Stella's Salty 20g

For power outages the only protection we have is generators, but our power pretty much never goes out, so everyone else seems to use them

 

Wow stumbled upon this thread and read everything beginning to end and WOW you have yourself a gorgeous tank!

 

Wow stumbled upon this thread and read everything beginning to end and WOW you have yourself a gorgeous tank!

Wow... You have my deepest thanks for checking out the whole story.

Forgive me if I've forgotten but do you have a salty tank and a thread for it? If you do and haven't seen me there, well that would be a mistake on my part and I would love to be tagged in. My memory is horrible, (making my own tank threads pretty handy), so though I know I've seen you around, I'm failing to remember where. A recent promotion here has had me all over the place, meeting new folks, and it's been great... but yeah, it gives me more to try to remember.

Mark, I see you lurking. Some day, my friend, some day I will convince you to go salty.

 

LOL! Caught! And still thinking salty!

 

Well now that it's over, I may as well fess up about the troubles this week. The darn air conditioner went out and the house was getting a bit over 90°F for three days straight. We had every window open but needed the doors open too because we truly felt like we were cooking. If that weren't enough, the mosquitos gained entry as well.

The biggest concern for living things, of course, were the tanks. I couldn't make enough ice to keep four tanks cool enough and went through six 20 lb. bags of ice instead. The reef got no higher than 82°F but my poor betta Sam got up to 87°F yesterday.

Phew, all is well and my wonderfully handy husband, who has no experience with ac units, fixed it! The vents are actually blowing harder and colder than they were before. I am so very blessed.

 

Wow... You have my deepest thanks for checking out the whole story.

Forgive me if I've forgotten but do you have a salty tank and a thread for it? If you do and haven't seen me there, well that would be a mistake on my part and I would love to be tagged in. My memory is horrible, (making my own tank threads pretty handy), so though I know I've seen you around, I'm failing to remember where. A recent promotion here has had me all over the place, meeting new folks, and it's been great... but yeah, it gives me more to try to remember.

Mark, I see you lurking. Some day, my friend, some day I will convince you to go salty.

My step dad had a 120 gallon reef and fish tank. Had some clowns, tangs, mandarin goby, clams etc.... I was in highschool when he first got it and helped him with it daily. Recently got back into fish as an adult earlier this year and just have a 20 fresh water and a 10 gal I am building for Dwarf puffers...eventually I will get back into salt but enjoying my little freshwater tanks at the moment.

 

My step dad had a 120 gallon reef and fish tank. Had some clowns, tangs, mandarin goby, clams etc.... I was in highschool when he first got it and helped him with it daily. Recently got back into fish as an adult earlier this year and just have a 20 fresh water and a 10 gal I am building for Dwarf puffers...eventually I will get back into salt but enjoying my little freshwater tanks at the moment.

Oooh, I love dwarf puffers! I'll keep an eye out for that one and I'll be here to help with the salty build if and when you need it.

 

Oooh, I love dwarf puffers! I'll keep an eye out for that one and I'll be here to help with the salty build if and when you need it.

Waterloo’s (future) Dawrf Puffer Tank - 10 Gallon | Freshwater Aquarium Builds Forum | 368938

Not really sure how to make links look "pretty" but here is my thread for the puffer tank. I was super set on getting a betta and then fell in LOVE with these super cute little puffers and my daughter is begging for them too haha

 

Finally straightened out my qt tank, and I'm currently thinking on how long I want to qt inverts. It seems a little crazy to do so, but there is a slight chance they could bring in an ich cyst or something. Waiting on further advice on that one.

Either way, the CUC really needs to be bigger in the reef tank. My phosphate reducing pad has not reduced phosphates, so that's mildly disappointing. NO3 is zero as always, PO4 is 0.08ppm, which is only slightly high, but the gha is thriving... so perhaps PO4 would be higher if gha weren't eating it up. Luckily, it's still in just a few small areas, but it's getting thicker. I wouldn't mind a few small spots if anything at all in my tank would eat gha and thus keep it under control. So, I'm thinking 4-5 hermits, a dwarf conch, and perhaps a female emerald crab are needed. Kinda hoping I'll find them all at an LFS which has an excellent invert selection, but that means fighting Miami traffic, which I loathe... so perhaps an online order. We shall see.

 

Cannot wait to see your new crew when you get them!

 

Finally straightened out my qt tank, and I'm currently thinking on how long I want to qt inverts. It seems a little crazy to do so, but there is a slight chance they could bring in an ich cyst or something. Waiting on further advice on that one.

Either way, the CUC really needs to be bigger in the reef tank. My phosphate reducing pad has not reduced phosphates, so that's mildly disappointing. NO3 is zero as always, PO4 is 0.08ppm, which is only slightly high, but the gha is thriving... so perhaps PO4 would be higher if gha weren't eating it up. Luckily, it's still in just a few small areas, but it's getting thicker. I wouldn't mind a few small spots if anything at all in my tank would eat gha and thus keep it under control. So, I'm thinking 4-5 hermits, a dwarf conch, and perhaps a female emerald crab are needed. Kinda hoping I'll find them all at an LFS which has an excellent invert selection, but that means fighting Miami traffic, which I loathe... so perhaps an online order. We shall see.

do you think the phosphate issue is due to continual feeding? or is it just a one off thing and you want to drop it to keep it under wraps?

if its going to keep going up then the cuc will eat any reoccuring algae. if you just want to drop it I would start convincing the hubs to let you use some phosguard to drop it and then you can maintain the levels over time. with a media bag you can try using small amount of it till you get the desired results with testing every few days.

 

Eeek, got scared of Phosguard after reading this.



The phosphate issue is constant I suppose. It wasn't a problem in the beginning. PO4 was unreadable on tests for a long time, but with more corals and more fish added, it eventually became a problem. Sure, it's probably feeding related, but me, the fish, and the corals all like the feeding routine. Everyone's fat, happy, healthy, and growing fast. Sooo, I don't want to change things. I was probably a little crazy to be running this long with an insufficient cuc anyway, as all this tank's ever had were trochus and nassarius snails.

The fear of crabs runs deep y'all. Way back in the day, I had another salty tank with a tiny flounder in it. He was such a cutey, and I shouldn't have ever even had him, but it was very upsetting when the crabs killed him! Didn't have corals then, but this time around, when reading stories of coral munching crabs, I swore against them. That was probably a mistake and I am now paying the price by having the mow the gha lawn pretty regularly. Hoping I can fix things without making changes to the feeding routine. Yes, the fish would survive on less, but I really think the dynamic might change... and it took so long for my baby Scorch to accept new fish in the tank. I really don't want to mess with the current fishy dynamic.

 

Maybe it’s time to do what grant did with the macroalgae reactor.

 

Are you going to be affected by the hurricane, Stella?

 

Maybe it’s time to do what grant did with the macroalgae reactor.

Maybe... though I'd feel more open to that plan if it had worked out for Grant, lol. His didn't help the tank in the end, didn't even grow the chaeto in fact, and turned into its own little algae farm. In other words, the reactor grew nothing but hair algae... though perhaps that was a personal problem and things might go differently for me? Idk, but, one step at a time and all that. Thanks for the reminder Bill.

Are you going to be affected by the hurricane, Stella?

You are too sweet to think of me Penguin! This is going to sound insensitive, and I hope you all know that I wouldn't wish a hurricane on anyone one this Earth. However, the only thing Michael is bringing to SoFlo is clouds and a very much appreciated breeze. It almost felt like fall here yesterday, and that's the nice thing about close calls. I am keeping those affected in my thoughts and hope more than anything that this monster doesn't bring too much heartache.

 

Maybe it’s time to do what grant did with the macroalgae reactor.

Hopefully he has better luck with his then I did with mine. I bought cheap grow light LEDs that quickly burnt out and caused the reactor housing to crack. Chaeto stopped growing and died with new LED strip so ended up switching to Rowa Phos GFO. GHA is a pain Stella, but you know that already.

 

Maybe... though I'd feel more open to that plan if it had worked out for Grant, lol. His didn't help the tank in the end, didn't even grow the chaeto in fact, and turned into its own little algae farm. In other words, the reactor grew nothing but hair algae... though perhaps that was a personal problem and things might go differently for me? Idk, but, one step at a time and all that. Thanks for the reminder Bill.


You are too sweet to think of me Penguin! This is going to sound insensitive, and I hope you all know that I wouldn't wish a hurricane on anyone one this Earth. However, the only thing Michael is bringing to SoFlo is clouds and a very much appreciated breeze. It almost felt like fall here yesterday, and that's the nice thing about close calls. I am keeping those affected in my thoughts and hope more than anything that this monster doesn't bring too much heartache.

What's wrong with the Aquaclear fuge? I've got a bad phosphate problem, last time I tested it was 1. But, everything is jjst fine? Nitrates are 0 from the fuge, so I'm not sure what to do. Turn the fuge up more and dose nitrates? Why would a cheato reactor work better then the fuge? II've been debating gtting something but like I said everything is happy, even the RBTA.

 

Nothing's wrong with the AC fuge. It's just that reactors are reported to be more effective with most things, so it's not necessarily a bad idea. Chaeto should be helping with PO4 too, and I'd imagine it is more than I know.

Perhaps... just perhaps, this rise in PO4 coincided with switching foods to LRS Nano, (which was about the same time the clown & goby were added). I don't mean to say I don't like LRS Nano. The fish and corals certainly do, but it is full of particulates... good stuff, which I didn't want to just toss down the drain. I mean, I bought the stuff for its variety of offerings. However, with this kind of food, I stopped using tongs to feed and used a pipette instead. Tongs would have left the 'wanted' particulates behind. So, with PO4 on my mind and LRS being used frequently, I switched back to a staple diet of frozen foods I can feed with tongs, namely mysis. This meant less food was entering the water, as I'm only adding what I see the fish eat. LRS hasn't been used for at least 3 weeks, only tong feeding and roids/phyto twice a week for corals. I still like LRS and will use it as a weekly treat or something, but not before putting a dent in the algae.

Hubs doesn't want to get the tank 'hooked' on any type of PO4 reducing media, be it Aluminum Oxide (Phosguard, which is not completely insoluble in water, so has the potential of leaching aluminum into the system... though it's been used by many successfully), or Granular Ferric Oxide, (GFO, which like the other, has some of its own concerns, but is used successfully, so is generally thought to have it's dangers outweighed by its benefits.) Here's the thing in J's mind though, and I can't say I disagree. With either of these products, the tank may benefit, but then we'll be stuck with managing a PO4 reducer forever because taking it away at a later date would certainly cause issues to return, and perhaps worse than before. I am not completely opposed to this, but we agree that the CUC is the answer for now. After all, who do we think we are running a reef without a sufficient CUC? lol

I'm going to call Ocean View today, the Miami LFS that's pretty great all around, but particularly so for inverts. If they can have what I'm looking for on a Thursday sometime in the next week or two, I'll get them there. Thursdays are less of a time constraint for me when I won't have to worry about kiddos waiting if traffic holds me up.

 

I totally agree about using chemicals in the tank. I don’t even use carbon in mine. Your tank looks fantastic without it. Is the algae on the rock or glass?

 

Thanks Bill! I love your tank too and your compliments mean a lot. Ugh, the algae is well rooted on the rock.

 

I have an idea about getting rid of that algae.
Small powerhead that you can attach a hose to. 1 Toothbrush 1 bucket. I’ll try and post pics for you tonight. It’ll be easier than explaining. Lol. That’s something I’m not very good at.

 

I think I understand. Scrub with the toothbrush while the powerhead is sucking the gunk out, yes? Sounds like a plan, but it'll have to wait until water change day.

 

Yes ma’am.

 

A little update... including what may be a sad mistake, though I'm still hopeful things will turn around.

Since we started dosing for the Big 3, our parameters have been...
Calc - 430
Alk - 9.2
Mag - 1320

This has been well maintained by the DIY doser hubs made for us. The trouble around here is not enough outlets in my home. Last Tuesday evening, hubs was on a flight back to us after being out of town for work for a couple of days. I was working on modifying the filter output on the AC20 on the betta tank. To that end, I was using a heat gun trying to shape some water bottle plastic... out on the porch, where we have zero electrical outlets. We do lots of porch projects involving power tools and there is always an extension cord snaked through a window. I hollered for my 11-year-old to plug in the extension cord, which he did. He was inside keeping an eye on his sisters, I was outside and soon became frustrated with my project, threw it aside, and rushed to make the dinner I was already behind on. Never unplugged the extension cord, as I said, it's kind of a permanent fixture but it shares a power strip with laptop chargers, other reefy equipment... and the doser!

3 days went by and the kids all got sick. I was pretty distracted but noticed yesterday afternoon that an acan and some zoas were a little mad. This doesn't happen often, but sometimes one or another coral does occasionally get moody for no apparent reason, so this was not immediately worrying, particularly because I was uber busy making chicken soup and making sure the kids weren't gross with snot and such. Sorry folks, that's the gross breaks, lol. As dinner was finishing up, I had a second look at the reef tank and found that two acros, (the unknown and the mille), as well as the JF special porites were also made as heck. Worse, the porites were discolored. I mean, polyps were closed tight on all 3 of these pieces, but the porites which are green with red polyps had turned kind of purple in the center of the colony, with the edges retaining normal color... though the whole thing looked kind of like smooth leather instead of fluffy with polyps.

Yeah, at this point, I kind of freaked out, but still didn't know the problem. Tested, and here's what I got...
Calc - 370
Alk - 7.8
Mag - 1240

Hrmm, not significantly out of recommended ranges, but certainly not what our tank has become accustomed to. I was only then that I looked at what is admittedly, a bit of a mess of wires around the tank's power strip, and realized that an extension cord was plugged in where the doser is supposed to be. This, of course, is nobodies fault but my own. Though, I am glad to share all the ups and downs in hopes that my own experience is helpful to others.

I know a change in parameters should be done slowly and carefully, but like with nearly everything else in my reefy experience, I trust BRS on this matter. They've been a great resource all along, and I used their dosing calculator to first figure out how to do this dosing stuff, and also use their 2-part. The calculator instructions say this...

Calc - Try not to increase Calcium more than 50 ppm per day. If larger changes are required spread the dose over a few days. Test between additions.

• So, I dosed what felt like quite a bit of calc solution to bring the level up by 40ppm

Alk - Avoid increasing alkalinity levels more than 0.5meq/L or 1.4 dKH per day, if necessary spread the suggested dose out and test between doses.

• So, again, dosed what felt like a lot of alk solution to bring it up by 1 dKH.

Mag - For larger swings, it may be necessary to spread the dose out throughout multiple days to avoid raising the magnesium level more than 100ppm per day.

• Eeek! This one felt like a HUGE dose of nearly 100ml of alk solution to bring the level up by 80ppm.

Prior to any of this, a few corals were mad, including one acan, the purple zoas, the acros, and the porites. Worth noting, many of the corals were just fine, including my treasured rainbow monti, the mind trick montI and both plating montis. The euphyllia was slightly ticked but mostly extended. After dosing, the Duncan, candy cane, hammers, frogspawn, and torch got madder. The Duncan closed fully, which is very rare even when only a little light from windows is hitting the tank, while the euphyllia was more retracted than it had been, but far from fully closed. Still, it's pretty scary seeing the fluffy hammers show their skeletons under lighting.

I am currently considering this the biggest error I have made thus far with the reef tank... but good news. The affected LPS look a little better this morning after only about 40 minutes under dark blue lighting thus far today. They almost look normal for this time of day, but only time will tell. The porites, unknown acro, mille, and green slimer (which has already been dealing with STN for a long time) are all still closed pretty tight... though the unknown's polyps a barely poking out, so perhaps an improvement there. Porites are still discolored at the center, but thankfully, not really pale and definitely not white, so hope remains. What do you guys think? Will the SPS make it?? Pics to come later, when the tank is not so very blue.

In other news, I've said it a bunch of times before, but I'll say it again... the crab fear runs deep. Last night, while I was still kicking myself over all this, I couldn't sleep, so was trying to distract myself and get tired because it was nearly 2 am. Found this...

So, while I'm still on the fence about a scarlet hermit or two, I'm heading to the LFS today to pick up 5-6 astreas, and possibly zero crabs. Btw, distracting oneself from reefy mistakes by watching reefy YT doesn't really work... and Netflix was only slightly better at that. However, if, like me, you find this time of year to be perfect to watch something dark, creepy, and weird in the middle of the night, all by yourself, give Hold the Dark a try. I liked it and only had slight trouble falling asleep at 4 am... a mistake when little ones won't let you sleep past 7:30 or so. Me's tired today.

Lol... how did I start this? A little update? I think most of y'all know that I rarely actually keep updates short and sweet.

 

I always admire reefing moms such as yourself. The nuances of maintaining a great reef are difficult for me to learn and dial into and here you are running a household and raising a family while keeping up with your tank... cheers to you! I think if I had been in your shoes, it might have been another couple days till I would have noticed something was up. I hope everyone recovers and bounces back, which I am sure they will do in your capable hands. Hugs to the sick kiddos too, colds are no fun.

 

Here are the pics guys. The worst are first.








Slightly less ticked stuff.





Of course, the only mad acan is the most expensive one! That's a WWC Orange Crush, which is actually disappointingly dull in color when fully extended and brighter after feeding... or when mad.

 

But lookey here. My beloved monti...



All montis seem oblivious to the debacle. As do the family faviidae.



This is one I rarely show because as you can see, I can't get a decent photo. It's a Toxic Platygyra, which may or may not also be a Jason Fox strain... just like the porites. The Platy sits at the back of the tank right through our little arch. It looks quite good there irl.

I'm pretty darn happy with the snails at least. 6 new astrea snails are in qt.

 

Everything will come around, just be patient.

 

Wow so sorry to hear that but it happens with power cords -.- glad to hear they are coming around. With astrea snails keep a eye on them every day because if they flip they can't flip themselves over and die -.- have lost all the ones I have got to this.

I unplugged my power heads to feed and forgot about them for a day. Everyone in the tank was **** but came back. With time you should be good since luckily it wasn't too long.

 

Another happy week of Fishlorean frag trading is upon us folks! This has been in the works since late Spring this year and the time is finally upon us. I'm so excited!!!

Tomorrow, Culprit will be receiving a box containing a rainbow montI frag and a nice wide head from my torch, and @LchI will get one containing a rainbow monti. The trade-off here is that LchI sent me heat packs so I could do this, and sadly, had to pay some shipping cost because hers wouldn't get there 2-day via Priority but hey, UPS has a pretty good online deal right now. Culprit has been growing out a birdsnest frag for me and will also share a lovely plant that I got from him once before, but managed to kill. Sam the betta will be pleased. Also, I got quite the deal from thesoulpatch on a tiny frag of IlluminatI zoas, and that should arrive tomorrow too! Exciting times folks.

As for the state of the tank nearly two weeks after the whole dosing debacle. Well, things aren't terrible. Things are looking better, including the much loved Special Porites. They have lost all discoloration and look almost back to normal. Polyp extension is there but could be better. It's the millepora and my little unidentified acro that I'm still worried about. Both are mostly a strange shade of reddish purple. The mille should be green and the other should be a totally different shade of purple with green polyps. There is no polyp extension on either of them... but the mille has a little green on it, and only on a small area where it's encrusted, nothing on the branches. The unidentified acro looks... weird. First, it got bumpy looking, but now those bumps are looking like little pores. Maybe new polyps are developing? I'm hoping that's not wishful thinking.

 

Yes, today is the day!! Super excited.

Awesome! So good to hear that everything is recovering well.

 

So, so sad that Culprit's package was a no-show today. Such a let down for my bud. Though, I do think the corals will be okay. The 72-hour heat packs LchI sent seemed top notch, the box is very well insulated, and the corals are quite secure inside as well. Nothing's moving around in that box, so I suppose the biggest concern is light. However, Lchi's box arrived at her place before lunch today and the frag inside was showing some polyp extension right there in the bag. So, I really do think all will be well in the end.

In better news, a lovely frag of Illuminate zoas from thesoulpatch are cautiously almost all the way open in my tank tonight. They look pretty awesome already and I know it'll just get better from here. Hopefully, they'll be happier tomorrow and I can get some pics.

 

I think since you packed them so well they should be great! Got texts this morning that said it left Knoxville and arrived at the center between Knoxville and my local distribution center. Should be here by around 1-2 this afternoon!

 

Hey there thanks for sending me this link.

I would LOVE to see an updated full tank shot...just saying

 

Hey there thanks for sending me this link.

I would LOVE to see an updated full tank shot...just saying

Thanks for looking! Hrmm, I'll try for a full tank shot soon, but am not in a position to take one atm. Not a lot has changed since the last one though, which you can find in post #1434 on page 72, (if you're on a PC, but if not, the post ID number is the same.) Please know that I'm just an awful photographer and am not working with the best camera.

 

Man, that was a long read!

Fantastic tank! It's great to be able to see your tank's (and your own) progression throughout this thread, and it gives me hope that I can catch up one day

We definitely need a new FTS soon!

 

Oh my... it feels like a huge compliment for anyone to get all the way through this thread. Thank you! It's full of chatter, but I don't want to start a new thread because I hope newer reefers can learn from the story of day 1 to now.

Lol, after reading it all, you must know I'm horrible at picture taking, but I'll give it a try this afternoon.

Edit: Eek! I honestly forgot that I already had one request for this, so I'll get right on that.

 

Okay folks, picture time. As always, I've done my best with what I've got.



For funsies, a before and after of the birdsnest.




Feels like it's been a while since showcasing some euphyllia.





(1) The acan garden... believe it or not, that's four strains, not three. (2) The green mille, (I swear, it's green, lol), who I was so scared of losing a few weeks ago. (3) The Duncan, little chalice, blue eyed leptastrea, and the montI caps and trumpet that are not seen in an FTS.





GHA woes.

 

Looking good Stella

A turbo snail would take care of the algae, but they're also bulldozers.

 

Update time again. Hmm, not much has changed in that there's no new stock, and I'm still dealing with gha, and nope, I still haven't gotten the cuc I really need in this tank... but hopefully, that will soon change. The tanks got away from me during the holiday season. I mean, we keep a strict maintenance routine, but nothing much has been happening other than weekly tests, cleaning, and water changes. However, I did finally get the QT back in order and best of all... switched out the 5 gallon for a 10g. It will soon be more of a frag tank/cuc qt. No meds with corals or cuc, so it can't be a frag tank while I quarantine fish... but, that's for later anyway. The goal right now is to finally get a handle on the gha because while small amounts of it didn't bother me a whole bunch for quite some time... the growth rate has accelerated and the larger amount of it is getting bothersome. So, here are the thoughts on that.

GHA was never a problem in the tank until we added the clown and goby. Prior to that, we were rather understocked with a lone firefish... my boy Scorch, who isn't with us anymore. Around the same time as the clown and goby were added, one of my powerheads started giving me issues, reducing flow on the right side of the tank. GHA growth is rampant on the back of the large rock on the right, below the frag rack. Sooo, increasing stock, reducing flow, the mysterious disappearance/death of Scorch (who was never found), and perhaps the shading from the frag rack could have all compounded to make the algae problem get out of control. Here's the plan of attack...

GFO... done, with ChemiPure Elite (I can't see measurable nitrates and only see very low phosphates, but surely, algae growth/consumption is hiding these levels.)

CUC... definitely getting a dwarf conch for the sandbed (speaking of the sand, it's tough to do a good gravel vac in the back because of the frag rack), maybe get a turbo snail, (I want this lawn mower right now, but don't want him long term because he's a bulldozer), definitely astreas, again, perhaps... eek, crabs. Y'all know I don't like 'em and I've said this before but I mean it now... I may have to break down and get 'em... because I'm pretty desperate.

Need a new powerhead... I had a backup, which I switched to when 1 of 2 Jabeo SW2's finally quit on me. The back up is a Koralia 425, which isn't terrible, but doesn't push as much water as I want, nor is it controllable. Trouble is... I want a good powerhead that will last. That means an MP10, which is out of budget... but continually replacing off-brands is not good for the wallet either. Who knows how this situation will end up but something's gotta change.

Move the dang frag rack to the 'qt'/frag tank. It can be a frag tank/coral & cuc qt as long as there are no fish introduced at the same time. This just means the frags will have to come back to the display while fish are quarantined... and hopefully, new fish won't need strong meds... either way, switching back and forth will just mean preparation for whatever's next... but the frag rack must not forever live in the display, as it was never meant to.

Lastly, floss and toss is much more frequent these days, mostly due to regular algae picking, but also... I did try a long experiment on feeding reduction, and gha growth rate did not slow down, but coral growth rate may have. Idk... they're all doing good, but I'm not real pleased with the coloration on the rainbow montI anymore and perhaps a reduction in feedings contributed to that. Anyway, the fish were down to eating every 3rd day and the corals only a couple of times per month... but I never liked that. I much prefer to keep all my wet pets fat and happy and since the feeding reduction changed nothing as far as algae goes, well, I'm done with that. Fish eat very well every other day and corals eat once or twice a week.

'kay, so I know this book is long enough, but it feels good to lay out my plan of attack, so I feel like I can finally talk about the future of the tank. But first... one more admission. To those that remember, I had quite the battle with aiptasia nems and the relief finally came when we got Berghia nudibranchs who ate them all. Or, so we thought... Anyway, the Berghias were awesome. After a long, frustrating, and expensive battle against aiptasia, those little cuties did the job and I was sad when they were gone after eating up their food source. I feel like a dummy here because the thing that brought aiptasia to my tank in the first place was infested chaeto from an LFS. Yet, when I had the nudi's, I let them loose in the tank and didn't think about my own filter, which also contained chaeto, not to mention other surfaces for the pests to reside on... like the Matrix in there, or even the very walls of the HOB box. So yep... here it comes... aiptasia is back. I have exactly 2 of the little pests and I have not touched them... at all. I will not try injections again because whether this was my fault or the product's... well, it doesn't matter because what it boils down to is... AiptasiaX certainly made my orginal problem a LOT worse. So... I've got some filter work to do too, and will eventually need nudis again... but that can be it's own post because geesh... I've kept y'all waiting long enough.

Finally! Picture time!!


Hammers... lost 3 heads of the purple to the whole dosing debacle that happened a few months ago. Gave it lots of time, hoping they'd recover, but no dice, and I just chopped the dead, empty heads yesterday. 2 heads now on each of the two hammers... all 4 heads (of the green and purple) look pretty close to splitting.


Love this frogspawn!

The acans See the tiny ones? Those are actually a different variety and I need to move them because they're getting drowned out by the neighbors.

Favite (left) and favias (middle and right). Love this coral family and would recommend it to anyone. Easy peasy and lots of color variances. I want a Dragon Soul one day.


There's one of the little aiptasia beasts!! Right among zoas... of course! And a lil algae too... it looks red, but it's green, I swear it!


Can't beat a Duncan! My goby shrimp pair tried (and succeeded) in burying some of the babies... and this went unnoticed for a few weeks. Crazily, they survived! Couldn't believe it when I finally shuffled some sand away. There were at least 5 buried juvie polyps... but they didn't look too bad AND fully inflated within a couple of days of being unearthed. Wish I was a better photographer, or that somehow I could show off... because this guy's got more than 20 polyps!


The disco shroom got HUGE... burying one of the rics. That would have been upsetting if not for the baby of that very ric, which finally started to get big too... and the big ol' disco has a baby! Love that WWC Ultra ric in the lower left, but he doesn't do much. He probably needs a move, but that's a scary prospect for me. This is right at the corner of the right rock... the right-side rock that carries all the gha on its backside. The shrooms are the corals who regularly get surrounded by algae... if I'm not careful.


The galaxea, who I am so glad to have! Thanks so much to Culprit for the push and the share!


High Voltage Platygyra



There's a few more. SPS coming next.