SuncrestReef

But I still have a lot of bug-free corals:

Unfortunately I lost one pipefish in June to unknown causes, and the other one died in August after getting trapped in the overflow valve. After that I got a mandarin goby since I had plenty of pods with no predators, but the mandarin doesn't seem interested in the red bugs. To be honest, I think the pipefish fed primarily on other pods and rarely ate the red bugs.

After nearly a year with red bugs, they still don't seem to be harming my corals at all, but they are ruining my macro photos. 😠

I keep my tank at 78.0 +/- 0.3 degrees. I'm sure a lot of people will say that it's not necessary to keep the range so tight, but that's what I do. The Apex takes care of it for me, so I just let it do its job. I have two heaters in my sump for redundancy, and a 18" pedestal fan for cooling the tank if needed. My house thermostat is set to 72 during the day and 65 at night. I think my UV light running 24/7 might contribute a bit to heating the tank, but I really don't know how much.

Sample sent. Looking forward to the next round of results! Just curious, approximately how many samples are in this batch?

At least I currently have a tank. Who's jealous now??? 😎

At least half of it was hidden underneath a mushroom, so when I pulled it I discovered it was much larger than it looked.

Well, I didn’t burn it, but I did pull it out. I’ll keep my laser on standby in case it returns.

Almost looks like you’re building a large diesel engine. Edit: You might also need a generator this size to run those lights!

@danlu_gt, I'm curious what spectrum you use for photography. Can you share a screenshot of your light settings? Also, any update on implementing a way to switch the lights to pre-defined settings without needing to adjust each slider? That would make it way more convenient to change the spectrum quickly for photo sessions.

Margaret, PNWMAS is a group of very nice reef aquarists and we have a thriving community here in our forums. While we welcome all members, new member postings require moderator approval, and we are not going to approve a post like yours simply asking for donations to your new tank without you at least putting in some effort to properly introduce yourself. Please tell us a bit about yourself, what type of tank you have, your reefing experience level, and what your goals are for your new tank.

Is your Apex Fusion account configured for email/SMS notifications? In other words, have you received alarm notifications in the past? What shows up in the Alarm log? I see the yellow warning at the top left, so I'm assuming an alarm is on. (though it could just be a firmware update notification)

Wikipedia says it's edible. Who wants to try it??? 😬

It appears to be caulerpa racemosa macro algae.

Another soon-to-be classic in the ongoing video series:

I just found this new unidentified item in my tank. I'm not sure if it's some sort of algae, sponge, or a type of coral. Each "head" is about 1/8" diameter. Here's a close-up macro photo: Any ideas?

What exactly are you doing to attach images? I've never had a problem. Are you actually linking to a 3rd party hosting service, or simply attaching files from your local computer?

My nudis are in the tank and have already disappeared into the rocks. Now I'll sit back while they do their magic over the next couple months!

Same here.

Ha! I could automate the sh*t out of this tank with my Apex. 🤣 I really like the dolphin next to the clownfish. They're nearly the same size.

I'm afraid of palys. 😬

I love my Hanna ULR Phosphorus tester (model HI-736). Simple to use and a digital readout that measures down to 0.01ppm PO4. For NO3 I use Red Sea Nitrate Pro. It's OK but I sometimes have a hard time distinguishing the various shades of pink.

I'm curious if you have any issues with nuisance algae with your higher NO3 and PO4? The whole reason I try to keep mine lower is to avoid additional algae growth. I keep my tank around 4ppm NO3 and 0.03ppm PO4. My corals seem fine with these levels.

The quartz sleeve needs to be removed for periodic cleaning, so I highly recommend having a bypass valve unless you’re OK with turning off the return pump during maintenance. Here’s a photo of my quartz sleeve after six months of use: If you only replace the bulb without cleaning the sleeve, the UV performance will be significantly reduced.

No, nothing had changed. Every night he would spend about 30 minutes diligently covering the open hole of his cave with sand, and then dive through it. I guess he had grown larger, so maybe that's why he got stuck. Here's a slo-mo video I captured months ago: