180G Office Paradise (2 Years Old!)

[JDigital]

Some photos as promised.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurry pic of the Leopard Wrasse

 

 

 

[1.0reef]

Looks good, hopefully the tank is old enough for those gobies. In a young tank they can demolish the population of microorganisms, etc in a sand bed.

[urbaneks]

Killer Wrasse! I have the same type of urchin, they do their job but will knock things over. I've had them bulldoze frags that were glued in place. Make sure to take this into account when you are mounting frags.

[Marteen]

Looks good, hopefully the tank is old enough for those gobies. In a young tank they can demolish the population of microorganisms, etc in a sand bed.

 

You can train sandsifting gobies to eat prepared foods it just takes patience. Here is a link that talks about it: Training Sand Sifting Gobies

[saltwatercoral]

Not good at all... most of the fragged tips have gone white. Everything else is looking great though.

Sorry to hear about the SPS colonie. Glad to see your other corals are doing good! Nice pics! I want a urchin as well but down want it to be the bulldozer of the tank... It looks real nice though!

[eawonko]

Ahhh, a leopard wrasse! Great choice in wrasse:) We added one to the big tank but he didn't make it:( He hid at first, came out once (but in stayed in the rocks) and that was the last we saw of him.

[JDigital]

Looks good, hopefully the tank is old enough for those gobies. In a young tank they can demolish the population of microorganisms, etc in a sand bed.

 

Thanks. They are definitely doing a job on the sand, but they are also eating prepared foods right now. Mysis, Brine and Flake.

 

Killer Wrasse! I have the same type of urchin, they do their job but will knock things over. I've had them bulldoze frags that were glued in place. Make sure to take this into account when you are mounting frags.

 

Yea, I didn't get into the office today, but by the sounds of it that one colony I still have left got knocked over this weekend, I suspect it was the urchin. Rest of my frags are epoxied down, but curious to see if he damaged any of those. Love the wrasse.

 

You can train sandsifting gobies to eat prepared foods it just takes patience. Here is a link that talks about it: Training Sand Sifting Gobies

 

Even though mine are eating, I will definitely read that link. Thanks.

 

Sorry to hear about the SPS colonie. Glad to see your other corals are doing good! Nice pics! I want a urchin as well but down want it to be the bulldozer of the tank... It looks real nice though!

 

Thanks SWC. They were both nice colonies too, so it does suck, but I've live through it.

 

Ahhh, a leopard wrasse! Great choice in wrasse:) We added one to the big tank but he didn't make it:( He hid at first, came out once (but in stayed in the rocks) and that was the last we saw of him.

 

Sorry to hear Emily. I was lucky to get one that was eating frozen foods. He's one of my favorites. Although the One Spot Foxface I added Friday is starting to grow on me, even though they are wimps. haha

[MikeTR]

Getting any diatom bloom yet? Mine is wreaking havoc. I think my tank has about a month ahead of you..

[JDigital]

Getting any diatom bloom yet? Mine is wreaking havoc. I think my tank has about a month ahead of you..

 

 

Ohhhhhh ya... It exploded over the weekend.. I saw it Saturday (even slightly last week) when I was in the office and it was still not to bad... Today, completely different story.. My overflows have a good coating, my rocks are now orange instead of the pristine white they were before. I'm going to dial back my feedings (as I feel I was overfeeding lately), I'll be doing a 30G water change this week, and probably add some Carbon and Phosphate filtration this weekend.

 

I know it's part of the process, but I definitely don't want it getting out of hand.

 

"The Uglies" are upon us!

[JDigital]

Couple new photos: Also if anyone is on Instagram, follow me @reefmunkey

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to see these zoas open up fully..

 

Red Mushrooms! 15+ Heads.. Unfortunately the photo looked sharper on my phone.

 

FTS

[JDigital]

Took a quick video last night before I left work of "The Crew" going at it on the nori clip.

 

 

And a quick pic of the Zoas from my previous post. Finally opening up. '

 

[BoCoMo]

Cool looking corals!

[MikeTR]

oh wow, looky what you gots.. perty fish n stuff. That powder blue.. nice.. real nice. I see blue snowflake polyps in the middle of your zoas.. nuke em with some freshwater dips once the zoas settle in.

[JDigital]

Cool looking corals!

 

Thanks BoCoMo. I need more though.

 

oh wow, looky what you gots.. perty fish n stuff. That powder blue.. nice.. real nice. I see blue snowflake polyps in the middle of your zoas.. nuke em with some freshwater dips once the zoas settle in.

 

Thanks Mike! I love the the Powder Blue as well. I had a Powder Brown in one of my previous tanks and absolutely loved him. Was the nicest fish I've ever owned. I considered another one for this tank, but none of the ones I had been seeing at the LFS looked very good, but when I saw this Blue, he didn't have a mark on him, his color was slightly faded, but he was very active in the tank and looked good.

 

He's been doing great in this tank so far. His colors have really brightened up with the addition of Nori to his diet (I don't think the LFS was feeding nori). While he is still a bit thin, I am working on plumping him up (in a healthy way).

 

It's amazing how much life tangs can add to a tank. Before they were added, the other certainly swam around, but after the addition of the Blue and Sailfin, the tank overall seems a LOT more active.

 

I'll see what I can do about the polyps, I don't mind them really.

[JDigital]

Would like to get some feedback from some SPS reefers.

 

I am having a nightmare of a time keeping SPS alive so far in this tank. Now I realize the tank is new, but I have kept SPS before in some of my previous tanks, and quite successfully actually. So I need to come to a conclusion as to why I'm struggling so bad to keep any of them alive.

 

All my sofites (torch, hammer, frogspawn), zoas, and ricordias/mushrooms are super happy, color is great on them.

 

I have tried 3 colony sized pieces of average care level.. 1 RTN'd within 2 days even after trying to frag it to save the good parts, the 2nd one STN'd over the course of a week, and the 3rd one only started to decline this last week, but it now has a slim layer of diatom on is now that it is on the way out.

 

I added 4 healthy frags 1.5 weeks ago, and 3 of them have STN'd on me, leaving me with only a Blue Tort remaining, still colorful, but I wonder how long it's going to last.

 

The only thing I can think of that is causing this is the diatoms on the live rock. My rocks are NOT 100% covered in diatoms, nor is it a thick layer. Most of it in low light portions, so not even generally where I have been positioning the SPS pieces.

 

Tank Parameters:

 

Temp: 25-26'C

Salinity: 1.025

CA: 410

MG: 1170

pH: 8.3

ALK: No test kit currently.

NH3/4: 0

NO2: 2

NO3: <5ppm

Flow turnover: 36-38x I realize I could use more flow, but this shouldn't be the reasoning for STN/RTN of every piece I add to the tank should it?

 

If anyone has any advise, please feel free to post.

 

 

EDIT: One more note.. I have 2 frags of Chalice in the tank as well.. One looks fantastic and hasn't lost any color since adding it.. the 2nd has had some tissue die off, but that seems to have stopped, but it has lost color (perhaps to deep in the tank). Just thought I would add that, as I've always thought Chalice is harder to keep than SPS, but these have easily outlasted any SPS I have added.

[matty0206]

You might try testing phosphates. Did you cycle your dry rock or add it straight in? I know my dry rock is still leaching into my tank after 6 months. I started running gfo/carbon and the algae blooms are starting to subside and my sps are looking better.

 

I really regret not letting my dry rock cook for a long while before using it.

[saltwatercoral]

You need top bring your CA up to atleast 450 and bring your MG to 1400+. Also KH is a big thing to test for when keeping SPS healthy. With a low MG I would think you KH will be way off. Once your MG is stable aroung 1400+ then you KH will balence itself out. for softies it does not matter that much with lower levles. I beleive once you fir this this will help.

 

ALSO: Dont raise any to fast, if you do it will only complicate the matter. Slow and steady wins the race...

[JDigital]

PO4 = 0.06

ALK = 5.32dKH Oh Damn! Guess I got some gradual dosing to do. I don't think I have ever seen my ALK reading that low in previous tanks.

[jball1125]

Make sure your results are correct, try taking some water to the LFS and have them test it.

 

Looking good BTW.

[JDigital]

Make sure your results are correct, try taking some water to the LFS and have them test it.

 

Looking good BTW.

 

I used the Hanna Phosphate and ALK checkers. I can only assume they are more accurate than most of the color chart test kits out there.

[JDigital]

Well I have slowly been getting my ALK up.. but I had a major set back this weekend. I've lost my Powder Blue, Blue Throat (to Ich I THINK, not 100% sure) and one of the Clowns (clown last night, the other 2 sometime between fri and sunday).

 

My Sailfin isn't look to good today either, and the rest of the fish seem to be "OK" but breathing heavy.

 

I'm thinking a day or so of 2 dead fish floating around the tank is not ideal for the rest of the inhabitants. I'm working to get a batch of WC water made today and do a change before I leave the office tonight. Probably another one on wednesday if possible.

 

I'm also going through a big Green Slime Algae phase.. so since the fish loss, the tank is now going to be in a 48 hour black out to try and fight the GSA.

 

Only positive is that when the lights are on, my softies are looking great and fully opened up. (even this weekend with the dead fish in the system) So I am baffled regarding my water quality...

 

Ammonia: Test kit is giving me some wacky readings, so unsure. Will get a test done tonight at LFS.

Nitrates: 1-2.5ppm

Phosphates: 0.02

Alk: 7.8dKH

SG: 1.026

Temp: 76-78 (when the lights are on) Hovers around 77 with the lights off. This temp swing is definitely something I need to get under control more.

[MikeTR]

I'd guess your tank is just not old enough for SPS.. I don't want to believe that mine is either as the water quality is damn good, but some of mine are pissing away. Maybe too clean? As for the fish, well it usually takes ich a while to get to them and you'd notice they'd be covered in white spots. Not sure how some of them fish at petco are even still swimming right side up as bad as I've seen them. Just don't have an answer for ya there..

[JDigital]

The PBT and Blue Throat were getting ich as it was visible last week, but they would never have it in the morning when I got into the office. It would gradually set in during the day and be the worst before the lights went out. Next day same thing, not visible and then show up over the course of the day. When I left Friday, they did have it fairly bad, so I am pretty sure that's the cause. The clown, which I still can't find, is a mystery.

 

I just had a look now though, and the Sailfin is sitting on the bottom perch up against a rock, breathing very hard. I'm expecting I'll be removing her this afternoon. If I had some olive oil I would put her down.

 

While it does suck that I have lost 4 fish in 3 days, I'm more concerned with other aspects of the tank now. Softies looks great, my urchin, cleaner shrimp, blood shrimp, snails are all still alive and looking very well. Usually they are more sensitive to water chemistry issues so I would suspect I would see them drop off before some of my stronger fish if there is something seriously out of whack with my water. I've got good surface agitation so I can only assume my oxygen levels are ok.

 

Talk about a crappy monday! So Frustrating!

[MikeTR]

Ich is a bastard. I will always run a quarantine before I get new fish. If you set up a quarantine tank you can probably save some fish. Start it out at 1.021. Either drop it down to 1.010 for 6 weeks or use copper. Freshwater dip the tang before you add him. Get ready to do a bunch of water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites down.

[JDigital]

After a discussion between a few of us at the LFS, and from what I can see on my Foxface and remaining clown. I'm strongly leaning towards the likelihood that it isn't ich and is actually Marine Velvet. ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff