LPS IM Nuvo 38... EXT?

[Kodski]

The new skimmer came this morning. I had to run home and check it out on my lunch break. I’ll do a nice write up and initial review tonight.

 

[Kodski]

The new skimmer is up and operational! So far its a wonderful piece of equipment! Check out my in-depth review which I'll be updating as I get move familiar with this skimmer.

Ultra Reef Borei UKB-120 Skimmer Review

Hello Everyone! I came across the need for a new skimmer recently and I settled on the Ultra Reef Borei UKB-120. While I was researching I saw that there wasn't a whole lot of information out on this skimmer so I decided that I'd do a review. I plan on doing an initial review and then periodic...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[steveschuerger]

My wife would love your goni-world sign. She loves goni's. In fact a large portion of this tank will likely be goni's.

Here’s a few Goni pics for you and your wife’s viewing pleasure.

 

[Kodski]

Well disaster struck on my big tank. My light fixture which was hung from the ceiling somehow fell down into the tank. As a result I had to transfer as much coral over to this coral as possible to the small tank. Luckily there wasn’t much due to a large crash six months ago and I never really added more because I was anticipating a tank move soon. So I guess there is coral already in the new tank.. the good news is that the coral has been in the tank for a few days now and seems very happy.

 

[steveschuerger]

Well disaster struck on my big tank. My light fixture which was hung from the ceiling somehow fell down into the tank. As a result I had to transfer as much coral over to this coral as possible to the small tank. Luckily there wasn’t much due to a large crash six months ago and I never really added more because I was anticipating a tank move soon. So I guess there is coral already in the new tank.. the good news is that the coral has been in the tank for a few days now and seems very happy.

Well what survived is beautiful . Love the Gonis in particular. Sorry about the accident though; i can fully commiserate on that. I had a stray voltage issue with a heater in the holding tub I was using last summer when moving into my present tank. Lost a lot of nice corals.

 

[Kodski]

Everything is doing great so far. Last weekend I added a fire fish and an orchid dottyback to the tank. They settled in and are doing great. Today my wife and I came across an orange spot blenny and decided to add that to the tank. I’ll get a better picture when he settles in more.

 

[Kodski]

Everything was looking great under the Reefbreeders lumen bar tonight so I snapped a few pics. Currently I’m only dosing Aquaforest Ammino Acids and Microbacter 7.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Beautiful!

 

[Kodski]

Beautiful!

Thank you!

 

[Northern Flicker]

Here’s a few Goni pics for you and your wife’s viewing pleasure.

What's the secret Steve? Do you feed em?

 

[steveschuerger]

What's the secret Steve? Do you feed em?

Broadcast fro food. Mix for fish and corals. Every so often give a direct feed of oyster roe, reef chili, reef dust all mixed together with some water. That’s pretty random tho.

 

[Kodski]

Time for an update.

about a week after I posted the tank exploded with long stringy algae. I tried manual removal, but this stuff was stuck on the rocks strong. I decided to just let it run its course. I started to see it die off about a month later. So I went in and did as much manual removal as I could. It grew back to some degree but then it continued to die off. A week ago I did another manual removal and cleaning. I'm happy to report that no more stringy algae as grown since. Instead, there is just a slime algae in its place. It seems to me that is also at least partially dying off. Some areas come off easily with a brush wile others refuse to let go of the rock. All in all though, the tank looks decent again. I'll continue to clean throughout the next two weeks.

Sadly, for some reason throughout this bout I lost the fire fish and orange spot blenny. The orchid dotty back was the only fish to survive for what ever reason. I can't discern any apparent reason for the other two deaths, they happened weeks apart and the fish had been established for over a month. I saw no bullying either, The dotty back is so small the blenny could have ate him if he wanted to. So I can't believe that was the cause either.

Since the tank was on an upswing, I decided to stop at the fish store today and pick up a few things to bring some fresh life to the tank. I picked up a purple fire fish, and a lawnmower blenny to help with any algae from this point forward. I also grabbed a Long tentacle toad stool, zoa, and a new goni frag.

I just finished rearranging the corals and gluing them down, so no new pictures. I'll snap some in the next day or two.



I think moving forward I'd like to add two or three more fish and maybe some inverts and I think I'll call the stocking list done. I'm really wanting to add a Flameback Angel fish to this tank. I know they can be aggressive, so that would be the very last fish I'd add. Aside from the flameback I'm thinking red scooter blenny, and possibly a talbot's damsel or maybe a small wrasse of some sort.

Happy Labor day everyone!

 

[Kodski]

Here are some updated pictures. Everything and everyone is out and doing well. New fish are eating healthily already. The algea blenny doing its job nibbling at the rockwork and glass.

This rock is starting to come along nicely. A few more Goni’s and alve’s and it will finished. I need more corals up top but that’s reserved for hammers and torches.

I took down my 80 gal tank in preparation for its upgrade. Transferred over a few snails, hermit crabs, and a fighting conch. He’s already hard at work

 

[Kodski]

Oh also, I noticed today that I have some kind of flatworm all over the glass. So it looks like a wrasse is definitely going to be on the stocking list. Sooner rather than later too.

 

[Kodski]

Decided to go with 3 Talbots Damsels for the flatworms. They are apart of the Chrysiptera family which are known for eating flatworms. Added them yesterday and they seem to be settling in nicely. I’ve already seen them picking at the glass a few times where I’ve noticed the flatworms originally. So hopefully they will my the answer to that problem.

 

[Kodski]

I'm happy to report that I'm not seeing any flatworms on the glass any more after just a few days. The Talbot's seem to be settling in nicely to the tank.

 

[Kodski]

I did a 5 gallon water change last night, everything is looking great. I did find one Talbots damsel dead this morning. I figured that might happen. The other two are doing well though.

 

[Kodski]

A little update. My green hammer fell down right into my lobo. Needless to say the lobo killed it within the few hours it took me to notice. With that being said, my hammer “garden” was looking a little barren. So I picked up a few frags from a local reefer.

2/3 headed Bicolor frogspawn
1 head rainbow(?)/bicolor hammer
1 head Gold hammer
A nice fat frag of salted agave zoas
A small frag of pink diamond zoas

Everything is doing great so far!

I also picked up a two headed purple hammer and a frag of hydnophora. I’m not super familiar with hydnophora corals so any input would be nice. Seems like it’s somewhat similar to galaxia but can potentially branch and not just encrust.

 

[Kodski]

Two of my goni’s have been closed for a week or two at this point. I tested a few parameters today but saw nothing that stuck out to me as overly concerning.

Alk: 8.4DKH
Phosphates: 0.07ppm
Ph: 8.2

Last time I test I saw 0.00 ppm phosphate. I started feeding more and decreased the photo period on the chaeto by 2 hours. So now I increased the photo period back to where it was but still plan on feeding a bit heavier.

I’ve been dosing Aquaforest Amino mix two to three times a week and aquaforest growth boost twice a week. This could also be the reason for the elevated phosphate levels. I’d like to see a stable 0.03ppm but I’m not overly picky. I’ve ran .1-.2ppm stable in the past without issues. I think I’ll stick with feeding the fish heavily but back off on the AF growth boost. I feel like since it’s a powder it doesn’t get utilized by the corals and mostly skimmed out before the corals get a chance to capture it.

 

[Kodski]

After my big tank spent so long in a decline, it feels so so good to watch a tank do so well. I love that it’s in our dining room. My wife and I spend just about every meal in there staring at the tank just watching it. I removed a bunch of the zoas off the rock to frag them up a bit. I finally got them glued back down yesterday so I decided to snap some pictures today.

FTS:

Side shot:

Zoa garden:

Goni and hammer Garden:

Misc:

Now Time to stop staring and get the weekly water change done. I’m debating on removing the center rock from the sandbed. That wasn’t originally part of the scape, it was a piece of live rock I put in to help seed the tank. Part of my kinda of likes it though, the other part of me says make more room for lobos. Lol