Weazl's 50g mixed, uhh, something

[madweazl]

I've wanted to extend the hard plumbing on the return line for a long time so I guess the move was good in that sense.

 

 

Cleaned up the wiring gaggle behind the tank while I was at; I used cup hooks to hang all the wires from. Might actually be able to find and replace something without getting caught on every wire now...

 

[madweazl]

Got the 75g refilled and tested alkalinity to match both tanks; looks like the move had little affect on the corals, alkalinity in the transfer tank was down to 5.7 dKh. I brought the display tank down to 6.6 (fresh IO was 10.7) and will bring the transfer tank up to match (dont want to add any more muriatic acid to the display because it will take another 12 hours or so to bring the pH back out of the gutter). 

Edited May 3, 2018 by madweazl

[madweazl]

Layout is largely the same as the last one; I may move some things around but this is probably how it will remain until the 150g is up and running. 

 

[D805]

Glad to hear the move went well. 

[madweazl]

Everything is looking pretty good this afternoon, might make it through without issue. Have seen two fish but one (yellow assessor) is really reclusive anyways. 

[madweazl]

I increased alkalinity dosing on Saturday to bring the levels up a bit (I try to keep it around 7.5 dKh) and yesterday it came up enough (7.2) that I figured today I'd have to level it off or even decrease from the norm but apparently the corals are doing well enough through the transition that alkalinity had leveled off at 7.2. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of days. The monti undata is extremely upset (likely due to lighting levels that are higher than it was receiving before because of rock placement) but everything else looks really good (Vivid rainbow delight browned out but I can deal with that). 

[YHSublime]

If only two of your corals are upset, and everything survived, I'd say you made out pretty good!

[madweazl]

Yellow tip sure has grown a bunch.

 

 

The rock that the rainbow delight is on has been turned 180° with the move. It has spread out quickly and has a ton of new polyps; I imagine it will take off pretty quickly now. 

 

[madweazl]

Added a Royal Gramma and Copperband butterfly on Saturday while I was at the LFS picking up some LRS. I've wanted a CBB as long as I can remember and finally decided it was time. I also grabbed a bag of whole clams from the grocery store and have offered them the last two days. There was a bit of interested yesterday but I'm not sure the CBB actually ate any but this afternoon, he is picking at it pretty good. Hopefully before long it is eating what I offer the other fish but if I have to keep on doing this, I'm willing and able. 

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by madweazl

[D805]

Nice addition to the tank. Beautiful fish. If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting LRS around here?

[madweazl]

Nice addition to the tank. Beautiful fish. If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting LRS around here?

 

I pick it up at Blue Ribbon Koi (Manassas) or Tiki Corals (Glen Allen).

Edited May 11, 2018 by madweazl

[D805]

 

I pick it up at Blue Ribbon Koi (Manassas) or Tiki Corals (Glen Allen).

Thanks. You had me thinking there was a place nearby us that I didn't know about. lol I need to take a trip to BRK soon. Have a new tank to stock.

[D805]

Double post.

Edited May 11, 2018 by D805

[madweazl]

Thanks. You had me thinking there was a place nearby us that I didn't know about. lol I need to take a trip to BRK soon. Have a new tank to stock.

Yea, those are the most "local" shops I'm aware of. Pets Plus has some stuff but I refuse to shop there. 

[D805]

Yea, those are the most "local" shops I'm aware of. Pets Plus has some stuff but I refuse to shop there. 

Yeah, not a big fan of that place either. 

[madweazl]

Copperband is eagerly eating the whole clams Still isn't eating the LRS but hopefully that will come with time. 

[rt502]

When you feed LRS, try to take a small chunk of it and, while still frozen, stick it to the glass in an area the CBB hangs out in. Or better yet, inside of an empty clam shell. When I had one a few years back, it took him a bit to get acclimated to eating LRS (he initially didn't eat anything out of the water column), but once he did, he was literally eating it out of my hand.

Edited May 17, 2018 by rt502

[madweazl]

When you feed LRS, try to take a small chunk of it and, while still frozen, stick it to the glass in an area the CBB hangs out in. Or better yet, inside of an empty clam shell. When I had one a few years back, it took him a bit to get acclimated to eating LRS (he initially didn't eat anything out of the water column), but once he did, he was literally eating it out of my hand.

Appreciate the feedback, thanks. 

[madweazl]

The CBB is still demolishing whole clams but still hasnt adapted to free floating food. A bag of clams was $15 and there is approximately 40 in a bag so it hasnt been very expensive to feed him/her in this manner. It does make me wonder just how many CBBs have perished due to aquarists not finding a suitable food item :( 

[madweazl]

Having trouble getting a decent image tonight for some reason. It continues to encrust well, has a little bit of vertical growth, and is starting to color up (though not depicted well in this image). 

 

[madweazl]

I really need to cut back and relocate one of these as they're now growing on top of one another (the pink acro on the right is literally growing onto the other now). 

 

The yellow tip is growing like a weed and is coloring up nicely.

 

Couple of new additions:

 

Tyree's Pink Lemonade

 

SC Orange Passion

[madweazl]

Ordered a Kessil H160 to replace the H80 today. Be interesting to see if there is any measurable difference in parameters. If not, I'll put the H80 back on and migrate the H160 over to the 150g build. 

[madweazl]

The monti undata is going downhill again and one of the monti caps has paled out quite a bit as well. I've slacked off on the written journal since I started updating AquaticLog so I probably dont have any data to cross reference to identify a trend in chemistry.  Obvious differences are a substantial increase in nitrates (from barely detectable to approx 5-10ppm). Phosphates are slightly higher than they were prior to the move. About a week after transferring the fish back into the original tank, I had a pretty good ich outbreak so I stepped up the already heavy feeding and added another meal (three times daily plus the algae sheet and a whole clam). The ich subsided and all the fish pulled through. 

 

I also swapped the two ATI Blue+ with a pair of ATI Actinics and increased the color channel of the Kessil's substantially to offset the appearance. The problem child acropora browned out big time and some of the other blues I have lost some intensity though everything else looks great. The yellow tip is showing some great coloration. 

 

 

I suspect the changes are from a combination of the elevated nutrient levels and the lights but it's impossible to know right now. I may shift the AquaticLife fixed I just grabbed for the 150g over to this tank for a few months just to play with things a little further. I can bring the nutrient levels down easy enough by backing down on the food a bit (no need to continue the extra feeding) but I may just leave that as a constant to see what the lighting change will bring. 

[madweazl]

Went ahead and placed the AquaticLife fixture over the the (this) tank. Hate the light in the room (wont fit under the canopy) but I want to see how everything reacts. Also started dosing vinegar to reduce the nitrates (I'd like to maintain the current feeding regimen). Mixed up 20g of IO for a water change tomorrow; speaking of which, the granules have changed. I'll test it tomorrow to see if any of the levels have been adjusted as well. 

 

Oh, hung the H160 over the refugium as well ("Grow" and 100% intensity). 

 

Edit: The fixture sits 9.25" above the water now (about 4.25" above where the previous lights were mounted. I also reduced the intensity of the Kessils to 40% (from 85%) until I can measure the PAR again (hopefully have the club meter in the next couple weeks)

Edited June 23, 2018 by madweazl

[madweazl]

And just like that, it's a mess again. Big changes in store for this room...