The Port 120

[Kershaw]

Yeah I am a bit nervous about that. The reverse grade is very slight and is a product of trying to hard plumb into two separate feeds into the filter socks.

Any tips for what I should do at this point?

If it’s already glued nope. Hard piping can be a pain. You dry fit it and it looks nice then you glue and pieces go in further then they did during dry fit and something ends up off. Just make sure everything is flowing as it should.

 

[LBReefer]

I went on a bit of binge this weekend.

I needed to pick up a new refugium light for my hometank and my local fish store just happened to be running a New Year sale ...

I try really hard to not make impulse purchases but this guy caught my attention while I was waiting for the sales associate;

And this amazing looking blue long tentacle anemone that may or may not be bleached out.

 

[LBReefer]

When I got home I tried to recycle some sand I had from my old 80 gallon office tank.

Based upon the smell and ammonia test results this was a no go.

 

[LBReefer]

This provided an excellent excuse for another trip to my favorite Local Fish Store, Age of Aquariums. I told the wife I desperately needed new sand for the new corals.

While waiting for the sand particles to get counted, this guy caught my eye:

I've always wanted one, but I have a lingering concern about it becoming a coral guzzling machine.

I threw caution to the wind and into the bag he went.

I plan for him to hang around in my 40 gallon breeder for a bit while the new system cycles.

I also picked up a white yellow watchman goby to pair with the pistol shrimp that I've had hanging around in QT for a while.

 

[LBReefer]

And in the sand went:

 

[LBReefer]

I'm a bit concerned that the "ultra" anemone that was sold to me is actually just super bleached. The blue color is pretty unique- fingers crossed.

 

[LBReefer]

On the plus side, the long tentacle plate coral seems to be settling in well.

Please forgive the cloudy water. The QT tank was formerly a sump and the freshly added sand is still settling in.

 

[LBReefer]

The LTA looks decent as well.

 

[LBReefer]

And this guy looks like he has lived here forever.

 

[LBReefer]

The first two fish went into the display tank yesterday.

I've been curing the rock for months and have tested at zero ammonia for a week.

Fingers crossed.

 

[LBReefer]

This guy went into the display today.

 

[LBReefer]

And these two are doing well in QT:

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Nice additions!!

 

[LBReefer]

New fish went into the tank, so new fish go into the qt.

The guy at the LFS talked me into a school of benggai cardinals.

And I picked up a firefish. I really enjoy these little guys.

 

[LBReefer]

It looks like we have completed the cycling process and need to start looking at nitrate export.

 

[LBReefer]

And we have officially entered the uglies phase of the cycle.

 

[LBReefer]

QT Failure X2

I have been trying to QT a PBT for the past 6 months. This was my second attempt. He made all the way through 30 days of copper and 30 days in a holding tank and mysteriously gave up the ghost this week. I have since decided to pay for professionally quarantined tangs. I think it will ultimately be cheaper.

I also lost my long tentacle plate coral. I am not sure of thr cause, but I had to watch it die off over the course of 48 hours.

 

[mrbacony]

I was able to identify the cause for my mysterious fish losses.

Despite the fact that my ammonia alert looked like this:

My red sea showed 1.2ppm ammonia:

Same thing happened to me with the ammonia badge. Mine showed zero, but killed a Royal Gramma and a Bangaii Cardinal before I realized I had ammonia. I was able to get my second Cardinal out before he died from the ammonia. I don't trust those badges one bit.

 

[LBReefer]

Rebooting this lost thread. Having a second kid and some busy times in the office.


After a mishap with a heater and a spike in nitrates and phosphates, I'm knee deep in hair algae. This is after 25 minutes of manual removal with a brush.

 

[LBReefer]

I'm not sure which of these will eat more algae.