ML's 14 IM Peninsula

[ml86743]

Since adding Seachem Iodide everyday at half the recommended dose I've noticed two things - increased algae growth on the glass/powerheads and improvement in PE in some corals, not all. 

 

I've also been paying more attention to magnesium.  It's been sitting around 1200 so I'm in the process of increasing that number to 1350-1400.  

 

Is the iodide helping?  No clue..but based on the visual differences in the tank I'd say it's at least a limiting factor for heavier algae growth, so maybe corals will also benefit.  

 

Also working in kalk at 120 mL throughout the day and seeing a pretty consistent dkh of 8.8-9.1.  Playing around with dosage and dose timing to maximize pH benefits as well. 

 

Hoping the combination of all these adjustments will yield some growth, coloration, and stability.  I've also ditched my carbon, only because of the fact my media pouch doesn't fit anywhere, especially with the UV taking up the overflow chamber.  I may replace the UV back to the media rack and continue to run floss and a doner dose of carbon.

[ml86743]

About to hop on a plane in Boston, back to FL.  Hoping for good results upon my return 👍

 

I know the zoa frag that was melting is almost gone..other than that reports were good from home. 

[debbeach13]

Have a good flight. No delays.

[ml86743]

10 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Have a good flight. No delays.

Thanks Deb!  Believe it or not, a plane had to land with no nose gear in NC so we had a slight delay..but we eventually made it home 🙂

 

To my surprise, things are looking better than ever.  The monti's and zoas that were looking so/so are either regaining excellent color, great PE and some signs of new growth.  Heck even the melty zoas are hanging on it seems.

 

Now, here's the tricky part..what was the "fix"? 

 1) Addition of seachem iodide - I have heard many mixed reviews on this..some seem to  to think there is little benefit to dose the tank with some form of iodine.  If you guys remember, my ICP test came back dangerously low with this trace element - since the addition I've thought I noticed almost immediate effects.

 

2) Magnesium supplementation - before leaving I was attempting to raise my Mg levels to right around 1350 from 1200 - still tested out at 1200 when I got home but I have added roughly 10 mL last week

 

3) Increased WC - My icp test had also shown higher levels of zinc and copper, not deadly by any means and many people have the same results with no ill effect, but maybe the 2x at 15 percent replaced some other elements and removed some impurities.

 

4) Feedings for corals have been super heavy!

 

It's probably a combination all 4 but I have a strong feeling that my tank was super extra depleted in the iodine department.  Aside from the corals looking way better film algae on the glass and now some on the rocks has increased rapidly.  I used to have some ulva that would pop up here and there too and I just noticed today that a small patch was growing  on the return nozzle.   I'm pretty sure the algae use iodine rapidly and heavily...a new wave of pods has exploded on the glass too which I have not seen in quite some time. 

 

Thoughts?

[debbeach13]

Glad your flight didn't have any serious problems. Sounds like things are moving in the right direction. That's a big plus when coming home from a trip.

[ml86743]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

Glad your flight didn't have any serious problems. Sounds like things are moving in the right direction. That's a big plus when coming home from a trip.

Fingers crossed.  I've just gotten to the point where I wanna see things grow out:)

[ml86743]

Things are on cruise control ATM.  Corals are looking pretty good, continuing to hold alk steady with kalk and the iodine supplementation has continued as scheduled.  Growth from SPS is starting to increase and everyone else is chillin'  When I get a good month or two at home I'm going to start trying to tweak some things to get better color from the SPS.  I will try and get a July FTS up before the end of the week. 

[ml86743]

The orange digi that wasn't doing so hot some weeks back has some fresh growth tips with the green base🥰

[debbeach13]

Great news.

[banasophia]

11 hours ago, ml86743 said:

The orange digi that wasn't doing so hot some weeks back has some fresh growth tips with the green base🥰

Alriiight!!! Lets see some pics!! 🤗🙏😊

[ml86743]

FTS: July 2023

 

 

 

RANDOM:

 

 

 

New Growth 🙂

 

[sugar]

Those clowns 😍

[ml86743]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:10 PM, sugar said:

Those clowns 😍

I do love them.  My initial plans for the tank didn’t include a pair..and we see where that ended up lol 

 

If I remember correctly they’re of the “mocha gladiator” breed. 

[ml86743]

I gotta do something about these flatworms..still no "adverse" effects on corals but man they are just ugly....because of the volume of the tank I'm a little hesitant to just add the FW Exit with the amount I have.  I CAN remove all the rock work relatively easily.  I'm considering making up a bunch of SW and individually treating each rock.  After the rocks are treated I would feel more comfortable treating the tank for a month or so to hopefully get rid of the rest. Sand bed could use a good vacuum too.

[ml86743]

Were in a "so-so" phase right now.

 

Added the bubble magus mini Q today.  Tight squeeze with the dang maxspect light mount but I made it work.  Build quality feels great and it is SUPER slim. Hoping the added aeration will help with pH too. 

 

Off topic but my scarlet hibiscus bloomed today too!  a FL native:)  I often collect seeds from my field work to bring home and enjoy in our back yard.  Pollinators and hummingbirds love it too:)

 

 

[Lebowski_]

My miniQ definitely improved my pH's stability, I never see it below 8 anymore. However, I do still get microbubbles months later, for some reason.

[ml86743]

10 hours ago, Lebowski_ said:

My miniQ definitely improved my pH's stability, I never see it below 8 anymore. However, I do still get microbubbles months later, for some reason.

Yeah I've seen some micro-bubbles floating around.  I had the unit at the water line level and was having some overflow problems but I raised the skimmer up a few more inches and it was fine this AM.  It actually pulled some junk out already too.  Skimmate was pretty dark lol.  Bubbles were better after making the height adjustment too. 

[ml86743]

My encrusting monti and tubbs stellatta are hurting right now.  Digi and caps are all good.  The flesh on the tubbs is coming off in small patches..very similar to what had happened around a month ago, just a little worse this time.  One zoa frag displaying the same behavior of closing up tight..

 

A few days prior I noticed my blasto colony looking a hair off too.  I had my alk increase to 10.6 a few weeks back, just a miscalculation of kalk dosing.  Sitting pretty at 8.8-9 currently.  I'm guessing this is to blame? Delayed reaction? Saw some awesome growth on these frags prior to this mishap. There's some sort of trend hidden underneath it all I just need to put the pieces together.   Last time I had an issue with alk I saw similar results from the same montis.  

 

I will say the anacroporas (green, tropicana, and TNT) are doing wonderfully.  Color is starting to come back strong and they are continuing to grow.  Those things are damn near bullet proof I'm finding out..

 

Just a quick rambling to document..

[LazyFish]

I hear the tubs is realy picky.

[ml86743]

22 hours ago, LazyFish said:

I hear the tubs is realy picky.

That's actually pretty interesting, I've had some periods of really good growth/color and then some periods of just BS haha.   Maybe I can use it as a good indicator coral from now on.  It hangs on though, so I cant complain too much:)

 

In other news, I'm really satisfied with the MiniQ skimmer.  No more micro bubbles and it's pulling out consistent junk daily.  Still fighting the pH battle though.  Too many mouth-breathers in the house + cooped up in the FL summertime = low pH.  My kalk solution could probably be freshened up too..I will probably make a new batch in a few days. 

[ml86743]

Each time I've had an issue with this tank I've suspected a lack of some sort of trace element to be the issue.  

 

Had some good results after dosing the iodide only to follow with a very similar decline.  I've reverted to the K.I.S.S. method and rather than use additives I don't have a reliable or accurate test for, I'm simply increasing my WC volume to hopefully replenish any of what is used up.  I got a new bucket of salt (still RSCP) so if there were any impurities or lack of certain elements hopefully this new batch works out.  

 

I have never paid more attention to alk and I have pretty much have it nailed, even when my testing kits were off the range was still relatively acceptable. 

 

I have just recently returned from vacation in the Keys and did a pretty big WC before leaving.  Upon my return, most coral that was looking off were in better health and frags that were doing ok had grown significantly.  Now, while I was gone my pH was significantly higher (7.92-8.1) than it usually is because of nobody being in the house.  I'm sure that accelerated some growth but I still believe there was something missing from the water that my initial WC volume was not replacing..

 

Anyway.

Here's some pics and the August FTS:

 

 

 

 

 

Cyph moving along nicely'

 

 

Pipe Organ that I've fallen in love with

 

 

Free Favia I got:)

 

 

SOMEBODY Please tell me if they've seen a leptastrea bubble up like this?? Growing great and healthy as can be 

 

 

Ebay Acro that has done well so far no clue what it is

 

 

Bad pic of TnT Anacro growth 

 

 

Destruction from last meltdown, recovering nicely though

 

 

 

[ml86743]

I'll tellyawhut..I cannot say enough good things about the Bubble Magus MiniQ.  I've had it for a little over a month now and it;s aging like fine wine.  I have mine set to run pretty dry but the gunk it's able to pull out is amazing.  Took some time to enjoy my collection cup this morning before work😂

 

Other than that things have been pretty good!  Couple zoa frags that aren't happy but the SPS frags are doing wonderfully.  There is a shortcake acro that came in that free WWC coral package that had some tissue regression and I thought it was goner.  I clipped all the dead stuff away and reglued.  The colors are looking wonderful as of today, still no growth that I can see but it's been looking better and better as time passes.  The tubbs (which I actually think is a purple digi haha) is growing again, just need some color to come back.  Anacro's are crushing.  All this "good stuff" led me to spring on a new tenuis frag from one of my LFS.  It came from one of their tried and true colonies and was 20 bucks.  It has beautiful blue tips with a mint green/tanish base.  No idea what it is but it's hairy and I like it 🙂  Against my better judgement I also picked up a Space Invader Pectinia..it was only 30 bucks...I had to.

 

Here's a bad cell shot from last week I think?

 

Also staring down this hurricane.  I'm in Jax so we are not in the direct path (hope everyone is staying safe on the west coast).  I'm a little worried about power..I really have no way to run a heater or pump.  I think I'm gonna go to home depot and pick up a Ryobi Power Inverter. It's not the end all be all solution but it should run a pump for a few hours. Not as much worried about the heater, the house should end up mid 75-78 so that is well within my range. 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

I haven't had a skimmer in years but did enjoy emptying that dirty cup. Sounds like things are going well and the tank looks good.

Agreed on both statements, something is better than nothing and the temperature should be ok.. Still, I hope you don't lose power at all, or at least not for long.

[ml86743]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

I haven't had a skimmer in years but did enjoy emptying that dirty cup. Sounds like things are going well and the tank looks good.

Agreed on both statements, something is better than nothing and the temperature should be ok.. Still, I hope you don't lose power at all, or at least not for long.

Thanks Deb, were defiantly gonna see some wind..so we'll see. 

 

Took some shots with the big camera.

 

Still need a macro:)

 

 

This is the new acro, I know it looks colorless but theres some blue/green hues in there.  Hopefully it settles in and survives!  Tenuis right?

 

 

Favorite Favia Enjoying some dinner:)

 

Green anacro coming along.

 

 

[Mitch0605]

Hey ml just in case you don’t know, Redsea offers icp results of all of their salt batches, you just need the number off your bucket. Might help with you iodine etc numbers as a baseline if you do another icp or have any more troubles. Not KISS but fun to know! https://g1.redseafish.com/mybatch/