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The Rainy Day Aquarium

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4 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said:

Really impressed with Tidal Gardens.

Their videos are pretty great! Haven’t had any other experience with them though

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
2 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Their videos are pretty great! Haven’t had any other experience with them though

Yeah, their videos are very high quality. I followed them for a few years now and finally decided to give them a try. I’m pretty leery of online vendors as I’ve had bad experiences in the past, but given my experience with them, I would definitely buy from them again.

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  • 2 weeks later...
The Rainy Day Aquarium

Got an extension tube for the camera.

It has been way too much fun exploring my tank and seeing so many new things haha. Here are a few photos just messing around with it. Enjoy.

 

4B311B35-CCC6-4212-AB4B-22A912AB160B.thumb.jpeg.9455124ed6b700ab81c2728fe39b2139.jpeg

 

76489E64-481A-4659-9F43-82C50CE6D206.thumb.jpeg.4d0fe1a080b8e2cafa03269dc784eedd.jpeg

 

DEBAE318-07A4-447D-81F3-2B00A7C9F23A.thumb.jpeg.ac7805029d69cc881a7bad778f34bf5e.jpeg

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The Rainy Day Aquarium

The weekend couldn’t have come sooner!


A few days ago I noticed some SPS in the tank didn’t look happy, upon further poking around I saw that my purple bonsai was receding near the base. Not the most fun thing to see with keeping acropora🙃 I double checked my water, alk was a little low at 7.8 but nothing too bad. I thought to check my salinity and it was sitting at 1.019 lol. No idea on how it got so low, but I’m more amazed at how nothing has just bleached out already. I’ve been topping off with saltwater now so we’re more close to my comfortable 1.026. Need to keep a closer eye on things I guess. 
 

I did see some white bugs on one of my acros. They congregate on the coral at night and disappear during the day. Not sure what they are really (not copepods?) and am unsure if I should be super concerned or not. I know red bugs are not the best to have; haven’t found much info on these little white bugs though? I figured I’d get water parameters back in check before deciding on a course of action. I’ll try to grab some photos of them too if I get the chance so maybe one of you can help me figure out what they are. 
 

Other than those few issues, things are looking okay! Here are some more closeups I got the other day:

 

 

3125ED23-514C-46D6-A9B9-0277DBD9C38D.thumb.jpeg.d60a4030dc8a55b2d9ec277191d52430.jpeg

ASD Rainbow Mille looking a little better
 

D577C2CF-F44C-45A6-83AC-7BC9E9F93838.thumb.jpeg.0284e02a94ca5f9b12b683a59d170b38.jpeg

Some not so happy scrambled egg zoas
 

A8FF77CE-EDA3-4AF5-AB26-A93D098D42C2.thumb.jpeg.ae9cd706084f20ef45ca1a8b9af98d4e.jpeg

The stylocoeniella has grown to be one of my favorites, not a type of SPS that I see too often though. This one has a very green base, but with all of those polyps in the way, it was hard to represent those colors underneath of them. 

 

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20 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

The weekend couldn’t have come sooner!


A few days ago I noticed some SPS in the tank didn’t look happy, upon further poking around I saw that my purple bonsai was receding near the base. Not the most fun thing to see with keeping acropora🙃 I double checked my water, alk was a little low at 7.8 but nothing too bad. I thought to check my salinity and it was sitting at 1.019 lol. No idea on how it got so low, but I’m more amazed at how nothing has just bleached out already. I’ve been topping off with saltwater now so we’re more close to my comfortable 1.026. Need to keep a closer eye on things I guess. 
 

I did see some white bugs on one of my acros. They congregate on the coral at night and disappear during the day. Not sure what they are really (not copepods?) and am unsure if I should be super concerned or not. I know red bugs are not the best to have; haven’t found much info on these little white bugs though? I figured I’d get water parameters back in check before deciding on a course of action. I’ll try to grab some photos of them too if I get the chance so maybe one of you can help me figure out what they are. 
 

Other than those few issues, things are looking okay! Here are some more closeups I got the other day:

 

 

3125ED23-514C-46D6-A9B9-0277DBD9C38D.thumb.jpeg.d60a4030dc8a55b2d9ec277191d52430.jpeg

ASD Rainbow Mille looking a little better
 

D577C2CF-F44C-45A6-83AC-7BC9E9F93838.thumb.jpeg.0284e02a94ca5f9b12b683a59d170b38.jpeg

Some not so happy scrambled egg zoas
 

A8FF77CE-EDA3-4AF5-AB26-A93D098D42C2.thumb.jpeg.ae9cd706084f20ef45ca1a8b9af98d4e.jpeg

The stylocoeniella has grown to be one of my favorites, not a type of SPS that I see too often though. This one has a very green base, but with all of those polyps in the way, it was hard to represent those colors underneath of them. 

 

I have never previously heard of the stylocoeniella, but it is beautiful. I do love a good Macro Shot 

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49 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

The weekend couldn’t have come sooner!


A few days ago I noticed some SPS in the tank didn’t look happy, upon further poking around I saw that my purple bonsai was receding near the base. Not the most fun thing to see with keeping acropora🙃 I double checked my water, alk was a little low at 7.8 but nothing too bad. I thought to check my salinity and it was sitting at 1.019 lol. No idea on how it got so low, but I’m more amazed at how nothing has just bleached out already. I’ve been topping off with saltwater now so we’re more close to my comfortable 1.026. Need to keep a closer eye on things I guess. 
 

I did see some white bugs on one of my acros. They congregate on the coral at night and disappear during the day. Not sure what they are really (not copepods?) and am unsure if I should be super concerned or not. I know red bugs are not the best to have; haven’t found much info on these little white bugs though? I figured I’d get water parameters back in check before deciding on a course of action. I’ll try to grab some photos of them too if I get the chance so maybe one of you can help me figure out what they are. 
 

Other than those few issues, things are looking okay! Here are some more closeups I got the other day:

 

 

3125ED23-514C-46D6-A9B9-0277DBD9C38D.thumb.jpeg.d60a4030dc8a55b2d9ec277191d52430.jpeg

ASD Rainbow Mille looking a little better
 

D577C2CF-F44C-45A6-83AC-7BC9E9F93838.thumb.jpeg.0284e02a94ca5f9b12b683a59d170b38.jpeg

Some not so happy scrambled egg zoas
 

A8FF77CE-EDA3-4AF5-AB26-A93D098D42C2.thumb.jpeg.ae9cd706084f20ef45ca1a8b9af98d4e.jpeg

The stylocoeniella has grown to be one of my favorites, not a type of SPS that I see too often though. This one has a very green base, but with all of those polyps in the way, it was hard to represent those colors underneath of them. 

 

I had white bugs in my old SPS tank. Interceptor knocked them out! It's crazy how vendors keep getting away with selling pest infested corals. 

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1 hour ago, Chowder's Reef said:

A8FF77CE-EDA3-4AF5-AB26-A93D098D42C2.thumb.jpeg.ae9cd706084f20ef45ca1a8b9af98d4e.jpeg

The stylocoeniella has grown to be one of my favorites, not a type of SPS that I see too often though. This one has a very green base, but with all of those polyps in the way, it was hard to represent those colors underneath of them. 

 

Finding the right angle for it is miserable, I gave up taking pictures of mine because it just looks like a fuzzy brown thing through a lens.

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
7 hours ago, Ratvan said:

I have never previously heard of the stylocoeniella, but I do love a good Macro Shot

I think the most common type is Jason Fox’s Burning Banana? I see that occasionally, but very rarely will I see any other type. 
 

I need to work more on focus stacking with my macro shots. It really is turning into a hobby within a hobby ha.

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
7 hours ago, joshthebox said:

I had white bugs in my old SPS tank. Interceptor knocked them out! It's crazy how vendors keep getting away with selling pest infested corals. 

Vets around here for some reason are very up tight about getting it if it’s not for a dog. And they only offer the beef flavored chews not the hard type pills? I’ve heard of Dr Gs coral dip where people report having success with that, but 50$ for an 8oz bottle seems a little steep? Other option is just taking the rock out and dipping the whole thing in Bayer. Idk I have some more research to do I guess?

 

My LFS has a pretty passive response to pests unfortunately. More of the attitude “it’s the customer’s responsibility to dip corals, not ours, etc.”

I wish it was taken more seriously with stores… 

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
6 hours ago, A.m.P said:

Finding the right angle for it is miserable, I gave up taking pictures of mine because it just looks like a fuzzy brown thing through a lens.

It took me quite a while to even get that photo, still, it’s pretty blurry lol. 

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3 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said:

Vets around here for some reason are very up tight about getting it if it’s not for a dog. And they only offer the beef flavored chews not the hard type pills? I’ve heard of Dr Gs coral dip where people report having success with that, but 50$ for an 8oz bottle seems a little steep? Other option is just taking the rock out and dipping the whole thing in Bayer. Idk I have some more research to do I guess?

 

My LFS has a pretty passive response to pests unfortunately. More of the attitude “it’s the customer’s responsibility to dip corals, not ours, etc.”

I wish it was taken more seriously with stores… 

Ah, yeah I had to reach out to an aquatic vet to get some interceptor. I guess worst comes to worst you could always dip them like you said 😃 !

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The Rainy Day Aquarium

Not sure we have those kinds of vets near me 🤔

 

Looks like I’ll be taking my dog in and telling my vet, “my reef tank- I mean my dog is sick, give me interceptor”

 

7A9CA410-0FFD-4A29-B30D-EEFF27F20913.gif.875b7f9d7512812473b15500d5d21fce.gif

 

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The Rainy Day Aquarium

Hmm.

 

About a week ago I found tiny little fuzzy like things all over my montipora in the tank. Nudis. Ugh! I decided to just go with a bottle of coral rx, but by the time I got around to dipping everything my mystic sunset was already gone. They were absolutely everywhere in my tank, which was a pain. I ended up having to take the rock out along with all of the corals and dipping it as well. I guess I missed them when I first got my order of corals? We’ll, bad turned to worse after dipping. Within 5 min my once colorful, healthy ultra lepto was nothing but a white skeleton. The cyphastrea was also sluffing off flesh, all of my SPS were dying. Long story short all of my corals (besides my zoas, Duncan, and gsp) have died/are RTN-ing. I really don’t know what happened. Followed the directions on the bottle, and did some research before using the dip. I was just amazed at just how fast everything died, it was incredible. 
 

Nothing really to show at this point, as it’s been just throwing dead, expensive corals away. Not going to lie, I was ready to throw in the towel last night. Work has been busy as ever and while trying to finish this side bout of school, I’ve been looking for an excuse to get out of the hobby lol. It would be hard to replace everything, even slowly, at this point. The housing market is insane right now, talking to our realtor, we are really having to pinch if we are to move this fall. Reef tank stuff has fallen to the back burner honestly, and I don’t have the gas to keep it going. 
 

We’ll see what happens in the coming days, I’m just waiting for what wants to die, die. I might just move everything over to my little desk pico as it’s looking like I won’t have much to even fill that tank haha. I have a friend with a tank so I may just end up giving him the rest of what’s still alive. But taking a break from all of this at least is what’s looking attractive at this point. I’m pretty sure this tank is cursed though with everything it’s been through haha nothing lasts very long it seems 😂
 

 


Anyways, have a good rest of your week everyone, see you around 🤙

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The Rainy Day Aquarium

Quick little update on how things are going with the 4.1 thus far.

Like I figured a lot of things have died, but some things are really taking their time lol. My purple bonsai and another mille have decided to change from RTN to only STN, as in things have slowed down, but haven't stopped. Kind of an interesting thing to see is it seems some things are coming back? I left some of the "skeletons" in the tank just because. My ultra lepto once bone white, is showing hints of orange again. As well as my cyphastrea. Don't get me wrong, the damage is bad, but maybe things are not as bad as before? Goodness, what roller coaster ride this all has been, I've been going back and forth about shutting this tank down. Today I think it will remain, but tomorrow, who knows haha?

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On 2/5/2022 at 5:41 PM, The Rainy Day Aquarium said:

The other day I was rummaging around the furnace room when something caught my eye… I think it’s time for another round of pico reefing 🙃

 

 

A03C7D69-D20C-4EE4-BEE6-7F069C8F7D6A.thumb.jpeg.e8fd7d395f589e2530e5b496b3bf8cd0.jpeg

what rock is this?

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Don’t get down on yourself @The Rainy Day Aquarium

 

These 4.1’s are not easy! I struggle with it too. Even trying to keep it as simple as possible, it still presents its challenges with parameters. It was your original 4.1 that inspired me to create one a few years ago. Hang in there my man! 😄

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TheCoffeeReef

Feel the lure and struggle, I'm definitely trying to be cautious with my little reef as they do need a constant eye, but oh so lovely when its running smooth seas. 

 

I'm currently trying to keep a pair of zoa's (literally 2) going, never been happy since in, but not giving up, resurrection time Rainy Day Aquarium!

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
On 1/16/2023 at 8:04 AM, Daniel92481 said:

Don’t get down on yourself @The Rainy Day Aquarium

 

These 4.1’s are not easy! I struggle with it too. Even trying to keep it as simple as possible, it still presents its challenges with parameters. It was your original 4.1 that inspired me to create one a few years ago. Hang in there my man! 😄

Haha thanks! I’ll be changing up a few things with this one so we’ll see how it all turns out! 

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The Rainy Day Aquarium
16 hours ago, TheCoffeeReef said:

they do need a constant eye, but oh so lovely when its running smooth seas. 

That’s the goal! I love the form factor of this little tank and when everything is running smoothly, like you said, they look amazing.

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