Dr. Pete Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 Nice! Love the birds of paradise. Thanks a lot! Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 11, 2013 Author Share Posted May 11, 2013 My wife and I took a trip to Newport. It was awesome. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 14, 2013 Author Share Posted May 14, 2013 If only all of my fish would hold still like my goby Link to comment
bencollinz Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 what LFS were you using? something fishy? Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 15, 2013 Author Share Posted May 15, 2013 Nice pickups doc! That bop is awesome. Zoas are badass too, especially those red skirts!Edit: holy growth!Thanks Chad. I actually went back and bought his clam too. No pics yet though. Maybe tonight. what LFS were you using? something fishy?Yes they seem to be the best around. Good selection of fish and inverts. The coral colonies are too big for my tank. I wish they had a better selection of frags though. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 New FTS Left side Right side Newly acquired ric garden (look pink under blue lights) with my previously owned rics My new clam. He seems to have adjusted to my new tank. Needs a name though... Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Blue. The Clam. Fitting, simple, I like it. Thanks Blasto at night During the day Another birds of paradise pic and my 6 line (surprisingly since he never holds still and its nearly impossible to get his picture) Link to comment
Cubeman Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Your tank has grown in nicely over the past year and it is a good mix of inhabitants too (although I agree with you that it is too much fish for the size - but it is working for you so meh) I can't believe the filth in your skimmate; I've never seen a colour like that Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Your tank has grown in nicely over the past year and it is a good mix of inhabitants too (although I agree with you that it is too much fish for the size - but it is working for you so meh) I can't believe the filth in your skimmate; I've never seen a colour like that Thanks. I must admit some of the colonies are new from a fellow nano reefer who recently broke down his tank. Some, however, have been with me since the beginning. Now I've got a good mix so I'll just let him grow. Ha! Yeah, the skimmate is some nasty stuff. Its better off in the collection cup than in my display. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 26, 2013 Author Share Posted May 26, 2013 I ordered some test kits today. Red Sea Pro Mg, Alk, Ca, nitrate, and PO4. I plan to start dosing Liquid Reef and need to find out what my tank is consuming each week. I need to upgrade test kits. I don't fully trust the ones I have (Hagen). I also saw some aggression from my 6 line yesterday. Up until then, that fish has never shown any aggression. Usually the watchman and royal gramma are the aggressors when the 6 line or a clown get to close to their territory. Never any biting, just opening the mouth and chasing away kind of stuff. Yesterday, the 6 line was ramming the royal gramma and it almost looked like the gramma was out of breath and couldn't get away. It finally hid under my Acro frag and then the 6 line left it alone. Fortunately everything seems back to normal today. I moved a bunch of rocks around to move the clam higher and centered under the light. Maybe the new scape somehow prompted some of this aggressiveness. I'll keep an eye on him because I know plenty of others have reported problems with this fish. Link to comment
Ali_Maga Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 The blue clam is truly the crown jewel of every reef. Beautiful tank and a very photogenic goby too! Link to comment
Visionist Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Isn't that a bit over stocked? Just wondering because everyone keeps saying 3-4 fish for a 20g long, a 22 gallon isn't really much difference in size so wouldn't 5 fish be pushing it? New to the hobby so I'm just trying to figure out for myself mostly. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 Isn't that a bit over stocked? Just wondering because everyone keeps saying 3-4 fish for a 20g long, a 22 gallon isn't really much difference in size so wouldn't 5 fish be pushing it? New to the hobby so I'm just trying to figure out for myself mostly. I guess you can say it is over stocked. However, I've been watching my nitrates and phosphates. I added the fish slowly over the course of a year and I believe I have good quality live rock to help with the biological filtration. I use Seachem Purigen and a good quality phosphate reducer. I figure as long as everything keeps growing, what the hell. I do plan to upgrade to a 40 or 57 gallon tank in a few months so then either way it shouldn't really be an issue. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have added the royal gramma, but I'm stuck with the little guy so I'll just keep up with my water changes. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Two days ago, I found the royal gramma stuck to the side of the MP10. I guess he was too fat to actually get sucked into it. I turned it off and swam away somewhat limply. He was using his pectoral fins, but not so much the caudal fin. He sort of floated to the opposite side of the tank and then laid down on the sand on his side. It wasn't looking good. I let him be for the night and I haven't seen him since. I'm 99.99% he's a goner, but I haven't found his body. I'm sure the nassarius and crab would take care of him. RIP little fishy. At any rate, I'm probably better off only having 4 fish in the tank. On a positive note, I received some grown up test kits today. Red Sea tests as follows: CA 400 KH 8.0 MG 1200 PO4 .04 NO3 8 Link to comment
bencollinz Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Two days ago, I found the royal gramma stuck to the side of the MP10. I guess he was too fat to actually get sucked into it. I turned it off and swam away somewhat limply. He was using his pectoral fins, but not so much the caudal fin. He sort of floated to the opposite side of the tank and then laid down on the sand on his side. It wasn't looking good. I let him be for the night and I haven't seen him since. I'm 99.99% he's a goner, but I haven't found his body. I'm sure the nassarius and crab would take care of him. RIP little fishy. At any rate, I'm probably better off only having 4 fish in the tank. On a positive note, I received some grown up test kits today. Red Sea tests as follows: CA 400 KH 8.0 MG 1200 PO4 .04 NO3 8 sorry to hear! Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 sorry to hear! Thanks Ben Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Tested newly mixed salt water at specific gravity 1.026 Mg 1300 Alk 8.4 Ca 450 I did a water change. I usually siphon the sand to remove detritus. Today, I siphoned the back chambers and removed a ton of junk. My pump is getting covered in spirorbids which I cleaned off with a tooth brush. Some of the intake vents were covered so I brushed them off. I put it back in and what a difference when I plugged it back in. I guess it has been a while since I cleaned the pump. My flow had to have increased several times just by cleaning the pump. Can anybody walk me through what steps to recharge purigen? I've usually just bought a new one and replaced it. I'm going to to try to reuse this one. I know bleach is needed. What's the correct solution of bleach to water and how long does it have to soak? Link to comment
metrokat Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Sorry about the fishy Dr Pete. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Thank you Kat. I appreciate your thoughts. I posted this pic a while ago. I think it was my last picture of the royal gramma. Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 I've been dosing 1 ml of Brightwells Liquid Reef and 1 ml of Brightwells reef snow each night. I just tested my levels again after 5 days. It looks like Ca and Mg are a little high so I'll try reducing the dose slightly. Alk 8.5 Mg 1400 Ca 1490 Since I started dosing, I've noticed that Blastomussa has really puffed up and I see improved PE on the birds nest. The hammer seems really happy as well and I saw some crazy sweepers on the chalice last night like I've never seen before. I took some pictures and a video. I'm going to try to upload the video shortly. Edit - Ca 490 Link to comment
Dr. Pete Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 https://picasaweb.google.com/108434884052352021519/June72013#5886833278384088402 https://picasaweb.google.com/108434884052352021519/June72013#5886833269512287266 Link to comment
Chadf Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 I've been dosing 1 ml of Brightwells Liquid Reef and 1 ml of Brightwells reef snow each night. I just tested my levels again after 5 days. It looks like Ca and Mg are a little high so I'll try reducing the dose slightly. Alk 8.5 Mg 1400 Ca 1490 Since I started dosing, I've noticed that Blastomussa has really puffed up and I see improved PE on the birds nest. The hammer seems really happy as well and I saw some crazy sweepers on the chalice last night like I've never seen before. I took some pictures and a video. I'm going to try to upload the video shortly. Ca and mg aren't high by my standards, if anything kh and mg are low compared to what I keep. You do mean ca 490 right? Link to comment
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