Reef update time, yay! New livestock coming, chemistry struggles, temperature struggles, mystery coral issues, a new pest?! (Wow that's a straight up youtube clickbait title, man). You won't believe how mediocre this tank is!
Coral - Most of the coral is doing well. 4 very clear, very small new polyps off the GSP, and I am sure there are more hiding underneath the longer polyps near the main colony. The RFA seems to have finally put on some size as well, or maybe is just more spread out. The new heads growing on the octospawn really haven't done much, they are still there though. The small bernard/goni is doing great. Solid polyp extension, but it is getting knocked off the rock onto the sand probably twice a week. Considering it seems happy up there it might be time to glue/epoxy. GREAT polyp extension on the cyphastrea. Considering moving it to lower light though.
My big concern right now is I have two colonies of zoas that are acting.... funny. The tubbs blue and the small polyps just in the foreground of the gorgonian or whatever it is aren't quite fully extended. I think the gorgonian/leather is stinging the small colony in front of it, so I will likely move it and see if it helps. As far as the tubbs blue above them on the rocks? I'm not sure why they aren't as open as usual.
Also the cleaner shrimp will pester the hell out of the duncan after feeding. Cleaner shrimp may have to go soon if I decide to do scoly/trachy/other fleshier LPS.
My two rhodactis are also much more pinched up than usual. I don't think they are splitting, but they are definitely not happy. I moved the orange rhodactis in front of the rockwork to give it a little less light and see if that helps, but it's been a few days and it hasn't improved. The goni garden/new coral is on hold while I figure out what's angering the corals. Which brings us to water chemistry/temp.
Chemistry/temp - My alkalinity took a dump all the way down to 6.4. Ended up grabbing some two part from red sea. Dosed a total of 7mL of alk over a few days and brought it back up to 7.2. Really need to get my RODI running so I can select a salt mix that mixes a little higher on alk, but I have been SOOOOO lazy with the RODI. Finally got it attached to water, but haven't turned it on or tested it yet. I will likely need new resin. Nitrates are ranging from 15-low 20s with my schedule of 10g every 2 weeks or so on the water changes. Phos 0.01-0.02. I am not too worried about the higher nitrates since I am not having much in the way of algae problems aside from some minor film algae at the top of the rock work. Temperature has been running 78-81f. Temps here have been in the high 90s to mid 100s for a few weeks. Nothing too dramatic, so I haven't been freezing water bottles or anything, but I do leave the ceiling fan above the tank on. Also haven't tested Ca++/Mg++. Bad boy, I know, but the tests are a pain and I really can't imagine they are that far out of wack.
Fish- Blenny is..... yep, he's fantastic. Great fish. Perfect. The black clown who is now known as 'emo nemo' by visitors is also doing perfectly well, but seems lonely. The blackcap basslet has IMPROVED!!!!! The swim bladder issues seem to have mostly resolved. Verrrrrrry minimal buoyancy issues. She is now out and about exploring most of the day even when I'm not near the tank with food. Really excited to see her getting better. I was concerned that the swim bladder would kill her in somewhat short order, but I now have high hopes for a long healthy life.
It's been ~3 weeks since the clown-pocalypse. No signs of disease, no lethargic fish, no discoloration, NOTHING. Which means I finally decided to order some new aquatic friends. Placed a Dr. Reef order for a McCosker's, a yasha, and a blackstorm clown. I really wanted to do orange/black pair, but the more I thought about it the less I liked it. Thought about going with another black/white normal ocellaris, but thought a different pattern but same colors on the blackstorm would be really cool. No word on dates for the fish yet, but I am quite excited!
Pest? - Didn't manage to get a picture, but I did see a fairly large white slug crawling on the glass. The fish picked at it until it fell off the glass. Flatworm? Stomatella? Not sure what it was, but it's the only one I've seen, so it will be left alone for now.
Gear- Ended up snagging a BubbleMagus MiniQ. I don't feel that I need it for now, but I wanna get it running to help offset the addition of 3 fishes worth of bioload once my Dr. Reef order arrives.
Any body have any ideas as to what's going on with the zoas/rhodactis? Everything else seems fine. Even the ricordea seems okay. I thought it was the alk, but that doesn't seem to have fixed 'em. Temperature? Nitrates are high, but they've been running high since well before I got the morphs.
Oooooh, I've also been itching to buy a ~10g nano of some kind because I want more reefing in my life. Please talk me out of it.
