Maroun 150g Build Thread

[maroun.c]

No, I wouldn't get a chiller. What temperature does the tank reach every night? Is it a big swing down from the 83/84F you see each day? Or does it only drop down to 83F?

Temp is maximum at 83 at daytime in the eafternoon when halides are on. it would drop to 80-81 at nighttime

Remind me what skimmer you have again

Got ywo turbofloaters one of them is the 1000 and teh second is the 750 the 1000 is doinga great job and I'm thinking of taking hte 750 out as it does not match with the 100 in skimmate density smell or quantity. getting very dark thick and very bad smelling skimate from the 1000 still it's not very frequently cleaned when I travel as it's "very disgusting "but she does it whenever the collection cup is half full.

If mushrooms look pale or see-through, they either aren't getting enough nutrients or light. Corals that turn white are getting too much light usually, and pale means not enough.

Most of those actinodiscus are pale but one on the other side of the tank under similar lighting is actually pure white now. Will post pics tomorrow.

I wish I could be more help - it just seems like I'm not getting the full picture for some reason to help you nail down some of the issues you've raised.

Marc you've been a great help so far, anyway it's really weird as the more demanding corals are doing fine wehreas mushrooms and Anemones (these have always done great in my tanks) are not.

 

[maroun.c]

2:45 Am and that hitchhicker crab has been sitting on a rock just on the edge of the trap for 3 hours now without going in. I'm guessing tonight should be the night to get him as the tank has been fed very lightly for the last 2 weeks and he must be hungry.

 

[Tang Salad]

"A watched pot never boils."
:lol:

Good luck, you'll get him.

 

[maroun.c]

You were right Tang Salad.
did not boil tonight. man this crab is driving me crazy I've been trying to catch him since 3 months now with no success. any other idea than those stupid traps?

 

[maroun.c]

Ok Pics of all described on the previous few posts:

Brown alga on sand very thin and disappears if you agitate the sand bed. some of it got turned up while cleaning the glass as you can see then this evening I'm seing it already back on those spots unless it's my kole and angel that are sucking and spitting the sand all day long that could have pushed more brownish alga over there.
clean spots (while cleaning the glass)

and the dark brown alga:

Is this Cyano?
I'm aso getting a thin film of green alga on the back glass only (in the pics it appears as hair alga does howeverit's just a thin film

My DSB seems ot be having some bubbles in it since while now and everynow an then a bubble will pop up. this is weird as I doubt alreay Nirogen is getting formed and eciting like this? I do see some critters in the sand but also gues it still needs more time for them to be numerous enough to move the Sand bed as it should. I have 7-8 snails and a cowrie shell as CUC till now but should be adding more snails next month. (will not have crabs in the tnak as the last Red hermit is still in the sump after tearing lots of stuff in the tank)

 

[maroun.c]

Torch getting whiter and another head on the way to disappear.
Believe this one will not last much longer.

Red mushrooms in the front middle:

Red mushrooms on the Rt side of the tank.

 

[maroun.c]

The weird thing with the mushrooms is that other mushrooms just next to them are coloring up while only these red mushroomare fading. don't know what these blotches on them are could it be residual colours or something growing on them?

 

[maroun.c]

On the bright side my Carpet is at it's best and the new RBTA seems to be colouring up a bit. the carpet is so extended that I'm afriad Iwill have to move it a bit as it will touch with the RBTA.

and a pic of my maroon now hosting this RBTA. Don't know if he will cause any damage to it being much bigger. but I don't notice any aggressive attitude

To think that this anemone was like this a few weeks before and jsut shrinked and bleached for no apparent reason and without any apparent splits

I've previously nursed back RBTAs but not to such extent, so any feedback or advice is reatly appreciated.

 

[maroun.c]

Finally for tonight a very sad update,
I just siphoned out my old RBTA. As I said before this was my first coral which has been in my tank for 8 years. somehow it started to deteriorate after the upgrade, it lost some colours then closed for a while and after a while detached for the first time in years from it's rock and went to the pumps partition to be sucked by a small powerhead... anyway this is very sad for me as this RBTA was always special. Even the clown now is going back to the LT corner of the tank which it always was since I got himyears ago and seems to be looking for it. he continued to sleep in it even after the powerhead accident and I didn't feel theneed to separate him as he or most probably she was not bothering it.
anyway this is how this hobby goes ups and downs and to me it seems it a series of downs lately. Enough with the wining.
For now I'm so angry with the tank that I did not feel like feeding the tank today. guess I'll just go with a big waterchange tomorrow or after then will jsut give the tank some time to stabilize before adding anything new to it.

 

[melev]

The surface of the sand isn't being disturbed enough. More flow, nassarius snails and conchs, a cucumber, even a sand-sifting goby would help.

What the surface of the water like? It is rippling pretty well, or is it more calm?

Do you have glass tops on your tank?

Those mushrooms look light-starved to me. You might try feeding some phytoplankton for the mushrooms to ingest - softies seemed to perk up after dosing phyto in my tanks in the past.

The Rose BTA looks light starved as well, and the clown won't help much. Not unlike this experience I had in 2004:
http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0404/rbta.html

You may try to feed that anemone, but it looks pretty rough right now. Tiny bits of food.

Have you tried to feed the Torch coral polyps? They will eat food, such as mini mysis. Just turn off the pumps when feeding them so the food stays on the coral for a few minutes.

However, the rest of your reef looked pretty good in those recent shots. Just not very colorful.

 

[maroun.c]

Hi Marc and thanks for your reply.

The surface of the sand isn't being disturbed enough. More flow, nassarius snails and conchs, a cucumber, even a sand-sifting goby would help.

Will try to reorient some of my flow towards the sand.

What the surface of the water like? It is rippling pretty well, or is it more calm?

The 2 seios( total around 1500 GPH) on Lt upper of the tank are directed up so creating lots of turbulance in the lt third which decreases a bit in the middle and becomes very small ripples on the Rt third of the tank.

Do you have glass tops on your tank?

No glass tops.

Those mushrooms look light-starved to me. You might try feeding some phytoplankton for the mushrooms to ingest - softies seemed to perk up after dosing phyto in my tanks in the past.

I target feed all my corals (sometimes not the mushrooms, zoos and palys though) 1 time per week (artemia, shrimps eggs) soaked in few drops of: Kent Marine Chromaplex, Advanced invertebrate formula1 by MArine enterprise, Korall Fluid JBL for 1 hour with stopping circulationfor 30 min after feeding then starting only circulation and skimmers go on after 1 hour. I try to do it while just actinics are on and sometimes while all lights are on though.
I also add once every 3 days and in sequence the follwing at half the recommended dosage, with circulation on but skimmers shut down for 1-2 hours post feeding:
Kent Marine Phypoplex (Phytoplancton)
Kent Marine Chromaplex (Zooplancton)
Tropic Marin Procoral Phyton(Phytoplancton)
Tropic Marin Zooton (Zooplancton)
Tropic Marine Pro coral Organic.
JBL Korall Fluid.
Marine Snow by two little fishies.

Still they were not target fed for 2 weeks.

You may try to feed that anemone, but it looks pretty rough right now. Tiny bits of food.

I'm trying to feed it 2 times per week it does eat but very slowly and I have to chase the fish away from it. Today since my clown moved to it it chased all the fish that tried to pick it's food.
The Female maroon clown did suck the tentacles a it on the first few days but nothing agressive. and it's not doing it anymore.
I just fed the anemone and it did eat then spit out to reswallow 3 times. I'm feeding it a small piece of fish and shrimp mixed with the above combo. Do you think it still stands a chance?

I target feed the torch 1-2 times a week but don't have access to mysis here so I'm using Artemia and shrimp eggs soaked in above combo. Today I returned to it's original area and moved the mushrooms or repositioned teir rocks to put them out of anyshadow and expose them more to the light. hopefully that will help them recoved. also from today I'm target feeding each mushromm with the rest of the corals. Zoos and palys will get a squirt above each colony.

I will do a couple of large water changes over the coming two weeks and change carbon and may work a bit on flow so hoping things will turn for the best.

 

[melev]

I don't think you need to target feed mushrooms or zoas. If you have food in the water, they should be able to inhale it.

You could run krill or shrimp through a food processor to make it into meaty bits, and squirt some food at the anemone's oral area. Perhaps that would be an easier meal for it a the moment.

Lastly, I noticed this image:

That top mushroom has flatworms on it. I would try to suck those off with some airline tubing and get them out of your system. They aren't helping the mushroom, that's for sure.

 

[maroun.c]

I finally reached the final light acclimatation for the wole tank today. I only have to replace my actinics with T5 actinics (this Tuesday and that would be it for lighting unless if I feel I need some more actinic T5s.
here's my lighting schedule:
Actinincs : Fluorescent T8 actinic will be changed Tue to T5 act
9:30 ---> 3:30pm 8:30pm--->11:00pm
1 T5 Arcadia 14k 80 W with reflector
10:00---> 2:00pm 7:00pm--->10:00
Halides:
2 MH 150 W 14 K arcadia Lt and RT
2:00 PM 9:00 PM ( Rt starts 5 min later to avoid any shock to fish
1 Blue Gieseman 22k 250 W Tank middle
2:30 PM --->8:30 PM
This might be more easy to read (or more difficult?) black is off

Any info if htese are fine or not will be greatly appreciated.
I know most go for 3x 250 W Halides for a 5 foot long tank however in my case I wanted to keep the heat at a minimum not to mention that my tank is only 24 inch high with a 4 inch DSB, and with lights at 13 inch from tank top.
My corals on the top level are only 4-5 inches below water level mid level corals rang from 9-17 inch deep.
with the corals on the bottom ( over 4 inch sand bed and rock suppoting coral ) at20 inches. Anyway I guess I have nothing else to do then a large water change and then Carbon and keeping fingers crossed. I'm' using Reefcrystals from now on as I found some at the LFS. What are your typical Calcium and MG levels with Fresh mixed RC?

 

[maroun.c]

Hi Marc.
I initially thought hese are buggs too however when I took the rock out I could not take them off, these are in the mushroom as some residual pigmentation or something inside.

 

[melev]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13033282#post13033282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
Hi Marc.
I initially thought hese are buggs too however when I took the rock out I could not take them off, these are in the mushroom as some residual pigmentation or something inside.

No way. I've never seen polka-dotted mushrooms like that before. Really? Have you tried peeling them off with tweezers or blowing them off with a turkey baster? It isn't like mushrooms are hard to come by. I'd use an x-acto knife to find out for sure.

It is quite likely your T5s need replacing after 12 months. Put a new bulb next to an old one and you should see the difference.

I have a feeling your MH light are simply not strong enough. 150w bulbs don't put off a ton of light, and I know because I'm using one over my angled tank and one over my prop section. When I had the PAR meter, I measured the old bulb in my prop section against one of my refugium bulbs and was shocked at how weak the used 150w bulb was. It needs to be replaced, that's for sure. At the very least, I would change them to 10,000K bulbs. It won't look as blue and pretty as you like it, but your bulbs will have greater intensity and the corals should benefit from that.

 

[maroun.c]

I tried to remove them with my finger wearing a glove. will try again tomorrow with a knife.
Sorry there is a mistake in my light scheme picture will modify it later on as the middle halide is a 250 W not a 150.
So do you think it'll work with only 150 on the sides and 250 in the middle + 2 80 w t5s one white one actinic and more if needed. Comparing the light intensity I do agree that dropping on K gives more intensity as my 14 K 150 w looks close in intensity to the Gieseman 22 K. 10 and 12 K are not available here will try to get some in he future or maybe upgrade only the halide on the left as under the Rt one it's open space and it's not worth upgrading. Still further light upgrade will enhance my heat issues.
All halides are new 4 months for the 150s and 2 months for the 250. The T5 has been running for around a month.
would it work if I just place my light demaning corals below the 250 as I'm not planning more than few SPS. for LPS and softies don't you think the 150s plus T5s would be fine?

 

[melev]

The thing is everything you run is in the blue range. That looks good but doesn't promote growth. The sun is a big yellow source of light, primarily. Your corals need daylight.

If you had 10,000K across the tank and actinic blue T5s, you'll probably be impressed with the change.

That won't add heat, as far as I know. It will simply change intensity. I don't know if a 14,000K bulb gives off less heat than a 10,000K bulb, but my guess would be that the temperature would be the same, as they are both 150w bulbs.

As to where to get some, I have no idea. They don't sell that spectrum in Europe?

If you get them and swap them out, remember to decrease the light period at least 2 hours per bulb so you don't cook your corals. If they are in fact starving for light, then baking them with good light all of a sudden won't necessarily be a good thing. They need to adjust and adapt.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for all the input Marc. Guess you're right about lacking the 10k, Never thought about it. . Unfortunately they are not available here, I live in Lebanon not in Europe unfortunately too. Still I have one trip to Holland and another to France next month where I might get lucky with the bulbs. will light acclimate them for sure.

I don't know if a 14,000K bulb gives off less heat than a 10,000K bulb, but my guess would be that the temperature would be the same, as they are both 150w bulbs.

I meant the difference between 150 and 250. I can feel a very big difference in the heat produced by the 250 Vs 150

2 AM in the morning got to go to sleep.

 

[Aquarist007]

I am still following your awesome setup maroun and the fantastic help you are getting from Mark

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks Capn,
The help I'm getting from Marc is just great. I'm always amazed at how fast he replies to most threads he's involved in and how each of his replies always has some new info to learn.
The amount of knowledge he's got and his willingness to share it with others is priceless.