The Great Wave - Waterbox Peninsula 3620 - Alkalinity fluxing!

[nathenvan]

Haven’t been on for a while.  Looks like you are winning the battle with dinos.  

[DevilDuck]

RIP to my Rose Bubble Tip Anemone.

 

It suffered through all the crazy parameter swings in my first saltwater tank, a week of 85 degree water when my building's a/c went down, and a huge month long dino outbreak. It never adjusted to the new larger tank and slowly wasted away.

 

Here it is during happier days.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tamale]

17 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

RIP to my Rose Bubble Tip Anemone.

 

It suffered through all the crazy parameter swings in my first saltwater tank, a week of 85 degree water when my building's a/c went down, and a huge month long dino outbreak. It never adjusted to the new larger tank and slowly wasted away.

 

Here it is during happier days.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry to hear 😕 The fact you kept him going for so long with everything going on is a testament to your efforts tho. 

[DevilDuck]

Dinos are in remission and the tank fully stocked with healthy active fish!  

I've started running my skimmer 24/7 again, changed out the carbon in my reactor and return to regular lighting intensity.

This morning, for the first time in months the tank look spectacular. The water was nearly perfectly clear and corals were popping. I took some a couple of random shots to celebrate. 

 

Spongebob Cyphastrea

 

Mardi Gras Rhodactis and tiny Superman Discoma

 

and my new Baby Rainbow Bubble Tip anemone I picked up from a local hobbyist.

[Jakesaw]

On 8/16/2021 at 11:12 PM, DevilDuck said:

Added my first larger fish yesterday, an ocellate damselfish aka Princess Damsel. This is the first time I've seen one at the lfs did a quick look up in LiveAquaria before pulling the trigger.

Here's the LA photo, seem like a colorful addition. I was hesitant due to the "aggressive" rating but the lfs owner assured me it would probably be ok. 

 

 

That's a beautiful fish.  

 

Good luck on the LFS assurances!

[DevilDuck]

A week back I won this beautiful rainbow bubble tip anemone in an raffle from my lfs! The very next day I had to leave for the Thankgiving holiday for a week. I tossed it into my acclimation box and watched it every now and then via my webcam. Here's a picture from my lfs under 600-700 par lights!

 

 

Since it's been in the acclimation box, I decided to use this oppertunity to "force host" it to my clownfish pair. I'm going to leave them together for 48 hours and see if it works. If not, then I'll release them and let them carry on hosting the return nozzle. So far, they have shown little interest, although they have been brushing up against the tentacles with no ill effects.

 

 

Another new addition to the tank is this tiny, 1 inch long, yellow watchman goby. So far it has not located my tiger pistol shrimp, which is on the other side of the aquarium. Oddly, it likes to hang out on the acclimation box near the top of the tank.

 

Latest FTS:

The photo quality on my pixel 4 is total garbage. I'll need to switch back to Samsung Galaxys.

 

[DevilDuck]

...and we have nuzzling! Success on the forced hosting! I've removed the middle divider to give them a little more room. I'll keep them in the acclimation box together overnight before releasing the clowns and anemone tomorrow!

 

 

Caught a rare shot my the Randall's goby and red/white cynarina too

[DevilDuck]

The ultra grade bubble tip anemone has been doing great. It now resides at the very top of the tank under the overflow. I am assuming that it was used to getting extremely high levels of light, around 600 par back at the lfs. It is still hosting the clowns. So I can say that the forced hosting in the acclimation box was a success.

 

 

Other anemone news, my green rock flower anemone is reproducing asexually via budding from it's foot. I can see some smaller mini rfa forming that are exact clone of the mother.

I have 6 different colored RFA's.

 

My Midas blenny is maturing nicely. He's gained about 1/4 inch in length and his color has darkened. Here he is in his favorite barnacle in the goni garden watching me with his intense blue eyes.

Unfortunately, the goni on the left has started slow tissue necrosis. Not sure I can save it at this point. So far I lose 1 out of 3 goni/aveleoporas. Some thrive, some are good for months and then get STN/RTN.

 

I've been doing witch hazel and lugol's dips to try to stop the tissue necrosis.

 

 

I haven't seen the tiny yellow watchman goby in a week and I fear it may not have made it. 

 

 

Black Friday Purchases:

 

I splurged this year on a very expensive feeder, the Avast Plank Feeder. So far I love it! It's a very precise auger driven feeder with a feeding tube with a built in water pump to rehydrate freeze dried food. It came with a generous portion of freeze fried food. I also added Ocean One Flakes, Sinking veggies pellets, crab cuisine, and Benepets powered coral food. Feeding twice a day.

 

 

The Avast Plank Feeder is run off my other BF purchase, CoralVue Hydros X4 controller. With temp and pH probes. 

I wish my pH was closer to 8.3 but my tank seems steady at around 8.0. All this automation, I feel pretty good about leaving for 2.5 weeks over the holidays.

 

 

FTS

 

[Tamale]

Tank looks great!! Love the new nem. Hope to get one someday when the tank has matured. Really smart putting the fish and nem in the acclimation box. What PAR would you say hes under now? 

[nathenvan]

How the the Hydros controller working out for you?  I like my Apex but want to keep an eye out for new gadgets. 
Tank looks good 👍 

[DevilDuck]

On 12/7/2021 at 5:59 PM, Tamale said:

Tank looks great!! Love the new nem. Hope to get one someday when the tank has matured. Really smart putting the fish and nem in the acclimation box. What PAR would you say hes under now? 

I don't own a PAR meter so I am not sure. I have 2 Ecotech XR15 Gen5 running at 80%, my guesstimate would be 300ish where the anemone likes to hang out.

 

1 hour ago, nathenvan said:

How the the Hydros controller working out for you?  I like my Apex but want to keep an eye out for new gadgets. 
Tank looks good 👍 

It's working well!

 

The programming takes some getting used to, but I guess the same can be said of the Apex or any other controller. 

I wish the power bar had more than 4 outlets, but they are inexpensive enough($35) to add another if I needed to.

I noticed that the Hydros temperature sensor throws a false warning occasionally, reporting high temperatures in the tank. I'm not sure what is causing this since the sensor is in the return pump area.

[DevilDuck]

Quick video update

 

Almost a month later and the RBTA is still hosting the clowns.

 

The juvenile yellow watchman goby is still MIA and presumed dead.

My frag of plating montipora bleached. 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Nice video. Looks like some very happy clowns.

[DevilDuck]

Got back last night from 2.5 weeks trip to Belize. Enjoyed some relaxation, got certified as a scuba diver, went on 10 amazing dives, ate some incredible food.

 

I had my lfs come in a couple of times to check the tank, top off the ATO, and swap out filter socks.

 

Overall, the tank still looks good! I did lose a few frags, a frogspawn and a couple of goniopora that were already having issues before I left. No fish or invert losses. On the contrary, today I noticed my little juvenile yellow watchman goby was out and about and had paired with one of my pistol shrimp! He had been missing for weeks and I wrote him off as a loss. Low and behold, he is back and looking great!

 

One major thing I did notice was my 4" wide bubble tip anemone wasn't in the tank at all! After some searching I found him in the overflow chamber, a little bleached and deflated but still alive. I spent the next hour trying to fish him out of there. I succeeded but it was exhausting.

 

 

BTA is now on a lower rock and recovering. He's inflating and coloring up again, so I think it will make it! Too tired now, but I will post more pictures after some rest and tank cleaning.

 

[Jakesaw]

2 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

Overall, the tank still looks good! I did lose a few frags, a frogspawn

 

Don't give up on the frogspawn.  I got one that was awful when I bought it - Lived through my Zero nutrient & DINO / got broken off it's skeleton removing rocks for Re-scape - and glued fragment of head back onto Frag plug. 

 

It's not a beauty now, but I finally have it on a base next to Hammer ( vs moving around the tank and getting knocked off into sand once a week )- and it's showing life again. The hammer next to it is thriving so I figure the Frogspawn will come back healthy if left alone.  

[DevilDuck]

13 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

Don't give up on the frogspawn.  I got one that was awful when I bought it - Lived through my Zero nutrient & DINO / got broken off it's skeleton removing rocks for Re-scape - and glued fragment of head back onto Frag plug. 

 

It's not a beauty now, but I finally have it on a base next to Hammer ( vs moving around the tank and getting knocked off into sand once a week )- and it's showing life again. The hammer next to it is thriving so I figure the Frogspawn will come back healthy if left alone.  

I actually started a thread on "dead" coral coming back to life a few months back.

Now I just toss all the skeletons in a back corner, just to see if any of them miraculously return to life.

 

[Jakesaw]

48 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

I actually started a thread on "dead" coral coming back to life a few months back.

Now I just toss all the skeletons in a back corner, just to see if any of them miraculously return to life.

 

I think that's how I got mine in the first place.

 

I got my first couple of frags from a local guy.  Got the Frogspawn for 5 bucks from back of his display tank. He told me it was back there to grow out.   My parameters were poor at the time, so never gave it a chance to thrive.  But it stayed alive while I learned the hobby. 

 

Hope to have it for a long time just b/c of the history.  

 

And thanks for the suggestion for sandbed frag racks.  IT's sitting in the ebay ones you recommended in prior topic.

[DevilDuck]

1 hour ago, Jakesaw said:

I think that's how I got mine in the first place.

 

I got my first couple of frags from a local guy.  Got the Frogspawn for 5 bucks from back of his display tank. He told me it was back there to grow out.   My parameters were poor at the time, so never gave it a chance to thrive.  But it stayed alive while I learned the hobby. 

 

Hope to have it for a long time just b/c of the history.  

 

And thanks for the suggestion for sandbed frag racks.  IT's sitting in the ebay ones you recommended in prior topic.

No problem. I haven’t had much luck with frogspawn in this tank for some reason. My hammers and torches are doing great however! 

[DevilDuck]

More updates:

 

My Randall's Goby and Randall's Pistol shrimp seem to have divorced. The goby has moved to the opposite side of the tank for some reason. It's old burrow has been taken over by the yellow watchman goby. Every now and then he gets chased by the diamond sand shifter. I might try to move the pistol to the other side of the tank also to see if they will rebond.

 

 

BTA has recovered nicely, it's colors are still muted but back to nearly full size.

 

One of the first corals I ever bought, this colony of favia has increase 50% in size and puffiness!

 

Picture from 1 year ago:

 

 

I have decided I need more gorgonians!

 

First FTS of 2022

[DevilDuck]

Feeling the waters with some cheap acropora frags:

Picked up a Diamond Tip Staghorn, ACC Mellow Yellow, BioReef Green Goblin anacropora, and a Bonsai frags. Placed them on the top of the 2nd island. Let's see if they survive.

 

 

Let's play spot the goby!

 

Pistol Shrimp and YWG were out doing their tunneling today too:

 

FTS longways

[DevilDuck]

I went a little gorgonian crazy. Added Golden Plume, Spiny, Corky Finger, Purple Plume, Purple Brush Gorgonians to the tank from live-plants.com

 

 

[Poodges]

I like your gorgs! What’s the thickest one? 

[DevilDuck]

In the first picture on top of the first island? I order that as a "tan candelbra" although I think they sent me a "purple candelabra" instead:

 

Macroalgae For Marine Reef Aquariums: Purple Candelabra Gorgonian (live-plants.com)

 

Macroalgae For Marine Reef Aquariums: Tan Candelabra Gorgonian (live-plants.com)

 

Which is a happy mistake since I like the shape of the Purple Candelabra better! I did not post a picture of the Corky Sea Finger because I haven't found time to mount it, and it was still recovering from shipping.

 

 

[DevilDuck]

Upgraded my phone to an Iphone 13 Pro and decide to start taking better pictures. Since the tank is a peninsula style, all my pictures from the sides showed my messy apt, which is distracting. I purchase a piece of black foam board and using it as a backdrop to my tank picture. Unfortunately, the piece I bought is a few inches too small. I might hit the craft store again and pick up opaque black drop cloth instead.

 

FTS with the new backdrop.

 

Opposite side

 

 

I think the new gorgonians add some much-needed height and movement to the tank.

 

Detail of the fluffy Corky Sea Finger Gorg

 

My YWG has also for some reason also left his pistol shrimp. Both the Randall's and the YWG inhabit opposite sides of this huge snail shell I picked up in Puerto Rico.

Right of the YWG you can also see my new Pagota Cup Coral.

 

 

[Jakesaw]

23 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

 

I think the new gorgonians add some much-needed height and movement to the tank.

 

 

 

You have an interesting Plug / holder of your Gorgonians glued to your rock.  Could you share what it is you're mounting the Gorgo's into.  Thanks

 

Your recommendation for frag plug holders is working well in my tank

 

Thanks