JLynn's Softy Reef

[Lula_Mae]

17 minutes ago, JLynn said:

Flynn II has delighted me by immediately taking up residence in the barnacles I bought him! He is still in full on stress coloration, and didn't eat any of the brine shrimp I offered him (though I didn't really expect him to, so soon after a traumatic move), but he was definitely interested in it, and made some movements like he might try to snag one of them passing by in the current. I fully expect to have him eating food in the next 24 hours, which is great. It took me several days to get Flynn I to eat anything I offered, so this is a nice change.

 

The new green finger leather coral has opened up nicely for me, and it's probably about the size the kenya tree coral was when I bought it. I can only hope that it will grow as fast, too. Speaking of growth, I've just noticed that there are 4 or 5 little bumps on the devil's hand leather where it is beginning to grow new fingers! I'll take pictures for y'all tomorrow, once I've had time to glue down the finger leather where I want it. It's not nearly as vibrant as the diver's den photo of it, but it's still a nice pastel-y neon green, and after it's had time to settle in it may return to its former vibrancy. 

 

Last but not least: the new baby duncan head caught it's very first food! Two brine shrimp, all by it's lonesome! I'm very proud of it. (It's kind weird to be proud of a coral, isn't it...)

 

I know what ya mean though, it's like watching the little bebbie corals growing right on up!

[JLynn]

10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

 

I know what ya mean though, it's like watching the little bebbie corals growing right on up!

Exactly! He started as a tiny little nubbin on the side of his big bro, and now it's like he's taken his first steps!

 

It's interesting to see what a difference it makes to buy a fish that has already been acclimated to aquarium life. This morning, Flynn II was spotted with his whole body outside the safety of his barnacle! Granted, he was just right out in front of it, so he could easily dart back in if startled, but still. It hasn't even been a full 24 hrs and he already feels confident enough to take a risk like that. By contrast, at this time Flynn I was still hidden deep in the recesses of his rock cave. Maybe tomorrow I will even get to see Flynn II out perching on a rock! Also, it looks like Flynn II's stress coloration has faded somewhat.

[JLynn]

You guys! Flynn exceeded my wildest expectations. I came home from work today to find him confidently perched out on the sand, halfway across the tank from his little bolthole! He didn't show any stress coloration, either! The stress coloration made a bit of a comeback when he saw me watching him, but that's okay. I'm sure humans look very scary to little fish like him.

[JLynn]

Some really exciting news! First of all, to get the boring normal stuff out of the way: Flynn is doing well, and is way more confident, though he still sometimes gets stressed out when he catches me watching him. One of my astraea snails got flipped over somehow (this has never happened to me before...) and I didn't notice in time to save its life. All my corals are doing well, but I really miss my purple candelabra. It was such a pretty indigo color, with lovely little white polyps... . 

 

Anyways, on to the good stuff! First and foremost: I am going to be transferring to a school back home, so this August, I will move my tank for the last time in like 4 years! I never realized how quickly I'd get sick of moving it, but I've only done it twice, and I already never want to do it again. It is a MAJOR PITA. So yeah, I am thrilled to be through with that. And I'm sure all my corals and inverts will be happy about it as well. That also means that I will have an active reef club to join, which is great, and not one, but TWO good LFSs to choose from, neither one of which I will have to drive more than 30 minutes to reach! Hallelujah! The last great thing about this is it means I can get another betta fish. The thing holding me back from doing so before was that I really didn't want to be moving two tanks back and forth between cities - one is bad enough. But now that I won't be moving around anymore, that won't be a problem. I'm thinking I might get the 9g Fluval Flex for a betta, and maybe have some driftwood with anubias tied on - pretty, but low-maintenance. The one downside is that I still have one semester of my co-op left, so there is gonna be a semester where I leave my aquarium(s) at home and won't see them for months (I'll go ahead and hire a maintenance company for while I'm away). 

 

Last, but certainly not least, I get to go to MACNA!!! The reasons why are complicated, but basically I am taking the fall semester off of school, so it doesn't matter that MACNA falls inside the school year, since I won't be in school this August. Also, New Orleans is pretty close to home - just an 8-hour drive. I am so so psyched about this! I never thought I'd be able to go to a MACNA until after I was totally done with school, because it's always in a school year, but now I have the chance! I've just bought my tickets, and it's definitely going to be the highlight of my summer. My plan is to try and buy all of my other fish at MACNA (the orchid dottyback and naked clownfish should be very easy to obtain, but I might have trouble with the yellow clown goby and especially the randall's shrimp goby). I'm also thinking about getting a Tridacna maxima, a larger/prettier devil's leather hand coral, and possibly an acan colony or a nice Symphyllia wilsoni. Are any of y'all gonna be at MACNA this year?

[Weetabix7]

27 minutes ago, JLynn said:

Some really exciting news! First of all, to get the boring normal stuff out of the way: Flynn is doing well, and is way more confident, though he still sometimes gets stressed out when he catches me watching him. One of my astraea snails got flipped over somehow (this has never happened to me before...) and I didn't notice in time to save its life. All my corals are doing well, but I really miss my purple candelabra. It was such a pretty indigo color, with lovely little white polyps... . 

 

Anyways, on to the good stuff! First and foremost: I am going to be transferring to a school back home, so this August, I will move my tank for the last time in like 4 years! I never realized how quickly I'd get sick of moving it, but I've only done it twice, and I already never want to do it again. It is a MAJOR PITA. So yeah, I am thrilled to be through with that. And I'm sure all my corals and inverts will be happy about it as well. That also means that I will have an active reef club to join, which is great, and not one, but TWO good LFSs to choose from, neither one of which I will have to drive more than 30 minutes to reach! Hallelujah! The last great thing about this is it means I can get another betta fish. The thing holding me back from doing so before was that I really didn't want to be moving two tanks back and forth between cities - one is bad enough. But now that I won't be moving around anymore, that won't be a problem. I'm thinking I might get the 9g Fluval Flex for a betta, and maybe have some driftwood with anubias tied on - pretty, but low-maintenance. The one downside is that I still have one semester of my co-op left, so there is gonna be a semester where I leave my aquarium(s) at home and won't see them for months (I'll go ahead and hire a maintenance company for while I'm away). 

 

Last, but certainly not least, I get to go to MACNA!!! The reasons why are complicated, but basically I am taking the fall semester off of school, so it doesn't matter that MACNA falls inside the school year, since I won't be in school this August. Also, New Orleans is pretty close to home - just an 8-hour drive. I am so so psyched about this! I never thought I'd be able to go to a MACNA until after I was totally done with school, because it's always in a school year, but now I have the chance! I've just bought my tickets, and it's definitely going to be the highlight of my summer. My plan is to try and buy all of my other fish at MACNA (the orchid dottyback and naked clownfish should be very easy to obtain, but I might have trouble with the yellow clown goby and especially the randall's shrimp goby). I'm also thinking about getting a Tridacna maxima, a larger/prettier devil's leather hand coral, and possibly an acan colony or a nice Symphyllia wilsoni. Are any of y'all gonna be at MACNA this year?

 

What wonderful news, very happy for you!!!

[Lula_Mae]

20 hours ago, JLynn said:

Some really exciting news! First of all, to get the boring normal stuff out of the way: Flynn is doing well, and is way more confident, though he still sometimes gets stressed out when he catches me watching him. One of my astraea snails got flipped over somehow (this has never happened to me before...) and I didn't notice in time to save its life. All my corals are doing well, but I really miss my purple candelabra. It was such a pretty indigo color, with lovely little white polyps... . 

 

Anyways, on to the good stuff! First and foremost: I am going to be transferring to a school back home, so this August, I will move my tank for the last time in like 4 years! I never realized how quickly I'd get sick of moving it, but I've only done it twice, and I already never want to do it again. It is a MAJOR PITA. So yeah, I am thrilled to be through with that. And I'm sure all my corals and inverts will be happy about it as well. That also means that I will have an active reef club to join, which is great, and not one, but TWO good LFSs to choose from, neither one of which I will have to drive more than 30 minutes to reach! Hallelujah! The last great thing about this is it means I can get another betta fish. The thing holding me back from doing so before was that I really didn't want to be moving two tanks back and forth between cities - one is bad enough. But now that I won't be moving around anymore, that won't be a problem. I'm thinking I might get the 9g Fluval Flex for a betta, and maybe have some driftwood with anubias tied on - pretty, but low-maintenance. The one downside is that I still have one semester of my co-op left, so there is gonna be a semester where I leave my aquarium(s) at home and won't see them for months (I'll go ahead and hire a maintenance company for while I'm away). 

 

Last, but certainly not least, I get to go to MACNA!!! The reasons why are complicated, but basically I am taking the fall semester off of school, so it doesn't matter that MACNA falls inside the school year, since I won't be in school this August. Also, New Orleans is pretty close to home - just an 8-hour drive. I am so so psyched about this! I never thought I'd be able to go to a MACNA until after I was totally done with school, because it's always in a school year, but now I have the chance! I've just bought my tickets, and it's definitely going to be the highlight of my summer. My plan is to try and buy all of my other fish at MACNA (the orchid dottyback and naked clownfish should be very easy to obtain, but I might have trouble with the yellow clown goby and especially the randall's shrimp goby). I'm also thinking about getting a Tridacna maxima, a larger/prettier devil's leather hand coral, and possibly an acan colony or a nice Symphyllia wilsoni. Are any of y'all gonna be at MACNA this year?

Moving tanks is definitely a pain.  A 9-ish gallon tank would be perfect for a betta and you could even add some cories or otos in there with it.  I love anubias and I also have java fern, descendants of the plants I bought at PetSmart in college a decade ago.  Depending on the height of the tank, you could also throw in something like an amazon sword, which looks nice and full in the back of the tank.  Of course, you will have to share pictures.

[JLynn]

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Moving tanks is definitely a pain.  A 9-ish gallon tank would be perfect for a betta and you could even add some cories or otos in there with it.  I love anubias and I also have java fern, descendants of the plants I bought at PetSmart in college a decade ago.  Depending on the height of the tank, you could also throw in something like an amazon sword, which looks nice and full in the back of the tank.  Of course, you will have to share pictures.

Are there any plants other than mosses and anubias that can be grown on driftwood? And of course I'll share pictures! How could I resist ? Betta fish get a bad rap for being basic, but they have so much personality, they're down right addicting. And they're way smarter than people give them credit for being - you can train them to jump out of water, swim through underwater agility courses, and flare their fins on command. The only reason people think they are boring is because they stuff them into tiny vases with nowhere to swim and nothing to do.

 

But enough about bettas. It seems I spoke too soon about the tank going well, because I just did a water change, and it went about as wrong as it could have gone. I noticed a few days ago that I had my light up really high from the tank, so I'd been slowly lowering it down. But when I went to change my water, I was lifting my first scoop out of the tank and realized that the light was now about an inch too low for the container to be lifted out from under it.

 

No problem, though, I'll just nudge it up a bit with the back of my hand, and it'll all be good. I forgot, however, that for whatever reason, the Nanobox mount doesn't screw securely onto the lagoon 25s (it's weird, but other people have the same problem so it's not something wrong with my particular unit), so when I tried to push the light up a bit with my hand, I completely dislodged it (the gooseneck requires a bit force to bend in any way, which is why I pushed so firmly).

 

And the whole light fell. Right into my aquarium. Still plugged in. 

 

I froze for what felt like 5 minutes, but was probably only 5 seconds, and then I dumped the water, fished the light out, poured out as much water as I could from it, and unplugged it all. I was really terrified that I'd fried everything, because there are exposed electrical connections inside the unit, but Flynn is breathing just fine, and the corals are shrunken in on themselves like usual from the water change but they seem alright. I've stuck both my hand and the end of a fork into the water to try and make sure there was no electrical charge left in the tank, and I never felt any charge, so that's good, but I still don't really know. I'm posting on some different forums for advice on how to make sure all charge is removed from the tank before turning anything electrical back on, and I'm gonna get in touch with Nanobox asap to try and prevent any damage occuring to my lights, too. I'll let y'all know how things go, later.

[Lula_Mae]

15 minutes ago, JLynn said:

Are there any plants other than mosses and anubias that can be grown on driftwood? And of course I'll share pictures! How could I resist ? Betta fish get a bad rap for being basic, but they have so much personality, they're down right addicting. And they're way smarter than people give them credit for being - you can train them to jump out of water, swim through underwater agility courses, and flare their fins on command. The only reason people think they are boring is because they stuff them into tiny vases with nowhere to swim and nothing to do.

 

But enough about bettas. It seems I spoke too soon about the tank going well, because I just did a water change, and it went about as wrong as it could have gone. I noticed a few days ago that I had my light up really high from the tank, so I'd been slowly lowering it down. But when I went to change my water, I was lifting my first scoop out of the tank and realized that the light was now about an inch too low for the container to be lifted out from under it.

 

No problem, though, I'll just nudge it up a bit with the back of my hand, and it'll all be good. I forgot, however, that for whatever reason, the Nanobox mount doesn't screw securely onto the lagoon 25s (it's weird, but other people have the same problem so it's not something wrong with my particular unit), so when I tried to push the light up a bit with my hand, I completely dislodged it (the gooseneck requires a bit force to bend in any way, which is why I pushed so firmly).

 

And the whole light fell. Right into my aquarium. Still plugged in. 

 

I froze for what felt like 5 minutes, but was probably only 5 seconds, and then I dumped the water, fished the light out, poured out as much water as I could from it, and unplugged it all. I was really terrified that I'd fried everything, because there are exposed electrical connections inside the unit, but Flynn is breathing just fine, and the corals are shrunken in on themselves like usual from the water change but they seem alright. I've stuck both my hand and the end of a fork into the water to try and make sure there was no electrical charge left in the tank, and I never felt any charge, so that's good, but I still don't really know. I'm posting on some different forums for advice on how to make sure all charge is removed from the tank before turning anything electrical back on, and I'm gonna get in touch with Nanobox asap to try and prevent any damage occuring to my lights, too. I'll let y'all know how things go, later.

Oh nooooo!!!  Fingers crossed everything will be ok!

 

Oh, and I totally agree that bettas are the bomb!  So much personality!

[JLynn]

Alright, so different people from two different forums have advised me that it should be fine to turn back on the pumps and such. I've just done that. Still waiting to hear from Dave about the light itself.

 

Seems like this is not as bad as I feared.

 

On another note, my chaeto has for the first time grown to the point of needing to have some removed. That took about a month, which is pretty okay, I think. Obviously I'd prefer if it were growing faster, but I can't see my cheap little chinese LED lights supporting faster growth than what I've got.

[JLynn]

Still no word back from Dave. Maybe he has taken today off as well as tomorrow? That would make sense. 

 

Even if I don't hear back from him soon, I am going back to work on Thursday, and it occurred to me that the company I am co-oping with makes some marine electronics, so I think I will take my light into work with me and ask co-workers for advice on this. They also have the tools to clean up (and probably to fully disassemble) the light there. I looked at as much of the light as I could, and I think I see salt crystals where some of the water has evaporated, plus there is a bit of sand inside. Some isopropyl alcohol ought to be able to fix the salt. I don't think water does any damage to just wires, which I am pretty sure is all there is in the lighting unit itself. My understanding is that the brains of it are all in the bluefish box, and I'm pretty sure that's the part that is vulnerable to water. All of which to say that I am optimistic, having had time to calm down a bit and think about things.

 

I'm not going to risk damaging the light by turning it back on, but I do need some kind of lighting for the tank. The corals need food, and not having lighting messes up the circadian rhythm of everything in the tank, too. Plus, it's no fun having a dark tank to look at!  I know that Walmart carries some fish supplies, so I will look there for a cheap light tomorrow morning. I won't spend more than like $50 on this, so I probably can't do better than a cheap LED strip, but that's better than nothing. Failing that, I might have to take another trip to the LFS or a Petsmart and Petco. I think the LFS has some appropriate lights they aren't using, so I'm hoping I could persuade them to lend me one they aren't using for just a few days till I can get mine back online. 

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, JLynn said:

Still no word back from Dave. Maybe he has taken today off as well as tomorrow? That would make sense. 

 

Even if I don't hear back from him soon, I am going back to work on Thursday, and it occurred to me that the company I am co-oping with makes some marine electronics, so I think I will take my light into work with me and ask co-workers for advice on this. They also have the tools to clean up (and probably to fully disassemble) the light there. I looked at as much of the light as I could, and I think I see salt crystals where some of the water has evaporated, plus there is a bit of sand inside. Some isopropyl alcohol ought to be able to fix the salt. I don't think water does any damage to just wires, which I am pretty sure is all there is in the lighting unit itself. My understanding is that the brains of it are all in the bluefish box, and I'm pretty sure that's the part that is vulnerable to water. All of which to say that I am optimistic, having had time to calm down a bit and think about things.

 

I'm not going to risk damaging the light by turning it back on, but I do need some kind of lighting for the tank. The corals need food, and not having lighting messes up the circadian rhythm of everything in the tank, too. Plus, it's no fun having a dark tank to look at!  I know that Walmart carries some fish supplies, so I will look there for a cheap light tomorrow morning. I won't spend more than like $50 on this, so I probably can't do better than a cheap LED strip, but that's better than nothing. Failing that, I might have to take another trip to the LFS or a Petsmart and Petco. I think the LFS has some appropriate lights they aren't using, so I'm hoping I could persuade them to lend me one they aren't using for just a few days till I can get mine back online. 

If all else fails, maybe you could pick up a cheap lamp and PAR bulb?  If you have Prime, the ABI bulb and a task lamp can be had pretty inexpensively as a temporary fix, and could get there in a couple days!

[JLynn]

Alrighty. I got the light back up and running. The light itself is undamaged, and the fan (which Dave was a bit worried about) seems to work just fine (though I'll be keeping an eye on it for the rest of the day before calling it a success). The corals were slowly beginning to extend their polyps when I left (I did this on my lunch break), so I don't think they suffered any adverse effects from this little misadventure. 

 

At least now I know what to do if this ever happens again! 

[Weetabix7]

23 minutes ago, JLynn said:

Alrighty. I got the light back up and running. The light itself is undamaged, and the fan (which Dave was a bit worried about) seems to work just fine (though I'll be keeping an eye on it for the rest of the day before calling it a success). The corals were slowly beginning to extend their polyps when I left (I did this on my lunch break), so I don't think they suffered any adverse effects from this little misadventure. 

 

At least now I know what to do if this ever happens again! 

 

Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!

[JLynn]

I'm now confident in declaring that the fan is undamaged from the weekend's misadventures. 

 

The corals are all extending their polyps as usual, so no issues there, either. And Hercules has finally migrated back to one of the anemones! He'd been hanging out under the gorgonians for the past month because back there is were I originally released him from the net. I'm not sure what prompted his migration back to his old hangout, but I'm very happy about it. 

 

At long last, a new FTS for y'all: 

[JLynn]

Mr. Flynn says "Hi!"

 

(Hercules is blurry in this pic, but he's chilling underneath the duncan polyp.)

[JLynn]

Sebastian and Flynn hangin' out in the gorgonian forest:

[JLynn]

I've just made a major change to the tank: I've moved the powerhead to the other side of the aquarium. See, a couple days ago, I moved the finger leather from where I'd had it in the front of the tank to where I intend to glue it down, right beside the kenya tree coral. When I did that, I noticed that I was getting incredible polyp extension from the yellow sea whip that had previously been behind the finger leather. I suppose the finger leather had been buffering it from most of the current, and with the finger leather gone, it was absolutely LOVING the flow. So I thought I might try giving it some more flow, by moving the powerhead over beside it. I'd always intended that to be the high flow area, anyways.

 

I experimented quite a bit with the placement and orientation of the powerhead. At first, I had it pretty far back, close to the overflow, but the purple feather gorgonian was seriously pissed off by this - it retracted a bunch of it's polyps in protest. I guess it doesn't like high flow the way the yellow sea whips do. So I moved it more to the middle of the glass pane. I tried aiming it directly at the yellow whip, but that seemed to be too much - it was really bending those branches. I'm sure it could have handled it - they certainly take a beating in the wild - but I don't think it would have been very happy. So I went into the app and changed my program so that instead of having the flow on wave mode going from 30%-70%, I have it going from 15%-40%. I've kept it at that level of flow, and have settled on aiming the powerhead pretty much right between the duncan coral and the yellow sea whips.

 

My toadstool leather was none to pleased with my fiddling, but seems to have settled down. I'll keep an eye on that, of course. That toadstool is definitely the jewel of my collection (I still can't believe I snagged it for just $40! ) so if it doesn't like the changes I will probably go back to the way things were. I expect the RFAs will migrate again; especially the big red one right beneath the duncan.

 

Anyways, I'll be keeping an eye on things to see how if this new arrangement works better for the reef than the old one. And even if this experiment doesn't work out, I'll at least have stirred up some detritus, and hopefully filtered it out. 

[DaveFason]

I am glad everything worked out for the best! Shoot me a FTS with the light to share on FB and IG. 

 

-Dave

[JLynn]

7 hours ago, DaveFason said:

I am glad everything worked out for the best! Shoot me a FTS with the light to share on FB and IG. 

 

-Dave

As requested:

 

On that note, I've decided I'm going to keep it like this. The toadstool is doing just fine, I am getting way better polyp extension out of the yellow sea whips, and if the purple feather isn't doing any better, it's at least not doing any worse.

[JLynn]

You guys, my snails just keep. flipping. over.

 

It is driving me crazy. It feels like every time I turn around, there's another one on it's back. This never ever happened to me before I moved the tank to Eufaula, and now it's happening all the frigging time!!! 

 

Y'know, I like my Astraea snails, but if they all tip themselves over and die when I'm not looking, I'm just gonna get a tuxedo urchin or something instead. This is getting out of hand.

[Lula_Mae]

4 hours ago, JLynn said:

You guys, my snails just keep. flipping. over.

 

It is driving me crazy. It feels like every time I turn around, there's another one on it's back. This never ever happened to me before I moved the tank to Eufaula, and now it's happening all the frigging time!!! 

 

Y'know, I like my Astraea snails, but if they all tip themselves over and die when I'm not looking, I'm just gonna get a tuxedo urchin or something instead. This is getting out of hand.

Put a hermit in there to eat them all up when they die.

[ninjamyst]

Trochus is sooo much better because they can get back on their feet.  

[JLynn]

7 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

Trochus is sooo much better because they can get back on their feet.  

Maybe I should get some of those, then.

 

10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Put a hermit in there to eat them all up when they die.

lol. I have one, as a matter of fact. It hitchhiked in from the LFS I board my reef at. I think it ate the first one that died... not sure though, cause it happened overnight.

[JLynn]

Mr. Flynn, perching on the rocks:

 

[JLynn]

Came home to a sudden diatom explosion on the front glass today. I've been a bit lax about my water changes lately, just being tired from work, so I expect that the nutrients in the tank just built up to produce an overnight algae bloom.

 

Anyways, I'm doing a water change tonight, and probably a second one in a day or two. It's also about time I check my Purigen (did I mention that I'd decided to try switching from Chemipure Blue to Purigen in May?) and do other maintenance. All that combined should take care of any nutrient problems I may have.

 

A little note on the duncan coral: since I changed up the flow in the tank to give it more, it's tentacles have started to get thin and long. That's great, because as cute as the short stubby little bubble-tipped tentacles it had were, I much prefer the look of a duncan coral with long polyps that wave around in the current.

 

Update: I checked on the Purigen and it's lightly tanned, but the instructions about it say that it isn't exhausted until it's dark brown or black. I think I might double the amount that I'm using. Not sure. I do feed my tank a lot... but I won't make a decision until I see what the nitrate levels are. Missing a couple of water changes (and not in a row, either) shouldn't leave the nitrate levels super high, so if they are really high, I'll take that as a sign that I need to beef up my filtration.

 

Update #2: Okay. Wow. I could not have been more wrong about the state of things. I did the water test, and nitrates are just above 0 ppm. So definitely no need to worry about high nutrient levels, adding more Purigen, or even doing a second water change in a couple days. I'm not sure what's made the biggest difference in my filtration - the switch to Purigen or the chaeto (which I'd had before, but hadn't been there for long) - but what I've got going now seems to be working beautifully, so I'm not gonna mess with it. In fact, I think I'll step up my feeding a bit, since I clearly have room to do so.