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The Maroon Lagoon V2.0


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  • 1 month later...

It's been a month since I've updated so I thought I would do a little photo update and recap!

My wife and I went overseas for vacation for a little over 2 weeks and had a good friend/neighbor/professional SPS guru watch the tank while we were gone. Everything seemed to be going alright until near the end of my trip I got a text at 3 am telling me my neighborhood was experiencing power outrages and that my Vivids Confetti colony was dead. Luckily my house only lost power for half an hour, but I still lost about $2,000 in corals that day. Didn't quite make sense how I could lose so much in that time frame...

My Confetti the day after
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Today when I finally had time to tear it out
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After I got home I did some investigating before leaving for another week and a half and found that oh! my GFO and carbon had been turned off right about when I had left. I had changed the media out a couple days before I left and there had been water in the canisters, but the sponges were barely dirty when I opened them. Clearly it had been turned on and then shortly after been turned back off. Low and behold my PO4 was above 0.4 ppm after 50 gallons of water changes. I assume the PO4 had gotten even higher before the water was changed. My diagnosis is the carbon/GFO somehow got accidentally turned off and some of my corals just didn't handle the elevated levels very well. [emoji24] Of course it was my most expensive coral that died. [emoji849] If I've ever had luck, it's been bad luck.

Everything seems to be rebounding now. Still working on replacing my lights with T5s and custom LED strips. Here's how things currently look:
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My mag keeps growing despite never being fed. Took advantage of a moment it was slightly balled
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I now know why my Orphek Atlantik started freaking out. I guess a couple years confined in a hood really did a number on this USB port. Couldn't find the replacement piece at Frys so I'm at a loss until I replace the whole card or find this connection.833fe0135c9bbd2396ee56462796b17e.jpg

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Wow sorry to hear about the losses.  I guess it could have been worse, but it sucks to lose those expensive pieces [emoji20] 
 
It was me... I murdered his confetti. I got jealous of it being bigger than my colony. [emoji29]
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Fate reviewed your price list before deciding which coral to take from you.  :angry:

I'm glad it wasn't more than it was, not that it makes it any better.  Every time I travel I expect a problem to happen; it's become a pleasant surprise to return home and find everything OK.

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Fate reviewed your price list before deciding which coral to take from you.  :angry:
I'm glad it wasn't more than it was, not that it makes it any better.  Every time I travel I expect a problem to happen; it's become a pleasant surprise to return home and find everything OK.

Haha right? For a while I would always come home to something dead, you're right it has become a little victory whenever I come home and I'm not missing anything. Easy come easy go in his hobby. Except it's not always easy come [emoji58]
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Small update (sort of related to my tank) I have decided to remodel the fish room and move things around/add a frag tank. Some progression shots so far. I'm still a far ways off from getting the room fully operational again, but it feels good to be this far and ready to start building a new stand for a frag tank.
Before
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Current condition:
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I also added a couple of new additions to the tank today. Went to the Dome and saw a gold torch and this gorgeous goni and I couldn't say no [emoji5] I'm hoping the goni survives, something in my water hasn't agreed with gonis in the past few months and half of mind bleached and receded away, the rest are hardly hanging on. I'm hoping another large water change after I replaced my DI and carbon will help.
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Small update (sort of related to my tank) I have decided to remodel the fish room and move things around/add a frag tank. Some progression shots so far. I'm still a far ways off from getting the room fully operational again, but it feels good to be this far and ready to start building a new stand for a frag tank.
Before
2e1f4d94726ff8ea014914ba02a444bc.jpg

Current condition:
90f8fed6b4bf7837add3264fcb561cfb.jpg

I also added a couple of new additions to the tank today. Went to the Dome and saw a gold torch and this gorgeous goni and I couldn't say no [emoji5] I'm hoping the goni survives, something in my water hasn't agreed with gonis in the past few months and half of mind bleached and receded away, the rest are hardly hanging on. I'm hoping another large water change after I replaced my DI and carbon will help.
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I've eyed that goni for months there. Just not confident my tank has sufficient balance and nutrients yet.

Looks great. Did they still have that small neon pink with yellow center goni?
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I've eyed that goni for months there. Just not confident my tank has sufficient balance and nutrients yet.

Looks great. Did they still have that small neon pink with yellow center goni?

He said that goni had been there for months and I couldn't believe it! I don't remember yellow and pink though
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He said that goni had been there for months and I couldn't believe it! I don't remember yellow and pink though
Yeah. It's been there for at least 3 months. That hot pink one was about 20% the size but cost the same. Though I can say I've never seen it opened as well as the one you got.
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My goni is still kicking and looks gorgeous. Thought I would share in case it kicks the bucket unexpectedly.
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I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but my squamosa clam has stopped growing new scutes and I don't really understand why. My nutrients aren't too low, PO4 is between 0.06-0.09 ppm these days and my NO3 is 24-32 ppm, so I feel like that would normally be enough. I also feed the tank pretty heavily with frozen food and dried plankton. My SPS grow just fine, so I am still scratching my head on this one. I take the clam out to feed once in a while. Today it's in a bath of phyto and oyster feast for about an hour. Too much???
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I have never actually done that with a clam.  Seems like you have enough nutrients in the main tank to feed the clam... 

That goni is awesome.  I think I may have seen it at the Dome.  

I need to grab some frags at some point, from ya.  

 

 

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I have never actually done that with a clam.  Seems like you have enough nutrients in the main tank to feed the clam... 
That goni is awesome.  I think I may have seen it at the Dome.  
I need to grab some frags at some point, from ya.  
 
 

Yeah, saw it at the dome and immediately wanted it. Looks a lot like the frag I had from RCA for a long time that I lost earlier this year. I'm really hoping it survives, I would hate to be the cause of its death.

I don't think feeding clams like this is necessary, James Fatheree always says it's not required and that they can absorb. nutrients directly from the water and high light is key. I can't keep zoas in my tank either (just freaking palys, which are impossible to get rid of [emoji35]), so I don't know if it's a nutrient issue, lighting issue, or something much deeper than that. I used to keep clams alive no problem, but haven't been able to keep them long term since 2015. I thought maybe giving it a food bath from time to time would help, but it doesn't seem like it. [emoji848]
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Looks really good, I have been wanting a frag tank for some time too but my set up is going to require a custom build tank that is reason I haven’t done one yet


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1 hour ago, diesel3443 said:

Very cool. I have been trying to find a 60g shallow with no luck


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The frag tank is only 50 gallons, the other 15 gallons of volume comes from the sump and filtration. The dimensions are nice though, 48x24x10, bought it from RCA. I love the dimensions, can't wait to get it wet!

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50 minutes ago, Bluemoon said:

Oooo this should be exciting! Congrats on winning over the square footage. Gig’ems grow out emporium here we come!


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Luckily I bought the house before I got married, so the wife married into the fish room. I guess I'm blessed that this is now her norm and always will be 😂

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