Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[mhucasey]

You guys think they look good? I don't. :facepalm: Thanks though guys! I'm glad someone likes them.

I think the low pH may be contributing to the algae/bacteria troubles I've had. These algae/bacteria are certainly not your typical run of the mill types. Remember that clear fuzzy alga/bacteria from a couple pages back? Still have it.

I'm not sure how to lower CO2 to the skimmer yet. The option to run a line outside may not be the best option since the outside temperature often falls in the -30C here. Not only am I not a big fan of pumping a bunch of cold air into my house, I'm not sure how much that will affect the temperature of the tank and the use of the heaters. Maybe less CO2 in the house wouldn't be a bad thing though! I was also thinking of a CO2 scrubber, but what I know of them they aren't easy to keep at a steady rate, and the last thing I need is a yo-yo pH!

I think the "alga" on the powerheads and back glass may be Lyngbya. I might pull out the old microscope today and take a look. Lyngbya is a cyanobacteria that seems to thrive in very low nutrient environments. *grumble*

Pulling air from the outside is the best way to go unless you live on a block of ice like you. It will cool your tank down. The CO2 scrubber is really your best option at least until summer.

 

[Myka]

Pulling air from the outside is the best way to go unless you live on a block of ice like you. It will cool your tank down. The CO2 scrubber is really your best option at least until summer.

Ok. I ordered the TLF adapter for the PhosBan reactor to skimmer intake, and a container of TLF CDX to get me started. If that works well I'll look for a cheaper source for sodalime pellets.

 

[Myka]

Nothing exciting to report...

So I ordered some parts to make a CO2 scrubber and I'll hook that up to my skimmer. I'm headed to Philippines next week on a dive trip though, so that won't get done until later.



For fun, here's some stocking lists...

Current stock:

2x Onyx Clownfish (breeding pair) - Thing One and Thing Two
Pajama Cardinal - Redeye
Royal Gramma - Francis
Yellow Coris (H chrysus) - Snoopy
2x Panamic Barnacle Blenny - Streaker and Flash
Pintail Wrasse - Pirate (blind in one eye, pronounced pie-rot-ay because he's fancy like that)
Cleaner Shrimp - Frank
Peppermint Shrimp - Aiptassin


On the (possibility) list:

Candy Basslet (I may opt for C earlei instead which is kinda similar coloring)
Bella Sleeper Goby pair (V. bella)
Blue Spot Jawfish (may not get on with Bellas, so might skip this guy)
One more wrasse? C johnsoni?

 

[mhucasey]

Maybe a exquisite wrasse? I had one and it was quite beautiful...

 

[Myka]

Hi Matt. I'm not real excited about Exquisite Wrasses though they are quite popular. Thanks for the idea though.

 

[reefmutt]

So I was talking to the LFS owner and he said the "plana" came is as a desalwii. It looks too bush-type to be desalwii to me, but I sure am hoping! That's the coral I miss the most from my old SPS tank. To me, plana and desalwii are impossible to distinguish until you have a good growth pattern established - if it tables it's desalwii, and if it's a bush it's plana.

Here it is today, starting to show a bit of color, but not much.

In comparison, here's a known plana frag that I ordered (it arrived brown as a turd). With close pics like these though, it does appear that the corallites are shaped differently. Hmm...

Here's that maricultured mille (or prostrata?) that's an interesting color. I still can't quite get the burnt orange color of the tips on the camera. It's certainly different than a typical Sunset Mille.
Polyps out:

Polyps in:

A new smooth skin I bought yesterday that came in as caroliniana. I could believe that, but maybe multiacuta? It was brighter when it first arrived at the LFS, but it's been there awhile. Can anyone spot Little Kenny's cousin Tiny Tim? Tiny Tim lost a pincer fighting me when I was trying to remove him before the Bayer dip. He thinks he's tough enough to handle insecticide, but I told him only adults are allowed to choose to be exposed to that type of drug, and when he's 18 he can decide then. Hopefully Snoopy (the Yellow Coris H chrysus) will leave him alone, or he'll have worse problems than a close call with insecticide!

These corals look great. Love, love the 'caroliniana' and the Millie has nice rich colour. I find planas often seem pale in the body..
It's funny what you said about distinguishing plana and desalwi.. I would have said the opposite.. Most planas I have ever seen are plating.. And the coral I think is a Fiji desalwi, in my tank is growing as a thicker clump..

My only suggestion for you concerning ph is to just stop testing... I realize, however, that you may not find that helpful..

No tangs or blennys in the list? A bristle tooth tang or blenny may help with the fuzz..
Just having more fish and measurable nutrients may just make the stuff go away on its own... Maybe..

 

[mhucasey]

Hi Matt. I'm not real excited about Exquisite Wrasses though they are quite popular. Thanks for the idea though.

What about an Equisite wrasse....with a LASER?

 

[Myka]

Well I'm back from the diving trip to Philippines, and I come bearing gifts! Here's a pro video of one of my dives.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2An0DBpZV-U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

My tank was about the same when I got back as far as the fuzz/algae stuff goes, though the corals are paler. I finally got the brilliant idea to put an urchin in there and picked up a fairly big Tuxedo Urchin. To my delight it went straight for the fuzz/algae! However, my tank has been cloudy ever since I added it. It seems the cloudiness is worse in the morning, and fades during the day. The skimmer is acting normal. No idea what's going on...

These corals look great. Love, love the 'caroliniana' and the Millie has nice rich colour. I find planas often seem pale in the body..
It's funny what you said about distinguishing plana and desalwi.. I would have said the opposite.. Most planas I have ever seen are plating.. And the coral I think is a Fiji desalwi, in my tank is growing as a thicker clump..

My only suggestion for you concerning ph is to just stop testing... I realize, however, that you may not find that helpful..

No tangs or blennys in the list? A bristle tooth tang or blenny may help with the fuzz..
Just having more fish and measurable nutrients may just make the stuff go away on its own... Maybe..

:lol: Who knows about the Plana vs Desalwii - we aren't biologists, so it's best guess really. Water parameters and flow change a corals' structure so much.

It's funny YOU say that about pH - that's my usual solve. It's something I monitor, but have really only taken very small measures to try to persuade it. It IS exceptionally low though. However, I tried to test it, and my pH tester is dead. The batteries said 97% last time I used it, so it has me wondering if maybe the tester is dead. I'll have to investigate.

The tank is only 36 x 21 x 21" so it's a bit small for a Tang, but funny you mention it, I did put a Tomini into my QT a couple days ago. I'll probably have to catch it out at some point in the future. I do have the two little Barnacle Blennies, but I'm really not a fan of the larger Blennies and with such a small tank I don't want to "waste" a spot on the roster.

What about an Equisite wrasse....with a LASER?

If you know where to find one, let me know!

 

[Myka]

Here's a pic of the cloudiness in the tank. This is the worst it's been so far. I can't help but think it's got something to do with the Urchin mowing down that fuzz. The corals and fish appear unaffected, but I'll do a waterchange and add a small amount of fresh carbon just in case.

 

[reefmutt]

Cool video. It's amazing how that pinkish video light brings out the colours in the fish and corals. Makes everything look so brilliant and saturated.

Mindy, where are your n and p? I'm curious because you mentioned that the corals are a little more pale and since the urchin cleaned up that algea, the water went cloudy..
When I first re set up my current tank, it went cloudy for many weeks- maybe over a month, I think- I assumed it was an algea bloom.. It eventually went away..
I know your tank's not new anymore but maybe the water bourn algea (if it's that) picked up on some extra nutrients after the urchin removed the white fuzz that was originally consuming it..

 

[Myka]

Hey Matt, good to "see" you again! The dive light is actually white. It's the water depth that takes the color out. As soon as you hit things with light the color just pops. The last third of that video is in 85-95 feet of water. The sky is the limit when it comes to dive lights - there are video setups with multiple lights and multiple $ figures. :lol:

I gotta test my tank today and see what's up. Since I came back I decided to start elevating cal/alk/mg a bit from NSW values of 400/7/1250 to 430/8/1400 in hopes that might help with the pH situation. The corals don't seem to show any reaction.

 

[Myka]

Well I did find one thing off in my testing today. I calibrated my refractometer today. I forgot I turned the ATO pump off yesterday, so the sump was down about 2 gallons. The specific gravity was 1.024 at this point, so I guess the salinity was probably around 1.023 when it was topped up to the right point. Soo...

SG 1.023
Cal 435 ppm (Salifert)
Alk 8.15 dKH (Salifert)
Mg 1200 ppm (Red Sea Pro)
NO3 undetectable (Red Sea Pro)
PO4 4 ppb, 0.012 ppm (Hanna ULR)

So I topped up with saltwater instead of RO/DI, and I still didn't plug in the ATO. I'll let it evaporate and top up with saltwater until specific gravity is back at 1.026. To keep cal/alk from getting too high while I'm raising salinity, I unhooked the kalk line. I have to bump up the Mg too.

Hopefully I'll get a WC done tonight. Tank is a bit less cloudy now than it was this morning. Urchin still hard at work, and has covered probably 50% of the affected rocks. Oh, he's good.

I have a bucket of the Aquaforest Probiotic Reef Salt on the burner waiting. I have 2 more WC worth of H2Ocean left, and then it's game on. My bucket was cracked, and actually leaked a bit of salt. There was no sample bottle of NP Pro in my bucket. I'm not sure if it fell out or if that was just a temporary bonus they were doing. Either way, no NP Pro for me, and still not available on Amazon.ca ...

 

[plyle02]

Welcome back Mindy, your video was super cool, I am envious of your experience, I am sure you had a great time

 

[M007]

Thanks for posting that video. As a diver, looking for new adventures, I found it most interesting. The water appears somewhat murky and it appears a dive light would be an asset. What was the maximum bottom depth on that dive? The fish numbers were off the hook!

 

[Usernam Invalid]

Great drive video [emoji106]

 

[Myka]

Welcome back Mindy, your video was super cool, I am envious of your experience, I am sure you had a great time

Thank you! It is good to be back, though I could have moved in and never come back. The Philippino people were so friendly - they have an amazing culture.

Thanks for posting that video. As a diver, looking for new adventures, I found it most interesting. The water appears somewhat murky and it appears a dive light would be an asset. What was the maximum bottom depth on that dive? The fish numbers were off the hook!

That particular area has a lot of current through the straight (one wall dive was 10 knots!!) and some large freshwater rivers running into it, so it makes for a lot of particulate matter in the water. Visibility always looks worse on video and photos than it is in person though. Most dives we had about 50 feet of visibility. There were certainly some dives where you really had to pay attention to where the other divers were or you would lose them because the current was strong and the visibility was poor. Most of our group was very experienced though, and halfway through the trip the divemasters would continue the dive if we got "lost" as long as we had a safety sausage. They didn't like it, and they were twitchy about it, but they got over it. :lol:

The Canyons dive the first third was 35-50 ft, the middle third was 65-80 ft, and last third was 85-95 feet.

Great drive video [emoji106]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed!

 

[markalot]

Great video, thanks for sharing it.

 

[reefmutt]

The large buckets don't have the NP Pro.. Only the smaller containers do.. Or that's my experience, anyways..

 

[mhucasey]

The large buckets don't have the NP Pro.. Only the smaller containers do.. Or that's my experience, anyways..

My large bucket did...

 

[reefmutt]

Hm! I bought 4 buckets before Christmas. No NP Pro...