Paul B
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Reef Tank 365
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Rock Pool Reef Keepers
For the last year or so something in my tank is just not right. I mean, it is better and I don't know why. The corals should be shrinking or dying but instead, they are growing faster than they ever did. Some pieces like this guy pictures a year ago was the same size for many years but now it is growing pretty fast. The last time I tested the nitrates they were over 40. Closer to 50. Normally that is considered toxic to corals.
The acropora and montipora are also growing to such an extent that I have to keep fragging them just so I can clean the glass. I know this is a good problem, but anything that happens that is different from the norm bothers me. I don't know why this is happening but I wish I knew because I know that when this cycle of growth and health ends, the other part of the spectrum could happen where everything will start dying and I still won't know why. This is also the first time in the history of the tank that the SPS, LPS and leathers are all thriving. Usually one of the other thrives while the others shrivel. Even all the paired fish are spawning and I have not done anything to the tank different than I always do which is almost nothing.
I do notice that I have to clean the glass almost every day now and I used to go a week between cleanings. Due to the growth I am not sure how I am going to do my yearly maintenance where I stir up everything with a diatom filter and suck out the debris because I can't move any rocks any more without breaking things. I don't like it when I don't understand things, kind of like talking to a woman, I am usually just dumfounded.
This was last year and this has not shown growth in years.
That same piece here has protrusions all over it. I know it doesn't look like much, but for a coral that didn't do anything for maybe 8 years, it is huge.
This monti also grows all over the place as I keep accidently breaking it when I am doing something and it just sticks to a rock and grows like crazy. This picture is a couple of months old, that coral is much larger now.
This sponge takes up about a quarter of the tank and I am going to start giving pieces of it away because it is covering some corals. It is about a foot across and 2 years ago it was the size of a dime. This is also an older picture.
Organ pipe coral I never used to be able to keep, now I have a few pieces a few years old and is my favorite pieces as they show a lot of movement.
I do realize this is a good "problem" but when something happens, and you don't know why, That is "almost" as bad as when something bad happened and you don't know why. My tank has never been wall to wall corals as that is not the look I am going for. There are about 25 fish in there and I like to have some swimming room.
Almost all of my corals started as tiny frags that I was given for free because they were just bits and pieces of broken shards in a dealer's tank.
The acropora and montipora are also growing to such an extent that I have to keep fragging them just so I can clean the glass. I know this is a good problem, but anything that happens that is different from the norm bothers me. I don't know why this is happening but I wish I knew because I know that when this cycle of growth and health ends, the other part of the spectrum could happen where everything will start dying and I still won't know why. This is also the first time in the history of the tank that the SPS, LPS and leathers are all thriving. Usually one of the other thrives while the others shrivel. Even all the paired fish are spawning and I have not done anything to the tank different than I always do which is almost nothing.
I do notice that I have to clean the glass almost every day now and I used to go a week between cleanings. Due to the growth I am not sure how I am going to do my yearly maintenance where I stir up everything with a diatom filter and suck out the debris because I can't move any rocks any more without breaking things. I don't like it when I don't understand things, kind of like talking to a woman, I am usually just dumfounded.
This was last year and this has not shown growth in years.
That same piece here has protrusions all over it. I know it doesn't look like much, but for a coral that didn't do anything for maybe 8 years, it is huge.
This monti also grows all over the place as I keep accidently breaking it when I am doing something and it just sticks to a rock and grows like crazy. This picture is a couple of months old, that coral is much larger now.
This sponge takes up about a quarter of the tank and I am going to start giving pieces of it away because it is covering some corals. It is about a foot across and 2 years ago it was the size of a dime. This is also an older picture.
Organ pipe coral I never used to be able to keep, now I have a few pieces a few years old and is my favorite pieces as they show a lot of movement.
I do realize this is a good "problem" but when something happens, and you don't know why, That is "almost" as bad as when something bad happened and you don't know why. My tank has never been wall to wall corals as that is not the look I am going for. There are about 25 fish in there and I like to have some swimming room.
Almost all of my corals started as tiny frags that I was given for free because they were just bits and pieces of broken shards in a dealer's tank.
