Matthewdvm Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 So this little guy appeared last night. First time I've seen him since the tank was set up. Amazed at how things can hide in such a small space for 5 months without being noticed. Hope he comes out more now. Hidden stuff is amazing - I am always worried, though, about whether it is good or bad hidden stuff! Awesome Duncan! What are the amazing green guys in the second picture? Happy Duncan Love this grouping. 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 Hidden stuff is amazing - I am always worried, though, about whether it is good or bad hidden stuff! Awesome Duncan! What are the amazing green guys in the second picture? Happy Duncan Love this grouping. I'm not sure it's a named variety. My LFS isn't real good with names. I've seen something very similar called Double D's also I was told chocolate mints. Either way I really like them. Grows like mad and a really active eater. Fun to watch as it reaches out to grab food. Hope to frag it once the colony grows out some more. 2 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 New tank is in place and filled with water. No leaks! Made the livestock transfer in a bit of a rush today as I was a little pressed for time. Everything seems relatively happy so far. I will absolutely need to rescape this tank with more live rock as I severely underestimated how much I could put in. Pictures once things settle a bit. 2 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Tank Updates: New tank, new scape, new fuge, new new new... Fill'er up Livestock transfer New rose coral nom nomming a blood worm in a holding tank Second rose made it through shipping in better shape. Moved things around and kicked up a lot of detritus out of the rock. Not sure if this is a final scape but think I will ponder it a few days/weeks to see how things settle in. Baby corals! 5 Quote Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Im likin the major changes! 1 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 New new new is good! 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Todays stats: Alk- 8.5 Ca- 480 NO3- 5 PO4- 0 Salinity 1.025 Temp 79F Everything has been rock steady since the move. All livestock looks happy and well adjusted except for a ric that has vanished and one zoa that has been closed up for over three weeks now. No idea how to make that one happy. At least it's not melting, so fingers crossed. I'll just leave a few new pics here... Not lovin life in the sump 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 I had to send my brand new light in for repair this past week cause the programming stopped working so the lighting in these pics isn't the greatest. I currently have a Nano60 hung over the tank. It is way too small and the outer edges of everything are semi-shaded. Luckily the light has been repaired and is supposed to be on it's way back to me from Reef Radiance. Can't wait to get it back over the tank so things are lit up like they need to be. FTS 4-30-15 (yes I noticed the frag rack is crooked) Left side Right side Finally caught a chalice frag eating a small piece of shrimp. Of course then Photobucket downgrades the image quality so you can't see it... Happy Acans 1 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Looks good, I like when the Pallys stretch to the light. Those greenish ones on the right, are those the seafoam pally's? Those have taken over any tank I put them in. 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Looks good, I like when the Pallys stretch to the light. Those greenish ones on the right, are those the seafoam pally's? Those have taken over any tank I put them in. They might be. So far these have been very well behaved. Quote Link to comment
Matthewdvm Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 I was at the LFS this past weekend, and they had a couple of polyps of the green paly that you have. I sooooo wanted to buy it, but they want to let it grow and multiply, then drag it. Rats. Guess i'll just have to keep going back... Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 4, 2015 Author Share Posted May 4, 2015 I was at the LFS this past weekend, and they had a couple of polyps of the green paly that you have. I sooooo wanted to buy it, but they want to let it grow and multiply, then drag it. Rats. Guess i'll just have to keep going back...I've been waiting on my LFS to get a rock flower nem out of their rock work for about 6 weeks. Kept going in to see if they got her to move but no luck, until yesterday! I'll post up some pics later. Totally worth the wait. Just keep reminding them you want the frag. The more you feed this one the faster it makes new polyps. They actually like meatier foods just like my acans. Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 One close -up of the awesome frags from Gena. Want to add a brick red Monti cap to this mix if anyone has a frag or knows where to get one that is really red and not orange. My newest pretty: 4 Quote Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I had to send my brand new light in for repair this past week cause the programming stopped working so the lighting in these pics isn't the greatest. I currently have a Nano60 hung over the tank. It is way too small and the outer edges of everything are semi-shaded. Luckily the light has been repaired and is supposed to be on it's way back to me from Reef Radiance. Can't wait to get it back over the tank so things are lit up like they need to be. FTS 4-30-15 (yes I noticed the frag rack is crooked) Left side Right side Finally caught a chalice frag eating a small piece of shrimp. Of course then Photobucket downgrades the image quality so you can't see it... Happy Acans that chalice looks alot like a encrusting fungia, Ive got mine stuck back in the tank so i havent gotten any pics in a long while, but ill get one so you can compare tomorrow Quote Link to comment
jball1125 Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Great additions, love the RFA Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 5, 2015 Author Share Posted May 5, 2015 Missed a water change last week and today alk had dipped to 7.5. Oops. Not too damaging, but now there is obviously enough stony corals in there that alk is being used up. No more missed water changes..... 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share Posted May 6, 2015 that chalice looks alot like a encrusting fungia, Ive got mine stuck back in the tank so i havent gotten any pics in a long while, but ill get one so you can compare tomorrowEver get that picture? Tried searching for pics but didn't come up with anything close to what I have. My piece has pretty distinctive blue "eyes" and the "tentacle" do not come out of the grooves like a fungia. Quote Link to comment
NorthGaHillbilly Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 heres an old pic, Right when it went into the tank, so it dosent help you much, but ill try for a new one tomorrow Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr 1 Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 heres an old pic, Right when it went into the tank, so it dosent help you much, but ill try for a new one tomorrow Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr Found an ID on the chalice frag. http://www.tidalgardens.com/coral/lps/chalice-corals-echinopora/litho-blue-eye-wysiwyg2.html New piece from KP Aquatics. Been in the tank about a week. Looks pretty happy so far. I cant believe the PE on it all the time. Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 I've noticed that my tank has started using some alk over the past couple of weeks, Makes sense since it is pretty well stocked with LPS and now I have a few SPS added in as well. In order to see if I can handle the usage with just water changes I have been testing a bit more frequently. My LFS recommended I start adding Aquavitro 8.4 as needed to maintain the alk between water changes. I wasn't sure since I don't know a ton about this product, but they said they have been using it for a while and it's been working great. The past two days I tested morning and night to see what the difference between the two might be. Yesterdays tests were 7.5 dKh in the morning (7am) and 7.8 dKh in the evening (5pm). That seemed low to me so I added the recommended daily dose of the 8.4. The tank has typically been running right at 8-8.5. Today was a scheduled water change day. This morning dKh was 8.2 at 7am. I changed only 2 gallons of water since everything else has been testing great. (NO3-0 PO4-0, salinity steady at 1.025 Calcium 480, I don't bother testing ammonia anymore and I use all Salifert testing kits) When I retested the dKh at 5pm the test read 7.2! I'm going to dose the 8.4 again now and see what the readings are tomorrow without the water change. Anyone else have experience with this product to know what changes I should look for? I'm not opposed to getting a doser if I need to for two part, I was just hoping that it would not be necessary. Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 Alk back up to 8.2 this morning.... Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 And holding at 8.2 at 6pm. Guess the stuff works. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Dangerous stuff since it's a PH buffer that is not supposed to change ALK. For KH get a good two part solution, bottles A & B, and start dosing a little each day of each based on your Alk usage. This will make sure Alk stays steady and Calcium doesn't get out of whack. Quote Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 Dangerous stuff since it's a PH buffer that is not supposed to change ALK. For KH get a good two part solution, bottles A & B, and start dosing a little each day of each based on your Alk usage. This will make sure Alk stays steady and Calcium doesn't get out of whack. I'm not sure I understand this statement. If the primary components of this solution are Carbonate and Bicarbonate how can it not effect the Alk? It seems the primary use that I have read about it is for stabilizing not only pH but dKH as well. As I said, I'm not opposed to the dosing two part option, but so far the Cal in the tank hasn't changed at all with the water changes and I'm only seeing gradual lowering of the Alk between water changes. Why dose two part if one of those parts isn't changing? Won't it just begin to precipitate out of solution in the tank? 1 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 I'm not sure I understand this statement. If the primary components of this solution are Carbonate and Bicarbonate how can it not effect the Alk? It seems the primary use that I have read about it is for stabilizing not only pH but dKH as well. As I said, I'm not opposed to the dosing two part option, but so far the Cal in the tank hasn't changed at all with the water changes and I'm only seeing gradual lowering of the Alk between water changes. Why dose two part if one of those parts isn't changing? Won't it just begin to precipitate out of solution in the tank? Well, first it's a matter of scale. A change of KH from 8 to 7 might only move Calcium by 5 or 10, which is probably not easily measured with our test kits. Over time, though, this imbalance will get greater and greater because you're only dosing Alk but the usage is actually equal. I misunderstood what 8.4 is, so ignore what I said. AV Balance is what claims to raise PH without altering KH. So the above applies, you're only dosing Alk and that might, I say might be an issue, or not. If calcium starts to get to low you can just pour in a bit to bring it back up. 1 Quote Link to comment
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