Jedi's Science Reef

[metrokat]

Look! I have star wars in my tank too

I'm so fly.

[tibbsy07]

Pictures look great! I'd like a shark tank, actually. I think that'd be rad.

[jedimaster1138]

I'm with you on the bristle worms. My last tank had a few monster ones and they were nasty. I know people say they are good, but when they get big enough, they can cause some damage to other inhabitants and eat small inverts. They are one of the reasons why I went with dry rock for my latest tank... I despise them.

 

Yeah that's what I did with this tank, but the old one was started with fiji standard live because I didn't know any better. It appears all the worms were living in my big eagle eye zoanthid rock, which I dipped the heck out of yesterday. I musta ripped a good 20+ worms out of it, including a few that where 4" ish and thick and generally looking like the Sarlacc. I don't see how that's a good thing...

 

A six line would be good. They kinda look like they would blend in at the Star Wars bar.

 

Yeah definitely a fish that hunts for tiny creatures and makes them lunch. I'll worry about it in the summer after I get my anthias and tangs squared away. I know six-lines can have a tude, so I'll let everyone else have themselves established before I drop him in. I'm hoping yesterday's Order 66 on the bristle worm rock at least keeps their numbers low for a while...

 

Look! I have star wars in my tank too

 

I'm so fly.

 

Acropora wookie-pora?

 

Pictures look great! I'd like a shark tank, actually. I think that'd be rad.

 

An octopus would also be awesome. They are so cool. 2 Manhattan Reef swaps ago a guy had one in a small tank. It was quite interesting.

 

Generally I want a tank full of things that I can unleash upon my enemies. Or just a Wookie friend. Or a bear. Why can't I have a bear?

 

A direwolf also works.

[BluCrab]

Han and Chewie hate bristle worms just like the rest of us!

 

 

BTw Sweet looking Wookie MetroKat!

[Griever]

Wait, Kat's posting pictures of her Wookie? Where?

[jedimaster1138]

One of the 10 greatest moments in television history.

 

[metrokat]

Acropora wookie-pora?

Milliepora wookie-pora

[jedimaster1138]

Here's a couple pictures. Sorry for the lack of updates. Planning a wedding, dealing with a family drama and keeping up with the tank are making for a crazy jedi.

 

I've been dealing with a brownish green hairy algae bloom. I'm chalking it up to new tank syndrome and taking my GFO reactor offline. They correlate EXACTLY. So I've turned the reactor back on, this time with Seachem Phosguard though...I've heard from the clam experts - aka Zeph - that Phosguard is much nicer to clams. Also seen a lot of stories about GFO murdering big maximas...so...yeah.

 

Been collecting a lot of SPS lately. Diver's Den, Cherry Corals, Unique Corals, Manhattan Aquariums, Dr. Mac/Pacifc East... I need to make a list. Also a few Acan Lords and yes...clams!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[metrokat]

You're going to have to buy the almost wife some pointe knit tights or skinny pants in white with black leather patches, all the super trendy rage right now and oh so Jedi.

Zeph told me about your pest algae, post a picture so it can be IDd?

[Nemo101]

Your pictures are great jedimaster! I especially love the copperband butterfly! They are my absolute favorite fish... I wish i could have one... hahaha 29g isn't quite enough though...lol

[ZephNYC]

Gorgeous pictures. I keep telling Jedi Joe that I hate him because I'm supposed to be the clam guru but his Maxima looks better than mine. I still have to pick up those Marco rocks from you, sorry I'm so slow.

[jedimaster1138]

You're going to have to buy the almost wife some pointe knit tights or skinny pants in white with black leather patches, all the super trendy rage right now and oh so Jedi.

 

Zeph told me about your pest algae, post a picture so it can be IDd?

 

Up until recently she worked for the parent company of Trash and Vaudville....rocker clothes were her forte. I'm not too worried about her beind trendy. LOL...i'll stick with my 4 year old cargo shorts :-p

 

Your pictures are great jedimaster! I especially love the copperband butterfly! They are my absolute favorite fish... I wish i could have one... hahaha 29g isn't quite enough though...lol

 

Thanks He's a funny fish. I hope he does well long term. It'll be a month tomorrow. He LOVES live blackworms - ps, if you have never fed those, you should start. My fish go nuts for them, as does my LPS.

 

Here's a photo of the algae. It's not cyano...definitely different. This is on rock work, is stringy and slimey and likes areas of lesser flow. Probably GHA...I'm convinced the Phosguard and more water changes/skimming will help. Speaking of, I'm looking into more aggressive skimming, including going for an insanely big skimmer. I show about 2-4 ppm of NO3- now which isn't bad, but who knows how much the algae might be eating. So... yeah. Someone give me a Bubble King mini 180. K thx.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Gorgeous pictures. I keep telling Jedi Joe that I hate him because I'm supposed to be the clam guru but his Maxima looks better than mine. I still have to pick up those Marco rocks from you, sorry I'm so slow.

 

LOL It's OK. As long as you get them before the wedding. I need to move the bike in the bedroom where i have the box of rocks now because they don't fit in my closet.

 

My big maxima looks OK. I wouldn't say it's 100% perfect, but it's OK. I nuked the shell aiptasia with the majano wand. The clam was immediately more happy - someone of the aiptasia were rubbing against the mantle. I got a lot of them, but not all of them, and they started to grow back. But now I also have 3 full sized peppermint shrimp that I picked up yesterday from MA. That along with the "tank bred aiptasia eating" peppermints that I got from LA which may or may not still be alive...I should be ahead of the aiptasia problem.

 

Aside - the majano wand is fun.

 

So yeah, the big maxima - it's got great color and opens well. It's new thing is that it's quite open at night as my lights are dim. I guess it just likes the light. I have to observe it more during the day when the lights are at their peak. I wonder if it's too bright during the day...

 

Zephy - question for you brother - emerald/mithrax crabs....pro or against? In my old tank, right before I shut it down I had a pretty good scourge of bubble algae/valonia. I see a few bubbles now in the new tank, mostly on the old rock. I'm fairly terrified of it spreading - reefcleaners guarantees their emeralds eat bubble/valonia....but I'm always worried about crabs and clams because crabs have claws. Any experience in this area?

[ZephNYC]

Zephy - question for you brother - emerald/mithrax crabs....pro or against? In my old tank, right before I shut it down I had a pretty good scourge of bubble algae/valonia. I see a few bubbles now in the new tank, mostly on the old rock. I'm fairly terrified of it spreading - reefcleaners guarantees their emeralds eat bubble/valonia....but I'm always worried about crabs and clams because crabs have claws. Any experience in this area?

 

I haven't had an emerald crab since I was 10..LOL. The only crabs I really like are hermits and acro crabs that never leave the nest. I've always felt Mithrax to be clam safe, but I do recall a picture/post of a clam with a big rip in its mantle the owner credited to a Mithrax, and we all know crabs can be unpredictable, so if it was my tank I would not do it. I don't know the ins and outs of your old system, but I have a feeling that when your new one ages a little more and the higher life forms take over, you wont have any nuisance algae problems. I would just pop them for now. I know "they" say you shouldn't do that, but...well....PPPFFFFF.

[ZephNYC]

Hey Joe, I just wanted you to see your tang is living the good life and is 100% ich free.

Here he is in a 125G all by himself..lol.

 

 

pardon the mess it was laundry day

[jedimaster1138]

I haven't had an emerald crab since I was 10..LOL. The only crabs I really like are hermits and acro crabs that never leave the nest. I've always felt Mithrax to be clam safe, but I do recall a picture/post of a clam with a big rip in its mantle the owner credited to a Mithrax, and we all know crabs can be unpredictable, so if it was my tank I would not do it. I don't know the ins and outs of your old system, but I have a feeling that when your new one ages a little more and the higher life forms take over, you wont have any nuisance algae problems. I would just pop them for now. I know "they" say you shouldn't do that, but...well....PPPFFFFF.

 

Yeah I'm torn between wanting to attack this hard and ASAP and seeing what happens long term. It was pretty bad in the old tank. I did pop the bubbles, and I think that was part of the problem. But it was very, very badly spread to the point where it was creeping up SPS.

 

 

Hey Joe, I just wanted you to see your tang is living the good life and is 100% ich free.

Here he is in a 125G all by himself..lol.

 

 

pardon the mess it was laundry day

 

This is awesome to see Zeph man. Thank you for giving him a good home. He really is a gorgeous fish. I hope he flourishes for you long term. If I had a much bigger tank and a much bigger hippo (or no other tang) I'd be all over keeping him...but they clearly didn't get a long and I hate to see them fight.

 

He looks great though. Well done sir!

[jedimaster1138]

So big question I'd like input on...

 

I'm about out of 2-part, actually 3 part because I auto-dose magnesium too. I had been using BRS powdered stuff. I need to order more...or go to a different brand.

 

Opinions? I know a lot of people swear by B-Ionic, especially because it's already liquid (right?) I'm also open to other suggestions. I have no brand loyalty, what I want is stories of long term success and no horror stories.

 

I don't really care about the "extra work" of mixing the powders with RO/DI, it's not exactly a major time investment. What I care more about is the effectiveness. Also, no matter what, i have to move the liquid into those super narrow jugs that BRS sells, so whatever. That's the only way I can store it all in my stand. heh

 

Sorta aside - I've noticed lately that I'm having a hard time keeping my alk where I want it (8-ish). Last night I tested around 7. I turned up my dosing time and realized that I'm firing that pump off for 9 minutes every 3 hours...that's a long time. Then I looked at the alk solution jug...lots of white precipitate on the bottom. I don't know what this means other than...that's probably not good. I shook it up a lot tonight and added some more, with some RO/DI too just to dilute it some...but yeah...did this batch of BRS alk solution just uh...go bad? It's not exactly old and shouldn't be precipitating out under normal conditions...should it?

 

Right now I have all the dosers manual off because now I'm paranoid and about to throw all the solution out and start over....

 

Insert 2 centsssss please!

[metrokat]

I've used B-ionic and it gets expensive even with my nano reef. I dose 24/7 with dosers just like you. With the BRS powders, I think it is an inferior product to a B-ionic brand but with B-ionic, the ingredients are a mystery. I thought about switching brands myself but went back to BRS.

[ZephNYC]

I actually use SEACHEM powders - calcium advantage, which has magnesium and strontium chlorides, and reef buffer powder. I dissolve them in RO water and dose them 24/7 like you. Far cheaper then liquids and a reliable brand.

[Spirofucci]

I have been using the little bottles of B-Ionic two part, but was going through it too quiclky, so I got the gallon size wich comes half full of liquid and then you have to add RODI to it. This should last me quite a while.

 

I may be wrong, but I think the Ca mix has a little Mg in it???

 

Also just noticed that you have a 125, it might be cheaper to get BRS powder.....

[TheKleinReef]

I actually use SEACHEM powders - calcium advantage, which has magnesium and strontium chlorides, and reef buffer powder. I dissolve them in RO water and dose them 24/7 like you. Far cheaper then liquids and a reliable brand.

I've been using seachem for a year now for my 29 and I like it. That bottle goes along way on my system. Not sure how long it'll last for bigger tanks though....

[MGDMIRAGE]

Sweet tank man. I been using my own Randy's 2 part mix using Morton's safety power ice melter for the calcium, costs about half what BRS stuff does, it is the purest ice melter I have found thus far. I dump it through poly filter to remove any impurities which there aren't many. Once I use it all up though I too will be switching to BRS.

[jedimaster1138]

OK after reading all these posts, and putzing around on the internet some, I think I'm going to stick with BRS powder. It sounds like they use the exact stuff that Randy Holmes Farley prescribes in his system, which is the gold standard. B-Ionic, like KittyKat says, might be a little bit of a mystery as to their ingredients. Then there's cost, as well as cost of shipping. Shipping the B-Ionic to me is going to be obnoxious compared to BRS powder.

 

So BRS powder it is. I'm going to dump and rinse out what I have in the alk container now...something is wrong with that batch...it was still precipitated this morning, which is weird. I turned the Ca, and Mag dosing back on, but the Alk is off because I don't want to suck up alkalinity precipitate.

 

Thanks all for the input. I like you guys and girls

[jedimaster1138]

Here's some more pictures. I'm starting to learn a little more about the Canon T4i... These are all taken near the end of the night under dim-ish light.

 

Just got this frag from Cherry Corals last week. Haven't mounted it yet. Forest Fire Digitata. I had one a while back, but it didn't live.

 

 

This is my Dr. Mac Maxima after about... 6 weeks or so is it Zeph?

 

 

Miami Hurricane, I believe a legit Tyree piece. This is about a year old. It started as just the rectangle nub in the center with 3 or 4 eyes. Now it's about as big around as a baseball. New baby royal gramma in the background.

 

 

 

[metrokat]

Look! I have star wars in my tank too

 

I'm so fly.

I'm going to quote my own post because I think Shaggy the Dog and Chewy need to be recognized.