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[jefferythewind]

The Mrs. got my a new iphone. The pictures look so much better than my previous phone. The tank is doing really well. Hope everyone has a happy holidays!

 

 

 

 

 

[jefferythewind]

Things have been going pretty good with the tank. My really only concern at this point is the bushy algea that has grown up and now is completely covering the rocks where it was. It is only growing on the "live rock" that I added and not of the dry rock that I used to start the tank. Thinking I may try to scrape some off pretty soon. I think tangs may eat this stuff, but I don't think I can get a tang. 

 

Here is the orange setosa making its comeback! The surviving parts have all seemingly started to grow individually, so like a bunch of small frags. Following is a pic of that grass situation.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

[jefferythewind]

Things have been pretty solid with the tank. Super excited just got a couple new Acros today. One is a millepora and the other is a green staghorn. Both are fresh cut so we will see how they do. Seem to look great already. 

 

[jefferythewind]

[mcarroll]

On 1/6/2021 at 6:10 PM, jefferythewind said:

Both are fresh cut

As long as the cut is by someone without ham hands, I kinda prefer fresh cuts.

[jefferythewind]

Last week I ended up losing the Threadfins. No idea what happened. After the initial problem with the aggressive fish, the threadfins got a lot of their fins bitten off, i kept them in a separation box. They did well for a few weeks like that and the fins completely regenerated. I let them out and didnt observe any more bad aggression and the fins stayed intact. One morning last week i woke up and one of them was dead and the other one extremely stressed out. I put that remaining one back in the separation box but it ended up passing away before the next morning.  I'm guessing they got attacked at night. I'm also thinking the tank may not be big enough for any more fish, not sure, but the threadfins seem a bit frail in general, dont really try to hard to protect themselves. 

 

The corals look great however there is a lot of new algae growth. Also there ar aiptasia anemones growing all over the place. At this point im just letting nature run its course a bit. I dont want to go in and trying to control everything. 

 

 

[Jakesaw]

How do you like the China black box LED as an option.  You glad you went with it.  Would you buy another?  Or are you looking toward getting a more customizable / energy efficient light like an AI PRime, Kessel, etc?

 

Thanks

[jefferythewind]

@Jakesaw I think the light was and is OK for me at the moment. I have plenty of other upgrades that I want to do like create a sump and start automatic dosing and ATO. The light seems to be solid for now. I dont know if the tank would be better with a different light but for now it doesn't seem to be a weak point. Once my tank matured and i got my alk/ca and nutrients in line I see all the corals growing with nice colors. Maybe another light would be better for some reason but for now this one seems to be doing the job nicely and of course it wasn't expensive.

[A.m.P]

Black boxes do the job just fine for sure.

[Jakesaw]

8 hours ago, jefferythewind said:

@Jakesaw I think the light was and is OK for me at the moment. I have plenty of other upgrades that I want to do like create a sump and start automatic dosing and ATO. The light seems to be solid for now. I dont know if the tank would be better with a different light but for now it doesn't seem to be a weak point. 

Thanks,

 

I too am entering hobby on the cheap to see if the Marine tank suits me.  I'll have my first tank up and cycling this week.  It's only a 10 gal and too small I know, but it works for me right now.  20 or 29 gallon would be my first upgrade when I get comfortable with maintaining Salt tank, and light is biggest investment decision.  

 

The BRS videos on China black boxes made em seem like the would grow coral, but design / mfg pretty bad as heat dissipation isn't as much as a fan on a metal plate.

 

I'm starting with a fish and rock and gonna grow from there, but I'm already working on coral and fish list for my longer term 40 breeder build in my head... LOL  

 

[A.m.P]

It's accurate, some boxes are better than others and some pretty much don't have any cooling at all, some have "okay cooling". But at least you're not likely to run them at 100%.

[jefferythewind]

I have been running mine with the blues on 44 and the white on 6 for a long time now. These are out of 100. Seems like i have enough light. Corals seem good and algae is growing like crazy.

 

that being said, if I had to do it all over again I might look into some of the other options. This one has two fans that come on so it is a bit noisy I would say that is the biggest problem with it, the noise. However it is not overly noisy it's just a pretty good hum. Of course other lights also have much more sophisticated electronics with Wi-Fi and applications for your phone and all that.

[jefferythewind]

Just wanted to share a pic of the Millepora frag(s) that I picked up about a month ago. It is mostly a dark purple but the parts toward the light seem to be turning bright pink! I really love this coral. The polyps are lovely and at night you get these cool white things coming out of the tips. You can see in the picture that both have started growing out over the glue at the base.

 

The large one came unstuck yesterday so I had to re-glue it and its position changed slightly. Doesn't seem to mind. 

 

The tank has been pretty good. The bonsai had 2 burnt tips but that seems to be all under control and nothing else got too stressed. I have a new green staghorn as well I got at the same time as this millepora. It has grown quickly out over all the glue at the base.

 

 

 

[jefferythewind]

Trying another new fish, the green wrasse. I also added 3 new snails as an attempt to slowly increase the cleanup crew. From the looks of things I will need quite a few more. You can see the snails there on the rock in the picture.

 

[jefferythewind]

I have to say the green wrasse is going much better than the threadfins that I tried a couple months ago, I really like it. Very smart.

[mcarroll]

He's a rock turner, I think.   Right?  Melanurus?  (sp?)

[jefferythewind]

it is this one https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/331/?pcatid=331

the lady at the store said it will eat the little bugs that live on the rocks. Ive seen it looking and nipping around at the walls and the rocks. The other fish aren't bothering it and it finds a place to disappear at night. During the day it swims all around the middle of the tank. I think this one will last 🤞 

 

The new snails are great as well, they are not turbo snails, i think they are called turban snails? I think im going to need quite a few more at least maybe even 10 more. I've been doing well manually keeping the algea down but would appreciate some help.

[jefferythewind]

little coral update. Here is the orange setosa that almost died quite a while back. All the surviving small areas have grown out like individual frags. Some of those were just single polyps. The millepora is starting to grow out onto the glue, we can see some new polyps on the small piece. The green staghorn has also grown out all over the glue now is onto the rock next to it.

 

 

[mcarroll]

That is an excellent recovery – you're on a roll now!

[jefferythewind]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

That is an excellent recovery – you're on a roll now!

Thanks! You've really helped so much. I'm getting a feel for it a bit. Seems its important to not let the Alk get too high and of course i'm still dosing the phosphate. I've cut way back on the coral foods and so far so good. Water changes seem necessary and its a great way to suck out a bunch of soft algae and cyano bacteria and other dirty things.

[mcarroll]

14 hours ago, jefferythewind said:

Seems its important to not let the Alk get too high

Stability is more important than what level it's at, as long as you're in the right range.  7 dKH to 11 dKH is the generally accepted range...most folks over time have opted for higher levels in that range.  Personally, I've had excellent results at 8 and at 11.  FYI: In addition to its role in coral skeletons, alkalinity is also linked to pH.  And pH is linked to toxicity of ammonia, among other things.  Lots of good reading out there around these topics.  👍

[jefferythewind]

Just thought I would showcase my 3 Montiporas. First in the Red Monti. I got this last summer before I knew what I know now, and basically instantly it didn't seem to like the tank too much. I think the main problem was low Phosphates but it took a while to figure that out. I moved it around the tank a few times, color got lighter and lighter. At one point i was wondering if it was alive. However, since getting my tank into better shape, and placing this Monti higher in the tank, which I did just before Christmas, we can now see that it has grown out quite a bit over the rock that it was touching.

 

The next is the green monti which I got at the same time as the red. This was different from the red, as soon as I got it it just started growing like crazy, The poor water conditions only seemed to slow it down a little bit. At one point a small part of it got "burned" but since has recovered completely. Now it is huge and encroaching on everything around it!

 

 

The last is one, called Montipora Confusa. I got this one I think it late November, and it has been doing pretty solid. Basically the top part hasn't grown much but you can see it has grown out all over the base.

 

[jefferythewind]

I keep forgetting to take pictures when the lights are on. Things are going very well. I have to say the algae has been growing like crazy and the corals are doing fantastic. I have started seeing barnacles appear, at least I think they are barnacles. They move around quite a bit. The 3 new snails seem to be enjoying themselves, although not making much of a dent in the algae. I've got the new green wrasse which has quickly been accepted into the community, which is great. It is a smart little fish and always looks around and pecks lightly at the rocks. I really like it. At night it finds a place to sleep and never comes out. Ive been staying on top of the algae myself and it is staying under control. I actually kind of like it. The only thing i dont like is the cyano but honestly it doesnt seem to hurt anything and i suck it out every water change. It pretty much stays on the floor. Next wekk i'll have some updates on the millepora. It has been growing well.

 

For maintenance I add about 10 ml of NeoPhos per day and phospates just stays at .1 ppm, but thats good. I test for Alk everyday and dose the Alk and CA. I cut way back on the coral food although I put some trace elements and Min S in each fresh water change. I also drop some acro power in once in a while. It has really been going well. It all looks healthy. Thanks for the help!

 

[jefferythewind]

A little while back my bonsai acro got 2 burnt tips and has since recovered and has continued to grow around the base. However the 2 tips have been overgrown with algae and it hasnt been able to regrow skin on those tips ( see picture ). You can one of the tips has a long stringy piece of algae hanging off. Just wondering if I should do something about it.

 

[mcarroll]

Try your best to gently keep it cleaned off.

 

How are water parameters holding up?  

 

How's flow on this guy?

 

(I have to say the rest of him seems to look really nice!  What Acro is that again?)

 

You might consider laying off of the liquid supplements other than for nitrate and phosphate maintenance....could be driving excessive algae growth.