Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

Earlier today I looked at my overly brown corals and my anemone which hadn’t been fully inflated and bubbly like usual. I did one last half dose of LaCl, came back down to check on things after a nap and this happened….

This also happened… but to give context this was last night…

And tonight….

It’s hard to tell but this is the blue coralline. It’s started growing again. The corals and the anemone seem happier. My duncans have put on a growth spurt since I added ALK and CAL over the last few days. I’m sure the trace elements from the water change helped also even though it was only a 15% water change. This picture was just taken 5 minutes ago.

My pods are just exploding. They’re all over the corners of the tank, all over the shell pile, and the surrounding sand, and on the sand bed close to the glass where the sand isn’t being pushed around.

I am going to strive to keep parameters right where they are more or less. Not in a chasing numbers kind of way but in a “know thy tank” kind of way. I’m on the right track it seems and so is my reef. Again thank you all for your awesome advice because I’d have probably crashed my system like 20 times by now left to my own devices.

 

[tbrown]

Great news! Keep it up!

 

[Fishy888]

I got some better pictures of the blue coralline once the lights went off.

It’s still not a perfect picture but it shows the color a little better. It’s a color between periwinkle and slate.

I took video of my pods after the lights went off.

Invasion of the ‘pods

youtube.com

 

[Fishy888]

I must have a fairly decent nitrate level because, while lyngbya’s on its way out even if a bit slowly, bryopsis is moving in. I’ve also got diatoms growing faster than anyone’s business.

The more diatoms and green micro algae the more pods which is great but I cleaned the glass about six hours ago and I already have to clean it again. It’s not as thick as it was earlier but I can see the brown film already again. At least it’s not stringy. I’ve had enough of dinos for an eternity or two.

I did another dose of phosphate-e tonight, dropping phosphates another 0.04 ppm. When I was bringing phosphates down from 1 ppm+ I was dosing enough to drop phosphates 0.08 ppm per day. This time around I’m watching trends, dosing just enough LaCl to get micro algae/ diatoms to grow once a day or even once every two days. That’s when I’ll know stored up phosphates are at the right level.

Spirorbids are spreading so my dosing of ALK and CAL is helping. My coralline is growing back now. It’s got white edges again and circular growth patterns again. It’s amazing what a little ALK and CAL can do.

My cabbage leather’s shedding again. I wonder if pods eat the slime off of leather corals at sea.

 

[Fishy888]

My wrasse eats grass. He’s a lawnmower…

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Make sure you've got a tight fitting lid on that tank. I've lost two YCW to jumping.

 

[Fishy888]

Make sure you've got a tight fitting lid on that tank. I've lost two YCW to jumping.

I’ll make one. Thank you for reminding me of that.

 

[Goaway]

I’ll make one. Thank you for reminding me of that.

I had... had... a spendid wrasse.. found the smallest knook to jump out from.

 

[Fishy888]

He’s temp acclimating. In a couple minutes he should be done.

My new yellow coris wrasse temp acclimating

youtube.com

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

He’s temp acclimating. In a couple minutes he should be done.

My new yellow coris wrasse temp acclimating

youtube.com

Clowns sitting there like WTHisTHISS??

 

[tbrown]

I almost got a Yellow Coris Wrasse once. Ended up with the Yellow and Purple (Four Spot) instead. Almost the same, just half yellow, half purple/pink/white. Both are beautiful fish! Good pick up!

 

[Goaway]

He’s temp acclimating. In a couple minutes he should be done.

My new yellow coris wrasse temp acclimating

youtube.com

Nice color for your tank.

 

[Fishy888]

Clowns sitting there like WTHisTHISS??

They’re going to find out in short order.

 

[Fishy888]

I almost got a Yellow Coris Wrasse once. Ended up with the Yellow and Purple (Four Spot) instead. Almost the same, just half yellow, half purple/pink/white. Both are beautiful fish! Good pick up!

Awesome! That sounds like a beautiful fish.

 

[tbrown]

Like I said, very similar!

 

[Fishy888]

Well my wrasse is being soft bullied. That is, the bullies aren’t trying to kick the wrasse out and they’re not trying to kill it like a dottyback or a domino damsel would; but my damsels want to keep the wrasse in the front of the tank over the open sand. The clowns don’t want the wrasse in the back of the tank, especially near the overflow. They seem to be doing slightly better with the bullying but I’ll be watching them.

Kathy and I are doing better than we’ve been so tomorrow’s going to probably be a day to catch up on chores and for me to set up one of the 10 gallon tanks I got. Once it cycles, if the bullying gets worse I’ll catch the silly yellow tailed damsels and put them in the 10 temporarily. I want to do a pod culture in there but that tank might get used as a penalty box when it’s needed.

 

[Fishy888]

It’s not all bad though. After I fed the fish some pellets the clowns relented a bit. The wrasse got to go to the back of the tank opposite the overflow and wasn’t bullied. He seems to be getting more brave. I originally expected him to dart into the sand first thing. He’s not swimming fast or breathing hard even when the others try to chase him. He may well end up the boss of the tank yet.

Here are a couple last pictures before lights out. Here he’s eating pods off the glass.

He’s just cruising here.

 

[Fishy888]

Nice color for your tank.

Thank you. Yellow and blue are my favorite two colors. The wrasse looks amazing under my light and he gives the reef some pop along with his color.

 

[tbrown]

Thank you. Yellow and blue are my favorite two colors. The wrasse looks amazing under my light and he gives the reef some pop along with his color.

If the Yellow is small enough and you want to brave it, find a smallish female Melanurus Wrasse and add her soon and you can have yellow AND blue. Mine get along, but it's a long tank and both were females when I got the . The Mel has started transitioning to a male so we're hoping the peacefulness stays.

 

[Fishy888]

If the Yellow is small enough and you want to brave it, find a smallish female Melanurus Wrasse and add her soon and you can have yellow AND blue. Mine get along, but it's a long tank and both were females when I got the . The Mel has started transitioning to a male so we're hoping the peacefulness stays.

I hope so too. I’ve thought about them too.