banasophia Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 Good morning and happy Friday! 4 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 3 hours ago, banasophia said: Good morning and happy Friday! Happy Friday that happy green sinularia inspired me to go get one of my own this afternoon 2 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 21 minutes ago, Sancho said: Happy Friday that happy green sinularia inspired me to go get one of my own this afternoon Nice! I love mine... can’t wait to see yours... will have to head over to the cantina this fine Cinco de Mayo weekend to check it out!! 🤗😘 1 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 23 minutes ago, banasophia said: Nice! I love mine... can’t wait to see yours... will have to head over to the cantina this fine Cinco de Mayo weekend to check it out!! 🤗😘 There’s always a beer waiting for you in the cantina 😘 1 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 On pins and needles waiting for my nail salon to open in an hour... left my iPad there last night with all my tank pics in it... looks like they were not being backed up automatically into the cloud or my photo apps... hoping someone turned it in and they’re holding it for me. 🤞🤞🤞 Just keep telling myself that at least I’ve posted my favorites in here and on Instagram. 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 Well thankfully my iPad was located at the nail salon. 😅 Definitely need to change my settings so my photos get backed up. Also, check this out, my sinularia looks a lot like the weirwood tree in the intro to Game of Thrones: 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Glad they found your IPad...I know nothing about GOT and trees or dragons and stuff but that green sinularia 🤗 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 So I wanted to mention here that I’m switching my water source around and no longer using the home water distiller. I lost my cleaner shrimp, as I’d mentioned before, and then shortly thereafter I lost my emerald crabs in both my tanks. The hermits all seemed fine. I had also noticed a sudden decline in my white RFA, my spider sponge, and my chili coral. And my BTAs in my Nuvo started doing poorly as well. I don’t know the cause for sure, but I suspected the home distilled water since that was the only recent change, so I switched back to premixed from the LFS a few weeks ago, and then went back to store bought distilled water (which had seemed like the best for my tanks) last night. It would be interesting to have in depth testing done on the water from the home distiller, but for now I’m just monitoring my livestock to see how things respond. 2 Quote Link to comment
RoeReef Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Hi, Are you using the skimmer at all? 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 5 hours ago, RoeReef said: Hi, Are you using the skimmer at all? Yes, I use the Coralife skimmer Quote Link to comment
Jackal227 Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Did the new Mandarin arrive? How are the corals doing after the change in water? 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 14 hours ago, Jackal227 said: Did the new Mandarin arrive? How are the corals doing after the change in water? Hey Jackal, thanks for checking in. I haven’t posted in here mainly because I’ve been very sad about it. I learned this past week that Finnick apparently prefers to be a bachelor and it did not go well introducing a new baby mandarin as a companion for him. 😞 The first one I received was questionable as far as gender. It appeared to have a tiny spike that may have indicated it was a male rather than a female... it disappeared the first night while I was away from the tank and I didn’t know for sure what happened to it. Since I thought it may have been a gender related aggression issue, I got a replacement that was definitely a female, and very sadly I discovered that the gender was not the problem, Finnick wanted to be an only mandarin. After the first ten minutes or so, Finnick became aggressive, chasing and pecking at the new baby, even grabbing her in his mouth and carrying her. I was able to get her out and put her in my Nuvo 10, but unfortunately she was either injured or too stressed and she didn’t make it. 😢 My lesson learned is to be prepared for the worst and have a rescue plan; I wish I had gotten her out sooner. Now I’m really trying to get over my feelings about it... I’ve been distant with Finnick, and upset about what happened... I know he was just doing what fish do though, and I need to forgive him and myself and move on. 😢 Here’s a pic a took. I have a video as well, but I’m not sure if it will be of interest/helpful for people to see the interaction, or if it will just be too sad. Editing to add add a link to the video, in case there is anyone who wants to watch it. If you guys think I should remove the link, let me know... but I think it would have helped me to have seen something like this in advance, so I decided to share it here: https://youtu.be/HLp2gzhzXlE I’ll try to do more of an update with some happier news on the tank and some cool pics of my clownfish and sun corals later this week. The sun corals are making babies again!!! Oh, and the change in water supply led to my chili coral opening up again, after two months of being closed up tight!! 🤗 1 3 Quote Link to comment
Jackal227 Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 I'm sorry to hear about the new Mandarin. Watching videos of them and the way that they move I wouldn't have expected that they could be aggressive. I am happy to hear that the corals are doing better though and look forward to the update. What did you end up using for your water? 2 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 3 hours ago, Jackal227 said: I'm sorry to hear about the new Mandarin. Watching videos of them and the way that they move I wouldn't have expected that they could be aggressive. I am happy to hear that the corals are doing better though and look forward to the update. What did you end up using for your water? Thanks so much, Jackal. I never would have thought my beloved mandarin would act the way he did. 😞 I switched from using water from that home distiller back to using LFS water for the month of April, due to an alarming loss of my cleaner shrimp in the Biocube and my emeralds in both tanks after only 3-4 weekly water changes with that home distilled water, along with sudden problems with my white rock flower anemone bleaching/shriveling up and my spider sponge tips turning translucent in the Biocube, and my BTAs splitting and getting deformed tentacles in my Nuvo. It would be interesting to send the water from that home distiller in for testing... the TDS was always zero, but I suspect some kind of contaminant like a metal that is in very small but harmful amounts and doesn’t show up on a TDS meter. I went back to store bought distilled water in May that I then mix at home. The LFS pre-mixed and the store bought distilled water I mix are Reef Crystals. I’m considering trying to do my own RODI, but I haven’t decided on that yet. It’s fascinating because my corals respond so differently to the two different water sources... the sinularia seems to prefer the water from the LFS, but other corals including the chili coral (which finally opened up after being closed up tight for two months) prefer the store bought distilled. Anyway, I wanted to share a video and some pics of my clownfish from Friday night... and I will post about the sun corals later this week. On Friday night, I was sitting on my couch and happened to look over at the tank and saw my clownfish swimming in the current at the peak of the Kenya tree (that normally doesn’t form a peak)... it was so beautiful with the fish, the coral, and the reflection on the surface of the water that I was overwhelmed, and I’m so excited I was able to get a good video and some pics. I know it’s kinda funny since it’s just a clownfish and a Kenya tree, but it made me so happy to see. 😊🤗 2 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 Sorry for your troubles with the Mandarin. They can indeed be very aggressive and grab each other and shake like a dog. Besides being the same gender ...the causes are usually either over food/territory (especially if the Mandarin isn't a plump sausage) or rejecting a mate. A female may attack a male if the male is too small and not up to her quality for breeding. I suppose it could go both ways and the baby being so small may have been rejected as it's not breeding material and since it eats his pods...he wanted it to move on. I have also seen the spotteds and blues fight with each other as well. This is just over personal observation when I kept them years ago. They used to be quite popular on nano reef and I know some people had aggression issues. 2 Quote Link to comment
Jackal227 Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 10 hours ago, banasophia said: It would be interesting to send the water from that home distiller in for testing... the TDS was always zero, but I suspect some kind of contaminant like a metal that is in very small but harmful amounts and doesn’t show up on a TDS meter. It seems like the inverts were affected, any chance that the distiller has copper inside? 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 27 minutes ago, Jackal227 said: It seems like the inverts were affected, any chance that the distiller has copper inside? Yeah, that’s what my thought was as well... it was certainly an issue with distillers in the past, though they don’t use copper for commercial water distillation anymore... could be an issue in this home distiller, but the pipes are enclosed so I’m not sure. Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 8 hours ago, Tamberav said: Sorry for your troubles with the Mandarin. They can indeed be very aggressive and grab each other and shake like a dog. Besides being the same gender ...the causes are usually either over food/territory (especially if the Mandarin isn't a plump sausage) or rejecting a mate. A female may attack a male if the male is too small and not up to her quality for breeding. I suppose it could go both ways and the baby being so small may have been rejected as it's not breeding material and since it eats his pods...he wanted it to move on. I have also seen the spotteds and blues fight with each other as well. This is just over personal observation when I kept them years ago. They used to be quite popular on nano reef and I know some people had aggression issues. Thanks, Tamberav. So sad it didn’t work out... I wondered if it was too much of a size difference... don’t think I’ll want to take a chance again though with a better size match after these losses. Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 6 minutes ago, banasophia said: Yeah, that’s what my thought was as well... it was certainly an issue with distillers in the past, though they don’t use copper for commercial water distillation anymore... could be an issue in this home distiller, but the pipes are enclosed so I’m not sure. I was also thinking the same but copper would show up in a TDS test 🤷♂️ 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 So the sun corals are making more babies... one of them released more planula larvae on Saturday night. It has only been four weeks since the last time! I turned on the white lights to get a couple clearer pics and a video to share. I think the branching dendros may start reproducing like this as well, as the clowns were taking quite an interest in them like they do with the suns when they are about to do their thing... will keep an eye out. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 And here are a couple of additional shots I liked from Friday night: 5 1 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 24, 2019 Author Share Posted May 24, 2019 Feeding time last night - this was early in the feeding process, had only fed the pellets and baby brine shrimp, suns hadn’t opened up yet. Crabber hanging out up top this morning. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
Sancho Posted May 24, 2019 Share Posted May 24, 2019 17 minutes ago, banasophia said: Feeding time last night - this was early in the feeding process, had only fed the pellets and baby brine shrimp, suns hadn’t opened up yet. Crabber hanging out up top this morning. Beautiful pics 😍..Your chili coral is looking so much better since you went back to the LFS water. 👍 1 Quote Link to comment
billygoat Posted May 25, 2019 Share Posted May 25, 2019 Gorgeous as always! I never get tired of looking at this tank. 2 Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted May 25, 2019 Author Share Posted May 25, 2019 4 hours ago, Sancho said: Beautiful pics 😍..Your chili coral is looking so much better since you went back to the LFS water. 👍 Thanks so much! I’ve actually used store bought distilled (Arrowhead) with Reef Crystals for the past 3 water changes... it was when I switched from the LFS water to the store bought distilled that the chili finally opened up. But, the pink palys and the sinularia like the LFS water better, so it’s a tough call which to use. I know, I know... I should make my own RODI... still considering it. 🤗 3 hours ago, billygoat said: Gorgeous as always! I never get tired of looking at this tank. Thank you so much, I really appreciate your kind words and support. 😊 1 Quote Link to comment
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