Natalia’s Evo 13.5: alk spike aftermath

[natalia_la_loca]

Not sure if it’s the lack of water changes or what, but the nephthea is looking great lately.

these zoas like this tank too, they’re growing…

 

more cloudy day FTS

 

As of today the tank has gone a month and a half without a water change which is way beyond what I’m used to (always used to do WC every 1-2 weeks) and I’m SO HERE FOR IT 😝 Alk is 8.6, cal is 430, nitrate and phosphate still undetectable.

[Critteraholic]

Wow. Looking good!  I love how that goni looks like a hanging basket of flowers.

[natalia_la_loca]

2 hours ago, Critteraholic said:

Wow. Looking good!  I love how that goni looks like a hanging basket of flowers.

Yeah I really like that too! I was planning to move it to the rockscape but probably won’t, it looks nice on the glass and can’t bother the other corals there. The duncans are on magnets too, makes them really easy to move around as needed.

[gena]

Gorgeous!  Nepthea is on my coral wish list 😊 .

[natalia_la_loca]

Still no return of the green spot yay! 
 

Found another bubble algae though, this time on one of the statues that was glued down. Pry statue off rock with screwdriver, remove from tank, scrape off bubble algae, treat spot with peroxide, wait 2 minutes, pry off old superglue, reglue, back to tank

[gena]

2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Still no return of the green spot yay! 
 

Found another bubble algae though, this time on one of the statues that was glued down. Pry statue off rock with screwdriver, remove from tank, scrape off bubble algae, treat spot with peroxide, wait 2 minutes, pry off old superglue, reglue, back to tank

Ugh...bubble algae is my nemesis :(.  I really dread the day I see my first bubble algae in the new tank.

[natalia_la_loca]

34 minutes ago, gena said:

Ugh...bubble algae is my nemesis :(.  I really dread the day I see my first bubble algae in the new tank.

Same 🤦🏻‍♀️ I hate it so much. Its ability to slowly re-emerge and take hold even after repeated peroxide treatment and systematic removal even in a low nutrient environment with macroalgae competition is unbelievable. I’ve pretty much given up on my tank being completely free of it. But I WILL FIGHT 💪🏼

[natalia_la_loca]

Apparently my trochus snails are breeding?! Found this little cutie on the front glass yesterday and then saw another after looking around a bit. It’s about 1/8” in diameter.

 

 

[seabass]

15 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Apparently my trochus snails are breeding

That's very cool.  I get snail eggs all over my tanks.  However, besides stomatella snails, I haven't had other baby snails survive.

[gena]

That is awesome!  Congrats on the babies 😍.

[natalia_la_loca]

53 minutes ago, seabass said:

That's very cool.  I get snail eggs all over my tanks.  However, besides stomatella snails, I haven't had other baby snails survive.

 

47 minutes ago, gena said:

That is awesome!  Congrats on the babies 😍.

Thanks, it’s super exciting! Btw the other day I added 2 more stomatella snails from the (now retired) quart reef jar, so now I have 3 in there. Really hoping the stomatellas breed too.

[natalia_la_loca]

I’ve got at least 3 baby trochus snails in there 🥰 saw 3 at once this morning.

 

Lately the porcelain crab climbs up on the duncans to get best access to particulate food at feeding time. The duncans don’t seem to care at all. I really love this little crab.

 

[Murphs_Reef]

40 minutes ago, natalia_la_loca said:

I’ve got at least 3 baby trochus snails in there 🥰 saw 3 at once this morning.

 

Lately the porcelain crab climbs up on the duncans to get best access to particulate food at feeding time. The duncans don’t seem to care at all. I really love this little crab.

 

Now that's a nice critter

[natalia_la_loca]

So I just saw this little thing…any idea what it is??? It’s like 1/16 of an inch wide, maybe less. 

 

 

 

[gena]

It looks snail-ish or pokemon-ish LOL.  Whatever it is, it's super adorable!!!!

[Critteraholic]

I have (had?) that.  They are a type of sea slug.  I just said, oooo cute!, and let it disappear into the rocks.  😳  Sooo, based on what I found, it is probably Berthella aurantiaca or delicata. OR berthellina citrina.  They are believed to primarily eat sponges, but rarely also sun corals, leptastrea, and another coral I don't remember!  Oh! and they can get 2 inches long. 

 

I had a ton of pineapple sponges.  You'd think mine would be "findable" by now. 😒

[natalia_la_loca]

Wow it really does look like a Berthella sp.! very curious what it’s eating in my tank. I have a couple of pineapple sponges in the sump area but they don’t look like anything’s eating them, nor do any of the corals. Will keep an eye out to see if it multiplies or attacks anything desirable.

[natalia_la_loca]

these zoas were always kind of touchy in the bowl, they seem to like this tank a lot more. I think they’re called twizzlers?

 

[natalia_la_loca]

Went on a 4-day trip over the weekend and asked a friend to feed the fish once a day, but no other maintenance to the tank and no maintenance at all to the reefbowl. Came home to a happy tank and bowl. The filter floss needed changing, but otherwise everything looks great.

 

Btw I counted 7 baby trochus snails today 🥰 no further sightings of pokemon slugs tho.

[seabass]

Looks great!

[debbeach13]

I bet that was a big relief. Going on vacation when you own a reef tank is always a little stressful. So glad you came home to a happy tank.

[gena]

Looks gorgeous!!!!  We just got back from a trip too.  Everything survived...thank goodness LOL.  

[natalia_la_loca]

Saw a little bubble algae on the rasta frag, so I pulled it and did the manual removal + peroxide routine. Since I had the stuff out already, I inspected several other frags that have been prone to bubble algae in the past and they did not disappoint (well actually yeah they did disappoint lol)

 

 

Like the others I’ve found, these are still super small, like I have to hold the frag in my hand in good light and use the magnifier on my phone to find most of them. Hoping this continued intervention will at least keep it under control.

 

Also pulled the red ogo today as it was showing signs of failure to thrive. Probably just as well, as I didn’t really have a good place to put it and the red bush gracilaria and dragons tongue are much more vigorous anyway.

 

Ah and one other change: I’ve switched to a different phyto blend, Tommy’s Phyto, because Joey’s Reef Juice isn’t available rn. This blend is also four species, but one species is different. I think it’s the same blend as Algaebarn Ocean Magik. No changes in tank response so far although it’s only been a couple of days.

[natalia_la_loca]

The baby trochus snails are growing crazy fast. I think this is the biggest one, it’s almost half an inch long?! They vary a lot in size, the smallest one I’ve seen is still less than 1/8” wide.

 

 

the other big change is that spots of coralline algae are popping up everywhere. I’ll probably keep the back and side glass dirty to give the snails lots of biofilm to feed on, but for the front glass I may have to start using a razor soon.

 

btw I’m coming up on 2.5 months with no water changes. Parameters have been very steady for the last month: alk 8.5, calcium 440, nitrate and phosphate undetectable. Still dosing 2.2 mg All-for-reef daily via the Kamoer X1.

[natalia_la_loca]

BABY SNAIL DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO

 

(there are at least 5 in this pic)

 

also Caligula and Caracalla hogging the limelight as always