Ratvan's RSM 130D

[Ratvan]

So I have found my snails

 

Well the shells at least

[jack1978]

43 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

So I have found my snails

 

Well the shells at least

I have a few of those as well ...... great to stuff frags into .... instead of plugs. 

[Ratvan]

I thought that I would start adding my cured dry rock today. This has been curing since it arrived and the water tested low enough on Phosphates for me to add to the tank today. Only added a few bits so far, will be adding the rest at lunch time or there abouts. Strange for me to be taking water out of the tank on a Monday morning, but it did allow me to siphon out the back section and clean out some of the Detritus. 

 

I think that I have found a decent White Balance for this tank with my new phone. 

 

 

Red Headed Gobies have been enjoying swimming in and around the new rockwork. Each of them has been looking for new perches on the rocks since I added them this morning, always nice to see the occupants react well to a new addition. I was slightly concerned about adding more rocks due to my sand dwelling wrasses but both the Canary and Leopard were out and swimming this morning when i got into work. 

 

The Snail graveyard seems to be continuing further, at a little of a loss as to what is causing these loses still. I have tested parameters and all seem to be good for what I have kept the tank at (15-20PPM Nitrate and 0.03 Phosphate) 

 

My Blenny has taken to tidying up the tank by taking out any Pineapple Sponges that began to grow on the backwall, he has done well over the weekend as he has reduced the numbers of sponges by a large margin. I have a lot of these in the rear section of the tank. 

 

As mentioned in the 5.5G Cube thread I aim to shut that tank down and move the occupants back into this tank and the Pico Tank. So I have a load of Zoathanids and Palythoa's to add to the tank, I am aware that some of these Zoathanid pieces contains a fair amount of Aipasia. I am interested whether Pele will actively go after this or not.... we shall see. 

 

Couple of pictures of my Handsome Man Pelesit, who now takes flakes from my hand.

I can see that he is starting to mature as he is developing the series of spines and bristles along the sides of his body. He is probably my most favourite fish in the tank at the moment and my work colleagues say that they see him float around my head most of the day while the lights are on 

[Ratvan]

So rocks added, dumped a load of food into the tank to see the flow. Have a couple of places that I need to have a bit of jiggery pokery to get things working better and not have as bad dead spots. Will rescape the tank later on, the Wrasses seem to be more actively swimming now 

 

FTS - Frontal

 

Left Hand Side (as looking at tank)

 

Right hand side (as looking at tank)

 

I have a bit more to add, cannot decide if I want to add shelves or an arch. Will have a play around with that later

[jack1978]

Love the Filefish.  He’s eating flakes?

[Ratvan]

Just now, jack1978 said:

Love the Filefish.  He’s eating flakes?

Thanks, Pele is awesome

Flake, Pellets, Frozen, Live. Everyone eats everything in my tank.

He does especially like Flake though. need to get a video of hand feeding as well as a Female for him

[billygoat]

On 1/3/2020 at 1:46 AM, jack1978 said:

I have a few of those as well ...... great to stuff frags into .... instead of plugs. 

I use snail shells for this as well! I also think they're great for mounting macro algae. I like to seal macro frags inside the openings of small-aperature shells like Ceriths, then bury the shells in the sand. The long, pointy Cerith shell acts like an anchor to keep the frag from blowing away in the current. 👍

 

Tank is looking good @Ratvan. I love the filefish! He's very handsome. I can't wait to see what sort of aquascape you decide on with those new rocks too.

[Ratvan]

Just now, billygoat said:

I use snail shells for this as well! I also think they're great for mounting macro algae. I like to seal macro frags inside the openings of small-aperature shells like Ceriths, then bury the shells in the sand. The long, pointy Cerith shell acts like an anchor to keep the frag from blowing away in the current. 👍

 

Tank is looking good @Ratvan. I love the filefish! He's very handsome. I can't wait to see what sort of aquascape you decide on with those new rocks too.

Yes! I have been using them to weigh down my Macro Algae's 

 

@jack1978 bit shakey but here we go

 

 

 

[jack1978]

36 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Yes! I have been using them to weigh down my Macro Algae's 

 

@jack1978 bit shakey but here we go

 

 

 

That’s great!

i had a file in my cube way back when ..... she was awesome.  During tank maintenace she would swim to the surface and spit water at me ...... I have a video buried somewhere in my cube thread. 
Thanks for the video!

[StinkyBunny]

Psst, I know what's killing your snails, but it'll cost you 5 quid for me to tell you. 😄 😉

[Ratvan]

8 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Psst, I know what's killing your snails, but it'll cost you 5 quid for me to tell you. 😄 😉

But how am I going to bet on this years Death List without me Fivver?

 

One of the Wrasses?

[StinkyBunny]

12 hours ago, Ratvan said:

But how am I going to bet on this years Death List without me Fivver?

 

One of the Wrasses?

The Yellow Coris wrasse is the culprit. One of those furry bastard crabs will do it too, but wrasses are hell on snails.

[Ratvan]

12 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

The Yellow Coris wrasse is the culprit. One of those furry bastard crabs will do it too, but wrasses are hell on snails.

Had a feeling it would be that one. Always that wrasse. Should name it Balotelli

[Ratvan]

Morning, or whatever it is where ever you are!

 

So I realised that I missed the tank turning 4 months old last week. Time really has flown by. Additionally the Kessil is now out of Acclimation mode and running its schedule. I am considering bumping up the numbers by 5% or so each week. I sort of want to see how it looks on full power. 

 

Finally seem to have resolved my flow issues. I only have one small area of the tank where Cyano forms. Personally, for me I find this acceptable and not too much work to remove it, or simply take photos from angels where you cannot see it. 

 

I have added a couple of Eggcrate Racks, I plan on moving the contents of the 5.5G Cube over to this tank starting next week. I have an Aiptasia explosion in that Cube at the moment so I am interested to see if Pelesit actually does eat Aiptasia. Additionally I have placed in the various racks so that I can start making Frags of the Zoas for trades. I have sorted out a concrete Frag Rack that I am slowly turning into a Zoa Garden, Need to frags the other Zoa rocks and move some of the nicer ones to the Garden 

 

The Turbipora is growing like mad at the moment, almost doubled in size from when I received it. Excited to see what it can actually do. I do have concerns about Calcium uptake with teh amount of different items I have that consumes this

 

My experience with SPS has been interesting. So far these two Monti's and a Psamaccora have survived within teh tank. Anything else that I have added has quickly whited out and died! Probably should test the parameters at some point but these seem really happy. 

 

Urgh my Star Polyps. It is nearly ready to be Fragged again. I seem to have to cut this back every other month. I am tempted to see if I can get this growing on my glass on the Right hand side (no view from this position) as I feel that that side of the tank is currently being under utilised. Plus glass growing coral will give me more space on the rocks/sand for other corals. 

 So it seems that this is going to slowly turn into an extremely unfocused Mixed Reef. 

 

In other news, anyone remember this Coral Purchase?

On 9/27/2019 at 2:14 PM, Ratvan said:

Spoke to the Reefer and he is more than happy with m taking my time to add the corals from him, have agreed a discount rate for the corals £100 all in, Have paid him £50 upfront will pay the rest when I pick up the final batch

 

 

Well sadly I got the refund of the deposit this morning, the guy has decided that he is going to get rid of all of his SPS peices and turn the tank into a Euphyllia Garden. Slightly bummed, but not lost out. So I have been looking at getting some more CuC and other additions at the end of the month (payday is on the 31st 😥)

 

I plan on seeing if I can start picking up mini to mid sized Colonies for the tank as opposed to simply buying a frag now and then

[Ratvan]

Sigh. So seems that I should have caught and removed the blenny. Today spotted him chasing off and charging my Yellow Wrasse. It's happened more than once and not just at feeding times. The Wrasse is also marking territory by flashing the barnacles after the blenny chase which really helps things... 

[Ratvan]

Morning, so today i decided to let Cujo (Tailspot Blenny) out of the back chambers, to see whether his little isolation has affected his behaviour, I also undertook a small rescpare (mainly the barnacles), this morning's feeding session he does look a lot less aggressive and appears to be searching for a territory. If not, back into the rear chambers he will go, I will then have to somehow make my Pod Condo Blenny Proof. On the plus side of this, the rear sections are incredible clean and he has a more noticeable belly.

 

Shot with lights off (daylight lighting) and yes the torch is fine 🙄

 

 

 

[Ratvan]

So the plan for tomorrow is to empty as much of the 5.5G cube into this tank as is possible. I am considering removing and packing the corals tonight and keeping warm in a spare Polybox to move across tomorrow.  Which will leave me with the task of catching and transporting Hantu back to work. That way if i do have to move out (Divorce possibly) I will only have a Freshwater Tank which i have found someone to take off my hands if that happens.

 

As a result I have not set up the Fluval Spec 3 yet, I am however carrying on with the build this evening, now that the sealant has finally arrived. I might cycle this at work to have something on my desk, I can then transfer to my new place if that happens, or move it back home for a Pico Reef if we stay together

 

 

[Ratvan]

So far approximately 50% has been transferred across, seems like someone has discarded my polyboxes that I had been keeping for moving items between tanks and eventually posting out corals. Thankfully I found one, that worked with a lot of Gaffa Tape. 

 

Transferred so far

 

Will be interesting to see if Pele makes a dent on that Aiptasia, currently guessing no. Placed high (ish) in the tank so that I can reach with Aiptasia X without getting damp arm pits, and attracting begging rubs from Pele (he's started to rub against my hand when it is in the tank)  

[Ratvan]

Above, Hantu ready to dive bomb the Hammer Coral. Below Hammers reaction. I know that it'll adapt to this but how long? 

 

 

SPS showing Polyp Extension. Yay

 

 

Below, random mushroom. I have been through the mushrooms I have ever owned and pretty sure not had this one. 

 

Red Headed Goby setting up cleaning station on Zoa garden

 

FTS showing vast array of PAR levels, demonstrated by eggcrate and suction pads. 

[debbeach13]

Now it looks like it is filling up. How many tanks are you running now?

[Pjanssen]

Coming along nicely

[Ratvan]

5 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Now it looks like it is filling up. How many tanks are you running now?

Currently just this one. Need to go through everything and get rid of some bits. 

5 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Coming along nicely

Thanks. Waiting for payday to make it a bit more colourful

[debbeach13]

I think you might enjoy just the one for a change. Colorful on payday you say. 

[Proxo]

Kill that aiptasia, i regret killing the first one i had due to been lazy thinking meh later.
now it's everywhere in my tank, not so much in big colonies but how it got to the other side idk 😄

Tank looking good though, might have to ask your experience on some stocking 😛

[Ratvan]

9 hours ago, Proxo said:

Kill that aiptasia, i regret killing the first one i had due to been lazy thinking meh later.
now it's everywhere in my tank, not so much in big colonies but how it got to the other side idk 😄

Tank looking good though, might have to ask your experience on some stocking 😛

Will do on Monday if Pele hasn't done his job (Aiptasia Eating Filefish)