My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

I no longer feed the acros except for two nights a week when they get blitzed nori. No roids, cyclops or anything else. The fish get mysis, nori and mini pellets every day. I do 20% water changes every week and i keep nitrates just high enough to detect on Salifert.
In the 8 weeks or so since making the change i would have to say the acros are growing at least twice as fast as any time in the systems history and everything i put in the display colors up faster than ever before so i finally got the water in the hot zone :)

Barry is wondering why a xmas tree suddenly appeared in his tank.......... the RC SPS Xmas tree is more upmarket this year. :p

s_zpsd20954db.jpg~original
 
Gotta go tree shopping, arctic gloss white ceramic glaze makes pics impossible :spin1:

Even under T5's and dimmed down it blows up, oh and the yellow tang is terrified of the tree lol. He and Barry are both gutless wonders........

y_zps34f09a23.jpg~original
 
Fishy likes Biggles's red flubber:beer:. Are you going to keep the Christmas tree in there permanently or just over the summer? Would you mind explaining why you changed things up and how you decided on what to do and what not to do:).
 
I've got too much red stuff Rory lol, gotta get some other colors but i haven't worked out where to put the ones i have now. :uhoh3:
I only keep the tree up until the new year mate, if i get the lighting over Barry's tank worked out i can drop it down there after xmas.

I'll tell you why i did what i did but i warn you it will likely make no sense what so ever......... that's the way i reef as you know........:p

First i need to tell you about my stunt goby 'Little Bello'. When i took that acro that Terry lives in out of the bag i saw a big lump of slimy green algae caught in the branches so i used the tweezers to flick it out onto the kitchen floor. The algae landed with a plop but unlike regular algae it started flip flopping all over the floor. I realised that the algae was in fact Little Bello, a green coral goby thingy so i scooped him up fast in my hand and threw him into the sump with Barry from about 3 ft away ( i was excited ). Instead of hitting the water as i intended, Little Bello tried to spice things up with some Krusty Demon aerial work and he ended up striking the stand center brace. :uhoh2: Little Bello landed on the carpet this time and flip flopped a lot less than he did when he landed the first jump..... he was quickly PLACED into the sump covered in carpet fluff and stuff and after a week he was seen happily annoying my acros. :deadhorse1:

That is how i came to own a stunt goby. :)

At some point i will tell you about 'The Ripper' who's a snail serial killer. The Ripper's choice of weapon is a hammer and he regularly shatters my baby snails when the lights are out.......
My pistol shrimp goes 'whack whack' at night. The Ripper goes 'KABOOM ! and you just know that he's claimed another victim. I have seen The Ripper's face just once when i witnessed him murder a snail right in front of my eyes. I think he might have seen me too.............:uhoh2:
 
Nice flubber...Did I just say that??? :wildone: Biggles you have infected me with a liking for the flubbery kind! I am on the prowl for a nice scoly and a sweet lobo...

So you are doing regular water changes, thats a wise decision. Just ensure your supply water is ZERO TDS...I immediately change the DI resin when the TDS meter reads 1 or more. I think I recall that you have your own RODI unit now, so thats good. If ever using LFS water, be sure to measure it with the TDS pen. Also, ensure the storage container is not leaching anything.

I've always advocated for regular water changes, not only to fix issues, but keep issues from appearing in the first place. Very happy to know that things are working well for you. I hope I achieve the same success that you are having Biggles.

Haha, I can see how terrified the Yellow Tang is...He is so scared of the new SNOW MONSTER... :lol:

I think you need to send Yellow Tang and Barry to Fight Camp (AKA Sahins 47G tank) to toughen them up a bit...my tang, clowns and wrasse will soon see to it that their wussy ways will be a thing of the past...:deadhorse:
 
What does it take to get named in your tank? You have potatohead, Barry, Terry, LB (For Little Bello). Yet the yellow Tang has no name. I am glad you figured out a feeding schedule that keeps your water perfect. I am also glad your back in the hobby. many people don't recover after a major crash. (yes I am worried about Bello). How did you figure out the latest "Biggles Method on SPS Care" and what is blitzed nori.

Marty
 
Interesting to read of your new techniques Biggles, thanks for the writeup. I'm addicted to roids at the moment, and I can't achieve water changes over 5% at a time so hopefully my results will still be decent.

I was thrilled to see the new xmas tree!

Yo Banana BoY
 
Mark are you supposed to do smaller W/C when feeding roids? I ask this as I've just started feeding roids to my tank once a week. Biggles that acan behind the xmas tree looks very similar to the one I have, would you mind posting a pic of it:)
 
Fishy 1 said:
Mark are you supposed to do smaller W/C when feeding roids? I ask this as I've just started feeding roids to my tank once a week. Biggles that acan behind the xmas tree looks very similar to the one I have, would you mind posting a pic of it:)
Click to expand...

Nope, I just can't do large changes on my 150 with the 32 gallon garbage cans of water I have. 30 would be 20% I suppose, but I like to do 15 at a time so it lasts a couple of weeks.
 
It's 1.30am so i'm way too stuffed to answer anyone's questions.........:p I will of course reply tomorrow (today) but i did manage to get a top down for you Fishy so you can see there is a whole lot more going on that a front shot doesn't show - i have acros floating over the sand all over the place with my new scape. A lot of white putty too unfortunately but everything has started encrusting over it within a few weeks so it should disappear over time.

I put a lot of thought into contrasting and overlapping colors from all perspectives and only colors that pop against a black background go high at the back. I kept everything on the bottom for a month before placing pieces so i was sure of the color and how bright the pigments were. Still had to re place some bits last week that didn't like the PAR they were getting in my chosen spot lol.

s_zps855af3a5.jpg~original
 
Wow, it looks like a shot of the barrier reef not a tank:D. The colors on some of those pieces is incredible: eek1:.
 
sahin said:
Nice flubber...Did I just say that??? :wildone: Biggles you have infected me with a liking for the flubbery kind! I am on the prowl for a nice scoly and a sweet lobo...

So you are doing regular water changes, thats a wise decision. Just ensure your supply water is ZERO TDS...I immediately change the DI resin when the TDS meter reads 1 or more. I think I recall that you have your own RODI unit now, so thats good. If ever using LFS water, be sure to measure it with the TDS pen. Also, ensure the storage container is not leaching anything.

I've always advocated for regular water changes, not only to fix issues, but keep issues from appearing in the first place. Very happy to know that things are working well for you. I hope I achieve the same success that you are having Biggles.

Haha, I can see how terrified the Yellow Tang is...He is so scared of the new SNOW MONSTER... :lol:

I think you need to send Yellow Tang and Barry to Fight Camp (AKA Sahins 47G tank) to toughen them up a bit...my tang, clowns and wrasse will soon see to it that their wussy ways will be a thing of the past...:deadhorse:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement Sahin, it means a lot. :) The TDS reminder never goes astray - i check it before making up every new salt mix.

So it's a flubber war ya want is it...........

o_zps681c54ed.jpg~original


martinphillip03 said:
What does it take to get named in your tank? You have potatohead, Barry, Terry, LB (For Little Bello). Yet the yellow Tang has no name. I am glad you figured out a feeding schedule that keeps your water perfect. I am also glad your back in the hobby. many people don't recover after a major crash. (yes I am worried about Bello). How did you figure out the latest "Biggles Method on SPS Care" and what is blitzed nori.

Marty
Click to expand...

Names just happen Marty, i can't control if and when one will just pop out of nowhere....
I put nori in a blender with a cup of tank water and blend it for 5 mins until it's basically green water, then i tip the lot into the display and leave the skimmer off all night.
I was having no problem with nitrate control but phos was remaining a problem and rather than adding anything i stopped roids and cyclops which dropped the phos a fair bit and i use the water changes instead of growing algae etc. The 20% is large enough to impact nutrient levels significantly plus the bonus of not worrying about trace element replenishing. My Potassium stays at 400 with no top ups required anymore.
I don't know what the phos is right now but i have the front glass at 2 day cleanings and the nitrates sit at 0.0-2.5 when the algae is at that growth level. I was cleaning the glass in the morning and the evening of the same day at one point after the crash and dropping the concentrated foods has seen no loss to the health and colors of my acros.

Fishy 1 said:
I have named him Banana Boy Marty
Click to expand...

Lol :spin1:

markalot said:
Interesting to read of your new techniques Biggles, thanks for the writeup. I'm addicted to roids at the moment, and I can't achieve water changes over 5% at a time so hopefully my results will still be decent.

I was thrilled to see the new xmas tree!

Yo Banana BoY
Click to expand...

Glad you like the tree Mark :) Roids are great, i just can't deal with them atm with all the food i'm giving the bloody fish. Your results will be more than decent mate :thumbsup:

Fishy 1 said:
Mark are you supposed to do smaller W/C when feeding roids? I ask this as I've just started feeding roids to my tank once a week. Biggles that acan behind the xmas tree looks very similar to the one I have, would you mind posting a pic of it:)
Click to expand...

Do you mean this one Rory ?

x_zpse4c4ba47.jpg~original
 
Fishy 1 said:
Wow, it looks like a shot of the barrier reef not a tank:D. The colors on some of those pieces is incredible: eek1:.
Click to expand...

The GBR being invaded by the crown of white putty starfish.........

p_zps7352613b.jpg~original


martinphillip03 said:
How many corals did you have to replace? Nice shot

Marty
Click to expand...

Thanks Marty, i have 12 new SPS chopped up and spread all over the place. I lost about 10 nice acros entirely but i saved bits and pieces of many colorful ones as well - a couple of acros didn't miss a beat while their neighbors were imploding. There's still many places for new acros to go and i need to get another 10lb or so of sand to make the bed a good 1" deep everywhere.

The hammer seems happy shoved into the sand - had to pull Potatohead's latest molt out of the hammer this morning lol.

h_zps342751fb.jpg~original
 
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