nburg

I've found the cal solutions will drift over time, maybe from evaporating water?

Good post to raise awareness! I am done with refractometer calibration solution. When new, they are correct at 35 ppt, but over time they must evaporate water because they always go up. I had some corals doing poorly and wasn't sure why. Someone gave me some calibration solution with a refractometer they were getting rid of (nice to have backups) and I was like hey, this is 2 ppt too low... then i got to thinking, and got a third one brand new... it was 2 ppt low as well. I was frustrated with a pretty big difference in the 3 and bought the TM hydrometer and turns out my main calibration solution was 37 ppt instead of 35 ppt. I continued to use the new, correct fluid to spot check every week but thankfully if my refractometer comes back wonky, I compare the solution to my TM hydrometer. Sure enough, the third bottle drifted. conveniently enough, I run my tank at 77F so no temp compensations needed. Now I will calibrate my refractometer to my hydrometer every couple weeks. If my DT or my fresh mixed saltwater come back weird (they're usually consistent) I will spot check.

I had this happen to a nero 3. notorious for cracking on the inner motor. I think the plastic is so thin to keep it in a small size form factor. I had a few corals decline over the last few months and I am wondering if it was the cause. I think it was cracked for months as I heard it clicking but never bothered to look at the inner magnet around... I think Tunze seems to be the best at longevity but no plastic covered magnet will last forever. Check the magnet mount AND the pump motor area!!

I have a captive bred one and the only thing he aggressively flashes is me, which I am cool with. It was very cryptic when it was small but comes out more and more as it has grown. Slower eater at first and now eats readily out of the water column, but still not a huge eater since it doesn't actively swim a lot. I don't have shrimp, but doesn't bother snails or hermits, doesn't bother fish and is super cool. I always stop to watch when it comes out. Usually just pokes his head out of the cave all day. EDIT: I've also read mandarins have a toxic and bad tasting slime coat so many fish spit them out if they try to eat them.

To me, anything euphyllia with more than 5-6 polyps is a colony and any acro maybe 3 -4 inches or more depending on type (like stags would be a little bigger or a table a little smaller since they are more rounded)... if you ask vendors, anything over and inch or more than 3 branches is a colony

You’re showing your age in the hobby with wet web media. I remember when I first started, I would submit questions to WWM and was excited when I would get answers from Bob Fenner. His short answers always required follow up questions, lol. Better than the randos from reef central. i think the best thing for newbies is reference the Berlin method: skimmer, live rock and water changes. At least until they learn the basics.

Hey, if that frag tank is still available, i will probably take it!

Wow, looks sweet!

I would agree with the others... in a new tank, getting any decent growth in a year is good. Looks like the acros you posted are laying a good base and should start taking off soon. Once they get going, they can grow quick. You could expect in ideal conditions for that slimer to put on an inch a month on some branches. Mine would only grow from a few branches while other branches did nothing. I think I have colonies from frags that had 2 or 3 branches that are now 6-7 inches tall on one branch while the other initial branch never grew from when I got it 2 years ago.

Sucks to see this. Good reminder to double check things. Im always afraid of my light mounts giving way and falling into the tank.

Thanks guys! I’m not a blue light guy, but the tank does look good under blues!

fwiw, when I started dosing nitrates, my phosphate settled to around 0.1 where I like it and dose to keep nitrates at 10ish. Your best bet for algae control is probably some big Mexican turbo snails. They’re not super easy to keep long term. I think the longest I had one was about 2 Years, but typically anything over a year is about what you can hope for. Or maybe some emerald crabs too. I have found as corals grow, they can out compete algae too

I’ve had those come and go over the years. Population booms followed by them just disappearing one day. I think my mandarin ate them all a while back. She got fat around the time I noticed them gone.

Is that a different kind of peppermint or do they call those Camel Shrimp?

Been a while since updating. I have not changed anything equipment wise, although I am still not 100% on dosing kalk yet for pH stability. Using vet-grade co2 scrubbing media again and it’s way better than the crap sold for aquariums and probably cheaper. So it does a decent job. Kalk is probably cheaper in the long run but I’ve noticed much better coloration since going from BRS 2 part and ESV B-ionic which has trace elements to keep from diluting your tank with just the NaCl of the BRS 2 part, so if I dose kalk, would that throw off my balance since less 2 part is added? I don’t know. I’m kind of at the point where things are good so why change… even though I bought a doser, a reservoir and a bag of kalkwasser. I still haven’t put my radion over my frag sump yet, just haven’t had a lot of free time. But I want to measure my current light PAR and try to recreate the schedule. I did clear out a bunch of frags this last weekend so that will make it less impactful if I fry my frags. speaking of frags - it’s been a while since adding corals, so I made an order from Lazy’s Coral House. He has great stuff and decent pricing. Late to the tenuis game but picked up a chunky Tyree Superman tenuis and a JF Jolt tenuis, along with some sunny D, blue hornet and Marvin the Martian Zoas. Killer stuff! outside of equipment, I did change some rocks around, got rid of some stuff so here’s a current FTS. I need to take one big rock out to kill some discosoma mushrooms and try and kill some encrusting montis on another rock that I can’t take out… lots of epoxy needed!

I did a search a while back for the same reason, although mine is not that bad, so I might do it manually, but someone on RC from way back when recommended a chocolate chip starfish - but it might eat any and all shrooms, zoas and who knows what else, but they're easy to catch. The thread also recommended butterfly fish or big angels, but its hit or miss if they eat them or if the also eat other things. If you find something that works, let us all know!

Yeah mine took a couple months to go from <1 to 10ppm I have practically no algae (yellow tangs and fat snails are the best) so it would be only coral and insignificant amounts of algae consuming so we may have different consumption rates

I dose it on a doser, and I will usually start slow, and add 2-4 ml per day more at a time and then let it do its thing for about a week or 2 before adjusting again, then when it gets up to where I want, I back off 2 mins at a time until it stabilizes. for my tank, I was able to get it to stick right in the 8-10 ppm mark for a while. I don't do based on ppm, just ml. My mixture is 15g for 600ml and I think I dose around 4-6 ml per day to maintain 8-10 ppm in my system which I think is around 180-190 gallons. I think at most, I was at 8-10 ml per day to get it up.

Tanks look good. Wishing you all the luck with the new endeavor.

It’s quiet here. So here’s some glamor shots. I have been rearranging some of my aquascape and moving stuff around so I’m due for a FTS pic soon. about to start kalkwasser dosing and upgrading my frag sump lighting to a radion XR15 pro.

I have 2 in DC

Seems like the non-for sale section is seasonal. There are some more active local Facebook groups but all seem to be geared towards sales, so not a good place to hang.

I think all fish with maybe a few exceptions can be jumpers, if spooked. I’m my experience, wrasses, particularly flasher wrasses are jumpers. I’ve had maybe 4 in my life and all 4 ended up under the tank, and I ran lids so they found a gap or jumped while I was working on the tank and I didn’t know. Some blennies are tide pool dwellers and jump from pool to pool so it might be in their blood to jump. clowns, tangs and the like are usually only jumpers if spooked or bullied.

Yeah most people may not want a boulder acro frag, lol. That colony will look sweet for someone with a big tank if it doesn’t get chopped up.