Rêverie Reef - Video thread

[Ardeus]

In all the years I've kept bubbletips, I've never been stung so violently.

The magnifca used to cause a rash on my arms when I brushed against it, but the bubbletips now really hurt.

With the bubbletips, it's not just an allergic reaction, it really hurts on first contact.

I may be walking out on a limb here, but I wonder if they're developing a stronger sting as a reaction to the filefish picking on them.

 

[nornicle]

Man I’m inspired by you but my tank being still young and not having a tank before it’s like a collectoritis tank, I think to aqua scape like you it has to be with mature corals and a fine understanding of growth patterns and compatibility.

 

[Ardeus]

My aquascape has maintained its basic structure since the beginning and it was planned to accommodate the anemones: bubbletips near the overflow and the mag as far away from the pumps/overflow as possible.

The aquascape needs to be functional first of all. Then comes the aesthetic considerations.

It's a bunch of islands, but all the islands have caves at the bottom for the fish.

I'm not a fan of 2 of the biggest trends nowadays precisely because they lack cave systems for the fish: rocks with a flat base and bonsai aquascapes.

Regarding coral placement and what is compatible with what, there's a lot of trial and error and it's always evolving.

At the moment, I want to get rid of the forest fire. When the mag decides to split again, I hope I can manage the split better this time and save the clone so I can place another mag where the forest fire is now.

But I'm not immune to the collectors itch. It's very tempting to put a red foot mag in there instead of waiting for a clone of the blue foot mag.

I just promised I wouldn't get more corals... and an anemone is not a coral.

Lets don't and say we did.

 

[Ardeus]

The 2 comets are scarying me more and more. Last night and this morning interactions.

 

[Ardeus]

 

[Ardeus]

I've been filming the comets 5 or 6 hours everyday, early in the morning and late afternoon when they're more active.

I'm trying to understand more their body language and what's happening between them. Not easy.

 

[Ardeus]

I've been thinking about things that have changed recently that may be contributing to this animosity.

A couple of months ago the altivelis got a bad injure in his mouth when he picked a piece of shrimp from the tweezers.

He stopped eating for at least a week and became afraid of the tweezer.

On the other hand, a couple of weeks ago I began feeding krill to the argus. He was so happy when he saw it for the 1st time. He's wild caught and he recognized the shape of a small shrimp immediately.

The altivelis is not interested at all.

Before these events, the altivelis ate 3 times more than the argus, now they're about the same. Both also eat mysis when I broadcast feed 4 cubes in the evening.

I wonder if the changes in the availability of food are playing a part in the altivelis becoming more aggressive.

 

[Ardeus]

 

[Ardeus]

 

[Ardeus]

Yesterday someone commented on a video about how balanced the tank as a whole seems to be.

I thought about it and I realized how fragile those balances are.

- There's a 11 cardinals group that's not killing themselves;
- There's what are probably 2 male comets by now that are not killing themselves;
- There's 4 angels nipping at almost everything;
- There's 3 filefish keeping the 30-40 anemones in their island and aiptasias only in the sump.

 

[Ardeus]

I never liked this sofa.

It doesn't make much sense there... and it's right next to a storage room.

 

[Ardeus]

The sofa is safe... for now.

When I was waiting for my current tank to be delivered I played a funny game with myself: I wanted to be able to play Rêverie on the night I setup the tank. And I did.


If I ever get a tank to replace my current tank, it will be named Pastoral Reef.


I had as many piano lessons as I had reefing lessons, so learning Rêverie was extremely difficult. I seriously doubt that I can ever learn Beethoven's Pastoral Sonata.

I was deciding between this Sonata and the Pathetic Sonata, but the name my next tank would have, made the choice easier.

It's a huge and difficult piece for me, close to half an hour of music to commit to memory and I'm not a kid.

Beethoven was originally composing this piece as a string quartet and it seems he never finished it and instead turned it into a piano sonata.

So there's 4 voices going on at the same time and I find it extremely difficult to make them heard properly.

It's not just playing the right notes, each finger must have the right volume. With just 10 fingers you must intertwine 4 musical phrases... and then combine this with the pedals, it's like a circus act.

I've started though and I'm on measure 60 of the 1st movement.

 

[Ardeus]

My nature tells me to forget numbers and just hear what at the tank is telling me.

My math training tells me to look at the numbers and use them to keep bad things from happening.

Here's my Nitrates over the past year.

During the first 4 months of 2021 I dosed Vibrant and I took the chaeto out of the refugium.

I tried carbon dosing to bring NO3 down while I was still on Vibrant but I saw hints of dinos and I gave up.

Nitrates have been falling and I'm afraid of waiting for the tank to tell me something before acting.

So, it's the time to decide how to manage nitrates from now on.


Option A

Dose KNO3.

I've done it before. It's simple. Continue to measure weekly and dose accordingly to keep it around 5 ppm.

Option B

Reduce the photo period of the refugium

I never tried this. This will also affect PO4. This tank has a tendency for high PO4 and I manage it with GFO. This means that I would have to replace GFO more often.

Not liking it.

Option C

Reduce the operation time of the skimmer.

This will also affect PO4 but that's not all. The skimmer also removes chemical compounds excreted by the corals, aerates the tank.

I currently turn the skimmer off 2 hours per day after the main meal to the tank, so I would be extending this period.

I could also turn the skimmer off 1 or 2 days per week, which would allow bacteria to build up and feed the corals.

Turning the skimmer off scares me. I smell what's inside the skimmer cup and I find it hard to believe it should remain in the tank.

 

[Ardeus]

Back to dosing nitrates it is.

I was talking to a non reefing friend about the idea of a new larger tank and here's what he said.

"You said that this would be your last tank, remember? It will never be big enough. You will get this new one and some time after you will want a bigger one."

Do I really want a larger tank? Not really... it's a huge initial cost and an increase in cost maintenance and work.

But I feel sorry for the fish in such a small space. Maybe it's a side effect of the corals occupying more and more space.

 

[Ardeus]

Thinking about the potencial new tank dimensions, it ocurred to me that I never mentioned one of the deciding factors for the size of my current tank: cinema!

The cinemascope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is the result of getting the old tv format of 1.33:1, multiplying it by 1.33 (which results in the 16:9 aspect ratio) and multiplying it again by 1.33.

The front glass of my current tank has an height of 23.6" and a length of 55". 2.35 x 23.6" = 55".

 

[Ardeus]

Here's the latest ICP and first after the Vibrant treatment which threw the tank parameters in all directions.

It's much better than I expected.

I was surprised to see the phosphate because I measured between 0.1 and 0.07 around the date I sent the ICP test.

I base the management of my tank on my ignorance about what's going on inside.

I don't know how each element affects the fish and corals so I try to keep it relatively simple and keep the water close to NSW.

I haven't done regular water changes since I setup this tank over 2 years ago and I try to keep minor and trace elements in check with Red Sea Colors Program.

It's just 4 bottles and includes over 30 elements so it's a good compromise between dosing each element individually and just 1 or 2 bottles.

I dose strontium separately with a dosing pump and molybdenum by hand.

I began recently with the molybdenum so I went with half the recomended dose. Based on this test, I can proceed to the full dose,

 

[Ardeus]

Today I removed the largest coral I had, Monti forest fire. It left a big hole on the left side of the valley.

I moved the red dragon to its place and hopefully in an year or so, it will fill that area.

The forest fire is one of those corals that looks much better as a frag because when it grows up the green tips represent 0.1% of the coral.

 

[Ardeus]

My refugium has a minimum amount of life other than chaeto. I see bristleworms and a few amphipods and that's it.

Today I added:

- Grass shrimp (palaemonetes)
- Gammarus oceanicus
- Tisbe pods
- Tigriopus pods

I suspect the first 2 will decimate the last 2 in no time.

The refugium has very low flow because it only receives water from the GFO reactor and calcium reactor.

I think almost no leftover food from the tank reaches the refugium and I have been wondering if it's too radical an idea to feed the refugium directly.

 

[Ardeus]

 

[Ardeus]