Chucktown BC 29 Mixed Reef

[Elite Twit]

Man, I'm geeky that way too. My girlfriend jsut smiles with that cirtain "inflection" when I start going about what happened on Nano-reef.com, kind of Like: "dude, I'm dating a geek but I still like you." Anyhoo, sorry I got off the subject.

 

Nice article,

Thanks.

 

 

Try explaining that, while you are talking about the races you are going to go to with a bunch of friends at 2 am after you finish playing WOW(World of Warcraft).... now THAT face is worth a million dollars.

 

 

Hope that satisfies the pic fix.

 

I'd have to say I am only half satisfied. On one hand the new pics are amazing and I love all the additions. But on the other hand I didn't get a full tank shot so I couldn't fully appreciate "Monti Row"

[divecj5]

I'd have to say I am only half satisfied. On one hand the new pics are amazing and I love all the additions. But on the other hand I didn't get a full tank shot so I couldn't fully appreciate "Monti Row"

 

Haha...never satisfied

 

I will grab some more today and post them Monday. I just got done razor blading the glass again so it's nice and clean

[divecj5]

Just wanted to post some more of my results of every day testing. Here is where things were last night.

 

Alk: 14 dKH (Getting too high for some reason)

Ca: 380 ppm

Mg: 1250 ppm

 

I'm just not sure what's going on with my Alk readings. I'm starting to think it might be the test or something. Ca is holding steady with what I am dosing but the Alk continues to creep up. Any suggestions on what I should try now?

 

I am dosing Two Little Fishes C-Balance Part A and B. I have been adding equal parts when I dose to keep the Ionic balance. Should I start dosing more of one than the other?

[spanko]

Just wanted to post some more of my results of every day testing. Here is where things were last night.

 

Alk: 14 dKH (Getting too high for some reason)

Ca: 380 ppm

Mg: 1250 ppm

 

I'm just not sure what's going on with my Alk readings. I'm starting to think it might be the test or something. Ca is holding steady with what I am dosing but the Alk continues to creep up. Any suggestions on what I should try now?

 

I am dosing Two Little Fishes C-Balance Part A and B. I have been adding equal parts when I dose to keep the Ionic balance. Should I start dosing more of one than the other?

 

In my opinion yes dose only the calcium side for a while. That is why it is a two part additive. Then you can adjust however much of each it takes to keep things in balance.

[divecj5]

Thanks Spanko. I have a thread rolling in the Advanced section as well. I think I might try and dose a little bit more of the Ca and less of the Alk to see how it does over the next couple of days.

 

Just aggravating trying to get things to where I want them

[spanko]

Just me, but I would not dose more than the recommended dose for your size tank of anything and with you dkh reading I would not dose that at all. I would continue this until those two parameters were in check and then start to do some aggressive testing to see what is being used to determine the appropriate dosing in the future. Also keep testing the Mg it needs to be roughly 3 time what your calcium is in order to balance the other tow. So if it stays at the 1250 mark get your calcium up to about the 415-420 mark and those should be good to go. Hopefully your dkh will be coming sown to the 10 - 11 area during this time.

 

Again just what I would do let's see what others think.

[divecj5]

Thanks bud. I think I am just going test things tonight before my water change tomorrow and see where they are. I might dose some Ca just to make sure it doesn't get too low or out of whack and hold off on the Alk. We'll see here in a couple of days what happens

 

Like you said, gotta go slow with it though. If this hobby has taught me one thing it is patience.

[nUgZ]

I agree...you should only dose your calcium for now until things get back to where they need to be. Then you can figure out what the correct ratio is of each. Maybe you only need to dose your alk supplement every other day while dosing the calcium everyday. I usually end up dosing calcium twice as much as I do alk. Yesterday I picked up an API KH test kit and found out that the Tetra KH test I was using was reading low...Tetra was saying my KH was at 7, when it's actually at 9. I'm glad I found that out so I didn't keep trying to raise my alk without success.

[divecj5]

Thanks nUgZ. I actually kind of find it funny that here I was thinking that I needed to dose both the same amount ALL the time I mean it makes sense that they make it a two part solution so you can adjust them as need be but I just kept thinking that I needed to dose them equal amounts. Now that I think I have my magnesium under wraps, I should have my Alk and Ca figured out here shortly.

 

I know what you mean about test kits. It's kind of frustrating using a certain kit only to find out later on that it was wrong. When I first got into the hobby, I was using a Red Sea master kit that kept telling me I have NH3 in my tank when my Trites and Trates were 0 after a month of cycling. I finally got it tested at the store and it was 0 It especially stinks considering you hear that even Salifert (which are all about $30+) have a bad batch here and there.

 

Thanks for all of the input guys. I really appreciate the help. Not sure what I would do without this forum sometimes....seriously. Nice having knowledgeable people right at hand.

[divecj5]

New Goodies

 

So I have been on the hunt for some Monti Caps over the last couple of months with little success around town here. I notice that a lot of people find them pretty easily but good SPS are hard to come by around here. I contacted Varanus37 and asked him if he ever wanted to frag his orange and green montis to let me know. Well he was nice enough to frag them right away and I ended up getting them in yesterday.

 

Let me first say that he was great to work with and I hope to get some more corals from him either in trading or buying in the future. Let's just say that with shipping I only paid less than $50 for the following "frags." They are hardly frags and more little mini coffee saucers I the green caps have really nice blue polyps and the orange caps are incredibly vibrant. Now I just need to find some places to mount them after they have settled in for a couple of days.

 

The new frags....

 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't be happier with what I ended up getting and feel he was more than generous with them.

 

I have noticed that the freebie birdnest frag that I got a couple of weeks ago has started to get a nice vibrant green tinge to it and the polyps are turning a purple color. Unfortunately it is hard to see in these pics so hopefully I can capture it better later.

 

I moved my Superman Monti frag down a little bit since the top bit was turning a little white. Was this the right move or should I move it up? Kind of confused whether it was bleaching or losing color. The polyps are starting to turn more of a red color day by day.

 

 

Acan Echinata from PodRod. It is starting to get blue centers and the backside is getting a greenish tint

 

 

And finally the Orange Monti Digitata....starting to get some new growth already

 

Sorry for the no full tank shot. It came out way too blurry for some reason.

[nUgZ]

The new "frags" do look nice. I'm sure you'll like them even more once you get the mounted. I don't have any of the Superman, so I can't say if it's bleaching or not. It's a safer bet to move it down some and see how it progresses IMO. I hope the echinata doesn't turn green all over...it's a really pretty piece.

[divecj5]

The new "frags" do look nice. I'm sure you'll like them even more once you get the mounted. I don't have any of the Superman, so I can't say if it's bleaching or not. It's a safer bet to move it down some and see how it progresses IMO. I hope the echinata doesn't turn green all over...it's a really pretty piece.

 

Thanks nUgZ, I was actually just looking at the pics of the echinata and it looks like the only par that is turning green is the part that is in full blast of the lighting. If you notice, the rest of it is a nice bluish/purple color.

 

I will definitely like them once I get the caps mounted....sand bed is starting to look cluttered again and I might have to do some frag trading/selling soon.

[PodRod]

Nice monti's. I had to laugh when I saw them on the sand bed since you just got all your frags off the sand and onto the rock. . I have a purple monti cap coming tomorrow and I hope it's as nice as yours are...

[c est ma]

Boy, you're really amassing a nice collection!

 

BTW, I like the way you keep identifying your items when you post pics of them. I have trouble keeping some sps straight!

 

Nice pics.

 

--Diane

[divecj5]

Nice monti's. I had to laugh when I saw them on the sand bed since you just got all your frags off the sand and onto the rock. . I have a purple monti cap coming tomorrow and I hope it's as nice as yours are...

 

Thanks PodRod. I know....just when I thought that I had moved some of the corals around the sand bed is becoming a dumping ground again. I did end up mounting the orange caps last night so I will post some pics of that tomorrow. I am still trying to decide if I want to glue the two green pieces back together and then figure out where to mount it. Just letting them chill in the sand for right now.

 

 

Boy, you're really amassing a nice collection!

 

BTW, I like the way you keep identifying your items when you post pics of them. I have trouble keeping some sps straight!

 

Nice pics.

 

--Diane

 

Thanks Diane. This tank has turned out to be a pretty much a Monti tank as far as SPS go and I couldn't be happier. I would love to try out other more difficult SPS in the future big I am really digging the Montis for now. Time to just let them grow out now.

 

Glad I help by identifying the corals....I will definitely continue to do so since I know what you mean about corals names sometimes.

[klarion]

All caught up now. Very nice additions to the tank and it looks like you've got the C balance situation all figured out, so I have nothing to add except that things are looking great and I hope you do decide to add the YCG!

[divecj5]

Thanks Boris....glad you were able to read through all the new happenings. I might go to the LFS this weekend to check them out. Then again, it is beach weather this weekend so I might just be outside all weekend It is a cool 85 right now.

[divecj5]

It's been a couple of days since I've updated the thread so I thought I would bring it back up to speed. I finally mounted the orange caps that I got to the rock and really like them a lot better than on the sand I also went ahead and glued the two green monti cap pieces back together to form the bowl shape that they were when Bill shipped them to me. I have yet to mount this piece since I'm still indecisive about where I want to put it. I have moved it up and out of the sand as well. You can see the placement of these in the pictures below. I've also tried to move my zoa frags and colonies into the rock work to make it look a little more natural. It was starting to look like Frag City in the sand.

 

On another note, PodRod, who gave me the Acan frag, Eagle Eyes, and Acro frag, e-mailed me over the weekend to let me know that she ordered a bunch of clams from Cherry Corals and they added a freebie Maxima in there. She told me that instead of selling it online or locally, she said that it was mine if I was interested. Of course I was interested So I went over to see her yesterday and first off, her tank is looking great and the clams that she has gotten from Cherry Corals are AMAZING. She has this blue/green crocea that just glows out of the tank even when viewed from the front and is stunning from above.

 

This is my first clam and I am really excited about keeping one. I acclimated it for a good 30 minutes when I got home and placed it on top of a piece of rock so that it was up and out of the sand. The pictures below are from when it was in the tank for about 4 hours so it looks pretty happy. I would say that it's about 1/2 opened in these shots. It hasn't moved but a little bit so hopefully it is happy where it is. Either way, I"m not going to move it for a while since like PodRod said, it has been under a lot of stress from getting shipped to Cherry Corals, shipped to PodRod, and then coming to my tank....all in about 2 weeks time. Time to let the little guy chill for a while.

 

Thank you again PodRod...you are way too generous.

 

On to the pics....

 

Two Orange Caps on the left, Orange Digitata in the middle, and Green Cap in the back right

 

Already starting to get some white growth on the edges of the frag in the back...

 

Green Cap (you can see where I glued it back together)

 

Top Down to show size, color, and position.

 

Maxima Clam

 

Can't wait to see it's full color when it's fully opened

 

I can't wait to have these frags start growing out. I finally have my Alk and Ca under control with it testing out as follows last night:

 

Alk - 10 dKH

Ca - 420 ppm

[nUgZ]

I'm glad to hear that the calcium and alk are getting back to normal. That'll help a lot. The clam is beautiful...I hope it does well for you. Let's see an FTS with the new stuff.

[c est ma]

Wow, way to score! Looking forward to following your progress with the clam.

 

The caps look really nice where they are. Great job gluing the green one--that looks as if it would be very painstaking work!

 

Nice pics!

 

--Diane

[divecj5]

I'm glad to hear that the calcium and alk are getting back to normal. That'll help a lot. The clam is beautiful...I hope it does well for you. Let's see an FTS with the new stuff.

 

Thanks nUgZ. I am also glad that it seems as though I have the Ca and Alk back in line and I have a good idea of what I need to dose now. It really seems as though my tank consumes very little Alk at all compared to Calcium. I have reading pretty much as much as I can about reef/tank chemistry and probably know more now about overall saltwater chemistry than I did when I took my marine science classes in college. Go figure....

 

I will grab a full tank shot tonight since I've once again moved a couple of things around. I need to keep my grubby hands out of the tank for at least a day....just can't resist sometimes.

 

 

Wow, way to score! Looking forward to following your progress with the clam.

 

The caps look really nice where they are. Great job gluing the green one--that looks as if it would be very painstaking work!

 

Nice pics!

 

--Diane

 

Thank you Diane. I am really really lucky to have someone local like PodRod who is really generous and thinks more about giving to others than selling. I look forward to seeing how the clam progresses as well and I have something new to stare at when I look at the tank.

 

I really like the way the Caps look in the tank as well as I think they really add a nice horizontal dimensionality to the tank as they jut off of the rock parallel to the sand bed. Actually gluing the green cap together was a lot more stressful than actual difficult. I was just more worried about keeping it out of the water too long, drying the edges, and breaking it. Gluing it was actually the easy part. Just glued it and held it about an inch under the water to let the super glue gel "dry."

[PodRod]

The tank is looking GREAT! I like how you placed the montis and they seem to thrive in your system. What is the lime green things I keep seeing in your pics - some type of macro algae? They appear to be on stalks and are really cool looking. BTW - I'm considering purchasing some two-part solution in bulk from www.bulkreefsupply.com. Let me know if you want to go in on it. It seems to be a very cost-effective solution but I'm not sure if I really need that much at a time. Hope the clam is doing better today - I know he/she was really PO'd...

[klarion]

Yes, what are those green lime looking things. Are they remnants of some macro algae?

[divecj5]

The tank is looking GREAT! I like how you placed the montis and they seem to thrive in your system. What is the lime green things I keep seeing in your pics - some type of macro algae? They appear to be on stalks and are really cool looking. BTW - I'm considering purchasing some two-part solution in bulk from www.bulkreefsupply.com. Let me know if you want to go in on it. It seems to be a very cost-effective solution but I'm not sure if I really need that much at a time. Hope the clam is doing better today - I know he/she was really PO'd...

 

Thanks PodRod....Montis just seem to do really well in my system for some reason. I am starting to get some really good growth on the Orange Digi that I have in there and I am FINALLY starting to get some noticeable growth on the birdsnest...just took forever.

 

I PMed you about ordering from bulkreefsupply. I was just getting to the point where I needed to order some more 2 part so this would be perfect timing.

 

The clam is really starting to expand more now and hasn't moved any more since placing it there. Hope to get some shots this weekend and maybe even a video

 

 

Yes, what are those green lime looking things. Are they remnants of some macro algae?

 

I just looked back through my thread...how exciting...and I can't for the life of me think of the name of the calcareous green algae that you both are talking about. I want to say that it is Neomersis but I know that is wrong. I know that Diane knows the name so maybe she will chime in when she reads the thread. I used to have a really large patch of it that had about 20 stalks on it. From what I've ready, it is neither beneficial nor harmful. It is a calcareous based algae so when I did have it, I noticed that it was one of the things in the tank that really sucked up the Calcium in the water. What I've also read, and I saw in my tank, is that it starts as a really nice green color and you just start to see the white base. It is really just a white calcium based stalk with green "fuzz" on the outside. What I noticed was that the green started disappearing from the base and slowly just crept all the way to the top. Before I pulled it all out the first time, I was left with just white stick in there

 

It looks like it is popping up in some other places where I didn't have it before so that is pretty cool. I will have to get some closer shots and try and search and ID it as well.

[spanko]

Neomeris annulata cool stuff while it it around.

 

Looking good Dive!!!!