Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

My package arrived tonight. I installed the new sediment filter, carbon block, and resin. It’s nice to have 0 TDS water again.

I put 15 TBSP of ROX 0.8 in a filter sock. I think I see a small difference in the amount of yellowing but I know it can take a while.

My CBS got treated to a shrimp stuffed in a shell to keep it from being carried away by the current. I placed it very close to her hiding spot. I was able to see a bit more of her when I checked in on her about an hour ago.

Normally I can only see her head and antennae when she’s in her normal hiding spot. I was able to see her front claw, her head and the front half of her body using my phone while taking a video of her. It wasn’t the best video I’ve ever taken but the phone light let me see her at least.

I’m not sure if the flash scared her or not but she didn’t move much until some amphipods ran by her. She seemed to try to grab at them or perhaps something else. I’m just glad she’s doing well.

Hopefully she’ll stop hiding all the time. I’m seriously considering adding some skunk cleaner shrimp or even a couple of peppermint shrimp.

I know smaller shrimp are supposed to be a no go with CBS but she was in with tons of peppermint and skunk cleaner shrimp. I think she was used to being with other shrimp and now she’s the only shrimp in a much larger tank, and that that’s why she’s hiding still.

 

[Katrina71]

Have you tried new life spectrum probiotic food? If Dory will eat pellets, it certainly could help her recover.

 

[Fishy888]

Have you tried new life spectrum probiotic food? If Dory will eat pellets, it certainly could help her recover.

I might have to try that! Thank you @Katrina71. I’ve fed NLS pellets before but I didn’t know they had a probiotic version. I know my LFS doesn’t have it but there’s always Amazon Prime.

 

[Katrina71]

I might have to try that! Thank you @Katrina71. I’ve fed NLS pellets before but I didn’t know they had a probiotic version. I know my LFS doesn’t have it but there’s always Amazon Prime.

We had a watchman that was stung badly and I feel 100% it saved her life.

 

[Fishy888]

Today I cleaned the sand a bit, scraped off the algae on the front and back glass, and used some CaCO3 powder to bind as much of the yellow pigment from the water as could possibly be bound. In an 8 hour period the tank went from this…

To this.

As you can see in these images I’m getting ready to make some more videos on my YouTube channel. I’m going to talk about my tank, being a budget reefer, and the animals I keep. As I’ve said before I don’t consider myself a reefing god by any stretch of the imagination, but thanks to R2R, especially the #Cronies, #Croniesrned a lot, and to be honest I consider myself to be a beginning intermediate reefer at this point. My hope is that I can help other reefers first and foremost, especially those who are on a budget. I want my reef and my channel to grow together.

Dory still has that bacterial patch on her but it looks to have subsided some but not nearly as fast as I’d like. I might have to set up a Rubbermaid tote to use as a hospital tank. She’d have to get broad spectrum antibiotics if she doesn’t get better soon.

I’m starting to think that cleaning the tank like I had been may have stressed her out. Soon I’m going to get some hose for my gravel vacuum and hook it up to the overflow. Of course I won’t leave carbon in the filter sock when I vacuum. I’ll just need a clean filter sock or three.

The rest of the fish are doing well. I need to research why Pepper the lunare wrasse has a sunken area on his underside. He’s had it since I’ve had him. I’m certain it’s because of the awful conditions Pepper and Dory were in before being rescued. Originally I thought it was caused by being malnourished. I still think that played at least an indirect role in this but if it’s a disease then the tremendous stress he was under from being malnourished and in a tank far too small for the number and size of its inhabitants paved the way for it. He’s certainly grown since being here though and he acts normal. He just has that sunken area.

My wife named my coral banded shrimp Gitana. It’s a cool name so that works for me. She’s awesome at naming things which is awesome because I’m not always the best exactly. Gitana is still in her hiding spot. I’m hoping to be able to get a couple of peppermint shrimp within the next couple of weeks which hopefully will help her to be less afraid to come out. If I can find a male CBS I’ll go that route. I would think a 210 gallon tank with a decent amount of rock would support two CBS, especially a male and female. Of course I could be wrong too.

 

[Katrina71]

It is really looking good!

 

[Fishy888]

It is really looking good!

Thank you. If I get my way it’s going to get better with time, especially as I get new, colorful SPS, fishes, and inverts.

 

[Fishy888]

Gitana the coral banded shrimp, although still hiding, reacted to being fed tonight by moving around the area where she stays hidden. I’m pretty sure she’s eating well. It may mean she’s going to come out soon, even if only for a short while here and there.

I just ordered a ton of shells for the hermits. For $14 I got 1000 shells. Some will be clam shells but even if 90% were clam shells and only 10% were snail shells I still come out ahead. They want .80 a shell at our LFS. I’d be paying .15 a shell at most.

My refractometer never made it yesterday but it shows as having arrived at our hub so hopefully it’ll get here tomorrow.

 

[Fishy888]

Well my refractometer made it today. My salinity is 1.034. Yikes! I calibrated the refractometer before I used it but with ALK, CAL, and MAG off the charts I was expecting maybe 1.030. Obviously I can’t bring it down all in one day but I hope to have it down to 1.026 (35 ppt) in 3 days or so.

 

[Projects with Sam]

Well my refractometer made it today. My salinity is 1.034. Yikes! I calibrated the refractometer before I used it but with ALK, CAL, and MAG off the charts I was expecting maybe 1.030. Obviously I can’t bring it down all in one day but I hope to have it down to 1.026 (35 ppt) in 3 days or so.

wow! that explains some of the uncomfortable coral!

 

[Fishy888]

wow! that explains some of the uncomfortable coral!

Among other things. I can’t believe I let it get that far out of whack but at least I can correct it now.

Edit: I got the salinity down to 1.031. Tomorrow I’ll get it to 1.028. Wednesday I’ll get it to 1.026.

The high salinity might well be why Gitana is hiding.

 

[Fishy888]

I replaced one of my filter socks tonight and transferred the carbon over. I added more flocculant after stirring up the sand bed, and I emptied the skimmer collection cup.

In a few weeks I’m going to order two ATI blue plus lamps and two ATI true actinics. I’m also going to get more hermit crabs too. I’m planning on getting ten hermits as well. They’ll have plenty of shells, that’s for sure.

I’m considering buying some more bumblebee snails. They’re incredibly cheap, especially considering how high inflation is. The only potential problem is that they might make mincemeat out of maximas (or any other clam).

I have vermetid snails that I hope the bumblebee snails will help eradicate in conjunction with coral snow. The more vermatids gone down the merrier.

Micro feather dusters are popping up in quite a few places. The red ones in particular are thriving once again. They’re my favorite ones out of the two species I have. I still have asterinas but not as many as I had. I haven’t seen a single micro brittle star in several months though. The high salinity no doubt played a role in their demise but the swings in water chemistry didn’t do them any favors either.

I’ll soon have my salinity where it needs to be, and I have a routine down now that should keep things more stable than ever.

 

[Fishy888]

It’s a nice feeling to be able to take it easy and just enjoy the tank. As I have gotten caught up on maintenance and as I’ve made upgrades to the filtration, it’s taking far less time and effort to keep things looking good.

Here’s how things look tonight.

The system has come a long way since the mini crash. Don’t get me wrong, there’s more to be done, and I’m going to discuss that in another post. Still, there are a lot of positive changes. In fact I think it looks better than at any point since I started the 210.

I took some images of my corals tonight. The softies have grown a ton since I’ve had them. My duncans have grown a ton as well. My montiporas are doing better now.

I thought I’d start with the purple digi. It’s been through a lot but it looks much better. It’s getting it’s purple back.

The green digi looks great tonight.

My reverse Superman monti was doing so badly I thought for sure it was a goner. It’s noticeably improved since then.

As for the rastas, I’m not so sure if they’re really rastas, but nonetheless they’re looking great. They’ve grown to three times the size they were when I got them.

There have to be 120 polyps minimum. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are 150.

My cabbage leather had three “leaves” on it when I got it 2 years ago. Here it is now.

This coral is a good 6 inches in diameter.

My duncans have been with me for almost 2 years now. The original frag had one large polyp and one medium sized polyp.

There are a good thirty polyps on it now if not more.

My devil’s hand coral has been growing and has quite a few polyps now. It had none when I got it.

Here’s my solitary mushroom coral. I hope it’ll propagate but not take over the world.

Although not a coral I thought I’d post an image of my Hawaiian feather duster since it’s been a while.

Gitana wasn’t hiding as deeply as she usually does. She was almost to the mouth of the “cave” she hides in. Hopefully she’ll come out tomorrow.

 

[Fishy888]

Other than needing to scrape some algae off the front glass and to blow some of the detritus off the sand bed tomorrow, no maintenance required. I suppose some might consider feeding the fish a part of maintenance but I consider them separate.

Last night I stated that, while my system has come a long way, it’s still got a ways to go. I’m enjoying the journey for the most part of course. Like every reefer I’ve had my bad, even heartbreaking moments, but I’ve also had some amazing moments too. Despite the losses along the way there have definitely been gains. This is the most successful I’ve been with the 210 in regards to water quality, appearance, and the overall behavior of the animals.

As far as stability goes, I’m closer but this is where my reef still has a ways to go. I’m going to replace the T5s in my MH/T5 hybrid fixture in March. I hope to get the pump and the rest of the plumbing in April, and the MH lamps will hopefully get replaced in May. Those things alone will create changes the system will have to respond to over time.

There will also be new fish, corals and other inverts coming to the Reef. They’ll have an effect on stability as well. As long as I don’t totally rush things though, their effects won’t be major.

 

[Fishy888]

Yesterday I saw a “question of the day” post about dosing heads and I read it through since I still have a lot to learn about dosing in general, such as what and why people dose what they do. I know why people dose major and trace elements as well as things like algae fix (one of many chemicals I hope to never need). There are many chemicals that I clearly don’t know much or anything about though.

Last night however I saw a post in the “question of the day” thread. @Fish Styx posted a picture of his very clean and impressive dosing system. I took a closer look and noticed that he doses something called Bacto Balance. I started researching Bacto Balance and came across some posts about cryptic sumps. I thought about doing that a long time ago but didn’t have the rock to do it with. Now I have enough to do a cryptic sump.

As for the Bacto Balance I’m leaning towards dosing it. It’s definitely expensive but it sounds good so far, and quite a few here on R2R dose it to their systems. Even though the cryptic fuge and Bacto Balance idea is a major change I think it’ll keep things much more stable in the long run.

I’m also considering carbon dosing but not for nutrient control. I want to dose enough to feed corals. This isn’t etched in stone but I’m thinking about it.

 

[Fish Styx]

Yesterday I saw a “question of the day” post about dosing heads and I read it through since I still have a lot to learn about dosing in general, such as what and why people dose what they do. I know why people dose major and trace elements as well as things like algae fix (one of many chemicals I hope to never need). There are many chemicals that I clearly don’t know much or anything about though.

Last night however I saw a post in the “question of the day” thread. @Fish Styx posted a picture of his very clean and impressive dosing system. I took a closer look and noticed that he doses something called Bacto Balance. I started researching Bacto Balance and came across some posts about cryptic sumps. I thought about doing that a long time ago but didn’t have the rock to do it with. Now I have enough to do a cryptic sump.

As for the Bacto Balance I’m leaning towards dosing it. It’s definitely expensive but it sounds good so far, and quite a few here on R2R dose it to their systems. Even though the cryptic fuge and Bacto Balance idea is a major change I think it’ll keep things much more stable in the long run.

I’m also considering carbon dosing but not for nutrient control. I want to dose enough to feed corals. This isn’t etched in stone but I’m thinking about it.

No need to carbon dose with Bacto. If coral feeding is your concern, I'll send you "Styx's Snow" recipe. It works as both a flocculent and a food source, and it is cheap and easy to make. ~ $20 a gallon.

 

[Mschmidt]

I add vinegar to the ato water. don't notice a difference, but the dose is low.
I may start dosing snow or the like (maybe cop styx recipe) now that I have a skimmer.

 

[Fish Styx]

I add vinegar to the ato water. don't notice a difference, but the dose is low.
I may start dosing snow or the like (maybe cop styx recipe) now that I have a skimmer.

Next time I see you, I'll send you home with a bottle to go with your frags

 

[Fishy888]

No need to carbon dose with Bacto. If coral feeding is your concern, I'll send you "Styx's Snow" recipe. It works as both a flocculent and a food source, and it is cheap and easy to make. ~ $20 a gallon.

I definitely want to go the Bacto Balance way once I get my phosphates down some. I want to know I have the right bacteria for the job.

I was considering carbon dosing short term but as I’m thinking about it that would potentially cause bacteria to get a foothold that I’d rather not deal with. Even if it was all good bacteria though I’d be swinging from whatever strains of bacteria would be in my system to the Bacto Balance bacteria. As a result I decided not to go there.

I’m going to start adding rock to the sump though. That’ll be tonight or tomorrow after Kathy and I get our errands done. Either way I’m getting it done.

 

[Fishy888]

Come to think of it I use plain CaCO3 powder as my coral snow. I considered the use of MB7 to make a coral snow recipe I read about on R2R but since I’ll be using the BB I’m leaving that idea alone.

Would using plain CaCO3 while dosing BB cause any problems? I wouldn’t think so but I want to be sure, especially since my system is actually approaching something like maturation. I don’t want to do anything to set that back.