DChemist Posted November 7, 2006 Author Share Posted November 7, 2006 nu2reef-n- Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 Impressive for a first year... congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 Impressive for a first year... congrats. Thank you Nyles... I'm happy and surprised to have done as well as I have (actually going on a year and a half now). I picked up a couple of things with my Christmas money- a frag of frogspawn and a green plating monti. I love all of my monti's and my wife and I have always wanted a torch coral, anchor coral, or frogspawn. A collage of my monti's... ...and a fresh top-down photo of my caulastrea. After I get everything settled in- I'll post a fresh full-tank shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Very nice, love that candy-caulastrea. I have a small frag I am growing out, sure is a slow grower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Looking great Darren, you definately went all out with the Montis! Definate trading goodies as they grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 Very nice' date=' love that candy-caulastrea. I have a small frag I am growing out, sure is a slow grower.[/quote'] It definitely grew faster when I was feeding it directly and frequently. Between February (when I first got it) and March it went from 8 to 14 heads. It has about 28 to 30 right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 Looking great Darren, you definately went all out with the Montis! Definate trading goodies as they grow. The collage makes it look as if I have more than I really have. Essentially a green, orange, and purple plating montis, an orange monti digitata, and a blue-polyped encrusting monti. Oh, and a couple frags of a green with purple rim plating monti. Regarding trading... I don't mind trimming the softies- but I don't have the heart to (intentionally) break up any of the stony corals. Maybe someday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 So when do you feed it? Mine never opens in the daylight like my other candies do, I assume you feed at night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 If I feed it directly, I do it just after the daylight bulbs turn off in the evening (the polyps extend with just the actinics) or in the morning before the daylight bulbs come on. But mostly I don't feed it directly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Angel Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 Wow... your tank is just beautiful. I really like what your using for a stand and how tall it is.. the whole set up looks great. I like the location of it too.( I seen it on the tour) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 Wow... your tank is just beautiful. I really like what your using for a stand and how tall it is.. the whole set up looks great. I like the location of it too.( I seen it on the tour) Thank you. For those that haven't seen it in person, the 'stand' is an old dresser 38 inches tall. The tank is sumpless; I have a HOB filter full of liverock and a cup of carbon and a Bak Pak skimmer. Here's the full tank shot I promised... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 Catastrophic Event! I was in Los Angeles this past week (Monday through Thursday)... Tuesday morning my wife called me quite upset- The tank was all cloudy and stinky. The cause was not obvious; temperature was OK, etc. There was one powerhead that had fallen, blowing directly on/into a liverock. Visibilty through the cloudy water was only a couple of inches. Losses included a firefish, cleaner shrimp, red headed goby, conch, and several acroporas (I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting). These were likely due to either a lack in oxygen and/or a spike in ammonia. I have some survivors- the tomato clown looks as if it will make it though it's fins are pretty ragged (lost over half of it's pectorals). I may still lose all of my montiporas except the orange digitatas. The stylophora and pocillopora are both doing poorly (very little polyp extension). The Favites is struggling (you can see his skeleton poking through) but is eating. The capnella's and xenia have been severely stunted and some have completely dissolved. The heartiest have been the frogspawn, caulastreas, mushrooms and ricordia, and the green star polyps. Treatment included redirecting powerheads to better oxygenate the water. The skimmer was adjusted to run very wet and pull out as much as possible. I had my wife replace the carbon I was running with fresh and added two more cups of carbon to a second sock (actually an old nylon stocking). She was ready to change some water (only had about 4 gallons made up) but only measured a trace amount of nitrate and no nitrite. Later, I asked Pat from Saltwater Fantaseas to stop by and troubleshoot any problems, rescue any corals, etc. He measured the following... CA- 380 KH- 8.6 Nitrite- 0 Nitrate- 2 ppm pH- 8.0 Mg- 1170 Ammonia- 0 He said the salinity was a little high but not lethal (I generally have kept it at 36 ppt). He ended up not taking any of the corals with him, the damage was already done. I changed 25% of the water today (measuring trace amount of nitrite now). Tested boron at 5 (understand NSW is about 4.4) so that (or alkalinity) is not the cause. (sad) The reef looks very bad- I'll post pictures soon (not for the faint of heart). More to follow- feel free to ask questions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 Post Apocalypse Pictures (sad) Here goes... Picture intensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 In no particular order... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly guy Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 :( sorry to hear of your troubles. Good luck on pulling through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 And... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 And some before and afters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister crabs Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 all that from a powerhead falling in? or did you determine the cause? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 all that from a powerhead falling in? or did you determine the cause? I'm not satisfied I've discovered the cause. I've only stated the facts as I know them... The powerhead that had fallen against the live rock is the only thing my wife discovered out of the ordinary. I'm definitely open for suggestions/thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 :( sorry to hear of your troubles. Good luck on pulling through Thanks fly guy. It's amazing to watch the small improvements every day. I've increased target feedings- and the survivors are responding well. I anticipate I'll have a nasty algae cycle(s) to go through... The diatoms are already kicking in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 You're tank looks so good in only a year.. Wow! Beautiful =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Huh? You're tank looks so good in only a year.. Wow! Beautiful =) ?!? It did- it's kind of depressing now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 I'm not satisfied I've discovered the cause. I've only stated the facts as I know them... The powerhead that had fallen against the live rock is the only thing my wife discovered out of the ordinary. I'm definitely open for suggestions/thoughts.Have you checked for stray voltage since the powerhead incident? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DChemist Posted February 5, 2007 Author Share Posted February 5, 2007 Have you checked for stray voltage since the powerhead incident? I haven't- I didn't think it'd be an issue since the tank has a grounding probe and everything's wired through a GFI... How would I check it? I've got an inexpensive voltmeter. Holly, sorry for the sarcastic sounding remark. I should have assumed you hadn't read the most recent posts and I've been pretty upset about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 Hook the positive electrode to your tank ground probe wire and the negative to a ground receptacle of an electric outlet or to a cold water pipe. I have seen stray voltage in marine tanks from the electric field of pumps and heaters read 30 volts or more. A damaged powerhead can be have even more. I'm not saying this is your problem, but it's always good to check out any possibilities - believe me, I don't want to turn this thread a stray voltage debate. (whistle) (laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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