Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

What I initially thought was a “mystery algae” was where the snails cleaned the rock. The rock looks much better now.

My shrimp were out most of the day yesterday; and I saw one of the two actually swimming as it was grabbing small pieces of food. The other one was picking at algae (and pods probably) about six inches below the swimming shrimp. I’m going to add more eventually which will encourage them to come out more. I’d never seen either shrimp actually swimming instead of walking and climbing until yesterday. Hopefully it means they feel secure and confident enough to keep coming out.

I’m starting to see coralline on the shells of my hermit crabs. Their shells didn’t have coralline on them when I got them. Although it’ll take time for the rocks to turn purple; I know the more coralline on snail and hermit crab shells the faster coralline will grow in earnest. Seeing coralline growing in places it wasn’t before is a sign that my reef is getting more healthy. I’ll take it!

 

[Mschmidt]

Sounds like you're coming along.

 

[Fishy888]

I moved the mushroom rock down to the sand. That places the mushrooms about 2 to 4 inches above the sand bed. The GSP on that rock are a good 5, perhaps 6, inches above the sand bed.

The zoanthids are now glued to a piece of rubble instead of the frag plug. They were (and still are) attached to a small chip of rock. I pried it from the plug and glued that to a piece of rubble. I might have gotten a dab of glue on one of the polyps. Two of them opened up a bit though.

I’m pretty happy with the rockwork, especially since I only had to move one big rock. I moved the shell with coralline to the middle of a pile of shells and rubble. I have it touching some rubble and other shells so hopefully they’ll purple up too.

That pile is going to be built up a bit. It’ll be a mini bommie. I’m going to glue the rubble pieces together into a hill. It might end up with my iron oxide zoas and maybe utter chaos zoas.

Once the system is ready for SPS I want to get a Christmas tree worm rock. I was looking at some last night online. I can’t remember which dealer but they’re sponsors of R2R. They weren’t crazy high in price either. It’s going to be a bit before my system is porites ready. Once it is though I am definitely getting one.

 

[Fishy888]

The rock I got for my birthday is growing coralline like crazy. I noticed it tonight while topping off the DT. I’ll try to get some decent pictures of it later today. I don’t know if the pink stuff likes white light/higher PAR. My MH lamp’s been in use for at least 2 weeks however so I think it’s going to do well. It helps that the rock is lower in the tank than it was and it’s partially shaded in the areas where at least half of the coralline is growing. This particular rock had a small amount of coralline when I got it but it’s got much more now and in more spots. My newest snail has the same coralline on it. I’ve seen a few more spots of the pink stuff on other rocks as well. The shell I was taking comparison pictures of has purple coralline on it. On the side of that shell facing the light the coralline started to fade. The other side had better growth and a deeper purple. I’m going to move the shell to a shaded area today.

I hope to have several colors of coralline eventually. Even if I couldn’t have any colors besides the pink and purple that would be fine by me. A coralline bloom in any color means the system is healthy and stable. Once I see enough coralline coverage I’ll be trying m. digitata and m. capricornus. If I’m successful I’ll start thinking about nems, clams, other SPS, etc.

Two of my zoanthid polyps opened up and look great. The other two stayed closed. If I remember correctly zoas can shed like leather corals. I think they might have gotten a small amount of glue on them. I’d think the glue would wear off with time even if they can’t shed it.

 

[Fishy888]

Last night I did a phosphorus test and got 0 ppb. We all know what that equals in phosphates. I’ve been feeding the system quite a bit each day however.

It was time to harvest some algae. I didn’t realize how much there was to harvest. I got about a gallon worth of GHA and cyano out of the sump. That was about half of what was in there but I left the other half alone since it’s doing such a good job of keeping nutrients at bay. It’s also a great hangout for pods.

I lost part of my original GSP colony. It came loose at one point and the mat was just floating around. I glued it to a rock but the mat is slowly disintegrating. The part of the colony that’s still alive is still attached to the frag plug. It’s also coming loose. I likely pressed down too hard when I glued the mat that’s now disintegrating so I’m going to try using rubber bands and glue. Hopefully that’ll work.

My.other corals are doing well though. Today I’ll target feed my duncans. For a while I didn’t target feed them so they hadn’t grown anymore heads. I started the target feeding again last week and I’m seeing some signs of growth.

My fish are doing well too. I want to add more but I’m unsure what fish I want to add next. I’d love a yellow or green coris wrasse but I value my feather dusters and other sand dwelling animals.

 

[Fishy888]

Soooo last night his happened….

January 26, 2023

Unidentified mite in overflow of reef tank. I assume these feed on algae. If this isn’t a mite or if you know what type of mite it is please let me know. Thi...

youtube.com

I like checking out the micro light as well as the macro life so every now and again I make recordings that I go back and watch closely. I think it’s a water mite. I only see them on the glass behind the corner overflow. There’s more algae/cyano there so more pods there than anywhere else in the DT.

Considering I have zero SPS and two zoanthid polyps and there’ aren’t any mites on them ( or any other coral, fish, etc) I’m pretty sure they’re algae munchers.

 

[tbrown]

Soooo last night his happened….

January 26, 2023

Unidentified mite in overflow of reef tank. I assume these feed on algae. If this isn’t a mite or if you know what type of mite it is please let me know. Thi...

youtube.com

I like checking out the micro light as well as the macro life so every now and again I make recordings that I go back and watch closely. I think it’s a water mite. I only see them on the glass behind the corner overflow. There’s more algae/cyano there so more pods there than anywhere else in the DT.

Considering I have zero SPS and two zoanthid polyps and there’ aren’t any mites on them ( or any other coral, fish, etc) I’m pretty sure they’re algae munchers.

Looks like a little tick!

 

[Fishy888]

Looks like a little tick!

Doesn’t it though?

 

[fishguy242]

@Erin1971Texas ,any idea on critter ??...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

@Erin1971Texas ,any idea on critter ??...

Not really

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

@Erin1971Texas ,any idea on critter ??...

I mean, marine mites come to mind but I don't have any links or pics that look like fishy's...

 

[Fishy888]

Not really

Woohoo!!! I’ve discovered something new! Maybe they’ll name it after me… LOL. Seriously though I’ve never seen anything remotely like this in any of my other tanks over the years. As long as it doesn’t cause any harm to the animals I’m good.

 

[tbrown]

Woohoo!!! I’ve discovered something new! Maybe they’ll name it after me… LOL. Seriously though I’ve never seen anything remotely like this in any of my other tanks over the years. As long as it doesn’t cause any harm to the animals I’m good.

Hey folks, I'd like to introduce you to our newest reef hitchhiker, the Fishy888 Saltwater Tick Mite!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hey folks, I'd like to introduce you to our newest reef hitchhiker, the OG rainbow Fishy888 Saltwater Tick Mite!

There, I fixed it for ya.

 

[tbrown]

There, I fixed it for ya.

Worth some money now!

 

[Fishy888]

Worth some money now!

Yeah. Everyone will want them now. I’ll be nice though and start them at ONLY $1,000 a piece.

 

[tbrown]

Yeah. Everyone will want them now. I’ll be nice though and start them at ONLY $1,000 a piece.

Occasionally you might find an extra special one and have the Ultra OG Rainbow Fishy888 Saltwater Tick Mite that you'll have to mark up slightly to $5k.

 

[Fishy888]

So after harvesting a bunch of algae from the sump a couple of days ago I ran a phosphorous test last night. I got 19 ppb which translates to 0.057 ppm of phosphates. It’s well within the range I’m looking to keep. I’m still feeding like I usually do and I haven’t dosed LaCl in a month give or take.

I went looking for more mites tonight. I didn’t see any but I did see a nematode or two and a baby bristle worm. The baby bristle worm was about 0.25 to 0.5 inches long and a slightly translucent white color. The bristles were prominent. It looked to be eating detritus but it could have been a pod or a baby mite. I was at max resolution at that point and couldn’t resolve the particles it was eating.

 

[sfin52]

Soooo last night his happened….

January 26, 2023

Unidentified mite in overflow of reef tank. I assume these feed on algae. If this isn’t a mite or if you know what type of mite it is please let me know. Thi...

youtube.com

I like checking out the micro light as well as the macro life so every now and again I make recordings that I go back and watch closely. I think it’s a water mite. I only see them on the glass behind the corner overflow. There’s more algae/cyano there so more pods there than anywhere else in the DT.

Considering I have zero SPS and two zoanthid polyps and there’ aren’t any mites on them ( or any other coral, fish, etc) I’m pretty sure they’re algae munchers.

You need a leapord wrasse

 

[Fishy888]

So I managed to find where someone posted a video of marine mites in the algae in their overflow. The fact that I know of two tanks now that have marine mites in the overflow makes me think these mites feed off of pods. The mites are at least 20x smaller than my isopods. They might predate on amphipods. I doubt they feed on copepods however since they’re quite a bit smaller than the mites. Mites only eat the fluids of their victims so I don’t think they’d bother with the small amounts of fluids they could get from pods smaller than they are. They’d have to work much harder catching smaller pods when one isopod would be much easier.

Last night I decided it was time to increase the flow from the return. I originally cut the PVC in the return pipe about 3/4 of an inch short. I left it that way because the return line had a leak in the silicon where the pipe goes into the DT. I fixed it using J.B. Waterweld. It’s reef safe and binds to both glass and PVC. It’s held up quite well. I cut a 3/4” piece of PVC and slipped it on. I’m definitely getting more flow now.