Dawn's seahorse garden!

[vlangel]

Nice vid! So many things to see. Good water movement too. Are you liking the gyre pump?

Honestly, I am loving it. Mine is the Ice Cap 3k which I thought would be way overkill for my tank. It would be except I use the mode with the reverse flow. It ramps up from 10% thru 50%, then ramps back down from 50% to 10% in forward. Then it does the same thing in reverse. The gyre stays pretty clean in that mode because anything it suck into it, it blows back out. The coverage is good and although not random, it's not always the same direction either. My coral have never done as well as they are doing now and I believe it is the gyre that is making the difference.

I have read criticism that they are noisey and vibrate but mine is dead silent, except when the water level drops and it sucks air from the surface. Then I know it's time to add ro/di water.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Good to know. Thanks! I love that yours stays cleaner by using the reverse flow mode. Elegant! The only criticism I've read is that parts can break and need replacing. Keep us apprised!

 

[vlangel]

Good to know. Thanks! I love that yours stays cleaner by using the reverse flow mode. Elegant! The only criticism I've read is that parts can break and need replacing. Keep us apprised!

I will do that.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I meant to ask you about your Green Clown Goby. How does it do? Is it tough enough to compete at feeding time?

 

[vlangel]

I meant to ask you about your Green Clown Goby. How does it do? Is it tough enough to compete at feeding time?

Sorry Michael, I am in Athens Greece so haven't looked at the forums. Both green clown gobies are getting right in there and getting their share. I will let you know if all is well with them after I get home and they have been down to just 1 meal a day for 10 days.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn. Enjoy your trip!

 

[vlangel]

Dave and I are home and enduring 'awesome trip hangover and the effects of jetlag!

I was pleased to see how well the tanks did in my absenced which is a credit to my wonderful sister. Sadly one of my fanged blennies died. It scratched on the sand since I got it and I am guessing that it weakened and finally succumbed from ich. RIP Sir Galahad!
The seahorses did well and even Eve looks bright. I was worried that she would not get enough to eat and although she looked a bit thinner I should be able to fatten her up again.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I hope you had a great holiday! Sorry to hear about Sir Gallahad, but happy to hear everyone else is good.

 

[vlangel]

2019-03-29_05-52-24 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-52-50 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-52-03 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-53-09 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-51-02 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-50-42 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

 

[vlangel]

2019-03-29_05-51-28 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-50-14 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-53-44 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
2019-03-29_05-54-11 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Lookin' good Dawn! Is that a DSB area?

 

[vlangel]

Lookin' good Dawn! Is that a DSB area?

Yes it is and it is where I contemplated adding some grasses. It was an even 4" inches until the gyre rearranged the sand. Most of it is still at least 3" so it could still work for a patch of sheol grass.

 

[Chasmodes]

Sorry to hear about Sir Galahad Dawn. Any idea what happened? Definitely ich? Any signs of other fish scratching or spots on them?

Your pics look great!

 

[vlangel]

Sorry to hear about Sir Galahad Dawn. Any idea what happened? Definitely ich? Any signs of other fish scratching or spots on them?

Your pics look great!

With me feeding this tank so heavily, I know that can favor ich. Sir Galahad and Spectre, the more shy dartfish have both scratched on the sand since I got them. I never saw spots on any of the fish. Aftet Sir Galahad died, then I even saw Marmalade scratch which was very upsetting. I decided to treat the tank with Prasipro (which I did not want to have to do ). I have not seen any scratching by any of the fish since so I guess it was the right choice. Fortunately, the prasipro has not adversely affected any coral or inverts.

 

[Chasmodes]

It sounds like it could have been flukes then. Hopefully, that will be the end of them.

 

[vlangel]

It sounds like it could have been flukes then. Hopefully, that will be the end of them.

Yes, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I am done with parasites. A future wish for this tank is a UV sterilizer. I had a small turbo twist years ago and it did a great job. I pulled water from the drain and returned it to the return and that way the fuge life was not going through it.

This morning I did my 1st full test of parameters values since the end of January. Back then PO4 was 1, NO3 was 25, CA was 475, Kh was 12, and Mag was 1350. Now PO4 is 1, NO3 is 30, CA is 450, Kh is 9.9 and Mag is 1350. With the values being so similar to January's numbers my weekly WCs are keeping up with the tanks usage. I know as my LPS get bigger and more established that my Kh and CA will be used at a faster rate than the water changes can keep up with but things are running smoothly now. The fish are keeping the nutrients up for macro and coral growth but not so much that the nitrates and phosphates are out of control. I had cut down to 2 large feedings a day instead of 3 since all the fish look nice and fat. No one seems to be suffering including the inverts. I even saw Cheerleader, the pom pom crab a day ago.

O yeah, and I found another bi-valve which is pretty cool.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds like you've got it humming along nicely. Good idea keeping your fish fat and happy. I should get better at that.

 

[vlangel]

Sounds like you've got it humming along nicely. Good idea keeping your fish fat and happy. I should get better at that.

Yes, I have been happy with how the tank looks, but checking the parameters verified what I already suspected...which is that everything is as it should be.

Some folks who keep acros and SPS coral are uncomfortable with how high my nitrates and phosphates are and I get that. They are used to controlling NO3 and PO4 more rigidly, plus most of them do not have macro algae to take up nutrients and out-compete nuisance algae.

However in the old days when I first started keeping a reef tank, the first time I tested PO4 and NO3 the numbers were much much higher, LOL. My PO4 was 6 and my NO3 was around 60 or 70 and I still didn't have much nuisance algae. I couldn't keep turbo snails alive and now I know why but hermit crabs did just fine and kept the tank pretty clean. That showed me just how high those numbers can go and still have a reef that looks pretty good. (I had a sabae anemone the size of a dinner plate!) It did have occasional outbreaks of cyano because of such high nitrates and phosphates. I would just syphon the cyano out and up my water changes and it would go away, LOL. I was so blissfully ignorant in those days that I marvel that I could keep anything alive! No doubt I am still blissfully ignorant but just not to the extent that I was 20 years ago.

 

[Chasmodes]

How are the fish treatments going?

I was so blissfully ignorant in those days that I marvel that I could keep anything alive! No doubt I am still blissfully ignorant but just not to the extent that I was 20 years ago.

I've been in the blissfully ignorant stage my entire time as an aquarist! :wildone:

 

[vlangel]

How are the fish treatments going?



I've been in the blissfully ignorant stage my entire time as an aquarist! :wildone:

I have not seen any scratching at all which is good. However, the other dartfish that was scratching disappeared, presumably dead.