SaltwaterandLime's epic adhd build thread....

[SaltwaterandLime]

Thanks to a dang hitchhiker crab, I'm fairly certain my trachy is on its way out.

It had been looking unhappy the last few days but I had assumed it was because everything was getting stirred up in the move. I noticed today that it had skeleton showing so I was going to try a last ditch effort with a dip.

.....found a stupid little gall looking crab thing on its underside. It had to have come on with the live rock.

 

[OutColdCRNA]

Thanks to a dang hitchhiker crab, I'm fairly certain my trachy is on its way out.

It had been looking unhappy the last few days but I had assumed it was because everything was getting stirred up in the move. I noticed today that it had skeleton showing so I was going to try a last ditch effort with a dip.

.....found a stupid little gall looking crab thing on its underside. It had to have come on with the live rock.

View attachment 3084448

Don’t give up on it. May come back as long as there is still flesh on it.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Just booked our hotel and tickets for Reef-a-Palooza Orlando. Cant wait to see everyone again!

https://reefapaloozashow.net/pages/orlando

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

I had started to consider taking the skimmer out of the red sea sump and replacing it with a refugium in that same chamber....... but after some reading and a good conversation with @sixty_reefer I think I've been having the wrong expectations for my nutrient export plans....

I still kind of wish I had room in the sump for a refugium, also.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

I somewhat feel like we've been playing musical tanks for the last six months, but we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The red sea 250 is running fairly stable and the few corals it has are doing well.

We picked up a red and black Bashsea ATO reservoir that fits perfectly in the cabinet next to the sump. I still need to find a better way to organize my dosing containers though.

The bedside anemone tank is cycled but not ready for light or an anemone yet. It's currently running an aquamaxx skimmer that I'm not completely happy with.

The banggai will eventually be moving over into the macro algae tank, but it's going to get a complete overhaul first.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Brought home a few things from Reefapalooza Orlando. The bubble tip anemone is by far my favorite score!!!

I also brought home a small melanarus wrasse that is doing very well and has added a lot of life to the tank, but it's impossible to get a good photo of it.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

The tank did well being left alone for 3 days, I'm super happy with my dosing set up. I have been noticing a slight drift down in salinity so I'm going to work on bringing that back up.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

I ended up moving the reefwave 25 to the peninsula tank, and placing 4 nero 3s on the red sea 250. I have two on the back and two on the sides

The anemone tank is doing amazing, I have a radion xr15 over it but running it at maybe 20% max right now

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Got into the sump this weekend and did a bit of a clean up in there. Took apart the return pump and got a lot of gunk out of it. Eventually I want to replumb the pump and add in some sort of a check valve also. Not sure if that's possible.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Still struggling with numbers. I don't want to feel like I'm constantly chasing numbers, but I also want to get my tank healthy and running smoothly before I spend a lot more $$$ on corals. SPS and zoas are doing well. Frags I brought home from RAP Orlando and @WWC are already starting to encrust over the glue/epoxy and polyps are always out and puffy. Euphyllia and LPS are all dead. When I started to see tissue loss and skeleton exposure I took them all out and dipped them in lugols and placed them back in my older tank and they started to recover and show promise for a few weeks and then just completely gave up. I have two left that are just barely hanging on but I don't expect them to survive either.

The two nano tanks are both doing great. The anemone has grown so much since RAP and stays open and hasn't moved since I first put it in the tank. The softy tank is showing a lot of new growth also.

I just wish I could get the red sea stable

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Placed an order for a custom lid from @Top_Lids for the red sea also. I know it will take quite a while before it's done but I'm still excited to have it on order. I'm still using the diy option from redsea right now and it's functional but a constant pain to work with since I have to take it off entirely any time I need to do anything, including feed, and I'm always dropping at least one corner back into the tank and freaking out the fish. I love that I was able to tell them exactly where I need my cut outs to clean up my wires also.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

We've been going back and forth for quite a while on what to do about cleaning up the wire disaster that belongs to the red sea tank. We never made a final decision about how we wanted to set up a control cabinet so there has just been a giant rats nest of cords sitting beside the tank. Even though I'm perfectly capable of building my own cabinet we realized it was worth it to us to just buy something to save the time and effort. Our weekends are just way too full this time of year to add in another time consuming project.

We also had struggled to decide on whether we really wanted a controller and if so what brand. We finally decided on an apex with power bar and a trident. Ordered everything this weekend, hopefully it will be here soon so we can get it put together before the graduation party for Ian.

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Borrowed a PAR meter from my local fish store and got a better idea of where my lights were at. Can't wait to get some more corals into this tank.

 

[Top_Lids]

Placed an order for a custom lid from @Top_Lids for the red sea also. I know it will take quite a while before it's done but I'm still excited to have it on order. I'm still using the diy option from redsea right now and it's functional but a constant pain to work with since I have to take it off entirely any time I need to do anything, including feed, and I'm always dropping at least one corner back into the tank and freaking out the fish. I love that I was able to tell them exactly where I need my cut outs to clean up my wires also

We're stoked to work on this with you Deborah, your lid design is in your inbox to approve so we can get going with production!

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

We're stoked to work on this with you Deborah, your lid design is in your inbox to approve so we can get going with production!

Approved! Sorry it took me a few days to get the tank measured.....

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Not much has gotten done this week, but I'm proud to announce that we have a HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE!!

There have been a few moments in my middle child's life that we jokingly wondered if he would ever graduate, and this week he not only graduated, but graduated a WITH HONORS!!!

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

We are one step closer to having some decent wire management....

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

Upgraded from a 4 stage RODi system to a 7 stage. Our well water goes through mixed bed resin very quickly so I'm hoping this will help.