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UPDATE 10/16/2019:

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- Due to the black plastic strip at the center of my glass lid, I decided to return the LEDs that I had to upgrade to dual LEDS; I purchasedΒ the Current USA Orbit Marine IC PRO Dual LED Reef Aquarium Light with Bluetooth for $218.90.Β  I'm quite impressed with the lighting situation now and hopefully I'll never have a lighting issue with soft or LPS corals.

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Note: Now, the main reason I even decided to upgrade my lighting was because of my original 3-headed Duncan not opening up anymore which just so happened to occur after he fell from the rock down to the sand/substrate.Β  I moved him once, still had issues with him opening, and moved him twice more.Β  He slowly deterioratedΒ even after putting the new lighting in place.Β  After doing much research, I found out that he most likely had Brown Jelly Disease which I've siphoned off most of it already, but the damage has been done and 1 head is left struggling to survive (it hasn't really moved since so it may already be dead).Β  I believe after it's initial great fall, it must have injured itself since it used to be fully open before and I bet the tentacles rubbed against the sand and/or rock when it fell and maybe got infected.

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- I have been doubling the amount of Reef Fusion 1 & 2 per day from 4ml/ea.Β daily to 4ml/ea. in the morning and 4ml/ea.Β at night.Β  The reason being is that I'm having trouble getting the calciumΒ to go above 320ppm.

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- The school nano reef has been doing fine overall, however since I'm not there to add calcium, alk, minerals and trace elements, I decided to rescue the one Duncan the school nano reef had and put it into my office nano reef.Β  It has been flourishing more than ever in it's new home.Β  I also gave the school nano reef my initial Xenia (the one I didn't like due to poor color and it didn't pulse much), and it seems to be doing about the same there.Β  The school nano reef will eventually only house GSP and Xenia as far as the corals go, so hopefully those 2 types can withstand low amounts of calcium (I'll dose it whenever I go there).

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- I'm always on the look-out for my next coral that I deem appropriate for my setup (no carbon).Β  I decided to go with theΒ Blastomussa wellsi.Β  I have a nice open area on the left side of my tank and I notice they had 2 color variants -- a purple and a red wellsi.Β  I'm assuming if I one day buy both, they won't sting/kill each other since they're bothΒ Blastomussa wellsi, correct?Β  I think having the two different colors might add an extra cool factor to the whole thing (mainly because I'm being super picky on what corals are safe enough for my system).Β  I was also thinking of an Elegance coral or even a Pink Bird's Nest, but after imagining how large they might grow, it probably wouldn't be best for my little tank.Β  So, I might just end up buying a 3rd Duncan after my 3-headed Duncan dies from the Brown Jelly Disease.

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- I almost forgot.Β  After acclimatingΒ my Black Molly before for only 6 hours, it died that night.Β  I should've went with an overnight acclimation for that.Β  I ended up getting a small Banggai Cardinalfish.Β  It barely eats, if ever.Β  Hopefully it will start eating soon.Β  (I had a larger one which did eat, but it kept scaring my other fish so I traded it for the smallest one they had, and now this one won't eat, but doesn't scare anyone, lol.)

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Note: I might have the opportunity in the near future to purchase 3 more Banded Trochus Snails for each nano reef tank.Β  The only thing I'm worried about is if they happen to have a spawning event and cloud my water and then I end up with a few hundred baby Banded Trochus Snails in a 10 gallon.Β  Not sure if that would happen or if they'd just die off if it did happen due to lack of food.Β  Currently, I got plenty of algae on the glass to feed the additional 3 snails.

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I'm excited to share what might be my "final" coral order for this tiny little 10 gallon office nano reef.Β  Let me know if any of these are good choices. πŸ™‚

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1 xΒ Candy Cane Coral, Aquacultured ORA

1 x Australian Big Polyp Blastomussa Coral Aquacultured - Double Head, Purple

1 x Australian Big Polyp Blastomussa Coral Aquacultured - Single Head, Red

1 x Ducanopsammia Coral - Aquacultured USA (this brings me to a total of 3 Duncans forΒ my office reef)

6 xΒ Banded Trochus Snail (Indonesia) (3 additionalΒ for each nano reef which will give each tank 4 total.)

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I will also take pictures once everything is settled this week and we can see if everything prospers or not in the months to come.Β  One other thing to mention (almost hesitantΒ to mention it, lol), the small Banggai Cardinalfish was very boring, hid from my view a lot, and never really ate.Β  I was able to trade it in for a Yellowtail Damselfish.Β  My wife's tank has one and she noted no aggression issues in her tank.Β  Of course, my Azure Damselfish had aggression issues, but I'd like to give the Yellowtail Damselfish a try to see if I get luckier with this kind vs the Azure before.

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Yellow tails are usually a bit less aggressive
Those are all solid low-light, medium-to-low flow coral choices (and I love blasto's)

Trochus are awesome but mine have a penchant for getting stuck under rockwork and needing rescue.

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Blastos are awesome. Very easy, I find and grow pretty quickly. They enjoyΒ feedings too.

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Bangaii's are cool. Mine was very shy and skittish in quarantine but with other fish it has become quite social.

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Yellow tails are less aggressive damsels.Β 

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Really, each fishes personality is different.

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I got a pinkΒ streaked wrasse because everyone else had great luck with them. Supposed to be very passive. Mine killed everything added to the tank. It was a murderer.Β 

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My leopard wrasse killed two Yasha gobies before I figured out why my gobies were dissapearing and my pom pom crab tried to murder everything including pistol shrimp.Β 

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My first of two shipments arrived today from LiveAquaria.Β  Once I add the corals from tomorrow's shipment, I'll post some pictures of the office nano reef so we can see how far it has come.

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Now, I did have question about an unexpected hitchhiker found on my Red Australian Blastomussa Coral, hopefully someone can answer.Β  Can anyone ID the worm shown in theΒ pictures below?Β  Is that a feather duster?Β  Fan worm?Β  Tube worm?Β  Or something else?

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Is it dangerous?Β  Do I need to take this frag out and dose it in Reef Dip for 15 minutes to kill off that worm?Β  Will that thing multiply and spread all around my tank?

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I have no experience with that kind of "filter worm" and I'm not sure if I should kill it with "fire" or allow it to live.Β  One thing to note, one of the skunk cleaner shrimp noticed it and tried to pick at it, but it hid quick and came back out after the shrimp left.Β  Do skunk cleaner shrimp eat those types of worms?Β  Is this a nuisance worm?Β  Thanks in advance for any insight.Β  I didn't dip because I hold LiveAquaria to the highest standards, but maybe this worm isn't some huge deal or maybe it is...

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worm1.JPG.b3606c487ef59ace21bf8fec7e08e7bc.JPGΒ .Β  Β Β worm2.JPG.547d0a0503303d5e04cd672055312d7f.JPG

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LA can give you pests for sure but I wouldn't worry about that one.

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LA was loved for it's generous refund policies and cheap shipping. They definitely don't have the highest standards when it comes to pests.

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That's a fan worm/feather duster worm/tube worm/etc. Same thing. Completely harmless filter feeder. Your cleaner may eat it, but the worm was just hiding because it hides from movement. It may reproduce in your tank if there's more, but they won't hurt anything. Just wear gloves when handling rock that has a lot of them (really, wear gloves for live rock in general, sharp edges + potential bacteria = bad) because they can increase your number of sharp edges on your rock.

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Today has been a long day with unique and unexpected surprises (to put it nicely).Β  I'm also hoping one of you can help me ID the SPS (?) coral shown in the two pictures below.Β  This tiny piece of coral was found in with my duncan coral bag that I ordered.Β  (I actually thought it was part of the duncan at first, but then I realized what it was when I took it out with a tweezers).Β  I'm kind of curious what kind this is so I can research it and see what must be done to keep it alive.

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So, on with the crazy news... I was expecting to receive 6 Banded Trochus Snails.Β  And I did indeed receive 6 shells.Β  3 of them had the snails in them.Β  2 were empty.Β  1 had a Hermit Crab inside of it!Β  And the box and the bag REAKED of death.Β  Like dead snails.Β  Ugg..Β  With such high prices for overnight shipping or making large $150+ orders, I can't believe they don't have a 2nd QA person to check the bags being shipped out to make sure there are actually SNAILS inside the shells!Β  Not empty shells or shells with hermit crabs in them!Β  What am I supposed to do with $12 credit when shipping costs $30 and a box fee costs $10.Β  It's ludicrous.

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Anyways, help me ID this coral please, and I also included Day 43 pictures at the bottom, enjoy!

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day43-2.JPG.7c096ed1484aae1eac8f02671790d7e3.JPGΒ  Β Β day43-1.JPG.a7b2053bcc7bff61deb3098fdad2182f.JPGΒ 

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Day 43 Pictures:

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day43-5.thumb.JPG.abb6ba33d22dc736bb8b2de530fb1b5d.JPG

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day43-6.thumb.JPG.c3c3121cae93c4c61713b1bfa825e099.JPG

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Tank looks good. LA has went way downhill...and prices way up. Sorry to say.Β 

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They should refund you since it was there mistake not a credit!Β 

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But at least you got a freebie coral so that kind of helps. It is an acro of some sort....tenius maybe? I am not good at SPS ID.Β 

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On 11/8/2019 at 10:32 AM, j.falk said:

Checking in to see how things are going...?

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Thanks for the reminder!Β  So, before I mention all of the interesting things that has been happening to the tank, let's take a look at the Day 60 pictures and see if anyone notices anything different.

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Day60-1.thumb.JPG.1da0e504cb05e6f7f5b154469eac9440.JPG

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Day60-2.thumb.JPG.0973b756aff795d96191016a89c1366a.JPG

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And onto... The Updates

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1. The Watchman

So let's start with the newest addition -- the grumpy-looking Yellow Watchman Goby.Β  I've had my eye on this fish for awhile now and I had the opportunity recently to get one when my wife's tank needed a smaller Yellowtail Damselfish which I just happened to have.Β  Her tank just received two very small ORA Ocellaris Clownfish and it already had a very large Yellowtail Damselfish that was being a big bully to the newcomers.Β  So we traded that bully out, I gave her my small Yellowtail Damselfish that seems so much more tamer in its new environment, and I got myself an awesome new personality in my tank that I feel will be a better tank mate in the long run compared to a Yellowtail DamselfishΒ .

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We noticed quite a few times that our Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp loves to clean the mouth and gillsΒ of the Yellow Watchman Goby and the goby just loves it (compared to most other fish that I've seen the cleaner shrimp try to clean).Β  I was also able to get the YWG to choose the den at the front of the tank to peek out of by plugging up any potential densΒ that were out of view from me.Β  This makes observing the gobyΒ so much better and the den in the front isΒ quite large under the larger of the two rocks.Β  Overall, I'm very happy with this setup.Β  When it comes time to feed, the clownfish and the YWG just love to swim right up to my hand and instruments and aren't scared at all.Β  It's pretty cool.

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2. The Hitchhikers

Where to start... so overtime, I get to really see some of the downsides that many of you have most-likely already experienced.Β  I found the dreaded cotton candy algae on my chaeto.Β  I purchased this chaeto from eBay and their auction listing boasts how their chaeto is pest-free and all that.Β  I'm pretty damn sure it came from that seller since 99% of the cotton candy algae was on the chaeto when I first noticed it.Β  On top of that, I've noticed for awhile that sometimes I saw these little tiny brown spots on my ORA Pom Pom Xenia.Β  For the longest time, I thought they may have just been "dead" or "dying" parts of the coral.Β  Until just a few days ago, I noticed one of the tiny brown spots was moving all over the Xenia.Β  At that point, the google research began, and I'm pretty sure they were flatworms.Β  I say were because I immediately took the frag out, put it in Seachem Reef Dip, rinsed it off with aquarium water, and put it back in.Β  I noticed when dumping the iodine-based Reef Dip into the toilet, I saw the little tiny brown spots wither away into oblivion as I flushed them out of existence.

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The Xenia took a couple days to really come back to life, fully pulsing as they were before, but they seem much happier without the pests.Β  So the lesson learned here was, especially when I get my 55 or 75 aquarium one day in the future, is to dip all corals before placing them intoΒ the tank!

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I also added 5 Turbo Snails (3 large, 2 small) to help combat the cotton candy algae.Β  I think the small ones pass it byΒ and the large ones might eat it, but from what I can tell, they haven't put too much of a dent into it.

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3. Going Fishing, Plug-less and Fragging

When it came time to remove the Yellowtail Damselfish from my tank under a time constraint, I had no idea it was going to make it so hard on me.Β  So much so that I ended up having to break down my entire reef and remove all of the rocks.Β  Fortunately, there were only 3 rocks to deal with, but unbeknownst to me, my favorite fish -- Blenny, the Tailspot Blenny, was hiding inside the larger rock.Β  After a couple minutes, I noticed him on the floor on my towel, and I put him back into the tank immediately.Β  He actually jumped out of my hand twice while trying to do so.Β  He floated upside down at first for a few seconds, but fortunately came back to life and has been OK ever since.Β  I sometimes wonder if he remembers his near-death experience to this day when he stares back at me from inside the tank.Β  Does he see me as a hero or has he forgotten what has happened already.Β  Who knows.

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After removing Dory successfully, I decided to remove all of the frag plugs from the corals that are on the rocks.Β  I think it gives it a moreΒ aesthetic appeal.Β  I left only theΒ plugs on the Blastomussa Wellsi corals since they're down near the sand bed and look fine as-is.Β  I also moved around the Pom Pom Xenia and got some on both rocks to give it a more balanced look.Β  I noticed the Pom Pom Xenia that I put into the iodine-based dip is a tad shade darker than the other Pom Pom Xenia that wasn't dipped.Β  It still looks nice though, like a darker shade of pink.

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4. Slow Down Circulation Pump and Clean that Water!

I felt the Hydor Koralia Nano 240 circulation pumps were just a bit too strong for my little 10 gallon, even when aimed at the glass and using a wave controller.Β  I did some research and ended up doing a custom job.Β  I put a prefilter onto each circulation pump.Β  This seemed to help dampen the flow as well as add some mechanical filtration to the tank for free!Β  I noticed a bunch of cotton candy algae got stuck in the prefilters and turned them to this pretty pink color.Β  So now, we got dampened flow, mechanical filtration, and a reduction of nitrates and phosphates due to the cotton candy algae, and I bet some good bacteria is on the surface of the pump and filter so even biological filtration.Β  I even see little bits of coralline algae growing on it so we'll have some cool colors as well.

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Well, that pretty much sums it all up as for the latestΒ updates.Β  The only other thing that I'm noticing is some nice coralline algae spotting on all of the rocks and plastic around the tank.Β  All of the corals seem to be happy and respond well to feeding to which I love using Reef-Roids whenever I notice that they are all opened up.Β  I'm very excited to see the Pom Pom Xenia spread more over the rocks and to see the Coralline Algae make all of the rocks and plasticΒ red, purple, and pink!

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On 11/9/2019 at 11:12 AM, Seadragon said:

I also added 5 Mexican Turbo Snails (3 large, 2 small) to help combat the cotton candy algae.Β  I think the small ones pass it byΒ and the large ones might eat it, but from what I can tell, they haven't put too much of a dent into it.

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I found out today that the LFS lied to me and that the 3 large Turbo snails I bought (to which they said were Mexican Turbo Snails) are actually Zebra Turbo Snails.Β  No wonder these snailsΒ didn't seem to eat the cotton candy algae like so many websites said they would.Β  They need to beΒ Turbo fluctuosa which are the true Mexican Turbo Snails that eatΒ Cotton Candy algae.Β  Lesson learned: Never trust a LFS.Β  They care more about the sale than giving truthful information.Β  If they weren't sure, they should've just saidΒ so.

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1 hour ago, Seadragon said:

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I find out today that the LFS lied to me and that the 3 large Turbo snails I bought (to which they said were Mexican Turbo Snails) are actually Zebra Turbo Snails.Β  No wonder these snailsΒ didn't seem to eat the cotton candy algae like so many websites said they would.Β  They need to beΒ Turbo fluctuosa which are the true Mexican Turbo Snails that eatΒ Cotton Candy algae.Β  Lesson learned: Never trust a LFS.Β  They care more about the sale than giving truthful information.Β  If they weren't sure, they should've just saidΒ so.

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Well! That's pretty rude. Now you are stuck with 3 huge snails that don't eat the algae you need them to eat! Is there any way you can bring them back and at least get some store credit for them?

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On 11/10/2019 at 8:38 PM, billygoat said:

Well! That's pretty rude. Now you are stuck with 3 huge snails that don't eat the algae you need them to eat! Is there any way you can bring them back and at least get some store credit for them?

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I'll be transferring them over to my wife's tank, the School Nano Reef, probably tomorrow.Β  She has been getting this ugly stringy brown algae in her tank and she doesn't have many snails to deal with it.Β  She has about 14Β Blue Legged Hermit Crabs though and they just killed a Banded Trochus Snail recentlyΒ -- she witnessed the Cleaner Shrimp helping to remove the snail from it's shell.Β  I'm hoping these 3 large snails that are 2"+ in size will not only clean up her algae problem, but will be able to survive any hermit crab attacks in the process.

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9 hours ago, j.falk said:

Dinos?

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It looks somewhat similar to this although it's mainly found on her rocks:Β (found this on another forum whileΒ googling)

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BrownStringyAlgae.thumb.jpg.e7e4a988fcb2a1b761a0b3d9be071376.jpg

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Even the other forum didn't know if it was actually cyano orΒ dinoflagellates.Β  What do you think this looks like?

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After 3 months, the OP posted an update and said it was gone, his explanation was: "Whatever it was it disappeared when I decided to experiment with blacking out my tank for 4 days...gunk gone. Although, I absolutely understand it will likely comeback so a gfo reactor is a must. Anyway, tank looks awesome for now!!".

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I was actually experimenting with dosing her tank with 3% Hydrogen Peroxide.Β  I heard that it may help situations with algae problems.Β  Or maybe theΒ 3 large Zebra Turbo Snails that I will be transferring to her tank may help...Β (somewhat doubtful)

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