Natalia’s Evo 13.5: alk spike aftermath

[natalia_la_loca]

It’s a cloudy day, and with less ambient light from the window, the coral colors are popping more. Caligula loves to parade in front of the camera, maybe it’s just because food sometimes happens when I’m close to the tank.

 

 

[Lebowski_]

You weren’t lying

 

[natalia_la_loca]

the 2 gonis are getting really close to touching!! I really hope they get along. One thing I know for sure, gonis (or at least this pink goni) and duncans definitely play nice. They’re right up in each others business and no fighting. 
 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Had to move the bernardpora again because hella sweepers (bernardpora 1, cyphastrea 0)

 

 

I love that the porcelain crab likes to hang out on the green nephthea right in front of the tank.

 

I lost the petroglyph zoa frag to mystery melt. Then when I ordered a goni from Legendary for the reefbowl, I saw they had a good price on petros so I added a frag to the order. Those closed a day after arrival and one polyp has melted. So basically petroglyphs hate this tank. Otherwise it’s looking good though!

 

[debbeach13]

1 hour ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

Looks Great!

[natalia_la_loca]

The serpent star hung out at the front of the tank for a while this morning. That’s a frag of gracilaria hayi that I’m going to trade in at the LFS soon. Oh and here’s Nero seeing what’s up.

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

I really love these gonioporas. Yesterday was rainy and gray outside, so very little ambient light coming into the tank and miss piggy was very very pink.

 

 

The pink-tipped goni from Cherry Corals is getting big! This one has a coloration kind of similar to the old pink goni in the reefbowl, but the latter has super short tentacles and big flat mouths. I wonder if that might be a function of the unusual current in a reefbowl, but otoh it had that growth form when I bought it six and a half years ago.

 

The green one is looking happy too, it just has some catching up to do. It’s really little, about the same size as the pink one when I first got it.

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Bernardpora’s putting out mad sweepers again this morning. Here’s Nero saying hi. 
 

I’ve been going at the sand bed with a turkey baster to loosen detritus and turn over the sand, as I’m not liking the green film algae on it. I’ve been wondering if dwarf cerith snails might help with that.

[Lebowski_]

Do you feed your gonis reef roids (or a similar food)?

[natalia_la_loca]

Ah zoanthids. Seems like there’s always some zoa drama going on in this tank. These magicians(?) have been huge and beautiful thus far, but some of them are showing the closure, shrinkage and rough texture that are usually a precursor to melting. I found and removed a vermetid in the middle of the colony today, which may or may not be related but certainly wasn’t helping. It still mystifies me that zoas always seem to do consistently better in the reefbowl, wild alkalinity swings and all. 
 

 

6 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

Do you feed your gonis reef roids (or a similar food)?

I feed a very small amount of Rods Food Coral Blend and 6 ml of live phyto daily. Once a week I add a little powdered food, rotating between reef roids, goniopower and coral frenzy.
 

I used to dose powdered food daily but cut way back when my phosphate spiked to 2.5 ppm (guessing maybe the live rock reached a saturation point and started leaching, or maybe the phyto wasn’t rinsed enough). It’s still high, running about 1 ppm. Meanwhile I struggle to keep nitrate at detectable levels. I don’t worry too much about those numbers since other than the occasional zoa weirdness, the corals look great.

[natalia_la_loca]

Morning snowstorm before lights on! I found a dead spot between two rocks that I hadn’t blown out with the turkey baster. Omg so much detritus. I love rooting it out and getting it into the water column for the filter floss to remove. 

 

 

The gonis look happier than pigs in shit. Makes sense, given that turbid water is reputedly their natural habitat.

[natalia_la_loca]

I’ve just listened to an interview with someone from Aquabiomics who said that stirring up sand can release pathogens into the water column. I wonder if that’s what’s causing my zoa issues. They do roughly correlate with my messing around with the sand bed. (Otoh correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation. Also, if that were true, I’d think other corals might be affected, unless there are pathogens that only affect zoas?)

 

Anyway, I’m thinking maybe I should only stir up the sand bed when doing water changes (i.e. actively removing the suspended detritus from the system rather than depending on the mechanical filtration to take it out). I think at worst it would be no less harmful and might have some benefit.

[banasophia]

I always thought the main issue was that you risk stirring up and releasing pockets of harmful hydrogen sulfide gas if you stir large areas of sand when you haven’t been doing so from the get go with the tank. So I always stir or siphon on a weekly basis. 
 

Just checked to see what chatGPT had to say about it and thought you might be interested:

 

Stirring the sand in a reef tank can have both positive and negative effects, depending on the specific circumstances and the tank's inhabitants. Here are some considerations:

 

Advantages of Sand Stirring:

1. Nutrient Cycling: Stirring the sand can help prevent the buildup of detritus and waste in the substrate. It promotes the circulation of oxygen and beneficial bacteria, enhancing the natural nutrient cycling process.

2. Gas Exchange: By disturbing the sand bed, you facilitate the release of trapped gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, which can be toxic to aquarium inhabitants if it accumulates in high concentrations. Promoting gas exchange can help maintain better water quality.

3. Algae Control: Stirring the sand disrupts the growth of certain types of algae, such as cyanobacteria (red slime algae), by preventing their attachment and promoting their removal during water changes or mechanical filtration.

Disadvantages of Sand Stirring:

1. Sediment Suspension: When you stir the sand, fine particles and debris can become suspended in the water column. This can lead to reduced water clarity, and the suspended particles may settle on corals, inhibiting their ability to photosynthesize and potentially causing irritation or tissue damage.

2. Disruption of Organisms: The sand bed is home to various beneficial organisms, such as burrowing critters, worms, and microfauna. Excessive stirring can disrupt their habitats and potentially harm or displace these organisms, negatively impacting the overall biodiversity of the tank.

3. Loss of Stability: Some sand-dwelling organisms, such as sand-sifting gobies or certain species of corals, rely on a stable substrate for burrowing or anchoring. Frequent or vigorous stirring of the sand can make it difficult for these organisms to maintain their desired habitats.

Considering the above points, it's important to strike a balance when it comes to stirring the sand in a reef tank. Lightly agitating the sand on occasion, during water changes or maintenance, can help prevent detritus buildup and promote good water quality. However, excessive or aggressive stirring should be avoided to minimize potential negative effects on the tank's inhabitants.

[natalia_la_loca]

Good input from the bot!! I’m fairly sure I can rule out hydrogen sulfide as there’s no sulfur smell when I remove rocks. I’m inclined to just stir up the sand during water changes.

[ml86743]

13 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I’ve just listened to an interview with someone from Aquabiomics who said that stirring up sand can release pathogens into the water column. I wonder if that’s what’s causing my zoa issues. They do roughly correlate with my messing around with the sand bed. (Otoh correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation. Also, if that were true, I’d think other corals might be affected, unless there are pathogens that only affect zoas?)

 

Anyway, I’m thinking maybe I should only stir up the sand bed when doing water changes (i.e. actively removing the suspended detritus from the system rather than depending on the mechanical filtration to take it out). I think at worst it would be no less harmful and might have some benefit.

I have no hard evidence to support this but I recently had a plug go face first into the sandbed and stay there while I was at work and they haven't looked right since.... 

[debbeach13]

Not sure it was the sand. A flipped coral might need to recover just from no light or flow.

I vacuum the sand every water change. I occasionally stirred the sand, supposedly it helps prevent gas build up, filter feeding corals, all the little bugs and critters love it. I just only do a small area at a time. 

[Lebowski_]

I stir my sand daily, although I have a very small amount.

[natalia_la_loca]

 

Zoa drama seems to be leveling off somewhat. I made a few changes, idk if any of them made any difference whatsoever or if these things just go in cycles.

 

-only disturbing sand bed when I can immediately remove detritus (i.e. during water changes)

-cleaned the return pump, flow is better now.

-disconnected the UV sterilizer, which has been running at night. Have been listening to Dr Tim’s podcast and he claims that UV can remove beneficial bacteria from the water column, providing more opportunity for benthic pathogens (like those that could melt a zoanthid, hypothetically speaking) to flourish. I have no way of knowing if this is true or if disconnecting the UV will make a difference, but we’ll see what happens.

 

Possible influential factor: the tank has been running relatively hot, about 80f, and has cooled back down to about 78.5f in the last couple days. again, no idea if this makes a difference.

 

Other than the zoas, everything looks great.

[natalia_la_loca]

zoa drama maybe still better?? idk, don’t wanna jinx it.

 

Gambling that sick zoas might spread whatever it is thru physical contact with healthy zoas, I put on a nitrile glove and ripped out all the sick/melting zoas (currently only the magicians and utter chaos are affected) after lights out. this made my heart hurt, but the remaining zoas seem fine, so…

 

 

Otherwise the tank looks good. Took advantage of the cloudy day today to take some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

i haven’t really commented on this i don’t think, but i’m really glad i finally seem to be able to grow ricordea in this tank. the two rics there look really happy. Before the alk spike incident, i was dosing all-for-reef, not doing water changes, and running very low nutrients. im guessing the latter was why ricordeas would gradually fade away in this tank, but idk.

[natalia_la_loca]

The bailed-out frogspawn continues to grow in its little cup! it has 2 heads now, but as far as i can tell it still doesn’t have a skeleton (it almost completely disappears at night).  i’ve read on the forums that skeletal recovery can take months. fortunately the cup is a nice stable environment.

 

[natalia_la_loca]

this tank is doing really well. i finally removed the UV sterilizer and the all-for-reef doser (both had been turned off for a while) and am just doing the 2.5g water change every 2 weeks and changing out filter floss every few days. With the extra room in the filter chambers, i’ve moved the heater into chamber 2, which means the return pump is easier to access, which means i’ll clean it more often. Bonus!

 

[debbeach13]

For some reason I want to describe this tank as, it looks sunny.

How is the little frogspawn doing?

[natalia_la_loca]

On 9/7/2023 at 8:23 AM, debbeach13 said:

For some reason I want to describe this tank as, it looks sunny.

How is the little frogspawn doing?

that would be pretty accurate as it sits in an east window and also receives a little sunlight from a west window in the evening! The frogspawn is still doing well, not looking super different from the pic i posted a month and a half ago. i’m not too worried about it being slow to recover, i imagine it must take some time to develop a skeleton from nothing.

[natalia_la_loca]

not much has changed with this tank. the alk and cal consumption went down and some of the corals started to look a little iffy, i think because they were being shaded by the nephthea, so i fragged it yet again. i need to test again and see where things are at now.