Monique's RSM 130d

spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
Well I really blew it this weekend. Luckily the rsm display tank is fine. I have a frag tank to grow out corals. I used egg crate, which sucks, and was full of bubble algae in the all the little squares. So I thought I would just remove it, and put a bunch of rock pieces on the bottom. Sounds simple - right?

Well as I was moving the corals I noticed red flat worms on several of them. So I dipped the corals, first in revive and then in flatworm exit. I took out the egg crate too. I also cleaned all the equipment. I think i stirred up a bunch of crud off the bottom under the existing rocks, as the tank is cloudy again like when it had a bacteria bloom earlier this year.

Anyway, I killed all my sps, about 7 pieces. the rest of the coral is unhappy but living. I'm not really sure what happened, but I had a small ammonia spike this morning. I'm in process of water changes and had some Prime on hand so used that. I don't know if the dipping caused the coral to die then spike the ammonia, or something else caused the spike that killed them. so sad.
 
C

Crosby

New Member
Hi Monique, Are you using the regular or wide angle lens on your Radion XR15. I wonder if the wide angle lens would prevent the shadows at the ends of the tank. I'm curious as I am on the fence between the 15 and the 30 Radion.
Thanks.
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
I used the xr15 with a wide angle. I think if the light were a foot above the tank I wouldn't have the shadows, but because it is so close to the water, mounted in the hood, I do. If I did it again I would get something that has a better spread, like the hydra 26 or xr30. If I find a "cheap" xr15 I would put it in and get a better spread than the 30 would get. I have the reef link and like the software. Well, its usable, but i don't love the software.

BTW - I have the channels set to something close to the "natural" setting and at about 70% power at the highest. My corals, especially sps, are growing like crazy. If you get the xr30 I'm guessing you could get away the standard and not the pro, unless you have a bunch of really high light corals.
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
Happy New Year everyone. I hope all your tanks fared well during the holidays. I was gone for two weeks and my friend did a great job as usual. By great I mean he doesn't overfeed, but the tank usually has a bunch of algae and cleanup work. What I was most excited about is my nem finally returned to the correct color! It was bleached for about six (?) months. I loved the light pink color but know it wasn't right. Now its back to the rosey color it should be and has extended twice as big. I think it likes my friend feeding it. They're tight :)

Super crappy picture. I din't even clean the glass because I'm so excited about the nem.
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I got the red sea CA/ALK/MG test kit. I had just been testing CA and it has always been a bit low. I dose seachem two part. I measured the alk yesterday and it was super low. like 5-6. yikes! The mag was also a bit low at 1000. Water change yesterday and today to get it back to normal. maybe more this week as needed. Tank looks great though. Fish are all happy. Corals are showing growth.

I also saw the red sea 450 reefer in person at a store in my travels. mmmm. That might be my next upgrade. I need to get things more figured out on this tank and the frag tank though, so my mistakes are small and not in a 450 :scuba:
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
I've done about four water changes to get everything back to correct parameters. Some of my green zoas haven't been open for a week. I'm not sure whats up. That same colony id the same thing before, most died off, then the remaining few polyps grew like mad. Now they are closed again. Hopefully I don't lose them. Everything else is great. I broke the tip of one of the acros while cleaning the tank. It was growing pretty fast, so I'm disappointed it will slow and heal. But on the bright side I have two new frags


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spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
So the display tank looks great.

...but the frag tank is struggling. So after the crash (because I was treating for flatworm) then I found Bryopsis. So I raised the mag and that seems to be gone. But the planaria came back with a vengeance. I spent 45-60 minutes siphoning the little things out. It was orange on all the rocks. I didn't see them the other day and yesterday there were mats of orange. Crap the stuff propagates quickly. I will admit that I bought one coral in the past few months and i forgot to do the flatworm dip. I did dip with iodine though. That is the ONE coral where I could have gotten the buggers.The worst part is that I know I killed corals trying to get rid of it, and now its back, and the original coral also died. doh.

Anyway, I treated with flatworm exit so hopefully that will take care of it. Lots of water changes with that.

Besides the bryopsis, and planaria, there is bubble algae. That's why I originally took out the eggcrate, and in doing so found the planaria. I've been plucking it out, but its growing fast. Now on top of all that I have a huge outbreak of hair algae. I feed this tank very very little since its just corals. Like a pinch of coral food a week. So i'm not sure what is fueling everything.

I'm setting up a carbon/gfo reactor tomorrow. Hopefully that will help. I realize now how important a quarantine tank is for corals.
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
Its been a while since I posted. I had a very busy spring and summer, as I got married. My tanks are showing the neglect and I have started caring for them more now that things have settled down.

My frag tank is a wreck. dinos and cyano. I am running gfo and carbon, but those don't seem to help. I have a six line wrasse in there. Now there is no planaria, and the bristle worm population is in check :) I really like the little guy.

My main tank is doing OK. All the fish, shrimp, and RBTA are thriving. It has some algae, but he SPS growth has been great. The main issue is the caulerpa brachypus has started taking over. I pulled out a ton of it yesterday, as it was starting to smother some corals. I need to get back on a water changing routine, as it has literally been months since this tank had a change. doh.
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
Update on the tank: I broke off a bunch of coral accidentally while I was trying to remove the calurpa bracheapus . {sigh} more superglue in my future. the calurpa is totally taking over everywhere. I turned off all red light hoping it would help (because the internet is always right:) ). I've been traveling for a few weeks and my adoring husband has been taking care of the tank. I now have an outbreak of GHA. No blame. I'm wondering if it is the light spectrum because I had very little before, regardless of feeding.

I found an RSM 650 on craigslist. My second favorite dream tank. My first favorite is a custom 8 foot peninsula with adjoining fish room, but that's gonna take a whole new house. I like my neighborhood. This deal might fall through as I can't get it for a few weeks. But i am very excited to think i may soon have 650! boooya! Wish me luck on this one!
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
Did some rearranging of some corals this weekend as I noticed there was quite a debris trap in the back. That might have been fueling the hair algae. I also glued on most of what I knocked off. Two water changes and the tank is looking better.

I thought I had cut out the red channel on the lights, but when I checked them it was still on. So now its off in an attempt to starve out the calurpa. I also turned them down as bit, from 70% to 50% max brightness, as a bunch of stuff has been slowly bleaching. The sps is fine, but the hammer isn't growing on the side with the light and the AOG zoas are downright blonde.

The clowns have worked a few things out and now share the nem. One is obviously still the boss. But the other gets to splash around in the tentacles. The gobi and shrimp are doing great, as is the urchin. The peppermint gave my hand a little cleaning while I was gluing in the corals.

Two water changes on the frag tank as well and I'm trying to blow out the debris from the rocks. I did notice the planaria is back in one corner :( lots of bubble algae too. I did see the emerald crab, so at least I got that going for me. The favia is growing quite well and overall the corals look pretty good. The rocks look bad and have some sort of filmy algae on it. I'm still betting dinos.

After a summer of neglect good husbandry is my goal for the fall.


.... and I just noticed the new emoticons. Here's a baby seal for your enjoyment.
:seal:
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
ah - and one thing I forgot to mention. I've started a pod farm. I noticed my brittle star and pod populations have declined, and I haven't seen an asterina in months. I figured having extra pods for the livestock and detritus removal can't be a bad thing. Its also my first step into one day having a mandarin. I figure if I can routinely harvest pods then I might be able to provide a good home for one, but not until then. It looks fairly easy, so we'll see how it goes.
 
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