I was starting to get embarassed to post here with all the 600 gallon tanks going up!
Here is a overdue update....
Events:
Fish: Put purple tang into QT due to Ich outbreak. He was the only fish showing and it was annoying me so I caught him and treated him with Copper. Within 48 hours he was spot free and was kept in QT for six weeks. This made me feel much better but admittedly may have been a waste of time without totally fallowing the DT. Anyhow… all other fish remained healthy in DT with no signs of Ich or any other mortality. I added a six line wrasse, powder brown tang, spotted cheek tang and midas blenny to QT for the last three weeks. The powder brown did not eat (dud fish) and expired. The rest were added en masse to the display. At the same time, I added a large Naso tang (quarantined at LFS in copper for three weeks) into display. Despite the distraction and “time outâ€Â, my purple tang immediately reestablished himself as boss and gave the spotted cheek a good thrashing. Also, my big fat fairy wrasse immediately disappeared with the new fish addition and I wonder if he was intimidated by the new 1.5 cm six line wrasse. If so... what a sissy!
Sadly, my copperband, who was doing great for ten weeks, showed sudden signs of respiratory distress and died within 24 hours. Who knows what caused this. He was immune to the initial Ich outbreak so I am a little afraid of something else in the tank. That was my first Copperband (and last?). I am certainly gun shy on fragile fish right now. It sure was nice not having to go after Aptasia for the last few months!
Remaining inhabitants look pretty good. The Naso has a single Ich spot on his nose... so I know there is Ich in the tank... but it seems managed. He is not eating much from the water column, but, seems to be finding good brown algae and nori and his stomach looks full and he is pooping plenty with good fat and muscle on the rest of his body. Now four weeks in captivity. Everyone else is eating and quarrelling happily and things seem pretty good.
The spotted cheek is outsized by the rest of the tangs, but, seems to be asserting himself to eat what he wants. He seems to be growing and heals his shredded fins and body scars quickly. I plan to add three more little six lines to patrol the rocks for pests. Hopefully, added en masse they will not fight much.
Corals.
Some of my SPS faded a bit. Mike from reef specialty was over and we adjusted my photoperiod. Currently, 12 hours with two 400 watt MH at about 80% and 3 hours with all four 400 watt MH, two at 100%, two at 80% by dimmable ballast. Color loss has stopped and one coral (green slimmer) has colored back up. Also, my LPS polyps are nicely extended.
New corals. Blood red Echinopora. Fiji pinapple coral. Dunca frags x 2.
I had an outbreak of a really ugly fuzzy algae that was white, almost like fungus. That is disappearing. I have another species which looks like little flowers. You can see this on the pics below. Not sure what it is… new to me. It does not seem to bother the corals and is kind of nice to look at. I ran phos ban for six weeks, decreased photoperiod and lowered the tank temp from 82 to 78. The really ugly stuff is now gone, but, the phosban killed my macroalgae. I expect it to grow back now that I have discontinued the phosban.
Water test 07/06/08 (after six weeks of no tests).
Ca 430
Alk 9 dKH
Mg 1290
SG 1.024
pH 8.1-8.2 by probe
ORP 290-315 (down a bit since new fish came in)
Nitrate and Phos undetectable
I have not touched the calcium reactor or dosed anything in six weeks. Things seem pretty dialed in.
Equipment upgrade.
I added a plenum to my chiller. This is vented by an eight inch duct and another Panasonic 430 cfm one sone fan. I did this because on really warm days my basement was getting really hot. The negative pressure created in the basement is fed by vents in the walls, ducts for the water heater, and the rest of the house. My CO detectors are not going off and my pilot lights are lit. However, I am prepared to put another eight inch intake vent into the wall if any of those problems arise. So far, things seem to be working.
The only remaining project is to clean up all the loose wires in my equipment room and move the tank lights about 3 inches more toward the center of the tank.