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Murphs_Reef

Some good news .. although nitrate remains very low @1.0 ppm phosphate is on the rise @ 0.04ppm. skimming reduction and a small amount of extra feeding to thank for that I think. 

I'm feeling that nitrates will rise over the coming days I would be happy to see at least 5ppm at the moment ..   

 

pH is a balanced 8.2 and alk 8. 

 

Once N and P are set in will zoom in on ca and mag which I haven't really spend much time looking at to be fair 

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22 hours ago, Murphych said:

A hermit crab being invited into the brittle stars cave.. I'm sure it will be fine..

 

IMG_20210309_104117.jpg

needs a sign above the cave "free candy" or something. That really is an interesting creature, so how much is this one costing you in snails?

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Murphs_Reef
4 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

needs a sign above the cave "free candy" or something. That really is an interesting creature, so how much is this one costing you in snails?

Yes I love the thing. It's amazing to see it creep across the sandbed at night. 

So I have had him a little over a month and he has taken 3 snails so £3 that I know of. 

The hermits can sit right under his disc for long periods of time and walk away happy and the peppermint shrimp actively steals food from him as he is eating...

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Murphs_Reef

Worth noting that he did try to snare the firefish when it was resting so defo need to do a fish count every morning.

 

And it is intelligent as hell and won't come near the BBQ skewer for food anymore in the fear if being sumped 

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3 hours ago, Murphych said:

Worth noting that he did try to snare the firefish when it was resting so defo need to do a fish count every morning.

 

And it is intelligent as hell and won't come near the BBQ skewer for food anymore in the fear if being sumped 

Did you lose the firefish or manage to stop it in time?

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1 hour ago, Murphych said:

Filter socks are so yesterday. I need to DIY a new solution. It's going to cost a bomb if not. Cleaning them stinks and they are not going anywhere near my washer... 

Where does your water enter the sump? I've got a DIY media rack for floss in my return

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I think filter socks steal food from corals anyway.  Switch to something like a 100-400µ mesh that will stay clean(er) or just leave the sock out altogether.

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Murphs_Reef

It comes in on the left hand side into chamber 1. There is nothing in it other than the sock. If I remove the sock though I can't get a good balance between over flow and return. It seems that it just a little extra resistance to balance the in/output. 

 

I might make a rack of sorts myself and then just fill with floss

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40 minutes ago, Murphych said:

@seabass this is the vibrant OD zoa rock now. Snails are taking advantage of the dieing algae

Hmm... that's pretty cool.  So what was the protocol you used?  A one time dose of twice the recommended dosage, exposed for just a few days?  Was it common green hair algae or something else?

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Murphs_Reef
12 minutes ago, seabass said:

Hmm... that's pretty cool.  So what was the protocol you used?  A one time dose of twice the recommended dosage, exposed for just a few days?  Was it common green hair algae or something else?

It was fully covered in GHA to the point you couldn't see any polyps at all. I pulled as much as I could off without touching the rock which wasn't much. I then out the rock into a bowl just big enough to hold it and fill it so the rock was covered in water... 70ml off memory, then I added 0.5ml of vibrant, put it in the cabinet just above the sump so it was in the dark and just under 25 degrees Celsius for 24hrs. The put direct in the tank without a rinse.. a week later 2 snails have pitched up on it to pick off the dead ..

 

Health warning. There was around 30% more polyps on this rock prior to the treatment 

IMG_20210312_191600.jpg

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50 minutes ago, Murphych said:

70ml off memory, then I added 0.5ml of vibrant

Is my math correct?

  • 1 ml of Vibrant usually treats 10 gallons of water.
  • 70 ml is very roughly 1/50th of a gallon (or 1/500 of 10 gallons), so a standard dose for this much water would be roughly 0.002 ml.
  • Therefore you roughly dosed 250 times more than the recommended dose.

So that would be equivalent to making a zoanthid* dip of 25 ml of Vibrant per 1 gallon of saltwater (or about 6 ml per quart), soaking the zoas for 24 hours before returning them to your display tank.

 

* Note that zoas seem particularly resistant to Vibrant.

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Murphs_Reef

Don't get me wrong when I said double dose I didn't mean mathematically double.. there are a few reasons not to get hung up with my values.. 

1. I'm Scottish so every thing is "just up the road" even if it's traveling south 100 miles

2. I'm Scottish so every thing is "a double" even it its 2 pints of lager

3. I'm pretty liberal with liquid is of it's just a double . I've probably had 10 pints🤣🤣 

Oh and I have had 7 cans of fosters so I might even amend / delete or argue my own point tomorrow 🤣🤣🍻

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:lol:

 

I wasn't trying to shame you in any way.  I was just trying to get an idea about the strength of your 24-hour dip.  Who knows, a Vibrant dip might become a thing.  Maybe 10 times the amount is enough, maybe a 20 or even a 100 times dose would be more suitable for a dip.  And maybe 1 hour is enough, or maybe 12 is the sweet spot. :unsure:

 

However, at this point, you are the only person that I know who has used it as a dip.  And maybe it's more suitable as a dip than subjecting your whole tank to it for several months.

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Murphs_Reef
7 hours ago, seabass said:

:lol:

 

I wasn't trying to shame you in any way.  I was just trying to get an idea about the strength of your 24-hour dip.  Who knows, a Vibrant dip might become a thing.  Maybe 10 times the amount is enough, maybe a 20 or even a 100 times dose would be more suitable for a dip.  And maybe 1 hour is enough, or maybe 12 is the sweet spot. :unsure:

 

However, at this point, you are the only person that I know which has used it as a dip.  And maybe it's more suitable as a dip than subjecting your whole tank to it for several months.

I know mate, I was just a bit giddy after a few tins 👍🏼 

 

 

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Murphs_Reef

 

This is pretty cool, feels like the reef is getting a lot more interesting now

IMG_20210314_094414.jpg

 

What last week was a GHA ridden rock

IMG_20210314_125851.jpg

 

Cleaner trying to get a hold of the clown goby

IMG_20210314_125755.jpg

 

Hammer popping out new polyps

IMG_20210314_125834.jpg

 

Small GSP mounted onto the Weir 

IMG_20210314_125750.jpg

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3 hours ago, Murphych said:

This is pretty cool, feels like the reef is getting a lot more interesting now...  What last week was a GHA ridden rock.

Looks and sounds like things are shaping up.  Keep up the good work.

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Murphs_Reef

 GHA the  miracle cure 

So with many thanks to the advice from @seabass @Ratvan @mcarroll the GHA war is a thing of the past and now an updated husbandry has been established.  

I now no longer have any visible GHA. For months I have been looking for the magic cure. Reduce phosphate lower than is good, water change upon water change.  Increase pH, decrease temperature... Bla bla...

 

There is a magic cure after all.

Manual picking GHA off the rock and training snails onto the infected areas, it's cheap and it doesn't take anywhere near as long as you might think. 

 

11th Feb

 

IMG_20210211_183607.jpg

 

Today

IMG_20210315_125308.jpg

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  • Murphs_Reef changed the title to murphs_reef 92G - retired, thanks guys

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