Red Sea S-650 - Dave's marine adventure

[DaveR11]

Hi Dave, I'm based in Woodbridge so not too far from you. I had some success with Polyp Lab Medic when our Regal had some spot. Might be worth a try?

Hi Chingster - do you have any particular favourite LFS' in our neck of the woods? For me it is Cambridge Coral Tech and H2O but H2O is a very long drive for me all the way down there in deepest, darkest TOWIE country...

Dave

 

[DaveR11]

I usually only do a big post once a week but it has been a busy few days. After the trauma of losing 4 fish last week things have stabilised a little in the hospital tank. The 5 Chromis, the remaining clown and the yellow tang are eating again and are less skittish in the tank. I'm half way through the Cupramine treatment but still have 7 more weeks before the fish can go back into the DT.

I've been spotting various slugs in the DT and with the help of @Oxylebius got some of them identified as a Zoanthid/Palythoa eating Aeolid nudibranch. So far I have removed 1 big individual of the problem slug species:



and 35 smaller ones plus 11 egg masses on my Zoas. Must get something to dip corals... In fact I seem to have hogging the HH thread on here with 2 mystery worms and a possible hydroid. On the plus side the good HHs are doing well in the tank. My Stomatella snails are breeding well including this jet black one.



My Trochus snails have also been breeding and I've seen a bunch of small snails gliding around. The pods are doing well too and I finally managed to get a photo of the tiny (and very quick) Mysis? shrimp.



As I think I've said before I've got 2 new polyps developing on my Duncans



And I bought a couple of tiny Acro frags and whilst looking for one of the worms with just the moonlights on took this...

 

[Marty.h]

Very nice pictures looking well apart from the nasty hitchikers.

What did you use to take them awesome pictures

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Corals looking great - Congrats on the snails & pods !!!

 

[DaveR11]

Very nice pictures looking well apart from the nasty hitchikers.
What did you use to take them awesome pictures

Thanks Marty.

All taken on a Nikon D810 with a 105mm Nikkor macro lens. All shot using the light from the T5s (or moonlights). Most are shot at between 400 and1600 ISO but the moonlight was whacked up to 128,000. All are shot in RAW and then processed in Lightroom.

 

[Marty.h]

Thanks Marty.

All taken on a Nikon D810 with a 105mm Nikkor macro lens. All shot using the light from the T5s (or moonlights). Most are shot at between 400 and1600 ISO but the moonlight was whacked up to 128,000. All are shot in RAW and then processed in Lightroom.

Thanks

I will have to look into them as my phone camera just does not cut it

 

[DaveR11]

Thanks

I will have to look into them as my phone camera just does not cut it

You have one of the best photographic shops in the country in Norwich.... Warehouse Express. For my credit card shopping in Norwich has been a very traumatic experience!

 

[Marty.h]

I just googled that camera and im presently charging the defibrillator haha

I've never really looked into camera's but Christ is that one expensive camera but I can see by the pictures that it's awesome.

I do well with what I spend at the minute on the tank if I spent that on a camera I would need to find a new home for me and the tank as she would go mad haha.

I'll have to have a look in that shop as I did not even know we had a dedicated photography shop having never really looked.

 

[DaveR11]

I just googled that camera and im presently charging the defibrillator haha

I've never really looked into camera's but Christ is that one expensive camera but I can see by the pictures that it's awesome.

I do well with what I spend at the minute on the tank if I spent that on a camera I would need to find a new home for me and the tank as she would go mad haha.

I'll have to have a look in that shop as I did not even know we had a dedicated photography shop having never really looked.

Yes an expensive toy....

 

[chingsterUK]

Hi Chingster - do you have any particular favourite LFS' in our neck of the woods? For me it is Cambridge Coral Tech and H2O but H2O is a very long drive for me all the way down there in deepest, darkest TOWIE country...

Dave

Hi Dave, We used to go to CCT all of the time when Steve was there, not so easy for us now it has moved but Theo is really good. A little bit further is Paul at AAC in Harlow, top man, always plenty of good advice and some lovely fish and corals and what a display tank!. If you go to Jon then also consider Tony B (Coral Passion) just past Chelmsford, a small shop but wow he has a great stock of corals and so much experience if you need advice. Locally there isn't much at all. Isn't Out of the Blue near you? Other than that I use Marine Aquatics for mail order, I find them a bit cheaper than H20. LOL we've never been to the Sugar hut, not enough spray tan!!!! I haven't been on here for a while work has been really busy but we have a Red Sea S500, we have replaced the main pump with a Deltec EFlow and the Skimmer with a BK 180 super slim. Other than that it is pretty much stock although we would love to get some LEDs. Apologies if I have broken any rules mentioning the names of any LFS.
Mike

 

[DaveR11]

Hi Dave, We used to go to CCT all of the time when Steve was there, not so easy for us now it has moved but Theo is really good. A little bit further is Paul at AAC in Harlow, top man, always plenty of good advice and some lovely fish and corals and what a display tank!. If you go to Jon then also consider Tony B (Coral Passion) just past Chelmsford, a small shop but wow he has a great stock of corals and so much experience if you need advice. Locally there isn't much at all. Isn't Out of the Blue near you? Other than that I use Marine Aquatics for mail order, I find them a bit cheaper than H20. LOL we've never been to the Sugar hut, not enough spray tan!!!! I haven't been on here for a while work has been really busy but we have a Red Sea S500, we have replaced the main pump with a Deltec EFlow and the Skimmer with a BK 180 super slim. Other than that it is pretty much stock although we would love to get some LEDs. Apologies if I have broken any rules mentioning the names of any LFS.
Mike

Hi Mike,

I gather the rules on here is you can mention equipment, suppliers and shops as long as you have no financial involvement. Glenn @nanoreefing4fun posted to that effect a couple of pages back in my thread. I had spotted Coral Passion on the web but not had chance to visit yet but it sounds like H2O and CP are very close together so will have to try both together (but that could get expensive!). Last time I visited H2O I got the full TOWIE effect as I crossed the road from the supermarket car park and 6 ladies were heading in the opposite direction - all pink, orange and purple.....

 

[chingsterUK]

Hi Mike,

I gather the rules on here is you can mention equipment, suppliers and shops as long as you have no financial involvement. Glenn @nanoreefing4fun posted to that effect a couple of pages back in my thread. I had spotted Coral Passion on the web but not had chance to visit yet but it sounds like H2O and CP are very close together so will have to try both together (but that could get expensive!). Last time I visited H2O I got the full TOWIE effect as I crossed the road from the supermarket car park and 6 ladies were heading in the opposite direction - all pink, orange and purple.....

Know what you mean, its a very strange place init. I'm sure he has told you but Jon has some very strange stories about Brentwood at the weekend, folk wanting to do the TOWIE tour. The bad news is they are all really close, Paul is on the outskirts of Harlow, so 15 mins drive down the A414 gets to you Coral Passion and then another 10-15 minutes to Jon. The credit card always takes a bashing when we do a road trip. We all have out favs but I've never been disappointed by any of them. I'm glad you are getting on top of your tank troubles. Cheers Mike.

 

[DaveR11]

So Friday night update time.

The remaining fish are all still alive in the hospital tank. I was worried about the last clown in the middle of the week but tonight he was swimming around OK and feeding. Another 4 days of Cupramine and then I can get it out of the water which will hopefully reduce the fish's stress a bit further.

The DT is bare of movement with the fish in the hospital tank. When I'm working in the tank the cleaner shrimps give me the customary manicure but it is not quite the same without the fish zooming around. I noticed this week the skimmer is producing much less gunk. I'm putting a little food in every couple of days for the shrimps and target feeding the LPS. The pods seem much bolder without any fish in the tank and there are hundreds of tiny Mysis? shrimp zooming around.



Some of the corals have grown really well. The Favites and Seriatopora guttatus I've shown pictures of before but I'm also getting good growth on the Montipora capricornis. This green one was bought back in June and here are before and after photos...

June:


This evening:


I think I'm going to have to frag my pulsing Xenia soon at it has covered its rock. However some corals don't seem to have grown much at all. I've had this Favia since the end of June.


I'm still monitoring my Zoas and removing the Aeolid slugs. The little devils have clearly been breeding well and the slug count currently stands at 52. Still numbers being caught have dropped off in the last few days so that should indicate progress. I now just need to get a good look at the mystery worm. I have a feeling it has 5 tentacles which mean Eunicid.... I just need to get a decent photo, but it only comes out after lights out and is lightening quick. This is the best I've managed under the LED moonlights using a really high ISO.


Need a better shot before @Oxylebius can give me a positive ID I fear.... Looks like 5 tentacles to me.... It is well lodged into a tunnel in Zoa covered rock and I've tried to winkle it out with no luck. I guess I may have to dip it.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Great update - your corals and tank is very pretty - won't be too many more weeks until fish again !

 

[DaveR11]

Great update - your corals and tank is very pretty - won't be too many more weeks until fish again !

Hi Glenn, thanks.

6 weeks next Wednesday yet before the fish can go back in the DT. I'm hoping we get a mild autumn here in the UK as the hospital tank is my un-insulated garage. I might be shopping for polystyrene blocks to keep it warm soon if we start getting frosts.

I just looked up Arkansas on Google Maps - fairly mild winters for you?

Dave

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

We get snow a few days I love it, I grew up in Colorado

 

[DaveR11]

I usually write my update on a Friday but my PC has been in bits since last weekend after it failed to boot up. I'm wondering if the 'free' upgrade to Windows 10 was such a good idea. So far I've spent £80 and 12 hours of my life and I still have an expensive door stop rather than a functioning computer. So no new tank pictures as I can't process any images at the moment. I'm writing this in my lunch break at work...

So how is the tank. Well the DT is looking OK. The skimmer is no longer producing the dark brown/green liquid anymore, I presume because of the lack of fish in the tank. The skimate is now a light yellow colour. Though it still smells. If I don't clean the skimmer cup regularly there is an unpleasant smell in my lounge. I presume this an occupational hazard of reefing....? I did a few tidying up jobs yesterday. I rearranged pipes from the chiller so they were out of the way in the sump and finally finished hanging the doors on the stand properly.

In the tank, I'm still taking out the Zoa eating Nudibranchs though numbers have dropped off significantly with I think only 6 or so this week. The total now is well over 50. I also have failed to get a better picture of the mystery worm that may or my not be a Eunicid...

On a more positive note I'm seeing lots of tiny snails in the tank. Not just Stomatellas but I think my Trochus snails have been breeding as well.



The fish in the hospital tank are looking OK. They are feeding well. The Cupramine treatment is now finished. I did a big water change on the tank yesterday and need to get some carbon in the filters to finish that off. Just 6 weeks now before they can go back into the DT. The yellow tang still appears to have fairly rapid breathing though.

I'm hoping to trade in a few corals soon that I have fragged. I have 2 small rocks covered in GSP that I cut off the main colony. I also have a large patch of Zoas that have spread and can be divided. Finally the Xenia colony is covering it's rock so need to frag that. Finally whilst siphoning the sand last week I broke a piece of my S. guttatus so glued it onto a frag plug. Going to be a while before it is ready to trade but waste not want not.... I've also got a few new frags including this which I think is Montipora confusa?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Cheers for the great update Dave ! Here hoping you get your PC sorted !

I am an IT managers, have a PC and have used PCs for decades now - a couple years back I bought my 1st MacBook Air and absolutely love it , like the iphone the updates work

 

[DaveR11]

Cheers for the great update Dave ! Here hoping you get your PC sorted !

I am an IT managers, have a PC and have used PCs for decades now - a couple years back I bought my 1st MacBook Air and absolutely love it , like the iphone the updates work

Just got the PC to boot again but having to re-install everything. Supposedly a tool that makes work simpler.....

 

[DaveR11]

I finished work early today after a site meeting that was near to my regular LFS so popped in for a bucket of salt and an actinic tube. They are breaking down their big display tank and selling off the stock. Unfortunately the beautiful purple SPS (a Montipora?) had already sold but they had a nice little Scoly which I got at a good price so here is the new addition in the DT...



In the DT this week I have had another outbreak of the Zoa eating slugs. I must have missed some egg masses as over the last few days I have removing 20-30 tiny slugs each evening. The total now is 240+ nudis removed. While at the LFS I got a couple of sachets of Coral RX so I'm going to dip the two Zoa rocks that are not fixed in the tank. I also got some Reef-Roids following a suggestion by @Oxylebius that a bit of feeding for the Zoas might help keep them healthy until I can finish off the slugs

As I've said before with no fish in the DT the pods have got much bolder. Here is a shot of one of the shrimps (Mysis) as well as one of my baby Trochus snails. I also have a little work to do removing the odd bubble algae this weekend....



I have also added a couple of small Acan frags over recent weeks which seem to have settled in nicely. I have a bit of an Acan garden going on the left hand rock pile. I'm target feeding the Acans, Duncans, Euphyllias, Favites and will now add the Scoly to the list. They get a little Mysis every 3 or 4 days along with the shrimps. The big cleaner shrimp is quite a glutton and despite feeding it first tries to rob the Acans. The Favites seems to really like the shrimp diet and continues to spread and the two new polyps on the Duncan are getting bigger and I will soon be able to feed them directly.



In the hospital tank everyone is feeding and I added carbon last week to remove the Cupramine along with a big water change. Just counting the weeks now until the fish can go back into the DT....