Weetabix7 Posted July 8, 2017 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Just now, lkoechle said: she has stellar markings. she 's pretty pale right now from stress So I am running to petsmart to get her a gake anemone for the qt. i do know she was pulled from her nem this morning so i think being caught + transport has just stressed her a bit. she was nice and black in her pics. so hopefully just stress. But I can't wait for her to recover and destress so i can get the DSLR out and show her off PS Does anyone want to look at my scape and brainstorm where to put a BTA? I wasnt planning on clowns! And she hosts! I gotta have a nem now! I love watching them love nems! Hrlp! Um..... you do know that no matter where you put it, it's gonna move, right? I'm hoping to add one of my RBTA's to my Macro tank today, but still need to cover the 2 Koralias in netting. 2 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted July 8, 2017 Author Share Posted July 8, 2017 Just now, Weetabix7 said: Um..... you do know that no matter where you put it, it's gonna move, right? I'm hoping to add one of my RBTA's to my Macro tank today, but still need to cover the 2 Koralias in netting. I have been lucky enough that out of the three btas I have had, they have only ever moved 1 inch from where I put them. But I have all my SPS so i am sure that means whatever I put in will do a walk about to spite me. 2 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted July 8, 2017 Author Share Posted July 8, 2017 More pics of Xena. OMG I'm in love. She swims up to the glass anytime she sees anyone and swims up to your hand and immediately checked out everything I put in there. Crappy photos, but I hope the show you her markings better. And you can see what I mean about being paler, are some clowns more this color? Or is it still probably stress? Anyways, she's already begging for food and is curious, so I consider those good signs! I love her gladiator helm and all her markings. I think she's a real winner. Especially for $40 5 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 Photo dump! Xena was released into the DT and since she vacated QT, new residence moved in! A hi-fin Goby pair (Lucy and Ricky) and a super dinky black ice occy (Borias) to be Xena's mate. Lucy Ricky Borias Lucy and Borias. ( @Weetabix7 see how dinky he is compared to the heater and fish! hahaha) 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted August 4, 2017 Author Share Posted August 4, 2017 Small photo dump because I love my tank and Xena is amazing: WWC Purple Tip Birdsnest Pretty acans @skoechle chose these from RAP Orlando this year. 8 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 On 8/3/2017 at 3:58 PM, lkoechle said: Photo dump! Xena was released into the DT and since she vacated QT, new residence moved in! A hi-fin Goby pair (Lucy and Ricky) and a super dinky black ice occy (Borias) to be Xena's mate. Lucy Ricky Borias Lucy and Borias. ( @Weetabix7 see how dinky he is compared to the heater and fish! hahaha) Wow, he IS leetle!!! I like all the pretty new feeshies!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 Nice additions Leah. Love the high fin gobies, and those clowns are very interesting. But I'm a softie for the acans! @skoechle did a great job picking them out. 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 what's the last frag???? so pretty. is it pink in person? 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted August 5, 2017 Author Share Posted August 5, 2017 3 minutes ago, ninjamyst said: what's the last frag???? so pretty. is it pink in person? The last one is a Jason Fox Spitfire Leptastrea. I don't think its look pink, but maybe I'm colorblind lol The photo is pretty true to life. The centers are little brighter orange (not the center, center that's yellow, but the outer-center before the 'skirt' or whatever). But everything else is pretty spot on. 2 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 5, 2017 Share Posted August 5, 2017 1 minute ago, lkoechle said: The last one is a Jason Fox Spitfire Leptastrea. I don't think its look pink, but maybe I'm colorblind lol The photo is pretty true to life. The centers are little brighter orange (not the center, center that's yellow, but the outer-center before the 'skirt' or whatever). But everything else is pretty spot on. it's soooo pretty. love the yellow center. 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted August 5, 2017 Author Share Posted August 5, 2017 Just now, ninjamyst said: it's soooo pretty. love the yellow center. It is. I love leptastreas. They have a nice subtle movement too. I had a gold one in the 85 (looks a lot like the spitfire, could be the same, don't really care lol) and it was pretty big when I had to sell and move. It has such nice sway when it was big and happy 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 23, 2017 Author Share Posted October 23, 2017 Quick update: After the hurricane, I lost: the strawberry lemonade, the bluberry fields, yoda is bleaching and a arm of birdsnest. I have no idea whats going on. I've tested and retested, replaced my media, water changes. Bleh, the works. I don't have a phosphate or silicate test, and I have an out break of byropsis. So, I am also going to start running phosgaurd (should arrive tomorrow) to see how that affects the tank. This is my main theory with notes as to why it also wouldn't make sense but I can't come up with anything better: I was struggling with 0 nitrates and everything's colors were wrong or pale, so I stopped skimming, shortly after the hurricane happens, we lost power for about 12 hours. So maybe starvation/stress compounded with more stress? The Apex did record the temp increasing from 78.8 to 81.2. I don't know if that is significant enough to do harm in that short of time frame -BUT, I have a battery back up on the 25, so the vortech never lost power and according to both the house (we are very pro AI, so we have smart home stuff) After that the tank really started struggling. The other theory is I had bad house guests during the hurricane (they didn't evacuate when they were suppose to so I let them stay at our house because it was safer than the beach) and maybe they did something? The contest tank started struggling the same time. I don't know. As a result, I've moved Maru, Mr. Cling, and Ursula from the contest tank to the 25. I'm hoping this will let me focus my time and effort on the 25 and not be stressed or worried about the other two tanks which are... just going to do as they will at this point. I've saved/moved almost everything I'm going to and left what is doing fine in those tanks. So, I'm hoping this will reduce water changes on the other two tanks, let me focus on this tank, and hopefully over time we'll get everyone worked back out. Oh, there is also an outbreak of gha and byropsis. But since adding Maru, he's being a chowhound on the gha and hubby is picking up a tuxedo urchin for me today. I've always wanted one, so this seems like a good excuse to get one. Between those two, hopefully it will be managed. I don't mind algae as long as it isn't unsightly/taking over. I had byropsis in my 85, but Usagi thought it was her private snack bar and was well under control. lol If these two can do the same, I'll be happy. If not, I'll try the Flucanozole (sp?) method. Pics from moving everyone over yesterday. They all came out to eat today. Maru and Xena have had a couple spats which I expected. They were both top dogs in their tanks. But its gonna be fine. The main cohabitation issue is Maru is a jerk and he keeps burying the goby/pistol holes. Quote Link to comment
kimberbee Posted October 25, 2017 Share Posted October 25, 2017 I really hope you have luck turning things around!! I had problems with my first tank after 2 years and I ended up basically starting the tank over from scratch. Fingers crossed for you! 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 27, 2017 Author Share Posted October 27, 2017 On 10/24/2017 at 9:47 PM, kimberbee said: I really hope you have luck turning things around!! I had problems with my first tank after 2 years and I ended up basically starting the tank over from scratch. Fingers crossed for you! This tank has been nothing but problems. Its anecdotal, but it seems like there are just those tanks that refuse to thrive no matter what you do. I think if I cant turn it around in the next few months, we are going fowlr and saving for a 125 and try our luck there ??????? I just want things to live! 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 29, 2017 Author Share Posted October 29, 2017 Okay. So, I went to BioReef (which I'm lucky to have as my LFS) and talked it over with Max there. Had him double check my numbers and everything is as I tested it: Nitrates: 0 Phos: 0 Mg: 1500 Alk: 8.4 Ca: 450 Ph: 7.9 Salinity: 1.026 Now, if you have an elementary, rudimentary, understanding of SPS (like me), these numbers seem like they should be okay. (Personally, I'm always uncomfortable with low nitrates because I have never had low nitrates, but some folks with little sps experience would see no trouble with it) I mean, low is great for SPS right? My other numbers are "on target". Well, Max made me feel a lot better saying he sees a lot of folks with similar issues as mine. The tank is starving. That is why my SPS are dying. They are starving. I need more phosphates and I need more nitrates. Because they are so low, I also need to lower my Mg and Ca and my fish need to be fed more. I did an ULNS system without meaning to. All of our products now are made to be clean so alot of tanks are starting to run too clean and we're getting problems from the other end of the spectrum. My salt mixes high (Fritz RPM) so I decided to ditch that and I'm using Red Sea Regular. Max runs the whole store on the regular Red Sea, gave me a list of what he runs the store at (and BioReef is lit, if you buy from WWC, there's a good chance you've gotten some BioReef corals from there, the Green Goblin is pretty popular), half of what he told me to do I'm already doing (reef energy, reef chili etc) but I'm now feeding my fish daily instead of every other day and broadcast feeding to dirty it up. At this point, I've done a 75% water change total (25% changes done over Saturday and Today) and I'm going to test my levels this evening to see if I'm good, or if I need to keep changing to lower the ca, and mg. He seemed pretty confident the tank should bounce back by Christmas. Now, I have to find if anyone local has any Fluconazole tabs I can buy so I don't have to order online for the byropsis. 3 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 So, I tested tonight and my 3 water changes have brought my levels to: calcium: 430 ppm magnesium: 1400 ppm alk: 8.4 which is where Max wanted me to be. So yay! Red Sea was a good switch. Which leads me to a second thing I am doing. I also acquired fluconazole. I dosed 400 mg tonight and will be documenting its progress. I will post the instagram link to my "before" photos. I plan on updating everyday. It may not be on here, but will be on IG. So I will try to remember to post the link to here. 3 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 fluconazole worked for me and knocked out bryopsis in my nano. i am sure it will do the same for you! 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Good luck with the Fluco but be careful. Turning off the skimmer and any chemical filtration for the treatment will also help with your low nutrients but when the bryopsis starts to die you may get a nutrient spike, especially combined with the heavier feeding. Just keep a close eye on your parameters. I had similar problems in my 30g tank and I ended up dosing nitrates. The improvements to the sps happened almost overnight. 1 Quote Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 8 hours ago, ninjamyst said: fluconazole worked for me and knocked out bryopsis in my nano. i am sure it will do the same for you! Thanks! I am hoping if I can just at least get it to start dying, Maru will eat it. He is a beast when it comes to seaweed he likes. He is really just a beast for anything edible... lol 6 hours ago, teenyreef said: Good luck with the Fluco but be careful. Turning off the skimmer and any chemical filtration for the treatment will also help with your low nutrients but when the bryopsis starts to die you may get a nutrient spike, especially combined with the heavier feeding. Just keep a close eye on your parameters. I had similar problems in my 30g tank and I ended up dosing nitrates. The improvements to the sps happened almost overnight. My nitrates are still 0 which is why I went a head and dosed after essentially a 75% change. The tanks hasnt been able to get dirty yet. I am hoping the die off will help. I removed all chemical filtration, the skimmer is on but I removed the collection cup. Max suggested that so the skimmer will add to oxygenation but not remove anything. Makes sense. lol What do you use to dose nitrates? I am hoping I won't have to, especially because there are two more fish I want to add, but I might need to look at doing that. Its been a couple months of no water changes and heavy feeding and my nitrates just wont go up. So, may have to dose I guess. We will see how the die off affects it... Quote Link to comment
jbb Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Many people use seachem flourish to raise nitrates I believe. It is meant for use with planted freshwater tanks. As for the bryopsis. When I treated (flucon) in my 65, it was a good month or more before I really started to see results to brag about. After maybe 8 weeks or so my rocks were amazingly clear of any nuisance algae. As stated above, turn off skimmers and remove all chemical filtration. I did also just see an article on maybe reefbuilders about Brightwell magnesium working to kill bryopsis. I will see if I can find it. link : https://reefbuilders.com/2017/10/27/treating-bryopsis-algae-with-brightwell-aquatics-hydrat-mg/ Quote Link to comment
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