Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[nemodan]

hey Guys!


yes... busy..

I'll try to work on a photo and news update this weekend..
I have some good, some bad news.. nothing major..

thanks for asking!

Good to hear from you Matt !!!

Daniel

 

[reefmutt]

So, since my last red slime treatment, I started dosing some nitrate which was keeping it at bay but just barely. My cheato was rotting in my sump and nutrients were pretty high...
I took Daniel's advice and changed out my cheato but also decided to do some iron dosing and also took Bulent's advice and started using a new Seachem product called Phosbond. Phosbond is a hybrid of Phosguard and gfo. It's more efficient than the aluminum oxide in phosguard but not as aggressive and not nearly as dusty as gfo.
My plan was to hopefully help the cheato along with the iron, lower the po4 a bit with the Phosbond, begin adding more food instead of dosing nitrate (as per Luca's advice) and then dose the tank AGAIN with a cyano killer. This time I used Blue Life Cyano RX.
I also left the product in the system for longer before adding Carbon and restarting the skimmer- 4 days.
As of yesterday, the cyano is completely gone from my system. The last few treatments did not eradicate it. Now it's completely gone... Hopefully for the foreseeable future!
My current numbers are N: 2ppm and po4: .11
Considering the last few times I tried to kill of the cyano, I had mini nutrient spikes, I think the new cheato is actually kicking in now that the cyano is gone.
Both bubble algea and bryopsis have also slowed down a bit.
I've been harvesting bubbles, so they don't look so bad. I have noticed that after removing bubbles, the yellow and purple tangs and the Fiji foxface go in and begin yanking at popped bubbles and whatever else gets uncovered..
I have to say, I am still really happy with the colour, growth and general health of my corals.
It's time to start removing corals that I am not crazy about to make room for the ones that I want to keep that are growing.
This will be tough!!! But I have no choice. I can't keep all the pieces I have stuffed into the tank..
Here's a couple random shots from yesterday.
Fts.. Will begin to change significantly as I start moving colonies..

Centre area.. My favorite section atm.. But will change a bit..

Clam shot!

Three musketeers from Raja are all growing well..

Random shot..

Deep water corner.. These guys are basically in the bottom front of my tank..

I'm finding that my shots are needing more and more warming up in post production. Even with my camera set in 10k (which is max) they are coming out very blue..
I have more but no time to post them.. Maybe soon..

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Thanks for the latest update Matt. If I closer to you, I would buy most of your unwanted corals.

I am glad about the demise of cyano. The new Seachem product for removing phosphates sounds intriguing. I will read on its specification.

Cheers

 

[markalot]

Great update, glad the cyano treatment went well. I used chemiclean in my smaller tank and it did work well but the nutrient spike 4 days later was pretty large. Ironically the only acro not to brown out was a little frag of the nasuta, which has been brown in my 150 for months now. Silly acros.

I really like how your scape lends itself to having a lot of acros.

 

[mhucasey]

That's awesome that you turned the corner with Cyano- I'm about there myself. How many fish do you have in there now? The corals and the overall look of the scape is really coming along! You do have a bit of a case of "green Acro overload" though, it happens to us all.

You should focus on reds, pinks and light blues to balance the color more as you start the replacement process. I have to restrict myself to specific colors before I go to the store now otherwise I'd get more green acros myself:lolspin:

 

[fessoclown]

Thanks for the update!

looking good! I haven't had to deal with cyano yet, I am happy for you to have cleaned it out.

 

[Geeray]

I may be interested in some of your rejects and I only live an hour away...

 

[nemodan]

Matt nice to hear all is going well and Cyano has gone !!!

Looks like we are in the mood of some changes. This weekend I closed the deal with local reefers for a nice piece of Ora Joe the coral, a pink Acro and a cream Milli. I will pick them up at the end of the week.

To place them in my "crowded" tank I moved a pipe organ colony that was in a corner of the landcape. It was relocated to the fuge.

Next weekend will post on my thread.

Your tank, as always, looks great, and as many have said, I wish i could pick up your discarded corals..... whatever you have there are all great !!!!

Cheers !!!
Daniel

 

[Myka]

thanks, Perry.. I try! It has encrusted well but I don't think it has grown very much... I'll be patient.. I love that piece as well..


Mindy, are you saying that dosing n or po4 at night? I have doubts that a skimmer really removes a lot of inorganic n and p.. I would think a skimmer is more effective and physical removing organics and by extension lowering inorganics..
.. Unless you've mixed up inorganics and organics .. In which case, I would tend to agree..
Excess inorganics leading to more intense colours and super low inorganics leading to more pale colours..

Yep I make boo boo.

As much as I like your fts now, I can't wait to see how it looks once you thin it out. I'm a huge fan of less is more. You should try picking favorites in a tiny tank like mine!!!

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks for the latest update Matt. If I closer to you, I would buy most of your unwanted corals.

I am glad about the demise of cyano. The new Seachem product for removing phosphates sounds intriguing. I will read on its specification.

Cheers

Thanks Bulent. There are plenty of boring corals that I never take photos of.. Some of those will go.. I will have to make some tough choices, though..
As for the cyano... I hope it stays away!

Great update, glad the cyano treatment went well. I used chemiclean in my smaller tank and it did work well but the nutrient spike 4 days later was pretty large. Ironically the only acro not to brown out was a little frag of the nasuta, which has been brown in my 150 for months now. Silly acros.

I really like how your scape lends itself to having a lot of acros.

Thanks, Mark! I wouldn't have my scape any other way.
Luckily, I haven't have any brown outs.. Just temporary but dramatic slowdowns in growth.. Then they pick up again..

That's awesome that you turned the corner with Cyano- I'm about there myself. How many fish do you have in there now? The corals and the overall look of the scape is really coming along! You do have a bit of a case of "green Acro overload" though, it happens to us all.

You should focus on reds, pinks and light blues to balance the color more as you start the replacement process. I have to restrict myself to specific colors before I go to the store now otherwise I'd get more green acros myself:lolspin:

Thanks, Matt. Yeah.... Green... Corals like to turn green on me.. I've added several nice red or blue corals that have ended up green.. Trust me, they won't be in there for long! But yes, I have to get the reds going!
I have about 32 fish in there... Give or take..

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks for the update!

looking good! I haven't had to deal with cyano yet, I am happy for you to have cleaned it out.

Thanks, Jeff.. Like I said.. I hope it stays away this time.

I may be interested in some of your rejects and I only live an hour away...

Hey Geeray.. My rejects aren't really all that great.. And you may change you mind once you see the end of this post..

Matt nice to hear all is going well and Cyano has gone !!!

Looks like we are in the mood of some changes. This weekend I closed the deal with local reefers for a nice piece of Ora Joe the coral, a pink Acro and a cream Milli. I will pick them up at the end of the week.

To place them in my "crowded" tank I moved a pipe organ colony that was in a corner of the landcape. It was relocated to the fuge.

Next weekend will post on my thread.

Your tank, as always, looks great, and as many have said, I wish i could pick up your discarded corals..... whatever you have there are all great !!!!

Cheers !!!
Daniel

Thanks, Dan, congrats on the new corals.. Just like any desperate reefer, you found a spot! Nice job!

Yep I make boo boo.

As much as I like your fts now, I can't wait to see how it looks once you thin it out. I'm a huge fan of less is more. You should try picking favorites in a tiny tank like mine!!!

Thanks Mindy... I removed a few corals and it really is a relief when there is suddenly some space between them..
I will have to make some very tough decisions, though.. I do want to try to keep my favorites and remove some duplicates.. Then rearrange..
It's so hard.. You start thinking about which corals you want to remove but before you're done, you start thinking about the corals you want to put in the empty places and then you're thinking about wether you really want to remove THAT coral.... And then you're totally overwhelmed and you don't want to do anything!.. Well that's what happens to me..
I have to concentrate on removing first.. Baby steps!
I would have heart palpitations if I had a smaller tank to deal with...

So I mentioned earlier that I had good news and bad news.. Well here's the bad news.....

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n...AAAAAAAAD2I/blP-VmToCoI/s2048-no/IMG_3273.JPG

 

[reefmutt]

Shoot... That didn't work... I had to stop using photobucket because it won't work for me anymore. Can't upload, can't edit, can't delete.. Can't do anything. I try to upload an image to photobucket and it uploads for half a day and then nothing happens or it uploads 15 of the same image and then I can't delete them because ohotobucket doesn't recognize the file it created...
I figured I'd use google, but clearly Google doesn't work the same way photobucket..
Well.. Not sure what I'm going to do now...
Anyways if you click the link you'll see a nice little visiter in plain view on the coral...
Not too happy about it... There seem to be extremely few... I think the peppermint shrimps do a pretty good job at eating the eggs but the adults seem to be able to move around a bit..
I'm not going to freak out or do anything drastic like tear down the tank.. I'll watch and if necessary start using a power head to blast the buggers off and let the fish eat them..
I have done the tear down the tank and qt the corals for months thing already... I just do not have it in me to do it again..
I will learn to live with them or not.....

I'm more bummed about Google web albums not working like photobucked!!! I have some really nice new shots that I started editing in snapseed and they came out so well..
Any suggestions on other photo sharing sites that show up properly on RC??

 

[plyle02]

Ouch...
Looks like it was blown off another coral and landed there... Looks like we have a new challenge on our hand, thoughts with you man!

 

[reefmutt]

Here.. This was one of the last images to work on photobucket..

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks, Perry!
I'm actually not too freaked out about it..
I don't think it'll get to bad with regular maintenance..

 

[plyle02]

Thanks, Perry!
I'm actually not too freaked out about it..
I don't think it'll get to bad with regular maintenance..

I know man, just sucks to be processing photos, and see that appear on such a beautiful coral, ughhh.... I had them one time, and I was running zeovit, I had used the basting method for control, that and my corals almost encrusted over the eggs, and bite marks, the growth was that incredible... I find that healthy acros, with lots of flow, and fish that will eat them make it possible to live with them. You just have to add another maintenance program to your schedule, but very doable. Man I tell you after what I went through in the past couple of months, if I found them, no way would I go through the process of cutting, dipping, quarantine, dipping, inspecting, that and having your display acro free. Just a hassle, I am leaving things alone for a good while in my tank, time to just sit back and relax

 

[nemodan]

Here.. This was one of the last images to work on photobucket..

Matt.... do you mean the brown flat worm over the Acro ?

I have similar in my tank , at the start, they were in the glass of the tank. I was killing them with my finger every night against the glass. The tank was small (13 G). It wasn't what we have now. Then they disappeared, but I am not sure if it was after I added the six line.

Are those the AEFW ? I will look for pictures on internet , for my education. I read 100 times about them but I can't remember their aspect.

Daniel

I had these ones : http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2279393

 

[M007]

That's not Planaria. Planaria generally don't hang out on acro, prefer soft coral and LPS. If you see Planaria on a acro its just passing through. That is an egg cluster. East to confirm, just give it a shot with a turkey baster.

 

[.Chris.]

Thanks, Jeff.. Like I said.. I hope it stays away this time.

Hey Geeray.. My rejects aren't really all that great.. And you may change you mind once you see the end of this post..

Thanks, Dan, congrats on the new corals.. Just like any desperate reefer, you found a spot! Nice job!


Thanks Mindy... I removed a few corals and it really is a relief when there is suddenly some space between them..
I will have to make some very tough decisions, though.. I do want to try to keep my favorites and remove some duplicates.. Then rearrange..
It's so hard.. You start thinking about which corals you want to remove but before you're done, you start thinking about the corals you want to put in the empty places and then you're thinking about wether you really want to remove THAT coral.... And then you're totally overwhelmed and you don't want to do anything!.. Well that's what happens to me..
I have to concentrate on removing first.. Baby steps!
I would have heart palpitations if I had a smaller tank to deal with...

So I mentioned earlier that I had good news and bad news.. Well here's the bad news.....

http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n...AAAAAAAAD2I/blP-VmToCoI/s2048-no/IMG_3273.JPG

The tank looks great. And wherever the rejects end up someone will be very happy! Your rejects are most people's prized pieces!

As for the uploading thing... Flickr or Dropbox would probably work. I went through the same thing with Google. My phone auto backs up all my pictures to Google photos so I figured great! I'll use them! No dice.

That being said, photobucket works fine for me. Maybe time to switch back to an android.

 

[mhucasey]

If you are going to fight(I would) the bastards then I advise a yellow coris wrasse and a leopard wrasse(if you don't have one or both already). Those will keep the bastards in check, perhaps a few other similar fish like the exquisite or tamarin wrasses. The yellow coris wrasse is the best at eating pests though, as far as I have found.