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The Fire Swamp's 50g SCA Starfire Cube- 🔥🐊. Upgrade Coming Soon


ECLS Reefer

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As usual, what would life for me be without a few tank problems to puzzle out? I still haven't mastered the new light, at the cost of a few of my formerly happily growing SPS. Not sure if I'll be able to recover them or if they're ruined forever. Have cranked the light settings WAY back and also moved some of the SPS down to the sand bed away from the light. Only time will tell I guess.

 

Seymour the Sebae ended up in anemone jail... after Amarillo the yellow tang went all stabby with his neighbors, Pearl the big clown bi.... female... decided he didn't really need to reside in that corner of the tank and started pushing him around the sides of the tank. Only problem is others live there, like the gobies and Gigantor the tiger pistol. So, I rigged up a jail for Seymour to keep Pearl from taking him for a walk, using plastic grid left over from the skimmer stand. Today I got him a nem cup to sit in and hopefully he'll stay in there. He seems to like it-slid all the way to the bottom like a tired woman in a hot bubble bath. 

 

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He looks like a Chinese pot sticker in there doesn't he?

 

Amarillo the yellow tang got a new home. Took him yesterday to the LFS that our region uses as a community center and left him to get released in the new community tank until his new owner got him today. They were having a major frag swap today, so I should have photos of him in his new 380g tank maybe tonight. My 7 year old was crushed at having to lose 'Rillo. But, he was made a little happier by a buy off. More on that to come. 

 

 

Got a new Potter's Angel to replace the CBA-he's been looking good in there. Named Tiga by my son, since he's got stripes. He's now officially one of the crew.

 

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So, the tank is having a bit of an ugly phase again. No angel fish, no anemone (literally loved to death by Pearl the clown, who started eating chunks off it), no yellow tang. Have noticed small patches of GHA started to crop up in a couple of places, when I've never had a problem with that in this tank. Still working with the lights, though maybe it's getting a bit better. The zoa garden isn't happy--they are stretched way up trying to reach the light, but I'm afraid to go fast at all on turning up the intensity after bleaching most of the SPS. 

 

But, the yellow sponge ball I stuck in there seems to be doing well, and just maybe the red plating sponge @WV Reefer sent me will start to thrive. It hasn't outright died so maybe it will cling to life and come back. Added some dragon's breath algae in the back a bit ago, and it seems to be doing well without any fish to peck at it. That will be something if it thrives.

 

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The tank lights are way down which make it difficult to see, but the dragon's breath is looking nice.

 

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Pearl and Hector look depressed without their nem but she was the idiot that killed it. And started to eat it.

 

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The elegance and torch still look rather pathetic these days but are hanging on.

 

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The sump dweller "Mr Blenny Blen" has been super happy of late. He's so cute and seems to like his cheato. Just hope the cheato spreads out and beats out the GHA and caulerpa.

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I have been having GHA issues in my janky tank as well.  I think I was running the light to long and over feeding for coral growth.  I cut back on both of these and added flux rx about five days ago.  I can already see a difference in the algae.  It is such a small amount of water and I don't run anything in the filter so it didn't take much to start the uglies in it.  I am sure your tank will bounce back quickly.

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6 hours ago, kimdawg said:

I have been having GHA issues in my janky tank as well.  I think I was running the light to long and over feeding for coral growth.  I cut back on both of these and added flux rx about five days ago.  I can already see a difference in the algae.  It is such a small amount of water and I don't run anything in the filter so it didn't take much to start the uglies in it.  I am sure your tank will bounce back quickly.

Same I do feed a lot because of the NPS corals and a couple new fish that need fattening. I’ve been using the phosguard in the media reactor wide open plus phos rx which has helped keep the levels around 0.1-0.15. I think a big problem is that I still haven’t figured out where I need my light to be. Some corals act starved of light, some still act mad. I can read pars with a phone app but I’m not sure how to interpret them honestly. And I’ve been waiting for the coral to settle before doing much of anything like turning on the whites so I can see. 
 

maybe tomorrow I will and go after stuff with H2O2 and see if I can nip it in the bud. By the way @kimberbee I found my bad crab last night. He’s gotten big! No corals have been nipped yet though.

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Still have the algae bloom going on, but it seems the corals are showing signs of more hunger for light than plain offense by the light. Still very slowly ramping it up like 10% per week, and at least stuff seems to have stopped bleaching. Some of the euphyllia like the elegance and two of the torches are still not shaped quite right, being either ballooned out or shrunken, both without tentacle extension. Hopefully this will get better with time.

 

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The Blue Dude and Aurelius. 

 

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J Edgar Hoover Jr

 

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The sump dweller Mr Blenny Blen. He's been doing well down there with the critters and the cheato-so much so I forget he's there. But since of late the tank is a little ugly, he's one of the only funny things to take pictures of.

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DSFIRSTSLTWATER
7 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Still have the algae bloom going on, but it seems the corals are showing signs of more hunger for light than plain offense by the light. Still very slowly ramping it up like 10% per week, and at least stuff seems to have stopped bleaching. Some of the euphyllia like the elegance and two of the torches are still not shaped quite right, being either ballooned out or shrunken, both without tentacle extension. Hopefully this will get better with time.

 

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The Blue Dude and Aurelius. 

 

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J Edgar Hoover Jr

 

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The sump dweller Mr Blenny Blen. He's been doing well down there with the critters and the cheato-so much so I forget he's there. But since of late the tank is a little ugly, he's one of the only funny things to take pictures of.

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The pics look really good 👌

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1 hour ago, Ratvan said:

Why has the Tailspot Blenny been placed in the Sump? 

Pictures look good, especially like the Euphyillia shot 👍

The tailspot lives in the Evo tank- suddenly thread. He’s doing well 😊. The sump blenny is a bicolor and he’s getting good a fat. He comes and kind of dances for me when I open the cabinet door to check on him- knows he probably gonna get food. 
 

im still working on the flow from the new ice cap gyre pump. I opted for that instead of waiting to have enough cash for two MP10s. I have a big ski trip to help pay for, so fish budget is a bit curtailed right now. All that being said, many of the LPS are still annoyed with the flow they’re getting, like the two torches and elegance. I’m thinking of moving the pump to a back corner tomorrow and see if that helps any. 
 

 

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1 hour ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

The tailspot lives in the Evo tank- suddenly thread. He’s doing well 😊. The sump blenny is a bicolor and he’s getting good a fat. He comes and kind of dances for me when I open the cabinet door to check on him- knows he probably gonna get food. 
 

im still working on the flow from the new ice cap gyre pump. I opted for that instead of waiting to have enough cash for two MP10s. I have a big ski trip to help pay for, so fish budget is a bit curtailed right now. All that being said, many of the LPS are still annoyed with the flow they’re getting, like the two torches and elegance. I’m thinking of moving the pump to a back corner tomorrow and see if that helps any. 
 

 

Ah that makes more sense now, any reason why he is in the sump? Just a better place for him?

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20 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Ah that makes more sense now, any reason why he is in the sump? Just a better place for him?

I wanted something down there to live in the cheato and add nutrient for it, keep stuff a little more active than just a mucky sump.

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Still have a couple surprises up my sleeve for the SCA. One of the acans has been sprouting new heads like a weed. Have a new red pistol, since Gigantor died with his Groot ☹️. But, to reveal one of the surprises that I’ve been hiding for a bit... a new face! Eating like a pig but very camera shy. We have named him Altuve, of the Houston Astros!

 

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4 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

Still have a couple surprises up my sleeve for the SCA. One of the acans has been sprouting new heads like a weed. Have a new red pistol, since Gigantor died with his Groot ☹️. But, to reveal one of the surprises that I’ve been hiding for a bit... a new face! Eating like a pig but very camera shy. We have named him Altuve, of the Houston Astros!

 

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Tank is looking lovely, Altuve looks awesome. So you have more surprises to announce?

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3 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Tank is looking lovely, Altuve looks awesome. So you have more surprises to announce?

Tank actually has some of the uglies still, since I changed lights. Trying to keep or resurrect corals at the moment. Have had some hiccups involving dwarf angels, but otherwise the fish are all eating like little pigs. I’m hoping the new giant pistol will find the watchman on the other side of the tank- the watchman has an established den already and doesn’t range far- I know he knows the pistol is there though. Sucker pops like a big whip at night. May name him something like Indiana Jones or Jim Craig. 
 

Yes there’s one more surprise up my sleeve. I’m mostly sure this will be the winning tank setup for me, the one that works best. It’s doing beautifully so far. Now just to get the corals happy again. I’ll show off the last prize in another week or so. Giving it plenty of time to settle in first. 

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UPDATE!!!!  
 

So, tomorrow is tank maintenance day, just a bit delayed from the six month anniversary. Gonna pull the pump out and clean (and replace it), and clean the pipe. Tired of the sad trickle in getting out of the return. 
 

Tank parameters are getting scarily stable, so I’m afraid to hope... will keep watching and waiting. Hope my chaeto takes off and the dragons breath. They’re both a little bedraggled so I worry about them. 
 

And finally... for the surprise! Been hiding these guys for a few weeks to make sure they’d eat and look good. They’ve seemed to be thriving and have formed a nice school, with one apparent male candidate. Lots of activity now in the water column. 

 

 

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They look like their fun to watch.  It is so nice when your fish are health and eating.  Adding fish is what scares me most about salt water.  I have six health small fish in my 75 and am afraid to add any more.

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9 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

They look like their fun to watch.  It is so nice when your fish are health and eating.  Adding fish is what scares me most about salt water.  I have six health small fish in my 75 and am afraid to add any more.

I like the amount of active fish in there now. They seem to have a good group personality and will all kind of school towards where you are watching them from. I’m just glad they’re all eating well! I don’t know why I suddenly have bad luck with angels, because the CBA had been doing fine. Now I’m afraid to try again for a while with one of those. Definitely wont do a tang and angel again in this tank. 
 

At any rate these guys are so much fun to watch and we are happy with our current brood!

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Tank is looking especially pretty under the light these afternoons. It’s only running at 40% but it seems cheery. 
 

ALTUVEEE has been coming out strong every day now and acts like he thinks he’s king of the tank. Love him!!!


The anthias are actually doing very well and have definitely helped make the tank active and interesting. They’re a nice little school. 

 

 

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The corals in the SCA are still battling. Would say I've probably lost most of the SPS from bleaching, but the other stuff is holding on. The fish are all fat and happy and this seems to be a good combination. They show lots of activity during the day and so far I've seen no aggressiveness outside of trespassing a bit too long in someone's area. No fin nipping or hard core chasing. Hope these guys all continue to do well!

 

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The leaning tower of snails and hermits.

 

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One of the two blue eyed (lyre tail) anthias.

 

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Aurelius says HI!

 

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J Edgar Hoover Jr keeping watch. He and Indiana Jones the new red pistol haven't found each other yet, but with the amount of burrowing Indy does, it won't be long.

 

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Altuve loves perching in the zoas or in this chalice 😊😊😊😊😊

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Introducing, the newest and last member of the SCA, Astro. We love the activity and matching sizes of all the fish, so this will be what we go with. A good reef!

 

 

Pictures of the other tank inhabitants. Sure hope all the corals stabilize out. So far the only happy ones are the elegance and ricordea. 
 

 

 

 

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  • ECLS Reefer changed the title to The Fire Swamp's 50g SCA Starfire Cube- 🔥🐊. Upgrade Coming Soon

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