Jonathan's Reef

Hello! I've had this chalice for a few years, and I'm not sure what kind to call it. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

If your system is low on calcium or other trace nutrients, I suppose that could weaken the skeleton. Perhaps get some supplements if you don't already use them. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Thanks for the idea. I think I want something a little more sleek, but I will take a look. May be able to get the look I'm wanting.

My wife and I are getting our first home, and I am looking to build a dining table out of a couple book-matched tree slabs. I found a likely vendor for the slabs (though I'm still searching if anyone has any recommendations), but I want to make the stand for the tabletop out of steel. I was wondering if anyone here works with steel or knows someone who does. Prices vary greatly on Etsy, so I would feel better picking someone based on a rec. Thanks! Please message or Tapatalk message me. Mods, if this is the wrong forum, I apologize. Please point me in the right direction.

I love the idea, but I can't make it down there on Wednesday. If you ever want to get up into DC though, I'm in. DuPont perhaps... Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Good points. Thanks. I'll get that Ca test kit. Appreciate the link too. I feel like I've been in the hobby so long, and it's kinda sad that I'm just seeing the value of all this. My corals and display overall could be in such a better place. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Don't know about sales, but I got my da Vinci clowns from Monkiboy who runs a private business out of silver spring. Message him directly for stock. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the input. I will give that a try and see how things are looking over the next two weeks. I don't have Ca or Mg test kits, but it sounds like the relationship of Ca to alk is such that watching just alk should do the trick in most cases. You all make a lot of sense regarding tools. I'll try by hand now and see how things go. My next big upgrade will likely be a controller, so this'll be a good way to measure my need. Thanks again! Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I've always added a cap full or two of various solutions to my water when I do a water change, but after today's WAMAS meeting and the excellent talks, I feel like I need to step up my dosing game. Joe recommended the ESV b-ionic products, so I'm going to look into the ESV salt and the 2 part b-ionic dosing components. I've got a 50g mixed reef tank with a skimmer and fuge in the sump. Does anyone have any recommendations for dosers, for other brands they've had success with, and more information in general on how to monitor parameters and decide what dosing is right for me? Thanks! Jonathan

Glad you caught it. Thanks for the tips. I'm counting down my days and hoping I can get all my parameters in line soon so my corals stop bleaching too. Lots of dead fish = unhappy corals + lots of algae, sadly. Man, sorry to hear that too! Do you know what the culprit was?

Thanks, I'll be sure to look there as well.

Yeah, I should have. If it happens again, I will be sure to document it as it's happening. Thanks for the thoughts. I will take the order of additions into account as well. I've already started looking into QT tanks. Doesn't look too bad, so now just to find a place to put it out of the way in the other room where the wife will be ok with putting up with it for a few months.

Sound advice indeed. I am definitely not going to run out and buy something because it was recommended to me again. I didn't even do that with the powder brown, but I guess that the fact that I really wanted one made me focus on the positives and ignore the negatives. On my next round, I'll do a better job of researching and ensuring compatibility with the system and tank mates. As you said, it's expensive enough, but I just feel so darn bad that I killed all those fish! Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

Wow! This is a pretty fantastic list. Lots of great options in there. I like the idea of some of these true nano sized fish so that they really have space and won't ever make the tank look crowded. Thanks so much for the great suggestions. How did you come up with this so fast?

Just saw the spelled out list you updated. Thanks a lot. I'll give that a thorough look through.

Thanks for the suggestions. We were hoping for something a little less commonly found, but I guess there's good reason for Kole and Sailfin Tangs to be so popular. Have you (or anyone) had any experience with tiger watchman gobies? I have a thick sandbed, so I was thinking maybe he'd take advantage of that and keep it pristine in the meantime. He won't be nearly as good at algae cleanup as a blenny, but he does look mighty fine.

Clowns were in there for about a month and a half - 2 months. Pseudochromis came 2 weeks before the tang from the same place as the tang.

Thinking back, when my two clowns first came in, they got sick almost immediately, but they pulled through (likely because of ERS's excellent treatment processes). I think that the disease may have come in on the cleanup crew that I put in the tank and been living in the clowns. Then maybe the addition of the other fish stressed them all out and pushed everyone overboard.

I'll do some more investigating to see if I can figure out exactly. It seems like Ich, but it acted so quickly that seems unlikely. I'll do some research on small QT tanks to see what I can do to avoid this kind of problem in the future. I'll probably double up and look to one of these vendors too. Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the input. I spent a while investigating fish, and I saw successful powder browns kept in 50 gallons. Plus, the LFS rep actually said I'd be fine with the powder brown and a small sailfin, so I thought I'd be able to keep the powder brown. Obviously, that wasn't true. Maybe if the tank were a bit more established, it could hold up to the demands of the powder brown. I definitely wasn't feeding 3-4 times a day either. With your fish size recommendations, it sounds like that means no tangs at all. I really like the body shape, swimming style, and the fact that they keep the rocks clean of even the slightest algal growth. Any ideas on substitutes for this reef community role?

So, I had a pair of DaVinci Clowns and a pseudochromis, and then I added a Powder Brown Tang and a Copper Banded Butterfly to my tank. A couple days later, I say to my wife, "it's there!" A couple days later, all my fish are dead. They grew some slight fuzziness and got some dark blotches on them. Then they were dead. It was so quick that I didn't even have time to react. I'm assuming that the tang/butterflyfish came with the disease, and I'm assuming it's prokaryotic. I'm looking for 2 bits of advice: 1. How long should I wait before restarting my fish, assuming my parameters are stabilized (of course)? I was thinking I'd give a good month to 5 weeks to run out their reproductive lifecycle. They probably have some dormant stages though, so I doubt I can ever be free of them. Alternatively, are there any recommendations to fight it while there are only corals and other inverts in the tank? 2. Is there a good dip or something people would recommend in lieu of having a QT tank? I'm in a small apartment, so my 50 cube is all the tank I can fit. Thanks!

Yeah, may be overkill. Can always remove some Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

Thanks! I'll post a side shot to see the other viewing angle. Wish I had a better spot to place the tank for three way viewing. I do plan to build a mesh top. Not in a huge hurry since I've got so much algae to deal with first, but I want gobies and I know they're jumpers. Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

Thanks. So far so good. I didn't really investigate the pros and cons of the deep bed, but my hope is that I'll get some anoxic zones for denitrifiers to colonize. May not have quite the depth for that though, so hopefully the gobies like it. Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

Quick update. The clowns are sickness free! Such a relief! Not a great photo, but had to show them off. The algae is still awful, but today, I took almost every rock out and scrubbed it down. You can see lots of algae bits floating around in the photo, but it's looking better. I'm going to pick up a BRS GFO/Carbon reactor to help deal with the algae. I also placed all the frags in the rockwork to get rid of my ugly frag rack. Shortly after I said the corals were all super happy, they started bleaching. I guess I may have upped my light too quickly. Either way, I dropped blue down to 40% and white to 18-20%. Hopefully everything will bounce back.