MrObscura's Nuvo 10... still reefing.

[MrObscura]

Quick question... How do you know when you should start testing for alk, cal, and mag? I only have 7 stony frags right now so I'm pretty sure it's nothing I have to worry about in the immediate future, but I was still wondering. 

[Daniel91]

7 hours ago, MrObscura said:

Quick question... How do you know when you should start testing for alk, cal, and mag? I only have 7 stony frags right now so I'm pretty sure it's nothing I have to worry about in the immediate future, but I was still wondering. 

Why not start now?

Test after a water change and then right before the next? Always fun to see what your tank consumes 🙂

[MrObscura]

I'll have to order some tests then. 🙂

[MrObscura]

Well monti cap is suddenly going downhill for some reason. I noticed the yellow polyps weren't as extended and now this... The tissue is just flaking off. 

 

[Floundering_Around]

I had an issue with my monti where it bleached pretty badly and lost flesh. After talking with other hobbyists, it was thought that I had an alk swing. I ended up doing a water change, moving it lower from the light, and making sure it still had good flow. While it looks close to death, it hasn't gotten any worse or any better 😞 on that note, what are your params?

[MrObscura]

Just tested them and cal is 450, Alk 11.2 or so, and mag about 1300.

 

 

[Floundering_Around]

hmmmmm, if there wasn't a swing (based on previous test results) and the coral was fine before, I would look towards some sort of pest. A toxin might be in the water that the monti doesn't like either? Take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm so green that I'm practically a plant

 

[Cannedfish]

Tank is looking good!! I was wondering what your ideal alk levels are? Yours are much high than my typical levels, and I was wondering if mine are maybe too low (at about 7.5 - 8.3). Have you experienced any downsides to the higher alk? 

[MrObscura]

I just mix red sea coral pro to 1.026 and those are the levels it results in. 

32 minutes ago, Floundering_Around said:

hmmmmm, if there wasn't a swing (based on previous test results) and the coral was fine before, I would look towards some sort of pest. A toxin might be in the water that the monti doesn't like either? Take my advice with a grain of salt. I'm so green that I'm practically a plant

 

Its weird. I have an encrusting monti that's looking fine. 

 

And I just tested all the other parameters. 

 

Phosphate 0

Ph 8.0 

Ammonia 0 

Nitrite 0 

Nitrate 5-10 

 

[Floundering_Around]

8 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

I just mix red sea coral pro to 1.026 and those are the levels it results in. 

Its weird. I have an encrusting monti that's looking fine. 

 

And I just tested all the other parameters. 

 

Phosphate 0

Ph 8.0 

Ammonia 0 

Nitrite 0 

Nitrate 5-10 

 

That's rough. I lost my Utter Chaos at the same time my monti started acting up. Along with the water changes I threw in some carbon. Still don't know what caused it *shrug*

[MrObscura]

I'm running chemipure Blu. 

[Floundering_Around]

1 minute ago, MrObscura said:

I'm running chemipure Blu. 

Same, I threw in an extra bag of carbon just in case. That's all I have for chemical media

[MrObscura]

Well, discovered what was wrong with my monti cap. Nudis. I took a look under the cap and saw one. I don't know how this happened since I dipped the frag when I got it and it's tiny, but...

 

Anyway I pulled it out, dipped it again, got the visible nudi off as well as scraped off any eggs and now have it on the sanded. I'm not sure it'll make it, but at least I know the issue and as long as it doesn't s do any further damage I can live it it. 

 

My biggest issue is that a big monti colony next to the one I got this frag from had white spots and the guy said it was from a powerheads flipping it over onto another coral and getting stung. Again another example of you just never know even when it comes to a very reputable place with an owner that absolutely knows what he's doing. 

[banasophia]

11 minutes ago, MrObscura said:

Well, discovered what was wrong with my monti cap. Nudis. I took a look under the cap and saw one. I don't know how this happened since I dipped the frag when I got it and it's tiny, but...

 

Anyway I pulled it out, dipped it again, got the visible nudi off as well as scraped off any eggs and now have it on the sanded. I'm not sure it'll make it, but at least I know the issue and as long as it doesn't s do any further damage I can live it it. 

 

My biggest issue is that a big monti colony next to the one I got this frag from had white spots and the guy said it was from a powerheads flipping it over onto another coral and getting stung. Again another example of you just never know even when it comes to a very reputable place with an owner that absolutely knows what he's doing. 

Yeah it seems it’s hard to know for sure sometimes what’s causing problems for a coral. Nudibranchs are so hard to spot too since they apparently pick up the color of the coral they are feeding on. I had one on my beloved Fiji yellow leather a few months back and made a total noob move as it was recovering from the damage, thought it had dino, and tossed it out thinking I was saving my tank. 😞 Coincidentally, I just ordered a replacement and it’s in transit right now, to arrive tomorrow morning. Hoping I won’t have any nudis this time around.🤞

[MrObscura]

Well, my lord's not doing great. I notice the tissue around one edge being very dark and that head all shriveled up. And now purple flesh just seems to be floating off. 

[MrObscura]

Don't think the acans going to make it either. One polyp is now completely gone and two others are mostly skeleton. I don't know wtf happened with it. The only thing I can think of is the fact that it had algea growing on it from the beginning and that just took its toll. But idk. 

[Daniel91]

Sorry about your losses. We all have good/bad days. I recently had a couple of fish losses.

 

 

[MrObscura]

It bums me out. Especially because I research the hell out of things, do everything I can to assure success and then things go south anyway. 

 

On a bright note it seems isolated and the tank is doing well otherwise. At least with the monti I know the cause and the Acan never really settled in from the beginning for some reason. Even the big head was never plump. 

[MrObscura]

Couple questions and a quick update. First regarding the red sea coral pro salt do I have to be concerned about the fact that it mixes to a high Alk? 

 

Also regarding the Acan that's not doing so well. Do I have to worry about it polluting the tank? Two heads are mostly bare skeleton. But it still has two mouths and a decent looking polyp and I don't want to dump it if it has a chance. But I also don't want to put my tank at risk. 

 

Update wise, everything is looking good except my Duncan is being pissy and hasn't opened the past couple days, but that might be because my female clown has been bugging him. I also may have lost a couple hermits but I can't tell. They could be molts since they're in a hard to reach/see place and hermits tend to vanish only to reappear. 

 

Edit: Speak of the devil, one of the missing crabs just showed up 5 minutes after posting that. 

[MrObscura]

Just did my weekly coral feeding/wc. Everyone's looking good, but my one clown is pissing me off. Every time my Duncan thinks about opening she messes with him. 

 

He did eat a little though and is peeking out more than he has the past 2 days. 

[biophilia]

Great looking build so far!

The high alk is not a huge concern as long as you don't let your nitrate and phosphate get too low. High alk and low nutrients can cause growth tips to burn. Something like 10ppm NO3 and at least 0.05ppm PO4 would be good to shoot for as an arbitrary number. The upside with high alk is that you'll see faster coral growth and have a slightly higher pH in the presence of excess CO2 (say if you have a newer home and keep the windows shut often). The downside is that you're running at the upper limit of what is safe. A swing from 8DKH to 9.5 DKH may not do damage, but a swing from 11.5DKH to 13DKH almost certainly would.

I used RSCP salt for about a year, but eventually started adding muriatic acid to new water to bring the alk down to 8DKH... and finally just bit the bullet and got a bucket of regular Red Sea blue bucket salt instead.

[MrObscura]

Yea, I read about the high Alk vs low nutrients concern with sps. I'm not doing anything to create a ulns, nor do I plan to, so that's not an issue.

 

My main concern is that I went with this salt and it's elevated numbers to try to hold off dosing as long as possible. But I didn't think long term and now wonder what happens when my tank is consuming a good amount? Maintain the rscp Alk level will be hard as hell, if not impossible, and doing 20% water changes with it will cause Alk spikes at that time. 

 

I might have to do some research and decide on a new salt. But then I'll need to figure out how to avoid an Alk drop during the switch over. 

[MrObscura]

Look who decided to grace us with their presence... 

 

 

Also, I've noticed that all that algea on my rock, while looking brown under certain lighting, is actually the neon green precursor to coraline. More purple spots have popped up.

[MrObscura]

Quick question, my birdsnest is looking pretty full and colorful, but I noticed the underside of some branches, and some lower shaded branches, are light with less polyps. It's not losing tissue that's for sure and I'm thinking it simply do to those areas getting less light, but was wonder if that's a safe assumption? 

 

Overall it looks good so I don't want to mess with anything if it's not necessary. 

 

 

 

[biophilia]

4 hours ago, MrObscura said:

Quick question, my birdsnest is looking pretty full and colorful, but I noticed the underside of some branches, and some lower shaded branches, are light with less polyps. It's not losing tissue that's for sure and I'm thinking it simply do to those areas getting less light, but was wonder if that's a safe assumption? 

 

Overall it looks good so I don't want to mess with anything if it's not necessary. 

 

 

 

The shading (especially with tight-branching SPS like birdsnest) is totally normal. Shading is a little worse with LEDs unfortunately because the light is coming from such a small point.