I usually just confess to Mike Solitude and Greg LOL but thought I'd share. Good and bad right?
So I killed the first round of SPS I added. Luckily two of my buddies gave them to me, so although I'm not out any money I feel really bad about killing them after the generosity. They slowly browned then bleached. Alk was stable at 7.5 or so during that time. Nitrates and phosphates have been and still remain zero. I do have a bunch of Brightwell Aquatics Neo Nitro I'm going to start adding. Even zoas, and other coral don't seem to like the new tank. I've got approx. 20 fish now. Some coraline but I wouldn't say its taking off quite yet. I do need to scrape the glass once a week or so. Just a light film.
I've been pretty good about QTing new fish going into the tank. Not all have gone through copper. The first two tangs I added initially just went through General Cure. I managed to get the blue tang, anthias, and most of the other fish through Copper and General Cure over the course of about 45 days.
The tank still had no nutrients after adding several fish. So in my haste I added a Scopas Tang and an Ornate Leopard Wrasse. I just popped and dropped as Greg likes to call it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and all 4 tangs have both ich and black ich (which I've learned is a worm of some kind). Great right? I know ich can come in with anything, but most likely either the fish I added that didn't go through copper had it lying dormant, or the new tang and wrasse did the job. There has been a little bit of aggression from the transitioning male Bimac so that probably isn't helping things.
After one round of Prazi in the display tank, the black ich is gone, and the two yellow tangs and scopas tang's ich seems to have gone down some. The blue tang is still covered but eating like a pig. I guess its now ich management for me rather than strict QT. I still may put new fish through copper in QT, but not to eliminate ich. Mainly velvet or brook. I'm definitely not going to pull all the fish and re QT.
I do intend on removing the male Bimac Anthias so the tank can be a little more peaceful which I think will help, and continue to feed heavy until I start registering some nutrients. Anyone interested in the anthias? Its really pretty. Free of course. Up to you if you want to QT it or not. Eats like a pig... flake, pellets, mysis, you name it.
So all in all not a good run so far but I'm still enjoying my fish only tank.
Next is a PAR meter and an ICP water test and I will go from there. :beer: