Proenca's 130D reef tank

Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
Hi Gonçalo - nice to get an update! I think you are referring to Duncanopsammia axifuga? If yes, the common name is Duncans or Whisker Coral. They grow very well for me and have really multiplied the heads. Not as rare as they once were, as they seem to be quite prolific.

If you can't get the Aiptasia under control with the Lysmata, do you have any source of Berghia verrucicornis nudibranchs?

Berghia Nudibranch Breeder, Berghia Verrucicornis Kill Aiptasia Anemones to Control Aiptasia

I think redseareefer (Todd) used these successfully to get rid of his Aiptasia.
 
proenca

proenca

Member
Hey Terry and Glenn, the dynamic duo of RS :)

In regards of the nudibranch, as all nudi's, they are very very specific : ie, they ONLY eat usually 1 or 2 types of food. The Verrucicornis one JUST eats apistasias.

which is a good thing but a bad thing once you run out of apistasias - the nudi just dies.

Im trynig to prevent that - the shrimps accept other types of food when the apistasia runs out and add diversity to the tank, ie, they breed readily - my pair of Lysmata Ambonensis ( skunk cleaners ) spawn every week, releasing eggs to the tank ( not trying to rear the eggs at all, just for the rest of the tank to use them as food ) .

so we'll see as it goes

Oh yes, thats the Auxifuga. They still comand a hefty price tag here : my LFs had a beautifull colony ( 20 + heads ) which was 280 euros ( roughly 350 usd ) , which on my book is expensive :)
 
Blurp

Blurp

Member
Been outta here for a while, your tank looks just great Gonçalo!!! No worry about diatoms, they'll go as they came, an holoturia might help cleaning your sand.
If you're moving into a non-photosynthetic, you'll have to think about a bout a good cleaning crew, for you'll be overfeeding compared to now. But I agree, they look gorgeous;)
 
proenca

proenca

Member
TANK CRASH

Very unfortunatly and due to work commitment, I was away from home quite a lot of time... and the tank :sinking: ... REALLY SUFFERED.

Moreover, this is a testament how the RSM130 is a decently built machine and how a mature ( my tank was mature ) tank can suffer extreme punishment...

So when I saw that I couldnt manage my tank anymore, I gave away my mushrooms corals and my zebrasoma..

All I was left was :

2 x Percula pair
2 x Lysmatas ambonensis ( cleaner shrimps )
2 x Peppermint Shrimps
1 x Blenny

Time passed and for almost 1.5 months the tank had no maintenance, no food, no water changes.

Casualites :

1 x Percula - big one - trapped in the cup
1 x Blenny - trapped in the cup
1 x Cleaner Shrimps - dunno
1 x Peppermint Shrimp - dunno

Possibly :

1 x Mantis - I always heard clicking at night , not anymore.

What happened :

Xenia and Caulerpa took over. I didnt touch it because I knew they were filtering the water- pretty it wasnt the tank, but severe unhealthy it isnt - 0 amonia, 0 no2and no3 was low.

Caulerpa took in a frenzy mode and I left it to grow - was absorbing nutrients.

So yesterday ( Sunday ) was day zero.

I spent the whole day taking care of the tank.

Scraped some algae off the glass, took some caulerpa off.

Then a single 25 liter of RO water, mixed with whatever salt I had left ( precisely for 1.024 ! ) and things looked a bit better.

Went to LFS and got myself a big big RSM salt bucket, couple of new lights, new Chemi Pure Elite.


Few pictures, please do not despair....

Tank before I started :
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Few closups :

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Blastomussa - was one of the corals that looked the better, to be honest


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Lobophyton - formerly the glory of the tank, looks very diminished, some parts are infected due to poor water circulation - one of the pumps got stuck with caulerpa and created a dead spot over the lobo

4741825554_4528fe3fc4.jpg

Algae over the corals, corals over the algae... a mess

4741825460_f96d3bb310.jpg

bad news : cespitularia ( blue metallic xenia ) look bad. all going down, lack of current, possibly lack of lights, poor water quality. no die off aparently, just poor health. currently ( as of Monday morning ) shows improving.

4741825724_bd6ec555ea.jpg

Yup, algae were everywhere...

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Little sarco, a survivor - got impaled by Caulerpa..




So couple of buckets of water changes and corals did appreciate.

4741825942

several buckets of caulerpa were taken off... and the exausted ( I'm sure !) ChemiPure Elite bag...

Tank overview after some work :
4741826048_0da1c57f83_b.jpg


4741189927

Playing with some inabitans that were coming in the caulerpa...

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releasing them back to the tank....




At this stage, 2x15 l water changes were performed, tanks is improving.

Also, while wife was watching 4 x Heroes episodes, I was taking Caulerpa .... root by root... installed new lamps , put new chemipure elite bag.

Today morning, things much better and theres lot of work to do - I want to rearrange the rock , to maximise flow, vaccuming bit more of sand and adding a bit of new one. So expect daily pictures this week.

My RSM will come back to its full glory !
 
Dweezil

Dweezil

Well-Known Member
Gonçalo ~ I wondered what happened to you ;) Welcome back. Hope you get things in order and have the time this time around :)
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
Thanks for the update. After a lot of hard work, it looks like you're now on the road to recovery.
 
proenca

proenca

Member
Hey Terry and Tammy ! Thought about you guys :)

Tanks seems much better today - even with the lights off.

Anyway, this week I will be doing a 25l water change daily - meaning that by the end of the week, 120% of the water has been changed.

I did initial water testing - when I started working on tank on Sunday and the parameters were :

Salinity : 1.025
Temperature : 25.00
Amonia : 0
No2 : 0
No3 : 10ppm
CA : 380ppm
KH : 5

So all in all, values were ok : No3 was present but not in uber duper quantities, CA was low and so in KH but I've seen worse ( not in my tanks though .) )

Will post more pictures today !
 
Monkeyboy

Monkeyboy

Member
I hope things improve quickly! I really enjoyed reading this thread and would love to achieve something close to what the tank was. I will keep reading with my fingers crossed!!
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Gonçalo - good to see you posting again ! Hope the tank makes it back, I am sure it will now that you have the time for it again !
745.gif
All the Best !!!
 
proenca

proenca

Member
The tank WILL come back in its full glory .) Just some hard week of daily water changes and everything will be ok.

Worst case scenario, its a testament how a big lump of caulerpa + even bigger lump of xenia can be efficient filtration systems - its incredible how almost two months without water changes, the tank only have 10ppm of n03 and the rest is 0 within parameters.

And note that :

- one pump was fried
- water level was too low
- chemi pure was exausted
- skimmer was 10cm ( 3-4 inches ) above water level, hence not running.

All put together, with the 30kgs of Caulerpa and 10kgs of Xenia, tank was a mess.

Its comming back and thank god I only had hard corals - apart from the blastomussas and cespitularia, both even those look that they are comming back.

One coral that REALLY surprised me that survived , well two actually :

Auxifuga : what the hell, the thing even grew couple more polyps...
Cespitularia : finky, troublesome coral, keept on growing but turned more brownish : once I changed the water and replced lights, the metallic blue started to come back - already could see some this morning.

Now the plan is :


- daily water changes of 20% until Friday
- adding some more cuc ( lots of dead snails ) on wensday
- adding a urchin ( to keep the algae under control ) on thrusday if everything is on track
- starting feeding the poor clownfish on wesnday

wknd :

- re-arrange rock, clean it a bit better, making a more central island that promotes water flow, install a Tunze Wavemaker, sinphon a bit the sand and add a bit more of new sand over the weekend
 
proenca

proenca

Member
So, I always said : big water changes, constant, heal everything.

Heres an update :

4743085709_162eb28355.jpg

auxifuga, doing decently but lost color. it will come back.

4743085571_a315dc413e.jpg

Blue Xenia / Cespitularia : I told you guys that she was more perked up... believe that the blue color will come back - everything seems so. Coral doing a great recovery.

4743722314_bf1cc6ebd8.jpg

Blasto REALLY enjoying the water changes.


overall tank view at day three :
4743078427_b8e9506be6_b.jpg




oh and yes, salt is mixing and new waterchange in a hour or so.
 
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