mitten_reef Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 11 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said: Yea, more than likely where you got it had high nitrates. If your nitrate is low as well as your PO4 it'll colour up. I'll tell you a little secret of mine. I feed my LPS chopped mussels once a week. See if someone local sells them, throw 2-3 in a baggie and freeze them, then shave off what you need. Sweet. Might pick some up at the fishmonger tomorrow. Yeah LFS tanks are a bit dirty. 2 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 The tank renovation begins. My wife keeps telling me that I have more corals on the frag racks than on the rocks in the tank.....I think she's right. The tank has been looking much more like a frag collection than an actual aquascaped aquarium. among many reasons why I haven't been too happy with it. The good news is all the frags are doing pretty well, all with nice enough colors and growth on them for me to decide where to be their permanent home. a second frag mounted to the center rock, hopefully it'll end up looking like this one day. The frag is small but it covered an entire 3/4" plug, with a few "sprouts". Here's the center rock with the Oregon Tort as the only piece on it in this cropped photo for reference. I've since move the frag rack away from the back wall, so I can see the whole rock better, but I think the yellow acro will eventually be sitting on the rock roughly in the general area where it is now in the pic. I also moved most of the frags on that rack to my two LFS. I'm taking the mounting extra slow this time because I want the scape to turn out just right. so it might be a while til the next FTS. Next up on the mounting block, the Katropora.... 10 Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Looking good..................... What were you saying the rasta torches were going for in your area ? 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 29 minutes ago, spectra said: Looking good..................... What were you saying the rasta torches were going for in your area ? $250, and it’s been sold when I stopped by the LFS today. Picked up a nice blue maxima just from trade-in credit. 5 Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 6 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: $250, and it’s been sold when I stopped by the LFS today. Picked up a nice blue maxima just from trade-in credit. Local dealer just got a big order in...................has some Rastas and also a few nice squamosas in..................I need another clam............. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 1 minute ago, spectra said: Local dealer just got a big order in...................has some Rastas and also a few nice squamosas in..................I need another clam............. Sooo I’m gonna have to ask? How much is your dealer asking for them? Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 2 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: Sooo I’m gonna have to ask? How much is your dealer asking for them? Will let you know tomorrow................I know what he paid and he was saying WTF on the price................then got them last night and said ok not so bad...........he thought it was per head then got some 5 head frags................. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 Also the LFS guy bagged up a 2-head gold cristata torch frag and dropped it in my cooler when we were settling the bills. It didn’t look great, but what am I gonna do? Say no to FREE coral? Riiiight.... 4 3 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 wild yellow acro; it has its fair share of ups and downs in my tank, but it's on its up right now. August 2 comparison; more yellow came in, more branches shooting out....yay! update on the ricordea rock As I said the FREE cristata is not in the best of shape, here's this evening pic of it. You can see the skeleton protruding everywhere Can't take any good picture of the clam. Here's the best I found it's blurry, but my red planet is finally showing some really nice color!!! 9 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 It's gonna be an ambitious effort to get this one growing: to this: 7 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 @spectra, see the cristata torch above - is that similar/different to micro hammer you were talking about? Quote Link to comment
spectra Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 7 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: @spectra, see the cristata torch above - is that similar/different to micro hammer you were talking about? No the micro looks just like a hammer but is just tiny........... if I remember I will grab a pic of it today and post it up.......... 1 Quote Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 That Torch looks like it was in 100ppm nitrate water. Lowered nitrates and feeding it should colour it up in a month or 2. 2 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 3 hours ago, spectra said: No the micro looks just like a hammer but is just tiny........... if I remember I will grab a pic of it today and post it up.......... Huh, the pic you pm’d me looked pretty awesome. 25 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said: That Torch looks like it was in 100ppm nitrate water. Lowered nitrates and feeding it should colour it up in a month or 2. Hmm I don’t test for nitrate, I can tell when it’s high when algae film grows fast and SPS turns green. 🙄 I haven’t scrape glass in 3 weeks and the tank still looks pretty good. I do have a very old api test kit, might worth a shot checking 😅. 4 Quote Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 if it's working, don't fix it mang. i test just about every NEVER! 😄 I test pH in freshwater and hardness, other than that, screw it. There isn't much that you can tell by watching the algal growth. 1 2 Quote Link to comment
DSFIRSTSLTWATER Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 22 hours ago, mitten_reef said: Also the LFS guy bagged up a 2-head gold cristata torch frag and dropped it in my cooler when we were settling the bills. It didn’t look great, but what am I gonna do? Say no to FREE coral? Riiiight.... Free corals are freaking awesome 🤗 18 hours ago, mitten_reef said: wild yellow acro; it has its fair share of ups and downs in my tank, but it's on its up right now. August 2 comparison; more yellow came in, more branches shooting out....yay! update on the ricordea rock As I said the FREE cristata is not in the best of shape, here's this evening pic of it. You can see the skeleton protruding everywhere Can't take any good picture of the clam. Here's the best I found it's blurry, but my red planet is finally showing some really nice color!!! Wow looks sooo good bud 😯 49 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said: if it's working, don't fix it mang. i test just about every NEVER! 😄 I test pH in freshwater and hardness, other than that, screw it. There isn't much that you can tell by watching the algal growth. I have a tank of heavenly algal growth 😂. I've come to accept it I guess. 1 3 Quote Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 1 hour ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said: I have a tank of heavenly algal growth 😂. I've come to accept it I guess. You need to figure out the source of the nutrients. New rock leaches PO4 like mad, it's a fact of life, the stuff that's mined on land is worse than other dry rock. 2 Quote Link to comment
DSFIRSTSLTWATER Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 46 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said: You need to figure out the source of the nutrients. New rock leaches PO4 like mad, it's a fact of life, the stuff that's mined on land is worse than other dry rock. I'm almost half tempted to rip out all the rock and just buy live rock. Wonder if throwing in the chemipure would be worth a shot? Quote Link to comment
DSFIRSTSLTWATER Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 47 minutes ago, StinkyBunny said: You need to figure out the source of the nutrients. New rock leaches PO4 like mad, it's a fact of life, the stuff that's mined on land is worse than other dry rock. I used the caribsea life rock with a few rocks from the old 20. The only rock that doesn't have any algae is the one that Coraline algae took over. Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 35 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said: I'm almost half tempted to rip out all the rock and just buy live rock. Wonder if throwing in the chemipure would be worth a shot? What’s your cuc? Throw in a few extra hermits and snails in there. I don’t remember what’s yours are like. You’d be surprised how important a well-rounded cuc is to an algae-free tank. 35 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said: I used the caribsea life rock with a few rocks from the old 20. The only rock that doesn't have any algae is the one that Coraline algae took over. I used Real Reef Rock once upon a time. I don’t recall ever having any algae bloom with them. They were cured/kept in LFS live rock tubs though, they’re not the mail-order dry ones. I’ve always started tanks with live rock from LFS, so I’ll always be partial to live rocks. Maybe check out LFS to see if any particular piece(s) of live rock struck your interest, and swap out a couple in your tank? I just picked up another fist size one this weekend. 2 Quote Link to comment
DSFIRSTSLTWATER Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 1 minute ago, mitten_reef said: What’s your cuc? Throw in a few extra hermits and snails in there. I don’t remember what’s yours are like. You’d be surprised how important a well-rounded cuc is to an algae-free tank. I used Real Reef Rock once upon a time. I don’t recall ever having any algae bloom with them. They were cured/kept in LFS live rock tubs though, they’re not the mail-order dry ones. I’ve always started tanks with live rock from LFS, so I’ll always be partial to live rocks. Maybe check out LFS to see if any particular piece(s) of live rock struck your interest, and swap out a couple in your tank? I just picked up another fist size one this weekend. I got a decent sized order from reef cleaners over the summer. I've lost some snails during water changes accidentally sucking the small ones up. I had a few escapes that my cat got. I guess it wouldn't hurt to place another order this time much larger. I have chemipure elite that I might just throw in and see if that helps. Gonna do some testing and see where the levels are at. That'll be tomorrow after I do a water change and post up some results on my page. 🤷♂️ In the meantime I'll admire your pretty tank 😍 Just now, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said: I got a decent sized order from reef cleaners over the summer. I've lost some snails during water changes accidentally sucking the small ones up. I had a few escapes that my cat got. I guess it wouldn't hurt to place another order this time much larger. I have chemipure elite that I might just throw in and see if that helps. Gonna do some testing and see where the levels are at. That'll be tomorrow after I do a water change and post up some results on my page. 🤷♂️ In the meantime I'll admire your pretty tank 😍 Oh whenever I add hermits they don't seem like they eat anything lol 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 4 hours ago, StinkyBunny said: if it's working, don't fix it mang. i test just about every NEVER! 😄 I test pH in freshwater and hardness, other than that, screw it. There isn't much that you can tell by watching the algal growth. Turned out the the api nitrate test kit wasn’t as expired as I thought (9/‘19). Did a test..... nitrate = 0; non detectable. No surprise there. Might be why my zoas hate me. 3 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 Should I let this guy take over the tank floor? it's roughly 2-in diameter right now Still debating about putting sand back in. 5 Quote Link to comment
caas1496 Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 16 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: Should I let this guy take over the tank floor? it's roughly 2-in diameter right now Still debating about putting sand back in. I say let it grow. I think covering the bottom with encrusting corals is a really cool look. 3 Quote Link to comment
DSFIRSTSLTWATER Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 21 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: Should I let this guy take over the tank floor? it's roughly 2-in diameter right now Still debating about putting sand back in. I've been debating putting sand in... I'd say let that bad boy grow 3 Quote Link to comment
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