Mr. Fosi's drilled 20H

[scottyreef]

looking great there partner i can wait to get my tank back up and going so i will have someting to strive for. Keep on Reef Keep'n

[Mr. Fosi]

Thanks for stopping by Scott! You'll have to link a tank thread here when you're up and running.

 

Sue: I always tweezer or pipet feed when I feed rinsed mysis. I always rinse in tap water and then put some tank water in the dish which helps keep them from floating. I don't tweezer feed the clown but I always fill her up with mysis first because she will steal from the corals if I don't. After the clown is fed, I turn my pumps off and drop mysis on any corals that look receptive. Mysis that doesn't get fed is refrozen in tank water.

 

It may sound funny, but the few zoas and shrooms I have had in the past (that never did well in my tanks) never ate anything. The only corals that ever ate well for me were the Madracis and my old chalice. In this tank, almost everything eats; frogspawn, hammer, zoas, palys, and rics. The chalices don't eat but I haven't tried feeding after lights off.

[Weetabix7]

Chalices will eat Frozen Mysis, but they are slow eaters, so there's a danger of current or fish snatching the food away.

I use a cut off bottle top from a Dasani bottle to feed mine.

I turn down the tank flow, put the bottle top over the Chalice, squirt some mysis in with a pipette through the bottle opening and wait half an hour before removing the bottle.

At first it doesn't look like it's doing anything, but the Chalice will slowly envelope any food that lands near it's eyes.

You almost have to have time-lapse photography to see it!

[Mr. Fosi]

My former chalice used to eat slowly as well but it loved mysis. Perhaps I will try your bottle-top method.

 

From my 5.5 thread.

 

 

Also, my sumo halogen burned out yesterday or last night. I was new back on Feb 28 which means it only lasted a month. I popped in one of the xenon lamps that I bought and it looks about the same as the original did. I guess we'll see how long this one lasts.

[smarsh]

+1 Chalices eat really slow. Mines takes 30-45 minutes to ingest everything .The bottle top method works well for me. My clown never gets full, he would steal the food from sun polyp, chalice, trumpets and acans and proceed to spit it out???? Little jerk! Bottle keeps him away. Try feeding your chalice during the day. Mine is a little pig.

[airman_verde04]

First, Lalani's (now my!) zoas. Sealife blue's, red-skirts and the Daytrippers.

 

 

 

 

I would like to say I want to buy some of these when I get back.. I sure hope a semi-local reefer has enough grownth going on by October to share!!

[Mr. Fosi]

If I don't have enough to share by October something must have gone seriously wrong.

 

I've been the beneficiary of so many free frags that I don't think that I could sell them to you. You'd have to take them for free.

[NanoReefNovice]

Frags for the poor.

 

 

HAHAHA, tank is looking awesome Mr. Fosi.

[airman_verde04]

If I don't have enough to share by October something must have gone seriously wrong.

 

I've been the beneficiary of so many free frags that I don't think that I could sell them to you. You'd have to take them for free.

 

That sounds awesome!!

[Mr. Fosi]

Well, I decided to stop being timid about the Alk/Ca and I am finally getting some results. My alk was down in the 8's this morning, I added ~10ml of Alk. I added another 3-4 ml this evening and it is up above 9.6 dKH. Ca was down to 290 ppm this morning so I added 20 ml. Added another 15 mL when I got home and test indicates that it is up to 390 ppm. I won't forget to dose tomorrow.

 

Talking with Urchinhead, it seems as though 2-part dosing might be better than kalk... I have a 2.5 year old and I don't have a kalk reactor. Of course, kalk is cheaper and simpler to dose.

 

Shall I do the kalk route or place an order with Bulk Reef Supply? Opinions?

[slippy steve]

good stuff. I have always been the same way until this bryopsis problem. It took this outbreak for me to see how much I was neglecting my alk/calc/mg.

 

I have seen a great turn around in my colors and polyp extension since I have become more liberal in my dosing habits.

 

let us know how the dosing goes!

 

ruckus.

[johnmaloney]

hey fosi how goes it? still fighting the good fight?

[Mr. Fosi]

Tenacious as always, John.

 

If I was a roll-over-an-give-up type I would never have made it past my 5.5g.

[Weetabix7]

I would definitely place an order with Bulk Reef Supply.

How's the Sunset looking?

[spanko]

Just catching up on this thread. Everything looks beautiful. Wow those chicks really took care of you.

 

I just have to say this to me is the most amazing picture in this entire thread!

 

[Deleted User 6]

Fosi, those frags are nice, man. Next time I return to my confederate roots, I'll stop by Columbia and take a few off your hands

[Mr. Fosi]

Still not great. Not receding but not looking real nice either. I am seriously thinking about moving it into the school's surge system with the brain until I get these Ca/Alk issues sorted out.

 

On top of that, there is a vermitid under the orange monti and has irritated a part of the edge bad enough that it has laid back a bit in a small area. The rest of it is growing like a weed but it doesn't like having those mucus threads on it all the time. Not sure what I am going to do about that yet.

 

Zoas are all looking good. I got tired of that little shroom spreading over the armageddon so I did a little frag surgery. I separated the two and glued them onto their own shells. The shroom didn't like it though and let loose so lord only knows where he is now but the armageddon loves it's new spot. I'm hoping to see it lay down some mat and maybe a new polyps before long. The hammer is starting to grow a third mouth I think and the frog & toad both look great.

 

I think I am really on the trail to solving the Ca/Alk issues though. Tested this morning and they fell from last night but they are still close to my goals. I really need to start keeping notes on this... I haven't so far and I should b/c I really need an estimate of consumption so I can plan my doses appropriately.

 

At this point, I am pretty sure that a bulk reef supply order is in coming in the near future. I am talking with scottyreef about finding an inexpensive peristaltic pump but my price limit is low so it's probably going to take a while (if it ever comes to fruition). In the meantime, I have an aqualifter but one isn't enough to dose both parts. Since Alk is the one the falls more quickly, perhaps I will setup an auto Alk dose and do the Ca by hand until I get a proper setup... Dunno!

 

spanko: I'm not too good with composition but that shot did work out well.

 

DHaut: Please do! If I don't give some stuff away when things grow out I'll be a real heel. I've been taken care of for so long is time to bear some fruit and pay it forward.

[Weetabix7]

I'm getting ready to do the DIY Aqualifter/Timer dosing thingy for just Alk. That's the one that is more complicated to dose.

You can get away with dosing Ca just once a day once you know how much your system consumes.

 

I'm surprised your system is eating through that much Ca, I didn't think you had that much SPS in there.

[Mr. Fosi]

I don't have much, just the two smallish montis. I have the hammer, frog and Madracis in there as well but I wouldn't think they were sucking it down.

 

The only thing I can figure is that it's the coralline that's doing it. I have plenty of that.

[johnmaloney]

Tenacious as always, John.

 

If I was a roll-over-an-give-up type I would never have made it past my 5.5g.

 

 

was that the saltwater molly tank?

 

I like that coral spanko quoted I am going to look that up...

[Mr. Fosi]

The frog that spanko quoted came from yardboy. I have another three heads of it in the lab tank.

 

The 2.5g was the tank I tried saltwater mollys in but it didn't work out. The 2.5 came from bluebastion b/c he didn't want to take care of it while he had his Finnex. The 2.5 was a real mess and I didn't have a proper light for it. I ended up trying to frag some of the corals in it to save them but they were eventually choked out by GHA.

 

I cooked the rock for several months while I worked out my new system. Eventually I rolled everything out of the buckets and the 20L into the tank that is the subject of this thread.

[Mr. Fosi]

My camera broke yesterday so I can't post any pics. That is sort of a good thing b/c it allows me to avoid posting pics of the dismal-looking sunset.

 

I moved the sunset to the surge tank this morning. It is pale and started to recede again over the last two days... I don't know what I am doing wrong with it. The orange monti looks great!

 

I was able to stop by and see kgbenson's tank last weekend while I was dropping him off some chaeto and he has a piece of sunset that he bought at the same time from the same place and his looks great! I must be something I am doing wrong.

 

It's in the surge tank now and the other SPS in there are doing well so if it is going to recover, it will do so in there.

 

Also, after more than a week of piddling I finally got my alk up closer to where it needs to be. Unfortunately I overshot a bit and it tested at 12.5 dKH this morning (pH 8.0) so I didn't dose and I'll test again when I get home... That should give me a good estimate of daily usage, unless it is a small change (like 12.5-12). If it is too small a change, I'll let it go and test it tomorrow.

 

Ca was 380 ppm, which is still too low so I did dose that.

 

I did a waterchange yesterday and I tested the the NSW before I used it. It came up with Alk ~6.6 dKH and Ca = 320 ppm, which is lower than the last batch (was ~9.8 dKH) so I dosed into it to bring it up and changed in all 5g.

 

So I guess that means that the NSW I use changes... I suppose that shouldn't surprise me but that means that I may have to dose into the water before I change with it or risk depressing my Ca/Alk.

[Mr. Fosi]

Got some new arrivals from Carinya today.

 

I think the shrooms may stay here but I haven't decided yet. Hopefully the sponge will do better in my sump.

 

Initial arrival.

 

 

 

 

A couple hours later

 

 

[Needreefunds]

 

Beautiful pieces all Isaac!

 

 

Good luck with the new additions. Very purdy indeed

[Mr. Fosi]

So I just tested and...

 

Ca = 390 ppm

Alk = 9.6 dKH

 

This morning it was:

 

Ca = 380 ppm

Alk = 12.5 dKH

 

Now, I can see being 10 ppm off on the Ca since I shot forward a bit fast but the Alk? I was careful about that titration. Am I really losing 3 dKH per day?