Bpb Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Florida pincushion urchin doing some serious work on the red turf algae. Not harming any corals. Politely working his way around them. It's not that I insist it all be gone. This just means I can actually mount frags to my rock again Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I'm feeling blind ... where's Waldo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah, I'd never have another tank without urchins again. They are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I'm feeling blind ... where's Waldo? I think he was just showing the trails that it blazed. I think it exited the crime scene and fled already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 He's hiding in the shadows kind of in the middle behind the setosa and the damsel Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 He's hiding in the shadows kind of in the middle behind the setosa and the damsel Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I think he's playing games with us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Ninja urchin??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yes, very stealthy, but as Ty said there's no mistaking his path ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 There he is Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 What is the smallest tank you could put one of those in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I think you could put one in a 10-20 gallon tank if it was pretty stable and had a fairly high algae load. Once it cleans it though you'll want to feed it or it'll drop its spines and die eventually. I have very well documented my acro troubles. I don't want to give the impression this tank has been a failure, because lots of things are doing really well. One thing I haven't talked about is my clams too much. The maxima has been about the easiest critter I've put in the water. Doesn't roam or move. Doesn't hurt anything. Closes up at night when surrounding Lps sweepers come out, doesn't overgrow anything. Doesn't require feeding. Looks nice. One thing I've struggled with is the derasa clam though. I previously had it in the far right corner, badly shaded from flow and light by a monti cap and frag rack. The mantle became pinched and it looked to be a goner in short order. I have since relocated it to the other side in the direct open light with good flow and it has bounced back nearly 100% within a week. There is still a curled up section on the end but it's looking 80% recovered. Love it's colors. Picture under white channel at 100% with no blues. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Some Zoa close ups from today I thought looked nice. La lakers I had to save. Needed to take a razor blade and scrape off some faster growing morphs that had crept onto the plug and started killing the lakers. They're open again for the first time in weeks RPE? Gobstoppers Anyone have an ID on these? No clue. They're probably my favorite ones I have and they were basically free Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Great looking stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Thanks man! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Hello, my name is Jonathan, and I'm an acroholic. I've been in recovery for 6 months I guess. But I've relapsed. First acro added to the tank since early this year when I bought some from SAM that all died in my tank crash. Fingers crossed. I hope I'm ready!! It's a biggun! I'd say about 4" in diameter or so with 20-30 individual branches, and fully encrusted over its plug Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 They always come back! Welcome back to the club sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Truth be told I don't feel ready to try Acros again but this one was essentially free so I have nothing to lose. Oddly enough it is a colony grown from a little 1 cm frag I gave a friend a couple years ago Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 1, 2015 Author Share Posted November 1, 2015 Never tried the "colony" approach before, only ever acquiring 1" frags at most typically. We shall see if colonies fare better than frags Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 Water test this morning. Been a while. Noticed a few burned tips out of nowhere. Perhaps an alk spike? Nope. Who knows what caused it. 1.026 salinity 78.4 degrees F 7.91 pH (low point of the day) 7.3 dKH alkalinity 475 ppm Calcium 1320 ppm Magnesium *4-5 ppm Nitrate *0.036 ppm Phosphate * these are the highest these numbers have ever been in the life of this tank. Some reasoning behind that I would say is my heavily increased feedings. Previously I had been feeding 4 spoons of Reef Chili once or twice a week, amino acids once or twice a week. And fish food a couple times a day. I have increased that to 2 spoons of reef chili daily, amino acids daily, and added an extra fish feeding every day. I can't say as to if the mud has increased nitrate amounts or not. I suppose it did have some organic matter in it. My urchins have also decimated most of the algae in the display tank. All that remains of the red turf is tucked into nooks and crannies of the rock they cannot reach. Between the two of them they're able to keep going over the rock well enough to prevent regrow, and new rocks I've added have no algae at all 2 months later after adding. I imagine the lack of algae uptake combined with increased food input has given me the spike in inorganic nutrients. My skimmer pump is also sputtering, I suspect from gunk buildup. I have collected zero skimmate in a couple weeks. Make no mistake. The increased nutrients are a good thing. They've helped improve overall growth and color of everything. Next topic. Lighting. I'm several months into LEDs. I cannot for the life of me find a setting I'm pleased with. Once I find one, all the corals promptly will change color, to the point I don't like it anymore. Now many sps are browned and some are irritated from the color experimenting. I'm leaving them where they are now at 50/50/50 for buildmyled/OR blue/OR white and color. If that makes sense. Having given all lighting styles an honest try, my verdict is that T5HO is best. I would love to sell my lights and pick up an ati sunpower. No more allure of technology or chasing some theoretical gold standard. I know first hand what works best. For me anyway. No immediate plan or timeline on when this switch will happen, maybe I'll get a 6 bulb unit for this tank...maybe I'll wait and buy an 8 bulb for an eventual upgrade on tank size. We will see. I know I need to make my way back to t5ho if I hope to get serious about acro growth. And I am fairly sure on specifically why they work so well also. Otherwise. Same old stuff with my tank. Couple new corals. They're doing alright. I'm trying to get away from small frags now though. It's gotten to the point that they just take too long to take off, or just don't transition well. I think really what I'm thinking most of all is something is just not jiving with this tank. Granted some stuff has grown better than I ever imagined it would in my last tank, but other things I took for granted before just still won't come around for the most part. What it all boils down to is I really want to start over. Totally fresh. New everything including livestock. Id love a 150 cube, but as those are incredibly hard to come by used, I will eventually look into may a 120 standard 4' tank. I don't want to go much bigger due to operating costs mainly and the sharp increase in lighting cost to jump up to 6'. That may have to wait till we move out of this small house. DEFINITELY have to wait till my wife is done with school and we can beef up the income a bit. Overall I really dislike my rock scape, and lack of front to back depth in my tank. Only way to fix that is all new stuff. I'll post pics later today Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 19, 2015 Share Posted November 19, 2015 I've been pretty happy with my Ocean Revive LED transition Bpb. We all know T5s are the gold standard for lighting/coloration in SPS but the OR LEDs come in a close 3rd place right behind MHs to me. I've actually have my last OR fixture on order to truly go full LED in my system now. That's how convinced I am. What settings are you running on yours? Ever thought to just run them and remove the BML strip? The jury is still out for me with BML and SPS dominant tanks. My turbo snails and urchins have decimated my turf algae as well. I'm a little saddened by it actually but maybe I just got used to seeing rolling hills of maroon/red turf algae. Sometimes a total restart isn't terrible. If my tank isn't the way I envisioned, I'd restart it too. To be honest, I think your tank looks great but that's just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 Here's an FTS adjusted to 100% whites zero blues And a freebie pink lemonade acro. I know I said I'm avoiding tiny frags. But free is always the right price. Ty, I'm not overly surprised they're working well for you. I think you have a level of tank health and available food for everything that give you a much wider margin of error than me at this point. I know LEDs can work. They work for many. I haven't figured them out yet though it feels like. Things have just faded in color over time I'm seeing. I have considered selling the bml strip. That's one factor I can link to everything struggling. I don't think it's the reason alone, but I wasn't using it when everything was happy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 Few Zoa shots Hawkins dying. Unhappy being moved. I'll snip a bit tomorrow and try to save it. Clam happy Acropora nasuta. Polyp extension has gotten kind of lame. Hope it makes it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Have you tried dipping your acros? Perhaps there is a pest on them? Only reason I ask is that the zoas look to be in great health so maybe the water is fine... Perhaps something is attacking them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 It's been a while since I've dipped everything. I could easily pull all acros and do a quick dip today and repeat again weekly for a few weeks. Couple questions you may know Ty if I can't find them googling before you see this. What is the shelf life of Bayer? And is Bayer effective against red/black bugs? I know it's the go-to dip for flatworms but will it cause the bugs to release as well? I don't care if it kills them. I just want to knock them off (if they're there). Dumping them in the driveway will do the killing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 No idea for shelf life but I would imagine the active ingredients don't degrade very quickly. It is not effective for red and black bugs by my own experience. They'll hold on, clamp down, and survive the dip. Bear in mind, I dose a pretty heavy dose of Bayer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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