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Seafurn's Old School Pico Gets An Upgrade - 365 Day Challenge


SeaFurn

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Day 338 

 

This past month has been the best month I've had in a long time. I can't say I've done much differently this month but I'm just happy most everything was open. 

I have several more photos and some commentary I'll add in the next couple of days but here's the official monthly FTS for January. (Click into the photo for better resolution)

 

50896235306_9694f7d54d_b.jpg

 

 

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365 Day Challenge Summary

 

It's been a rough journey.  The tank today doesn't look anything like I thought it would when I first started this contest, but I guess I'm happy I've got some corals left.  I'd really like to go back to around day 36 and get a do-over but that's not gonna happen so let's deal with things like this - the good and the bad and the ugly.

 

The good:

  • I appreciate the small group of you who followed my posts and offered support, advice and encouragement.  Thank you so much.
  • The list is probably too long to post here, but I really have learned a lot over the course of the year.  A couple of key areas are how the lighting schedule was impacting the corals and how much to dose daily to keep the tank parameters stable in desirable amounts to keep corals happy.  I have to dose alk, cal, mg, nitrogen, and phosphorus daily to keep the tank stable.  In addition, the only water changes I've done in the last few months are a few 5 cup water changes. I also removed the ATO have been topping off manually. 
  • I think I like the tank better with sand. 
  • The tank is pest free, although I consider the huge pods I've recently found and those crazy red spaghetti worms kinda like pests. I'm constantly removing the spaghetti worms still. 
  • My favorite pink/orange ricordia started out with one mouth and it now has 4.  I'm sure it will split any day now.
  • One head of my hammer coral is splitting.  (I know it's kinda lame to be commenting on something as basic as a coral splitting or growing a couple of new mouths but in my tank, that's been a rarity)
  • I had one shipment of corals that arrived 44 hours late but everything survived - for awhile anyway. 
  • While the corals where temporarily housed in the 45 due to the ATO failure - a baby RFA hitchhiked onto the rock and it's still doing well back in the 10 gal.
  • Day 129 I said the tank looked great.  I'll take my word for it but it's hard to believe there ever was a time it did. 
  • This past month. I don't think the tank has necessarily turned the corner but it's nice that I can end on a good month. 

 

The bad and the ugly:

  • I about killed one head of my frogspawn by blasting it with water thinking it was infested but @WV Reefer and @Tamberav  clued me into what minestrial filaments are.  Will never make that mistake again. Interestingly - rock flower anemones have the exact thing that they extend from the bottom of their foot  They likely use them when moving into/through new hostile areas.
  • Attempts to save a few acros by fragging were unsuccessful.  I've heard of people doing this but I suppose if something was off in the tank to cause it, without fixing that first, fragging it wasn't going to help much. 
  • Zoas - some people have a green thumb with plants and some don't.  I don't have a green thumb with zoas.  They are still a mystery to me - and really piss me off. It's taken so much effort to get them open and keep them open. Last month was first time I've seen my remaining zoas, (and I have lost a bunch) open for almost the entire month. And there's always some new issue with them.  The latest is when my hermit crab climbs over my one bunch of Cateye zoas. Individual polyps simply pop off the frag plug. It's like they are barely attached to the rock anymore compared to the others. I usually find them wedged somewhere in the tank and then I glue them to a new frag plug.  Is this their way of spreading?? 
  • Ricordia - my bigger ones have fared well through all the ups and downs while the smaller ones have mostly shrunken down into nothing. I'm not sure why.  Well, it's probably related to the issue below. 
  • The extended period of low nitrates and phosphates also had a detrimental effect on the corals - despite continual feeding. My tank simply failed to thrive.  Some of you will probably say I'm being too hard on myself but when you look at the pics of the tank now compared to the early months, it's clear that there's been an extended problem.   
  • The ATO failures and significant salinity swings back in late May/early June and again in early August was this tank's undoing  Several corals perished and many others suffered for months afterward - and even still, I'd say. The fact that it happened twice broke my spirit and killed my motivation which ultimately kept me from posting every day of the contest like I intended. 

I'm probably going to take this tank down so I can focus on my rock flowers and baby rock flowers. I'd like to get some smaller tanks set up so I can start trying to breed them to get some never seen before morphs.  So, if anyone is interested in some corals - some of which still need a little TLC, let me know.  

2 hours ago, kimberbee said:

You still have a few hours to get your final summary done. I hope you can post to qualify for final voting!! You're so close!!

In, just under the wire!

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Congratulations. You did have some struggles but hung in there. I am sorry to hear the tank might come down but focusing on the rock flowers and breeding them sounds wonderful.  I wish you good luck and continued success. 

8 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

So, if anyone is interested in some corals - some of which still need a little TLC, let me know.  

I am Interested.

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