Marc, I'll try again Wednesday night.
Well my tank has passed the 7 week mark! :beachbum: :celeb1:
Parameters:
Salinity- 1.026
Temp- 78.5-81.5 (With T5s on for more than 4 hours the temp can creep to 82 when the ambient room temp rises above 70. A slight draft from the slider kills that)
Flow- Almost 1000gph
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- .10
PH- 8.3-8.4
Alkalinity- dkh 6.4/2.6meg/l (I completely forgot to test after adding the buffer, but I will tonight)
Water Changes- 6 aprox. 8 gallon water changes. I'm now moving into a 2 week schedule.
Diatoms- bloomed and subsided. Algae went from brown to green. There's a slight copper colored buildup on the sand, and I'm seeing the beginnings of some red algae below the sand. The green has agressively covered any bleached coralline(it's kinda has a flourescent quality- it's kinda attractive next to the purple coralline). My snails are quite happy. The brown algae on the rocks started to look like it might form into hair, but one of my Astreas passed over this rock and it went bye bye.
Aiptasia- the initial nukings of boiled water only killed it temporarily.
I then injected it with a high calc/salinity mix, but this didn't kill it completely. I took Tyler's advice and used the high calc/salinity mix via a turkey baster. This worked amazingly well, because the "crevice" it was in was a very clever hiding place as it extended to two sides and completely through to another opening on top of the rock. The solution forced into the Aiptasia hole had the effect of going through the rock at four distinct points..leaving it nowhere to hide. No Aiptasia since.
Polyclad- I have not seen that large polyclad since. A couple of reefers in my club suggested it still might be a Stomatella snail, as their shells can remain fairly hidden. When I talked with Bob at the last meeting, he confirmed he had quite a few in his tank; so it's possible I just snagged one from his sand.
Possible Pyramid Snails- What I had initially ID as pods in the murky water, upon introducing some live sand from Bob's tank, turned out to be tiny snails. These are identical looking to pyramidellae, and they only venture out at night. However, from what I've read, and my browsings of Dr. Ron's forum, there are tons of look alikes that are harmless. The snails I have seem to be achieving sizes of 1/4 inch- too large for pyramids. Their population seems to have wained a bit. I'm going to monitor these within the next few weeks. If they do disappear, they may have been pyramids, and with nothing to eat, they will die out. There are no pyramids that prey on both clams and snails. I have carefully inspected my snails, and none are infested. Time will tell.
Coralline- The Brazillian Live Rock had some really intense purples on it. Under the T5s this coralline is thriving, and I'm getting continued new growth. There are deep purples, pinks, and deep red/ burgandys. There is also a flourescing orange that comes and goes.
Filter Feeders- I had a huge population of tube worms forming about mid way through my cycle. This population has been cut back a bit. On one rock, that area is completely covered in coralline. I attest the loss of some of my others to my snails just having mowed them over. What I have noticed is that the more calcerous tubed onces are thriving, and I have one as large as a dime with multiple colors.
Sponges- I have some beautiful white sponge. I had a very tiny outcropping of yellow that I can no longer find. There was a large section of orange sponge underneath one of the rocks. Some of this has now migrated to a couple of the front pieces. I also have this strange fuzzy brown stuff on one rock with small, clear bubbles embedded in it. They almost look like eggs. It doesn't seem to be spreading, and I'm still trying to decide if it's sponge, bacteria, or something entirely different.
Worms- I have an awesome spagetti worm from Bob's tank. I can see more and more bristle worm tracks forming, and I've been able to see babies hangin out of rocks(And of course I saw them spawn- way cool). I took a flashlight and looked at the bottom pane of glass one night, there are a few tracks even that deep- I'm thinking that's a good sign. I have some hair worms, and I also have a long clear worm I got from Bob's tank. I forget what you call it, but it sends out part of it's body into the water column to feed- pretty neat too.
Pods- Pods- :bounce1: A couple of weeks ago I was lucky to see a very tiny one scurry through the rockwork. Now almost every time I turn the lights on I see a few in the rocks. I even saw a couple of pretty large porkers. A couple of nights ago, I saw one tooling around the sand. Another night my girlfriend says, "There's one of those things you like." It too was crawlin out along the sand.
Stars- I have a few Asterinas and some micro brittles. I have one very, very cool black and white Asterina.
Other neat stuff- I'll find white hydroids on the glass every so often.
I have a couple of baby clams embedded in the rockwork, and if I wasn't mistaken with my ID, I had a baby non-sessile clam moving about the tank. I also have a seriously cool 20 year old chiton that I see just about every other couple nights.
T5s- I've lived with these for almost a month, and I'm definately open to suggestions. I'd like to change out at least one of the bulbs. I currently have from back to front:
blue+
blue+
sun
aquablue
sun
blue+
Option 1- change out the front sun to a blue+
Option 2- change out the front sun to an aquablue, with the possibility of changing the other sun to an aquablue in the future
Any thoughts?
Current Inhabitants:
Fish:
Brazilian Flameback Angel
Snails:
2 Astrea
3 Trochus
2 Tiger Trochus
7 Nassarius Vibex
One Hawaiian Feather Duster
Corals:
2 Purple Spotted Actinodiscus
2 Purple Actinodiscus
4 Rhodactis Inchoata from Tonga
1 Rhodactis sp green/pink
1 Red Spotted Actinodiscus
Purple Tip Montipora Digitada :spin3:
Something on their end is screwed up, and I have to call them at 8am to get it back online. This will be my third contact with them, and hopefully it will be resolved quickly.
It's actually on a front rock. My powerheads are in the back- still a pretty moderate flow area.
