Perseverance Reef

[F i s h y]

 

[F i s h y]

I just wondered if they fight each other even when on opposite sides of a big (6’ or more) tank.

Nah less chemical and more physical lol

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

Have to say them are good looking right there

 

[Fishy888]

I was going to go to Springfield Monday to check out the new store in town but my wife canceled the appointment she had on Monday so I’m going to go to Bloomington instead. I still want to check out the store in Springfield but they don’t have a very large selection yet since they just opened. I don’t want to waste gas just to come home empty handed. Of course whatever corals I end up with I’ll post pictures here and in Frank’s Cafe.

My digitata is a fighter. It was as open as it could be. There’s more living tissue than it seems. I’ve been mainly taking images of the front of the coral. I took images of both the front and the back.

My other corals are doing well too for the most part. Ever since the cabbage leather I got from my friend started disintegrating in my DT I’ve noticed my mini cabbage leather colony sheds more than usual. I wonder if the Kenya tree got so irritated from the terpenes from the disintegrating cabbage leather that it’s at war with the mini cabbage leather colony. The Kenya tree opens nicely though so it could be something else.

My leptastrea and leptoseris are growing now and the rastas are growing at a good clip. The xenia and mushrooms are doing amazing as well.

All the animals are doing well too. I have very high hopes for Perseverance Reef. It’s going to be spectacular if I get my way.

 

[tbrown]

Wow my typing is awful hahaha now i see why @tbrown always makes fun of me sniffle sniffle...lol hahaha

I never make fun of you.

 

[tbrown]

I was going to go to Springfield Monday to check out the new store in town but my wife canceled the appointment she had on Monday so I’m going to go to Bloomington instead. I still want to check out the store in Springfield but they don’t have a very large selection yet since they just opened. I don’t want to waste gas just to come home empty handed. Of course whatever corals I end up with I’ll post pictures here and in Frank’s Cafe.

My digitata is a fighter. It was as open as it could be. There’s more living tissue than it seems. I’ve been mainly taking images of the front of the coral. I took images of both the front and the back.

My other corals are doing well too for the most part. Ever since the cabbage leather I got from my friend started disintegrating in my DT I’ve noticed my mini cabbage leather colony sheds more than usual. I wonder if the Kenya tree got so irritated from the terpenes from the disintegrating cabbage leather that it’s at war with the mini cabbage leather colony. The Kenya tree opens nicely though so it could be something else.

My leptastrea and leptoseris are growing now and the rastas are growing at a good clip. The xenia and mushrooms are doing amazing as well.

All the animals are doing well too. I have very high hopes for Perseverance Reef. It’s going to be spectacular if I get my way.

I had a ROAB Digitata that had 0 flesh and 0 polyps. It has since tripped in size.

 

[Fishy888]

So I came home with some encrusting montis and a green digitata. Well and a baker’s dozen of asterinas. They’re all about halfway through the acclimation period now. I just took these images.

Once they’re done with their acclimation period I’ll glue them down and place them in a shaded area.

 

[Fishy888]

My new frags are now in their new homes. So far they look great. I took images under the halides and or under my single actinic T5 lamp. I hope to get the three non working lamps replaced before long.

Ok I threw in a picture of a couple of the asterinas. I got 13 of them.

Here are the images under actinic lighting.

I’m going to clean the glass today and hopefully get the new rocks in.

I’m excited about where things are going. Perseverance Reef is starting to look like, well, a reef.

 

[Fishy888]

So far no signs of distress in my new corals.

This last image doesn’t show the true color of the coral in the image. I need to learn to take better pictures. At any rate this coral is still green and red. It’s not puke green and brown.

Oh and here’s one of the stars of the show…. There were three on the front glass when I took these images. I can clearly see two still on the front glass from where I’m sitting right now.

 

[Fishy888]

It looks like my purple digi is starting to grow back. Here’s an image from Saturday of the upper branch.

Here it is tonight.

As you can see in the above image my chaeto seems to be shedding. I don’t know if it’s because Dory may be picking at it when I’m not looking or if it just does this naturally but those are strands of chaeto and not zooxanthellae being exposed.

Now my reverse Superman monti is open but not to the extent it was. It might well be browning due to phosphates.

Here’s my red and green.

Of course the algae on the glass doesn’t help but it looks like it’s turning gray. I blew some detritus off of it so it closed up. It started reopening when I took the image.

The green digi looks as awesome as ever.

 

[tbrown]

What are you testing currently?

 

[Fishy888]

What are you testing currently?

My Hanna phosphorus checker blinks “200” so my phosphates are over 0.6 currently.

I need to get some new MAG and CAL test kits and fairly soon. Those will be Salifert for now.

I’m going to do an ALK test tomorrow, also Salifert.

I need to get my nitrates tested, hopefully tomorrow as well. I have plans to buy a Hanna checker for that or to get one for Christmas.

Nitrates tend to be ultra low in my system though which keeps algae at bay. Between my xenia which are growing explosively and my almost basketball sized chaeto ball I can’t buy nitrates.

I also need to buy a potassium test kit too.

I’m going to do a good sized water change too. That should help quite a bit. I need to scrape the algae off the back glass while the water level is lower so I can keep it from falling back into the water.

 

[tbrown]

My Hanna phosphorus checker blinks “200” so my phosphates are over 0.6 currently.

I need to get some new MAG and CAL test kits and fairly soon. Those will be Salifert for now.

I’m going to do an ALK test tomorrow, also Salifert.

I need to get my nitrates tested, hopefully tomorrow as well. I have plans to buy a Hanna checker for that or to get one for Christmas.

Nitrates tend to be ultra low in my system though which keeps algae at bay. Between my xenia which are growing explosively and my almost basketball sized chaeto ball I can’t buy nitrates.

I also need to buy a potassium test kit too.

I’m going to do a good sized water change too. That should help quite a bit. I need to scrape the algae off the back glass while the water level is lower so I can keep it from falling back into the water.

Potassium is the one I was curious about. I've read that low potassium can cause Montis to fade/grey out.

 

[Fishy888]

Potassium is the one I was curious about. I've read that low potassium can cause Montis to fade/grey out.

I was reading that too. I’m going to try to get a kit for that and some potassium. Stump remover would give both nitrate and potassium. Hmmmm.

 

[tbrown]

I was reading that too. I’m going to try to get a kit for that and some potassium. Stump remover would give both nitrate and potassium. Hmmmm.

@Randy Holmes-Farley doesn't recommend using stump remover for nitrates. I can't remember if it was because of the potassium or the potential impurities.

 

[Fishy888]

@Randy Holmes-Farley doesn't recommend using stump remover for nitrates. I can't remember if it was because of the potassium or the potential impurities.

I love his articles. I read that but it’s been a bit. I need to reread that article before I do anything stupid. I’m pretty sure the main issue with stump remover was the potassium since it’s a key component of plant fertilizer. Plant fertilizer = algae of course. There are impurities of course in stump remover but they make food and grade potassium nitrate. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t recommend that either, though in my situation he might recommend the higher grade “stump remover “.

I see signs of graying on my green digi and my reverse Superman montis now. The polyps are mostly closed but where they haven’t turned gray they still fluoresce.

Ironically the monti with the most polyps currently out is the purple digi which is the one that’s healing. I’m not sure if potassium also causes that or if it’s the phosphates. I’m definitely making progress in taking phosphates down but I can only go so fast.

 

[robotrash]

I was going to go to Springfield Monday to check out the new store in town but my wife canceled the appointment she had on Monday so I’m going to go to Bloomington instead. I still want to check out the store in Springfield but they don’t have a very large selection yet since they just opened. I don’t want to waste gas just to come home empty handed. Of course whatever corals I end up with I’ll post pictures here and in Frank’s Cafe.

My digitata is a fighter. It was as open as it could be. There’s more living tissue than it seems. I’ve been mainly taking images of the front of the coral. I took images of both the front and the back.

My other corals are doing well too for the most part. Ever since the cabbage leather I got from my friend started disintegrating in my DT I’ve noticed my mini cabbage leather colony sheds more than usual. I wonder if the Kenya tree got so irritated from the terpenes from the disintegrating cabbage leather that it’s at war with the mini cabbage leather colony. The Kenya tree opens nicely though so it could be something else.

My leptastrea and leptoseris are growing now and the rastas are growing at a good clip. The xenia and mushrooms are doing amazing as well.

All the animals are doing well too. I have very high hopes for Perseverance Reef. It’s going to be spectacular if I get my way.

I'm over in Springfield and have been to the new shop. If SPS is your thing he's got a decent medium sized frag tank with a number of frags in it. He hasn't updated the site since he's still busy getting set up in the shop. Might be worth the drive though! If you like torches he runs "Torch Tuesdays" where they're 20% off I believe, pretty nice deal. Euphyllia is definitely the focus, at least to start, as the largest frag tank is filled with euphyllia of various type and some random frags of other stuff. Otherwise everything else there looks healthy and clean!

Here's the Green/Purple Splatter hammer I picked up from them:

Good folks, definitely worth checking out!

 

[F i s h y]

I love his articles. I read that but it’s been a bit. I need to reread that article before I do anything stupid. I’m pretty sure the main issue with stump remover was the potassium since it’s a key component of plant fertilizer. Plant fertilizer = algae of course. There are impurities of course in stump remover but they make food and grade potassium nitrate. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t recommend that either, though in my situation he might recommend the higher grade “stump remover “.

I see signs of graying on my green digi and my reverse Superman montis now. The polyps are mostly closed but where they haven’t turned gray they still fluoresce.

Ironically the monti with the most polyps currently out is the purple digi which is the one that’s healing. I’m not sure if potassium also causes that or if it’s the phosphates. I’m definitely making progress in taking phosphates down but I can only go so fast.

Going to try to be delicate with this response but you have been around us ( #Cronies ) long enough to know that we only want to help. I think you need to focus on your stability and keep accurate tabs on the big 5. You need to get some consistency and only change one thing at a time over a long period of time. I've been reading your thread for a while and I've seen you change many things. You should also get a par reading of your tank, more light is not always better when a tank is new, and sometimes even when it is mature.

Focus on your Alk, Ca, Mg, No3, and Po4. Use a quality salt and you will never have to worry about things like potassium. Your tank needs more time. You may have used pieces and parts of existing reefs to put it together like live rock, but your methods have been shaky and you have had speed bumps all along the way. Your tank is trying to mature and stabilize. By continually changing things and adding new coral you are not allowing it to do so and i fear you will continue to waste money.

Start with quality test kits. you will lose more money in coral, spend more money on additives you don't need, and waste way more time than any of us have if you don't.
Then test daily for a period of time, get consistent results with changing as little as possible.
Then test weekly. All 5 tests. as your tank gets more stable you will know which ones you need to test more or less often.
Understand that adding livestock and changing feeding frequencies or types of food could change your parameters and understand the relationship in those, like more pellet foods equals (tyically) higher Po4.

Be able to read your tank and react accordingly. I can tell you exactly how my tank is and what may be off by looking at each type of coral. By the amount of algae on the glass, by where my snails are located in the tank even. I can taste the water and tell you what the salt level is.

You are not being patient enough. I don't want to see you get frustrated and leave the hobby. I don't want to see you spend more money than you have to. I don't honestly want to see you have more coral losses. I would be happy to tell you about my routine if you have questions, how i got my tank where it is and how I maintain it. I don't even do water changes anymore. I know you have seen my current reef, it has only been up since April. and the components that i moved from my prior tank are just now at the 1 year mark. You can build a beautiful tank relatively quickly. but it takes consistency and discipline.

Stepping off the soap box now. Hope I didn't offend, but after your last pics someone has to step up and be a true reefing friend and advocate for you.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

I agree with @F i s h y....i tried to go quickly with the 55g frag and unfortunately had losses and some losses hit harder then others.....fishy was there with me lost and frank as well as all the others here i can call fam bam.... All of them telling me to slow down and focus or even just sound advice like fishy has given. Since then i have been able to go from testing daily to 3 days to weekly to bi weekly now to only when something looks off....i know my routine and know when things need changed replaced and tweaked...i also know if and when i need to do a water change which is no longer weekly. I still hit up fishy Frank and lost all the time with questions and sometimes it might be a duh answer but still rather safe then sorry.....even when the 200 goes up for me its gonna be a min. Of 3 mos b4 coral goes in and only going to start with tester pieces i have a lot of or dont mind killing off just in case its not ready.....patience is the name of the game and consistency.....now i am not expert level taste the salt and tell you ppt like fishy but i am slowly getting there....use your resources here we all care about you and want to see you successful. And to get there is to be consistent and create stability first. Then the rest comes easier after you establish your routine...
Keep on reefin on buddy....you got this slow and steady....

Once you are stable i would love to give you some things through the r2r express.

 

[fishguy242]

You know you can call anytime, have a skimmer if you need one ,etc ...