nbgen12

Shouldnt the ph have shot upwards? Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I like

I have it in the fuge so you're probably right. Im still surprised it won't turn it's head for the nutrimar ova.... I have plenty of microfauna in there so hopefully it continues to fatten up so i can toss that cool looking fish back in my DT. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Ive put a little food in with him but never seen him go for any at any point. He must be eating something i dont see, because hes not as skinny. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Things will improve as soon as i can get the phosphate under control. It tested at .18 last night on my hannah checker but i was a little overkill on several feedings plus I got some stuff in from IPSF a few days ago. Phosphates are a headache if allowed to get out of control. Ill just have to keep re-juicing my phosguard reactor every few days until it gets down below .1 consistently. Phosguard is exhausted so quick in a tank with high phosphate, its unreal. Can't wait to run out and switch to GFO..... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks Steve and Ron, I think I'll be equally pumped to keep track of both of your DD tanks..... Here is some pictures from my phone if they actually post correctly. A hurting pocci which was laying in the sand for months...looks a tiny bit better. A birdsnest which was almost 100% white 2 weeks ago. The brownish tint is spreading and polyps are slowly becoming visible. This brain was totally bleached excepting a few tiny spots within crevasses. Another hurting brain coral. This one will probably take the longest to rebound. These frogspawn and torch were not really open at all a month ago. This one is a true warrior and is now thriving. Did some new aquascaping while moving things around periodically to siphon the sandbed. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2 One of the two clowns with the new melanarus in front of it which is tough to see. That wrasse is a total pig for a small guy. I will get pics of the other corals in a few days. Slow and steady in this race....going to be quite some time to get full color back in these coral

I need to get this thing back going, to have a spot where I can see things progress. Basically since the end of October, I did nothing with the tank other than feed the fish and fill my top off container. My dosing containers ran dry after about a month, but I just had 0 time to deal with the tank because of school. About 3 weeks ago I decided it was time to start trying to get things cleaned up. When I tested the water, my alk was at 6 DKH, calcium was at 280, phosphates were at .25. Everything else was acceptable. Needless to say, almost every piece of coral was totally bleached or shriveled up. Also during this time, I ditched my aqua c remora pro skimmer, and am now running skimmerless. I bought a Grey Seas skimmer, but I have yet to build my 40g breeder sump, which will be big enough to fit everything I want. I wish I had taken pictures before I started doing my maintenance regiment, to fully document how bad the coral looked. I've started doing 5-10g water changes every 3-4 days, siphoning built up detritus from the sand bed and fuge. I basically said whatever makes it through this stage makes it, and what doesn't is simply out of luck. Got the dosing equipment back hooked up, set up a reactor where I am currently using phosguard until it runs out, then I will switch to GFO. I took some pictures yesterday which I will post sometime soon to track the progress. I got my alk up to 9 which is where I'd like to keep it if not a little lower around 8-8.5, calcium is at 360 and slowly climbing, and phosphates are at .12 and slowly dropping as I keep up with things. Almost every piece of coral I had in the tank through the tough times are showing signs of life. My birdsnest which was about 95% white is beginning to show a few polyps in places and I can see it slowly rejuvenating. My frogspawns and torch corals were nearly totally shriveled and gone. They are all making very nice improvements week by week. Just taking things slowwwww and steady with the water changes, but making them frequent, small, and consistent. All the fish are healthy. I added a pair of oscellaris clownfish, 1 melanarus wrasse, 1 coris wrasse (I haven't seen him since adding him a week ago and I'm not sure if he is alive or what), and a rainfords goby which is difficult to get to eat. I will post the pictures I took a couple days ago to give an idea of what things look like now. Even though most stuff still looks completely terrible, they are light years better than they were about a month ago. I've done a ton of reading on the relationship between Alkalinity, calcium, nitrates, phosphates, and photo periods over the last couple months through several extremely informative threads on reef central. I seriously believe this is going to be a turning point with my tank, and hopefully some people can learn from my thread. If things go smoothly with the coral, I may not even build the 40g sump and stay skimmerless as long as I plan to do frequent water changes. I will not be adding a single piece of coral to my tank until everything I have has completely rebounded, which will probably end up taking several months. I'll post some pictures in the coming days to begin tracking the progress.

I definitely like what you're doing over there....youll probably keep moving things for a while but that looks 100x better IMO. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for making the trip Richard! Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Lol its all good. In my opinion, the rock scape appears roughly the same height along the whole tank, making it symmetrical, with no breaks in the rock structure. It kind of creates the rock wall effect which is ok if you like it. What to aim for is a rock structure with one side higher than the other, and totally asymmetrical. Make a gap or two in the rock structure so the sand is visible from front to back. If you want to mimic the reef central thread, is follow the rule of thirds. This is a concept from art/photography which helps you create focal points. Look at the first post on the reef central thread with a diagram for the rule of thirds. Either way, if you like it stick with it. I bet you will accidentally create the aquascape you like down the road if you have to start moving rock to catch a fish or do some cleaning of the sand. Thats what happened with mine last week despite me having put in a lot of effort on my first scape. I started throwing rocks around trying to catch a sleeping groggy fish and left the rocks overnight. When i looked at it in the morning, I was pretty pleased with my purely accidental creation, which took no thought or tactic. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

It's at petco Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I will also head over to petco to pickup my 2 boxes of IO tomorrow night Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Go to the link on post #8. Even if you don't read a sentence, you will get some great ideas from pictures of the amazing scapes. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Ill see what I can do. I bought reef nutrition tigger pods which are very small and may be similar to what you mentioned first. I have a bunch of different pods in there at this point but we will see what happens with a little more time.... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I actually fed with the nutrimar ova on the second day to no avail but i will try it again now that a couple more days have passed. Ill cut off the flow for 15 minutes to makes sure the rainford has an opportunity to get to it and see how it goes.... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Rak, I've only had him a few days, but he's a little on the skinny side so I want to get him eating as best as I can, but I don't want to pollute the tank too much just blasting different foods and the guy. They are also notorious for not eating pellets, flakes, frozen, or some live foods.

I actually have the Microvert right here. Despite the fact this sounds like it should be really simple, I'm pretty confused on how to feed this stuff to a fish. If you don't mind Forrest, please elaborate a little for me. Currenty I put the rainford goby into my fuge which is approx 15 gallons of water space with chaeto and a couple small live rocks and about 1.5 inches of sand. I haven't decided to use the 600 gph power head in there for water movement around the chaeto or not, but for now I have it off. So, I can assume I'm target feeding, but this guy is pretty timid and is also new the the aquarium. I can get my hand in there but as soon as I'm about 8-10" away he darts to the rock. Do I squirt the Microvert into where he's hiding? Should I target it into the chaeto? Squirt onto the little chaeto bits on the sand bed? Onto the actual sand bed, or in the sand bed since he sifts sand? This stuff disperses so fast I don't know how the Rainford could get any of it even though my fuge is low flow with the koralia off. Also, do you have any link to the shrimp roe food you used?

Anyone have any experience with these guys? Ive tried live brine, frozen mysis, jans food and a little squirt of zoo plankton but didn't notice much response at all. I moved him to the fuge so theres no competition for live food and i can easily target it with whatever new food options.... Anyone able to chime in? Im going to try a little microvert and look for shrimo roe at marine scene and see if anything is successful per treesprites suggestion. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I need to find somethin the poor little guy will eat. Ill try a little microvert. Since hes a sifter should i our a little right on the sand nearby him and power off the powerhead for a bit? I moved him into the fuge last night which may work better since he wont have to compete with the melanarus wrasse for live food(pods from my fuge). I cannot seem to find the yellow coris wrasse the last 2 days so the outlook may not be good for him either... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

When i get home for lunch and turn the lights on i suppose i should sift the sand around and make sure they're kickin? Most of the rock is towards the right side of the tank at the moment, so i guess i should search through the sand on the left side of the tank first and work my way to the right? Or will this do more harm than good? Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

So I got a few new fish (melanarus wrasse, coris wrasse, and a rainford's goby) and the rainford goby won't eat anything other than substrate. I have read their eating habits are difficult. I moved rock around at night to catch him and move him to the fuge where there is chaeto, some LR, and probably more of the live stuff he would feed on within the sand along with pods. Will the moving of the rock bury and kill my new wrasses? or can they unbury themselves just fine? also worth adding, when I moved rock I did not push it into the sand, only set it on top... Typically I would try to catch a fish during the day, but he is extremely fast so night time grogginess made it much much easier.

anyone able to answer this one? I am also interested to know

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2217633 This is the tips and tricks for creating aquascapes thread on reef central. Great ideas and concepts..... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I am also in for 2 boxes of IO if Tysons pickup is possible.....Ron, I swear i will get your rodi pressure gauges back soon! Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

They havent learned a thing since leaving vienna...... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2