Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[Rehype]

10 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Thanks, friend!!

You should totally stop by the new thread for that tank cause I address that question in the second post and there's lots of new, nice pics. 

There's even a minor appearance by a mutual friend.

I linked it a couple of posts above & it's now the first tank thread linked in my Sig as well. 

 

Wait theres another thread!!

[Weetabix7]

1 minute ago, Rehype said:

 

Wait theres another thread!!

 

Yep, and it has pretty, pretty pictures!!!

Here ya go, come on by:

 

[Weetabix7]

My Waterfall Pico is unhappy. 

Yesterday I noticed that my Frogspawn was closed up tight, my soft corals weren't opening as well, and my Monti Cap looked like it had a light dusting of white across it. 

It was one of those things where I could tell I needed to take quick action & I didn't have any good WC water on hand, so I did a 1/2g WC with water from the 40B tank, which I know is stable. 

That was effectively a 33% WC since this tank is right around 1.5 gallons.

The Frogspawn improved slightly after that and the Softies are all opening fine now, but the Monti Cap still isn't looking great tho it isn't dead.

I have 1g of water mixing and will do a WC with that later today. 

 

I'm pretty sure I know what is causing this. 

Ever since I first casually restarted the little countertop 4g Pico about a year and a half ago (the one with the Damsel that I fed Betta food to that got covered in Coralline), I have been using Saltwater from the LFS. 

The little Waterfall Pico has done well with that water, with the exception of the one time they gave me water where the SG was really off. 

Ever since then I have checked SG before doing a WC, so that has been covered. 

Around 3-4 weeks ago I noticed that when I did my regular 100% WC, the tank wasn't as happy afterward. 

It didn't look bad, just not as happy as usual and "off". 

A couple weeks ago my LFS casually mentioned that they had switched away from using Seachem Salinity salt to something different. 

Aha!!!

At least now I knew why the livestock in my Pico was suddenly responding differently to WC's. 

I figured the livestock just needed a little time to adjust and I had been monitoring it, but after yesterday I'm pretty sure my corals are telling me they just don't like the salt switch.

So I have 1g of SW mixing with Salinity salt, the one they did well with all that time and we'll see how things go from there. 

[debbeach13]

I hope it turns out that it is the change in salt. Makes sense considering you do 100% volume. Most people do small W/C when switches salts but you did not find out until later. I hope every things turns around for you. Do you think this tank will be transferred to the 40?

[Weetabix7]

22 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I hope it turns out that it is the change in salt. Makes sense considering you do 100% volume. Most people do small W/C when switches salts but you did not find out until later. I hope every things turns around for you. Do you think this tank will be transferred to the 40?

 

I'll be surprised if that isn't it. 

Nope, don't plan on transferring it, this tank deserves to continue on!!

[ReefWeeds]

I am so behind! And now I need to go check your new thread too!!

[Christopher Marks]

That's frustrating they changed up their salt mix on you! I bet pre-mixed water was a big time saver. Keep us posted  

[Lula_Mae]

If my LFS did that I'd be like...

[Weetabix7]

4 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

If my LFS did that I'd be like...

 

Yeah...... it was really time to start mixing my own. 

Welp, 100% WC done on Waterfall. 

1/2g of aged water from 40B, 1g of freshly mixed water with the Seachem Salinity salt that made everything happy before. 

The main coral I'm worried about is the Monti Cap, I think the others will be ok. 

[Lula_Mae]

Just now, Weetabix7 said:

 

Yeah...... it was really time to start mixing my own. 

Welp, 100% WC done on Waterfall. 

1/2g of aged water from 40B, 1g of freshly mixed water with the Seachem Salinity salt that made everything happy before. 

The main coral I'm worried about is the Monti Cap, I think the others will be ok. 

Lugol's time?

[Weetabix7]

20 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Lugol's time?

 

Urgggg. 

[Weetabix7]

This is what my poor Monti Cap looks like now. 

This pic was taken in sunlight only and before the WC. 

 

 

 

Everything else is already looking significantly happier since I finished the WC. 

I'm not sure if lugols would help the Monti Cap much. 

For the moment I'm just gonna monitor it closely.

[Nano sapiens]

Fingers crossed the Monti Cap recovers fully!

[Lula_Mae]

[gena]

It still has color .  I hope it pulls through for you!

[fishfreak0114]

 that your monti bounces back! 

[Sharbuckle]

Fingers crossed for monti. 

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, Sharbuckle said:

Fingers crossed for monti. 

 

Thx, nice to see you here!!

14 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

 that your monti bounces back! 

 

Thank you, friend. 

[Weetabix7]

Hey guys, good news!!!!

My Orangey-red Monti Cap has almost completely recovered after I did that WC last week!!!

It was really amazing watching the daily improvement. 

I need to work on getting new pics for you guys. 

I still really struggle to get good pics worth posting under the LED light. 

Almost all of the pics that look decent have had a decent amount of sunlight in the pic, and it's been super cloudy here lately. 

I do appreciate all of the input various people have given me on getting good pics, I'm continuing to work on it. 

 

Happy Saturday, everyone!! 

[teenyreef]

That's great news on the recovery! I'm not surprised your lfs stopped using Salinity, though. It's a really nice salt but it has to be used pretty much the same days it's mixed, or it starts caking all over the bucket, pump and heater. I wish it could be kept longer after it's mixed, because it would be my perfect salt otherwise. 

Do you think there might have been an alk swing due to the new salt? The monti cap looked like it had a little bit of an alk swing. 

[Weetabix7]

18 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

That's great news on the recovery! I'm not surprised your lfs stopped using Salinity, though. It's a really nice salt but it has to be used pretty much the same days it's mixed, or it starts caking all over the bucket, pump and heater. I wish it could be kept longer after it's mixed, because it would be my perfect salt otherwise. 

Do you think there might have been an alk swing due to the new salt? The monti cap looked like it had a little bit of an alk swing. 

 

I think that's very possible, cause the new salt they switched to is Red Sea Coral Pro. 

They told me they switched cause it could be used quicker. 

Hey, Salinity doesn't "go bad" (I forgot the super intelligent official Reefer term, lol) if it mixes too long, does it?

Asking cause I just did a WC yesterday with Salinity SW and it had been mixing for 2 days due to life just being busy. 

[Christopher Marks]

Great news Weetie! Happy Saturday  

[Weetabix7]

56 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Great news Weetie! Happy Saturday  

 

Thank you!!

Hope you're having a good day with your Sweetie in sunny AZ!!!

It's been super overcast here lately & I'm thrilled to see the sun finally peeking out today. 

 

Good news, I found what I think may be a really helpful tool for toning down the blue in pics taken under LED!!

This works for anyone using Flickr. @SeaFurn and others, this may help you. 

In Flicker, click on edit icon on bottom right, click edit with Flickr editor, and then click on "filters" on next screen. 

There are some yellowish filters that help screen out the blue, I'm finding "chest" and "mellow" most helpful so far. 

Still need to mess with it a little, but here's a quick comparison:

 

Original pic:

 

 

 

with "chest" filter:

 

 

This original is not the best shot, showing it to you so you can see the difference with the filter-- the original:

 

 

With "mellow" filter:

 

 

And here's how the Monti Cap is looking today. 

That's just a few grains of sand that settled on the top after the WC, I've already blown them off. 

 

[Lula_Mae]

So glad the monti has recovered so well!

[fishfreak0114]

Great to see the monti cap recovering!  Those filters really work well!  I love that RFA