Deep Blue 80g LPS and Wrasses

[Reefpuck]

Do you have something against branching corals?

 

[leahfiish]

Do you have something against branching corals?

Lol! No, I love certain ones. I really want a branching Cyphastrea and I have a branching torch. I also have one struggling acro. I just don't care for most acros.

 

[leahfiish]

Added another chalice today.

 

[leahfiish]

Changed about 10g of water late last night and caught an isopod.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pod-attached-to-fish.519514/

 

[cancun]

Hi! Nice build so far....love the aquascape! How is your China Wrasse doing?

 

[leahfiish]

Hi! Nice build so far....love the aquascape! How is your China Wrasse doing?

Thanks. He is doing good as far as I can tell, despite isopod problems. He eats out of my hand.

 

[cancun]

Thanks. He is doing good as far as I can tell, despite isopod problems. He eats out of my hand.

Great news!!!! Do you have to manually remove the isopods? Do you have any idea what they hitchhiked on?

 

[leahfiish]

Great news!!!! Do you have to manually remove the isopods? Do you have any idea what they hitchhiked on?

I'm almost positive they came in on the live rock. I have been catching them with a net or a turkey baster so far with no issues, they aren't that hard to catch. I haven't tried to take any off of the fish yet, they seem to drop off on their own pretty quickly.

 

[leahfiish]

Phosphate down to 0.05 today, perfect.

 

[leahfiish]

So last night I checked the tank at night with a flashlight and my wrasse was sleeping partially out of the sand, probably because its a little shallow in that spot right now. But I couldn't see any isopods on him and I assume that they would find him at night if he was out of the sand... So maybe they are all gone?

 

[leahfiish]

Alk at 11.9 today and phosphate still at 0.05. I still have a decent amount of hair algae but I should have the upper hand now.
I feel like my china wrasse isn't doing very well, though. I've noticed that he doesn't pick at the rocks as much anymore and just hangs in the water column like he's waiting for me to put food in, but he doesn't have a huge appetite and might only eat a few pieces of mysis.

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Love your aquascape and start of chalice collection. I just picked up a toxic pie, my Miami, 3g, and pink bbies. Following along and think I’m going to try that stuff to lower phosphate.

 

[leahfiish]

So I'm still dealing with isopods, I posted an update in my other thread, but long story short is I'm now fish-less.
Gonna focus on getting the tank stable and algae free and growing corals. I scraped off a lot of the algae today and rearranged a little.
I have a coral coming tomorrow.
Tested phosphates at 0.10 today, dosed 0.1ml of phosphate-e.
Fed 1/3tsp reef roids to the corals tonight.

 

[leahfiish]

A few pictures


I did a little work on the sump, too, removed some gorilla crabs, scraped a little bit of the algae and arranged the rocks in preparation for some possible mangroves. I don't know if my kessil a80 will be strong enough for them, though.

 

[NY_Caveman]

So I'm still dealing with isopods, I posted an update in my other thread, but long story short is I'm now fish-less.
Gonna focus on getting the tank stable and algae free and growing corals. I scraped off a lot of the algae today and rearranged a little.
I have a coral coming tomorrow.
Tested phosphates at 0.10 today, dosed 0.1ml of phosphate-e.
Fed 1/3tsp reef roids to the corals tonight.

Sorry about your Wrasse.

 

[leahfiish]

Phosphate 0.13, dosed 0.2ml phosphate-e.
Added 2 paly's today, a magician and another that I think is a morph of magicians.
I got a toadstool on Wednesday but the water was very cold and I don't think it's going to make it.
On the bright side, hair algae is receding slightly.

 

[leahfiish]

Phosphates at 0.07 today, dosed 0.05ml phosphate-e.
Sorry I know this is a boring update but I also use this thread to keep track of things.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Phosphates at 0.07 today, dosed 0.05ml phosphate-e.
Sorry I know this is a boring update but I also use this thread to keep track of things.

Bore away. I do the same thing.

 

[leahfiish]

On Sunday I got this awesome plate coral that I have been eyeing since the beginning of this thread, and today I got these mangroves. I got the mangroves from a seller on Amazon, and they were shipped on Friday so they had a long travel time but still seem to be in okay shape.

 

[leahfiish]

I haven't tested my water since Sunday but I fed my corals Monday and yesterday (Wednesday). Monday I fed about 3ml of LPS Max and yesterday 2/3tsp lps max and 1/3tsp reef roids. Today I noticed a small amount of cyano starting to form in a few spots so I tested water again:
Phosphate 0.44ppm
Nitrate 1ppm
Alkalinity 10.7

Wasn't expecting that big of a phosphate spike. ;Bored
So I dosed 0.3ml phosphate-e.

I am noticing a significant amount of detritutus buildup and am contemplating adding a filter sock. I really need more flow in the tank and possibly though the sump so I'm considering turning up the return pump but I'll have to do some testing, I'm not sure if my drain can handle it. I've been turkey basting everything every few days and the hair algae has significantly declined but it's probably going to turn into cyano now. I want to get some more flow asap but can't quite decide what pump to get. Really like the Nero 5 but want something that can easily work with a battery backup and I don't think that's it.