RollaJase's Trip Off the Deep End - Custom Rimless 55G

[pappadumplingz]

Is it in a high flow area? When I cleaned my powerheads I mustn't have put them back in the same spot and the trachy was getting hit with some harder water flow. It went from puffy like the above pictures to shrivelled and horrible like it was going to poop. After a day or so I realised the mistake and tweaked the power heads slightly and now it's back to its happy, fat self. I also target feed mine once a week with brine and it puffs up even more during feeding time. Sometimes I think the flesh will pull off the skeleton!

The mint green trachy I have doesn't seem to puff up,it looks healthy, but the flesh doesn't seem to puff up and the feeding tentacles never seem to come out like the other trachy. I think it has to do with the differing skeletal structure of the trachy, but I can't be sure.

[RollaJase]

The mint green trachy I have doesn't seem to puff up,it looks healthy, but the flesh doesn't seem to puff up and the feeding tentacles never seem to come out like the other trachy. I think it has to do with the differing skeletal structure of the trachy, but I can't be sure.

It could be a specific species that doesn't really inflate. I do know that there are some really fleshy ones and others that don't really expand too much. Trachys are part of the brain coral family and the structure and appearance differs wildly within the family.

[pappadumplingz]

It could be a specific species that doesn't really inflate. I do know that there are some really fleshy ones and others that don't really expand too much. Trachys are part of the brain coral family and the structure and appearance differs wildly within the family.

Quite strange how they look so similar but are so different.

[RollaJase]

Quite strange how they look so similar but are so different.

Yeah, there is quite a variety when it comes to brains. From observation it looks like the ones that don't inflate so much have the more intense coloration. I'm guessing they would be less invasive/aggressive and would grow slower also.

[RollaJase]

So, kinda had a bit of a panic moment today. Shortly after the big power outage we had a in July a small hole appeared in the middle of my leather coral and I didn't think too much of it. I thought it was caused by the stagnant water or bacteria or something. Today I noticed the hole had gotten much larger (after a recent shed the leather had been undergoing) now the hole is about the size of a 10c piece (a quarter for you Americans). I immediately cleaned out the hole with the turkey baster (lots of sand) and moved the leather out of direct light and water flow.

 

Looks like this was all over reactions on my behalf and I'm probably going to have some little leather babies in the next month/s . My searching lead me to a few possible outcomes. The leather is either decaying due to stress from the power outages (thinking back it wasn't 100% normal before the outages) or the power outage and the associated stress is causing it to self propagate. The hole has appeared directly in the center of the leather, which is on top of the foot/stem/base.

For now, I'll observe and see what happens but I think this is propagation as opposed decay or infection.

[vegasgundog]

Not netflix, but I just bingged on your build! I have got to find that aluminum cord tracks. I have never seen it locally.

[pappadumplingz]

So, kinda had a bit of a panic moment today. Shortly after the big power outage we had a in July a small hole appeared in the middle of my leather coral and I didn't think too much of it. I thought it was caused by the stagnant water or bacteria or something. Today I noticed the hole had gotten much larger (after a recent shed the leather had been undergoing) now the hole is about the size of a 10c piece (a quarter for you Americans). I immediately cleaned out the hole with the turkey baster (lots of sand) and moved the leather out of direct light and water flow.

 

Looks like this was all over reactions on my behalf and I'm probably going to have some little leather babies in the next month/s . My searching lead me to a few possible outcomes. The leather is either decaying due to stress from the power outages (thinking back it wasn't 100% normal before the outages) or the power outage and the associated stress is causing it to self propagate. The hole has appeared directly in the center of the leather, which is on top of the foot/stem/base.

 

For now, I'll observe and see what happens but I think this is propagation as opposed decay or infection.

Is everything all good?

[RollaJase]

Not netflix, but I just bingged on your build! I have got to find that aluminum cord tracks. I have never seen it locally.

Haha thanks buddy, glad you enjoyed the read. It's not aluminium, the cable guides are a gray plastic track. I found it at my local hardware store, got 2m of the stuff for something like $20 and just cut it to size with a hack saw. It's used a lot in office and AV installs to hide or run cables. I did use the aluminium flat bar to make my own mounting points for certain areas as per the pics I posted in your thread though .

 

Is everything all good?

So far so good, leather is happy with it's polyps out. Still a bit shrunken but I put that down to it still recovering from its shed.

[markalot]

Glad to hear things are going pretty well. Those zoas are awesome.

 

I've only owned a leather once, back when I was first setting up, and the thing had a small leather eating snail thing in it that grew bigger and bigger, slowly eating the leather from the inside out. Only symptom was a hole that appeared near the top.

[niQo]

I really like the acrylic door. I've been trying to figure out a way to make my lose panel into an attached panel with some sort of (at least visible) access.

[gena]

Sounds like your leather is just splitting. When they get big enough, they'll do that. I've had it happen twice with two different toadstools. I hope it's not some leather eating snail . That sounds horrible!!!!

 

I love your new scarlet pinstripe wrasse. Never seen or heard of those before. It's nice to learn about a new fish. And those galaxy looking zoanthids...wow .

[RollaJase]

Glad to hear things are going pretty well. Those zoas are awesome.

 

I've only owned a leather once, back when I was first setting up, and the thing had a small leather eating snail thing in it that grew bigger and bigger, slowly eating the leather from the inside out. Only symptom was a hole that appeared near the top.

Thanks for stopping by Mark . After doing a bit of research I did find out about the worms and snails that can eat leather corals and thoroughly inspected my piece for pests. Looks to be all good from what I saw. The flesh around the wound isn't decaying and falling apart, it seems to be just opening. I'll keep a close eye on it and if it gets really bad I'll consider removing hte piece or putting it in the sump for a while.

 

I really like the acrylic door. I've been trying to figure out a way to make my lose panel into an attached panel with some sort of (at least visible) access.

Thanks , it was definitely a feature I wanted to include during the design and build phase of the stand and I'm glad it turned out so well. The hinges I used are designed for glass shower screens and the like.These particular ones will accommodate 10mm glass (you can get larger ones) and the stock grub nuts were long enough to hold the 6mm acrylic that I used snug in place. I was a bit bummed that the barrel of the hinge is on the outside of the hinge but that was the only design I could really find.

 

Sounds like your leather is just splitting. When they get big enough, they'll do that. I've had it happen twice with two different toadstools. I hope it's not some leather eating snail . That sounds horrible!!!!

 

I love your new scarlet pinstripe wrasse. Never seen or heard of those before. It's nice to learn about a new fish. And those galaxy looking zoanthids...wow .

I hope so Gena! I've had this piece for a very long time and while I am moving away from softies I really love it The wrasse is really cool and is quite calm towards the other fish. The Melanurus wrasse definitely showed its authority when I added it to the tank but that only lasted a day or so. It does chase my mandarin around sometimes though and as they are similar sizes I put it down to a dominance thing. It is a really cute fish though and I think a smarter choice over the Lubbocks wrasse I was considering. It is a gorgeous colour with really cute gold/white dimples either side of its mouth. I think one would suit your tank perfectly .

[RollaJase]

Went to my fave LFS yesterday to offload all of my zoa frags as well has a heap of chaeto. Ended up getting $70 credit which isn't as good as private sale but I didn't have to deal with all the time wasters and the LFS gave me further discount on what I ended up buying. So, with that $70 credit I finally caved and picked myself up a Hawaiian Kole Tang! It's a baby, about 2.5" in length but a veracious eater already, although, it wouldn't touch the nori I put in the tank for it.

 

I ended up passing on the green monti with blue polyps, it had a bit of die off on the growth edge so I let it stay at the LFS, maybe it will be there in a few more weeks and the die off has recovered. One piece that immediately caught my eye was a beautiful electric blue plating monti, this thing was huge, the size of half a side plate. I was unsure about it, I have had good success with montis but have terrible success with blue SPS and didn't want to shell out the $60 for something that would probably end up bleaching out. The guy who was helping em at the time (has been helping me for over 4 years now) pulled the piece from the tank, snapped of the corner and said 'why don't you give it a try?'. I was floored and extremely grateful at the gesture. So now I have a beautiful piece of blue monti sitting in the tank while I can decide where to place it .

 

I was chatting to the guys at the LFS about some of the SPS issues I had been having, saying my Alk, Cal, Mag, Salinity and Temp are all stable but I keep seeing burning tips on some of my pieces, particularly newly added pieces. I have moved them into more light, lower light, move flow, less flow and the tips continue to burn after removing the dead tips. Of course, they asked what Alk I run and when I said 8 they suggested running it lower. Apparently they run their SPS holding tank at 5dKH and to be honest, the pieces are some of the happiest, healthiest and most colourful pieces I have seen being lit by a 4 bulb ATI T5 fixture. So, I am debating whether or not I let my Alk do a slow drop from 8 to 7.5 or 7 so I can see how things respond.

 

Pictures of the new Tang and monti when I have time, I hope that will be sometime this week.

 

 

*EDIT*

Oh, and what is even bigger news than the tang or monti frag is the fact that I handed in my resignation at work on Friday morning! Now I have to wait out my 4 week notice period before starting my new job.

[ninjamyst]

Ha! Knew you gonna get that Kole tang. Congrats on new opportunities! I been with my company for 11 years now and I daydream about quitting every morning on the way to work. Sigh.

[Arce]

Congrats on the new job!

 

My 29 used to run alk around 7 and often times dipped lower when i slacked on maintaining my dosage amount. But 5 seems crazy low.

[RollaJase]

Ha! Knew you gonna get that Kole tang. Congrats on new opportunities! I been with my company for 11 years now and I daydream about quitting every morning on the way to work. Sigh.

Haha, yeah, I couldn't resist and the girlfriend was playing devil's advocate, whispering in my ear . I am extremely happy with the purchase though and have decided that this will be the last fish for this tank, until my pair of cardinals die. I'm undecided whether to replace them with an additional wrasse or a second clown fish. And thanks , I appreciate it. I've been at this job for a little over 3 years now, been wanting out for about 18 months now, the corporate culture is horrible and for a company that now has close to 50 staff, I'm the 6th longest serving employee, that says a lot. I'm really looking forward to the new opportunity .

 

Congrats on the new job!

 

My 29 used to run alk around 7 and often times dipped lower when i slacked on maintaining my dosage amount. But 5 seems crazy low.

Thanks mate . Yeah, 5 seems crazy low to me also but 7 seems alright. I think I may try lowering my Alk a bit and seeing how things go. I'm also going to try and dig up some more info on running SPS at lower Alk levels. I've got plenty of time on my hands at work now , i'll be pulled from my major projects by the end of the week.

[RollaJase]

Tank Update - 15th August 2016:

New page, new pics .

 

Here is my nice blue monti. Pic is slightly out of focus, realised I had the camera set to single focus not area focus.

I swear this is hardly touched up at all, nearly a direct print from the RAW file besides bumping up the white balance from about 7500 to 8000 to eliminate some LED blue. Still unsure of placement for this one. I'm thinking I may move it further to the right to give it more room to grow before the green monti shadows it. I'm wary of mounting it just yet as where it is is on the fringe of where my light can currently cover. I don't want to mount it where it can't get enough light and then distress it by trying to move it.

 

Here is my new pride and joy , probably my all time favorite Tang with the exception of a Powder Blue Tang.

He is very relaxed in the tank and is always out and about swimming, just what I was after. For a herbivore he has taken no interest in nori but will chase mysis and brine with the rest of the fish lol. I did buy some veggie pellets and he seems to like those, as well as NLS pellets.

 

I'm having issues with this acro burning tips and I don't know what the issue is. I have tried more light, less light, more flow, less flow and I am still breaking off dead tips every week.

Did my run of water tests tonight and for the 3rd test in a row Alk is sitting at 8.3. I reduced the daily dose by another 0.5ml and am trying to bring it down towards 7.5 over the course of the next week. I am hoping that it is just a reaction to a slightly higher Alk level.

 

Here is the hole in the leather coral. Doesn't look like it is getting any bigger right now but it does collect lots of sand. I blow out the opening with the turkey baster every few days.

 

Lastly, a pic of Mandy just because she is adorable and was hanging out by the glass.

[pappadumplingz]

Jeez, looks like someone shot the leather! Other than that and the acro, everything is looking great!

[RollaJase]

Jeez, looks like someone shot the leather! Other than that and the acro, everything is looking great!

Definitely seen better days but from my reckoning, if it was annoyed there would be no PE and this looks happy and healthy. Yeah, still trying to get to the bottom of why that acro isn't happy but I'm really pleased with how everything else is going. The tank is starting to fill in now, no longer just looking like a pile of rock with some scattered corals.

[ninjamyst]

Your wellso is hangry...hahah

[RollaJase]

Your wellso is hangry...hahah

Lol, both of them are literally always like that during the day and partially at night. Despite the fact that they both catch broadcast feeds daily and get a big feed once per week. I think they are just pigs haha. Maybe I should feed them more or drop some pellets on them mid week?

[pappadumplingz]

Oh and I did a bit of research the other day, and the reason the trachys have different skeletal structures is because of the different morphs, which are variations of the same animal, as apposed to species.

[RollaJase]

Oh and I did a bit of research the other day, and the reason the trachys have different skeletal structures is because of the different morphs, which are variations of the same animal, as apposed to species.

Yeah, that's what I was kinda getting at, should have said morph as opposed to species because trachy is the species. But yeah, similar to plants in that way. For example, there are many different apples that make up the apple genus. All of which are classified as an apple but different shape, colour, taste and where they are from dictate how they are grouped within that family.

[jedimasterben]

Here is the hole in the leather coral. Doesn't look like it is getting any bigger right now but it does collect lots of sand. I blow out the opening with the turkey baster every few days.

 

 

Okay, that definitely doesn't look like normal self-fragging. But I also have no clue what would cause that. :/

[gena]

The kole is the perfect addition to your tank! I don't know that I've ever seen a blue monti like that before .

 

Does your LFS run a ULN system? I remember reading that the higher the nutrients the higher your alkalinity can be but if you are running low nutrients, keep your alk low. Someone with high nutrients and that low of an alk (5 dKH) would probably have a lot of issues with their SPS, I would think.

I don't see any tissue necrosis on that leather hole so I'm confident it's just fragging itself . That's how mine looked.