Homers 80G Started on RC

[homer1475]

And for anyone reading..... Can you explain this to me? I'm assuming it's because of shading, not only from itself, but from the monti growing above it.

It grows just fine, and the tops of the colony are puffy and colored up. It's just the base that has bleached and turned dead. I hadn't noticed it was getting this bad until I took the recent photo.

 

[Water Dog]

Hey Homer... it’s LQT from over on RC. Just noticed from another discussion that you have your build thread over here. How’d that Stylo end up? I would’ve fragged it as that’s some serious tissue recession at the base.

 

[homer1475]

Yeah I knew you were LQT.

That sylo actually was another I got from BC, it looked almost identical to one I got from a friend. I had put the 2 frags together as I thought they were basically the same. I noticed the other day when doing some maintenance that it's actually the entire frag from BC that died. I'm guessing they had some warfare and my original colony won. It's just the one frag that actually died.

 

[Water Dog]

Are you still dealing with cyano from using Vibrant? I used that stuff when I was running my BC29 and it wiped out all my nuisance algae but then resulted in Dinos, crashing the tank. So I’m very wary about using that stuff. I recently had a pretty bad GHA uglies period for my new tank which also used lanthanum chloride cured Pukani dry rock. Extra snails, lawnmower blenny, GFO in a media bag and my ATS seems to have knocked it back significantly.

 

[homer1475]

Guess as long as I'm here I might as well update.....

Well my cyano issues still persist, and have lost my june ruby from BC. Massive RTN in a matter of hours! I;m thinking I might have caused it as I was blwing pretty hard on the little frag with a turkey baster trying to get the cyano off the base and plug. I did get it off, but about 30 seconds later I notice tissue starting to fall off, which continued for the next 30 minutes and it was a are skeleton.

My first SPS loss, and pretty sure it won't be my last.

Did a chemiclean treatment, about a week ago now and my skimmer is still going banana's. First time I've ever used chemiclean as I can usually get cyano to clear up on it's own. But, this bout has been steady no matter what I did. Clean it up, 2 days later I have thick mats. SO I had some chemiclean in my closet I've had for years, but never used. No issues what so ever using it, so very happy with that as I've read everything from no problems to massive die off.

 

[homer1475]

Are you still dealing with cyano from using Vibrant? I used that stuff when I was running my BC29 and it wiped out all my nuisance algae but then resulted in Dinos, crashing the tank. So I’m very wary about using that stuff. I recently had a pretty bad GHA uglies period for my new tank which also used lanthanum chloride cured Pukani dry rock. Extra snails, lawnmower blenny, GFO in a media bag and my ATS seems to have knocked it back significantly.

Yup, vibrant causes cyano no question about that. Worst part is my normal precdure for cyano has no effect on this variant.

No denying vibrant works, but the cyano it causes will kill any and all corals unless you get it cleaned up. I lost a torch, couple heads of my frogspawn, and a nice maze brain while dosing vibrant. I can't say for sure it was the vibrant that did them in(FYI my nutrient level never changed while using it) they were flourishing before using it, and everything else in the tank suffered a bit while using it, and all seem to be fine and growing again several weeks after stopping(ALK/CAL consumption went down while dosing vibrant also, and several weeks after stopping, consumption has increased again).

 

[homer1475]

Seeing as I haven't updated this in a while.........

Today is WC and maintenance day. Did my normal 10G WC and sandbed cleanup. Well seeing as I had to make some NSW and my barrel was empty, I haven't cleaned it in god knows when(think around the first of the year), and it was full of brown crud(gotta love that stuff lol), I would clean it up. Well as I was cleaning the old nano korralias I had in there for mixing I noticed one of the magnets looked wonky. It had swelled up and actually split the case and had leeched a ton of stuff into the water(i'm totally assuming). So I think maybe it wasn't the vibrant that killed my corals at all, it very well could have been from the magnet rusting! I snapped a few pics.

Luckily its only in my mixing barrel and not directly leeching into my tank, but I do believe it helped in the decline of my corals. Only because they had started to decline before the use of vibrant, and only finally died while using it, although my nutrient level or any other parameter did not change.

Just order an ATI ICP test just to confirm what I'm thinking.

 

[homer1475]

ICP came back with nothing out of the ordinary. Go figure! lol

Bought a female and male lyretail anthias about 2 months ago at a local petco for a song(no really got them both for 10$ as they did not look healthy at all and this particular store was tearing out their SW section). Went straight into QT, and about 2 days later the male perished. Female made it through a rigorous QT process and is now living in my display.

While never owning anthias before she is most certainly out and about and getting more bolder by the day. She even had a small skirmish with my african flame back thats a major *****, and he now leaves her alone as he knows she won't be bullied. I was shocked this tiny little fish stood her ground to a much larger and powerful fish! She even stood her ground to my coris wrasse who is notorious for chasing new additions to death. They all swim together now as a trio, it's actually quite comical to watch. Sad about the male dying as I really only wanted the male, and my wife wanted the female, but seeing her in my DT, she is certainly much better looking then the male.

Might search out a male eventually, or maby some other type of male anthais? I really like the borbonius but at 300$ for a single fish think I'll pass. lol

 

[homer1475]

So typical WC day and I figured I would break "frag" my rather large plating monti that was starting to shade quite a few of my other corals. Well, here it is before "the incident":

Dirty glass again and an older photo, but it was the only one I had with the larger plate attached.

So as I was using a pair of bone cutters and cutting the dead stylo branches(see pics above), and my rockscape completely tumbled onto my clam, banging the monti into the glass, crushing my ducan, and god knows what else! I was in complete panic mode!

In my panic I picked up the monti, and the attached rock by the large circular plate at the top, it completely broke off the base plate!

Well seeing as any LFS is a 2 1/2 hour drive, and I know no one that reefs in my neighborhood, and I have no room for more plating monti, I chucked it outside in the woods. I swear in a thousand years scientists will find my dead coral skeleton garden in the woods and think this part of NY used to have a thriving reef. lol

Anyways......

2 hours later, rocks epoxied, duncan moved(won't fit in its original spot anymore), clam back open, monti half gone, all the dead branches of the stylo clipped, and some minor re aquscaping, I think everything is going to be ok.

The aftermath, my poor monti. I'm really not worried, it will be back to that size again in about 6 months. But it is a funny story!

New anthias photobombing. Really starting to love this fish!

And my new FTS

 

[homer1475]

Forgot to mention.....

It was crazy the life that was living in the folds and cups of that monti! I found both my long lost peppermint shrimp, it was my warpaint gobies home, several large bristle worms, and a couple detritus traps.

 

[homer1475]

Little update.....

I won that HUGE mrc 6100 pump and since my system is no where near large enough for the pump, I decided to use it on my mixing station.Well seeing as I already have a panworld plumbed in with 1/2" , and bulkheads cut into the brute cans, I just figured I could use the MRC pump and choke the 1 1/2" down to 1/2" right at the volute and be fine.
Pic of MRC pump compared to the panworld.

Got it all plumbed up and man is it loud and have a ton of micro bubbles. Sent an email to MRC to see whats up. Well it seems that with the 1/2" I am not feeding the pump enough so it's chopping up the water in the volute and cavitating creating all the noise and microbubbles.

After talking to MRC I decided to just get new barrels and new plumbing, this time in 1 1/2". Got all the plumbing at lowes, and waiting on uniseals from BRS. Man 1 1/2 is not cheap(this is 180$ worth of plumbing)! I will still use the 1/2" to refill the tank for WC's. I don't think that little bit will create issues as it would be no different then pushing against head pressure.

I won't get the uniseals till sometime next week(why did BRS stop free 2 day shipping for preferred reefers?), and I had to buy new brute barrels as the 250G norwesco tank that was local to me got sold and I will not pay for shipping for one. One of these days I'll find another local and use it. Stay tuned and I'll post pics after it's all plumbed up.

 

[homer1475]

Got everything plumbed up and running. Do have one ripped uniseal and BRS as usual is making it right and just shiping me a new one free of charge(gotta love BRS's CS!).

Man is this pump a beast!!! Got to give a shout out to @MRC for this awesome pump! It moves a ton of water and for it's size is relatively quiet. It's way bigger then anything I need, but I won it, and will use it regardless(I have always hated when someone wins something and sell's it, rather then use it, or let someone that would use it, win it). I mixed up a fresh batch of NSW last night and it was fully mixed in a half hour! I've got so much flow in my 50G brute that it creates a whirlpool with a vortex.

Now my only issue is both my uniseals leak a bit! And everyone says they don't leak, but for the life of me I cannot get them to stop dripping? Got a brand new hole saw from BRS, and sanded all the edges clean, yet they still drip a bit. I wonder if maybe because of the weight from the piping pulling down on the uniseal? I've got today off from work, so I'm going to put some wood under the plumbing to help prop it up so it's not supported by the uniseals.

Left barrel is RO/DI, and right is my mixing barrel with a long hose that reaches to my sump for WC's(the ball valve you can see zip tied to the shelf above the barrels). That is only 1/2", but serves its pupose and I can fill 10G(my usual WC amount) in about 2 minutes as opposed to about 15 with the old panworld pump.

 

[homer1475]

OOh and yes that is just cardboard under the pump. Because I live in a little town, I could not source a yoga mat or silicone pad anywhere in town to put under the pump. For now until I can get to the city, thick cardboard was all I had and works for now.

 

[BeardedMcG]

Lol that’s a massive pump.

 

[homer1475]

Lol that’s a massive pump.

Yes, Yes it is! At 6100GPH at 27' of head, its a massive pump! Pretty sure if I hooked it up to my tiny little 80G DT, I would blow the panels apart. lol

 

[MRC Verified Sponsor]

Got everything plumbed up and running. Do have one ripped uniseal and BRS as usual is making it right and just shiping me a new one free of charge(gotta love BRS's CS!).

Man is this pump a beast!!! Got to give a shout out to @MRC for this awesome pump! It moves a ton of water and for it's size is relatively quiet. It's way bigger then anything I need, but I won it, and will use it regardless(I have always hated when someone wins something and sell's it, rather then use it, or let someone that would use it, win it). I mixed up a fresh batch of NSW last night and it was fully mixed in a half hour! I've got so much flow in my 50G brute that it creates a whirlpool with a vortex.

Now my only issue is both my uniseals leak a bit! And everyone says they don't leak, but for the life of me I cannot get them to stop dripping? Got a brand new hole saw from BRS, and sanded all the edges clean, yet they still drip a bit. I wonder if maybe because of the weight from the piping pulling down on the uniseal? I've got today off from work, so I'm going to put some wood under the plumbing to help prop it up so it's not supported by the uniseals.

Left barrel is RO/DI, and right is my mixing barrel with a long hose that reaches to my sump for WC's(the ball valve you can see zip tied to the shelf above the barrels). That is only 1/2", but serves its pupose and I can fill 10G(my usual WC amount) in about 2 minutes as opposed to about 15 with the old panworld pump.

Now THAT looks much better!!

 

[homer1475]

Update time!

Lets see where to begin.........

Woke up a couple mornings ago to 2 dead fish! My yellow eye kole, and green mandy! No idea what did them in, but they were laying together with their eyes plucked out(cleaner shrimp are known for that). Next day my anthias is dead. Next day or 2 later my lonely black clown died as well. No idea what did these fish in, but my other fish seem to be doing fine.

Been battling a bad algae out break since over feeding the anthais so I've been dosing vibrant again, and it seems to be working.

Did a WC yesterday and my rockwork tumbled again crushing my plating monti, and purple stylo. Seeing as I have a large chunk plating on my back glass in the corner I decided to just remove the entire plating monti from the rock, frag the purple stylo and get rid of all the dead branches.

Needless to say I think my tank overall looks better without that huge plating monti right front and center. I did happen to find 1 little ****** peppermint shrimp living among the monti folds. He's deader then a doorknob now! Then the other that was living between the glass and the plastic on my tower style overflow, that I could never get out, found in my filter sock. Both completely dead now!!!!! Could not be happier as I have witnessed them pulling polyps off my LPS to eat.

The aftermath and new aquascape!

And this is how much monti was encrusted on that single rock.

 

[homer1475]

Wow I often forget to update the build thread......

Since it's been a while......

Vibrant is working well, but as anyone has watched the BRS videos about vibrant, GHA defineitly gets way worse before it gets better, but the chritaphytes (sp?) are gone, Dino's gone, cyano this time is no where near as bad as it was last time I used vibrant.

Got caught up in my first live sale! A huge thank you, and shout out goes out @uniquecorals for an awesome live sale and many cheaper euphyllia. I really like these corals but the price of a single head of either a torch, hammer, frogspawn, or octospawn have gotten out of hand since the indo ban. Funny thing is, I can remember just a mere 5 years ago you couldn't give thses corals away, and the LFS wouldn't take them in for store credit. They were considered by many to be trash/weed corals.

But at any rate, I scored a nice gold hammer, typical green torch, a couple small SPS frags, and my wife still wants a trachy. The least I've seen recently for even a moderately colored trachy was around 200$. I won't say what I got the trachy for, but it was well under $100.

All in all for my first live sale, I was super impressed with what was offered and for the price. Think I need to participate when WWC or the likes has one for some named SPS's for not top dollar. I don't mind spending 100$ for a little bugger frag, but I draw the line at $100. Could explain why I don't have too many SPS yet. lol I'm a cheapskate!

Other then that, the tank is chugging along just fine, only have 2 fish left, corals are growing decently, and I'm considered a trident as I find I often don't test when I should, and as such my tanks parameters swing a bit. My only issue with the trident, I have to buy a new head unit to use it. I'm just torn between dumping a grand on a testing unit and head unit. Also the horror stories I've read about the new head unit, as my current apex(classic) has been chugging along without a hiccup for 5 years now. I'm also still not sure what the difference between the EL and regular. Only thing i can see is the ORP probe and eb832 in the regular, where as the EL only has the temp, and PH probe, and no EB832, head units seem to be the same.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, PLEASE!

 

[homer1475]

I always forget about my build thread.......

Was recently involved in my first live sale from UC. Got some great corals!

Tank is chugging along quite nicely. Vibrant has cleaned up the algae mess from overfeeding the anthais.

Finally after all these years with clownfish, I have one that will host in something! It is my new torch, but at least it's hosting.

 

[homer1475]

Wow I always forget about my build thread, since I'm not really "building" anything anymore. lol

But anyways.......

Since the last update, that torch the clown was hosting in, died from the clown hosting in it.

Bought a black leopard wrasse, rather large male lyretail anthias, and a yellow eye kole. Found a run of the mill purple with pink tip torch at petco for a steal at 10$, and I have a baby RFA!

The baby RFA is super exciting!

Other then that my tank is shugging along nicely, things are growing, nothing is dying, and only a minor cyano issue.