown and a new toadstool. Not sure if the two Randalls got together yet, but I have hopes of seeing both one day...The goby remains shy. It's eating something else probably because it only eats 1-3 mysis pieces a day.

 

And here's the pic on day 110.

 

I'm expecting some zoas in a few days, and then it's another 3-4 week span before another fish.... and maybe more corals.

 

[thirdchild]

Day 120, 4 months.

 

To try and entice the goby to eat, I've added plankton and krill to the brine and mysis rotation. Still finicky but I hope it looks ok. The pistol shrimp got trapped by the skimmer twice so I think it might be too small!

 

6 zoa frags came too, but the xenia was wilting so I moved it out of the pump's shade.

 

[Arkayology]

Nice tank. Everything looks ok (except for the xenia?).

 

Do you soak the food in garlic? If not, that may entice the goby to eat more.

[thirdchild]

Nice tank. Everything looks ok (except for the xenia?).

 

Do you soak the food in garlic? If not, that may entice the goby to eat more.

 

Yeah I've tried 1 drop and 2 drops left in the cup for a couple of minutes when I feed mysis. I use vita-chem or selcon when I try brine, plankton or krill.

[thirdchild]

Day 146, Added Duncans a day ago and they're slowly extending. 5 heads was a very nice surprise! I thought I was getting a 1-2 head frag. Xenia magically moved itself up to a higher rock and I think it's happier now.

 

Maybe regular exposure to garlic is the key because the goby's getting more assertive about grabbing food. I'm expecting one more coral shipment then it's time to pick the 3rd fish. If the bubble/hair algae still won't go away, I'll think about a emerald crab.

 

 

[thirdchild]

Day 153, Not much action here.

 

Added a ricordea and a mini carpet anemone 3 days ago. Did a little algae plucking and cleared some space on the sand for one future acan / blastomussa.

 

I'll see about that emerald crab and some more chaeto this weekend. If I'm very lucky, I'll pickup a 3rd fish (fridmani/tailspotblenny)

 

But yes, apparently fish poop does fertilize algae.

[thirdchild]

Day 157, Man... except for a few patches of bubble algae and turf algae I thought the tank was good after 5 months! I dipped every new coral but apparently flatworms were having a party without me. Not a lot around but still creeping me out. Flatworm Exit ordered along with carbon. I'll read up on the recommended dosing strategies and will cut back on feeding to once every other day.

 

In other news, added a emerald crab and a midas blenny this weekend. That concludes my livestocking.

[thirdchild]

Well after the initial freak out, I've discovered a couple of things...

 

I like to fix things with more stuff, which isn't the best thing... and blows away my budget. Striving for a 'perfect' tank is good... makes you be more careful and plan things out. But problems will happen, so you freak out.

 

But I'm a bazillion times bigger than a flatworms. So I'll assert my authority and win out.

[thirdchild]

Ok, only rotated rock on the left and flow is better now in the middle. I hope I didn't crush the pistol shrimp because it lives right under there.

 

But now the tank looks a tad uneven to me with the Koralia at the top left. Hmmm.

 

 

[thirdchild]

Sucked flatworms, and treated with flatworm exit today. Pulled out the media basket to make room for a big bag of carbon, chemi-pure elite and purigen. Definitely need more chaeto since apparently it melted down to a couple of strings.

 

Xenia and duncans shrunk a little, but I'm not sure if it's the carbon or the flatworm nastiness. I'll pull the activated carbon in a day though just in case.

[kellerexpress]

watch your corals, if tons of flatworms die all at once they can release toxins in the water. If things are looking wierd do some water changes.

[thirdchild]

Applied 2x the dosage this time, and strangely, everything seem better off. I still have like 4-6 flatworms on my glass each day though :-(

 

Should I dose again this weekend?

 

Also somehow a mp10 fell into my shopping cart while I was getting some new purigen. This is what happens when I get my tax refund... I kind of feel like I drank the marketing kool-aid but who am I to argue with public opinion. The manual lacks the night mode though!

[thirdchild]

Day 180 and man I've got battles to fight.... flatworms, bryopsis, turf algae and diatoms

 

About 3 more weeks before another flatworm nuke attempt. So I'm only plucking the bryopsis and turf algae for now. I wonder what I'm doing wrong... because I now have a light dusting of diatoms on the sand. Seems like a bad idea to fight other battles, so I'll just continue the 25% water changes for now and be patient...

 

I wonder what I'm doing wrong though?

 

 

[thirdchild]

It's a little over 7 months now, everything is still alive, especially the pest algae!

 

I swapped to killing bryopsis about 2 weeks ago, and I'm on my 2nd bottle of Kent Tech-M. Stuff works, but there are still some stubborn patches. Turf algae took over the top rock when the chiton left for another rock and the diatoms was actually cyano!

 

I do think the additional current is helping the corals grow more rapidly though. I see some baby duncan heads and the frogspawn is finally splitting.

 

Next stop RODi unit of my very own, (supermarket RO TDS is 7-14!) The blenny is now interested in the camera but refuses to stay still.

 

[thirdchild]

Nearly 8 months now. After 2 water changes with the RODI and lots of Tech M. the bryopsis continues to weaken. Turf algae doesn't seem as perky but still on the top rock. I'll continue plucking away and probably buy a couple more snails.

 

I saw the pistol shrimp for the first time in weeks.... haha I thought it died.

[thirdchild]

Well added 2 little nerites, 1 peppermint shrimp and 1 turbo snail yesterday.

 

Also impulsively bought a tiny chalice frag... I really shouldn't go to the LFS with cash in my pocket.. it's dangerous! Sadly I didn't notice that it was receding a bit. I fed it a brine shrimp today though, we'll see it it grows.

 

 

[thirdchild]

Rescaped a little because I didn't have very many good spots for new coral.

 

So now it's kind of a slope made of rocks in the front with some gaps here and there. I hope it's actually better looking too...

 

(Also took a couple of minutes to fix the pictures in this thread. Heh.)

 

[thirdchild]

Seriously! Rescaping is some scary stuff. Rescape gone bad thread

 

I decided I wanted a bigger change, and tipped over the really big rock on the left. Unfortunately, the sand underneath the rock was filled with evil and stirring it up left the fish gasping on the sand.

 

After 3-4 rounds of WC, new carbon, lots of filter floss, blenny, clown and goby are all hiding, but alive.... I plan to continue monitoring and do a tiny 1g or 2g WC each day for the next week.

[thirdchild]

So far so good...fish swimming and most corals open. So picture time!

 

Front

 

Cave from the left corner

 

Left

 

Right... as you can see bryopsis

 

Angle from the top. The top of the cave isn't solid, got some holes

[thirdchild]

Well I ended up doing a 2g water change every other day this week. Nothing appears to be cheesed off. Then I ran low on salt, and ended up falling off the coral addict wagon. I added a candy cane a few days ago and a random cheap chalice today when I stumbled across the LFS's new location.

 

Of course adding more stuff right now is not a good idea... but at least they're hardy species...

 

 

[thirdchild]

Ok, lots of developments. Got a maxi mini anemone, which is currently wedged between the 2 mini mini anemones

 

Then the fans in my hood died, and then the lights started tripped the GFCI as soon as they turn on via the timer. So after a bit of research, I decided to pick up a nice LED system from another reefer here.

 

Man I didn't know my corals had this much color. Even under 6 sheets of charcoal window screens, the LED lights are shimmering and making the corals look more colorful. Lights made a huge difference. I didn't know the stock lights were that yellowish til I compared this shot today with an older one.

 

Just call me a LED fangirl now But no more purchases for a really long time...

 

 

("After" was color corrected to reflect what I see in person.)

[thirdchild]

 

Ok, so 6 screens were way too much, so I removed 2 layers. Goby disapproves.

[thirdchild]

 

Fish are all fat and sassy, but the corals are still pretty stunned under the new lights. The zoas are slowly opening under daylight though not all the time. The duncans and frogspawn get a little weird looking if I take off the last screen.

 

Then real life intruded with a new job and a business trip and things went freaky while I was away. So green hair algae is back and I'm diligently plucking away.

 

I think I'm going to move away from zoas though, so I'm going to offer these 4 frags up to a good home. These might be bleached though. I haven't seen the skirts out for a while.

 

Pickup from LA. Pm me. Please note, I do have a green hair algae problem... so wysiwyg!

 

4 polyps, blue centers and reddish brown edges

 

2 different ones in this picture.

left, greyish white, lots of polyps.

right, purple centers with greenish outside ring, a few polyps

 

lots of polyps, blue

[thirdchild]

Well the tank's birthday came and went. To combat the hair algae and general issues, I added 2lbs of dead rock and a skimmer. I think things are doing better now!

 

Front

 

Right

 

Left

[thirdchild]

It's been a couple of months but not much to say really. Glued a couple of frags and cleared some room on the sand. Some rocks in the middle took a tumble a couple of weeks ago, but I tried to get it into about the same position as before. Top 1/3 of the tank is just swimming space though. If I can control the algae problem I'd like to put in some sps. The montipora digita is growing but not particularly colorful, the birdsnest frag is fighting off the algae... I hope the new sea urchin does the trick.