TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

Did some testing today. Happy to see Phosphate down to .06 so it’s definitely heading in the right direction. Used my Hanna Alkalinity and Calcium checkers for the first time. Alk was 8.1 and Cal was 425 which is pretty much spot on what the Two Little Fishies Accurasea1 salt mix is supposed to mix up to (8 and 420). Frankly I couldn’t be happier with that salt mix, it dissolves clean and clear and comes in perfectly sized packets to mix up 4.5 gallons at 1.026 for my weekly water change.

Current FTS below with all five fish in the shot. They think it’s feeding time.

Moved the Favia from the middle to the right side to reduce the amount of light it was getting. It wasn’t looking too happy but now it seems to be perking back up. It’s been trying to split off a new eye for a while now so hopefully it likes this new spot and continues to grow. I moved the Zoa frag to a brighter spot and it seems to like that better too. The micromusa looks exactly the same as when I got it. Absolutely no discernible change to it at all.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Did some testing today. Happy to see Phosphate down to .06 so it’s definitely heading in the right direction. Used my Hanna Alkalinity and Calcium checkers for the first time. Alk was 8.1 and Cal was 425 which is pretty much spot on what the Two Little Fishies Accurasea1 salt mix is supposed to mix up to (8 and 420). Frankly I couldn’t be happier with that salt mix, it dissolves clean and clear and comes in perfectly sized packets to mix up 4.5 gallons at 1.026 for my weekly water change.

Current FTS below with all five fish in the shot. They think it’s feeding time.

Moved the Favia from the middle to the right side to reduce the amount of light it was getting. It wasn’t looking too happy but now it seems to be perking back up. It’s been trying to split off a new eye for a while now so hopefully it likes this new spot and continues to grow. I moved the Zoa frag to a brighter spot and it seems to like that better too. The micromusa looks exactly the same as when I got it. Absolutely no discernible change to it at all.

That’s a great level for phosphate. I’ve been working on mine. Did you test nitrate and how do you like the Hanna calcium checker? I hear it can be tricky. That salt sounds really convenient and mixes to solid levels.

The tank looks good, are you planning on anymore fish soon? That’s awesome the favia is growing most are pretty fast growers. Acans can be too but they really benefit by feeding. You just want to be careful with a new tank so your nutrients don’t sky rocket then cause algae issues. What are you feeding your fish? If you feed frozen just squirt a little bit in the acans mouth. Everyday I feed my tank a cube of mysis. I thaw it in a shot glass, feed 2/3rds to my four fish then spot feed the lps the rest. I just rotate everyday which ones I feed. It has been working really well for me so far. If you decide to start feeding I would check your no3 and po4 regularly until you see how it goes.

 

[TheWB]

That’s a great level for phosphate. I’ve been working on mine. Did you test nitrate and how do you like the Hanna calcium checker? I hear it can be tricky. That salt sounds really convenient and mixes to solid levels.

The tank looks good, are you planning on anymore fish soon? That’s awesome the favia is growing most are pretty fast growers. Acans can be too but they really benefit by feeding. You just want to be careful with a new tank so your nutrients don’t sky rocket then cause algae issues. What are you feeding your fish? If you feed frozen just squirt a little bit in the acans mouth. Everyday I feed my tank a cube of mysis. I thaw it in a shot glass, feed 2/3rds to my four fish then spot feed the lps the rest. I just rotate everyday which ones I feed. It has been working really well for me so far. If you decide to start feeding I would check your no3 and po4 regularly until you see how it goes.

Thanks, I’m happy with the tank right now and that phosphates are coming down. It was at .14 last time I tested. I didn’t test Nitrate today but I’m sure it’s also down from last week.
The Hanna Calcium Checker wasn’t too bad to work with. I watched a video Hanna did just to make sure I was doing it right. It’s a bit of a procedure but nothing that would make me test less.
The salt is really good in my opinion, hard to go wrong with Julian Sprung.

I believe the next two fish will be a Royal Gramma and a Lubbocks Fairy Wrasse. I also want a pair of green banded gobies later and a pair of black axil chromis. That might be getting towards too much bioload though.

I have not tried to feed my coral directly yet. I have a tool called Julian’s Thing that can be used for that so I might try soon. I feed my fish tdo chromaboost small pellets, frozen brine and frozen krill with selcon. I also have some pe mysis flakes and another food that’s a mix of pellets and flakes. I’ve had to cut back a little on the feeding to lower the phosphates along with two tablespoons of gfo in the reactor. I like to feed heavy and keep the fish fat but that does have its drawbacks.

Overall things are going fairly well. Got some light pink coralline starting to show on several of the Stax rocks. The rock looks much more natural now that it’s not so white anymore. Any updates on your tank? How’s the Chalice Palace doing?

 

[intricate_reefer]

Thanks, I’m happy the tank right now and that phosphates are coming down. It was at .14 last time I tested. I didn’t test Nitrate today but I’m sure it’s also down from last week.
The Hanna Calcium Checker wasn’t too bad to work with. I watched a video Hanna did just to make sure I was doing it right. It’s a bit of a procedure but nothing that would make me test less.
The salt is really good in my opinion, hard to go wrong with Julian Sprung.

I believe the next two fish will be a Royal Gramma and a Lubbocks Fairy Wrasse. I also want a pair of green banded gobies later and a pair of black axil chromis. That might be getting towards too much bioload though.

I have not tried to feed my coral directly yet. I have a tool called Julian’s Thing that can be used for that so I might try soon. I feed my fish tdo chromaboost small pellets, frozen brine and frozen krill with selcon. I also have some pe mysis flakes and another food that’s a mix of pellets and flakes. I’ve had to cut back a little on the feeding to lower the phosphates along with two tablespoons of gfo in the reactor. I like to feed heavy and keep the fish fat but that does have its drawbacks.

Overall things are going fairly well. Got some light pink coralline starting to show on several of the Stax rocks. The rock looks much more natural now that it’s not so white anymore. Any updates on your tank? How’s the Chalice Palace doing?

That Julian Thing looks sweet. I was really considering buying one but I ended up just getting some really big 12” pipettes. They were cheap and have been working well. I would try feeding the acans little pieces of that krill. They will take off.

Tanks been going good overall. It’s pretty much on auto pilot at this point. Which is good because I just started school. I have a few things I’ve been trying to tweet and dial in to hopefully get better color and growth. I’m going to try and get an update in this weekend sometime. I also have some corals coming in Friday. A chalice and five really nice micro acans, the small headed ones not like the normal bigger lords.

 

[TheWB]

I fed the corals for the first time yesterday with mixed success.

The red micromusa appeared to eat one piece of mysis with each mouth. I hovered over it with the mysis trying to get it to extend its feeder tentacles. I’ve only seen them barely stick out on a couple of occasions. The bigger one grabbed its piece of mysis pretty easily. The smaller one took longer and it kinda held on to piece with a longer stringy looking thing that kind of looks like what corals shoot at each other when they fight. It seemed like it reeled in the piece and ate it though. They both puffed up afterwards. I’m calling that a win.

The Devil’s Armor Zoa grabbed some mysis even though I wasn’t even trying to feed it. At least two of the polyps clamped down on mysis floating by like they were Venus flytraps. They grabbed the shrimp and immediately closed up. I’ve never seen that happen before with zoas so that was kinda cool. Big win on feeding the Zoas.

Not so much with the Dragon Soul Favia. I couldn’t get it to extend its feeders at all. I held pieces of mysis directly over all of its mouths and there was no response. It’s still fluorescing but it seems less puffy than before. I’ve moved it a couple of times trying to find a place where it likes the light and flow but I’m not sure it’s too happy. It’s been trying to split off a new mouth for a while and it’s making progress but really really slowly. I thought feeding might help but I couldn’t make it happen. Chalking this one up as a loss.

Here is what the Favia currently looks like. If anyone sees any signs of stress that I’m missing please let me know.

Overall two out of three eating on my first attempt. I’d rather be 3 for 3 but I’ll take it.

Fish all look good and coralline is slowly spreading onto more rocks. I was considering adding a very small amount of two part on a weekly basis to see if that might speed up the coralline a little bit but I think I’ll hold off for now and see how it goes over the next month. Did a water change this morning and changed out the filter pads and floss.

 

[intricate_reefer]

I fed the corals for the first time yesterday with mixed success.

The red micromusa appeared to eat one piece of mysis with each mouth. I hovered over it with the mysis trying to get it to extend its feeder tentacles. I’ve only seen them barely stick out on a couple of occasions. The bigger one grabbed its piece of mysis pretty easily. The smaller one took longer and it kinda held on to piece with a longer stringy looking thing that kind of looks like what corals shoot at each other when they fight. It seemed like it reeled in the piece and ate it though. They both puffed up afterwards. I’m calling that a win.

The Devil’s Armor Zoa grabbed some mysis even though I wasn’t even trying to feed it. At least two of the polyps clamped down on mysis floating by like they were Venus flytraps. They grabbed the shrimp and immediately closed up. I’ve never seen that happen before with zoas so that was kinda cool. Big win on feeding the Zoas.

Not so much with the Dragon Soul Favia. I couldn’t get it to extend its feeders at all. I held pieces of mysis directly over all of its mouths and there was no response. It’s still fluorescing but it seems less puffy than before. I’ve moved it a couple of times trying to find a place where it likes the light and flow but I’m not sure it’s too happy. It’s been trying to split off a new mouth for a while and it’s making progress but really really slowly. I thought feeding might help but I couldn’t make it happen. Chalking this one up as a loss.

Here is what the Favia currently looks like. If anyone sees any signs of stress that I’m missing please let me know.

Overall two out of three eating on my first attempt. I’d rather be 3 for 3 but I’ll take it.

Fish all look good and coralline is slowly spreading onto more rocks. I was considering adding a very small amount of two part on a weekly basis to see if that might speed up the coralline a little bit but I think I’ll hold off for now and see how it goes over the next month. Did a water change this morning and changed out the filter pads and floss.

That’s awesome you got a couple of them to eat. I’ve noticed once you start feeding them their tentacles will be out more, my acans have their feeders out all day now. I feed my fish first with the mp10 going but my returns off. Then I cut off all pumps and feed the coral, after corals done eating I turn just the mp10 back on for a bit hoping my fish will get some of the stuff my corals didn’t eat, I do this everyday.

The dragon soul looks good to me. Some favias will put put tentacles during the day after some food is floating around. It’s pretty much the smaller favaites not the larger ones like your dragon soul. I think a powder coral food is best for favias. You just gotta he careful with nutrients. One that is a little better on not have a lot is benepets benereef. I havent been feeding it lately but was thinking about starting to do a broadcast feed a couple days a week at night when the lps really have their feeders out.

That’s great about the coralline. Once it really spreads it will make it difficult for algae to take hold. As far as dosing I would test it after a water change, then again after the following water change. See how much of a drop it is then see if the water change alone is keeping up.

 

[TheWB]

That’s awesome you got a couple of them to eat. I’ve noticed once you start feeding them their tentacles will be out more, my acans have their feeders out all day now. I feed my fish first with the mp10 going but my returns off. Then I cut off all pumps and feed the coral, after corals done eating I turn just the mp10 back on for a bit hoping my fish will get some of the stuff my corals didn’t eat, I do this everyday.

The dragon soul looks good to me. Some favias will put put tentacles during the day after some food is floating around. It’s pretty much the smaller favaites not the larger ones like your dragon soul. I think a powder coral food is best for favias. You just gotta he careful with nutrients. One that is a little better on not have a lot is benepets benereef. I havent been feeding it lately but was thinking about starting to do a broadcast feed a couple days a week at night when the lps really have their feeders out.

That’s great about the coralline. Once it really spreads it will make it difficult for algae to take hold. As far as dosing I would test it after a water change, then again after the following water change. See how much of a drop it is then see if the water change alone is keeping up.

Thanks for the advice on the Favia and the insight on your feeding regimen. I’ll be testing tomorrow to see where my levels are and compare to last week.

 

[Fence13]

Have you put your skimmer on yet?

 

[TheWB]

Have you put your skimmer on yet?

Yes I have. It’s been running from the beginning. It’s the first generation ghost skimmer so no dc pump. It works ok, produces a wet, tea like skim. Gets a fairly good buildup of nasty looking stuff on the inside of the cone though. It’s doing it’s job the best it can I suppose. I may try to upgrade to something else at some point but reefing funds are limited right now.

 

[TheWB]

My Orange Back Fairy Wrasse jumped right out of the tank last night about 8:00pm as I lifted the screen top up to put in some food. I was startled and took a second to figure out what had happened. The room was fairly dark and with the tank light I didn’t see this happen, I just felt it hit the top and deflect past me. My Border Collie was first on the scene to where it landed on the floor. Luckily she actually listened to me for once when I told her to back off. I scooped him up and got him back in the tank. It immediately landed in the front left corner upside down looking like a possum playing dead. After about 30 seconds it darted away so fast I couldn’t see where it went. I finally found him under the island where he sleeps laying on the sand and not moving too much. By the time I went to bed he had moved back up into his cave where I couldn’t see him. I’ve been gone most of the day but when I got home he was hovering in his cave. I put in some food and he came out to eat. I guess it’s crisis averted for now. Hopefully he continues to move around and not show any ill effects of his trip to the floor. I was gonna be real upset if I’d lost him.

 

[TheWB]

Update time. I tested today (5 days post 25% water change) to see where Nitrate and Phosphate are while in the middle of this brown algae outbreak I’ve been experiencing. N was at 10 on Salifert, P was at 0.07 on Hanna ULR. Fish and coral all are doing well. Orange back wrasse has a blemish on his shoulder I believe he picked up from his trip to the floor a month ago but he seems fat and happy otherwise. Zebra bar gobies had been showing either spawning behavior or some other behavioral thing where they chased each other around the tank and kind of entwined around each other like snakes. It was pretty cool to watch. I tried to look up info on their spawning behavior but there’s not much useful info out there. The clowns are growing slowly and are still both about the same size so there isn’t a dominant one yet. They are showing a little more aggression towards each other than in the past but it’s not a lot. The zoas have grown from 4 to 12 polyps and have spread off of the plug. The Favia is still slowwwwly trying to split off a new head. It looks pretty good but it’s not really taking off at all. The micromusa feeds more actively now and looks bigger but has not split off a new head yet. It does stay nice and puffy though. Coraline is getting more prevalent on the back wall. It’s probably also growing more on the rocks but the brown algae us making it hard to see.

An almost FTS under white light. All three corals are there and the algae breakout is in full effect.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Update time. I tested today (5 days post 25% water change) to see where Nitrate and Phosphate are while in the middle of this brown algae outbreak I’ve been experiencing. N was at 10 on Salifert, P was at 0.07 on Hanna ULR. Fish and coral all are doing well. Orange back wrasse has a blemish on his shoulder I believe he picked up from his trip to the floor a month ago but he seems fat and happy otherwise. Zebra bar gobies had been showing either spawning behavior or some other behavioral thing where they chased each other around the tank and kind of entwined around each other like snakes. It was pretty cool to watch. I tried to look up info on their spawning behavior but there’s not much useful info out there. The clowns are growing slowly and are still both about the same size so there isn’t a dominant one yet. They are showing a little more aggression towards each other than in the past but it’s not a lot. The zoas have grown from 4 to 12 polyps and have spread off of the plug. The Favia is still slowwwwly trying to split off a new head. It looks pretty good but it’s not really taking off at all. The micromusa feeds more actively now and looks bigger but has not split off a new head yet. It does stay nice and puffy though. Coraline is getting more prevalent on the back wall. It’s probably also growing more on the rocks but the brown algae us making it hard to see.

Almost a FTS under white light. All three corals are there and the algae breakout is in full effect.

Sounds like things are going well. Hope that brown algae clears up for you, your levels seem to be in range. Algae can be funny sometimes. I get some on my frag plugs but my levels are low, I don’t get it lol. Glad the wrasse made it with only a blemish and that’s really cool about the gobies, must be really interesting to watch. Those zoas have really took off for you, wish I could get mine sorted out. I’m really surprised you have not gotten any new heads on the acan yet.

 

[TheWB]

Sounds like things are going well. Hope that brown algae clears up for you, your levels seem to be in range. Algae can be funny sometimes. I get some on my frag plugs but my levels are low, I don’t get it lol. Glad the wrasse made it with only a blemish and that’s really cool about the gobies, must be really interesting to watch. Those zoas have really took off for you, wish I could get mine sorted out. I’m really surprised you have not gotten any new heads on the acan yet.

Thanks. Algae is going to happen and my parameters aren’t terribly out of whack so hopefully it’s just temporary. I did turn on my IM midsize UV to see if that helps at all. Other than that just scrubbing the rocks with a toothbrush and cutting down on feeding somewhat. Also have a mix of GFO and Carbon going in the reactor. My cleanup crew has dwindled so I placed an order for some reinforcements from Reefcleaners last week. Probably see those arrive on Wednesday. The dartfish were definitely cool to watch but they aren’t doing it anymore. It will be interesting to see if they do it again at some point. I’m surprised the Acan hasn’t taken off just because it does look really good and it takes food. I may have too much flow for LPS but who knows. I don’t think it’s lighting, I’m using the LPS preprogrammed setting on the Radion. My nutrients could be better but they aren’t that bad and both the LPS and Zoas should be more forgiving in less than pristine conditions. I moved the Favia again back toward the middle where there is more light. I’ll see how it reacts and it’s next stop may be somewhere with more shade to see if that’s it’s thing. I‘ve seen conflicting advice on light and flow for both the Acan and the Favia. I’ve never kept anything other than softies and zoas in previous tanks so I’m relatively new to LPS. These two frags are my first and I’m just trying to go slowly and figure them out.

 

[TheWB]

Here’s a pretty good indication that a coral is hungry. Best feeder extension I’ve seen from this coral. Now if only it would start to grow.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Hers a pretty good indication that a coral is hungry. Best feeder extension I’ve seen from this coral. Now if only it would start to grow.

Wow looking good and hungry. Is that a little baby head on the back side? It looks like I can see a couple small tentacles

 

[TheWB]

Wow looking good and hungry. Is that a little baby head on the back side? It looks like I can see a couple small tentacles

I think that’s just a little algae. I can see what you mean though, it does look like a tentacle or two. I’ll have to take a closer look. It would be great if it was new growth.
When you get a minute take a look at the post I started in the LPS section. My Favia looks like it has some receding tissue in a couple of unexpected places and I’m interested in your opinion. Thanks

 

[intricate_reefer]

I think that’s just a little algae. I can see what you though, it does look like a tentacle or two. I’ll have to take a closer look. It would be great if it was new growth.
When you get a minute take a look at the post I started in the LPS section. My Favia looks like it has some receding tissue in a couple of unexpected places and I’m interested in your opinion. Thanks

I’ll check it out. Sorry to spam your page with pictures but I wanted to show off the growth on this holy grail acan. A little under 7 weeks apart and 8 babies

 

[TheWB]

No problem with spamming, I’m always up to see nice looking corals and that one is really nice. That’s great growth. I’m jealous.

 

[TheWB]

I guess I’ve got a deep cleaning to do this weekend. I just took a look at the dead spots in the middle return pump chamber of the Lagoon 50 AIO under the Fuge and skimmer sections. It’s filthy, really filthy. It’s no wonder I’ve got a diatom problem right now. This area is a total pain to clean. I would swap this tank out right now for the EXT version and a real sump if it was financially feasible, but it’s not. I cleaned out this area once before by using a bottom feeding pump I use for water changes and a short length of tubing. Basically I have to take out the return pump, churn the water back there into a muddy soup and then pump it all out and replace with fresh mixed water. It’s tight back there and I have large hands so thus is harder than it should be to do. I’ve got to figure out how to keep so much detritus from building up back there. I’m using 50 micron felt pads in each overflow but water must be bypassing the pad around the sides or something. Not happy with this situation at all but I’m not sure how I’m going to fix it.

 

[intricate_reefer]

I guess I’ve got a deep cleaning to do this weekend. I just took a look at the dead spots in the middle return pump chamber of the Lagoon 50 AIO under the Fuge and skimmer sections. It’s filthy, really filthy. It’s no wonder I’ve got a diatom problem right now. This area is a total pain to clean. I would swap this tank out right now for the EXT version and a real sump if it was financially feasible, but it’s not. I cleaned out this area once before by using a bottom feeding pump I use for water changes and a short length of tubing. Basically I have to take out the return pump, churn the water back there into a muddy soup and then pump it all out and replace with fresh mixed water. It’s tight back there and I have large hands so thus is harder than it should be to do. I’ve got to figure out how to keep so much detritus from building up back there. I’m using 50 micron felt pads in each overflow but water must be bypassing the pad around the sides or something. Not happy with this situation at all but I’m not sure how I’m going to fix it.

Man that’s a crazy amount back there, I wonder why. I’ve had my 30 nuvo set up for 9 months and haven’t cleaned the back once and there is barley anything back there. Maybe because I’m bare bottom and suck a lot out during water change. I’m using just poly-fil pillow stuffing you can get at Walmart, works well for me. As far as getting the stuff out I heard of people using this liquid transfer pump from harbor freight. Not sure how good it works but it’s cheap. Might be worth a shot.

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