ritter6788's 75 gallon sps

skinz78 · Mar 27, 2013

LOL clean that cesspool lol....

ritter6788 · Mar 27, 2013

I cleaned it! Vermetid snail split my finger though. There were about 6 of them in the bottom and the only way to get them out was by hand. The last one was in the corner and I slit my finger open on the tube trying to break it out.

Brett, Encino man? Pauly Shore called, he says no one remembers that movie.

Aquaph8 · Mar 27, 2013

That's funny cause I just met Pauly Shore a couple weeks ago

ritter6788 · Mar 28, 2013

Aquaph8 said:
That's funny cause I just met Pauly Shore a couple weeks ago

Really? How's Crawl doing these days?

Aquaph8 · Mar 28, 2013

He's pretty funny, I went to his standup comedy show. I got a funny pic Ill post for you later.

ritter6788 · Apr 4, 2013

Making some changes. My acros have burnt tips again! Alk tests with Hanna at 9.5 dkh and API at 9 dkh. Everytime my alk gets over 9 I get burned tips on my sps and my montiporas fry completely. My only thoughts are that 2 test kits are horribly off OR the oversized skimmer is stripping the water too clean and causing alk burn at low levels. I took the big Octopus skimmer out and put the much smaller Tunze skimmer from my frag tank onto the 75 as a test to see if there is improvement.

Second problem, Red Bugs! Gotta get some interceptor. I've never had red bugs until now so it must have been that last maricultured deepwater colony I bought. I always dipped but not with the newer dip methods like Bayer but once I get rid of the ones in my display I'll start adding the Bayer to my dipping process.

The tank also has patches of green algae that looks like cyano. It's easily removed but tends to come right back. I've cut back on the feedings but it hasn't helped so I think I'm going to hit it with Chemiclean to see if it kills it.

The Yellow tang has been moved out to a bigger better home and the lawnmower blenny is going back in tonight. The blenny has made an amazing recovery and is as fat as can be. I think the Yellow tang was outcompeting the blenny for food and the blenny suffered. I've always kept Tangs in this tank but I don't keep them very long. If the blenny gets thin again I'll likely retire him to the macro tank.

Plus side is not that the tang is gone I can add some of these nice macros I have to the display.

skinz78 · Apr 4, 2013

Dang, sorry to hear Gabe, keep us posted on the bug treatments and the Lawnmower.

larangcon · Apr 4, 2013

Just finished reading this thread, glad to hear the Blenny is doing fine and back in the DT. ChemiClean should get rid of the cyano. +1 on the Interceptor.

ritter6788 · Apr 17, 2013

Thanks for the input guys.

The tank is looking better again. I did a few things at once so it's hard to tell exactly what is causing the improvements. I trimmed the dead tips off of all the sps that were affected. They are already growing back and looking healthy again. The green algae has almost all disappeared except a few small patches on the rocks. The montiporas that all died are starting to grow back again. I've been feeding heavier again and the green algae is still going away. I can't stop thinking that big skimmer has something to do with it. I know people say you can't overskim but I'm wondering if it's cleaning my tank too well and causing low nutrients and bacterial imbalance.

I also switched to Instant Ocean salt. I'm slowly working it in but once while I'm using up my Reef Crystals but so far I'm liking it. The lower calcium in the IO may not weigh so heavily on my alk so I can keep the tank more balanced. The calcium in the RC has always been to high for me and maybe that's why I have to dose so much alk.

ritter6788 · Apr 20, 2013

Time for another fish removal. My Blue Spot Watchman Goby is getting to be a pain. I've been fattening up the Lawn Mower Blenny with nori but one of the clowns and the goby each some too. The clownfish picks at it from the clip and the goby would catch the larger pieces that the yellow tang would chew off. Since the tang is gone the goby hasn't been getting his serving of veggies I guess so when I feed nori he comes up and rips the whole piece out of the clip and swallows it. He looks like a shark, shaking and thrashing around until the nori comes loose. It swims off with the nori hanging out of his fat mouth. I like the fish so I'm going to try feeding differently but if he keeps being a pain he's out. Plus he plants his fat butt on my corals and clams. :xd:

ritter6788 · Apr 20, 2013

I'm also attempting a fish I've always wanted but never was brave enough to try. I got one coming from Diver's Den next week. It's one of my favorites of all time along with the Powder Blue Tang but my tank isn't big enough for a PB. I'm too nervous and excited to even mention what fish it is. :tongue1: