Reef Journal

wax32.com

12.21.04 - Started Tank with 29 gallon Eclipse system. ... blah blah blah added some stuff after cycling (didn't really keep track) - during this time I got VHO lighting, and an AquaC Remora HoB skimmer.

3.11.05 - 10% water change, pH 8.2, Temp 77.6°, Ca 415, SG 1.023, Nitrates < 10, dKH 7.7: added 3ml of Red Sea Buff, dosed 3 times with 5mL PurpleUp w/ top off water during week

3.20 10% water change, pH 8.2, Temp 78.5°, Ca 425, dKH 8.0, SG 1.023, Nitrates <10

3.24 Added Fire Shrimp, Lysmata debelius

3.25 Begin dosing with Reef Solution

3.26 Temp 77.6°, added orange Montipora capricornis fragment, resident Pachyclavularia violacea has begun spreading to the next rock. dKH 8.4: added 1 teaspoon Kent Superbuffer-dKH

3.29 Added aquacultured Acropora sarmentosa colony and Montipora digitata frag

3.30 M. digitata polyps closed, A. sarmentosa looking less green, hammer less extended, zoanthids closed. Ca 410, dKH 8.8, Nitrates <10, Ammonia > .8, 79.5°, looking to see if anything died, all fish and shrimp accounted for, meanwhile added 30ml of AmmEx, retest: Ammonia .6

3.31 P. violacea totally closed, A. sarmentosa looking like crap, M. digitata showing no polyps, 1cm long nudibranch, Hypselodoris maridadilus showed up. 20% water change.

4.1 10% water change. Returned A. sarmentosa to LFS... it was BLEACHED!! Who knew that could happen to an acro with VHO's?

4.2 Corals looking better after removal of A. sarmentosa. Constructing new canopy, lights will be 4 inches higher and I'll have MUCH more air movement.

4.3 New canopy constructed, lights should go in tomorrow. Picked up a Trachyphyllia geoffroyi , another colony of P. violacea , and some nice Discosoma sp .

4.5 Added Euphyllia paradivisa . Very SWEET.

4.6 Installed closed-loop system with pump and a chiller. Big-time now. :0

4.10 Rearranged LR to get more flow in back of tank. 20% water change. Added second bag of carbon just in case.

4.12 Added more Zoanthids and a SCWD wavemaker. Dosed Superbuffer-dKH in top-off.

4.16 Added Cherub Angel. pH 8.0, Ammonia .4, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Temp 77.2°, Ca 380

4.23 Added zoanthids .

4.25 Adjusted chiller to keep tank at 79° - 80°

4.26 Added shrooms: purple with blue spots . Stopped using Kent Superbuffer and started Fiji Gold .

4.27 Ca 435, dKH 7.8, Temp 80.2°

4.29 15% water change. Started this website. Hello there! Also received my lunar LEDs from LED werx on EBay . Holy crap do they look COOL!

4.30 I swear my Nomenzophyllia turbida (fox coral) is open more than it has ever before. Maybe it likes the lunar LEDs.

5.4 Added the Surface Organics Skimmer and Bubble Eliminator to my Remora.

5.15 Added more zoanthids .

5.17 Ca 415 dKH 7.85 Dosed with a TSP of Fiji Gold . For the last week the smaller of my clowns has been hosting in my fox coral. So far no damage to either. Frogspawn's lower right branch has been a little closed for a couple of days now, keeping an eye on it.

5.19 Adjusted Fox so it isn't shading Frogspawn so much. Changed bigger of the two carbon bags in my Aquaclear filter. Lots of PODS! I like the smell of freshly rinsed carbon. Is that weird?

5.21 Brought the clowns back to the LFS. Picked up red shrooms .

5.24 Added some zoos.

5.27 Added more zoos.

5.29 10% water change.

6.2 Testing Day: Temp: 81.2°, pH: 8.2, Ca: 410, dKH: 7.6, PO4: 0, NH3: 0, NO2: 0, NO3: <10

6.5 Dosed with a TSP of Fiji Gold. 2 of the purple shrooms are loose behind the LR. Frogspawn still has lower branch looking kinda closed. Moved zoos from right corner to left side near blue shrooms. Move R. florida to front left.

6.7 FISH! Added a Debelius' Fairy-Wrasse , Cirrhilabrus adornatus

6.8 C. adornatus showing signs of Ich.

6.9 Ich seems to have cleared. Soaking food in garlic to try to keep it away. Wrasse chases bi-color and fire goby a little. He's spunky! :D

6.17 10% water change. Fresh carbon in small bag.

6.25 Broke apart purple shrooms from the aquacultured rock they were glued to and moved them to front of tank. Temp: 79.3 °, NO3: 10, pH: 8.0, NO2: 0.2, NH3: 0, Ca: 400, dKH: 7, PO4: 0, Room Temp 84.5° 10% water change

7.7 New 70 gallon tank is finally in the house! Man it looks huge compared to the 29. Can't wait to get it set up. Gonna be fun.

7.17 10% water change. Dosed with a TSP of Fiji Gold.

7.21 Temp: 80.2°, dKH 6.7, Ca 400, PO4 .03 ppm, SG 1.025, NO3 10 ppm

7.21 Leak test of the 70. Looks good with the sump/overflow going. Can't hook up closed loop yet, still in use on the 29.

7.26 70 Gallon up and running, critters and all.

7.27 Added Cat's Eye, Cynarina lacrymalis and Bird's Nest , Seriatopora guttatus.

7.29 LOC-LINE arrived and I installed it on the overflow return.

7.30 Added Finger Coral.

7.31 Added T. crocea and some mushrooms .

8.1 Fish! Added a Neon Damsel , Neoglyphidodon oxyodon and a Magenta Dottyback , Pseudochromis porphyreus.

8.2 Clam isn't open today. Added a Blue Knuckled Hermit, Calcinus elegans and a Blue Devil, Chrysiptera cyanea . Added an empty clamshell for the clam to attach to.

8.3 Clam isn't open today. Temp: 80.1°, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0, pH: 8.4, Phosphate: 0, Calcium 480 ppm, Carbonate Hardness: 9 dKH, Salinity: 33 ppt

8.4 Dead Clam.

8.5 Snatched up some sweet zoos!

8.6 Three Cerith, Cerithium sp., snails joined the community today. They burrowed directly into the sand bed and I will likely never see them again!

8.9 Added what I thought was a fighting conch to the reef. Turns out to most likely be a Habromorula spinosa which Dr. Ron says eats corals. Oops. Now I have to find him!

8.10 Got that bad snail out! Added baby blue and green zoanthids ! Ca 480 ppm

8.14 6 gallon water change.

8.16 Pink M. capricornis frag. Sarcophyton sp. frag.

8.17 Salinity 35 ppm Blue Zoos closed today. Picked up 25 pounds of uncured rock and began curing it in Rubbermaid container.

8.19 Fresh Carbon. Blue zoos still closed.

8.21 Blue Zoos still closed. KH: 7.2dKH Dosed Fiji Gold 8.22 KH: 7.0 dKH, Ca 480 ppm, pH: 8.0 Dosed 2 tsp of Superbuffer dKH

8.26 Salinity 35 ppt with new Refractometer that just arrived today.

8.29 HURRICANE KATRINA HITS - POWER OUT FOR 17 DAYS. EVERYTHING DEAD. TIME TO START OVER.

10.07 Rock has been re-curing since cleaning up the tank post storm. Testing levels today. Have been using tap water so I assume phosphates will be high. Hair algae growth pretty rampant. Salinity: 35 ppt, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0, Phosphate: 0.5 ppm , KH: 9.3 dKH, Calcium: 465 ppm, Temp 81 °, pH 7.8 Added a small Tomato Clown and a tiny Velvet Damsel.

10.22 Added 1 cup of PhosGuard in sump. Added 2 Mithrax crabs and a Domino Damsel, Dascyllus trimaculatus .

10.24 Added 10 Astraea snails, 5 tiny hermit crabs and a yellow tang, Zebrasoma flavescens . 10.25 6 gallon water change. Started using RO/DI again.

10.30 6 gallon water change. Hair Algae GONE

11.04 Added a pink encrusting Porites sp. and a Lysmata debelius . Ca: 460 ppm, KH: 9.0 dKH, Salinity 35ppm

11.05 Changed live rock layout.

11.06 6 gallon water change. Fresh carbon.

11.8 Removed the Velvet Damsel and the Tomato Clown.

11.10 Installed Tunze Turbelle Stream 6000. Added 2 yellow watchman gobies and a Pistol Shrimp. Also, 2 blue knuckled hermits. Put the dottyback in the sump for now. Might still end up having to get the Domino out, but I hope not.

11.12 Added Maze Coral , Platygyra daedalea and another Lysmata debelius. Plus a neat looking Astraea .

11.13 4 gallon water change. So far the gobies are doing well. One seems to have paired up with the pistol shrimp.

11.14 Ca 450 ppm, KH 9.4 dKH

11.15 Added 38 pounds of LR.

11.16 Added 2 orange knuckled hermits and a banded serpent star. Also a small orange zoanthid frag from Rick's.

11.17 Added a small eagle eye zoanthid frag from Rick's.

11.18 PO4: 0 Fire and Ice zoas arrived. They were hella cold.

11.19 Added a BIG green zoanthid colony today. Once it settles in some and I can get a good look at it, I plan to frag it.

11.20 6 gallon water change. Added lilac colored Montipora today. Still waiting on Fire and Ice to open.

11.21 The orange zoanthids went missing. I think the pistol took them to build his house. GRR!

11.23 Picked up a SWEET multi-colored zoanthid rock at Aquatic Specialties, along with 3 HUGE Nassarius snails. Fire and Ice opening! The damsel bit me today. :evil:

11.24 Happy Thanksgiving: I saw one of the YWG's paired up with the pistol shrimp. YAY!

11.28 Added a Blue/Green Chromis and a rock full of Green Star Polyps .

11.29 Got another blue-knuckle and an orange knuckle.

12.1 Removed the rock, got the damsel out. Only 1 YWG is still living. The Chromis is swimming around now. Found the orange zoos that went missing and glued them to a rock. Both Mithrax crabs now in the sump. They were messing with the green zoos too much! The zoos from Coral Fanatics arrived!

12.2 Picked up 2 more Chromis from Rick along with a female Halichoeres chrysus .

12.4 Added a Montipora verrucosa and a Sarcophyton sp.

12.6 Added 2 Cypraea moneta , Money Cowries.

12.7 Finished my canopy , added 2 75w VHO actinic bulbs! YAY!!

12.8 KH: 9.3dKH, Ca: 435 ppm, PO4: .25 ppm gotta feed less!

12.9 Added a sweet Acropora verweyi. 6 gallon water change.

12.14 Added what should be the last fish: a Spotted Mandarinfish, Synchiropus picturatus

12.19 Added Green Shrooms

12.20 The pink zoanthid on the Coral Fanatics frag let go, I glued it to another rock. Why are zoos letting go in my tank??

12.22 6 gallon water change, Algae problem still...

12.23 Replaced missing Spotted Mandarin with a Green Mandarin, x-mas present from Rick. TESTS: PO4: .25ppm , KH: 8.6dKH, Ca 390, pH: 8.4, Nitrates 0 Replaced PhosGuard with fresh media.

12.24 Changed out the cartridges in the RO/DI.

12.25 Merry Christmas, been in this hobby a year now.

12.26 12 gallon change 12.27 12 gallon change

12.28 Received the Speckled Zoas from Platinum Reefs and also installed Phosban Reactor that I got from Drs Foster and Smith .

12.30 Picked up from Aquatic Specialties: Strombus gigas, 5 Nassarius snails, 1 Trochus snail, 2 Calcinus tibicen hermits and a Ecsenius bicolor, Bicolor Blenny.

1.3.06 Hooked up Tunze Osmolator!

1.4 Bicolor Blenny seems to be missing...

1.5 Got 5 great zoanthid frags from Coral Fanatics ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) and a huge colony from Liveaquaria.com PO4: undetectable... Phosban Reactor must be working. (Frag pictures are from when they had been a week or so in tank.)

1.6 Orange Spotted Blenny , Istiblennius chrysospilos from Liveaquaria.com arrived today. Also picked up some killer purple and blue zoanthids from Rick's Reef.

1.11 6 gallon water change.

1.12 Got 2 more Trochus snails and 4 HUGE JUMBO Nassarius snails from Aquatic Specialties.

1.13 Ca 350ppm, KH 8.5dKH. Begin dosing 15ml of B-Ionic. Orange spot blenny missing.

1.14 Found blenny and spotted mandarin in the overflow... they seem ok! Picked up some blue shrooms and a purple dottyback from Exotic Fishbowl.

1.18 Got a pistol shrimp and a zoanthid frag from Aquatic Specialties.

1.19 Moved the pink sparklies to lower light areas of the tank.

1.21 Sparklies beginning to show signs of opening. Changed carbon. Added a zoanthid colony from Rick's. Plus 2 polyps of Protopalythoa . 1.23 Ca 370ppm, KH 10.9dKH 6 gallon water change

1.24 Got five new zoanthid frags from Coral Fanatics.

1.25 Moved the purple Montipora lower in the tank, it is looking bleached.

1.26 Cleaned up the skimmer and replaced overflow hose with black.

1.27 Dosed with CHEMI-CLEAN

1.28 Cyanobacteria mostly GONE. Added 3 Calcinus elegans from Rick's.

1.29 6 gallon water change.

2.4 Added one more Calcinus elegans from Rick's.

2.5 Swapped the two 75w actinic VHO's for four 95w actinic. Net gain of 230w of VHO. 6 gallon water change.

2.12 Ca 360ppm, 6 gallon water change. Picked up some yellow polyps from Rick's.

2.14 Ca 395ppm, KH 9.7 dKH, dosed 5tbs Tropic Marin Bio-Calcium

2.17 Added 6 Cerithium snails and 6 small hermits from Rick's Reef, 4 of which are white . Also picked up some shrooms .

2.18 Swapped the 250w MH for 285w of VHO. All VHO's now, 665w total.

2.19 6 gallon water change.

2.20 Added some shrooms from Exotic Fishbowl.

2.22 Added 2 Calcinus laevimanus and 2 Paguristes cadenati from Aquatic Specialties.

2.24 Added a SWEET zoanthid colony from Rick's Reef. Ca 370, KH 10.5 dKH

2.25 6 gallon water change.

3.5 6 gallon water change.

3.6 Added 6 more Calcinus laevimanus from Aquatic Specialties.

3.12 6 gallon water change.

3.17 Added some mushrooms from Rick's Reef.

3.20 6 gallon water change.

3.23 Got a small frag of purple zoanthids from Rick's.

3.25 Picked up 3 Turbo snails and another Calcinus laevimanus from Aquatic. Also picked up 2 more Calcinus elegans and a blue zoanthid frag from Rick's.

3.27 6 gallon water change.

4.2 Got another of the orange Calcinus elegans from Rick's.

4.3 Picked up a Rhodactis mushroom from Ricks.

4.6 Nitrates < 10

4.10 6 gallon water change.

4.24 6 gallon water change. Some zoanthids acting weird...

4.28 Dipped blue/purple palythoas. And killed them...

5.4 6 gallon water change.

5.23 Cleaned the Eheim's sponge!

7.1 I am down to only a couple types of hermits: blue legs and orange claws. Having a bad hair algae problem. The tang is looking thin all of a sudden. I guess he isn't eating the hair algae anymore. Calcium: 330, Carbonate Hardness: 7.7 dKH, Phosphates 0. Added 2 tablespoons of Fiji Gold.

7.19 6 gallon water change

7.22 Tang died... replaced it with a domino damsel

7.23 6 gallon water change

7.25 Calcium: 365, Alkalinity: 2.56 meq/L

7.27 6 gallon water change

7.30 Changed out Phosban

8.2 pH 8.4, set skimmer to run "wetter"

8.3 Turned off Phosban reactor and turned on more bulbs =)

8.8 6 gallon water change, cleaned Eheim's sponge.

8.17 Leather coral died as did 1 Chromis.

8.18 6 gallon water change.

8.28 6 gallon water change.

9.1 6 gallon water change.

9.2 Added rabbitfish from Rick's. (It died 3 weeks later, never got to eating anything I gave it and never touched the hair algae.)

9.5 A baby corn snake hatched out today! (It later died of deformities brought on by low incubation temperatures I guess.)

9.6 Ca 395ppm, Alk 2.70 meq/L

9.8 6 gallon water change.

11.15 Revamping this journal took a lot of work! Since the last entry I have been doing weekly 6 gallon water changes. I have simplified the tank: got rid of the chiller/closed loop, got rid of the skimmer, and reduced lighting to only 3 95w bulbs of VHO, 1 10000k and 2 Actinic. The tank is starting to look a lot better. I am not sure how well it will do long-term without the chiller but, I have decided that if I can't run the tank without the chiller I will just take it down and convert it into a dart frog viv. The chiller makes my room WAY too hot!

2.4.2007 Cleaned the front glass. Did a 6 gallon change yesterday. The tank is still doing well. My temps run anywhere from 69° to 85° depending on how warm the house gets. Everyone is doing well. My mushrooms are especialy loving the "dirty" water I have in the tank since I am no longer skimming. They are multiplying and growing larger. My zoanthids have had mixed reactions: some varieties are spreading, some are holding steady, and some are fading. But, I have always had issues with my zoanthids anyway, so I am not too worried. The green star polyps are going total ape-shit, growing up the glass and covering the rocks they are on, I am glad that I have a particularly nice-looking variety. The blue devil is maturing and showing AWESOME adult male coloring. My domino is growing like a weed. The black-banded wrasse I added is doing well and is starting to eat pellets. Believe it or not, my spotted mandarin is still going strong after more than a year. Remember this zoanthid colony? Here they are almost a year later, spreading to almost cover the rock they started on and also the neighboring rocks, snail shells and sand.

2.5 pH 8.2, Ca 450 ppm, Alk 3.15 meq/L, SG 1.027, 71.8°

2.6 Nabbed the rock that had been sitting at Rick's for a couple of months...

2.15 Found the Black Banded Wrasse stuck to the overfow, pretty beat up... had to give her a funeral. Picked up a Fromia milleporella from Aquatic.

10-15 That Fromia is dead.

11-9 Bought a bucket of TM salt and 4 bulbs (I am running 380W of VHO now.). Also some various cleaner critters: Turbo sp., Cerithium sp., Nassarius sp., Clibanarius spp., Calcinus tibicen, Mithraculus sculptus.