And now for something a little different ...

LBReefer · Dec 19, 2021

Now to figure out how to address this catastrophe waiting to happen:

I don't understand why the transformer is so close to the unit. Mounting this and keeping it away from the occasional splashed is going to be challenging

LBReefer · Dec 27, 2021

Rough morning for my home tanks. I found that two of my SPS frags are RTn'ing and two of my new fish have gone the way of the Dodo.

This guy just completed quarantine a few days ago. I'm not sure what happened, but I found him face down in the mini-maxi anemone.

And this guy died in QT overnight. I don't see any obvious signs of disease, so I'm at a bit of a loss. I'll test the copper again this afternoon to see if the dose accumulated too high between wager changes.

LBReefer · Oct 30, 2022

I realized it's been nearly a year since I've made any updates. I'll try and take some updated shots tonight. The system is doing alright, although I've run into a few challenges.

I removed the mini-maxi anemone of death and have had more stability since.

I have struggled to get my Neptune salinity meter to work with any kind of consistency. I finally broke-down and bought a new one. I was not prepared for the $200 price tag.

My calcium reactor was going well until I ran out of CO2. Rookie mistake for sure. New tank added. I had to supplement alk to bring the levels up to something my reactor could maintain. Thankfully my acros seem to be bearing with the changes.

Today's adventure that prompted this update was cleaning out my main return pump. I noticed that flow from the return had slowed to a trickle and was unresponsive to changes in the controller. This picture was from about halfway through the removal process. I pulled out 5 snails and two small rocks:

I'm hoping that the improved flow will reduce the nutrient build up in the tank. My phosphates shot up to .22 and my nitrates .66. I've been feeding heavy to keep up with the anthias I added.

I also moved this guy into the tank when I broke down my office tank. He seems pretty happy, when I see him.

I think I'm going to try and rehome this gsp rock. I've noticed gsp creeping up in other areas and it's starting to hinder the growth of some of my acros.

LBReefer · Nov 2, 2022

Updated FTS:

The montis, GSP, and Stylos are growing well. The new sticks are hanging in there, but no noticeable growth in a bit.

LBReefer · Nov 17, 2022

I booted these two from my frag tank as I found the flame angel grazing on a few of my zoas. Not surprising that he went after the most expensive and delicate ones first.

And then the flame angel became camera shy. I can't blame him. The capture took 45 minutes and destroyed my beautiful red monticap.

LBReefer · Nov 19, 2022

I got a better shot of the poorly behaved Flame Angel. He and the foxface appear to be settling in well.

I'm hoping that he doesn't look at those zoas or the hammer as an aperitif!

LBReefer · Dec 24, 2022

My other passion is breeding large reptiles. I like things that are expensive and take up ridiculous amounts of room. What can I say?

I was cohabitation my female Asian water monitors as long as possible, but it looks like I have reached the end of the line. The larger has started mercilessly chasing the smaller one. As a result, I need to add another giant rtile cage to the room and will have to move my frag tank. This will hopefully kill two birds with one stone, as I wanted to place my frag tank on a separate sump anyways.