GraffitiSpotCorals February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Looking good! That skim looks great, looking forward to updates and more pics of zoas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 12, 2014 Share February 12, 2014 Looking good! That skim looks great, looking forward to updates and more pics of zoas! Yeah! More zoa pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 16, 2014 Author Share February 16, 2014 A few of my zoa colonies are doing great, but the majority, like 75%, have been really struggling to open. Yesterday I took all my ailing zoa colonies and frags out and dipped them in coral rx. I figure the likelihood of a pest is pretty high. I probably should have dipped everything, but many are attached to the bottom glass, and I didn't want to stress the ones that are doing well. I must have dipped 35 pieces! Today some of them are open and looking good. Some remain closed. Pics soon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 17, 2014 Author Share February 17, 2014 Issac took this shot: To my knowledge these are I don't know what the red things are, candy apple reds tubbs blues some pissed off rastas (they look more green in picture) and some nice blue with pink centered things I got from coral hind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 hmmm, guess I will dip mines too to see if that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 17, 2014 Author Share February 17, 2014 I am not sure it has helped yet..... These pics are pre dip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 17, 2014 Author Share February 17, 2014 These are some prolific nice pink things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 February 17, 2014 Author Share February 17, 2014 My pissed of red hornets: and some partially closed something else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimlin February 17, 2014 Share February 17, 2014 After dipping mines, they are all closed. only thing that died from the dips are pods. I noticed a bunch of white dots on the zoas and the rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 March 4, 2014 Author Share March 4, 2014 So most of the zoas in the main tank are doing better. Some are still not completely open, but at least they don't look as unhappy as they did before. The best news is that my sps are doing really well now. Everything has colored up nicely and most have even started to grow. My alk finally dropped, which indicates to me that the corals are finally using it! Up until now I have been able to keep up with it with water changes. Will probably start dosing alk again this week. My phosphates were back up to .2 though so I might start running GFO. I also rearranged my rock work this weekend and of course I am not happy with it. I was unhappy with one little island and have a nice flat shelf piece I wanted to use. Of course I hate what I ended up with. It is too hard to aquascape with rock that has nicely growing sps on it. Way too limiting. So it turned out way too symmetrical and with no depth. I'll be playing with it again this weekend. If I can wait that long.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 March 12, 2014 Author Share March 12, 2014 Todays readings: Phosphate .18 Nitrate 2 Alk 127 (7.1 dkh) Calcium 582 ppm I am surprised that the calcium is so high. I am not dosing calcium or anything at all right now. Just lots of water changes. I am going to start dosing a little alk. My phosphates are holding steady between .15 and .2 . I'm pretty happy with anything under .2 at this point. SPS is growing well. It might be time to get some frags.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef March 12, 2014 Share March 12, 2014 Looking good...glad your zoas are opening in your frag tank.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 25, 2014 Share April 25, 2014 I know this stuff has to be growing, and you've gotten some more stuff since your last update, lets hear it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 April 27, 2014 Author Share April 27, 2014 Actually, Not much has been gong on. Work has been really busy. I barely enough time to do maintenance on the tank, and no time to post about it. I am still working on improving my water quality. Ever since we remodeled the house the water pressure has been lower. This means that with all new filters, my RODI unit reads at about 30 psi and falls as the filters are used up. So I just bought a RODI booster pump and am hoping to get it set up today. I have been slowly adding more sps and most of it is doing ok, meaning it's not dying. But it certainly doesn't look great. Some pieces are looking bigger and better, some pieces are still sort of brown and not very colorful. i did a 100g water change yesterday, with the last of the water using the old RODI filters. Going to check some parameters and report back later... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 April 27, 2014 Author Share April 27, 2014 Values: Phosphate .13 Nitrate 1 Not bad.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime April 27, 2014 Share April 27, 2014 Awesome news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 April 27, 2014 Author Share April 27, 2014 I also adjusted my radions again. I had them at 100% for way too long. Every frag I put in there browns out really fast, especially if I put it toward the top. I think i was giving too much light. I switched to the preset "radiant color" profile to see if that helps. Always looking for the sweet spot.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraffitiSpotCorals April 28, 2014 Share April 28, 2014 I am still regenerating my GFO , if you want to buy the high capacity stuff and chip in on lie I can fit an extra pound or two in my reactor. It makes running GFO so much more worth it! Your supposed to get around 5 regenerations or so. I barely lost any got the first time. It ground a small portion into fines and that's all that was lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 May 10, 2014 Author Share May 10, 2014 Wow, if only life didn't get in the way of reefing! Work has been really really busy so I rarely have time to get on WAMAS during the week. So as I mentioned, I turned the radions down because I was having trouble getting good color. So far I am really happy with the change. However my color woes probably had more to due with the fact that I had red bugs. I've been messing with my rock work on and off and the last change I did put some of my frag plugs in the shade. Last week I decided to move them from the far back of the tank to the front and while I was examining them I got some tiny little red surprises. So on Thursday the 8th I treated the tank with interceptor. On Friday I did a 100g water change and started running carbon. The red bugs on the frag are all gone. I lost one skunk cleaner shrimp, but the other skunk cleaner and the fire shrimp made it through. The 3rd skunk cleaner is missing and resumed dead. I am going to repeat the treatment in 2 weeks. Today the tank looks awesome. Pics coming soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 July 1, 2014 Author Share July 1, 2014 Finally got my new refractometer today. Also a magnesium test kit, and reagent for my alk kit. Sort of been neglecting my tank so it's definitely time to take some measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime July 1, 2014 Share July 1, 2014 Pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami July 3, 2014 Share July 3, 2014 Sort of been neglecting my tank so it's definitely time to take some measurements. Been there. Hopefully your automation held things reasonably stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 July 7, 2014 Author Share July 7, 2014 OK, So salinity was a lot lower than I thought it was. about 32 ppt. Took almost and entire bag of salt over the course of 4 days but are now sitting happily at 35 ppt. Phosphates are still an issue. I started running carbon few months ago and have really liked the results. Much nicer water clarity. Today I started running GFO. phosphates were at .27. We'll see what happens. I'll try and post pics soon. Especially of the awesome new plumbing Rob put in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w July 7, 2014 Share July 7, 2014 That's a beautiful tank. I can't wait to see upgraded pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 July 18, 2014 Author Share July 18, 2014 Update day: My tank is doing ok. Coral: I am still struggling to find the sweet spot for sps. As a recap, I lost all my sps over time apparently due to super high phosphates. I upgraded my skimmer, increased water changes, removed rock and did a rain dance, at midnight with bison horns and heart of toad. Phoaphates went down from .4 to .2 range and the sps started looking better but not great. Then I noticed red bugs and treated for that. Again, sps started to look better and I cautiously added a few new frags. BUT... phosphates recently started creeping back up to over .24. In the beginning of May I started running carbon. I really like the cleaner look of the water and have continued to run carbon. At the end of June phosphates started creeping up again, probably because I have done fewer water changes. I was doing 100g every 2 weeks and went to 100g every 3 to 4 weeks. So I started running GFO. Started the GFO and within 36 hrs. browned out 5 sps frags. The good news is that they are brown, not dead. While the frags suffered, the rest of the sps is looking pretty good since I added the GFO. Phosphates went down from .24 to .12, so I cut them in half. Other than the frags, it seems the corals are pretty happy and i am hoping to see some improvement, especially in color. IMO, my color sucks. Growth kinda sucks too, So I have started dosing alk. I am still playing around with how much to dose on a daily basis but I am seeing more white growing tips. I'll test today and post levels. Because I am disappointed in my sps I have been adding some lps to add life and color to my tank so I have something to look at. I've enjoyed the ease, color and movement of the lps so I am happy with that decision. I am still looking for the sps sweet spot, but in the mean time the tank looks nicer. Fish: Over the past several months I have lost a few fish unexpectedly, (algae blenny, blue chromis) but nothing all at once and most everyone seems to be doing well. I also gave one of my blue sided wrasse away as the larger one was beating up on the smaller one. Interestingly my sub male anthias has reverted back to a female. It was odd that he turned from female to male in the first place since there is a super male in the tank. Apparently he also figured out the error of his change and went back to being a female. My large yellow tang and large caribbean blue tang have been sparring more than usual lately so it might be time for the yellow to find a new home soon. Thanks for all the support from this group! Work and life has me running in circles so I am not posting as much but I am lurking and working on my tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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