My SPS Reef - Take 2

[Patrick Cox]

Beautiful tank Patrick. I am also going straight t-5, I'm looking at a pacific sun diuna 8 bulb, with 4 channel electronic ballasts, and includes a moonlight led. Only problem is they are hard as heck to find. One question, I was debating whether to go with the 36 or 48 for my 4 foot tank, do you think your 36 created too much darkness on the sides? Also have you had any critters with your live rock that you have noticed? I definitely do not want bristle worms

Hi
On the light, the reason I am switching to a 4 foot fixture is to ensure I have light hitting all corals from all sides. While the 3 ft light was lighting up the whole tank, any corals on the edge of the light or beyond are only getting light on one side. So I guess it depends how important that is to you.

On the rock, I am aware of some crabs, pistol shrimp and urchin. I have not found any bristle worms. Hopefully I don't run into any issues from the critters I have.

Good luck.

 

[Kbel1969]

Thanks for that information. I was thinking the same thing about coverage from side to side. I do plan on putting corals on the ends, so I think the 48" would definitely be a must.

My biggest concern with live rock was getting uninvited guests. The benefits are obviously tremendous, but there's always risk involved. The Rock is absolutely beautiful!

 

[hreef]

Very nice and clean! I love build that show start to growing awesome job!

 

[Patrick Cox]

For the past few weeks I have been chasing what I believe to be two Gorilla Crabs and today I finally caught one. I purchased a pair of 16" forceps and I am always on the lookout for unsuspecting crabs.

One down and one to go!...

 

[Acronic]

That's a red mithrax. A good guy. It has the cupped pincers

Tank looks great! Love the rock

 

[Patrick Cox]

That's a red mithrax. A good guy. It has the cupped pincers

Tank looks great! Love the rock

Well of course! I saw the hairy legs and thought it was a gorilla. Also, something has been nibbling on my Stylo that has long polyps and I was thinking it was the gorilla crabs. I do know that I have many Porcelain Crabs and I believe those are "Good guys" as well so I was planning on leaving them. Thanks for your comments.

 

[reefmutt]

Are they always good guys?
I swear I had a crab like that - khaki coloured. He had the cups pincers but he would reach out and scrape away the encrusting base of one of my acros.. He scraped all over but also at the Acro.. I finally 'disappeared' him... The base recovered..

Patrick, any new shots for us?

 

[Patrick Cox]

Are they always good guys?
I swear I had a crab like that - khaki coloured. He had the cups pincers but he would reach out and scrape away the encrusting base of one of my acros.. He scraped all over but also at the Acro.. I finally 'disappeared' him... The base recovered..

Patrick, any new shots for us?

Thanks for your comments and I agree with your sentiment on "good guys." [emoji1]

I will post pictures soon. I have a lot going on with my system so I have been waiting to finish some projects.

 

[joshky]

Hey Patrick, keep an eye out for these guys, I've caught two so far; unfortunately too late, they killed both of my clams.

I plan on setting up some crab traps to lure other crabs out.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Hey Patrick, keep an eye out for these guys, I've caught two so far; unfortunately too late, they killed both of my clams.

I plan on setting up some crab traps to lure other crabs out.

Hi Josh,
That's actually what I thought I was catching. How did you catch that one?

 

[joshky]

I caught both of mine munching on my clams, of course too late. That's not my photo, but they looked just like it.

These are Pilumnus sayi, or Hairy Spineback Crab, so not a gorilla but just as bad for your tank.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Ok, here is an update with pictures.

Tank is generally doing well although I think the coral health is mixed. I did add 3 Ignitus Anthias in the last couple of weeks and due to their feeding requirements I am getting a bit more brown algae on the rocks. But not really too bad. I also had something strange happen over the weekend. I woke up yesterday morning and when I checked the tank I noticed that my Red Dragon had RTN'd down to nothing. I actually had two frags - the main one and then a small branch that had broken off was in a different part of the tank on a rack and both literally had skin peeling away. It was strange. I have never seen that before. None of my other corals seem affected so I am not sure what caused that.

I also switched out my light for an ATI 8x54w fixture. I decided that I wanted a 48" fixture and went with the all T5 this time. Right now I am running two Actinics for Dawn/Dusk and then I am running 6 bulbs during the day. We will see how I adjust the light going forward. But I do know that I need to increase light in the tank as many of my corals are a bit brown.

I tried to take some pictures of the Anthias but they would not pose for a picture! I'll get them eventually.

The coral pictures below aren't really much to look at but this is where I am and hopefully things will start to improve.

Finally I have 4 more frags on the way from Battlecorals. I believe they will ship today for delivery tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by...

I am a little worried about this one as well. Another smooth skinned coral that may not make it...

I wish the polyps on this one would come out more...

 

[liverock]

Nice pics!

 

[Patrick Cox]

Nice pics!

Thanks! That's some nice Live Rock too! [emoji1]

 

[reefmutt]

I remember trying red dragons and smooth skins when my reef was young and not fully established.. I lost several pieces. They would either just rtn over night or actually begin to grow and encrust.. And then rtn over night.
Tricky corals..
Loving the rock and the scape but I'd say that the sps in general are going ok..
Par for the course in a newish reef. As I'm sure you know..

 

[Patrick Cox]

Well, I lost another coral overnight. The skin just peeled away literally over night. My Alk has been consistent so I am not sure what is causing this. Most of my corals look fine as you can see examples in the two pictures below. This one that died is the one above with yellow polyps. They really were not extending in the picture I took a week or so ago so it obviously was not happy.

Also attached is a closeup picture of the brown algae I am dealing with. The Foxface will nibble on it some so I am wondering if I should go ahead and add a Kole or Bristletooth tang know? That was always in my plan. I just am not sure if it will actually do some work on this algae or will the added nutrients of another fish be a bad idea now?

I have increase my water changes from 6% to 10% per week and I am basting the rock daily. Also at the recommendation of the Zeovit forum, I am going to try "Bio-Mate." It is supposed to help breakdown uneaten food and fish waste. So hopefully all of this will help.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Pat

 

[SPotter]

Hey Patrick! Sorry to see you're having problems with your tank. Can I ask what your no3 and po4 levels? Are you running the full blown zeovit system? The corals that have been dying did they all come from the same source?

 

[Patrick Cox]

Hey Patrick! Sorry to see you're having problems with your tank. Can I ask what your no3 and po4 levels? Are you running the full blown zeovit system? The corals that have been dying did they all come from the same source?

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Well, I tested all parameters this morning and I think I know what happened. Roughly one week ago I tested the flow through my Zeovit reactor and it was lower than the recommended flow through amount so I increased the flow. Now my Nitrate and Phosphate are both zero whereas they were measurable before I made that change about one week ago. So I am guessing that the fast reduction in nutrients caused this issue. I also post on the Zeovit board so I will get their recommendations.

Here are my measurements from today...

Sal - 1.025
Alk - 7.7
Cal - 450
Mag - 1260
NO3 - 0.0 (Had been 5-8 when I increased flow.) (Red Sea Pro Test Kit)
PO4 - 0.0 (Had been .07 when I increased flow.) (Hanna Checker)

This is obviously a learning process and hopefully I can get on the right track now.

And yes, I run a full Zeovit system that is 81 days old. And no, the two corals that died were from different sources.

Thanks again!

 

[liverock]

That is some serious algae growth....atypical for sure......what is fueling that?

you need some astrea and blue leg hemits asap.....to get that turned around...

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Well, I tested all parameters this morning and I think I know what happened. Roughly one week ago I tested the flow through my Zeovit reactor and it was lower than the recommended flow through amount so I increased the flow. Now my Nitrate and Phosphate are both zero whereas they were measurable before I made that change about one week ago. So I am guessing that the fast reduction in nutrients caused this issue. I also post on the Zeovit board so I will get their recommendations.

Here are my measurements from today...

Sal - 1.025
Alk - 7.7
Cal - 450
Mag - 1260
NO3 - 0.0 (Had been 5-8 when I increased flow.) (Red Sea Pro Test Kit)
PO4 - 0.0 (Had been .07 when I increased flow.) (Hanna Checker)

This is obviously a learning process and hopefully I can get on the right track now.

And yes, I run a full Zeovit system that is 81 days old. And no, the two corals that died were from different sources.

Thanks again!

 

[Patrick Cox]

That is some serious algae growth....atypical for sure......what is fueling that?

you need some astrea and blue leg hemits asap.....to get that turned around...

Hi,
I have plenty of snails. I recently added 3 anthias and I guess I have been feeding them too much. And probably too much uneaten food is ending up on the rock and sandbed. I kept reading that anthias need to eat 3 time per day. And I am finding that they will only eat small particles of food and you can imagine that if I add 20 small particles of food, they may get to 1/3 of the small particles if I am lucky and then the rest floats away and ends up on the rock or sandbed. So I need to add more and they find 1/3 of it and then the rest floats away...etc. 3 times per day.

I am trying to feed less and be more targeted with the feeding but it is not always easy. I am also being more aggressive about basting the rock and vacuuming the sandbed. Hopefully I can get it under control.