Red Sea S-650 - Dave's marine adventure

PCDS

Active Member
I guess if I get a small clown, which is likely to be male, smaller at least than the one I have, there is a good chance then of a pair?
If you buy a small clown from a group then it will be male.
I hope you feel better soon. Careful with lifting with your back! I am not very strong, and struggle sometimes with the weight of the water containers. I am thinking of seeing if I can get (or get made) a ... Well I can't think of a name ( I've not had my coffee yet) small wheels fixed under a piece of wood that I can place my water change container on and just push it from one side of the room (where I collect and mix the salt) to the front of the tank when I do the water change ) this doesn't help with the waste water, but I don't fill that completely before emptying it. Okay having coffee now- Ahhhhhhhh!
:morning:
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well I didn't get everything done I wanted to, but both the DT and the QT got a water change and I did some tidying up in the DT. My back stood up to moving the water around which is great. The carbonate has jumped up to 120 ppm after the new water went in so I will need to watch the dosing this week. The coral beauty is still being chased a bit by the yellow tang but is getting more adventurous and has been happily grazing on the algae on the back wall of the tank. Really pleased with the fish as it is a real stunner.



It has fabulous bright blue edging to the fins.

I visited a new LFS today. Got a couple of nice little Acan frags and a new tang. I was going to replace the Ctenochaetus strigosus Kole like for like but saw a nice spotted kole which I think is Ctenochaetus truncatus. It is now happily browsing in the QT.

Happy reefing,

Dave
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Really great colors in your new coral beauty Dave, beautiful fish ! Look forward to seeing your new spotted kole :smile:

Cheers Glenn and thanks for the trolley suggestion - there are steps for the quick route between where I mix the water (garage) and the lounge where the tank is so carrying is the best option...
 

meknudson2

Active Member
Nice coral beauty mine doesn't eat any of the algae in my tank just pecks at everything and eats the food that I feed everything else in my tank lol
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well it has been quite a week. Nominated for TOTM, my back feeling good enough to do a water change, the coral beauty settling in nicely and a new HH.

So firstly congratulations to @Kman237 on winning TOTM - great tank and thanks to @NickF for nominating us.

So back to the tank. I did a water change over last weekend and it seemed to perk up some of the corals. Carbonate had dropped to 5.1dKH and Calcium was 390 so I started dosing at the end of January and then after the water change last weekend levels were up to 6.7 and 400. I need to check this weekend as I may be able to ease off a little on the dosing now.

The coral beauty has settled in nicely. On adding it to the tank the yellow tang was not too happy and there was chasing and tail wagging for the first few days. However they seem to have settled down now and the angel has held his ground a few times recently. They seem to spend a lot of time browsing algae off the back wall of the tank, with the angel feeding high up and the tang lower down. The yellow is tolerating the angel at the algae feeder now too. The colours on the angel are great....



As the QT was now empty I got a Ctenochaetus truncatus (Indian gold ring bristletooth tang?). I had planned to get another Kole Yellow Eye Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus) to replace the one I lost to Ich but this was a nice looking fish and the right family so I went for it. It is very shy at present in the QT but is eating well and the green algae on the tank glass has lots of kiss marks where the bristletooth is rasping off the algae film. I have no pictures yet of the tang but I did get a couple of nice Acan frags at the same time. I think I'm developing a bit of an Acan addiction...



I'm still finding the odd Zoanthid nudi - yesterday all the Zoas looked great but today many are closed up so I think there is at least one left in the tank. I think I am the king of HHs and I spotted this guy this evening....



A tiny little chiton I think. I'm always surprised that despite all the tank watching I do there always seems to be something new to find.

Finally a shot of one of my co-habiting Acro crabs. There is seemingly no decent angle to photograph them both so you will have to take my word that there is another crustacean lurking in the background....



Happy reefing,

Dave
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Love your great pics ! Acro crabs are cool, beautiful acan ! Good to hear the flame and tang are starting to get along.

Congrats on the TOTM nominated :clink: , imo your headed for a win soon (only lost by 1 vote)
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Congrats on the TOTM nomination.

Nice looking chiton and coral beauty.

I'd go with a smaller clown, as small as you can find. If it is young enough it would be neuter still (likely not a male or female yet). I'd suggest keeping the QT up and running after you place the clown in the DT, as a plan B, so that if it doesn't work out between the clowns you can pull the little one back out.

Love the acro crab!
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Congrats on the TOTM nomination.

Nice looking chiton and coral beauty.

I'd go with a smaller clown, as small as you can find. If it is young enough it would be neuter still (likely not a male or female yet). I'd suggest keeping the QT up and running after you place the clown in the DT, as a plan B, so that if it doesn't work out between the clowns you can pull the little one back out.

Love the acro crab!

Thanks Sue.

My regular LFS has a shoal of small orange and white Ocellaris in stock so will probably visit tomorrow. My 2ft QT should now be disease free so I will put the clown in there before it goes into the DT. I have also bought one of those fish trap/spawning boxes like Wrangy used to introduce his flame hawkette so once the clown is through quarantine I will put the new clown into the box in the DT and see how the resident clown reacts....
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
I have also bought one of those fish trap/spawning boxes like Wrangy used to introduce his flame hawkette so once the clown is through quarantine I will put the new clown into the box in the DT and see how the resident clown reacts....

That is exactly the container I was referring to! Great success using them.
 

Kman237

Active Member
Well it has been quite a week. Nominated for TOTM, my back feeling good enough to do a water change, the coral beauty settling in nicely and a new HH.

So firstly congratulations to @Kman237 on winning TOTM - great tank and thanks to @NickF for nominating us.

So back to the tank. I did a water change over last weekend and it seemed to perk up some of the corals. Carbonate had dropped to 5.1dKH and Calcium was 390 so I started dosing at the end of January and then after the water change last weekend levels were up to 6.7 and 400. I need to check this weekend as I may be able to ease off a little on the dosing now.

The coral beauty has settled in nicely. On adding it to the tank the yellow tang was not too happy and there was chasing and tail wagging for the first few days. However they seem to have settled down now and the angel has held his ground a few times recently. They seem to spend a lot of time browsing algae off the back wall of the tank, with the angel feeding high up and the tang lower down. The yellow is tolerating the angel at the algae feeder now too. The colours on the angel are great....



As the QT was now empty I got a Ctenochaetus truncatus (Indian gold ring bristletooth tang?). I had planned to get another Kole Yellow Eye Tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus) to replace the one I lost to Ich but this was a nice looking fish and the right family so I went for it. It is very shy at present in the QT but is eating well and the green algae on the tank glass has lots of kiss marks where the bristletooth is rasping off the algae film. I have no pictures yet of the tang but I did get a couple of nice Acan frags at the same time. I think I'm developing a bit of an Acan addiction...



I'm still finding the odd Zoanthid nudi - yesterday all the Zoas looked great but today many are closed up so I think there is at least one left in the tank. I think I am the king of HHs and I spotted this guy this evening....



A tiny little chiton I think. I'm always surprised that despite all the tank watching I do there always seems to be something new to find.

Finally a shot of one of my co-habiting Acro crabs. There is seemingly no decent angle to photograph them both so you will have to take my word that there is another crustacean lurking in the background....



Happy reefing,

Dave


Thanks Dave! Your tank is awesome man. :cheers:
 

suspiria2

Member
I have had a coral beauty for about 2 months now and he has not given me any trouble with the corals. He chased my Kole tang for a day or two after the Kole was added but he has settled down now. Similar coloration to the one that you have. Great pictures
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Well that was a busy week both at work and on the tank and lots more still to do.

On the tank front I woke on Thursday morning to the sound of the overflow gurgling. On getting downstairs the pumps were all off. At first I thought it was just the return pump (as it was dark) that had failed so I took it apart twice and cleaned it but still it wouldn't start. I then noticed that all the circulation pumps were off too. I hadn't considered what the three little buttons do on the electrical panel, so I pressed the left (pump) one and hey presto it reset the circuit breaker and the pumps came back on. Well all except the 2nd circulation pump. Still I left them all on.

So went to work thinking everything was fixed. I got home to a dark house. The main house circuit breaker had tripped the circuit for all the lounge plugs including the DT. Looking at the lighting times the tank had been off for about 6 hours and there was a decidedly fishy smell in the room. I tried resetting and it just tripped again. So I switched all the pumps off and reset the house circuit. Power was restored. So turned the pumps back on one at a time and it looks as though pump 2 is faulty. I've not had chance to look at it yet but it is turned off. One job for the weekend. I was worried about the animals in the DT but once the pumps came back on everything perked up and most things look OK tonight.



In the tank I'm still battling slugs. Many of my Zoanthids are closed up. My pipette has broken and the remaining slugs are tiny so I need to get a new pipette. I've also spotted a couple of white patches on my Montiporas and have removed 2 Monti slugs in the last week. Here is the damage to my 'green' capricornis in the centre of the picture.



The coral beauty and yellow tang have settled down now and often feed together. The angel has a mark on its flank, possibly from fighting when I put him in the DT, which I'm hoping will heal up. He is feeding well seems happy in his new tank. The green macro algae has been cropped down to a lawn by the tang.


Bottom left is a bit of Monti cap which broke off and has self set.

Finally both my cleaner shrimps are now carrying eggs. The small shrimp has had an isopod parasite on it since purchase. I was never brave enough to surgically remove it. However the 'lump' where the Isopod was is now clear (it was yellow and opaque) so I wonder if the cleaner lost the parasite at its last moult. It will be interesting to see if the lump disappears at its next moult. I think the isopod was taking so much energy from the cleaner that it stunted its growth and prevent it from producing its own eggs. It was still able to fertilise the other cleaner but not produce its own eggs.

Finally this weekend in addition to water changes and pump maintenance I need to cut back the Xenia. I'm going to frag some for my LFS. I grows so quickly!

Happy reefing.

Dave
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Wow - that sucks. I hope that you can get the pump replaced soon. Glad to hear that the critters rode out the loss of power alright. Those hitchhikers that you have - you could write your own blog on them and how to get rid of them!

As for the coral beauty, I had one for several years w/sps corals. It nips at everything which makes it look like it is eating your corals, but if you look close, the polyps will still be there. It most likely goes for micro-algae or coral mucus when it nips at sps corals. Watch it for yourself. Make sure the polyps of the corals are still there after the fish nips an area.
 

PCDS

Active Member
Cheers Glenn and thanks for the trolley suggestion - there are steps for the quick route between where I mix the water (garage) and the lounge where the tank is so carrying is the best option...
I extended the tubing from my RODI which is in my garage too. When collecting water I can't shut the garage door but this way I collect and mix my water very close to the tanks. As I said - I'm not very strong- if you have hurt your back once....... Please take care!
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
Wow - that sucks. I hope that you can get the pump replaced soon. Glad to hear that the critters rode out the loss of power alright. Those hitchhikers that you have - you could write your own blog on them and how to get rid of them!

As for the coral beauty, I had one for several years w/sps corals. It nips at everything which makes it look like it is eating your corals, but if you look close, the polyps will still be there. It most likely goes for micro-algae or coral mucus when it nips at sps corals. Watch it for yourself. Make sure the polyps of the corals are still there after the fish nips an area.

I'm going to look at the pump tomorrow. Today I was working - giving a presentation at a naturalists conference. I've been giving my Spinstreams a clean in vinegar and the first one has come up really clean. I will give the pumps a go in hot vinegar and water tomorrow.

My coral beauty does take the odd peck at a coral. I have a couple with bits of algae on a couple of corals that are not doing so well and it is those he goes for. The really healthy corals he shows no interest in what so ever. Most of his browsing is on the back wall of the tank (which I don't clean) and the rocks. So far he has been a model citizen.
 

DaveR11

Well-Known Member
It has been a busy week on the tank. I did a water change and finished cleaning all the Spinstreams at the weekend. I gave 2 of the circulation pumps a vinegar/hot water bath and a scrub with a tooth brush but the second pump still trips the electrics so I have contacted Red Sea about a replacement.

In the tank the coral beauty still has a mark on its flank but he is feeding well and doesn't seem to be in any discomfort. He is showing no interest in the corals but is constantly pecking at algae on the rocks and back wall. When he does look at a coral it is the couple of frags that are not doing so well and have patches of algae on them.

I did some rearranging of some frags I had bought and cemented some to the rocks. I made the mistake of putting an Acan too near my Duncan and the Duncan came off worst so the Acan got moved again. I also managed to break various bits of some of my SPS corals.... Still I did find a new spot for this Acan in my little Acan garden and it seems to have settled in well. This is before the move....



As I said last week the small cleaner shrimp does now seem to be parasite free. The lump in its carapace where the Isopod was has collapsed in slightly and both shrimps are carrying egg masses. The nudibranch menace is still not under control. I'm catching a couple of Montipora nudis each night and got 10 Zoanthid slugs this evening. I did get new pipettes - Amazon were selling bags of 100 for about £3.50 which was a bargain. I also got some stainless steel tweezers which are proving useful to remove Xenia where I don't want it. Both slug species are tricky little devils. The Zoanthid slugs are well camouflaged and the Monti slugs often sit around on the underside of the capricornis plates. So I need longer arms and an eye on my other hand to see them. Instead I got a mirror but co-ordination of the pipette using a mirror is tricky....

In the QT tanks the clown and the tang are doing well. Another week and the tang can go in the DT. It will be interesting to see how the yellow tang reacts to another tank mate especially as he got on so well with the kole tang....

Finally I visited the distant good LFS in the week in search of a leopard wrasse. They had a Potter's but it had gone to bed in the sand when I got to the shop. They also had a lovely bipartitus in their LPS tank but they didn't want to try to catch it..... They are getting a delivery of more leopards next week so that is probably going to be another long road trip.

However they did have some lovely clams so I came away with this little beauty.



Happy reefing,

Dave
 
Top