Pete's 280 log

[psteeleb]

Not much to add from this week, other then I've been getting some minor algea blooms and I'm pretty sure its because my clean up crew is essentially gone. I think the lobster and the pair of Banded Coral Shrimp, are the culprits. Unfortunatly, this appears to have included my wifes two favorite hermits; Frankie and Scarlett. I'm okay with them munching on snails, even some hermits, just as long as they don't get started on the fish (and some of the fish have had some fin damage lately). So, I ordered a 100 snails and another 60 hermits and should get them next week.

In the meantime I'm looking forward to getting the Acro's all dipped and in QT. I want to get this AEFW thing behind me. I just about have everythign set up and may even get started on it tonight. It looks like the hardest thing will be sawing off some of the Acro encrustations to get them out of the tank. I'll probably sterilize the bases with some kalc paste with exception to a nice encrustation of a Blue Tort, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I may even try to cut off a chunk of the boulder it's on in order to salvage it.

I'll also be adding a few pieces of shelf rock to; a) provide more space for the Acro's, and, b) lower several of them so they are more easily viewed. I havn't decided if I'm going ot pick up some more Lace Lave or order some nice shelf pieces online (like Marco)

I'll post pictures of the Acro dip and QT as it progresses

 

[melev]

Pete, did you order that clean up crew yet? I never replied to your PM because I figured I missed that window of opportunity.

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12456557#post12456557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Pete, did you order that clean up crew yet? I never replied to your PM because I figured I missed that window of opportunity.

I placed an order Wed night but I doubt he will ship till next week. I just ordered the snail mail (2 day ) stuff to keep shipping down. Let me know if you still want anythign and I can check to see if he can include it in this shipment. Either way, his shipping is very reasonable.

 

[melev]

Thanks, PM replied to. (Btw, I said 50 but it might be 100 - I don't remember)

 

[psteeleb]

a few tank (tang) shots from today

 

[psteeleb]

and a upper mid tank sps shot

 

[psteeleb]

and soon to be sps QT

I needed to make up some more salt water or I would have gotten started on the dipping and QT process today

 

[cbui2]

is it ok to place tank directly on floor? your display look very nice

 

[Hop]

I really like this pic!!!

Kind of leaves me with an empty tank feeling now that I look at mine:lol:

 

[psteeleb]

Started to dip and Qt for AEFW

Started to dip and Qt for AEFW

I finally got around to starting to pull my Acros and dip them in Fluke Tabs


First 4 acros in a 15 min soak with 2 Fluke Tabs in 2 1/2g of tank water; 2 blue tenuis, a prostrata and a blue tabling acro in this batch

casualties from first dip, I can't really tell if there is much in there other then some ****ed of pods running around (maybe one flatworm and a bunch of pods). If there are AEFW in this they curled up to where I can't tell them apart from other detritus etc, or may be they are just really small compared to the forst bunch I blasted off

second dip - 7 minutes in Revive resulted in a bunch of brittle star and asterina casualties

I'm acclimating this first bunch to the QT tank as I post this update - more to come

 

[melev]

If you have the room, a small powerhead in the Fluke bucket would be good because that powder tends to settle pretty quickly. When it snows on your corals with a powerhead, it should keep the meds evenly mixed up. It doesn't burn the corals, in case you're wondering.

 

[psteeleb]

thanks Marc- Ill do that

 

[psteeleb]

took a couple more pictures while I'm doing this

the AEFW factory:mad2:
I'm trying to saw this thing off in place but it's going real slow using a cable saw - any Ideas?

a Green Birdsnest just below the AEFW factory

My Blugrn table - probably go for a dip in the next batch

and a couple new additions I picked up at a LFS for 19.99 ea - I'll try and get some better top downs later

 

[psteeleb]

here is a pic of the cable saw - arrg not much progress

at leaset I got the big blutip and plate out of the way almost to the point where it may be posible to remove the boulder the tricolor is on and then I can just chisel it off. oh well - back to work

 

[psteeleb]

I gave up on the in tank sawing, it would probably work on a frag or small colony trunk but this is a solid mass.

A couple more minutes for some other acros to soak then this boulder is ready to come out and meet up with a hammer and chisel

any classes on reef desruction and rebuild 101? wish me luck with the results, I just hope its worth it in the long run

 

[psteeleb]

Other then having to prop up the lights for clearance and just dealing with the weight of the rock it came out, got chiseled and went back in less then 5 minutes. More rock came of then I had hoped but I can work with that. I also chiseled off another encrusting acro that was in the front part of the rock. Now I need to get things back together and the tank running again before I create other problems. I'll work on the other acros this week or next weekend, at least I got the worst ones out.

I also have some frag management to do.

rock out

rock back (with a little off the top)

 

[psteeleb]

I decided to clean off the busted piece of rock so I could return it to the tank

here it is back in place, I may drill some holes for pegging corals and glue (epoxy) it back on

close up of where the tri color use to be

It's kind of sad as the tricolor started as a small 1" encrustaon on the piece of rock about 18 months ago. Now its gone, but I do have some nice sized fragged colonies that I can work with.

 

[melev]

You can glue or peg the frags into a decent colony again. Did you get rid of all the acro tissue on that rock? I see something (about 8 o'clock from the spot where the chromis is) in the last picture.

You got a great deal on those clams!

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12518676#post12518676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
You can glue or peg the frags into a decent colony again. Did you get rid of all the acro tissue on that rock? I see something (about 8 o'clock from the spot where the chromis is) in the last picture.

You got a great deal on those clams!

thanks Marc for pointing that out, I missed it but I'll pull it again to drill some holes and chisel that encrustation off.

and yes they have a great sale going on for those little croceas, maximas and I think some others - first time I've been to that store. I just hope they make it, so far so good.

I spent the last 5-6 hours dealing with those corals and I'm not even done. At lease the major pain is partially dealt with. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if anything with the blue tip.

By the way I pulled out the branch that broke off about 2 months ago. I thought for sure it was so intertwined it wouldn't come out, but it did. It's about 12"-14" with several nice branches. If you can qt it would you mind banking it?

 

[melev]

I'll be happy to bank it. I think it'll look great in the center of my tank.