Eeeee! New Tank

[MBOU]

Sooooo.....

Pretty much what I am doing now but with the lights on!?

Im sure it will learn, it isnt opening up with the main lights on but if i turn them off and let it open, it stays open but wont feed. Hehs

Had a Regal Angel pass through today, friend from TMC dropped it off for me, customer is picking it up tomrrow, im a bit glad i didnt get to see too much of it before end of he day because i have a horrible feeling id fall in love with it....

Had to be a good 6" fish and stunning! Every little bit of it *sigh*

 

[MBOU]

Sold one of my Riccordea the other day, customer *really* wanted it and had the perfect place for it in their tank which is more than I could say! It was on an almost perfectly square lump of solid concrete like rock that i couldnt work with... so at least someone was happy, was a lovely Riccordea

Then just to really hack me off my boss sold my Sun Coral !! When I worked so hard as well, it was growing like nobodies business and spreading really fast to cover the bald patches it had all over it.

Customers *really* wanted it and were happy to pay over the odds for such a happy specimen *sigh* they already keep a fair few sun corals and so it was going to a good home but im still really annoyed.

Less so than i ought to be as i was considering selling it anyways! It put so much pressure on the tank and filtration, could do it easily but have since falled in love with my gorgonians! I never thought i could keep them and now seems there are lots of species i could keep!

Dont have enough space in the tank lol seen some amazing zoas and jasmine polyps and now i want hard corals so i ned more tanks *sigh*. Suncoral took up too much space and the rhodactis are wanting more and more space, there is another one now temporarily as it wasnt doing well on the system.

Not sure where im going with the tank again now LOL

 

[MBOU]

Am so sick of hitch hikers already

I've sold off some of my corals as i have got them into good condition and havent any on the system but am ordering some more for the 7th.

I think its the whelk thing thats doing it... first i had an insane population boom of asterina stars, was literally picking out 15+ a day!... Then its brittle stars covering absolutely everything and hacking off corals... and now its ruddy aiptasia. There is just so much of it!

I killed half of it off first time round with Aiptasia X so will be doing another round or two to finish them all off...

And that blasted whelk thing is still killing snails and hermits and aparently asterina stars too lol. I havent managed to find it even though i took everything out the tank to find it so its doing good job of wedging itself in the liverock.

Tanks looking really naff and empty now

Will take photos when i get some more corals for it and get rid of the aiptasia and get rid of that blasted whelk!

My gorgonia is depressed too, i thought it was my care of it but i melafix dipped it, last resort but found it had loads of parasitic worms all over it which explains why it was so hacked off and not opening, now its yellow polyps are...'there' but not opening and it really needs to feed now **sigh** my favourite coral..

Ah well, thats it for now!

 

[lljdma06]

Yikes! That's a lot going on at once. I've got aiptasia too, but not like that. The occasional one. I'm actually trying to get asterina stars because it means I can have a harlequin shrimp. Slow going, the one I have had in my 4g has only started to split now.

I still look forward to the pictures. Sorry about the gorg, but mine is being a pain too. My echino is doing great, but my diodogorgia hasn't opened since I upgraded the refugium. Meh...

L

 

[MBOU]

Hmmm i'm gutted i cant get the gorgonia to open. Going to get some copepods in there tomorrow and try source some phytoplankton somewhere... im chucking in so much food trying to get it to feed that my sailfin blennies are becoming morbidly obese LOL

Speaking of those little nutjobs... think i may have got 2 males and 1 female, a pair live right close together and the obvious male lords it up somewhere obvious, now.. (finally) in the barnacle! But one of the two that live together has become really aggressive, or stroppy at least! It has also gone really odd shade of yellow! Funny blighter as it now associates people in front of the tank with food and when customers are peering in trying to see fish and it lunges out the liverock straight at the customers face.

 

[lljdma06]

Hmmm i'm gutted i cant get the gorgonia to open. Going to get some copepods in there tomorrow and try source some phytoplankton somewhere... im chucking in so much food trying to get it to feed that my sailfin blennies are becoming morbidly obese LOL

Speaking of those little nutjobs... think i may have got 2 males and 1 female, a pair live right close together and the obvious male lords it up somewhere obvious, now.. (finally) in the barnacle! But one of the two that live together has become really aggressive, or stroppy at least! It has also gone really odd shade of yellow! Funny blighter as it now associates people in front of the tank with food and when customers are peering in trying to see fish and it lunges out the liverock straight at the customers face.

I want blennies. Even morbidly obese ones.

I'm using a mix of planktonic yumyum in my quest to get my gorgs to open and stay open. That's the plan tonight, to scope out nps places and figure this out. I seem to have found a groove for my echinogorgia and that's doing pretty well. So far. I had one for the Diodogorgia, but since the fuge upgrade he's been sulking. I saw one polyp today after a rescape because of catching and moving Bandolero. Maybe, just maybe...

L

 

[MBOU]

Atm i feel utterly depressed, life is getting me down again. Struggling not to run away screaming from this tank and just cry in the corner mainly its everything but the tank thats upsetting me but tank is suffering for it.

I think someone else has been feeding my tank and i cant believe i have only just noticed...

Stats today:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.25 - 0.50
Nitrate - 20

Magnesium - 420
Calcium - 660
Salinity - 1.026

I dont know i did a big water change and added some bacteria stuf that may well be frowned upon but i found it eliminates nitrite in an hour or so.. so get over it

Should also have brought salinity more in line at 1.024...

But calcium and magnesium i dont know... i know that he 'average' calcium levels are recomended at 420-460 and Magnesium at 1200. But thats going to vary depending on corals and everything! I dont understand how calcium has crept up but magnesium dropped so low? I dont know why but i kinda thought they were linked.. maybe they are?

My chemistry sucks. My looking after a tank sucks...

Im actually considering chucking it all in for a few bits of liverock and a nice Jewelled Toby. FOWLR in 94L lol. Surely i couldnt kill it if its just one fish...

My gorgonia may as well be dead i had my heart set on it being ok, it was meant to be good.. be ok... but i cant make it live and now its receding so fast i doubt it will open again. It hasent opened it a week or so, it had parasite infestation and awfuly poor water quality to contend with and while it was slightly paler at the very very base two days ago... yesterday it had a bald ring around the base but the ultimate 'flipping a finger' and shuffling off its mortal coil was receeding about 5mm off all of its points in 24 hours. No going back from that now i fear. It wont even slightly open any more

My fault for sucking at keeping fish and corals alive.. i cant even find my third blenny *bursts into tears*

 

[lljdma06]

Awww, keep your chin up!

Time for some tough love! You got critters to take care of. No more sulking in the corner, dry your tears, & I give you a virtual pat on the back! You get in there & figure out why the mag is so low. What eats at mag yet leaves calcium alone?

The salinity is workable. I keep mine at 1.025

Do a water change to get the nitrite & nitrates down. What's the current regimen? If you're feeding heavy or got gorgs, you need to do more.

Fish hide. I can't find my panda right now. Give him a few days. May be that he just feels like hiding. Gorgonians are hard to keep, period.

You don't suck.

 

[MBOU]

fishkeeping can be so depressing!

It had a 40% water change yesterday and im off fora few days as im going into hospital

Aparently nitrites are back to 0, as is everything else, though they cant workout the Mg and Ca test kit that is missing instructions LOL so will have to wait a few days.

I do a waterchange when it needs it which is generally once a week, sometimes twice a week, depending on what i have fed. If i rearrange the tank ortreat aiptasia it will get extra water change as it muchs the water up.

Pistol Shrimp and goby are doing great! Shrimplets has shed fully once and i think he may shed again, how often are they meant to shed!? He cant possibly be growing, im sure they dont get bigger LOL

I have no idea what uses up lots of magnesium? All i have is liverock, small rock of fire and ice zoas, one riccordea, two rhodactis (biggest corals in the tank, do they use a lot of it?) and whats left of the gorgonian... and the feather duster... nothing thats meant to be too hard!

I got to do an order yesterday to, lots more corals, xenias, yellow polyps, green star clove(palm) polyp, GSP, metallic GSP, white center GSP, white christmas trees and lots of leathers.

Ahhhh well....

 

[MBOU]

Had to dump the gorgonia today

 

[lljdma06]

Had to dump the gorgonia today

Awwww, happens. No matter what you do, sometimes it doesn't work. My first sun coral is struggling. Turns out that my cleaner shrimp had been stealing food from it every time I fed it (almost daily feedings) and now it's starving. Didn't notice it until recently, which is why I moved the cleaner shrimp, but it isn't doing well. I'm trying the tupperware method now for feeding to see if I can get it to extend. If I can get a few polyps to extend and eat, the coral can be saved. The other sun corals are doing great, but the cleaner shrimp never bothered them. It's showing some improvement.

L

 

[MBOU]

Took apart tank to get rid of the build up of dirt, picked out a few of the last blasted asterina starfish but am still fighting aiptasia. Treatments arent killing them, they are small but these are tough beasties!!

Confirmed i am down by 1 sailfin cant decide if it was the other sailfinsor the pistol shrimp! the pistol would have it if it was stupid enough to go near...

Though for a species happy to live in colonies and in not so much space... the blennies all REALLY hate each other! Or at least... they tolerate each other but are seriously territorial of their own patch, kind of expected but wont tolerate their own species which was less expected.

Now the blennies have half a tank each and are happy!

I have chamged rock a bit and will change it again to suit new coralsbut got two Red/Orange plating montipora today, i dont expect it to survive as i suck and keeping sps corals lol. Also added more yellow polyps, jasmine polyps, green clove polyps, green star polyps and a tiny toadstool. Sounds loads but was only frags of one or two polyps with the monti being the biggest at two bits around 1-1.5" around. Completely unsure on its care as everything seems to contradict itself in terms of advise..

I have given up trying to sort out how good tank looks, i'd settle for happy corals thanks!

 

[lljdma06]

Post pictures. I got my first sps on Monday. A pocillipora and a montipora. The Poci is extended, the monti is just lying there. LOLOL

L

 

[MBOU]

Yeah... is the monti actually meant to do anything!? Because mines just... sitting there too LOL got a few photos today... will post them later

 

[MBOU]

Oh my goodness! its gone 1am! I have to be up at just gone 6am Lol... drat sorting through photos taking so long!!

Ok... current FTS: Note new lay out, two red monti frags at the top, tiny toadstool dead centre (rescue case, not yet opened but getting there!), GSP to the right of the monti, Yellow polyps to the left, and the green clove (palm) polyps far left.

Shot from the left through the tank:

Shot from the right hand side (pistol/goby tunnel at the bottom):

Confirmed down the two sailfin blennies now! Though now left with the ones I thought were a pair?!

This is the definate male in his new residence (female was elusive today but not surprised with the shrimp on the move lol)

One of my new pair of clowns (had been eyeing up the orange skunks but boss took them home for his tank >.<) so i got a black & white to pair up with common perc... was just finnishing worming them (dont know why, all the clowns i have seen recently from tmc have been riddled and if not wormed they just waste away)... only to come back after my day off work and found they had been sold

So pair of commons it is again! They seem a happy enough pair and the gramme loves them! He is so much happier in the tank with them acting as dither fish. He even comes out to shimmy up the glass with the clowns now! Just not when i have my camera out

Still always going to be one of my favourite corals i think just so purdy! Green Palm Coral(Clavularia sp)

And for the first time ever!!! Mr Shrimples and Fugly came right out for a stroll today! Broad daylight and in front of everyone, ugly kids peering in and all! Boss was starting to not believe he was in there (apart from finding the tank destroyed, corals shredded, dead hermits and turbos and mithrax scattered about like a warzone....)

And the really stupid curved corners of the tank that are an epic fail idea! Distort the tank to look at and near enough impossible to clean! Very much so in front of 'the tunnel of death' as Mr Shrimples attacks and sponge or blade put near... god forbid my fingers! Has been near misses! He is one clacky noisy devil too when he is hacked off!

And last but not least because I only just noticed him whilst looking through the photos!! Haha! The photo was taken of the blenny in his barnacle below the feather duster... but have cropped it because wouldnt you know it... i have a crab living in the barnacle too! LOL

I know my original purple mithrax died whilst moulting when his claws got stuck. Then i discovered another small purple coloured algae eating crab... might be mithrax... and he dissapeared and i found what was left of him when Mr Shrimples kicked its shell out his front door (with a loud belch im sure!)... and now i find another one! He is the same as the one Mr Shrimples ate! And living right above the shrimp tunnel lol. Its like a hotel that barnacle with the goby in one of the bottom tubes, feather duster top right, crab next door to it and below the duster is the weird flat thing i kept finding stuck to the glass at the begging of this journal! No idea what it is but its alive as it moves and sticks to things LOL

And there you have it! Did get a video of Mr Shrimples and Fugly but im not sorting it tonight lol