Turtle's Fairy Tale

[SashimiTurtle]

Going to work...

Photo bombed by Noir

Squishy

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Top downs and close ups!!!

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Did some deep cleaning today. It was much needed.

Yep, I stirred up a whole bunch of gunk. I had a dead spot in the back left corner. The wrasse don't sleep there, and nothing has stirred it up, so I did. The amount of detritus that came out of the sand was... gross. Clouded up the water pretty good. I also pulled out three of the branch rocks that were just kind of there. No corals on them and they were blocking flow thru the branches. Lots of GHA on them and the rocks behind them. I pulled what I could out of the tank and scrubbed, and scrubbed what I couldn't in place.

I added a 8" filter sock to catch it all, and clogged it in 10 minutes. I replaced it with a 14" sock. It is still ok, but I'll pull it before I go to bed tonight. I've been running without socks to avoid pulling out of the phyto.

Now that the tank has cleared mostly... it looks TONS better! No more GHA waving at me as I walk by the tank.

Rocks removed from under the overhang on the right.

Dead spot in the back... cleaned up.

I changed up how my returns enter the tank. They point straight down now. Into those dead spots in the back corners of the tank. I know what you're thinking. "Won't that back syphon 1/4 of your tank into the sump and overflow it?" Well, not if you drill a syphon break in the return. I put a small little hole in the PVC at the tee, so when the return cuts off the only water that drains down is from the main drain. It's small enough that it doesn't effect the flow to the tank either.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Time for more progress pics... I've noticed a growth spurt. Now to scroll thru hundreds of pics on my phone.

1-10-19

2-5-19

1-10-19

2-5-19

1-10-19

2-5-19

 

[acropora4u]

nice tank, cubes are my deal!

 

[acropora4u]

my 240 cube, cubes are awesome

 

[HairyGary]

Looks good!

 

[HairyGary]

my 240 cube, cubes are awesome

Nice! Dimensions? Who made it?

 

[acropora4u]

Nice! Dimensions? Who made it?

48x48x24. Acrylic creations. Thanks

 

[Janci]

my 240 cube, cubes are awesome

Nice. Do you have a build thread?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Over the past two weeks I've really noticed a difference in the tank. Corals are generally looking better; better polyp extension, better color, faster growth... the growth spurt lately. Jeez it's like a teenager with an automatically restocked pantry to raid. Coraline is also taking off. Full battery of tests tomorrow, minus Mg. I still haven't ordered a Mg test. I think I'm going to try Salifert for Mg this time as the Red Sea varies so much. I wanna make sure I dont need to increase my dosing with the growth spurt. I'm still only dosing 1ml of BRS pharma Calcium and Alkalinity a day. Last test was Ca 425ppm Alk 8.3dKH

Acro! Yes, it's still alive and actually colorful and growing. Completely unnamed, maybe once I grow it out someone will recognize it, or I'll just make up a name. That's what the coral farms do. Can't see from this angle, but the base is a really cool olive green and the tips are a deep blue. Best viewed from top down. Maybe I can get some better photos this weekend.

Some others that looked especially pretty last night.

Nom nom nom...

And then there is this... RIP purple stylo. Acro right next to it, healthy. Stylo, dead. I also have a trumpet that looks deflated, one polyp bailed on it as well. I think I'm going to do a sump clean out and replace the all water in there. That's about 20% and should help any trace elements that are off, if that's an issue. It's also time to send off another ATI ICP test.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very nice. That Sympodium is beautiful. Has it grown much? You have had it a while now. I know it usually grows slowly.

 

[Janci]

Over the past two weeks I've really noticed a difference in the tank. Corals are generally looking better; better polyp extension, better color, faster growth... the growth spurt lately. Jeez it's like a teenager with an automatically restocked pantry to raid. Coraline is also taking off. Full battery of tests tomorrow, minus Mg. I still haven't ordered a Mg test. I think I'm going to try Salifert for Mg this time as the Red Sea varies so much. I wanna make sure I dont need to increase my dosing with the growth spurt. I'm still only dosing 1ml of BRS pharma Calcium and Alkalinity a day. Last test was Ca 425ppm Alk 8.3dKH

Acro! Yes, it's still alive and actually colorful and growing. Completely unnamed, maybe once I grow it out someone will recognize it, or I'll just make up a name. That's what the coral farms do. Can't see from this angle, but the base is a really cool olive green and the tips are a deep blue. Best viewed from top down. Maybe I can get some better photos this weekend.

Some others that looked especially pretty last night.

Nom nom nom...

And then there is this... RIP purple stylo. Acro right next to it, healthy. Stylo, dead. I also have a trumpet that looks deflated, one polyp bailed on it as well. I think I'm going to do a sump clean out and replace the all water in there. That's about 20% and should help any trace elements that are off, if that's an issue. It's also time to send off another ATI ICP test.

Purple stylo are kind of strange and also for me hard to keep.
Nom nom nom looks great.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Very nice. That Sympodium is beautiful. Has it grown much? You have had it a while now. I know it usually grows slowly.

It has actually probably tripled in size since being in this tank. It probably helps that it gets fed every day... I feed the fish on the front right corner... every night after the T5s turn off it seems they all start to gather in that spot. If I walk up to the tank around that time, every last fish is swimming in that spot and the clowns have their faces out of the water... short story long, the sympodium is on the bottom right of the tank right up front, and the gyre flow pushes the food down the corner and across the bottom from right to left. It gets blasted with melted LRS every evening. I can watch it close up like the wave going around a stadium starting at the right and moving left across the entire colony until they all have eaten. I need to wait around and see if they open back up in the same way.

I'll try and remember to get you a full picture of it. I only moved/saved a small frag of it from the 35 cube. Then it sat in a tub of rocks without light for a month or better when the first 90 cracked.

I actually made a small frag of it the other week when I cleaned up the algae, and that is doing well. I could make a few more, but it's on a support rock and it's not easily removed without toppling the whole branch structure. It's not bothering anything so I'll just let it go for now.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Purple stylo are kind of strange and also for me hard to keep.
Nom nom nom looks great.

I've had it for a while... never really did anything as far as upward growth. The base died off a while back, then it grew back over the dead tissue, then started dying back again. I fragged off the dead base and reglued the "healthy" tips last week. They both RTNed this week. *shrugs shoulders* I kept a blue stylo healthy and growing for a while in a 14g nano, then it died overnight in the 35g cube of death... that was a disaster... maybe I'll get another blue one from my LFS. They always have a few pieces of it growing in their tank. I need to go pick up more TLF nori anyway. One of the dogs found my pack, again... for I think the 3rd time in a row. You'd think I would learn to put it IN the end table and not ON it. Nope...

 

[NY_Caveman]

Having a similar issue with mine. Fragged it once already 2 weeks ago.

 

[acropora4u]

nothing grows well in my tank...4 years old, water changes with 0 tds - just no luck, all parameters are in line. crazy flow...don't know what im missing

 

[SashimiTurtle]

nothing grows well in my tank...4 years old, water changes with 0 tds - just no luck, all parameters are in line. crazy flow...don't know what im missing

Try sending off an ICP test if you've checked everything else. After lighting and flow, It really is all about keeping clean stable water. Do that and they'll grow. The ICP test measures a crazy amount of elements(somewhere around 50 different tests) in the water that hobby tests just can't or can't as accurately.

My tank seems to be finally getting mature enough to keep the more delicate corals alive at 9 months old. I'm also learning how to listen to this tank and what it's telling me when this or that thing happens. Every tank is different and speaks a different language.

Right now, my tank is telling me it needs a water change. Some trace element is lacking, or some contamination has entered the water. I do not know what it is, but my canary coral, the trumpet, has been deflated and when everything else has bounced back and looking vibrant it is still deflated and just lost one polyp recently. That tells me something is still off. That coral is always the first to look like poop when something goes wrong. Usually a water change fixes it. So I'm going to do one this weekend. I would love to have an ATI ICP test to send off before the water change, but I'll have to send one after.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Hey, so I was just flipping thru the old gallery on my phone...

12-21-18, freshly glued

2-5-19

 

[najer]

My tank seems to be finally getting mature enough to keep the more delicate corals alive at 9 months old. I'm also learning how to listen to this tank and what it's telling me when this or that thing happens. Every tank is different and speaks a different language.

Observation, the number one (only) test I do!