Evolutions since my last post:
RMA:
* ViaAqua Poly-Reactor: Bought on 06/15/2010 for adding carbon to my quarantine tank, the pump didn't last a month! Update: received the new pump and it died as well. Replaced the broken pump with a MaxiJet 1200.
The pump I am using for mixing salt water is looking like it is going to die soon as well. Update: it was just a matter of cleaning. Disasembled, put all parts into a buck with vinegar and now it is working fine. The use of vinegar to clean fish tank parts was one of the best tips I got.
Broke/Needs maintenance:
One of the display tank powerheads isn't working anymore
Sqwid needs cleaning up, it is pushing water thru only one of its outputs, the problem is that there is no easy way to remove it from the system...
Upgraded:
Upgraded the maxijets from the quarantine tank with Koralia powerheads
Added timers and pumps for automatically dosing alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium
Parameters:
Finally alkalitiny is somewhat constant at 8-9 dKH, calcium finally above 400 ppm, and magnesium usually at 1,300 ppm, although this week it dropped to 1,200 ppm. Zero for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Livestock:
I've been having ups and downs with livestock, unfortunately more downs than ups:
* Anthias: Bought five, four died mysteriously, couldn't even find the bodies.
* Schooling banner fish (Heniochus): Bought two, they died.
* Sailfin tang: Developed a bit of ich, but recovered, it is fine now.
* Blue tang: Got a little bit of "white carpet", but it refused to collaborate, I couldn't net it to move to the quarantine tank, so it died.
* Firefish: Died
* Dragonet: Died (Vanished)
* Flame scalop: Died
* Anemone crab: Bought two, one "vanished" (may be alive, I can't find it), the other one is fine
* Bought also some cleaning shrimp, they are still alive
* Bought a new Clam and it is fine, though my old clam died
As for corals, some of the ones I bought got the "white band disease" and died. Unfortunately one of the corals introduced flatworms in my tank, now I have this other problem.
I am taking pictures of the corals as I buy them, here are some explanations:
The first very frags I bought, the bird's nest is fine, and it has a fast growth rate, the green acropora on the bottom right is doing fine, but the upper coral died (bleached):
From the batch below, the lettuce coral (center) presented white band disease, ditto for the brown montipora (upper left), and died. The orange scrolling montipora is doing fine. The other two corals are the same bird's nest and the green acropora of the previous picture.
And from the batch below, the coral on the lower right died (bleached), the other are doing fine, although one of the branches of the blue montipora (top) is bleaching as of today. I am keeping an eye on it.
I have more corals, but forgot to take pictures.
The evolution of the display tank can be seen below.
08/07/2010:
10/09/2010:
Thanks for taking the time to look.
Gabriel
