TheCoralBeauty's Transferred IM 50 EXT Lagoon

[Jungle_vip]

Beautiful tank. Love the rock work and fish selection. That orange back wrasse is one of my favs. Corals looking great as well👍🏼

[thecoralbeauty]

6 hours ago, ReefCap said:

That’s a quick drop! Everything doing ok? 

fortunately, yes, i think. so far. I tend to not like running media in my tanks, and having not run GFO before i wasn't sure how it would act. i'm REALLY glad that i re-tested when I did! 

[thecoralbeauty]

So, the GFO is staying in. As soon as I remove it, PO4 goes back up (even overnight- no feeding or additives, or anything) I'd love to know where it's coming from. Can't wait for this not to be a new tank! lol If i can keep it hovering at .1, I'll be happy.

 

Still have some algae growth, which i'll take. I added 5 asteria snails over the weekend. 

 

All the wrasses are back out and about. really were starting to freak me out there, normally they're always out and bright and active, the tank felt spooky without them! Plus, i'm really attached to all my fish at this point. Even my derpy tang with his wonky fins and HLLE. 

 

I've noticed some clear slime or clear hair-algae looking stuff on the shadowed parts of my rocks. I'm wondering if they might be chrystophytes. I may try dosing vibrant lightly and gradually to see if it helps at all. My crew has been nibbling at my algae, but not this clear stuff. 🤔

 

Patiently waiting for the grow frame to arrive to place on the wall above the tank, and for the new tank lid parts to arrive. Carefully stuck some of my orchids on the overflow box today to see if I liked the effect of the flowers sitting above the tank as much as I thought i would. I do! 🙂  Just have to be extra mindful of drips after watering, but I think the frame, the fact that i water my orchids sparingly, and the offset of the tank from the wall, will all help with that. Its just a quick phone shot, so the water looks cloudy when its definitely not. I blame forgetting to turn the guest bathroom light off.

 

 

 

 

[ReefCap]

One trick I’ve used for watering orchids to not over water them is ice cubes. Slowly drips water and prevents over watering.

 

I can’t wait to see the wall of plants behind the tank! I’m now thinking of doing succulents around or on the wall behind my little tank because of you.

 

That clear hair algae has also been showing up on my rock too but comes off with a little turkey baster.

 

Glad the PO4 is getting under control but it’s so weird that I spikes so quickly without doing anything other than taking out the GFO. Any chance that it’s an out side pollutant? Something on your arms when you put them in the tank? (Thinking outside the box) I saw you have a horse and there’s a lot of fertilizers used in the feed for large animals and in Timothy hay. Just a thought...

[thecoralbeauty]

9 hours ago, ReefCap said:

One trick I’ve used for watering orchids to not over water them is ice cubes. Slowly drips water and prevents over watering.

 

I can’t wait to see the wall of plants behind the tank! I’m now thinking of doing succulents around or on the wall behind my little tank because of you.

 

That clear hair algae has also been showing up on my rock too but comes off with a little turkey baster.

 

Glad the PO4 is getting under control but it’s so weird that I spikes so quickly without doing anything other than taking out the GFO. Any chance that it’s an out side pollutant? Something on your arms when you put them in the tank? (Thinking outside the box) I saw you have a horse and there’s a lot of fertilizers used in the feed for large animals and in Timothy hay. Just a thought...

yea, thats a good rule of thumb to keep folks from overwatering them. I don't use ice on mine anymore for a few reasons- 1, the temperature can shock their roots- 2, its not usually enough water to really quench them in my experience. I typically keep an eye on the velum of their roots and dunk them/drench them and fully let them drip off in my empty sink. Years and years later they repay me with blooms despite colorado being as dry as it is 🙂  i do need to repot two of my phalenopsis though. hopefully i haven't waited too long. I'm excited to see the plants with the tank too, I think they go well together!

 

interesting! Turkey baster isn't working for me unfortunately. i'll try to get some shots of it soon. since we both have it (or seem to), I wonder if it has something to do with the "bacteria" they claim to seed the live rock with? 

 

I had wondered about something horse-related like that, too, but then it would have also been an issue in my old tank, and it never was. It also doesn't explain why they jumped overnight without me touching the tank at all. I'm beginning to suspect the rock or sand. I'll take extra precautions to make sure my arms/hands are fully clean before I do anything in there, that's a good idea for sure. thank you!

[ReefCap]

I didn’t know about root shock I’ll have to remember that if I ever do orchids again!

[thecoralbeauty]

I must be unobservant AND lucky. Here is my "ordinary" clam today. Haven't ever seen a pink quite like that.

[thecoralbeauty]

orchid frame has arrived and I've managed to install it with no injuries or casualties! 🙂 

and some quick phone shots: (in some you might be able to see some of what I think are chrystophytes, the clear algae stuff on the shady side of my rocks). Dosing vibrant at less than half strength has already reduced them a little this week. 

[billygoat]

Very nice orchid display! And the tank is quite beautiful, chrysophytes or no. I think those are actually quite common in home aquaria, though usually they are confined to sumps, the rear chambers of AIOs, and other shady locations. I am willing to bet that they will disappear from your display in time as they are outcompeted by other, more complex forms of algae.

 

I notice the lack of sand in the bottom left corner there. Are you removing sand bit by bit with the aim of going bare-bottom, or did you just not have enough to cover the wider footprint of your new tank?

[thecoralbeauty]

On 1/30/2021 at 1:21 PM, billygoat said:

Very nice orchid display! And the tank is quite beautiful, chrysophytes or no. I think those are actually quite common in home aquaria, though usually they are confined to sumps, the rear chambers of AIOs, and other shady locations. I am willing to bet that they will disappear from your display in time as they are outcompeted by other, more complex forms of algae.

 

I notice the lack of sand in the bottom left corner there. Are you removing sand bit by bit with the aim of going bare-bottom, or did you just not have enough to cover the wider footprint of your new tank?

I intended to try bare-bottom, but since I have wrasses and tube nems, i dont think thats possible. I haven't been removing it, just didnt put in a full sand bed in the first place. Over time, it will likely just be sand around the rock work. 

 

I witnessed something bizarre last night.... a peppermint shrimp eating an asterina star? Odd...

 

[thecoralbeauty]

It's been a month!! I managed to knock my middle arch over and couldn't get it quite right when I put it back... Munched my hydnophora in the process but it's healed in less than 3 days. 

 

Meanwhile I noticed my RFA's walking a lot, and being angry.... also my tube nems were angry.... 

Then i realized it was the peppermint shrimp

 

Caught 4 of my 6 in 12 hours easily with bottle traps.

 

The last 2 are onto me and evading capture. So, i've got three bottle traps in there baited with an ugly brown RFA (grabbed for 5 bucks as a sacrificial 'nem) and a few chunks of aptasia rock i got from the LFS. Also stuck some mysis in there as well since that worked with the first 4. fingers crossed I catch them!

 

Once all is well again I'll post photos of the new scape. It feels basic, but i like it 🙂 

[aclman88]

20 minutes ago, thecoralbeauty said:

It's been a month!! I managed to knock my middle arch over and couldn't get it quite right when I put it back... Munched my hydnophora in the process but it's healed in less than 3 days. 

 

Meanwhile I noticed my RFA's walking a lot, and being angry.... also my tube nems were angry.... 

Then i realized it was the peppermint shrimp

 

Caught 4 of my 6 in 12 hours easily with bottle traps.

 

The last 2 are onto me and evading capture. So, i've got three bottle traps in there baited with an ugly brown RFA (grabbed for 5 bucks as a sacrificial 'nem) and a few chunks of aptasia rock i got from the LFS. Also stuck some mysis in there as well since that worked with the first 4. fingers crossed I catch them!

 

Once all is well again I'll post photos of the new scape. It feels basic, but i like it 🙂 

I had good luck with some sardine chunks in a bottle trap for peppermint shrimp. Might be worth a shot if the nem doesn’t work

[thecoralbeauty]

1 minute ago, aclman88 said:

I had good luck with some sardine chunks in a bottle trap for peppermint shrimp. Might be worth a shot if the nem doesn’t work

This is the kind of info I need! 
Sardine chunks! Good.

[thecoralbeauty]

Got the last little bugger overnight- it went for the bottle trap with pellet food in it, of all things. Hoping the tube anemones recover quickly and the xenia and tops of my clove polyps they ate come back. I want to replace the one rainbow RFA they ate, funny enough my brown bait-RFA was untouched. 

 

And I suppose this means a thorough inspection of everything to go into my tank from here on out because this just wasn't worth the aptasia eradication. 

 

 

[thecoralbeauty]

Some quick phone photos from yesterday. Overnight the purple tube nem has opened back up- but as you can see, yesterday both were closed up. I'm hoping now with the peppermint shrimp gone the pink will relax and extend again so I can feed him, which will help him recover. 

 

In the full tank shot you can see the scape is basically the same minus the rock arch across the middle. Who knows if I will keep it this way, but for now, it works. 

 

Keeping a close eye on my cleaner shrimp. So far my clam is unbothered, and the cleaner never seems anywhere near the tube nems or RFA's. 

[thecoralbeauty]

Params are holding steady: 

Alk = 7.3

Ca= 500

Mg=1440

SG=1.025

Temp: 78.8F

PO4= 1ish

No= 25ish

pH = 7.8

Two major upgrades for the tank: I finally got a titanium heater and the inkbird wireless controller. I also added a power supply to the tank. Colorado hasn't been hugely impacted yet, but we have had a few rolling outages in the last few months, so I figured it was probably time.

 

I've bumped the alk doser by a ml or two. ive been testing every 10+ days and things have stayed pretty steady. Not noticing a ton of growth, but also, nothing has died. 🙂 

Tank is now almost 4 months old, and im really thrilled about how quickly things have settled in and colored up- especially the dragon soul torch.

 

Ive spotted a few aptasia here and there but there is NO way i'm ever putting a peppermint shrimp in this tank again. I still need to replace the one rainbow RFA they ate, and I'm just so relieved my tube nems are fully recovered. Going on what, 7ish years with the purple one? Very attached.

 

The clam is doing great these days, too! 

I'll grab some better shots one of these days. I've been busy soaking up the warmer weather with the horses and caught up in a ton of stress from school and my summer plans. Grace and I have been having fun playing polo and learning how to jump. Hoping for good news about my summer plans this week! In the meantime, of course I only remember to grab photos right after I feed AB+, so excuse the yellow-tinge in the water. 

 

 

[mipster]

I love this!! So much colour and texture