mpfinnigan

Dang! My frag RTN overnight. Not sure why. Other corals are fine, no change to the system recently. Tested last weekend with normal parameters. Lets see if the base will survive.

May pic. Slow and steady. Not much change yet. However, other sps in my tank often sit dormant for 6 months then take off.

March pic. It's encrusted over base well and coloration is stable.

February Pic. Not much branching or growth yet. Coloration changing up a bit.

January Update. Not much growth happening for mine.

Welcome aboard! I had a bowfront like that as my first tank too! If I may offer advice I would suggest you start a journal to capture your history. What you bought, how much you paid, when it died, what you dosed, how often you feed, your measurements for testing, behavior in fish, changes to lights, upgraded equipment, etc. Doing that really helped me learn the hobby, identify cause/effect, and gives me a fun trip down memory lane when my wife asks "How old is that fish?" Have Fun and Enjoy!

In a pinch we went to Woody's Seahorse on HWY-30. Their website shows they provide RO and SW. https://seahorse-nw.com/about-us/ However, I strongly suggest you invest in your own setup. For years when I rented I connected an RO system to my Water supply in either the laundry room or under the kitchen sink. You only need the 2-part system (1-5 micron Pre-Filter and RO) to get you started. I would fill up two or three 5 gallon jugs overnight or on the weekend which would give me water for top-off and water changes sufficiently. Saving some waste water was good for watering plants or rinsing my gear when I cleaned it, but most went down the drain and I didn't see a high water bill. You can add a booster pump if your building's water pressure is too low and your RO harvest takes too long (This took me from 5gal/8hrs to 5 gals/3hrs). You can also upgrade to a secondary RO, which will double your output rate again by sending your waste water through another RO. You can add a float valve on the output if you want to better prevent overspilling (or run over a bigger Tupperware bin or bathtub). I slowly built from this initial system to eventually having a 65 gallon holding tank and 7-part DO-DI solution in my house's garage. It's really nice to have and does save $$$ in not much time if you go to bigger tanks.

Doesn't quite make sense. For what's it worth, I tend to think of the Balance as more of a triangle in ways, change 1 and you affect the other 2. Mag can pair with the Calcium in an ionic balance instead of the Alk. Generally you won't cause any issues with higher Mg (1500ppm). It adds a nice "buffer" and lets you run with higher Calc and Alk for coral growth with less chance of precipitation. As goldenbasketreef shared, starving your corals of Alk can cause coral health issues and pH swings. So watch it the closest. Calcium can cause pH issues if not monitored, but your system has more tolerance. If your Calcium & Alk is being consumed daily, that's a good sign your corals are consuming for skeletal structure. If you are doing a 2-part method, you'll need to keep up with dosing both each day as others suggested. Just don't do both at the same time. I spread them out over 8 hours at night alternating every other hour for smaller tweaks rather than one big bump all at once. (Ca, Alk, Ca, Alk, etc.) I changed over to the ATI Essentials 2-part system from pure Ca + Alk. Their solution adds Mg and most other elements in balance, so i don't have to dose those separately or do water changes to replace those minor trace elements.

December pics

Forgot to upload my picture.

Thanks for showing us your setups, David. It is a very impressive system and great Display!

Shoot, I'll be out of town next weekend. Next time I guess. Thanks Anyway

Still Time to Get one?

I have loads of the classic orange/red. PM me if interested.

I have some Orange Mushrooms, ricordea, different Zoas, and some SPS (monti's, acro's, digi's) corals. PM me if you are interested.

I have a few captive bred baby clowns I need to get into some new homes. Size ranges from 1/2 to 3/4 inch. They're over 5 months old. Good orange, white, black tipped Ocellaris Clowns. Some have some interesting misbar patterns in their stripes. $10-20each I also have plenty of RBT Nem's to sell for cheap as well. $10 each Message me and we can arrange a pick-up.

What did you mean by this? "Sand they need to look like peanuts." How often do you water change on the tank to minimize ammonia?

This is my guess too. I've been measuring the green algae (RG Omega) I add with a syringe to keep it generally consistently murky semi-translucent. I feed the Roti's RG Complete, but the harvests don't seem consistent and the amount of Rotifers to add each feeding has been hard to balance.

I've got a pair of Ocellaris Clowns that started breeding in October. Laying eggs almost like clockwork in the main tank. The current batch, my trap only caught 9-10 larvae, of those 3 are alive. Not sure what caused the others to fall out after 24-72 hours. Likely my quantity of Roti's was low. Lot's of learnings as I go along. I lost one batch due to a bad heater (swings too high/low). I lost one batch at day 25 due to SDS. I think it was the loud noise from a carpet cleaner as they all dropped within 3 hours that afternoon. There were a few batches I didn't time well with setting up my Vossen Trap and didn't catch any at all. One batch was 70+, but they all died within 48 hours, no clue why. I have another batch with a lone survivor of only 4 that didn't even start metamorphis for 25 days but is now 6 months old and doing fine. How many clutches have you produced? Any tips for success you've discovered? I've been trying to follow the advice from the ReefNutrition page and some other posts.

Nice catch! Looks like a good 50+ harvest. I'm on day 27 of my last batch...3 survivors working on their 2nd white stripe and wrestling over the TDO pellets.

I need to clear out the extra Anemones and some coral frags in my tank. I have several Rose Bubble Tips of various size around 1-3 inches at their foot. I also have frags for Red or Purple Monticaps, Purple Stylo, Yellow Scroll Coral, Appleberry Monti frags, Orange mushrooms, some Zoas, purple cabbage, and Ricordeas. Frags I'll sell for $5-10 each, or trade for something interesting I don't have. My pics aren't the greatest and don't show everything, but if you want to see something I'll try again. You can pick up from my house in the evenings/weekends or I a can meet you in the Hillsboro area during daytime. Message me if you are interested and we can arrange the exchange. I need typically 24 hours to get the NEMs off the rocks. Here is a shot of most of the Nems, with their hosted Clowns. Mushrooms, ricordea, purple stylo examples and other frags in the background. . Purple Monti, Appleberry, Green Acro Frags, Mushrooms and Scroll coral examples in background.

Pink Caddi's look good. Curious what lighting you use? LED Settings? Placement? I have had one for 6 months, but it has never colored up besides a washed out brown with green tips.

You can increase your phosphates by turning your skimmer off for a few hours a day. Mine was too effective, so I started turning it off for two hours in the AM and 2-3 hours in the PM. I coordinated this when I dose amino acids, coral foods, or other treatments that want the skimmer off, so it was a win-win and a little more maintenance free. If you want to adjust the Carbon, Nitrate, Phosphate levels without waiting for cycles or adding more food, ATI makes solutions for each. I've been trying it out the last year to make a few tweaks when things appear out of my accepted levels. It seems subtle and has not been a negative on the tank so far. I've mostly only dosed the Carbon and Nitrate, but you can dose Phosphate if all else fails. https://www.marinedepot.com/ati-nutrition-p-phosphorus-500-ml

For what it's worth, I went through something similar last year. Easy-hearty SPS coral colonies I had for years, like monti cap's, started dropping out as well as some LPS. All parameters were good and the lights had not changed. My thought process and research pointed towards replacing the Vibrios that might have been present in my tank. I had success in Iodine dipping the rest of my colonies/frags and I started a regular regiment of Dr Tim's Eco-Balance and Refresh. I added some new BIO Balls to the sump when I dosed the new bacteria to get things started. I then added Eco Balance after each water change, and the ReFresh in-between changes every 4-5 days. Things stabilized and normalized within a month or so and I've since backed off the treatment and new SPS frags/colonies are doing well again. I now always dip new frags and add some "good" bacteria from time to time.

Picture is washed out with UV and Blue, but they are a bright orange mushroom.