Erk's Attempt at a Reef

erk · Nov 18, 2019

Things are still on a downhill path, but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But a new issue has arisen. The Coral Beauty angel has reached a point where it is no longer happy to just posture at its tank mates. It nearly killed my spawning male swallowtail damsel. I caught the damsel and will rehab until this weekend and take it to the LFS to be rehomed. I think the CB angel has matured or is near mature and that has caused the shift in personality. The yellow tang's behavior has also changed. It is more aggressive. Not sure if it is in response to the CB angel or just age. I'm just letting things play out for now, but if the angel continues to try and kill the others, then I will remove it.

The ulva and phyto should be here today. Tested NO3 and PO4 yesterday and while NO3 has come down to 25ppm, PO4 was at the limit for the Hanna ULR checker. Hoping the ulva brings the NO3 and PO4 down slowly. Will need to figure out the right harvesting schedule/amount to ensure stability.

erk · Nov 23, 2019

I'm going to have to rehome the Coral Beauty Angel. It is terrorizing the other inhabitants and it is getting out of hand.

Update: Caught the Coral Beauty tonight. Going to take it into the LFS in the morning. It is too aggressive towards the other tank mates and this has upset the balance. Wish I didn't have to remove the angel, but it's either the angel or all the other fish. Not sure what I will replace the angel with or if I will even replace it at all. Maybe I'll leave the fish stocking alone for now.

erk · Nov 24, 2019

With the angel locked up this morning I've noticed a lot more movement from the other fish in the tank. Definitely a good idea to get rid of the angel then. The other positive is that now my corals should have more PE during the day.

erk · Nov 29, 2019

Decided to make a new slot style canister for holding carbon. The hole version works, but the holes are a pain to clean. Using slots should make it easier to get a toothbrush in and remove the built up bacteria.

erk · Dec 3, 2019

Decided to start making my own frozen fish food. It costs quite a bit for such a small amount of the premade stuff. I went to the local Asian food market and picked up a 1lb bag of mixed frozen seafood and a bag of frozen silversides. I thawed the bag of mixed seafood and half the silversides, added half a pack of frozen mysis that I had in the freezer, some AF Fish V, and several small spoons of Reef Roids. Total cost amounts to about $10 for ~2lbs. What I really like about making my own fish food is being able to make the particles smaller.

erk · Dec 8, 2019

PO4 is no longer over the range of the Hanna ULR meter. Maybe the Ulva is starting to bring it down. Alk spiked to almost 10dkH and seeing the effects of it now. Took almost 1.5 weeks to see the SPS react to it. Just trying to keep things stable and prepare for the holidays. Modified the controller code to automate more things.

I haven't been dosing phyto because the cultures keep crashing. Discovered I had mixed the saltwater to 1.029. Then found that the water temp was getting up past 90°F. I moved the cultures into the closet so I don't have to cover it to reduce the light spillage into the room at night. I think they might rebound now.

erk · Dec 16, 2019

I went back thru my thread and it's crazy to think the tank is almost 3 years old now. The last year has been a rough one, but the tank is getting better. It is way more grown in than I thought. I'd like to add more fish since the bioload has dropped dramatically, but I'm going to wait until the tank fully rebounds from the latest fish losses. Good thing is that with the angel and swallowtail damsel gone, I should have significantly reduced aggression.

erk · Dec 18, 2019

Noticed corals were sulking yesterday when I got home. Looked around for what changed as I have made no changes to anything for some time now. Then I noticed the cabbage leather at the back is shedding again. It has been shedding nonstop due to sand settling on it. I turned up the flow to keep it clean, but the melanurus and talbot damsels are not helping. I've decided that I'm going to take it in for credit since I don't have enough room to give it a better spot. Wish I had a bigger tank.

erk · Dec 23, 2019

Nervous about leaving the tank for a week. Did my weekly testing and NO3 and PO4 are coming down finally. This is even with my heavy feeding. Hoping they don't bottom out while I'm gone. Skimmer runs during lights out, so only 12 hours a day. Hoping to come back to some new growth on my hard corals.

erk · Jan 2, 2020

Guess it's time to update on the aftermath of leaving for a week. Tank was mostly fine. Corals were unhappy, but not dead or dying. NO3 and PO4 rose a bit while I was gone, which is odd. The tank got less food and that somehow caused the nutrients to rise. Despite the rise in nutrients, the ulva still grows at a snails pace or maybe not at all, I can't tell. You'd think with 15-20ppm NO3 and .6ppm PO4 the ulva would be growing like a weed. I decided to try a new light since maybe the light I was using is underpowered. Got a 50W LED grow light off Amazon. Also added a giant ball of caulerpa from my LFS. Always had good luck with caulerpa.

erk · Jan 9, 2020

It's been a week since I added the 50W grow LED to the refugium and I can tell a big difference. The ulva has finally started growing like a weed. The little bit of chaeto I got with the caulerpa is growing fast and the caulerpa is both dying out and showing new growth. I think the caulerpa is adapting to the new conditions. There are still plenty excess nutrients as the cyano is growing and corals are brown/drab colored. Now just gotta be careful the nutrients don't bottom out.

erk · Jan 17, 2020

Currently just in a waiting game. Waiting for nutrients to get under control, waiting for corals to rebound, waiting for cyano and valonia to start dissipating. Waiting is the hardest part of this hobby.

Maybe while I wait I'll get some fish pics.

erk · Jan 24, 2020

Modified the scape a bit. SPS are all dying and so I dropped the rock they were all on down to give more headroom. Still waiting for nutrients to get under control, so if the SPS die off in that time, I'll replace them with softies or something else that is easy to grow.

erk · Jan 28, 2020

I'm seriously considering getting rid of the talbot damsels, the yellow tang, the lubbocks wrasse, and the boxer shrimp. These individuals exhibit a lot of aggression and I'm tired of it. I miss having a tank with a lot of movement and every time I add a new fish either they are bullied or attacked by the shrimp. I actually think the shrimp might be a serial killer as I've observed it catch a small fish between its large claws. The fish only get away if they struggle hard enough.

erk · Jan 28, 2020

Going to keep a list of fish I'd like to replace the aforementioned group with:

Tomini or Kole Tang
Firefish or Dartfish
Group of Chromis
Midas Blenny
Couple Flasher Wrasses
Small Anthias
Royal Gramma
Small gobie
Small Basslet or Hogfish species
Dragonet

erk · Feb 2, 2020

Took the yellow tang, lubbock's wrasse, and massive coral banded shrimp in and got a square tail bristletooth tang, yellow candy hogfish, and a midas blenny. LFS agreed that the coral banded shrimp was probably hunting down fish. I thought with my large amount of feeding that it would keep that behavior at bay, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. The midas is still in hiding, but the other two are out and about.

The current mood in the tank is pretty relaxed. For the first time the talbot's are actually swimming out and about. I get to see more than just a passing glimpse. Same for the lone female swallowtail damsel. Not sure who was the main aggressor for them. The melanurus and red velvet wrasses are out more too. Really makes me relieved. Hopefully this doesn't change.