Day 669: No Tang – on back order and can’t be sure I’m available when they ship it so I cancelled the order. Tail Spot Blenny should be here tomorrow. Did a 0.6 (4%) w/c on the BC14. Reduced water level to the Max water line point so I know where to top off. Didn’t get around to a w/c on PRP. Checked the water on the QT. Zero ammonia, nitrates, and pH is at 8.2. Ready for Tail Spot!
Well the Foxface Rabbitfish is continuing to do well in the QT whose water conditions are remaining fairly stable with a gallon a day transfer of water from the DT to the QT. He is eating much better, flake and sea weed as well as some ocean nutrition herbivore gel packets. There is no sign of illness in 4 weeks (this friday) and while it takes up to 8 weeks with no fish to ensure that there ich, velvet and brook are dead – I believe that 4 weeks of being asymptomatic is a good sign that the fish is in fact healthy. So this Saturday the Foxface will join his other tank mates in the deep blue DT.
Other recent tank additions are all doing well too. The green bubble tip Anemone is doing well, though he’s gone to the backside of a rock so that I can’t see him all that well. I’m hoping that lighting needs will push him higher and out from the back. The clownfish continues to be hosted in him and has stopped the buffeting motion for the most part – which may also encourage him to come out more.
A short note on the “neon green maze coral” – things dont appear to be doing well still. He seems more shriveled so I moved him to a lower flow area to see if he would be happier there. I really dont get it because this is supposed to be a relatively easy coral to get going. The monti cap is still not fully extended but we’ll see what happens there.
Over the weekend I also got a Kenya Tree coral! Just a small guy for $5.00 but they grow fast from what I’ve read, and I’m patient. He looks pretty cool with good extension already. Again this appears to be a pretty invasive type of coral that propagates by dropping “limbs” into the water flow that then grow from where ever they fall.
So – next steps. To finish out my fish, I’m looking for a Royal Gramma, a school of green chromis, and a damselfish (Chrysiptera Springer). I’m considering getting a maxi-mini anemone too. They have some great color similar to my eaten ricordia – and I doubt that the shrimp or crabs will consider that to be lunch – perhaps the other way around 😀 For coral, my list continues to be blue devil finger, green mushroom, white Xenia or Pom-Pom Xenia, yellow leather, red chilli coral, yellow sun corals and pink birds nest. I’d love to get into some brightly colored SPS such as millie’s, porites, or acros but I want to get my fish load in and stable before I tackle those guys.
As one can tell I’m looking at a softy dominated tank for the moment – which is fine with me. It’s a little more forgiving, needs higher feeding levels and has less issues with disease and parasites. It’s also likely more able to recover from a nip or two from “with caution” reef safe fish.
Regarding water quality – it continues to be spectacular with a gallon a day changes despite what I consider fairly heavy feeding (daily cyclopeeze and mysis mixture) flake and sinking pellets. This is what I’m providing. In a small 1/2 cup tupperware container, I mix two cubes of mysis and 1/2 teaspoon of cyclopeeze – mix and slowly feed the tank 10ml in two doses at least an hour appart. An hour later add a pinch of flake (release below the water line so that it doesn’t go down the overflow). An hour later, if the fish still seem to be foraging, offer up to 12 sinking pellets a couple at a time until they stop eating them (again, below the water line so that they fall to the bottom). My lights come on at 1:30pm and I get home about 3:30pm for the first feeding – then 4:30, 7:00 and maybe 9:00.
Now this would be so much simpler to do should I have an automated feeder that I can introduce the mix to in the morning and have a delivery system on a timer start at about 2pm and continue to 9pm. To this end I have been working on a air displacement system that will deliver over the time I want; however, it will not raise the fluid very high and if I hang the tube down to drip in, it starts a siphon. In the end, I may work on picking up a used enternal feeding machine if I can find one for cheap that I can experiment with.
Just a quick entry today. Water tests complete. DT WNL, but QT still at 5 Nitrates, and possibly 0.25 Ammonia. At the specified time the ammonia test was zero, but after sitting for more than double the time, it darkened to 0.25. Did a two gallon w/c in the QT 15%.
I’ll continue to do the gallon a day w/c in the DT and transfer that water to the QT as a 7% w/c daily on the QT. Feeding in the DT seems to be on track. No algae outbreaks, tests good. In the QT feeding should decrease as it becomes evident what/how much food the foxface will eat.
Thought a lot about LED’s since my last posting and I’m even more reinforced that as LED’s become sexy, there will be a ton of T5HO’s being discarded and bulbs will be dropping in prices. Sticking with T5HO’s will be fine and economical.
For your viewing pleasure – the chicken of the QT but getting braver every day… the fish with too many animal names – One Spot Foxface Rabbitfish.
Did the weekly 10% water change on the DT today. No major hang ups. The mark on the DT and the cook tank both match for 10%. I used the water from the DT to prep 6 gallons of daily water change for the QT over the next week. I’m getting pretty good at eyeballing how much 1.025 water in a 1g is needed to make 1.009. In case your wondering filling the milk jug to just about an inch under the side sticker on most brands gets you pretty close. Top that off with RODI and you’re good. The firefish still looks pretty darn happy, eating and hanging out. I noticed that when things aren’t “right” in the QT he tends to hide more.
Coralline algae is going crazy on the back wall. From week to week it is visibly larger and more spots! Cleaned up lots of other spots in the tank too. Still scratching that coralline on the front and sides to get it to spread.
I spent some time updating my stocking page, specifically the spreadsheet. I included another sheet for corals I’m thinking about and where in my tank would be best to put them. That’s about it.
The DT tests all read stellar:
QT water quality again looks abysmal. I had good readings last week, but I apparently need to test more often.
Did a 30% wc on the QT with water from the DT diluted with RODI to hypo – concerned about temperature change so I didn’t want to go much more. Will continue with one gallon changes daily for a while. Will have to test daily or every other day. Added AmQuel per directions.
Again, this is reinforcing that the QT needs to be at DT salinity and for observation, not treatment only. The water change could have been quick and simple at temp with no stress to the fish. I’m very tempted to abandoned hypo early and return to normal salinity and implement the new observation only policy immediately.
I’m also tempted to make a big order of fish and introduce all to DT rather than even observe – yet that might make problems with the DT biofilter to add all that at once… It’s all moot anyway, need to wait until September for $$ anyway.
QT is “0” ammonia, pH 8, temp 79, SG 1.009. All stable and looking good. Did a 1g wc today.
DT water tests are ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphates all zero. pH 8, Ca 460 (down), Alk 9, temp 81, SG 1.025. The tank is a pit with algae all over (not bad, just not the way I like it)- didn’t get around to cleaning it today, but will tomorrow. Have a 15% w/c ready to go with Reef Crystals. I’m hoping the move to Reef Crystals will help bring pH up. With Ca and Alk OK, I’ve read that Mg can help by keeping the Ca from coming out of solution and binding the Alk and lowering pH.
On the OT (newly coined observation tank as opposed to the QT) front, I think my plan is solid and worth pursuing, though I’m beginning to feel that even 4-6 weeks in the OT is excessive. Still, as long as the tank has LR and is stable, I think it’s a good plan as a beginner. I’m really eager to get some new fish and corals, but the budget is all out of whack on this project. I won’t have anything in budget until September and even then not enough to do much. This last QT fiasco was a costly lesson.
10:30 AM – QT water tests indicated increased nitrate 20ppm and nitrites 0.3ppm (adjusted to the API test) according to the dipstick test. I did a 15% water change with hypo salinity water 1.018SG. I followed up with water tests using the more accurate API tests.
4:00 PM – Did API tests for ammonia (2ppm), Nitrite (2ppm) and Nitrate (20ppm). Yikes!!! Either the sponges aren’t keeping up with the fish, or there is just too much in 10 gallons to handle reasonable. Immediately did another 20% water change with water from the DT to replace the QT water. Added another section of sponge. I may have to “sacrifice” a rock from the sump to add to the QT. I hate it when things don’t go to plan… I just hope I can do enough to protect the fish from further stress until I get this sorted out. It’s frustrating because the DT is totally ready… and the QT is supposed to not be stressful. I’m trying not to make a leap that I’ll regret, but it is tempting.
DT water tests… Nothing out of the ordinary. See the water test page for results. Prepped the water to do a 10% water change tomorrow.
This is ultra cool – in a geeky monitor chemicals in the water sort of way 😉 Basically, seneye promises to be a plug and play system for water monitoring. It doesn’t look like it can be set up to do remote adjustments but there are other systems that can do that such as x10 systems. Just plug into a PC to upload results to their servers to be remote accessed from anywhere with clear indicators of impending problems, or smooth sailing. It even sports iOS interface! It will soon be in beta testing and while I signed up to be in the beta program I don’t expect I’ll get a chance since my tank is so new; however, who else needs to be able to monitor levels frequently, accurately and take advantage of their advice center for dealing with the problem? New Tanks!!! 😀 Seneye monitors pH and free ammonia with plug and play ease by using a 
strip that is replaced monthly. That gets around 3000 testing points in a month without using calibrating fluids. The reef version will monitor PAR and LUX as well as Kelvin to help determine where to place corals and when to replace bulbs. This is a terrific feature and the fact that it is all tests are easily accessible with predictive features to head off problems in the future (with email or text alerts if you subscribe to the seneye+ monthly program) makes this system great for new and advanced aquarium hobbyists alike. There are many more features and parameters it reviews, so check out their site for the most accurate information!
Well vast swaths of the green algae have subsided (or been eaten!) by this evening. The reduced light cycle seems to be doing very well to address it. I haven’t done a test kit recently, but I assume the cheato in the sump, and 20% water changes are also helping to keep the DT in ULN state. I’ve done some initial reading on adding vodka to the tank to keep nutrients ultra low. Once I get done with an initial review I’ll post what I’ve learned on that as well as follow ups if I go through with it.
The aiptasia appear to be slowly getting bigger. I’ll be ready to nail them by next week probably. I just don’t want them to perceive a threat and start to reproduce before I can get them all. No valonia noticed today.
Salinity is creeping up in the DT. I measured at 1.028, two points above ideal. I topped off with RO/DI in the sump today and I’ll dilute the top off water to be less than the the ideal to handle the increase in salinity caused by evaporation (it leaves the salt behind obviously). Most often I read about top off water being RO/DI, but my experience so far has been that I still need to mix the top off water with salt, just a little less (1.023) than the target of 1.025.
Well, not a dramatic day, but a confirming one anyway. The diatom bloom is receding and the green algae is starting. I’m a little worried about the green algae because it will be a couple of weeks before I get anything that will eat it after it gets beyond a fuzz.
The water tests yesterday came back on spot. Nitrates and Phosphates were high, but that’s what I’d expect right before a weekly water change. Neither dramatically high, 10 and .25 respectively. I did a 20% water change. The water siphon dropping to the basement shower through the kitchen floor definitely made the water change infinitely easier and will be sustainable into the winter. The actual vacuuming of the sand bed could have been more efficient so I think I might get rid of the big cone and just use a tube that can curl under the rocks and such to get what settles out there. Replacing the water into the DT from the cook tub was very slow, but until I’m willing to buy a more expensive (faster) pump, it will have to do.
On more exciting news I found a bristle worm in the sand. I thought at first it was a starfish so it was a bit of a let down, but still pretty cool.
prairie reef project 