47g Column Project - Tank Journal
- Thread starter deutsche20V
- Start date
thanks guys. I've got a big Christmas update for everyone...
Thursday we went to my favorite LFS to pickup a few things and of course had to see if they'd gotten any new livestock in. Ended up seeing a zoa frag ('casino chip' zoas according to the manager, but I'm not up on my names) that I liked and couldn't resist picking it up since things have been going pretty well with the tank. So here is my first coral in the tank after acclimation and a Seachem Reef Dip treatment...
Also, while we were there I noticed that they got 2 blue spot jawfish in. I have never seen BSJF there before, and one in particular looked very vibrant, active, and curious. I managed to hold myself back since I still haven't gotten my glass lid notched for the skimmer and my QT is still housing my latest batch of Congo tetras. But all I could think about that night and the next morning was that jawfish and my fiance offered to buy it for me for Xmas, so I made a proper-fitting lid the quick and ugly way...
...and made a trip back to the LFS
Happy Holidays :grinno:
Thursday we went to my favorite LFS to pickup a few things and of course had to see if they'd gotten any new livestock in. Ended up seeing a zoa frag ('casino chip' zoas according to the manager, but I'm not up on my names) that I liked and couldn't resist picking it up since things have been going pretty well with the tank. So here is my first coral in the tank after acclimation and a Seachem Reef Dip treatment...
Also, while we were there I noticed that they got 2 blue spot jawfish in. I have never seen BSJF there before, and one in particular looked very vibrant, active, and curious. I managed to hold myself back since I still haven't gotten my glass lid notched for the skimmer and my QT is still housing my latest batch of Congo tetras. But all I could think about that night and the next morning was that jawfish and my fiance offered to buy it for me for Xmas, so I made a proper-fitting lid the quick and ugly way...
...and made a trip back to the LFS
Happy Holidays :grinno:
Well he was busy last night - not constructing the narrow burrow I expected, but instead excavating the entire front of the rock structure. I'm so glad I built the rock column on the glass instead of the sand....
It looks a bit ugly and the water is cloudy from all the sand being stirred up, but he seems happy with his work
It looks a bit ugly and the water is cloudy from all the sand being stirred up, but he seems happy with his work
Well, things have gone a bit downhill. I'm sad to report that in January my BSJF escaped the tank and died (I will never trust eggcrate again!). Seeing my favorite SW fish dried up on the floor after less than a month was extremely disheartening. Over the next few weeks I lost several zoa polyps to a nudibranch hitchhiker (pic below), picked up bubble algae from a frag, and a treatment of AiptasiaX on my ONE aiptasia anemone seemingly caused the population to explode to dozens. All of that coupled with the ongoing skimmer problems caused me to remove the skimmer, throw on an AC70 packed with biopure and basically let things go for a few months. I really regret it now, but I've never been so frustrated with fishkeeping. I really thought about tearing it down and selling it off but I knew I'd regret it down the line. In the end I lost some snails, my zoas, and a lot of coralline but now am determined to get it back on track.
I got the skimmer cleaned up and back on a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to get everything back in line. Did a full battery of tests tonight but it was my first time using the Red Sea test kits for Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Calcium so I'm not entirely confident in those results. I'll see if my LFS will double check them this week.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0.08 ppm
Alkalinity: ~9.8 dKH
Mg: ~1400 ppm
Ca: ~470
I was really suprised to see 0 nitrate after months of minimal maintenance but I suppose it may be that the cyano & algae is consuming all the available nitrate? Either that or DSB's really are awesome I'll try to update as much as I can and hopefully the tank will be back at 100% sooner rather than later.
The Zoa-eating Nudi (1.25.11):
My Blue-Legged Hermit hanging out tonight:
I got the skimmer cleaned up and back on a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to get everything back in line. Did a full battery of tests tonight but it was my first time using the Red Sea test kits for Alkalinity, Magnesium, and Calcium so I'm not entirely confident in those results. I'll see if my LFS will double check them this week.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0.08 ppm
Alkalinity: ~9.8 dKH
Mg: ~1400 ppm
Ca: ~470
I was really suprised to see 0 nitrate after months of minimal maintenance but I suppose it may be that the cyano & algae is consuming all the available nitrate? Either that or DSB's really are awesome
I'll try to update as much as I can and hopefully the tank will be back at 100% sooner rather than later.The Zoa-eating Nudi (1.25.11):
My Blue-Legged Hermit hanging out tonight:
Sorry to hear you've had a string of bad luck but glad you didn't give up. IME the red sea kits are comparable to salifert results. You'll get it back on track with a little hard work. What do you think the cause of the cyano and algae is?
thanks greech, your 40br was always an inspiration for me. My biggest mistake imo was removing the skimmer. At least if I had left that on I could've removed some of the dissolved organics but with irregular water changes, no skimmer, and several snail deaths I believe it gave the little bit of cyano I had the fuel it needed to explode. What puzzles me is the dissapearance of probably 75% of my coralline. It was growing fantastic before things went south and the tests seem to indicate that while the water may not be ideal reef quality it isn't absymal either. I dunno, but I can't wait for it to come back.
Your numbers are fine and not something I would say resulted in coraline loss. Possible your lighting is not strong enough to penetrate the column of water before it hits the rock. Is the bleaching uniform from to to bottom? You don't have an urchin do you? Before the nudis attacked, did the zoas seem to be doing ok from a lighting perspective?
