Colton’s Reef

[Kev1n]

I have to say that whole bulkhead issue would annoy me. Hopefully you now have things set up more to your liking.

[geekreef_05]

Nice dude. Way to take Red Sea to school lol. 

[Crawford_T]

15 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

Nice dude. Way to take Red Sea to school lol. 

Right? If I’m being honest, given the chance I would have gotten the WB20 instead. Seems like a better sump design. I’m not about to disturb the system to transplant into the same size tank though. 

[Crawford_T]

FTS for the hell of it.

 

Rocks are definitely getting greener, also seeing teeny tiny purple spots starting to crop up which makes me super happy. 

[Kev1n]

FTS for the hell of it works for me. Nice.

[Crawford_T]

Couple of new additions today. Unknown zoa frag, hammer coral (2 heads) and an orchid dottyback. Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow as the lights are off now. 

[anizato]

cool... keep us on the edge of our seats 🥁😁

[Kev1n]

7 hours ago, Crawford_T said:

Couple of new additions today. Unknown zoa frag, hammer coral (2 heads) and an orchid dottyback. Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow as the lights are off now. 

Looking forward to the images, particularly the Orchid Dottyback with its amazing splash of colour. 

[Crawford_T]

Good Morning and happy Memorial Day. 
 

The Radion is ramping up so here are some morning pictures. Dottyback seems super happy, out exploring the tank most of the time. It’s early so the coral are all just waking up. 

[Kev1n]

Lovely stuff.

[Crawford_T]

Little photo dump from before I fed the tank today. One side note, the Orchid Dottyback seems to have either an injury from transferring or (hopefully not) some type of infection/parasite. I certainly didn’t see it while it was at the LFS and I looked super closely at it for a while before choosing. It’s a small white/raised area on the left gill. It’s super active, great colors and no other spots. Possibly injured with the net or in my rock work. Before I jump to conclusions I’m going to wait and watch. 

[Kev1n]

Fingers crossed. Hopefully all will be ok for the Dottyback.

[Crawford_T]

Well!…. Orchid Dottyback is a terrorist… I think we’re going to take her back. She’s picking fights with the shrimp who’s my wife’s baby. She’s also burrowing everywhere making an absolute mess of the tank. Good news is, the white spot is gone and she’s healthy as can be. Still, going back wife’s orders. 

[Airedale.Reef]

Corals are looking good! Bummer to hear about the Dottyback...I know they can be semi aggressive, and it seems you have seen that first hand. 

[Crawford_T]

54 minutes ago, Airedale.Reef said:

Corals are looking good! Bummer to hear about the Dottyback...I know they can be semi aggressive, and it seems you have seen that first hand. 

Thank you. The hammer really opened up today, so stoked. It’s a bummer because the dottyback is such a good looking fish. My wife has really grown attached to our fire shrimp so the aggression will not work. Tomorrow I’m hoping I can catch her and take her back. We’re thinking a Royal Gramma instead. 

[Kev1n]

Dottybacks can be a bit feisty. On the positive side of things, your corals are indeed looking really good.

[Airedale.Reef]

12 hours ago, Crawford_T said:

My wife has really grown attached to our fire shrimp so the aggression will not work.

The Fire Shrimp is definitely a fan favorite in my house!

[Crawford_T]

Well, today has been something. After I got home from work I began what I thought was the quick process of catching the dottyback, oh was I wrong. Ended up having to take apart the scape in order to catch the damn thing. Got the fish back to the LFS and got the scape as close as I could. Tank is super cloudy which is depressing but I did a 5g water change and am hoping for no issues. Coral stayed open the entire process which impressed me. 
 

Time for a beer.

[KC2020]

A Dottyback in that small of a tank is tuff to do. They're simply too territorial. Too bad the staff at the LFS did't tell you that before you bought it. The captive bread ones are somewhat less aggressive but they still rule whatever territory they stake out. 

[Crawford_T]

34 minutes ago, KC2020 said:

A Dottyback in that small of a tank is tuff to do. They're simply too territorial. Too bad the staff at the LFS did't tell you that before you bought it. The captive bread ones are somewhat less aggressive but they still rule whatever territory they stake out. 

I honestly had no clue, my fault for not doing my research beforehand. Of course the employee said it would be a great addition, peaceful, invert safe etc. live and learn. 

[Kev1n]

10 hours ago, Crawford_T said:

Time for a beer.

I know what you have just experienced is not fun so hopefully the beer helped. 🙂

[Crawford_T]

I threw on a 100 micron filter sock overnight to catch the fine dust and I’m happy to report that the tank is crystal clear today and everybody is happy. I do however have a nice diatom bloom again. 

[Kev1n]

Good news on the clarity.

[geekreef_05]

Glad you returned that dottyback. 

 

He would eventually pick on the clownfish and even other inverts like snails. 

 

Having to move th aquascape sucks, but good on ya for getting it done. 

[Crawford_T]

I’m looking for some input. I’d like to increase my bacterial diversity as I just used dry rock with bottled bacteria. I’m thinking of getting some gulf live rock rubble and adding a small amount into rear chambers (temporarily) and another small piece in the display (it’s completely open behind the scape, I could add some and not even see it). Ideally I’d leave it in for a few months and then remove it from the rear chambers but leave some in the display. The goal is to seed my tank with actual live rock so my system gets all of the diversity. Thoughts? I have 15ish lbs in the tank now so I figure just a few rubble pieces would do the trick.