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Coral Vue Hydros

Ratvan

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On 4/26/2020 at 6:42 AM, Ratvan said:

Took the opportunity to move the Catalaphyllia while it was closed up. The stickiness of the tentacles weird me out

The stickiness is pretty neat, isn't it? That actually comes from the animal attempting to sting you, which always amazes me to think about. The stinging cells of corals (and those of their close relatives, anemones and sea jellies) are basically little spring-loaded, envenomed harpoons with hair triggers attached to them. When something stimulates the trigger, the harpoon it's attached to fires into whatever it's touching and injects its venom. Human skin is too thick for many species' stingers to penetrate though, so all you feel is the drag of those little harpoons sticking into your skin - a feeling that comes across as stickiness!

 

Anyway! Beautiful setup so far. That branching hammer you ordered looks gorgeous. 👌 I know you've had a lot of sour luck with saltwater setups in the past year, but I feel like this is the one. 🤞

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ECLS Reefer
5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

The stickiness is pretty neat, isn't it? That actually comes from the animal attempting to sting you, which always amazes me to think about. The stinging cells of corals (and those of their close relatives, anemones and sea jellies) are basically little spring-loaded, envenomed harpoons with hair triggers attached to them. When something stimulates the trigger, the harpoon it's attached to fires into whatever it's touching and injects its venom. Human skin is too thick for many species' stingers to penetrate though, so all you feel is the drag of those little harpoons sticking into your skin - a feeling that comes across as stickiness!

 

Anyway! Beautiful setup so far. That branching hammer you ordered looks gorgeous. 👌 I know you've had a lot of sour luck with saltwater setups in the past year, but I feel like this is the one. 🤞

That’s kind of.... ew...

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9 minutes ago, billygoat said:

The stickiness is pretty neat, isn't it? That actually comes from the animal attempting to sting you, which always amazes me to think about. The stinging cells of corals (and those of their close relatives, anemones and sea jellies) are basically little spring-loaded, envenomed harpoons with hair triggers attached to them. When something stimulates the trigger, the harpoon it's attached to fires into whatever it's touching and injects its venom. Human skin is too thick for many species' stingers to penetrate though, so all you feel is the drag of those little harpoons sticking into your skin - a feeling that comes across as stickiness!

 

Anyway! Beautiful setup so far. That branching hammer you ordered looks gorgeous. 👌 I know you've had a lot of sour luck with saltwater setups in the past year, but I feel like this is the one. 🤞

It was a mixture of the stickiness and the way the tentacles enveloped my wrist that was horrific. I was lucky not to launch it out the door in my horror

3 minutes ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

That’s kind of.... ew...

Yup. Its driven home DFTI principles now

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So today i decided that since i am gearing up to return to the office on Monday I would sort out the lighting schedule for the tank, it is now illuminated from 5pm to 10pm which means that I get to enjoy the tank in the evening. I also hope that the reduction in the photoperiod will allow me to remove some of the GHA a little more easily. Obviously I have ordered the CuC but I am not expecting them to arrive anytime soon so need to take measures to make maintenance easier. I am hoping that I can get the Kessil A80 to work and will be bringing that home so i can finally transfer across the lights.  

 

I have also stopped feeding the corals until I have a more robust CuC in place, I still plan on feeding the tank frozen mysis or BBS as I have a large supply of frozen fish food and no fish. I have tried Reef Roids but it seems that every time that I use it (and in minute concentrations) that I have an explosion of algae growth, I think i need more corals before being able to feed the tank this stuff. I have been given some RedSea Reef Energy AB+ as well but currently i am in the same position with that, not enough corals to warrant using the feeds. 

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5 hours ago, Ratvan said:

So today i decided that since i am gearing up to return to the office on Monday I would sort out the lighting schedule for the tank, it is now illuminated from 5pm to 10pm which means that I get to enjoy the tank in the evening. I also hope that the reduction in the photoperiod will allow me to remove some of the GHA a little more easily. Obviously I have ordered the CuC but I am not expecting them to arrive anytime soon so need to take measures to make maintenance easier. I am hoping that I can get the Kessil A80 to work and will be bringing that home so i can finally transfer across the lights.  

 

I have also stopped feeding the corals until I have a more robust CuC in place, I still plan on feeding the tank frozen mysis or BBS as I have a large supply of frozen fish food and no fish. I have tried Reef Roids but it seems that every time that I use it (and in minute concentrations) that I have an explosion of algae growth, I think i need more corals before being able to feed the tank this stuff. I have been given some RedSea Reef Energy AB+ as well but currently i am in the same position with that, not enough corals to warrant using the feeds. 

Feeding in a little tank like this is definitely a dicey business, especially with the system being so young. I think it's a good decision to hold off on it for now. It's unlikely that the corals will care too much, at least in the short term.

 

Also glad to hear that you're able to get back to work. Looks like it's going to be at least a few more weeks before things start to open up again over here...

 

Did you end up keeping the Kessil A360 from your office tank?

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15 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Feeding in a little tank like this is definitely a dicey business, especially with the system being so young. I think it's a good decision to hold off on it for now. It's unlikely that the corals will care too much, at least in the short term.

 

Also glad to hear that you're able to get back to work. Looks like it's going to be at least a few more weeks before things start to open up again over here...

 

Did you end up keeping the Kessil A360 from your office tank?

Yeah all the lighting is in the office, A80, a360, Chinese Black Box, par 38. Going to have a sort out and sell off. I'll probably keep the A80 for use on the 15g when the immortal corries snuff it

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7 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah all the lighting is in the office, A80, a360, Chinese Black Box, par 38. Going to have a sort out and sell off. I'll probably keep the A80 for use on the 15g when the immortal corries snuff it

WAS IT DRY ? 

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So since today is Wednesday it is time to do a water change, I thought that I would test my parameters (nitrates and Phosphates) and discovered that my Nitrates are around 10PPM but my Phosphate (Salifert) is showing as Zero..... tested my water before and after mixing salt and have no phosphates. I do have some GHA in the tank so believe that this is taking up the phosphates in the water. I plan on doing a scrub down of the rocks, frag plugs and skeletons (where the growth is) to remove as much as possible and keep doing so until my CuC arrive

 

 

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Yet another thread i missed 😄. Looking good pal, how's that silicone holding? Seen as i've got plenty of rock and silicone left you've given me ideas 🙂

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Just now, Proxo said:

Yet another thread i missed 😄. Looking good pal, how's that silicone holding? Seen as i've got plenty of rock and silicone left you've given me ideas 🙂

I have had a couple havent i? LOL

Yeah it is holding together well, I do think that they are a bit large and maybe slightly too high but will crack on and see what happens

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1 minute ago, mcarroll said:

Too many threads and I forgot where this one started.  :blush:

 

Planning to stay fishless?  (That's how my reef was for prolly 8/10 years before I moved it into the current tank.)

 

If there are none and will be none to feed, then I'd keep doing what you're doing.

 

If nitrates ever get low, then you could consider either target feeding or a conservative amino acid dosing regime.  

 

Stay patient and try not to jump to the conclusion that either of those will become a necessity though...it's possible you won't have to do anything special once the zero-PO4 conditions have given way to replete-PO4 conditions.

You good sir, have allowed me to talk my way into getting a little fishie for my tank. I can confirm that feeding reef roids to encourage algae growth and therefore time away from Mrs Ratvan has 100% not happened here. 

 

The rest of you move along now

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Maybe I'm feeling gun-shy now, but I'm not sure I get your whole comment. 😉  (Gonna have to read back in the thread a bit and catch up...BRB)

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11 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Maybe I'm feeling gun-shy now, but I'm not sure I get your whole comment. 😉  (Gonna have to read back in the thread a bit and catch up...BRB)

I've not mentioned it, but upon testing noticing a general decrease in nitrates towards 0. I don't have exactly zero, clearly as algae growth proves. But I want a fish and this is my angle. 😁

 

Plus expiration date on frozen, tick tock

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On 4/5/2020 at 2:57 PM, Ratvan said:

Tank: 5 Gallon L40xW20xH26 (15.75x7.75x1025)

On 4/9/2020 at 7:37 AM, Ratvan said:

Only change I see is my Alk at 11 compared to previous salt at 8. Calcium 10 higher, Mag 10 higher. Cost about 75% less. 

 

PH up to 8 as opposed to 7.8 but not overly bothered about that.

Agreed...just the physics at work:

image.png.7a6dbc2130b65bcd8f15dc38635264e0.png

 

(alk unit conversion calculator)

 

Moving pH up the scale from 7.8 to 8.0 (all else being equal) will lead to higher alk (tho we never do this in practice) just like raising alk from 8dKH (2.85 men/L) to 11dKH (4meq/L) will lead to higher pH.

 

On 4/9/2020 at 8:06 AM, Ratvan said:

It is but I tested about 4 hours later in the day then I do usually, so 🤷‍♂️

 

It does mix very fast which is nice, only took a couple of minutes to dissolve. Easy to work out how much you need as well as comes with gallons and litres charts. For 1.024 I use 34g per litre

High pH being desirable ranks up there with zero nutrients being desirable.   (Ptttth! 👎)

 

I can't find the exact article where Randy talked more specifically about supersaturation and pH, but this one does address it:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

 

High pH is great if you want your Ca and alk to be more likely to precipitate out of solution.  🤔 (Um..no.)

 

The "problems" of low pH don't really exist as far as I can tell....or they are at least extremely rare.  

 

IMO "low" would have to be something around 7.4 or even lower, but we never (or almost never...I've tried to find some examples) see levels that low.

 

The common levels you see like 7.6, 7.8 and higher never appear to be a problem.

 

We can keep more Ca and alk in solution at lower pH levels, and that's a good thing.

 

On 4/10/2020 at 7:19 AM, Ratvan said:

IMG_20200410_121233.thumb.jpg.e20b78f3e0641189294bdfc6348cce55.jpg

 

Spotted this tiny fan worm this morning

Love these guys!!  Is he a hard-tube or soft-tube type?

 

 

On 4/17/2020 at 12:43 PM, Ratvan said:

In my defense the majority of the website lists things in centimetres. I didn't notice it was listed as 4 inches 😅

Lots like YOU aren't getting to Mars any time soon EITHER!  😜

 

IMO it looks great there.  

 

It's pretty much inevitable that corals will outgrow our tanks....hard to worry too much about the inevitable, right?  👍

 

On 4/26/2020 at 9:42 AM, Ratvan said:

So decided to turn off the pump and take a toothbrush to the furry algae on the top of the rocks. [...]

 

Took the opportunity to move the Catalaphyllia while it was closed up. The stickiness of the tentacles weird me out [...]

Some folks do get skin irritation from those stings....more likely on the more tender parts of your skin such as the insides of your arm vs your hands.

 

I don't think many corals sting as hard as anemones, but the ones you have (Euphillia, etc) may be close!

 

Why not get after that growth with some herbivores instead of the toothbrush?  Just timing of no CUC?

 

On 4/27/2020 at 10:40 AM, Ratvan said:

So decided to place an order for a small clean up crew

868149860_CleanupCrew.jpg.25a640c7c363408d5b86f55a77c3d65f.jpg

Only one herbivore?  

 

There isn't going to be anything much for scavengers to scavenge at this point....and your rocks may end up hairy again.  

 

That's A LOT OF TERRITORY for a lone "Ninja Star" Astrea to cover.  

 

Also, these Astreas (ninja star type) can CANNOT flip themselves over.  Folks say that about lots of snails when it isn't totally true....with these guys it's 100% true.  

 

Without your help, they have as much chance of flipping themselves over as a pancake.  Spatula required.  😉

 

giphy.gif

 

17 hours ago, Ratvan said:

discovered that my Nitrates are around 10PPM but my Phosphate (Salifert) is showing as Zero..... tested my water before and after mixing salt and have no phosphates. I do have some GHA in the tank so believe that this is taking up the phosphates in the water. I plan on doing a scrub down of the rocks, frag plugs and skeletons (where the growth is) to remove as much as possible and keep doing so until my CuC arrive

It's possible you're past where dosing phosphates would be required if you have lots of other algae growing.  But keep an eye on things...if the tank isn't finished maturing (which seems more likely based on the timing) then it's very possible to slow a tanks progression, or even reverse it, if PO4 does turn out to be limiting things.

 

I dunno if I'd stop feeding because of this....that's your only PO4 input ....unless you have liquid nutrients available to dose.

 

And I would probably acquire some nutrients to dose in order to keep po4 up....keeping it up carries none of the risk of leaving it zero or near-zero.

 

As for the algae...

 

You would know from being there, I'm just speculating....but scrubbing often has the effect of spreading algae.  If you think it would be ok I'd suggest waiting for the CUC to arrive.

 

If you feel like removing the hair algae is mandatory (could be!) then I'd be more careful about it than scrubbing....do the pinch with your fingers method like this:

 

47 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

But I want a fish and this is my angle. 😁

 

Plus expiration date on frozen, tick tock

Barnacle Blennies then?  🙂

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I can't find the exact article where Randy talked more specifically about supersaturation and pH, but this one does address it:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

Thank you, I will read that later on today when my brain doesnt feel quite like it currently does 🥴

 

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Love these guys!!  Is he a hard-tube or soft-tube type?

This one is hard shell, I do have a few of the soft shell variety but at the moment they all seem to be too tiny to get a focused picture of. I would love to get a Coco or even Christmas Tree worm but that is a long way away, mainly as I rarely see them for sale in LFS's.

 

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Lots like YOU aren't getting to Mars any time soon EITHER!  😜

 

IMO it looks great there.  

 

It's pretty much inevitable that corals will outgrow our tanks....hard to worry too much about the inevitable, right?  👍

Yeah, well 🤷‍♂️. Lesson learned, pay more attention to measurements when purchasing online (applies to many things), thanks I do really like this coral. Reminds me a lot of the Duncan I got as my first coral. Love watching these

 

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Some folks do get skin irritation from those stings....more likely on the more tender parts of your skin such as the insides of your arm vs your hands.

 

I don't think many corals sting as hard as anemones, but the ones you have (Euphillia, etc) may be close!

 

Why not get after that growth with some herbivores instead of the toothbrush?  Just timing of no CUC?

I had a single faint red line from my wrist that was about 4 inches long, so yes that adds up

 

Sadly the lockdown happened at just the wrong moment in time, i've honestly struggled to find much stock online that is worthwhile ordering. 

 

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Only one herbivore?  

 

There isn't going to be anything much for scavengers to scavenge at this point....and your rocks may end up hairy again.  

 

That's A LOT OF TERRITORY for a lone "Ninja Star" Astrea to cover.  

Hey now, that order wiped out the only stock of snails that I could find, lol. I've got a few threads in local and regional forums basically begging reefers to let me have a snail or two. Yeah one for now, on the wish list for about 10 stores. Waiting on delivery date but expecting a delay of at least a week to my order so maybe 2nd week in may they might arrive

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It's possible you're past where dosing phosphates would be required if you have lots of other algae growing.  But keep an eye on things...if the tank isn't finished maturing (which seems more likely based on the timing) then it's very possible to slow a tanks progression, or even reverse it, if PO4 does turn out to be limiting things.

 

I dunno if I'd stop feeding because of this....that's your only PO4 input ....unless you have liquid nutrients available to dose.

 

And I would probably acquire some nutrients to dose in order to keep po4 up....keeping it up carries none of the risk of leaving it zero or near-zero.

 

As for the algae...

 

You would know from being there, I'm just speculating....but scrubbing often has the effect of spreading algae.  If you think it would be ok I'd suggest waiting for the CUC to arrive.

 

If you feel like removing the hair algae is mandatory (could be!) then I'd be more careful about it than scrubbing....do the pinch with your fingers method like this:

Oh nowhere near a mature tank, in fact miles off.

 

Do you (or anyone else) have a preferred liquid nutrient for phosphates. I've not looked really much into dosing (of any sort)

 

I dont mind some of the GHA, in fact i like it in certain areas of the tank, as long as it doesnt interfere with the corals and livestock. Currently its wild, but i have not let it go completely out of control. Scrubbing spreading the algae does make a lot of sense. 

 

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Barnacle Blennies then?  🙂

I might give it a try, Mrs Ratvan is still on about Clownfish so that'll be interesting. She's seen Sebae's, Clarkiis and Saddlebacks so thats going to be a fun talk. I need a bigger tank!

 

Clown Goby, wonder if i can find one that has an Amphioron look to it

 

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NaturallyKait

I’m having similar issues getting CUC in lockdown. It sucks eh? I finally managed to get my hands on a few trochus snails arriving on Monday from the mainland here 🤞🏻🤞🏻  The things you never thought you’d get excited about eh? 😂

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