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Orangutran

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Update:

 

Exactly 1 month after I started adding phosphates to my tank to combat dino, I have to say that things are turning around! I still have brown turd on my sand, but it's a lighter shade, not as thick and slimy. Might even be a mixture of dinos and diatoms which is a good thing! When you have dinos, diatoms/cyano/gha are your friends. :) 

 

I actually put the dinos under the microscope and got an ID on them as coolia and amphidinium (thanks to the good folks on R2R)

 

And after a month of dosing nutrients, I actually had to scrape my glass last night. Did not have any algae growth despite my nitrates @ 25 and phos @ .25, so things might explode. Hopefully things (nutrients) are balancing out. And coralline algae is actually starting to show up, after 2.5 years of nothing. 

 

Lets hope this trend continues.

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On 10/15/2017 at 11:40 AM, OldManSea said:

Very nice!  You are caring for them well.

Thanks! More luck than anything else! ;) 

 

Here is dad checking up on the eggs...

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I'm sure clowns mate all the time, but it's so cool when it's in my own tank! Nature right in my living room! That's why I love reefing!

 

On a sad note, my neon goby (named Stick) died some time last week. I did not see the little guy during feeding, especially when he's the biggest hog despite being the smallest! He was 2 years old, and I think that's their average lifespan. :( RIP Stick.

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Day 3 Update:

 

Looks like Sammy and Sammy (my clowns) lost a lot of the eggs... It wasn't a large batch to begin with, but seems like only half the numbers on the 3rd night. This being their first time, guess it's just inexperience. Better luck next time!

 

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On 10/15/2017 at 11:38 AM, Orangutran said:

So this happened!!!

 

 

There's no way I can raise the babies, but at least the mating will keep the clowns busy and happy. :)

 

Awesome video! :)  

 

Sorry about the Goby :(  

 

The ups and downs in this hobby are crazy!

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On 2/1/2017 at 12:13 PM, Orangutran said:

 

 

Thanks so much!

 

Here's an updated FTS. Just added another island with a new cave. I need the extra rocks for the angel to graze on, and the new cave for my pink streaked wrasse. I think the angel has evicted him from his old cave. Overall, the scape is nicer too, like a gentle reef slope. And I finally got a picture with proper white balance!

 

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Oh, and all 5 fish are in view!

Am I really just seeing this tank now????? :bowdown:

 

This is gorgeous.  Really beautiful :wub:

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On 10/19/2017 at 1:08 PM, Orangutran said:

Clown Eggs Update:

All the eggs were gone on day 4. Not sure what happened, whether they were not healthy or someone ate them, but sad nonetheless. Hopefully there will be more eggs in the future! 

 

They tend to eat the first and maybe the second batch.  After a while it should be come a regular thing with eggs making it to hatching.  Mine just paused after almost 2 years straight of monthly egg laying.  Makes me suspect something is up with water quality.  

 

So, how is everything going?  How is the valida?

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18 hours ago, gena said:

Am I really just seeing this tank now????? :bowdown:

 

This is gorgeous.  Really beautiful :wub:

Thanks gena! Means a lot coming from you! :happy:

 

17 hours ago, markalot said:

 

They tend to eat the first and maybe the second batch.  After a while it should be come a regular thing with eggs making it to hatching.  Mine just paused after almost 2 years straight of monthly egg laying.  Makes me suspect something is up with water quality.  

 

So, how is everything going?  How is the valida?

Oh that's good to know! Hopefully they continue on a regular basis. Are yours in the 40b or the big tank? I am quite surprised mine actually laid eggs, I have doubts about my water quality too, especially having dinos for the last 6-8 months! Although, I have to report that since getting my system in balance, dinos are 95% gone and all my corals are puffy as ever and growing again. 

 

The valida is encrusting! It's probably a bit darker than when I first got it (due to my higher nutrients) but it's growing and decent PE! :) I'm still on the lookout for a purple stylo...fingerscrossed

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Exactly 2 weeks after the first batch, my clowns were at it again! Only posting this, cus I found it cool how they are pinching the nem!

 

 

And just for fun, I took this comparison photo of the new frag growth... 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/6/2017 at 10:00 PM, RollaJase said:

Very cool that the clowns laid eggs! The parents will eat the bad eggs also if they are infected etc. to stop anything spread to the healthy eggs.

Love how nature works!

 

They laid eggs again this past weekend, third batch, again only 2 weeks after the last time--they kinda horny! lol It's always on a Saturday afternoon/evening, which is perfect for me! Anyway, I checked last night and half the eggs are still there! That's day 5, and looks to be maturing! Wonder if this time they will make it to hatch!

 

Here's a video from day 5, eggs are a lot darker! 

 

 

Oh yeah, not sure if it's coincidence, but I increased my tank temp back to 78F to help with the eggs. I was running at 76F the first two times they spawned. 

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Very cool! This is what I miss about having clowns. It's been a long time but I had a spawning pair and it was always fun to watch their behavior hosting in a bubble coral and laying eggs at the base. Seems like your clowns like to get busy!  I'll need to get a pair once I get to stocking.

 

Your tank is looking great btw!

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1 hour ago, Justind823 said:

Very cool! This is what I miss about having clowns. It's been a long time but I had a spawning pair and it was always fun to watch their behavior hosting in a bubble coral and laying eggs at the base. Seems like your clowns like to get busy!  I'll need to get a pair once I get to stocking.

 

Your tank is looking great btw!

Thanks dude!!! I have to admit, my clowns were frustrating me when they didn't want the nem, and super aggressive. Since being hosted by the nem, they are more mellow and the spawning part is awesome! 

 

I should post a FTS soon, have not done so in awhile.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just got caught up - but it's time for a new fts because that last one looked awesome! I'm so glad you've been able to get things back in balance. I've done the exact same thing in my tanks before, I know for sure that's what happened when I was having all the trouble with the IM10. Too much NoPox and too much other stuff chasing one problem at a time. Once I stopped messing with everything and let it get back in balance it made a huge difference.

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On 12/3/2017 at 2:43 PM, teenyreef said:

I just got caught up - but it's time for a new fts because that last one looked awesome! I'm so glad you've been able to get things back in balance. I've done the exact same thing in my tanks before, I know for sure that's what happened when I was having all the trouble with the IM10. Too much NoPox and too much other stuff chasing one problem at a time. Once I stopped messing with everything and let it get back in balance it made a huge difference.

Thanks!! I have to admit that a bit of dino has crept back, because I stopped monitoring nutrients (real life got busy), and it may have dropped too low again. Back to dosing and testing every few days. :( 

 

I'm saving a FTS for when I pick up a new colony or two (do people still do that?), found a new LFS that sells colonies starting at $40! Never buying a frag again... yeah right!! Instead of a FTS, here's a side view. ;) 

 

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Thinking of selling/trading/give away one of the BTA! It's on a small rock and can be removed easily. 

 

So I got this frag in my sump, with a tiny acro crab. It's probably bad, but how much damage can it do? I feel bad if I remove it...

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Also, AI Prime HD is on sale! So tempted to get 2 of them to replace my reef breeders, which isn't hitting the ends of my tank. Why are they on sale? Is a new version being released? Anyone wanna convince me NOT to upgrade? lol

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I have not checked out your tank in awhile, so I was very happy to see things are turning around.  And wow, your clowns!  I had a mated pair that laid eggs almost twice a month for like 5 years.  I sold them as a mated pair.  They were Baby's parents.  It is awesome to experience.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Acro Help Please!

How do I stop this staghorn from RTNing? Just noticed it this morning...

 

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cut off the branch and super glue the remaining tissue? That's the direction I will be taking later on today to save it. Tell me if you have a better idea? Thanks!

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Good luck.  From the looks of it that is one of the hardest acros to keep alive in captivity.  Maybe it's just the angle, do you know what kind this is?  Cut and superglue may help but something is wrong, and sudden changes over the last few weeks?

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2 hours ago, markalot said:

Good luck.  From the looks of it that is one of the hardest acros to keep alive in captivity.  Maybe it's just the angle, do you know what kind this is?  Cut and superglue may help but something is wrong, and sudden changes over the last few weeks?

Hey Mark thanks for much! I can't think of any sudden changes, except that my phosphates got too low again. I dosed last night, so maybe the sudden rise made it upset. I did not know that staghorn acros were one of the hardest! From my research, it probably looks like a spathulata stag? Had really nice green/blue tints. It was a nice colony that only cost me $55, I could not resist!

 

Thanks for info. Have a Merry Christmas! :)

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I'm such an idiot, kicking myself... while getting my staghorn out to cut off the branch that was RTNing, I accidentally scraped it against my light fixture and damaged 2 other branches :tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears:

 

Before:

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The RTN area is middle left.

 

After:

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You can see the top left branch that got damaged and sliming all over. Dreading to see the damage tomorrow morning...

 

My reefing failures, documented here on the interweb. :( I hope Santa brings me reefing success for 2018!

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Staghorn is a growth form. :)  Spats are probably related to millis and can be stunning, but expert keepers still have issues with them.  Make sure it has decent flow, keep everything steady, and if you aren't removing PO4 with GFO or similar then don't worry that much about it.   Steady as she goes an all.  :)

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