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I love how the scape turned out, nice job to you and your girls :D

 

I have never kept goniopora because they have a reputation for being finicky. They definitely require regular feeding from what I hear.

 

200 PAR is plenty for a PC rainbow. More is better of course, but really more than anything else, sps corals thrive on stability. You have to be really patient with them because anything you change doesn't usually have an effect for a couple weeks, so it's hard to track cause and effect. It sounds like it just browned out because of the stress of transport and changing conditions from what it's used to. Since it seems to be recovering, I would just keep doing exactly what you've been doing and see what happens.

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Some changes to report:

  1. Added a small mirror to the side of the tub to make sure the back side of the PC Rainbow was getting a decent amount of light. I guess that is one challenge with picos is that the light only comes from one direction, so we get a fair amount of shadow in places if we're not careful.
  2. Added a margarita snail, since petco didn't have a trochus. And the hair algae is getting a little out of control.
  3. Added a trochus snail since I double checked, and realized it's mostly diatoms, and not much hair algae.  Got the trochus because while looking for nerites at petco, I found the trochus they "didn't have." :rolleyes: 

So now I've got two snail, and a container bottom full of snail poop. Yea!?:unsure: This should also give the girls something to watch and name, so as to keep their interest high. So far the the child showing the most daily interest is the 2 year old,as of today,  who's very proud of her ability to say 'coral', 'fish', 'snail', and 'snail goes nam nam'  

 

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Random update. I've been combatting some sort of bloom.  Not hair algae, but I'm thinking diatoms.  As it's more slimy and less structured as well as just being a brownish green color.  I'm thinking there must have been a large amount of silicate in the travertine tiles.  My current maintenance schedule is is feed in the morning at lights on, and do a 100% WC after lights off. the acro LOVES this schedule.  I H2O2 dipped my GSP a couple of days ago since the algae seemed to be irritating it. It's got a couple of segmented micro worm like things on it as well, but no Bayer dip as of yet, as I'm nervous about any trace chemical effect on my snails.    The amount waste these two snails are producing each day is amazing. I think they're almost on top of the bloom. 

 

And because who doesn't like a nice snail poop picture. Here's one from last night. This is a typical 24 hour deposit. :closedeyes:

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random top down shot. Acro is coloring back up nicely. Gonioporia is right on the edge of life. The daily feedings and water changes have kept it from fully committing to death, and I will continue them, but i won't hold my breath.  My GSP got a nice bayer dip last night and seems happier this morning, but still has a few things moving around on it. I'll try again in a few days, but I'm trying to make sure I don't get any Bayer in the water and kill my snails.   Zoas are not coloring up well. Probably too much light, but Won't really know until the snails finish cleaning them up. Rescue Candy cane in the bottom right it starting to spread finally. Got some little mouths to feed now.  Xenia has a full belly in the his picture. Finally , the hammer is just happy. I took a q-tip and cleaned him up last night. He seems to like getting a bath, and any algae wiped off.  

 

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On 12/8/2017 at 4:29 AM, jahnje said:

Random update. I've been combatting some sort of bloom.  Not hair algae, but I'm thinking diatoms.  As it's more slimy and less structured as well as just being a brownish green color.  I'm thinking there must have been a large amount of silicate in the travertine tiles.  My current maintenance schedule is is feed in the morning at lights on, and do a 100% WC after lights off. the acro LOVES this schedule.  I H2O2 dipped my GSP a couple of days ago since the algae seemed to be irritating it. It's got a couple of segmented micro worm like things on it as well, but no Bayer dip as of yet, as I'm nervous about any trace chemical effect on my snails.    The amount waste these two snails are producing each day is amazing. I think they're almost on top of the bloom. 

 

And because who doesn't like a nice snail poop picture. Here's one from last night. This is a typical 24 hour deposit. :closedeyes:

IMG_6368.thumb.JPG.a8a4d03374f91196a46fe150285469f3.JPG

 

Ok, now I find this almost as fascinating as skimmate.  Honestly, that's just pretty impressive from the little guys.

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okay, finally managed to get a picture of the little worms that sort of snak out from my GSP. Anyone know what they are?  They all seemed to even survive my Bayer dip. 

 

edit: I think it may be a spaghetti or hair worm. I'm either see more than two tentacles, or more than two worms...  They're really not in any place I can get to, and are apparently harmless, so I shall let them live. :closedeyes: 

 

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Edited by jahnje
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Those look like the hair worms from hell that I have. As you've found, nothing kills them, and I have yet to find anything that will eat them, even when I'm able to blow them out of their holes and floating around in the water, the fish spit them right back out. 

 

Mine definitely irritate my zoas, and I strongly suspect them in some acro deaths due to strong circumstantial evidence. 

 

Hopefully you have one of the ten million other kinds of hair worms :)

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13 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Those look like the hair worms from hell that I have. As you've found, nothing kills them, and I have yet to find anything that will eat them, even when I'm able to blow them out of their holes and floating around in the water, the fish spit them right back out. 

 

Mine definitely irritate my zoas, and I strongly suspect them in some acro deaths due to strong circumstantial evidence. 

 

Hopefully you have one of the ten million other kinds of hair worms :)

I guess they're probably a job for super glue then.  I've found that they're harmless, so I may just let them go.  Sure it does cause my GSP to close, but it hasn't stopped any growth of it. Still on the fence.  I'm in the process of designing/building a 220 and have reached the part where i've got to pick the substrate etc.  And am very tempted to go with live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater or something. At which point spaghetti worms will be the least of my problems. :D   It's sort of the age old question, do I go for a pristine and sterile reef, or natural and extremely biodiverse.  And honestly I think I'm leaning for diversity. I kinda like the idea of discovering new critters and things and trying to identify them. As well as the natural stability that comes from a wide range of life. 

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You can submerge the rock in a bucket and increase the salinity to a point of discomfort for all the critters.  They will abandon ship where you can weed out the desirables from the less desirables.

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On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 7:29 AM, jahnje said:

Random update. I've been combatting some sort of bloom.  Not hair algae, but I'm thinking diatoms.  As it's more slimy and less structured as well as just being a brownish green color.  I'm thinking there must have been a large amount of silicate in the travertine tiles.  My current maintenance schedule is is feed in the morning at lights on, and do a 100% WC after lights off. the acro LOVES this schedule.  I H2O2 dipped my GSP a couple of days ago since the algae seemed to be irritating it. It's got a couple of segmented micro worm like things on it as well, but no Bayer dip as of yet, as I'm nervous about any trace chemical effect on my snails.    The amount waste these two snails are producing each day is amazing. I think they're almost on top of the bloom. 

 

And because who doesn't like a nice snail poop picture. Here's one from last night. This is a typical 24 hour deposit. :closedeyes:

IMG_6368.thumb.JPG.a8a4d03374f91196a46fe150285469f3.JPG

 

 

Upon starting my first pico I noticed the same issue - snails poop a lot.   So I designed this device for cleaning.  You could heat up and bend the rigid tubing a little to work around your egg crate platform.

 

On ‎12‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 8:33 AM, vlangel said:

You can submerge the rock in a bucket and increase the salinity to a point of discomfort for all the critters.  They will abandon ship where you can weed out the desirables from the less desirables.

Hmm I've never thought of that before... Typically I go hyposaline to do something similar but I suppose it depends on the species if they're more sensitive to hypo/hyper saline conditions... 

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9 hours ago, ajmckay said:

 

Upon starting my first pico I noticed the same issue - snails poop a lot.   So I designed this device for cleaning.  You could heat up and bend the rigid tubing a little to work around your egg crate platform.

 

So thought I'd make a quick video, not my skill set at all, of how I do a water change to get rid of snail poop... :P

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

December FTS shot. Getting some good growth I think. Lot of algae, but mostly letting it die off. Still doing a daily 100% WC, with reef chili, and just started adding KZ-Nano power package to see what happens.  My pink goniopora was starting to do ok until it got bulldozed butter side down by the trochus snail. Really having a hard time since then. My margarita snail bit the dust. Managed to get under the egg crate and stuck upside down on the bottom, and just never really moved again.   The PC Acro is encrusting like mad, and yet has become pretty pale at the top, I don't think it's bleaching, but more diverting recourse to the encrustment. Fingers crossed.  Rescue monti is holding on more or less. GSP and softer corals are doing extremely well.  I'd say at this point, that travertine tile has a HUGE amount of silicate in it. And that I'd recommend against using it in a non established tank. 

 

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So is my PC Rainbow bleaching or not? I really can't tell.  It's got an amazing amount of encrusting going on, visible advances everyday.   But the tip of this is just not the crazy green is was a couple of weeks ago.  I know with some of my other corals, they seem to go a little dormant when growing well, as if reproducing takes all of their energy. my hammer just looked horrible for days while it split. And my GSP will stay closed for days as well while it reproduces.  Is this just the same thing?  

 

december 9th:

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today: looks a whiter to the naked eye. Other than cropping, no edits made. 

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and in blue...

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So, Decided SPS not bleaching, just pale. Not sure if it's the addition of the NZ coral food, or the lack of my margarita snail, but in the last week the trochus just hasn't kept up with the algae.   So got a new snail last night, and added him in. I'm naming my trochus fuzzy, since he is covered in hair algae at this point.  Needs another snail to come along and clean him up. Also cleaned out all of the vermetid snails hat we're on a number of things. Didn't know what they were until the other day, and I hear bad things...  

 

Had been leaving the lid off everyday since I'm still doing daily water changes, and wanted more light, but the salt creep from the bubbles was starting cover everything in the surrounding area.  Since going to put the lid back on. 

 

So I think my diatom bloom has finally run its course, and we're now into a better kind of simple brown algae. I think my tiles are finally starting to turn into 'live rock', and the most of the silicates have been used up.  I've still got a few places where things are still stringy, but I'm hoping we've passed the worst of it.  The mermaid is still pretty nasty. The main reason I think we're progressing is that the walls are starting to show little white specks that I think are coraline starting to grow.  Whatever it is, it's a calcium based something. So maybe after 2 months, things are finally starting to settle down. 

 

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10 hours ago, jahnje said:

So, Decided SPS not bleaching, just pale. Not sure if it's the addition of the NZ coral food, or the lack of my margarita snail, but in the last week the trochus just hasn't kept up with the algae.   So got a new snail last night, and added him in. I'm naming my trochus fuzzy, since he is covered in hair algae at this point.  Needs another snail to come along and clean him up. Also cleaned out all of the vermetid snails hat we're on a number of things. Didn't know what they were until the other day, and I hear bad things...  

 

Had been leaving the lid off everyday since I'm still doing daily water changes, and wanted more light, but the salt creep from the bubbles was starting cover everything in the surrounding area.  Since going to put the lid back on. 

 

So I think my diatom bloom has finally run its course, and we're now into a better kind of simple brown algae. I think my tiles are finally starting to turn into 'live rock', and the most of the silicates have been used up.  I've still got a few places where things are still stringy, but I'm hoping we've passed the worst of it.  The mermaid is still pretty nasty. The main reason I think we're progressing is that the walls are starting to show little white specks that I think are coraline starting to grow.  Whatever it is, it's a calcium based something. So maybe after 2 months, things are finally starting to settle down. 

 

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If the white specks are faintly spiral, they may be spirorbid worms (teeny little filter feeders and a good thing). I have them all over the wall of my jar. :)

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10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

If the white specks are faintly spiral, they may be spirorbid worms (teeny little filter feeders and a good thing). I have them all over the wall of my jar. :)

:closedeyes: yes.... darn and I was so hopeful! thanks. 

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1 hour ago, jahnje said:

:closedeyes: yes.... darn and I was so hopeful! thanks. 

If it makes you feel better, my 5.5 still has no coralline after months... :closedeyes:

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51 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

If it makes you feel better, my 5.5 still has no coralline after months... :closedeyes:

LOL... no..

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  • 2 weeks later...

weekly update: not a lot going on. I'm switching to weekly water changes this week. My algae/diatom population is out of control either way. Officially lost my pink goniopora this week. :(. Not sure as to the cause, could have been so many factors, will just have to chalk it up to a learning experience.  Everything else seems copacetic though.  I think I'm going through a growth phase at the moment. Not a lot of polyp  extension. Most mouths are closed, and no changes in stability of system. Will have to see if WC reduction has a negative or positive impact .  

 

Plans for the week include introduction of a few kinds of pods. I'm pretty sure I can keep them fed with the amount of algae i've got going on, and we'll see if they help. As well as a nice continuous food source for the corals.  I'm also hoping my rock work makes a good home for them.  Not sure how they're going to affect my water change routine, as I may not be able to simple switch to a new container w/o losing a large number of them.  Which is one of the reasons for dropping to once a week. 

 

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flatlandreefer

I have pods coming from algae barn as we speak. My reason for ordering them is to populate my 25g tank but I am going to put some in my pico as well. My thought is there should be enough clinging to the rock work during water changes that a 100% water change shouldn't wipe them out. Also they will have the benefit of minimal predation. I'm excited to see if they survive! 

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14 hours ago, flatlandreefer said:

I have pods coming from algae barn as we speak. My reason for ordering them is to populate my 25g tank but I am going to put some in my pico as well. My thought is there should be enough clinging to the rock work during water changes that a 100% water change shouldn't wipe them out. Also they will have the benefit of minimal predation. I'm excited to see if they survive! 

I feel sure that even with the 100% WCs some will survive.  I do (2) 100% WCs each week yet I still see pods.

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