Chipz's Downside of Distraction Tank

[chipz]

This journal is for my awkward middle child of a tank, motivated by the Nano-Reno challenge. The tank has never had a journal of its own, but has gotten the occasional guest update on the other two journals that I infrequently keep on my big tank (the show-stopper) and the desktop tank that I started as part of the 9to5 competition. The challenge is coming at the right time for me to save the tank from my neglect.

 

Ok, so some background on the tank. I started this tank on July 1, 2021 as an upgrade from my Evo13.5. Unfortunately, this tank has gotten the least love out of my three saltwater tanks because it somehow requires considerably more work. The situation has been especially bad after I started a new full time job 3ish months ago, and kept my previous position as a part time gig. Between that and several other hobbies, this poor tank has been sadly neglected. It has gotten the occasional water change the past three months, but any time I find the time to do one water change one week, I run out of time the following week.  But I love the fish that live in it, and have hopes that I can revive it. 

 

(At some point I promise I will edit this post to fill out the rest of the details here)

Specs

Tank: IM40

Light: Prime HD

ATO:

Pump:

Powerhead:

Heating: Inkbird & some heater

Mini refugium:

 

Inhabitants:

• Fish: hi-fin goby, pearly jawfish, captive-bred blue goby, firefish, starry blenny, midas blenny, yellow-banded possum wrasse
• Inverts: Tiger pistol shrimp (fortunately very fine with all the little fish that use his burrows), pincushion urchin, tuxedo urchin, several hermit crabs, and three emerald crabs (my husband can never know that I have any real crabs....he has something of a crab phobia), and some snails
• Corals: one toadstool, 2 , bubble coral, ORA red goniopora, blastos, and some very sad acans and favias 

 

Issues:

1. The parameters are all out of whack. I haven't checked them in quite a while. From an ICP test I did a while back I know that the nitrates and phosphates are high, and that while the trace elements probably need to be supplemented by now, I had gotten things pretty well in check.
2. Thanks to the nitrates and phosphates, there is a TON of hair algae. A TONNNNN. I can't even see in the tank at the moment. Aaand there's some cyano, too.
3. The hair algae and the wonky parameters have done bad things to the corals. There are a few left, but most are quite sad. 
4. I have several pieces of equipment that I've not been using that I got specifically for this tank. So it is time to get those hooked up. More details will follow.
5. Ongoing maintenance: I need to come up with a better plan for how I will manage this setup in the future. 

 

The Reno Plan:

As I go I will cross off the steps as I complete them. I will also add to the list as I figure out what other steps are appropriate

1. Establish a baseline:
   • Take some "Before" photos
   • Double check calibration on the refractometer
   • Test water parameters and report back
2. Aesthetic improvements:
   • Clear the food containers off the top (this is the last tank I feed, so sometimes the sample container of frozen food doesn't make it back downstairs to the dishwasher)
   • Take out the isolation box (the pearly jawfish was just supposed to grow out in this tank before moving on to my bigger tank, but it staged a jail break and I guess lives here now)
   • Scrape glass so I can better assess the situation
   • Pull hair algae
3. Improve parameters:
   • Start with a 5 gallon water change
   • Change out Chemipure
   • Start dosing All-for-reef
   • Get an ICF test?
   • Vacuum sand and spread it back out
   • Vacuum rear chambers
4. Coral care
   • Remove hair algae.
   • Rearrange the coral so that they aren't touching where they shouldn't
   • Dip the corals
   • Get back in the routine of feeding the corals before water changes
5. Upgrades, additions, and improvements.
   • Switch around power strips. (I haven't used much of my available equipment because I didn't have enough outlets on my power strip)
   • Plug in the UV filter and start using it.
   • Add dosing pump for all for reef
   • Consider whether a skimmer would be worth adding.
   • Set up the AWC system. Get that automated! It's a bummer that the jugs won't all fit under the stand but since I sit next to the tank all day I think it would be relatively safe to run the tank with auto water changes--I just need to make sure that I empty/fill jugs regularly (no convenient drain) and 
   • Set up a controller
   • Set up a feeding routine on the controller so that I don't forget to turn important equipment back on.

 

Today (10/10/2022) I have off work, so my goal is to get through all of numbers 1-3. Next week will be working on numbers 4-5, with probably some circling back to do more water changes and algae pulling!

 

Some considerations/questions that I'm hoping you can help me answer:

• Should I be worried that the UV light is basically just an arm length from me all day? Could it work to have it on only at night, when I am not in my office? Or should I switch it to the far side of the tank so that it is two arm lengths away? This would require me to change the side that the mini refugium is on...which was a function of the length of power cords and the lack of a convenient outlet. Am I being too paranoid? 
• Would you add a skimmer?  I've actually only used a skimmer on one tank ever. It was a huge PIA to deal with emptying the darn thing, and it stank. I spend all day sitting next to my tank in my home office, so I don't want anything stinky. My husband also is sensitive to bad odors, so to keep him on board with my tanks I try not to let them smell any more than absolutely necessary. 
• Right before the whole scandal with Vibrant, I got a bottle of it as a freebie from BRS. Should I use this to treat me algae issues? It is tempting!

 

 Photographic Evidence of my shame 😭

Hooo, boy. Definitely got my work cut out for me.

Edited October 21, 2022 by chipz
crossing of to do list items

[chipz]

Day #1 update: Establishing the baseline & first pass at tidying up

The refractometer only required a tiny tweak. It was reading 1.026 but was actually 1.025. I realized that my pH meter needs a really good cleaning and recalibration, too. But that will have to be a task for another day. I also need to re-test my phosphate...it was reading at the very top of the Hanna ULR Phosphate, so I imagine that I should be using the regular (low range) Phosphate checker. I actually have that one, but am all out of the reagents. Adding that to my (hopefully short) shopping list. I checked all of the parameters before my water change, but haven't checked them after yet. I am headed out shortly to a dog training class and anyways, there are still a lot of particulates floating around.

 

I scraped glass and pulled a bunch of hair algae--I'm just going to call this the first pass. I ended up changing out 3 gallons of water. I would have done a full bucket, but I was using narrow tubing to help grab the algae/cyano and I lost the siphon a couple of times so I gave it up for today. I still have another 5 gallons of saltwater ready to go, so I will aim to do another water change on Thursday. Another thing I noticed is that one of my frags has TWO aiptasia on it. I've had good luck with berghias in this tank before, but I think I also have some aiptasia-X that I can track down under my big tank (which has pest majanos but not aiptasia). 

 

Finally, I decided to go ahead and order some different water containers that are only 7 inches wide so that I should be able to fit three under my tank for a future AWC system (one for RO/DI, one for fresh saltwater, and one for waste water).

 

I think I will hold off for a bit on getting the water tested by a lab. What I can test on my own is bad, so I will focus on getting that right for starters. 

 

Parameters:

Salinity: 1.025 (hooray for ATOs!)

Temperature: 76.2 (I usually aim for 77-78)

pH: 7.5 (not sure why this is so low)

Ammonia: 0.0

Nitrate: 32.0 😲

Phosphate: 0.9 (or more)

Alkalinity: 7.9 (a little lower than I would like)

Calcium: 550 (a little higher than I would like)

Magnesium: 1200

 

As you can see, the colors are pretty but the results are not.

[Tired]

Looks like you have a good start for some improvement. I'd be curious to see what it looks like after just a nice glass cleaning- that can really do a lot for a tank.

 

Can I ask what containers you're looking at for the water storage? I think I might need something like that. 

[chipz]

Day #2: A mini water change and more manual removal

I'm enjoying the view from my desk a lot more today. But it sort of feels like an itch, once you scratch it you just can't stop. I spent a ten minute work break siphoning put some more algae. I ended up changing out the other two gallons of my planned 5 gallon water change. There's still a lot more algae removal to do.

 

I also ordered the LR phosphate reagent, some more storage solution for my pH meter, and an ATI ICP test. The last time I did an ATI test was late May. That was when I stopped dosing All For Reef because the nickel level was quite high. So I would like to test again before starting to dose again.

 

21 hours ago, Tired said:

I'd be curious to see what it looks like after just a nice glass cleaning- that can really do a lot for a tank.

Great question! I would love to show you. The tank had already gone to bed by the time I got home last night, but here it is this morning, before the mini water change and additional algae removal I did this afternoon. I still need to move the frag racks to scrape the algae around them.

 

 

[chipz]

21 hours ago, Tired said:

Can I ask what containers you're looking at for the water storage? I think I might need something like that. 

This is what I got. I figured if it was a potable water container it would work. A bit more expensive than the fleet of more basic plastic jugs I have for ATOs, but I am excited to squeeze three underneath my 24" tank.

[Tired]

Oh, hey, there ya go! Looks much better already. Un-piss-off those corals, hide or remove the frag plugs on the rockscape, and maybe rearrange the rocks a little, and you should have a really nice tank. 

 

Thanks for the containers, I'll have to remember those. They look useful.

[chipz]

Day 3: Quick nitrate check, UV, and possible ich

 

Thank you for the kind words, @Tired! Yesterday I did a quick test of nitrates and we've dropped below 30! Currently sitting at 28.6.

 

Unfortunately I also noticed my midas blenny acting a little odd, scratching against the sand, while I was in the sand. My mind immediately went down the road of ich. and losing the entire tank of cute little fish. So I went ahead and plugged in the UV filter. The only available outlet was the timer that I run my refugium light on, so I switched that to be on for 24 hours for now. Fingers crossed the fish don't have ich because if I lose them all I think that will be the end of this tank. 😭

 

In better news, my LR Phosphate reagent and other BRS supplies already arrived. Hooray for living so close that the free shipping option is that speedy!

 

The plan for today (Day #4) is to test phosphate and alkalinity. I really want to avoid sticking my hands in the display. I want to minimize stress on the fish. I've not had an ich outbreak in this tank before...or really in any of my other tanks, although I have had some mysterious losses in QT and the DT before. Any suggestions on what else I can do to deter the ich?

 

 

[Tired]

Keep an eye on the fish. Sometimes they do just have itches, like we do. A UV filter will help to reduce ich load, if that's present, but won't eliminate it- as you might know already. If you come to the conclusion that the fish have ich, the only fix for that is to remove and medicate them (or tank transfer method treat them), and let the tank go fallow until the ich in it dies off. Hopefully they don't. 

 

You mention a QT. How were the fish for this tank quarantined? And did you quarantine everything, or just the fish? 

[chipz]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

You mention a QT. How were the fish for this tank quarantined? And did you quarantine everything, or just the fish? 

The gobies/fire fish went through the whole hybrid TTM (what I did for all the fish in my main tank). I should have kept that up, but I have a jerk of a dottyback that now lives in my QT so I didn't do that when I got the blennies. But the blennies were given a two week course of medication for ich/internal parasites at my LFS before coming home with me. I never set up a coral/invert QT like I meant to--I actually have all the equipment to do so, but it's on the list of things to do someday. Soooo long story short I bet there could be ich lingering in the system either from the blennies themselves or introduced on some of the coral/inverts. I'd guess mucking around in the tank was enough to stress out the midas blenny, it's a pretty flighty one.

 

 

Day 4: Ich watch

In good news, the midas blenny had a very big appetite today, and so did all the other fish. I noticed some itching again this morning, but none all afternoon and there are no noticeable spots. I gave several small feedings of a combo of frozen pe mysis, spirulina brine, calanurus (sp?), and copepods. The other tanks got first dibs on the slurry, so all four cubes of frozen did not go in this tank! I'll change water out of the back compartment tomorrow (again, minimizing disturbance in the display). Oh and I also placed an order for more Chemipure Blue to try to improve the water quality -- I figure better water quality will only help if I am dealing with ich.

 

I had a long day with lots of on-camera meetings and no real lunch break, though, so none of the water testing I had planned happened. That will happen tomorrow or Saturday.

 

Finally, I puttered around in the basement this evening looking for the box that has the protein skimmer that came with the tank when I got the setup used. I'm kicking myself for trading away a tunze 9004 a few years ago, I can't believe how expensive they are now. No sign of the right box, I will check the garage next and then see if anyone in my local club has a skimmer to part with.

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Great progress already. You are definitely motivated now! 

[chipz]

Days #5 & 6

Again I have gotten less done than I would have liked. Still need to do testing and another water change after a couple of busy days.

 

The new water jugs arrived, so that's exciting. I may need to drill out larger openings so that the AWC pumps can fit inside. We'll see. (Tomorrow?)

 

I also put out a request for a skimmer to my local reefing club after failing to find the little skimmer I have in storage. The more I read the more convinced I am that a Tunze 9004 is the right fit. Unfortunately it might mean getting a new refugium basket, because I have just been using a retrofit on the In Tank media basket in the right-mist back chamber. From what I have read, the skimmer only fits in the far right or far left (where my UV filter is). The next over chambers are slightly smaller, so the media basket won't fit there, and the center chamber holds return pump, ATO sensors, and AWC pump.

 

Everyone ate well again on Friday with no ich-itching. However, in bad news the midas blenny did not eat when I fed the tank tonight. I was out until after the tank went to bed, so I am hoping the blenny was just resting up. But the midas blenny was in a different spot than usual and had the blenny stress-camo on. And everyone else came out for the pellets, including the hi-fin goby, which is usually the fish that is MIA a few days each week. I'm pretty worried.

 

Tomorrow morning I should have time to figure out what is going on. I'm trying to think ahead about whether the stress is going to be worth it (for me and for the blenny) to fish the midas blenny out and do some QTing. I have a work trip coming up in less than two weeks, so I definitely can't do the TTM, and I try to keep the fish sitting really minimal (just feeding) when I am gone. I'll have to look up on copper treatments and see if that could be done as a set it and forget it thing while I am gone for five days. Any advice?

 

And as another consideration, keeping the tank care to a minimum is especially important this trip because my husband has expressed some annoyance with my living room tank this week. This summer I got a blue spotted jawfish, so the chiller kicks in when the tank gets above 75. Which hubs was understanding of during the summer (since we don't have A/C) but is a little harder to justify when there's a dusting of snow outside. Especially since the chiller is right next to the couch and we can't hear the TV over the chiller. So it's understandable that his patience is wearing thin. At some point, the blue spotted jawfish will likely get banished to this tank, but that will have to wait until I'm over this ich scare. That or I will end up rehoming the jawfish. Anyways, life is easier and I am better able to go about my reefing when my husband just gets to enjoy admiring the (silent) main tank and forget that the other tanks even exist. Adding any QT duties while I am gone would definitely not help with that goal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chipz]

Day #7: A loss and some difficulties

Its a sad day on the reef. My little midas blenny was dead this morning when the lights came on. No visible ich. I'm baffled by what could have killed it so quickly. I'll be keeping a very close eye on this. Unfortunately it will also delay my plan to switch the ATO on this tank with the AWC unit on my other tank since I don't want to spread an unknown pathogen.

 

Today's other bummer is that the shape of the water jugs doesn't quite work under my stand. They are slightly too wide to sit three across, in part because the base of the cabinet comes in slightly. I think it I cut a piece of plywood to fit above the cross braces it might give me enough extra room for all three. Otherwise, I can squeeze them in with one slotted in front to back and the others slotted in side to side:

 

Or I could use one of my 7 gallon ATO jugs with one of these new jugs inside the cabinet, and put the end of the waste line into a bucket.

 

 

 

The latter would certainly encourage me to empty the bucket on schedule, but it would be less clean aesthetically.

 

Anyways, definitely a bummer of a day. More reno work this afternoon, though.

 

[chipz]

Day #8: Water tests, filter media, and ich watch

Today I finally got around to another set of testing, but just for a few parameters. The results are in:

• Alkalinity: 7.8
• Nitrate: 26
• Phosphate (LR): 0.92

So the phosphate isn't as high as I feared and the nitrates went down a bit besides heavier than usual feeding.

 

I also received my shipment of Chemipure Blue (all three sizes that BRS sells for my three tanks). 

 

One of my dogs helped with her self-appointed job of breaking down the air packs from the box. So helpful!

 

I put one of the medium packs in, and a nano packet for good measure. I'm curious to see in 24 hours what this does to the nitrate and phosphate numbers.

 

I'm also continuing to keep a close eye on the fish. Everyone ate well again today (including the hi-fin goby who sometimes is a no-show at meal times). I noticed that the neon goby was cleaning the fire fish and the starry blenny. I'm always glad to have a cleaner in the tank.

 

Tomorrow I would like to get some photos, siphon off some more algae, and test nitrates and phosphates again.

 

 

[chipz]

Day #9: New test results, Water change, Coral Dips, & H202

Today I tested phosphate (0.87ppm ) and nitrate (37.6ppm) about 24 hours after putting the Chemipure Blue in. I'm glad that the phosphate shifted down but really disheartened by the nitrates being higher than before. Ugh! 😩

 

I'm hoping it was an error in my testing. I think I might have spilled a tiny bit of reagents (I HATE those silly reagent packets! If Hanna ever wanted to do offer a different reagent option I would be so on board!) and maybe that was enough to throw off the reading? The last couple were so consistent (and below 30 ppm!). I'll test again tomorrow.

 

Then I did another 5 gallon water change with manual removal. I also pulled out the worst corals and dipped them in iodine. Then I squirted hydrogen peroxide over the worst of the algae. I tried to glue over the aiptasia that was on one of the corals, but the super glue was already kind of gummy. 

 

In other news, I bought a used Tunze 9004 in the hopes that it would help with the nitrates and phosphates.

 

The blues were all that was on this evening when I finished up. I'll have to do some new photos tomorrow.

 

[rimga123]

if i were you, i Probably would remove a lot of the sand-gravel out of the display section. maybe leave only an inch or so. It should help with your nitrate and phosphate issue.

it may gather an ungodly amount of detritus in it.

[chipz]

Day #10: Photo dump

Today's only real progress was cleaning the OUTSIDE of the glass so I could snap some decent photos.

 

16 hours ago, rimga123 said:

if i were you, i Probably would remove a lot of the sand-gravel out of the display section. maybe leave only an inch or so. It should help with your nitrate and phosphate issue.

it may gather an ungodly amount of detritus in it.

@rimga123 I appreciate the suggestion and I bet you are right that that is the cause of most of my phosphate and nitrate woes (besides the underlying issue of neglect). So I wish I could do as you suggest, but with both a pearly jawfish and a tiger pistol shrimp I think I need to keep the sand. In good news, it isn't all as deep as it looks from the photos I've shown this far. Most of the photos I've taken are from the left side, which is the view from my desk, which happens to be where the pistol shrimp likes to pile the sand. I rarely look at the tank straight on, but from the photos below you can see that the sand bed elsewhere is in the 1 inch to half an inch range:

 

 

I also admired the H202 results. Compare the corals I didn't yet clean on this rack (except for the green one in the back!):

 

To the frags on the rack I had time to clean with H2O2 yesterday:

The worst of the algae is gone at least, though the two on the right need another treatment I think.

 

Meanwhile, I have to say my blastos have been remarkably resilient. I haven't done anything to them and they have been happily chugging along throughout the hair algae boom.

 

When the tank is ready for new additions, I will be rewarding myself with some purple and green blasto merlettis. I've been admiring the ones that @Snow_Phoenix has for a long time now.

 

And speaking of things in my tank inspired by @Snow_Phoenix, here's a shot of my starry blenny. He's a relatively recent addition and the tiniest starry blenny I've ever seen, only about the size of my pinky finger (and I've got lady hands, remember, not dude-sized mitts). Maybe someday he will be as big as the beauty (Thanos?) that she had, if I am lucky! (Please note that the starry blenny is actually nice and plump, not sure why the photo makes it look like his lateral line is showing. I'll chalk it up to a weird angle). 

 

 

 

I'm still quite sad about the loss of my little midas blenny, but I have been noticing how much more bold the fire fish is without the bigger fish. I'm not sure why because I never saw the midas bullying the fire fish, but clearly the fire fish is more calm. I probably won't replace the midas blenny because the fire fish is so much happier and I imagine finding one that would ignore the starry blenny like that last one would be unlikely. I really lucked out finding two that had been quarantined together at the LFS.

Fingers crossed no disease elsewhere. So far everyone else is acting healthy and happy.

 

Next up: to address @rimga123's comment, I'm going to be sure to do some vacuuming of the sand bed with my next water change, and will redistribute the sand away from the pistol shrimp's lair at least a bit. The water change after that will include siphoning out the back chamber. I will see if I can salvage any of the other frags with H202, too.

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

4 hours ago, chipz said:

Day #10: Photo dump

Today's only real progress was cleaning the OUTSIDE of the glass so I could snap some decent photos.

 

@rimga123 I appreciate the suggestion and I bet you are right that that is the cause of most of my phosphate and nitrate woes (besides the underlying issue of neglect). So I wish I could do as you suggest, but with both a pearly jawfish and a tiger pistol shrimp I think I need to keep the sand. In good news, it isn't all as deep as it looks from the photos I've shown this far. Most of the photos I've taken are from the left side, which is the view from my desk, which happens to be where the pistol shrimp likes to pile the sand. I rarely look at the tank straight on, but from the photos below you can see that the sand bed elsewhere is in the 1 inch to half an inch range:

 

 

I also admired the H202 results. Compare the corals I didn't yet clean on this rack (except for the green one in the back!):

 

To the frags on the rack I had time to clean with H2O2 yesterday:

The worst of the algae is gone at least, though the two on the right need another treatment I think.

 

Meanwhile, I have to say my blastos have been remarkably resilient. I haven't done anything to them and they have been happily chugging along throughout the hair algae boom.

 

When the tank is ready for new additions, I will be rewarding myself with some purple and green blasto merlettis. I've been admiring the ones that @Snow_Phoenix has for a long time now.

 

And speaking of things in my tank inspired by @Snow_Phoenix, here's a shot of my starry blenny. He's a relatively recent addition and the tiniest starry blenny I've ever seen, only about the size of my pinky finger (and I've got lady hands, remember, not dude-sized mitts). Maybe someday he will be as big as the beauty (Thanos?) that she had, if I am lucky! (Please note that the starry blenny is actually nice and plump, not sure why the photo makes it look like his lateral line is showing. I'll chalk it up to a weird angle). 

 

 

 

I'm still quite sad about the loss of my little midas blenny, but I have been noticing how much more bold the fire fish is without the bigger fish. I'm not sure why because I never saw the midas bullying the fire fish, but clearly the fire fish is more calm. I probably won't replace the midas blenny because the fire fish is so much happier and I imagine finding one that would ignore the starry blenny like that last one would be unlikely. I really lucked out finding two that had been quarantined together at the LFS.

Fingers crossed no disease elsewhere. So far everyone else is acting healthy and happy.

 

Next up: to address @rimga123's comment, I'm going to be sure to do some vacuuming of the sand bed with my next water change, and will redistribute the sand away from the pistol shrimp's lair at least a bit. The water change after that will include siphoning out the back chamber. I will see if I can salvage any of the other frags with H202, too.

 

 

 

Ah, another Starry! Yours is beautiful! 

I have that issue when photographing my fish sometimes too - the one where certain angles makes a fish look thin/skinny when they're actually chunky and have full bellies in real life. I think lighting plays a part too. Sometimes the 'shadows' and angles of the light makes their lateral line stand out more, thus contributing to an almost-emaciated look. 

Can't wait to see the new merlettis you intend to pick up! 🙂 

[chipz]

Day #11: More photos, making RO/DI

Today was another low key day. I made a 7 gallon jug of RO/DI water this evening. Tomorrow I will bring the jug upstairs (2 flights!). Maybe If I'm feeling really motivated I will add salt, heater, and little pump to make saltwater. The plan is to do another water change on Sunday. Then another water change the following Saturday.

 

I also got some fun photos of the fish today. The starry blenny is quite a character. I added a sheet of nori on a clip, and the blenny kept perching on the algae clip. I'm afraid some of the photos are blurry...but they are still funny.

[tidepooldreamer]

How's your possum wrasse, does he bother any of your inverts? They're such cute little fish!

[chipz]

P.s. again, the first pic of the starry blenny is so misleading! His tail is NOT frayed, even if it sort of looks that way in the pic. And I know this for sure because I kept looking over when he was perched on the algae clip, seeing the frayed end of the sheet of nori, and thinking it was his tail because it was almost a perfect match for his body color. I must have done that six times!

 

Also, I am casting shame on this little rascal for grabbing the box of nori while my back was turned, spreading nori dust all over the floor and eating some, so now I definitely need to go back to the LFS for more. Don't believe that look of innocence 😇

[chipz]

4 minutes ago, tidepooldreamer said:

How's your possum wrasse, does he bother any of your inverts? They're such cute little fish!

I LOVE this little guy. Such a great addition. I haven't had any trouble with it getting along with the current inverts. Its mouth is so small that I can't imagine it would be a threat to anything much bigger than a copepod or maybe a medium sized piece of mysis shrimp. That being said, I don't intentionally keep any tiny inverts like sexy shrimp or feather duster worms.

 

All in all, everyone gets on amazingly well in this tank. I freaked out about the fire fish using the pistol shrimp burrow and then about the pearly jawfish when it made a break for freedom getting along with the goby and pistol shrimp, but this far (knock wood) there hasn't been any issue with compatibility.

[chipz]

Day #12: More photos, more clean up crew

Today I managed to get a photo of the hi-fin goby. It is the most secretive fish in my tank. When I first got it, it disappeared for over two weeks. Honestly, I had completely written it off. The fire fish was also living in the pistol shrimp burrow at the time. Anyways, it just showed up in one of the entrances to the pistol shrimp's burrow, pulled some ugly faces at the jawfish, and went back into hiding. Some days I don't see the goby at all, other days it spends most of the day peeping out at me, and sometimes it comes all the way out. Today was not an all-the-way-out day:

 

 

I also placed an order with algaebarn that will ship out on the 31st. Excited for some new members to add to my clean up crew!

 

My protein skimmer is supposed to arrive tomorrow, but I have a work trip next week so I will have to wait to set it up. I really don't want it to overflow while I am not there to deal with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chipz]

Day #23: While I was away...

Sad times on the reef. I had to go out of town last week for work and things ran smoothly in my absence BUT when I got home I discovered that the starry blenny had vanished. AND the tiger pistol shrimp had buried my bubble coral alive. So being gone for four days I lost my favorite fish, my favorite coral, and all my momentum on reno-ing this tank 😱😩😭

 

Also, one of my dogs stole/chewed up my container of NLS small fish pellets.

Look of pure innocence 😇:

 

In good news, the rest of the fish came through just fine, the corals that were holding on are still holding on, and I have the protein skimmer to try out and see if that makes a difference. 

 

[debbeach13]

Sorry about the losses. 

4 hours ago, chipz said:

Look of pure innocence 😇:

Adorable.

[mcarroll]

5 hours ago, chipz said:

I lost my favorite fish, my favorite coral, and all my momentum on reno-ing this tank 😱😩😭

"...like butter scratched across too much toast."

 

Given your situation, I'd sell off this tank and either integrate the livestock into one of your other tanks, or let it go too.  

 

Dividing your attention and sucking your capacity like this isn't helping your other tanks OR your free time OR your enjoyment level.

 

I'm not into "giving up" but I am definitely into being realistic.  👍