Previously Going, Now Went Marine

[SkiFletch]

Looks good. With that many hard corals are you keeping track of calc/alk/mg?

 

[Straydum]

Looks good. With that many hard corals are you keeping track of calc/alk/mg?

not yet i assume that as i continue to keep these corals the levels of the above would fall?

another thing is that my yellow watchman goby seems to be taking a beating. its lower lip is still busted and the area around his mouth has a red line or two. i'm guessing he may be fighting with some hitchhiker crab in there

 

[SkiFletch]

Yes they will fall and either require frequent waterchanges or supplimentation via additives and/or a calcium reactor (complicated and expensive those are).

 

[Straydum]

the LFS (farm actually) where i frequent sells this top up mix that they say would be rather beneficial for the tank. don't know if ca and mg is included though, if they are thats what i'm going to use to top up from now instead of distilled water.

an update on livestock, i picked up a peppermint shrimp yesterday from a local breeder which is said to be Lysmata boggessi rather then the usual L. wurdemanni. it hasn't touched any of my aiptasia yet though. for now there's this rather interesting article on peppermint shrimps

 

[Straydum]

the yellow watchman is missing moved the rocks and all but there still wasn't a body. ammonia and nitrates didn't jump so probably the cleaner shrimp cleaned it up, i think

anyway brought back a new toadstool, a purple blue mushroom frag, a small yuma frag today. the green star polyps has been fragged and placed all around the tank and hopefully it would grow (would they attach themselves to the rock they are sitting on over time? or do i need epoxy.

i've never seen the bubble open so big before. they seem to do better on the tank floor away from stronger lighting.

the hammer has split two of its heads so now i have a five head hammer instead of a three. it isn't opening much though as compared to before splitting. the first picture is today, and the the bottom one is eleven days ago (excuse the color, they were taken with different cameras).

finally a FTS

 

[rabbut]

I'd speculate that the Bubble Coral is inflated so much due to too little light. There is a fine ballence to strike here, as they will "over inflate" in reaction to low lighting levels I'd see if you can sus a way of moving it a tad higher up You could probibly swap the Leather and Bubble over without upsetting to look too much

That tank of yours is realy starting to look good

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Straydum]

thanks rabbut i will shift the bubble up maybe until the middle region but not where the leather is cause it fits really nicely in there. tank's still farrrr from looking good. have you got any ideas for the branching hammer not opening fully?

 

[rabbut]

What are your stats for Alk, Mg, Ca + the usual? Has it been moved or otherwise upset in the last week? It's just to one coral that's sulking yes? If so, it's likely nothing to worry about, but still worth checking the stats for...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Straydum]

nope it hasn't been moved before sulking. when it started looking bad then i moved it to other areas and in the end placed it back there. the other corals are doing fine (and well) except one of my zoo colonies which is losing color on some polyps. the other LPS, the hammer and bubble showed no problems.

nitrate: ~20ppm
nitrite 0.0ppm
alkalinity (kh): between 180 and 300ppm
pH: 8.4
ammonia: 0.00ppm
sg: 1.024
ca: 280ppm

i'm using api calcium test kit and it says calcium should be at 400-500ppm. this is why my branching hammer is down?

 

[rabbut]

The Ca is deffinately low, and the Alk also looks it. This said, I don't work Alk in ppm, so I'd await confirmation. You need to test Mg also, as this will likely be low if the others are. You need to suppliment Ca and Alk up (or waterchange if the new water has better readings), however you cannot move them anywhere without Mg being right first or they could crash, and that's obviously worse than them being low...

Go the the LFS and pick up a Mg test kit. Do a sizeable waterchange and post the stats from a fresh salt mix. You will need a Ca and Alk suppliment also, and probibly a ballenced Mg suppliment with none-chloride salts if you are going to suppliemt/raise the tank/new water by a long way

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Straydum]

so i'm going to have to get mg up first if i'm to get ca and alk up?

Pro Series SeaBalance™
two parts, A & B

is a highly concentrated two-part
calcium and alkalinity buffer maintenance
system that replenishes calcium and
alkalinity with the correct ratio of ions
to the composition of Natural Seawater.
SeaBalance™ also includes magnesium
and strontium in the amounts proportionate
to typical utilization ratios. Without high
concentrations of magnesium, all the
calcium would combine with carbonates
and precipitate out of the aquariums.
Alkalinity is primarily the concentration of
calcium, magnesium, carbonate and
bicarbonate, which helps maintain a high
pH and is essential for coral growth.

i'm quite tempted to get this. it seems to be able to solve all the ca, alk, and mg problems. what do you guys think?

 

[scolby]

Ever find the yellow watchman you talked about earlier in the thread? I had the same problem before, removed all the rocks, and still didnt find him. The next day I saw a little yellow head sticking out of a rock and realized some live rock has very un-noticeable tunnel systems going through it. Its still hard to tell, even now that I know they're there. But anyway, he got over his shyness after a few weeks and stopped staying the in the rock.

 

[kj23502]

How often are you doing water changes? My thoughts are if you're doing every other week, why not try every week? Just a thought, though

 

[Straydum]

nope i believe the watchman is gone. haven't seen it since the last time. it couldn't have hidden from me (this guy was bigggg) and even if by chance it did, it's appetite wouldn't let it. hungriest of the lot.

i do bi weekly changes cause i head down to the farm once every two weeks or so (sometimes more) and thats where i get my water from to do changes. its much cheaper that way then buying salt mixes and making my own water

 

[kj23502]

Could get an extra container for extra water and see if doing an extra water change makes enough difference? Might be better than having to monitor and stress out over dosing?