Tenurepro's Redsea Reefer 250

[tenurepro]

31 month update.
I lost the flasher wrasse (he just disappeared). I did a minor reaquascape with this stax dry rock. Added a new two little fishes feeding ring. I remove the filter stocks and now running without mechanical filteration. The ice fire frag is doing well so far...

 

[Rakie]

That's one of the only ice fire's I've seen do well under LED. So many have sworn those only flourished under MH!

 

[tenurepro]

Thanks. A bit early to say it’s doing well but I hope you are right.

 

[tenurepro]

I haven’t posted a full tank shot in a while. Took out the dslr and got inspired a bit

 

[Zuma]

Wow, your tank is looking great and I really appreciate the details of your build. If you don't mind me asking to you settled on a method(s) for keeping you N03 and PO at your desired levels? I have a very similar set up as yours and my N03 is about 10ppm which I am ok with as sps color is good but the PO is a bit high at .25; considering adding Chaeto but nothing else to get the PO down a bit more; want to avoid GFO, bio pellets, etc.

 

[tenurepro]

Wow, your tank is looking great and I really appreciate the details of your build. If you don't mind me asking to you settled on a method(s) for keeping you N03 and PO at your desired levels? I have a very similar set up as yours and my N03 is about 10ppm which I am ok with as sps color is good but the PO is a bit high at .25; considering adding Chaeto but nothing else to get the PO down a bit more; want to avoid GFO, bio pellets, etc.

My no3 is 10 ppm; po4 at .16 ; first of tank is doing well, then don’t sweat the phosphates. If sps are looking good, then why worry about it.

For my tank, I have a ball of chaeto in my fuge that I harvest every 2 to 3 weeks. This routine seem to keep the phosphates and most of the nitrates in balance. I still does a small amount of potassium nitrate to keep levels at 10 ppm. Without the dosing , levels drop to 5 ppm in a couple of weeks. I plan to add a few more fish and I am hoping that the added poop will keep nitrates stable naturally

 

[tenurepro]

Hi guys - I need your advice on something.
First / remember what my electric myagi Tort looked like a couple of years ago

... beyond stunning - pretty much my favorite colors in the tank. But as the coral grew more and more upwards, the colony took on a more uniform and fuller purple color. When shooting my last tank update, I noticed that a small bit of the colony that I shaded and lower down is showing magnificent colors. This led me to think that this colony looks best at lower par.

So that got me thinking of doing a reaquascape .
Idea is to take the entire right side boulder, chisel out the tort colony, blue voodoo and green slimer, and mount it on a new shorter bit of rock - see diagram

There are other problems with the boulder - 1. one pink mystic monti is taking over and is choking out the Ora blue voodoo. 2. There are minimal caves in the rock for fish to hide.

I found a couple of really nice bits of dry rock that can replace the boulder, with space for both the three colonies and possibly another frag

So pros and cons;
Pros - possibly better coloration on my favorite colony; fix monti problem, more space for fish to hide, better water flow around right side of tank.

Cons - mess up the symmetry of the tank ; right now, the acropora canopy is all the same height... but maybe some variation in canopy high may make things more interesting... honestly - that is my only worry. I am not worried about breaking apart the colonies because the whole boulder can be removed and worked on - I did it before a few month ago

So, what do you guys think ?

 

[WallyB]

Tanks looks Great.

Some serious Growth is happening here. Very nice. Color mix in your tank is spectacular.

The new rocks with holes/caves will certainly improve things. Flow/Fish Portals, and add peek a boo views into back of tank add more 3D look to tank.

Don't worry about symmetry, it will work itself out, and you'll be surprised on how much any Resonable change will Freshen up your tank to be like a new Tank (but better).

Plus you started the new Island on the Right side....That will fill things in.

Looking forward to the new Rock Scaping.
Take your time. Flip the around the new rocks dozens of times before you permanently glue them. Fool around with tilting rocks to maximize gaps with small rubble rock fillers, or even Frag Plugs.

One question....
Would you say, that (Fast Growing) Encrusting Monti's are great at the start, but become a problem in the Long Run. Another Tank Thread I'm following is having a similar spread problem.
I just janked all my Encrusting Monti's in premium rock scape areas and only left a couple at back of tank. All on rocks that don't touch others, so they are isolated to not spread all over.

And my Pink Mystic (also at back)...I just shaded seriously with an new ARCH over it, since I can't move it..Too late)

 

[WallyB]

My no3 is 10 ppm; po4 at .16 ; first of tank is doing well, then don’t sweat the phosphates. If sps are looking good, then why worry about it.

For my tank, I have a ball of chaeto in my fuge that I harvest every 2 to 3 weeks. This routine seem to keep the phosphates and most of the nitrates in balance. I still does a small amount of potassium nitrate to keep levels at 10 ppm. Without the dosing , levels drop to 5 ppm in a couple of weeks. I plan to add a few more fish and I am hoping that the added poop will keep nitrates stable naturally

Are you dosing Potassium Nitrate to BRING UP your N to 10ppm?
WOW!! So what the heck is dragging it down? Your Skimmer and Cheato? Not enough fish?
I grow Cheato/Macro in a Algae Scrubber that I have do a Large harvest every two weeks, and P won't drop below 0.25-0.3, and N won't drop below 25.
But I know I feed too much (fish and Corals).
I can't imagine what my N&P would be if I didn't run my Algae Scrubber.

I did try PhosGuard to bring down P, and it worked, but I corals didn't like the drop even thought PhosGuard is gentler/Slower than GFO.

 

[WallyB]

31 month update.
I lost the flasher wrasse (he just disappeared). I did a minor reaquascape with this stax dry rock. Added a new two little fishes feeding ring. I remove the filter stocks and now running without mechanical filteration. The ice fire frag is doing well so far...

Your Ice Fire is doing very nicely.
I got mine roughly at same time, from same Supplier as you.
Has blue tips, but base isn't white. Going Brown.
But I'm happy (for now) since it isn't dying like my last one.

 

[tenurepro]

thanks for the feedback wally; I would say the encrusting montis for the most part are not invasive. I have 4 different types in my tank, 3 of them are growing slow and are relatively small. The pink mystic tends to grow really fast; i have it in two place in my tank; one is sandwiched between three acropora colonies and it is in fact receding because of the competition. That tells me that pink mystic will lose out battles agains strong acro colonies. The issue with the other boulder is i put in a place where it had no neighbours and it quickly too over that boulder. It doesn't mess or encroach on the tort colon which is really large, but it has surrounded my blue voodoo and i am seeming some samll recession in the voodoo mini colony as a result; this suggest that pink mystic can outcompete small or slow growing acropora if the conditions are right... It think it s a pretty coral, but i has to be place somewhere where it can be easily controlled by other colonies

Tanks looks Great.

Some serious Growth is happening here. Very nice. Color mix in your tank is spectacular.

The new rocks with holes/caves will certainly improve things. Flow/Fish Portals, and add peek a boo views into back of tank add more 3D look to tank.

Don't worry about symmetry, it will work itself out, and you'll be surprised on how much any Resonable change will Freshen up your tank to be like a new Tank (but better).

Plus you started the new Island on the Right side....That will fill things in.

Looking forward to the new Rock Scaping.
Take your time. Flip the around the new rocks dozens of times before you permanently glue them. Fool around with tilting rocks to maximize gaps with small rubble rock fillers, or even Frag Plugs.

One question....
Would you say, that (Fast Growing) Encrusting Monti's are great at the start, but become a problem in the Long Run. Another Tank Thread I'm following is having a similar spread problem.
I just janked all my Encrusting Monti's in premium rock scape areas and only left a couple at back of tank. All on rocks that don't touch others, so they are isolated to not spread all over.

And my Pink Mystic (also at back)...I just shaded seriously with an new ARCH over it, since I can't move it..Too late)

 

[tenurepro]

Are you dosing Potassium Nitrate to BRING UP your N to 10ppm?
WOW!! So what the heck is dragging it down? Your Skimmer and Cheato? Not enough fish?
I grow Cheato/Macro in a Algae Scrubber that I have do a Large harvest every two weeks, and P won't drop below 0.25-0.3, and N won't drop below 25.
But I know I feed too much (fish and Corals).
I can't imagine what my N&P would be if I didn't run my Algae Scrubber.

I did try PhosGuard to bring down P, and it worked, but I corals didn't like the drop even thought PhosGuard is gentler/Slower than GFO.

yes - without a bit of potassium nitrate, my nitrates slowly decline. Its likely either the cheato / skimmer or low bioload. getting the balance right is tricky, but once i add a few more fish, perhaps nitrates will stay where i want them to without dosing

 

[tenurepro]

Your Ice Fire is doing very nicely.
I got mine roughly at same time, from same Supplier as you.
Has blue tips, but base isn't white. Going Brown.
But I'm happy (for now) since it isn't dying like my last one.

yeah - i am seeing tiny tiny sings of encrusting, but it has a long way to go. My first ice fire - (from Thang) - also had some nice colors but still STN'ed from the bottom up in a span of a month or so

 

[tenurepro]

Hi all. So I did the proposed major re-aquascape a few weeks ago. It took a long time and accidents happened to colonies but overall, I am happy with the change. I’ll wait to show you what things look like now in my next monthly update video.

Meanwhile - I am planning to add some fish to the dt.

First a pair of neon gobies that @WallyB has been QT’ing for me. They are ready to go soon.

Then I couldn’t resist

I’ve been looking for another flasher wrasse to replace Flash Gordon- the carpenter flasher wrassse that disappeared over the Xmas break. I didn’t want to get the same species again, so when my local fish guy said he got filamented flasher wrasse, I ordered one sight unseen. Well, when I picked up the fish, I realized that it is just a fancy carpenter wrasse - perhaps a super male. He has lovely deep colors and a nuptial display. So I couldn’t say no

Here is vid of him flashing

Then a couple of days later, another local fish guy got some pin tailed fairy wrasses !!! After checking compatibility and tank size requirements, I pulled the trigger on this beauty

I was reluctant to add them both to the same qt, and had planned to keep on in my evo frag tank if they didn’t get along... but they did! Yay.
I’ve been slowly ramping up copper safe. Plan is keep them in therapeutic copper for 14 days, then transfer them into another tank for a couple of rounds of general cure (for flukes)... hope these beauties make it!

 

[tenurepro]

32 month update with new aquascape

 

[WallyB]

That was fun to watch. Everything except the saw zipping so close to your thin rubber gloved fingers.

New Rock Scaping looks good. Lots of nooks an crannies. Perfect for a couple of Neon Gobies.

 

[NY_Caveman]

LOL, the saw scared me too despite his repeated assurances. LOL!

 

[WallyB]

LOL, the saw scared me too despite his repeated assurances. LOL!

OH!! Funny, I never got assurances.. I didn't have my headphones, so I watched without sound.
HORRIFYING!!

Try watching without Comforting Sound.;Nailbiting

 

[NY_Caveman]

OH!! Funny, I never got assurances.. I didn't have my headphones, so I watched without sound.
HORRIFYING!!

Try watching without Comforting Sound.;Nailbiting

Oh yeah, it would have been terrifying then.

 

[tenurepro]

Hahha - there is nothing to see hear, this is totally safe nothing bad is going to .....
Honey, call the ambulance

As an aside - being a lover of fine knifes and straight razors and of sharpening them with whet stones, I remember once gifting a friend s nice set of ultra sharp knives and was doing demo of how to cut with them without cutting yourself and reassuring her that it was safe, well I ended up slicing my hand really badly.