Najer's zen twins.

[najer]

Simon you are a reefing phenomenon (I think this is the right word but It’s a compliment)!! Lol

The tank looks beautiful so sit back enjoy the view, beer and vodka preferably together

My current tipple as I type, is Vanilla absolute vodka chaser with a home made beer called Old Suffolk strong Ale. And they compliment each other beautifully.......

And me and Simon are ok because it’s ‘time’ here in England! You lot in the US will have to wait, well.......

Excuse the delay in reply, thank you!
Not all is a lost cause lol, I do get low with the lows of the tank but when I see glimmers of hope like this I perk up again!

 

[SPR1968]

Excuse the delay in reply, thank you!
Not all is a lost cause lol, I do get low with the lows of the tank but when I see glimmers of hope like this I perk up again!

Are you transferring all of this tank into the bigger one your thinking about when it is set up, or are you going to run both ?

Forgive me if I’ve missed that bit.

 

[najer]

Are you transferring all of this tank into the bigger one your thinking about when it is set up, or are you going to run both ?

Forgive me if I’ve missed that bit.

This will stay running and I will decide what direction to go when the new tank is done, the big tank will be softy only so I can try some naughtier fish.

 

[najer]

Morning led only, must be breakfast time then?!

 

[najer]

The below pic is horrid in case you want to skip past, serious, my day could have started better.
The little boy mandarin went through the M1, this is it's tail poking out of the spraybar, I have removed and cleaned the spraybar.

The rest is a photo dump as I can't be bothered to explain stuff.

 

[najer]

I need to get an ID on this monti, a friend described a coral he was looking for a while back and I think this is it so I will be able to do him a frag!

 

[Katrina71]

I'm so sorry about your little Mandy

 

[SPR1968]

Sorry about the Mandarin Simon!

 

[najer]

Thanks all, I have calmed down, it was sort of my fault, I should have built an intake guard by now!
... actually I haven't calmed down, Vectra pumps are not cheap, mine is an M1, it has never missed a beat, who supplies high power pumps without a guard?

Anywho, had a great couple of hours at my lfs, the ladies are getting their blueberry gorg back today, I took a small plastic jug in and showed them how to do food baths without exposing the coral to air so the polyps don't clamp shut, Clare does the feeding, Al looks after the apex side of things, you should have seen the smile on Clare's face as she put her finger in every couple of minutes to swirl the water and the polyps opened up for her!
They test their own water but I got them to bring a sample in and took some of my water, they came out at .1 phos and 10 nitrates, mine was .05 (I will get back to this) phos and 100 nitrates, I showed them a pic of my desk view, their jaws dropped at the nitrates but you could see both stopped worrying about nutrients.
I feel like I did a good thing today and that makes me happy!

I tested 2 days ago and got phos at .5?!
I had my salinity in both tanks at 39 / 40!
After a re calibration by me and then the shop I currently have the twins at 35.5 and puddle at 35, it turns out that at the salinity I tested at the results were wonky so I haven't dropped it from .5 to .05 in 2 days!

I might have treated my self!

 

[najer]

I just emptied the skimmer cup and then removed it, it's the only way I can tweak it, nudged bubbles up a fraction, re placed the cup, at least if it throws a hissy fit the cup is empty this time!

 

[najer]

Skimmer fine!
I need to about 2 more 2 litre water swaps and get to 35 again today and then I will test again, trying to figure out how to deal with these nitrates, I need to do some water changes.
There are still a lot of hacked off leathers, carbon change later.
Something is changing slowly, my water is clearer, still yellow but progressing and I have sps growth so now just to balance things again.
I took the phos media out the minute I got back from the lfs yesterday with that phos reading and fed heavily last night to stop it getting any lower.

I have been watching this popping in and out, it is on the maricultured people eater rock.

I wish they would open up so I can show you the sparkly faces!

 

[najer]

My not so little minx, I love my flame.

I popped to the other lfs I use today, mine is closed on Mondays, they had their first Indo box last Tuesday.
I saw the pictures on facebook but couldn't make it over until today.
I was very surprised that this was still there, they always used to do 3 colour cultured pieces!

The only live food they had left was mysis os I bought the last 3 packs, I'll pop them in after lights off or it will be carnage!

 

[najer]

As soon as I focused for pic two I put the camera down and made up a dip.

Pink.

Blue / purple, notice the hydroid on the tip, I don't care which type it is hydroids worry me!

 

[najer]

Ok, second dip done, much harsher dip, I think we might have got away with it!

 

[najer]

The fish just had breakfast, the orange pot is a new one I picked up on the weekend, they go nuts for it, I like to vary what they get to keep them on their fins!

 

[Magellan]

Glad I’m not the only one who feeds flakes and pellets! I think it helps with my nutrient control a LOT, and my fish are fat and happy I supplement with frozen mysis too, but only a couple times a week.

Anything in particular you feel is “best” all around?

 

[ScottR]

Glad I’m not the only one who feeds flakes and pellets! I think it helps with my nutrient control a LOT, and my fish are fat and happy I supplement with frozen mysis too, but only a couple times a week.

Anything in particular you feel is “best” all around?

Keep in mind that flakes and pellets are nutrient dense. I try to do mysis as much as possible. Not saying mysis are better but I worry that pellets add too many nutrients to my already high nutrient system. After cutting pellets, my NO3 dropped big time.

 

[ScottR]

The fish just had breakfast, the orange pot is a new one I picked up on the weekend, they go nuts for it, I like to vary what they get to keep them on their fins!

This is a nice variety. You must have many happy tank inhabitants.

 

[najer]

This is a nice variety. You must have many happy tank inhabitants.

I like to vary their diet plus they can algae graze or hunt for pods etc all day.
Flake is my daily choice for feeding and I have 5 types, all have slightly different additives so it hopefully boosts their health.
The new orange pot, Brine shrimp plus is the first flake that the leopard wrasse has gone for actively, it takes other flake in passing, this usually means a fish will start taking other flake, hopefully!
I feed pellet as a treat or to tempt tricky feeders, frozen gets fed a few evenings a week also and I have about 10 different types of frozen to shake things up a bit!

 

[ScottR]

I like to vary their diet plus they can algae graze or hunt for pods etc all day.
Flake is my daily choice for feeding and I have 5 types, all have slightly different additives so it hopefully boosts their health.
The new orange pot, Brine shrimp plus is the first flake that the leopard wrasse has gone for actively, it takes other flake in passing, this usually means a fish will start taking other flake, hopefully!
I feed pellet as a treat or to tempt tricky feeders, frozen gets fed a few evenings a week also and I have about 10 different types of frozen to shake things up a bit!

Sounds nice. I feel so simple now. I have one type of pellet. A few frozen. And some live brine and nori in between. I’m interested in the orange ocean nutrition as I’ve never seen it.