Sunstar's Nemesis III - March 2019 - looking... mature...

[teenyreef]

Wow, that's awesome!

[Sunstar]

her cardiologyst said yeah, its cancer, and they did some sort of test and then both cardiologysts are saying yeah its cancer. so she was redirected to the oncylogyst she has been dealing with, ordered the cat scan and she was like "what are they smoking?" and the person who did the cat scan said the thing was inconsequential and she is entirely clear of cancer - she had breast cancer a couple years ago.

[Sunstar]

29th Jan 2016

 

So the tank at work is in a real bad state of crash now and there is nothing I can do. All the corals are dying off, and all the fish are in hiding.

 

Maintenance day:

So I have done my water tests. I did them last week at the start of the week and this week at the end, so about 10 days have passed. Things are still looking good. Did a water change - 1L approx, rinsed out media, changed floss and also washed the detritus from the media caddy.

 

Generally speaking my mid week water changes are done to suck detritus out of the sump area. I will stirr up another section of sand bed this sunday. Monday I will be doing my FTS. the FTS will be proudly displaying my ugly ass frag rack.

 

Future Plans: The Frag tank

So as soon as I can, I will be getting a frag tank set up. I will be using the DIY lights over the frag tank. What I intend to do is cut about 3 inches of glass off the 10 gallon, get some black glass and cut it to size to make a sump. use my mum's band saw (for glass) to cut over flow, and I believe i can drill/grind out a hole for a return. and use my newly repaired Hydor as extra flow. I believe I will look for that rubber or plastic dip stuff to cover the back of the sump area, get some egg crate and off I go. bob's your aunt and a DIY frag tank.

 

When I cut down a tank, and I have done this before, I reserve the rim, replace and reseal it.

 

End of the Month Coral Overview:

 

Well the gorgeous Aussie corals I picked up last december are doing very well. My Acan, which had 3 full heads, one almost full head, and two corners of an acan, are healing up. I can safely say, I have 4 full heads and two developing partials. I have no new heads as far as I can see, but at this rate, it will be soon.

 

My Dragon Soul Favia is doing well. Had a rough start, but since I put the frag rack over it, it's been pretty happy. its encrusting its exposed rock and is, as far as I can tell, growing a new head. Actually lots of interesting things go on in that favia, there are a few duster worms, a gorgeous red one, and some sort of predatory stalker-y amphipod. Not like the usual ones. It has a lair it lays in wait for munid isopods and attacks htem.

 

My hammer corals are looking really great together. seems so much more full, seems to be doing quite well and looks great where i placed them. Likewise the trumpet coral is seemily quite chuffed about where I placed it.

 

That tiny single head blastomussa I got back when everything was in the pico, has been just growing wonderfully. It was unhappy when I did the move three months ago, lost a head, was afraid I would lose more, but it has really developed a liking for things

 

My zoanthids seem to be picking up the pace. I will be removing hte plugs off hte rock at some point (when frag tank is running)

 

And lastly the Montipora seems to be starting to grow well. One piece has finally started to encrust my live rock and the other piece is growing well on its frag plug

 

I am seeing how much value my hermit crabs have for my tank, what they do as a clean up crew. Sure they throw my frags around but they spend much time picking the green off hte rocks, to teh point I never notice it. I have green growing on the frag plugs, the rack i just lowered to their level, I am hoping they will come along and pick off the algae and clean my rocks up. My hermits, not hte hallowe'en and scarlet, will be moved to the frag tank

 

and that is my end of month whaterver.

[Sunstar]

11:34pm, Jan 31, 2016

 

I did the water change, and I will be taking a FTS shortly.

 

I had a bit of a concern though.

 

I think my one dip container got contaminated with ant killer. As when I put my frag rack in it so I could scrub the glass, I found almost all the pods in the water were feet up. the water in the container came from the tank. I did not notice this until AFTER I had put the frags/rack back in. The frags look okay

 

Needless to say, I was in teh sump, taking out the media caddy to add in a super large carbon pack - finding out I really had to do a better vac in there, and - this meant taking out the skimmer...decided it needed a cleaning, and a new lime-wood... and you know how it goes. lots of those pineapple sponges.

[Sunstar]

February 1st 2016 FTS -

 

Things are slowly coming together, Although I am not sure how I should be placing that favia. But for the first time in a while, my dear hallowe'en crab is showing up so beautifully

 

January's Fatalities:

Fromia Starfish

Emerald Crab - MIA

 

Tank Addition:

UV LED - things seem... happier?

[Sunstar]

Running heavy carbon due to fear of chemical contamination last night and I come home to a tank that looks and feels beautiful. crystal clear. Anyhow - I got more carbon and some extra socks.

[teenyreef]

Your FTS looks nice, and I love the Halloween crab! Glad the carbon is helping

[Sunstar]

I was at my mums so I could upload some pics, and do a photo dump.

 

Please excuse the crappy photo quality.

 

Blood red mini carpet

 

Sunny D's and Nucler Green Paly?

 

These were sold to me as Armour of Gods, not sure though.

 

 

Dragon Soul Favia - australian

 

Purple ribbon Gorgonian named "lola"

 

Blastomussa that originally got as one tiny sad dying broken frag, nursed it to health.

 

Ultra Acan - Australian

[Sunstar]

Fragged the "good" zoanthids off the bad plug, glued them to stones then onto a frag plugpme and dipping both in furan 2 for the moment. One of the "good" zoas remained attached to he rock I had been trying to colonise. so this is good.

 

I hope everyone heals and does well. This plug would be considered the frag I have the most problems with. its the bane of my existence and when it is doing well it looks nice.

[Sunstar]

Frag tank will have to wait. I could not get it to run correctly and broke the tank.

 

Any suggestions?

[Droy008]

Frag tank will have to wait. I could not get it to run correctly and broke the tank.

 

Any suggestions?

How did you break it?

[gulfsurfer101]

That sucks to hear about your frag tank but at least your other tank is looking perfect and your mom was given good news! My mother also survived bc a few years back so I've been there through that as well.

[Sunstar]

I was doing something I had done before. I was attempting to cut the glass. I did this to a tank that became the one my mantis shrimp and crab live in. I think hte cutter is too old and was not running properly, so didn't score it. I attempted to run the score with gentle taps but it fractured wrong.

 

here are pics of the one that went right:

 

Making the scores

 

Running the crack.

 

you know, perfect....

 

Finished:

[Sunstar]

I will soak the cutter heads in WD40 then attempt to remove an inch more a bit lower than I want, but do able - what can I lose?

[teenyreef]

Yep, why not try it? Although I know cutting a smaller bit of glass is harder without something to break the entire line on. Sorry it didn't work out, it would have been really cool looking!

[Sunstar]

I don't think it actually scored... I was looking at the glass and I can barely find the mark. I will see about getting a replacement head for this cutter. its all still attached, so it should n ot be overly difficult and if I find difficulty, I an borrow mum's other's gear. She works with stained glass.

[Sunstar]

Looks like the tide will be coming in soon.

 

Star Scream Tide :
tidestarscreamgoose by David Fason, on Flickr

[Sunstar]

I have been behind in posting my readings.

 

I also changed my calcium dosing product. I am not sure if that would have anything to do with the lowered alk. I would prefer it where it is. It went as high as 10.

 

I suspect CO2 is an issue. Husband had the windows shut :/

 

 

[Sunstar]

the frag tank would have acted as a quarantine tank, but since I cracked it, I am without a quarantine tank. So I am taking a calculated risk. I have picked up a fire fish, I am drip acclimatising it now I will add it to the display immediately. salanity of shop water is 1.022. It was in the inverts tank, which is a higher salinity than their fish tanks - which has been about 1.019. The fish has been in their possession for about 2 weeks. they appear healthy, active and are fed both flake and frozen.

 

fire fish are on my list of fish I want. I want my neon goby as well, but I won't until that frag tank is set up and I can quarantine in it. It will be good to wait anyway since increasing bioload I got a pic of it in the drip.

 

So I plan on naming it Sashimi - or Sasha for short.

[Sunstar]

Sashimi having the drip.

 

[teenyreef]

FTS looks great, and Sashimi is cute! Congratulations

Firefish are notorious jumpers, so keep the lid on all the time.

[Sunstar]

FTS looks great, and Sashimi is cute! Congratulations

Firefish are notorious jumpers, so keep the lid on all the time.

 

that won't be a problem. the hermit crabs took it out while it was sleeping :/

 

Looks like I will be removing some crabs in the near future....

 

think the name cursed it?>

[teenyreef]

 

that won't be a problem. the hermit crabs took it out while it was sleeping :/

 

Looks like I will be removing some crabs in the near future....

 

think the name cursed it?>

Oh, that's too bad

 

I doubt the hermits actually killed it. It probably was dead or dying and they just finished the job. I had the same thing happen with a tailspot blenny last year.

[Droy008]

sorry to hear about your firefish.

I think Teeny is right. While hermits are pigs, they aren't quite ninja enough to take down a firefish.

I'd try another one, maybe from a different atore?

[Sunstar]

I have to get another one - but I want to quarantine it. that way if it has stress issues it will have a fighting chance once I get it into display.

 

 

On a side note about quarantines.

The reef tank is going to be "bombed" or so they tell me at work. so I was permitted to take some of the frags out. so I am quarantining it. I got a bubble tip. Hopefully it survvies. it is on an infested rock I am hoping it will walk off the rock...