Lugmos12 Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 49 minutes ago, TinyOcean said: Oh man! That sucks eggs dude. Hope the frags all good and your finger ofcourse The torch is slowly opening up again *fingers crossed* I placed it higher in the tank with a chance for better flow. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 Did a water change today; tested before and after water change. I'm using Red Sea Coral Pro (which coincidentally i ran out of today; have maybe 1/4 cup left ) My last water change was 8/11: alk was 12 using salifert test. Today my alk before w/c was 9.3...does this mean my corals are consuming the alk in the salt mix? should I be concerned? my calcium before w/c read as 440; after water change it read as 480. My water change is 5-6 gallons every weekend. My nitrates were circa 5ppm before w/c; i think this is due to the fact that I fed mysis 2x. Numbers make me paranoid and I don't want to chase numbers but I also don't want to neglect my tank. All my corals seem pretty healthy. Quote Link to comment
TheBig053 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Do you have any SPS in the tank? If not, you have a little more wiggle room with your alk stability. Obviously you want to keep it as stable as possible but you have some margin for error. Unless you are trying to bring high nitrates down, you can probably change out a smaller volume of water weekly. I generally do 3-4 a week and thats probably even a little high. Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 17 minutes ago, TheBig053 said: Do you have any SPS in the tank? If not, you have a little more wiggle room with your alk stability. Obviously you want to keep it as stable as possible but you have some margin for error. Unless you are trying to bring high nitrates down, you can probably change out a smaller volume of water weekly. I generally do 3-4 a week and thats probably even a little high. I don't like SPS...at all. But I do have a piece of green pocillopora and 1/4 inch piece of green digitata. Only got them to see if they would make it under the stock lights but they're not my priority. Quote Link to comment
TheBig053 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Monti is pretty forgiving. The color may not be all that great under the stock light, but it will probably survive. Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, TheBig053 said: Monti is pretty forgiving. The color may not be all that great under the stock light, but it will probably survive. It's interesting because even the green digitata (that i stepped on and broke into 3 pieces) is still showing polyps fully extended. Quote Link to comment
TheBig053 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Yeah, I bumped my green cap pretty good today while cleaning/wc and chipped the edge. It's not happy but already looks like its working on repairing itself. If I may, how did you manage to step on a coral frag? Hah. Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 1 minute ago, TheBig053 said: Yeah, I bumped my green cap pretty good today while cleaning/wc and chipped the edge. It's not happy but already looks like its working on repairing itself. If I may, how did you manage to step on a coral frag? Hah. hmm lol I took my corals out to glue them to rocks and I placed the digitata on the floor and stepped on it. Hurt like b*tch too: the frag turned into 3 ha! Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 22, 2017 Author Share Posted August 22, 2017 FTS for today update: added a torch, hammer, and a blasto. blasto is not opening up. I glued some GSP to the back wall. The xenia looks like it's getting bigger (or maybe it's just me; not sure how fast it grows but it does seem to look better under faster flow). 1 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Some pics from today: 3 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 New tank shots and some updates: I added GSP to the back wall hoping I'll get a grassy look on it. I glued my red mushroom rock to the bigger rock to create more space on the sand and clean things up a bit. My green digitata SPS and montipora are still going strong. 4 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 So this blasto took 5 days to fully open. is that normal? 1 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 Also I believe i found the right flow for my tank: the corals look huge today Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 7 hours ago, Lugmos12 said: So this blasto took 5 days to fully open. is that normal? I usually give new corals a week or two to really settle in and fluff up before I start to worry. I say this, of course, as I'm fretting over my new gorg which hasn't extended polyps yet lol. But I'm new to gorgs still so I guess that's normal lol. Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 @Lula_Mae i kept faith because i wasn't seeing any flesh receding 1 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 I fed 1 pellet to each of my blastomusa today. pretty cool thing to watch them move the pellet to the mouth and consume it 2 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 I think I have coralline algae on my tank 1 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Do y'all think this is a good way to stack my basket? I have filter floss, chemipure, and some carbon Quote Link to comment
TheBig053 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 ChemiPure and carbon is unnecessary, just need one or the other. Dont think you need that much floss either. I just run one layer on the top shelf of my basket under the overflow. That much floss will probably end up inhibiting the flow of water through your AIO chambers. Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 17 minutes ago, TheBig053 said: ChemiPure and carbon is unnecessary, just need one or the other. Dont think you need that much floss either. I just run one layer on the top shelf of my basket under the overflow. That much floss will probably end up inhibiting the flow of water through your AIO chambers. Alright. I'll remove some floss tomorrow and the carbon. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Update: I bought Reef Chili, a green sinularia, and a blenny! I'll post another update once the coral opens up. Also my turbo snail was playing No F**ks Given today on top of my wave maker Quote Link to comment
Merthynia Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 1 minute ago, Lugmos12 said: Update: I bought Reef Chili, a green sinularia, and a blenny! I'll post another update once the coral opens up. Also my turbo snail was playing No F**ks Given today on top of my wave maker Is that fish in the first picture your blenny? Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 29 minutes ago, Merthynia said: Is that fish in the first picture your blenny? yup. I forgot what kind it is ??♂️ Quote Link to comment
Merthynia Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 12 minutes ago, Lugmos12 said: yup. I forgot what kind it is ??♂️ It's commonly called a scooter blenny, but is actually a type of Dragonet. They feed on things called copepods that live inside your tank. I see that this tank is pretty new and is fairly small. I am certainly not trying to sound like a downer here, but this fish isn't necessarily a beginner fish. They have very specific diets and can starve rather quickly in a tank that isn't set up with them in mind. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it can be extremely expensive. Please take a look at this lovely post that another member has put together on the dragonet family! It should give you an idea of the care required for these super amazing fish! Here is some examples of how people have trained them, gives you a good idea of the time and effort required. 3 Quote Link to comment
Lugmos12 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 7 minutes ago, Merthynia said: It's commonly called a scooter blenny, but is actually a type of Dragonet. They feed on things called copepods that live inside your tank. I see that this tank is pretty new and is fairly small. I am certainly not trying to sound like a downer here, but this fish isn't necessarily a beginner fish. They have very specific diets and can starve rather quickly in a tank that isn't set up with them in mind. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it can be extremely expensive. Please take a look at this lovely post that another member has put together on the dragonet family! It should give you an idea of the care required for these super amazing fish! No offense taken. I actually did read some of that article before. I plan on buying copepods to make sure he gets what he needs to stay healthy. 2 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.