Haggisman14's Oceanic Biocube 29

[Haggisman14]

WOHOO! Just got my first 95 BRS points! ESV 2-Part on the way!

 

[Haggisman14]

Just took a little video last night after doing a water change earlier that day.

Enjoy!

 

[Haggisman14]

And some other pics I took. I'm really happy with my lord garden, and really looking forward to it filling itself in. I'm really blown away by the size of the one lord that's on the top left (circled in yellow. It's got 3 large heads, and to babies in the rear...but when inflated it's just massive!

 

[Haggisman14]

2part ESV dosing of 5mL started last night. Will update in a few weeks as to if I see any changes within the tank. Hoping this helps the SPS I have take off, as well as skeletal growth on my Euphilia.

Lets see!

 

[Haggisman14]

So far all has been going well with dosing the 2part ESV. I'm dosing 5mL every other day, and the tank continues to be happy. I might be a bit crazy, but based on some past pictures, and what seems to have been previously extremely slow to no growth, my tri-color looks to be sprouting branches from it's encrusted base, my garf bonsai that was almost dead has fully colored up again, and I'm already seeing some new bright yellow polyps, and all other corals seem to be happy.

As we all know, nothing happens fast here, but I'm hoping with the addition of this 2 part I"ll see a noticeable change in my growth. Hoping my LPS corals can also lay down a better base of skeleton too. Time will tell!

 

[Sarge980]

Awesome thread so far just read through the whole thing. Following to see how everything goes.

 

[Haggisman14]

Quick update. Last night I did a little maintenance to the tank. One issue was the one hammer that wasn't opening fully after I moved it to its new location, and second was skimmer related.

A few months back I had relocated a hammer that was getting too MUCH flow, and was not opening all the way. I relocated it to a lower flow area, and mounted it on its side. Since moving it it would open a little but not fully as it was previously. I think the reason for this is that when I mounted the coral on its side, I was covering the top part of the skeleton where the flesh comes out and then wraps around the skeleton base. I could be wrong, but I think this was preventing the hammers flesh from fully expanding as it couldn't fully wrap around its base. The new place I put it in is slightly less flow, slightly shaded, but more importantly the skeleton stands straight up, so the flesh came work its way fully around the skeleton. I'll see how it looks when I get home from work today.

Second item of business was my skimmer. It just wasn't putting out the same flow that it was previously. I had figured almost for certain that something was stuck in the pump, but wouldn't you know, the little skimmer that's on the intake pipe was almost fully packed with detritus. After a nice hot water bath, I was able to unplug all the little holes, set the skimmer back up, and bingo bango, back to 100% normal operation.

I also had some big honking aiptaisia in the back of my rockwork, killed the pumps, loaded it up, and let it sit for about 30-45 minutes while I moved the hammer and cleaned the skimmer. Here's hoping that I actually killed those suckers this time. Time will tell.

Thanks for looking! I should be able to get some pictures tonight after I'm home..seeing how the hammer is doing...fingers crossed!

 

[Haggisman14]

Here are a few pics of the hammer in it's new place. It's already extended more than it has been. I'm hoping after a few days it's back to full extension.

I'm also adding a picture of my tri-color. Since starting 2-part, i've been having better polyp extension on it, as well as more bumps forming...I think it's finally going to do more than just encrust!

 

[Haggisman14]

So what was supposed to be a quick water change day on Saturday, turned into a quick, water change and losing my bangai cardinal day. So I did my normal every other week water change on Saturday, and my process is 2 buckets in the room. One that has my pre-made salt, and then a second that is empty and I siphon out the old water and vaccum the rocks, extra algae etc. All went great. Got the 5 gallon filled up with old water, covered it, and brought it back into the garage. Will up the tank with fresh water, cleaned everything up, put the lid back on, bingo bango, I'm done.

A few hours later, I go in to feed the tank, and notice that I can't find my bangai cardinal fish. I figure maybe he was scared and is hiding that I just can't see him. Next morning...still nothing....HE'S GONE!

So what my wife and I think happened is, that durning the short time I left the room to go into the garage, the bangai decided to go carpet surfing, and my two cats found him, and made a meal out of him. We think this b/c later that night, when the both of them used the liter box...lets just say it smelt like something died in there. The ONLY think that could be different that would cause the both of them to stink like that...would be something completely different in their diet...and I think that completely different thing...was one of my fish!

My Hawkins Ecinata was getting some rtn on various branches, so I ended up fragging those branches off, and than accidentally it snapped down by the base. Hopefully now it'll take off and rebuild quickly, especially not that I'm dosing. I did notice that even on Sunday, I was already seeing some tissue grow over the skeleton..so I think that's a good sign!

My Garf bonsai has been making great strides in it's new location at the top of my tank. The slow RTN that was happening has stopped, but body flesh has gotten nice and dark, and the little yellow polyps are coming back with gusto. Hammer seems to be happy in its new location. Looks like the little guy just neded to be able to fully wrap itself around the full skeleton. Funny D zoa's are continuing to multiply. What started as just 2 polyps is now 9, and continuing to grow. My acan lords are all fat and happy!

As always...thanks for looking!

 

[jk_s124]

Sorry about your loss. I’m always afraid something is going to jump out of my tank as well while doing water changes. Everything else is looking great though. Love the Hawkins echinata by the way. One of my personal favs.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks @jk_s124 . Bummed out he's a goner as I really loved seeing him in the tank. Might get another, or might try something different like a Royal Gramma for some more color. We shall see!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Sorry about your Cardinal.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks @NY_Caveman ...it happens!

I don't have any pictures, but last night I did a feeding of Reef Roids and Reef Chili, shut off the pumps, and watch my corals eat. The crazy thing that I love watching, is all of my little bristle worms coming out to play! Everytime I put this combo in the tank, my serpent star goes nuts...hermits act like they're on drugs, and all my little bristle worms go absolutely insane! Instead of just seeing them pop out of the tank, they're frantically crawling over the rocks and the sand...it's pretty cool to watch!

Watching all these various builds...and new gadgets that came out recently. I really really want the 360x as a new light, and the Nero 5 for more flow in my tank. We'll see if Santa brings me any goodies for Christmas!

 

[Haggisman14]

So here's a 2-week update. All is going well in the tank. I was away on vacation with the family between Christmas and New Years, and had my dad look after the tank for me. All he had to do was feed the tank, and does my 2-part for me. Came back to a super healthy and happy tank. In that time, my corals continued to do very well. My tri-color is continuing to encrust, as well as starting to get real bumps for upward growth. My JF Bi-polar favites that almost died is coming back to life. My micro lords are all doing well and are fat and happy, and expanding their flesh meaning more heads are on the way, and my to hammers are doing well. The hammer that was hardly extending its heads is getting fuller and fuller, and my big neon hammer looks like the bottom single head is getting ready to split. Funny D polys are continuing to grow more heads...seems like a new baby head starts coming out every 1-2 weeks.

Due to the new growth I"ve been seeing, I'm bumping up my 2 part dosing from 5ml every other day, to 5ml every day. Coraline algae has kicked up, and it looks like the fullness or corals,, and overall happiness has really bumped up since I started the two part (of course it has).

Only annoying thing right now is I have some aiptasia that just won't die. I"ve been feeding them Aiptasia-X to kill them, and it makes the heads all disappear for about 3-5 days, and then they come back even bigger. I'm thinking of trying some peppermint shrimp or Berghia Nudibranch's if I can get them from my LFS (don't way to pay shipping etc for something my 6-line might eat!)

I was going to take some pics last night, but when I got home most of my zoa's were closed (urchin and hermits), so I'm going to try again tonight.

Also, big thanks to R2R, as I was awarded with the Reef Tank 365 over the weekend. Really awesome and I was very honored considering there are over 100k members on the board here!

As always, thanks for looking!

 

[Haggisman14]

So here's the photo dump!

First up some comparison shots of my tri-color, and bonsai (minimal difference in tri-color, but big difference in coloring up, and new polyps on my bonsai that almost died on me).

Then some FTS, followed by various pictures of the tank. Enjoy!

 

[Haggisman14]

And here's my aiptasia garden :-( Spoke to my LFS< they might be getting some Berghia's in soon!

 

[jk_s124]

Tank and corals are looking good! Congrats on the reef tank 365 award too! Good luck with your aptasia battle. I have no experience with them. I have an on going war with colonial hydroids and vermetids. Always seems like there is something to battle.

 

[Haggisman14]

Little update: What started out as some quote little starfish, turned in to an asterina outbreak! I'm reaching out to my LFS today to see if they have any harlequin shrimp in stock, as I personally witnessed them munching on my funny d's last night, and it makes perfect sense as to why a lot of my zoa's are not opening during the day, and seem to be melting away.

Will keep y'all posted on what happens!

 

[Haggisman14]

My LFS - Nemo's Reef has a Harlequin on hold for me! YES!

Going to suck out as many of these little buggers as possible, and then toss this guy in and let him go to town!

 

[Haggisman14]

So my suspicion was 100% confirmed last night. Saw an asterina star on my small radioactive dragon eyes last night...blew him off, and then what do youknow, I wok up this morning and the little bugger was back on him today chowing down. That harlequin shrimp can't come soon enough. This weekend I"ve got my water change going on, and will be doing some sucking out of as many of those asterina's as possible.

In other news, my Nero 5 arrives tonight, and as fate would have it, tonights my night out with the guys, so the install will have to wait until the weekend. I can't WAIT to get the Nero in the tank and all dialed in...really really REALLY excited about it!