Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

Just wanted to add: the first time I encountered AEFW was in my nano tank. The tank was very established and healthy I would say. I used to notice the bitemarks come and go. I doubted I had AEFW's. I didnt see real damage until many many months later when the AEFW's were all over the corals.

Not trying to be all negative, but letting you know my encounters with these barstewards.

Thanks Sahin,

I had the aggressive species before and by the time I noticed the dead areas were full of eggs, and most acros suffering. What queued me in was an odd brown smudge on a rock just below an acro that ended up being hundreds of tightly clustered eggs.

Back then I created a QT tank and did the dip routine and lost everything but the slimer due to the QT tank being unstable. I probably would have been ok if I had known to dose some Phosphorus and Nitrate.

 

[markalot]

Looks like my concern about dipping smooth skins is unfounded.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2525517

Most, but not all, of my acros are on removable rocks, this one is not, so a good opportunity to fix that mistake.

 

[sahin]

Looks like my concern about dipping smooth skins is unfounded.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2525517

Most, but not all, of my acros are on removable rocks, this one is not, so a good opportunity to fix that mistake.

Whilst Bayer is amazing for acro survival; smooth skinned acros included; ANY small amount of Bayer that makes it back into your tank will kill tank inhabitants such as fish, shrimp and pods.

I dont know...but I'd definitely not dip a whole rock with the intention of moving that rock back into the tank.

Just a little headsup.

 

[markalot]

Whilst Bayer is amazing for acro survival; smooth skinned acros included; ANY small amount of Bayer that makes it back into your tank will kill tank inhabitants such as fish, shrimp and pods.

I dont know...but I'd definitely not dip a whole rock with the intention of moving that rock back into the tank.

Just a little headsup.

I've done it more times than I'd like to admit without issue. The key is a nice long rise, 3 of them, with a lot of water motion. These are smaller rocks, and I'm still perfecting the technique. I really like your hole and plug technique but I'm not drilling the rock. I've found that attaching a smaller rock with epoxy to the main structure still allows me to easily tear it off if I need to dip.

I have to say, I've wanted to do a major rescape of this tank for a while. the nasty green pallys will eventually win the war unless I throw out everything they are on. Everything is an opportunity.

 

[sahin]

Cool. You are well versed in Bayer usage. Hope all goes well.

 

[markalot]

Cool. You are well versed in Bayer usage. Hope all goes well.

Me too, thanks. I've grown trusting of Bayer dips but I have yet to dip a smooth skin. :worried:

 

[markalot]

The deed is done and unfortunately nothing large came off, but lots of small brown flecks. I basted the underside rather vigorously while in the dip and in the first rinse and it shows, so hopefully it will be ok. I did not realize how big this coral is, and strong, only one small branch broke during dipping.



I knocked the blue milli off it's frag plug while futzing around and avoiding the tang who decided to try and slice me. I'm yelling at it, forgetting the window was open ... neighbors probably think I was beating the dog.

Anyway both mounted on the only decent size frag disk I have then mounted on rocks that I can easily pry off it need be.



I'm not kidding myself here, they aren't gone, but maybe set back for a little while. Time to buy that big rubbermaid tub.

 

[glaukos]

Mark i really hope everything will go smooth:thumbsup:
It will not be an easy fight but i'm sure you'll win it!
Like you said,everything is an opportunity,that's the best way to deal with it.

That funny moment which includes neighbours and shouting at a fish has happened to me too
Dwarf angelfish.....won't say more...enough said,lol

 

[markalot]

Thanks Mike.

My first order of business is to get a container large enough to hold the slimer. :lmao:

This is a great opportunity to slowly tear apart and rebuild the tank slowly, one rock at a time and get rid of corals I've hung on to for years that just don't look all that great.

The Lokani had great polyp extension this morning (tank still dark). :thumbsup:

 

[markalot]

The Lokani has survived the dip looking very good and only a little loss in color. Frankly it looks great no matter what color it is, I really lucked out with this acro.

I noticed all colors in the tank had started to fade so I tested nitrates and they were near 0, which shocked me. The bio-pellets are suddenly working better? I haven't tested PO4 in a while and it was veru close to 0 as well (Elos expert). Woops. Raised nitrates to 5, and I dosed a half cap of Seachem Phosphorus. :eek1: The acros behaved as if I had dosed aminos, with polyp extension improving greatly a few hours after dosing. I found that interesting.

It may be time for me to cut the flow out of the recirculating BP reactor, I'll have to see if nitrates continue to steadily drop. It was only a few weeks ago I was having to add 10ml of NOPOX in order to move Nitrates down.

 

[markalot]

I have completed dipping and moving a few more acros to my 40B, under all LED (Maxspect Razor and 2 BML strips front and back). I would like to return this tank to mostly LED with T5 supplement next summer, though I know I'll miss out on some acro colors.

These top downs from my 40.

This is the teal stag, moved just 2 weeks ago and already well encrusted. I like this acro.

Miami Orchid frag moved at the same time and looks fine but has not grown much.

Red Robin. If this turns red in this tank I swear I will tear down the 150 and start over. :lolspin:

Birds.

 

[joshky]

Looking good buddy, sorry about your AEFWs. You'll beat them!

 

[markalot]

Took a bunch of macros looking for pests. Here are the better ones.

Let's get the Red (brown) Robin out of the way.

Red Dragon

Lokani

Nasuta

The Exquisita on the frag rack finally coloring back up.

My 2 year old "rainbow milli" that is never happy and sometimes looks this good.

Jacquelineae, nice tips but most of the coral is brownish at the moment. Still growing.

 

[sahin]

Mark, corals look good and there are no bitemarks or the such. I like the nice fat polyps on some of those acros. :beer:

 

[markalot]

Looking good buddy, sorry about your AEFWs. You'll beat them!

Thanks Josh, I'm not 100% sure I have them, I can be a tad paranoid. :spin2:

Mark, corals look good and there are no bitemarks or the such. I like the nice fat polyps on some of those acros. :beer:

Thanks Sahin, so far so good!


I finally added another 250ml of AIO bio-pellets. I've had them for over a month but never found time to soak and add. This brings up the total BP count to 2 liters, most of it AIO. Obviously I'm not having a low nutrient problem yet. :lol:

 

[markalot]

Did a 10% water change today, I'm pretty bad at doing regular water changes. I mixed up 25 gallons of Red Sea Blue Bucket so I figured I might as well use it.

When turning the sump back on I discovered the flow back into the tank was horrible slow, 3 of the 4 return nozzles were clogged with bacterial gunk. I used my new favorite reef tool, a paint can opener, to clean them out and now all running at 100%.

I have to wonder if this might have been a reason I was having trouble with my BP reactor. I'm going to have to watch NO3 to make sure it doesn't drop too fast now. I dosed 1/4 tsp CaNO3 after the change to bring NO3 up to 5. KH 7.8, didn't measure anything else.

A couple more pics from yesterday.

Horrida is still recovering from a rather intensive dip and inspection.

Tiny pink milli frag starting to grow but needs more pink.

Unknown milli showing a nice rosey base, orangeish under blue lights. This is one of those frags where I hope I can just keep everything healthy for a few months so I can see what it's going to look like. Next time I'll baste it so at least we an see the skin. :lolspin:

 

[markalot]

A few more top downs. Irritated the millis so I could see some skin.

This glows orange under actinics.

The pink milli clearly demonstrates my trouble with pinks and reds. This was what I called 'no doubt pink' when I bought it, turned brown quickly, and is now just a maybe pinkish tan.

The Red Planet lives and is encrusting well, but has lost the vibrant red it had when I got it.

Makes me wonder what the blockhead would look like in a tank that can maintain good reds.

No issues with greens, purples, or blues.

Why do I buy maricultured pieces? This one finally showing some blue but polyps are huge and brown.

I assume this is a valida, similar to the GARF Bonsai. I've had it for over 2 years, it encrusted for most of that time and now has suddenly exploded in growth.

The Red Robin, if for nothing else than to document the horrible time I have with reds.

 

[Wrangy]

:inlove::inlove:

Got some really nice PE and those colours are awesome Mark! Awe-inspiring for me at least! I wish either of my tricolours looking even half as good as yours They're just mostly brown haha

 

[sahin]

Mark, what is your current T5 combo?

 

[glaukos]

I simply love your corals buddy:inlove: :inlove: