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mitten_reef

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It's good practice to vet your LFS and their processes. Unfortuantely, with leopards, they're often sold before they can be observed for more than a few hours. It's super tough to diagnose anything in such a short amount of time.

 

Prazi is considered reef safe, though it might kill feather dusters, fan worms and even bristle worms. You can dose directly into the display. 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons of water. Do not overdose. I would remove carbon or media filtration, but keep your skimmer online (but watch it as it could go nuts). If you can increase gas exchange, all the better. Wait 5 days. If she's still alive, do a 25% water change and dose again.

 

If she dies, just pull her out... she won't infect your tank.

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It's good practice to vet your LFS and their processes. Unfortuantely, with leopards, they're often sold before they can be observed for more than a few hours. It's super tough to diagnose anything in such a short amount of time.

 

Prazi is considered reef safe, though it might kill feather dusters, fan worms and even bristle worms. You can dose directly into the display. 1 teaspoon per 20 gallons of water. Do not overdose. I would remove carbon or media filtration, but keep your skimmer online (but watch it as it could go nuts). If you can increase gas exchange, all the better. Wait 5 days. If she's still alive, do a 25% water change and dose again.

 

If she dies, just pull her out... she won't infect your tank.

Thanks again Chris for all the inputs. Dropped in on your tank thread, your bipartitus leopard wrasse is awesome looking.

I was going to make a stop at the LFS today for PraziPro. I also have a large, healthy feather duster (like this one - http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+2857+539&pcatid=539)that I'd be concerned about adverse effect of the meds.

 

Well, I checked in on the tank this morning, and I'm sad to report that the leopard wrasse didn't make it through the night. Since you mentioned that the infection/spread is not likely, I went ahead and gave the wrasse remains to the rBTA.

 

I will probably hold off on any future fish purchases for a while, especially those that are labeled expert-only. Maybe something that is easier to keep in a nano reef. Now that I know that keeping a thriving fish is not only about feeding and an established habitat (I always thought having both of those would be plenty), but it is also knowing/learning the fish natural health tendencies.

 

 

 

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Sorry to hear about your wrasse. It's always tough to lose a fish in your care. I don't think you did anything wrong... macropharyngodon species are just challenging. I just tried to add a bipartitus female a week or so ago, and she didn't make it either... at least I don't think she made it. She buried in the sand immediately and I haven't seen her since. My LFS has amazing leopards in display tanks all over the store, and even he (an expert) says that it's probably 50/50 with these guys.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had a pretty good time at the MI Coral expo & swap today... plus the unusually warm AND SUNNY day for February made for a very nice drive. 

 

So the frag rack is getting quite full...the orange sponge onward to the right are all the new pieces from the swap today. 3 random across, the big green slimer in the middle is also from today, 4 varieties of ricordea florida, and a yellow-polyp red monti cap.

 

33005306035_a3560ffbf7_b.jpg

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9 hours ago, Rehype said:

 

Looks great!

@Rehype Thank you for the kind words.

 

Here's the most recent FTS, please excuse the dirty glass, shot last week before the new pick-ups at the frag swap this past weekend. 

 

The scape will likely undergo a drastic change once the NBR Quad arrives. Right now everything is clustered in the center due to limited coverage side-to-side of the Hydra26HD The tank is 30" wide, you could almost see the cutoff at about 3-4" from each side at the bottom. 

32771788142_15bc3101c9_b.jpg

 

Top down on the center bommie

32771782092_8d053eb390_b.jpg

 

On another news, going to the frag swap sort of affirm me that I didn't really get lucky with the leptoseris I picked up a while back, was hoping it could be JOL, but it is still a very nice orange lepto nonetheless. I actually broke up the plug into pieces and placed randomly around the tank, giving nice punches of orange. While we're on this pic, Mystic sunset is slowly recovering from an unknown issue that caused the red/pink to turn dark maroon; the growth edge is showing the bright color once again. I think it was the alk and/or possibly having leather hovering over/rubbing on it. Sunny D is growing like weeds, it boggles my mind how some corals could be so expensive even though it is so easy to grow, and possibly frag for sale. I have a full-size polyp that 'stretches' away from the main cluster and is sprouting a few small polyps. If you're in Grand Rapids or nearby area and interested in SunnyD, let me know, I'm thinking about splitting that out while I can still make a clean cut.

32056462344_5b58497aec_b.jpg

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Rehype said:

Great pics! what settings are you running the LEDs?

Lighting schedule on the Hydra26HD: I'm running 9 hours at 20000K, with one hour of 15000K in the middle of the photo period (this 15000K hour is flanked by half hour ramp up and half hour ramp down). The power is at 65% through the 9 hours. All other 'viewing hours' are 5% power at 20000K. Really hope that the new Bluefish control settings that Dave and Spencer had been teasing will take the guesswork out of the color-tuning the new Quad.

58ab05017a15e_AIschedule.thumb.png.f595c0959e6acd5d2522da9183ee2370.png

For the photos, I, very recently, found that if you set HydraHD to 100% on, then dial the color temperature to around 13500-15000K. To my eyes, this approach seems to need little to no post-processing on the photo. 

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Need help with algae ID, please. I tried looking through Reef Cleaners's nuisance algae page, but didn't find/see anything like it. Does anyone have any ideas? looks like runners with a bunch of tiny round 'leaves'. It just started to grow, but the runners are growing very quickly! this pic taken a few days ago, and today the runners are easily 1/4 to 1/2" longer. I noticed two clusters of these guys so far, this rock had been in the tank since last august, and the algae just starting to show the last week or so :huh:, weird. For a size reference, the blue coral to the left is blue leptastrea.

 

33024675105_5d829687d5_b.jpg

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22 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

33024675105_5d829687d5_b.jpg

Nothing on that algae?? Is it safe to assume not much to be too worried about? The runners look like it could be caulerpa type, but the 'leaf' is not round like the grape caulerpa on ReefCleaners.org. @johnmaloney, can you help me please?

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  • 2 weeks later...
mitten_reef

Quick update from the last post about the macro algae - I decided to pull the rock and picked off the algae with skewer/toothpick. It all came off fairly easily, kept blasting/basting the area with to make sure no remnants were left. fingerscrossed

 

March pics dump. Taken on iPhone, some saturated blue here and there. turned up the white to try to compensate.

Can't wait till this wknd the lighting upgrade :ninja:  to get here on Sat :haha:omgomgomg

 

A very full frag rack....Anyone in Grand Rapids, MI area? about 50% of the rack I'm still keeping though. All the SunnyD and Rastas are up for grab for anyone local. PM if interested.32835146410_0a919e1f00_b.jpg.

32835147770_d8dc983efb_b.jpg

 

SPS island, an ever-expanding base of Red Planet right between the two LED clusters, and the new orange flower sponge from the MI frag swap

32835149810_3246b756fd_b.jpg

 

Top down on the red dragon

32835150910_88c19d71de_b.jpg

 

A "smaller" Sunny D's colony, was able to cut out three frags last wknd that are now just sitting on the rack. Haven't contacted the LFS's for any trade-in interest. 

32835152170_366b5fb0f1_b.jpg 

 

So what to do with all the frags?? Thinking about craigslist them for cash, and share with some local hobbyists at the low, low values I'd have gotten at the LFS anyway? What do people do?

 

 

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mitten_reef

After reading @DaveFason's photo tutorial here, I decided to take some of the tips given, and test with my old Olympus E-410 (must have been over 10 years old at this point).

Lighting: AI Hydra 26HD set to 14500K

Here's the photo output based on different White Balance that is programmed in the camera.

WB - 5300K

33141586031_e08cc8d6f1_b.jpg

 

WB - 3000K

32886865710_6b344c5226_b.jpg

 

WB - "Auto"

32886867120_693982f36a_b.jpg

 

WB - 4500K

32886868480_459ba0e0c7_b.jpg

 

Just thought this was a fun camera learning exercise to share. I think in my case, "Auto" came out just about right.

 

 

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59 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

After reading @DaveFason's photo tutorial here, I decided to take some of the tips given, and test with my old Olympus E-410 (must have been over 10 years old at this point).

Lighting: AI Hydra 26HD set to 14500K

Here's the photo output based on different White Balance that is programmed in the camera.

WB - 5300K

 

 

WB - 3000K

 

 

WB - "Auto"

 

WB - 4500K

 

 

Just thought this was a fun camera learning exercise to share. I think in my case, "Auto" came out just about right.

 

 

Try bumping your WB up even more. I am curious what your AWB is. The reason being is if you find the exact WB that works you will have consistent photos from here out. AWB can change depending on an angle, light intensity, etc. 

 

-D

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mitten_reef
On 3/5/2017 at 3:36 PM, DaveFason said:

Try bumping your WB up even more. I am curious what your AWB is. The reason being is if you find the exact WB that works you will have consistent photos from here out. AWB can change depending on an angle, light intensity, etc. 

 

-D

Thanks Dave! That makes sense. Gonna have to keep testing and trying. 

On another note, the new light fixture got here today!!!!omgomgomg 

Joining the NBR owners club! Still got a lot of adjustments to do to get the light (color and brightness) to my liking. But overall, things are looking good already. 

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mitten_reef

FTS 5/1/2017

I think I got the NBR dialed in to the color I like, still gotta work on the Photo Mode and my camera skills. the overall color of this iPhone set isn't too bad. there are a few areas where the over-blue effect is noticeable.

34265940681_846f2b17b1_b.jpg

 

Top-down on the Monti's. My SunnyD's decided to lose almost all of its color all the sudden - not too sure why when everything else seems to be quite OK. 

34396473705_0e8b8c6c42_b.jpg

 

Frag Rack

34237451262_41c56effe9_b.jpg

 

Under the frag rack

34265937231_bddea66a9e_b.jpg

 

Top down on rBTA, this guy has been splitting fairly regularly, gonna run out of rock for the three of them. 

34396473505_6b70daeaba_b.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
mitten_reef

So after more than two years of having two clownfish and rBTAs in my tank, I decided that those two clowns weren't just gonna host the BTAs. Talked to the LFS, and they have this good-looking snowflake, so I traded my two in for this guy. Less than a week and we have the good ol' clown in BTA shot. 

34217987080_90b3d8eb48_b.jpg

 

Also this may look silly, but after some thoughts, mystic sunset is now growing/spreading on the back wall from the tiny chip 1/2" x 1/2". Inspiration by @holy carp from another thread.

34218078050_5dd89e5dca_b.jpg

 

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That will make a nice backdrop when it grows out. Mystic Sunset Monti is one of my favorites, even though I have trouble keeping the skin nice and pink like yours.

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mitten_reef
9 minutes ago, holy carp said:

That will make a nice backdrop when it grows out. Mystic Sunset Monti is one of my favorites, even though I have trouble keeping the skin nice and pink like yours.

Thanks! I'm not sure how to keep it bright. The main colony is not as bright, compared to this little chip. 

3 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

what happens if you ever sell the tank?  i am so scared of SPS encrusting on the backwall....

Hahaha, my fear as well. I guess I'll just have to keep this one as my "small" tank. That seems to be the thing around here - multiple tanks. 

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It can be scraped off with a razor blade if necessary.  That's what I do whenever the cyphastrea attempts to round the corner onto the next pane of glass.

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18 minutes ago, holy carp said:

It can be scraped off with a razor blade if necessary.  That's what I do whenever the cyphastrea attempts to round the corner onto the next pane of glass.

really?   I am never able to remove encrusting SPS on rocks but I guess on glass it is different?

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The glass isn't porous like the rock, so the calcium skeleton just scrapes off it.  I suppose if it got very thick it may be harder - I haven't tried to remove the whole thing yet - but I just don't think it can bond to glass the way it bonds to calcium carbonate.

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