Blenwood's Reef - 1st attempts at focus stacking

[Travis]

My Jebao DP-4 has run like clockwork for the last 4-5 months, but apparently without the clock.  It keeps gaining time.  in one week it will gain about 5 minutes, so once a month a I re adjust the time back to actual time...  Other than it does what it's supposed to do. I'm not itching to buy anything more expensive just because of the clock issue.

[Cannedfish]

22 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

Thanks, if it does what it is supposed to, then I’m still gonna keep it in the running. Can’t justify the costs of other ones on the market quite yet. 

For the part that I bold and underlined, you can solve the small volume issue by diluting your supplement by 5 fold or 10 fold, then you can dial in the dosage a bit better. 

R u kidding? This post is great! But I’m biased cuz you’re answering my question. Those who expected entertainment must have been disappointed. 

 

 

 

 

Dilute the 2-part? You can do that? Dammit, that's why they pay you the big bucks. Seriously, why didn't I think of that?

 

9 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Tank looks great and I always come in here for a good laugh. 

 

Make sure to monitor the doser. 

I appreciate the love! While I may not be able to dazzle the average viewer with nano tank eye candy or sexy pin-ups of hot acros like the rest of you pros; I do make a slightly-inebriated admittedly half-assed effort to entertain with what Entertainment Weekly has described as "a unique although hackneyed reef-tank slapstick routine that often leaves the audiences wanting." Eh, not a great review, but at least my bit distracts everyone from my ten gallons of mounting disaster. Anyways, you know what they say about show business, "the devil works hard, but Kris Jenner works harder." That quote has literally nothing to do with anything, I just really wanted to find away to work it in to this post. 

 

7 hours ago, Travis said:

My Jebao DP-4 has run like clockwork for the last 4-5 months, but apparently without the clock.  It keeps gaining time.  in one week it will gain about 5 minutes, so once a month a I re adjust the time back to actual time...  Other than it does what it's supposed to do. I'm not itching to buy anything more expensive just because of the clock issue.

I have noticed that... but unlike yours, mine has weirdly been losing time. I had thought that through a weird accident that involved a stack of two-dollar bills, a lot of champagne, and a microwave that I had somehow fractured the space-time continuum and my tank was operating on some sort of elastic time curve in a parallel universe. Looking back, however, that probably was never the correct answer, rather the clock is most likely cheaply made. Damn you Occam's Razor!

 

——

 

Because pictures negate the necessity of reading... 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, Cannedfish said:

Dilute the 2-part? You can do that? Dammit, that's why they pay you the big bucks. Seriously, why didn't I think of that?

Can’t take the credit. I read it on here recently as I’ve been trying to look into dosing automation side of things. 

[Lula_Mae]

I have to dilute some things at work. It's hard to get 0.06 mL of something otherwise lol. 

[teenyreef]

When I ran my DP-4 I diluted the dosing solution 50%. Later, as I realized the DP-4 doesn't dose the same amount every time, especially when you're only dosing a couple ml at a time, I started diluting it 75%. 

 

I think comparing it to a kid in his 20's is pretty good (and funny). It gets the job done as long as you check up on it all the time and have low expectations to begin with 

[Cannedfish]

14 hours ago, teenyreef said:

When I ran my DP-4 I diluted the dosing solution 50%. Later, as I realized the DP-4 doesn't dose the same amount every time, especially when you're only dosing a couple ml at a time, I started diluting it 75%. 

 

I think comparing it to a kid in his 20's is pretty good (and funny). It gets the job done as long as you check up on it all the time and have low expectations to begin with 

Unlike the time someone convinced me that wild raccoons loved being petted, that right there is some pretty solid advice. Now that I feel I have at least a basic feel for dosing, do you think it is worth upgrading the dosing pump? If so, what would you recommend? Or should I wait and just upgrade to a controller and go all Apex? Is a controller even worth it on a tank this size? Do you have a great casserole recipe? Wow, that was a lot of questions. 

[Travis]

Negative, a controller on a 10g tank is a waste of bread.

 

I would, however, consider a more accurate doser, especially for a 10g tank.  The variances in dosage could be detrimental.

 

Nano tanks require vigilance in attention to detail.  Automation would promote laziness.

[teenyreef]

...well, my 10g is fully automated 

 

And it really helps me keep it going by minimizing the things I have to do day in and day out. If I wasn't keeping sps I'd be all about simpler equipment, though. And I think @Travis has a good point about whether it's worth it for a 10g tank. Automating a 100g tank costs about the same as automating a 10g tank, and you get ten times as much coral porn per automation dollar in the 100g tank.

 

I did eventually upgrade the DP-4 to the BRS dosers, but it was an easier decision for me since I already had the Apex. As far as other dosers go, I don't think you get anything that has the precision you need for a 10g tank until you get into some serious money, like $400+. And then you're right back to "is it worth it for a 10g tank?"

 

Oh, and yes, 1 can of tuna fish, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup milk. Peas and mushrooms optional. Pour it all on some cooked egg noodles, sprinkle bread crumbs on top, cook for 30 minutes. Enjoy the delicious goodness of a bad tuna noodle casserole recipe made even worse by taking shortcuts to make it easier to fix.

[Lula_Mae]

 If you did get an apex or similar, you could always use it on a bigger tank later, right? I think "worth it" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder.  If I had only one tank, even if it was a pico, I'd still consider a controller  (And have lol). I'm considering it down the line for my IM14 and that's not much bigger than your 10, but I have no plans to upgrade further at this time (no space anyway!).

[specore]

Controllers are about redundancy, which is just as valuable on  a 10g as it is on a 300g.  Although it isn't entirely necessary an Apex is a purchase you wouldn't regret. 

[ReefGoat]

I like my Apex on my 10 gallon simply for the ease of turning things on and off during water changes, feeding times and other routine maintenance. The ease of just walking 3 feet over to my computer and pulling up Fusion and switching off what I don't want is perfect for me. It also makes temperature control in my tank a breeze with the heater and chiller working in unison to hold 78-79. When my controller was bummed out from a power outage and I had to send it in for repair. My tank refused to hold steady. My range went from 1.5-2 degrees stability to 3-4 degrees stability, If my heater sticks and the temp starts rising uncontrollably, my phone alerts me and I can open up Fusion and switch the heater off until I get home and replace the heater with a spare. A controller-less tank would be in a bind in that situation..... Not to mention I have down to the second updates on my tanks PH, Temperature and ORP. I plan on also taking advantage of the ability to have an IP stream, monitoring camera set up to Fusion. That way I can check on my tank live stream anytime I please. Work, vacation....whenever...wherever. I suppose that I use my Apex more for ease of control and user friendliness rather than automation. The only things that are really automated are my lighting and my ATO. I still have to do water changes, I still have to manually add coral food and supplements. I still have to test things. I wouldn't say it promotes laziness at all. Preference I guess is what it comes down to. 

[Cannedfish]

On 6/21/2018 at 2:02 PM, Travis said:

Negative, a controller on a 10g tank is a waste of bread.

 

I would, however, consider a more accurate doser, especially for a 10g tank.  The variances in dosage could be detrimental.

 

Nano tanks require vigilance in attention to detail.  Automation would promote laziness.

 

On 6/21/2018 at 9:59 PM, teenyreef said:

...well, my 10g is fully automated 

 

And it really helps me keep it going by minimizing the things I have to do day in and day out. If I wasn't keeping sps I'd be all about simpler equipment, though. And I think @Travis has a good point about whether it's worth it for a 10g tank. Automating a 100g tank costs about the same as automating a 10g tank, and you get ten times as much coral porn per automation dollar in the 100g tank.

 

I did eventually upgrade the DP-4 to the BRS dosers, but it was an easier decision for me since I already had the Apex. As far as other dosers go, I don't think you get anything that has the precision you need for a 10g tank until you get into some serious money, like $400+. And then you're right back to "is it worth it for a 10g tank?"

 

Oh, and yes, 1 can of tuna fish, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup milk. Peas and mushrooms optional. Pour it all on some cooked egg noodles, sprinkle bread crumbs on top, cook for 30 minutes. Enjoy the delicious goodness of a bad tuna noodle casserole recipe made even worse by taking shortcuts to make it easier to fix.

 

On 6/22/2018 at 7:09 AM, Lula_Mae said:

 If you did get an apex or similar, you could always use it on a bigger tank later, right? I think "worth it" is somewhat in the eye of the beholder.  If I had only one tank, even if it was a pico, I'd still consider a controller  (And have lol). I'm considering it down the line for my IM14 and that's not much bigger than your 10, but I have no plans to upgrade further at this time (no space anyway!).

 

On 6/22/2018 at 8:28 AM, specore said:

Controllers are about redundancy, which is just as valuable on  a 10g as it is on a 300g.  Although it isn't entirely necessary an Apex is a purchase you wouldn't regret. 

 

On 6/22/2018 at 8:46 AM, ReefGoat said:

I like my Apex on my 10 gallon simply for the ease of turning things on and off during water changes, feeding times and other routine maintenance. The ease of just walking 3 feet over to my computer and pulling up Fusion and switching off what I don't want is perfect for me. It also makes temperature control in my tank a breeze with the heater and chiller working in unison to hold 78-79. When my controller was bummed out from a power outage and I had to send it in for repair. My tank refused to hold steady. My range went from 1.5-2 degrees stability to 3-4 degrees stability, If my heater sticks and the temp starts rising uncontrollably, my phone alerts me and I can open up Fusion and switch the heater off until I get home and replace the heater with a spare. A controller-less tank would be in a bind in that situation..... Not to mention I have down to the second updates on my tanks PH, Temperature and ORP. I plan on also taking advantage of the ability to have an IP stream, monitoring camera set up to Fusion. That way I can check on my tank live stream anytime I please. Work, vacation....whenever...wherever. I suppose that I use my Apex more for ease of control and user friendliness rather than automation. The only things that are really automated are my lighting and my ATO. I still have to do water changes, I still have to manually add coral food and supplements. I still have to test things. I wouldn't say it promotes laziness at all. Preference I guess is what it comes down to. 

 

I really and truly appreciate the feedback! I quoted everyone because there were a lot of great points and one casserole recipe. I think I am going to have to do something at some point (+1 for exceedingly vague opinion, you know, it is what it is...), if not for the redundancy, for a the alerts and monitoring to (as was often written on my grade school report cards) protect me from my own idiocy. Because of the location of the tank and the weird and slightly disturbing fact that routine tank maintenance is a sea of calm in my otherwise dumpster-fire-eque existence, I don't think my husbandry (unlike my bank account) will suffer with the addition of a controller (but I think that is good point @Travis). Rather, especially at the moment, it could be helpful aiding with my laundry list of issues. Despite misleading images suggest the contrary, my tank is currently very much pre-2013 Miley Cyrus (or really any teen pop star with a good manager)... on stage is able to competently lip sync and stumble through a dance routine while being masked by well trained but poorly paid backup dancers and expensive pyrotechnics, however, off stage it is basically Kim Jong-Un unsupervised in a room full of cheese, a train wreck bordering on disaster (#runonsentence #sorrynotsorry). While it is true, my alk has been stable, I am now dealing with temperature and phosphate issues. In fear of cooking my tank in the swamp-ass-like Louisiana summer heat, I have unplugged my thermometer (till I install the Inkbird) and have taken a chance and removed the cover (don't jump Lorp! Life's worth living!), but the tank is still hovering at around 80 (I don't really want to commit to a fan until I commit to a ATO, and apparently I have a commitment issue). But never mind that,  more concerning is my phosphate issue. Since biting the bullet and getting the Hanna Phosphate checker, I know fully understand the extent of my phosphate problem. While I have owned a test kit, it was a pain to use (counting on your fingers while holding a test tube is down-right difficult, and if there are more than ten drops it's basically impossible), and thus I generally lived in state of blissful phosphate ignorance. It was like being really ugly, but not owning a mirroring. Well I made the mistake of buying a mirror, and now realize that I really need to pluck my eye brows and get a nose job or where a bag over my head at walmart. Disturbingly, my phosphates have been hanging out around in the .35 - .40 range (thank god I don't own the nitrate checker). As an obvious result, I need to devise a plan (preferably in a surreptitious and otherwise dastardly clandestine manner (really the only acceptable way to devise a plan)) to sustainably lower my phosphate level. I already use phosguard mixed with GAC in a media bag, and am considering adding ROWA as there really isn't room for reactor. I don't know. All these problems make me feel like my tank is like gaining a step-child through an ill-advised Vegas marriage who's hobbies include wetting the bed, starting fires, and torturing insects.... woe is me (or if it was 2000 and I was Black Rob: Whoa! is me). 

 

 

As always, in lieu of proofreading here are some shoddy pictures. 

 

 

(if anyone has any idea what this acro might be let me know (it came from the high-end frag tank of a great LFS but was initally browned-out and the owner guy couldn't remember what it was, it looks like it's trying to turn yellow despite my incompetence (WWC After Party is behind it))

The

[ReefGoat]

As far as I'm concerned your tank is in god mode. Phosphates be damned. Whatever you're doing is working. 

[jSully]

On 6/21/2018 at 7:59 PM, teenyreef said:

Oh, and yes, 1 can of tuna fish, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup milk. Peas and mushrooms optional. Pour it all on some cooked egg noodles, sprinkle bread crumbs on top, cook for 30 minutes. Enjoy the delicious goodness of a bad tuna noodle casserole recipe made even worse by taking shortcuts to make it easier to fix.

That’s a good start. Use half&half instead of milk. 1/4-1/3 box of velveeta warmed on the stove, mix into egg noddles with mushrooms (no peas, cmon), top with Kellogg’s cornflakes. Bake @ 350deg for 45mins. 

 

 

Carry on. 

 

🍿

[Travis]

The solution to the aforementioned PO4 situation.

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/Boyd_Chemi_Pure_Blue_Carbon_Replacements_Resin_Chemical_Filter_Media-Boyd_Enterprises_Chemi_Pure-BE16752-FIFMCHRM-vi.html

[Cannedfish]

On 6/26/2018 at 1:54 PM, ReefGoat said:

As far as I'm concerned your tank is in god mode. Phosphates be damned. Whatever you're doing is working. 

Hahaha, I appreciate the comment, but don't be fooled, this thing is hanging one by skin of it's proverbial teeth, which is a weird saying if you ask me. I guess it's because teeth don't have skin... or maybe they do, I don't know. Anyways, I wouldn't mind really if the phosphates were somewhat near the acceptable range, like .15 or hell .20, but floating in the high .30's seems dangerous, plus my clam looks sad. In reality, I just want to see how things will do if I manage to keep everything at an acceptable level for a solid two months, instead of ping-ponging from one minor disaster to the next. Also I would feel better about it if I neglected the tank a bit more than I do, then there would be at least an excuse. Rather it really shows how amateurish things are over here in that levels are out of whack despite the effort put into it. Maybe, I just need to find a new hobby, like macrame or maybe crappy finger painting or move to New Mexico and become a high-school chemistry teacher who lung cancer who in turn decides to manufacture meth and become a drug kingpin to pay my families finances. Eh, that seems like a lot of work, reefing it is.  

[Cannedfish]

On 6/26/2018 at 2:07 PM, xtra0t said:

That’s a good start. Use half&half instead of milk. 1/4-1/3 box of velveeta warmed on the stove, mix into egg noddles with mushrooms (no peas, cmon), top with Kellogg’s cornflakes. Bake @ 350deg for 45mins. 

 

 

Carry on. 

 

🍿

This weekend is going to get interesting... I'm either going to have a bucket o' delicious cheesy casserole or a house fire... Probably should get some marshmallows and graham crackers just in case.

 

On 6/26/2018 at 3:15 PM, Travis said:

The solution to the aforementioned PO4 situation.

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/Boyd_Chemi_Pure_Blue_Carbon_Replacements_Resin_Chemical_Filter_Media-Boyd_Enterprises_Chemi_Pure-BE16752-FIFMCHRM-vi.html

I've used that in the past and had a couple extra packets so I threw them in. I had been attempthing to make my own, and I think GAC, phosguard, and some ROWA is pretty close to what's in chemi-pure, but I am not 100% certain. 

 

——

 

I have a bunch of other tank updates but I'm feeling real lazy so here are some less-than-great two month progress photos.

 

April 2018:

 

June 2018: 

[Cannedfish]

TANK UPDATE TIME!

 

Alright it’s tank update time. I have been avoiding doing an update since a lot has happened and because you know... lazy. As a result, I’m going to try to keep this update concise and on point rather than trodding out the usual hackneyed commentary and otherwise bad jokes that normally punctuate these updates. As a warning this probably won’t be as fun as the usual posts. Let’s start. 

 

THE BAD:

While I make no effort to hide the fact that I’m basically Helen Keller playing darts (dangerous!) when it comes to this reef tank game, I think it’s really important to document your failures can much as your success. Not only for getting help but also to show potential and new hobbiest that sh$t does indeed happen. You don’t get to have a tank as nice as @teenyreef or @markalot or @micoastreefing or @WV Reefer without a few expensive frags melting or a fish deciding to attempt to carpet surf or taking a light fixture for a swim. Things happen and it’s fine. Although it’s true my tank has been trending towards stability the last month or so, proverbial sh$t still happened. Here is the poo highlight reel:

 

💩 Walt Disney Tenius died: it had been STN’ing for a while and finally succumbed. Although many say that tenius  are pretty hardy, my experience has been that they are more sensitive than other acros to alk fluctuations. I’m not usually a hype beast, but I admit I really like the WD, and am currently searching for another. Screw it, it’s just money, right? (Disregard previous sentence and don’t tell my old lady)

💩 Randy Clam died: this one really hurt. Not only because 1) I had him for a while, 2) he had been doing really really well, 3) I haven’t seem a clam as bright, but also because I really liked him and was kinda attached. I can’t be sure why he died but the leader in the club house is that the sexy shrimp irritated him to death. This will be my last sexy shrimp, they are not worth the problems. 

💩 Walking Dendro died: although it sucked, it was his own damn fault. Not only did he breach the containment area, but decided to park under the acan echinata. The same acan echinata that ate an entire rock flower anemone in like the first 2 hours after I put it in the tank. I don’t live by many rules, but not effing with that echinata is one of them. 

 💩 Unhappy LPS: for whatever reason, both the lobo and plate coral seem miserable, I can’t figure out why after being happy for so long. I want to believe that it’s because they prefer lower alk but don’t really know. 

💩 High phosphates: as mentioned above somewhere, I recently purchased a Hanna phosphate checker after being so pleased with the alkalinity checker. I shouldn’t have bought it, because now I do know just how high my phosphates are. I had been under the assumption that because I didn’t really have an algae issue (besides a few well documented Erin Green Spheroid Water Lettuces) that my phosphates were under control. Nope. It’s hanging around .40, which is not cool. I blame the fact that the doser has been keeping the water pretty stable, and as a result I had cut back on water changes. I feed heavy, because I have a NPS (and bourbon) problem, and I think this resulted in a rise of phosphates. To fix this I have implemented the following strategy: 1) really thorough cleaning. I went really OCD and scrubbed all the equipment and back chambers, did an intense sand and rock clean (blowing/turning it with the blaster), as well as, several big water changes 2) increased the small water changes, back to the 1/2 -1 gallon daily routine, 3) will be adding a small amount of GFO to the GAC media bag (changed weekly). 

 

THE OKAY, NEW PICKUPS, & OTHER NOTES: (side note: chicken pecking this out on an iPad is miserable, normally I would just say eff it and quit but shoot I’m already this far)

 

🤠 Growth: the last month or so, SPS growth has noticeably increased. The red dragon and Cali tort both especially seem a little out of control.  While this is great, it also resulted in the fact that I had to get rid of the ORA blue polyp Monti as it was starting to growing into or shade a bunch of acros. But as a plus I have more room for frags!

🤠 Icecap salinity probe: I want to take this thing out behind the dumpster and get it pregnant, that’s how much I like it, no love it.  

🤠 Stabilty: I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the dosing pump, and as a result, alk has held pretty rock steady between 8.0 & 8.3. Acros are coloring back up and life (if you disregard the 2nd & 3rd paragraphs) is good. 

🤠 New pickups: I know, I know, I have been crying wolf about how I am out of space for the last three months or so, but if you believed that: 1) you already knew the only thing I can’t resist is temptation, 2) I’m a millennial, and we derive personal and emotional fulfillment through monetary spending (as well as, not paying for cable and pissing off older generations), 3) you probably shouldn’t trust anything I say, unless you were planning to lend me money, about to arrest me, or we are playing poker. With that being said here’s the latest pickups: JF Fox Flame, Joe Knows Reef’s Rainbow, a Walking Dendro, a four polyp fathead Dendro, two frags of balanophyllia, and a multi (baby) polyp Dendro skeleton (more about this project later). I have put in a request for WD and possibly the Crazy T Monti, as well. 

🤠 Aquaforest Salt: I have been using it for little over a month and have been really happy with it. It doesn’t percipitate or leave a residue like Aquavitro Salinity and the alk is more manageable than the Red Sea Coral Pro. Plus it comes with the benefit of being lab made, and it mixes really quickly and really clear. 

 

There we go, the updates done and we can all go back to bad jokes and stale hijinks. My finger feels like I just put it in one of those old-timey wall mounted school pencil sharpeners with all this chicken pecking. As always here’s some photos that could have been done better by your 6 years old niece, you know the kinda slow one. 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

2 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

TANK UPDATE TIME!

 

Alright it’s tank update time. I have been avoiding doing an update since a lot has happened and because you know... lazy. As a result, I’m going to try to keep this update concise and on point rather than trodding out the usual hackneyed commentary and otherwise bad jokes that normally punctuate these updates. As a warning this probably won’t be as fun as the usual posts. Let’s start. 

 

THE BAD:

While I make no effort to hide the fact that I’m basically Helen Keller playing darts (dangerous!) when it comes to this reef tank game, I think it’s really important to document your failures can much as your success. Not only for getting help but also to show potential and new hobbiest that sh$t does indeed happen. You don’t get to have a tank as nice as @teenyreef or @markalot or @micoastreefing or @WV Reefer without a few expensive frags melting or a fish deciding to attempt to carpet surf or taking a light fixture for a swim. Things happen and it’s fine. Although it’s true my tank has been trending towards stability the last month or so, proverbial sh$t still happened. Here is the poo highlight reel:

 

💩 Walt Disney Tenius died: it had been STN’ing for a while and finally succumbed. Although many say that tenius  are pretty hardy, my experience has been that they are more sensitive than other acros to alk fluctuations. I’m not usually a hype beast, but I admit I really like the WD, and am currently searching for another. Screw it, it’s just money, right? (Disregard previous sentence and don’t tell my old lady)

💩 Randy Clam died: this one really hurt. Not only because 1) I had him for a while, 2) he had been doing really really well, 3) I haven’t seem a clam as bright, but also because I really liked him and was kinda attached. I can’t be sure why he died but the leader in the club house is that the sexy shrimp irritated him to death. This will be my last sexy shrimp, they are not worth the problems. 

💩 Walking Dendro died: although it sucked, it was his own damn fault. Not only did he breach the containment area, but decided to park under the acan echinata. The same acan echinata that ate an entire rock flower anemone in like the first 2 hours after I put it in the tank. I don’t live by many rules, but not effing with that echinata is one of them. 

 💩 Unhappy LPS: for whatever reason, both the lobo and plate coral seem miserable, I can’t figure out why after being happy for so long. I want to believe that it’s because they prefer lower alk but don’t really know. 

💩 High phosphates: as mentioned above somewhere, I recently purchased a Hanna phosphate checker after being so pleased with the alkalinity checker. I shouldn’t have bought it, because now I do know just how high my phosphates are. I had been under the assumption that because I didn’t really have an algae issue (besides a few well documented Erin Green Spheroid Water Lettuces) that my phosphates were under control. Nope. It’s hanging around .40, which is not cool. I blame the fact that the doser has been keeping the water pretty stable, and as a result I had cut back on water changes. I feed heavy, because I have a NPS (and bourbon) problem, and I think this resulted in a rise of phosphates. To fix this I have implemented the following strategy: 1) really thorough cleaning. I went really OCD and scrubbed all the equipment and back chambers, did an intense sand and rock clean (blowing/turning it with the blaster), as well as, several big water changes 2) increased the small water changes, back to the 1/2 -1 gallon daily routine, 3) will be adding a small amount of GFO to the GAC media bag (changed weekly). 

 

THE OKAY, NEW PICKUPS, & OTHER NOTES: (side note: chicken pecking this out on an iPad is miserable, normally I would just say eff it and quit but shoot I’m already this far)

 

🤠 Growth: the last month or so, SPS growth has noticeably increased. The red dragon and Cali tort both especially seem a little out of control.  While this is great, it also resulted in the fact that I had to get rid of the ORA blue polyp Monti as it was starting to growing into or shade a bunch of acros. But as a plus I have more room for frags!

🤠 Icecap salinity probe: I want to take this thing out behind the dumpster and get it pregnant, that’s how much I like it, no love it.  

🤠 Stabilty: I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the dosing pump, and as a result, alk has held pretty rock steady between 8.0 & 8.3. Acros are coloring back up and life (if you disregard the 2nd & 3rd paragraphs) is good. 

🤠 New pickups: I know, I know, I have been crying wolf about how I am out of space for the last three months or so, but if you believed that: 1) you already knew the only thing I can’t resist is temptation, 2) I’m a millennial, and we derive personal and emotional fulfillment through monetary spending (as well as, not paying for cable and pissing off older generations), 3) you probably shouldn’t trust anything I say, unless you were planning to lend me money, about to arrest me, or we are playing poker. With that being said here’s the latest pickups: JF Fox Flame, Joe Knows Reef’s Rainbow, a Walking Dendro, a four polyp fathead Dendro, two frags of balanophyllia, and a multi (baby) polyp Dendro skeleton (more about this project later). I have put in a request for WD and possibly the Crazy T Monti, as well. 

🤠 Aquaforest Salt: I have been using it for little over a month and have been really happy with it. It doesn’t percipitate or leave a residue like Aquavitro Salinity and the alk is more manageable than the Red Sea Coral Pro. Plus it comes with the benefit of being lab made, and it mixes really quickly and really clear. 

 

There we go, the updates done and we can all go back to bad jokes and stale hijinks. My finger feels like I just put it in one of those old-timey wall mounted school pencil sharpeners with all this chicken pecking. As always here’s some photos that could have been done better by your 6 years old niece, you know the kinda slow one. 

 

 

 

RIP Randy. 😞

[Lula_Mae]

On 6/27/2018 at 4:07 PM, Cannedfish said:

Hahaha, I appreciate the comment, but don't be fooled, this thing is hanging one by skin of it's proverbial teeth, which is a weird saying if you ask me. I guess it's because teeth don't have skin... or maybe they do, I don't know. Anyways, I wouldn't mind really if the phosphates were somewhat near the acceptable range, like .15 or hell .20, but floating in the high .30's seems dangerous, plus my clam looks sad. In reality, I just want to see how things will do if I manage to keep everything at an acceptable level for a solid two months, instead of ping-ponging from one minor disaster to the next. Also I would feel better about it if I neglected the tank a bit more than I do, then there would be at least an excuse. Rather it really shows how amateurish things are over here in that levels are out of whack despite the effort put into it. Maybe, I just need to find a new hobby, like macrame or maybe crappy finger painting or move to New Mexico and become a high-school chemistry teacher who lung cancer who in turn decides to manufacture meth and become a drug kingpin to pay my families finances. Eh, that seems like a lot of work, reefing it is.  

Hey, Gena does macrame! Are you using the AquaForest reef salt? I use the sea salt version and really like it. 

[This guy is extra salty]

You got rid of the blue polyp monti?!

damn

[specore]

22 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

I can’t be sure why he died but the leader in the club house is that the sexy shrimp irritated him to death. This will be my last sexy shrimp, they are not worth the problems. 

 

 

 

 

 

Used to have 4 sexy's until I finally got fed up with their BS and siphoned them out.

[Cannedfish]

16 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Hey, Gena does macrame! Are you using the AquaForest reef salt? I use the sea salt version and really like it. 

Yup, so far I have been really impressed by it (well as much as you can be impressed by salt). The fact that I don't have to clean out my water container and bath the circulating pump in vinegar to get rid of the precipitate is a huge plus. 

 

5 hours ago, specore said:

Used to have 4 sexy's until I finally got fed up with their BS and siphoned them out.

Are they cute? Yes. Are the slightly amusing with their movements? Yes. Do they love to eat expensive corals? Yes. Are the suspect #1 in a recent clam death. Yes. Let's all just agree that sexy shrimps are the worst. 

 

5 hours ago, This guy is extra salty said:

You got rid of the blue polyp monti?!

damn

Yeah, I'm sorry man; It was a rash and poorly thought out decision. I woke up last Saturday and I swear to god it had grown another half inch and was now shading the SC orange polyp acro and I just had it. Similar, to my haircut schedule, I let things go then all of a sudden get sick of looking like a dirty hobo-ass hippie and shave it all off. Would it have been better to plan (even a little bit) and maybe schedule a trim every month or so? Yes, however, I have learned the hard way that I am apparently an irresponsible and short sighted prisoner of chaos and come to accept it. In this case, the monti was battling no less than three different acros, shading out another monti and a relatively high-end acro, so I shaved it all off. Obviously, instead of doing the smart thing I literally just dumped it off at the LFS. 

But don't worry. In addition to be being a moron, as mentioned above, I'm myopic, and as a direct result, will probably not set up a frag tank to deal with the inevitably future trimmings that will be necessitated by the small size of my tank. Furthermore, despite being a pretty vibrant monti, it wasn't anything too special and getting rid of it continues the trend of selectively weeding out the less-exciting stuff, erstwhile things continue to grow. And this is where you benefit, since the LFS (despite bringing them some goodies) hasn't been really that appreciative. So eff them, if I'm not going to be offered a credit, I might as well ship things out even at a loss (I can be a petty vindictive biatch), however, instead of it being a plain-Jane ORA Blue Polyp Monti, it will be something more fun, like a SC OP or OG Cali Tort or WWC After Party. 

[Cannedfish]

Some post holiday, happy I still have all my fingers, let’s coast into the weekend, poorly taken photos for y’all:

 

The new 'baby' walking dendro:

 

The super evil Acan Echinata:

 

Blen-Daddy Cash Money $$ just creepin' on the ladies from his favorite post-up:

[teenyreef]

Dang, sorry to hear about Randy clam and the WD tenuis. 

 

Sounds like retail therapy was successful, though! You got some great new corals. I could not get any tenuis to survive in my IM40 for at least the first year. And I still don't think I'd try one in my 10g. They just seem to be much more sensitive to parameter changes, so you may be right, it could be alk swings that did yours in.