29g Low Tech Lps/softies

[gregswimm]

Pic time

FTS-

And my 2 newest additons, Pocillapora and Montipora digitata.  Had a 'discussion' with an employee who tried to tell me they were both acros.  I know acro when I see acro and I don't see acro >_<

 

[gregswimm]

I have also been dosing phyo daily.  I checked my Phosphates today and they were at 0.16!!!!!!!!!!  I shat a brick.  I think I'm done with phyto unless I grow it myself.

 

[gregswimm]

Lost a monti.  A majano snuck up on it  Other then that everything else doing quite well.  Lost a bit of color because of my phosphates, but it is coming back slowly

 

[gregswimm]

That bleached monti is coming back slowly.  It is missing about 99% of its color still.

Had a bit of cuke trouble.  I moved it to the fuge and I think it cut itself on the eggcrate .  No losses just a very unhappy cuke.

Also added some aiptasia to my fuge for filtration.  LFS was happy to give it to me at no charge .  If my theory is right it should consume the leftover food and unlike a crab it won't eat the life in my sand.

 

[gregswimm]

 

 

[gregswimm]

Picture time:

 

[gregswimm]

I got a sea hare the other day.  In 2 days it ate almost all of my hair algae, somewhat worrying because a) its big and b) my rainfordi needs it for food.  Beggars can't be choosers but I have some in my fuge just in case.

I also ordered another PAR38 12 led bulb, 20K leds + 15K + 440nm (4 each).  I did some thinking and I will most likely need 2-3 more (not including the one I just oredered) to get the coverage I want/need for dominant SPS.

My aiptasia has also EXPLODED in the fuge.  I started with 6, not I have roughly 12-15.  I'm considering abandoning the attempt to filter my water with aiptasia.  The thought of them getting into the display is messing with my emotions lol.  Toying with the idea of adding a peppermint to the dt but I have already been down that road and concluded that I hate peppermints (they are food thieves and LPS pickers).  Also thought about adding a UV filter but that would defeat the whole purpose of going skimmerless (I might as well have one if I am just going to kill all the microbes with the UV).

 

[Donya]

Aips can easily move from an area like a fuge into another. All it takes is for a little baby one (they will make TINY little things) to float off in the current. In the absence of some sort of anti-Aiptasia measure in the main tank like an army of peps or a hungry butterflyfish, you may want to go some rout other than Aips for filtering.
 
What kind of filtering are you needing, coarse stuff you can see or removal of dissolved things? Aips obviously work with both but there are other things to explore, some of them biological depending on exactly what you're trying to filter out.
 
 

I got a sea hare the other day.  In 2 days it ate almost all of my hair algae, somewhat worrying because a) its big and b) my rainfordi needs it for food.  Beggars can't be choosers but I have some in my fuge just in case.

 
Give it some nori weighted down. You might even be able to tempt it away from the hair algae that way to leave some for the goby.

 

[gregswimm]

I am trying to avoid mechanical filtration as much as I can.  The onlt mechanical I have are pump covers on the powerhead, return and a sponge on the overflow  drain.  The less mechanical I have the larger  the population of pods and assorted 'things' I can support.  
I removed the aips, they were starting to scare me.  They reproduce FAST!  I was not prepared lol.

My goby has started to take live BS and may have taken some frozen cyclops today during my nps feeding.

What is a good brand of nori?

Also, new coral.  First acro 

 

 

[gregswimm]

So I scraped an aip off the glass a week ago.  Apparently I left some of the food behind, it is regrowing >_<.   I had no idea, I have always heard that they would regrow from a small bit of tissue but never have I seen it.  Seeing is believing lol.

 

[gregswimm]

Added 2 acro frags planning on ordering an A. millepora.

God I love sps.

 

[Donya]

What is a good brand of nori?

 
I've never seen a bad box of the stuff so I assume any type will do brand-wise. There are two genera types, green and purple-ish/red, and I usually try to mix them. Some animals like one over the other. A lot of grocery stores only carry a single type for human consumption, so I've always just gotten what's available and never payed much attention to the brands there. Although more expensive, LFSs tend to carry a nice mix under brands like Omega One and Ocean Nutrition, and they have a wider variety a lot of times than even what's available for human consupmtion. I've seen at least 4 different types from Omega One. 

 

[gregswimm]

Whelp

 

[Donya]

Did it bleach? Or is the tissue actually gone on the white ones?

 

[gregswimm]

RTN

My sea hare died, when I found it it stunk like high hell, must have been dead for no less than 48h.  My cucumber started to molt, from my understaning this is not a good thing when bad stuff is going down in the tank (he did it before but when all was well), he also refused to hold himself in place and was getting tossed around by the flow.  I placed the cucke in QT, he passed 48h later after eviscerating during the night (he also eviscerated more than just cuvierian tubules).

While all this was going on my caulerpa  decided to get sexy (I even harvested it a few days prior).  Also my new phosban addition was wrecking havoc on my alkalinity, dropped it from 12dKH - 10dKH.

Everything bad that could have happened, did happen within a 2-3 day period lol.

The tissue was sloughing off.  The only survivors are my M. digitata, 2x pavona, zoanthids and my NPS.  Estimated loss is ~$200 not taking into account growth and my time.  Live aquaria did refund me for the acro colony that went.  It was an A. millepora, color similar to this