Update time:
I caught a good deal on a 20 gallon long tank and home built stand with a blackbox light of some sort (aquaknight maybe?), micro ATO, and eShops nano skimmer (doesn't fit in my DT sadly). Seemed like a really great option to be able to set up a QT system or just have an emergency back up system available.
For the current tank, the water change didn't help with the water clarity and it got much worse. Turns out that cloudiness that was developing was an algae bloom in the water column and oh man was it bad. The water got VERY GREEN. I did another 50% water change to dilute it as best I could and picked up one of those green machine, in-tank UV lights and it worked like magic. After a week I had clearer water than ever before! I think I might want to look into a plumbed in UV light for the new system if anyone has a recommendation for a
budget option there.
I also picked up some GFO and dropped a few tablespoons into a bag in the back to help get those phosphates down the rest of the way so this issue doesn't re-occur, as well as dropping the white light spectrum on my lights from 50% to 20% as I believe I read the algae prefers the white light for growth.
On a more fun note, the Cespitularia frag I have sitting on a piece of rubble in my sand keeps moving. Its fun to look and see where it is every afternoon when I get home. I'm curious if it's getting pushed around by a fish/crab or if the long tentacles are catching on the nearby rock and its pulling itself closer to try and grow onto it, lol. I need to actually mount this thing somewhere, but I figure at this point I'll wait for the new scape to do that. Really looking forward to focusing on getting some more corals going in the new setup.
I've also picked up a new frag. It wasn't labled and the staff weren't real helpful so I don't know exactly what it is but it looks like some sort of goni maybe with bright white tips. Looks really great and I'm excited to see it grow out.
I also picked up a basic red plating monti because they were having a sale.
Last, one of the frags I had picked up in December was growing Vermetid snails. They've been there a while now and I just didn't know what the heck they were. Once I killed off the aptasia that was growing on the frag I could see them better and got them ID'd. I pulled the frag out and cut it off the old plug and remounted it and glued it to a new frag to hopefully get rid of the vermetid snails. I haven't seen them anywhere else in the tank yet, so I'm hoping they hadn't spread yet but I'll be keeping an eye out for sure. I'll also be extra careful moving my corals to the new tank once I get that set up so I don't bring them with and will plan to get the QT set up for new stuff in the future as well.
Here's a before and after of the snails (white splotchiness is the aptasia x):
This thing hasn't
grown since I got it in December but it's maintained its color really well so I'm hoping now that the aptasia and snails are cleared off it will have a chance to thrive and grow. It's gorgeous so I'd really love to see it grow out.
Final thing, that coralline is spreading like the plague! I'm excited but I can already see it's going to be a pain to keep cleaning off the pumps and back wall.
I'm also giving some consideration to the GSP back wall idea but expect I'll regret it at some point and then have a heck of a time removing it, lol.
