Month 32

Tank Log: Month 32

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General Observations
It has been about 5 months since the last update. As I noted last time the tank continues to be low on vitality. Though things basically look good, the growth of the SPS corals is still slow and polyp extension is not all that great. Many of the corals have grown large enough that water flow is partially blocked and large areas of the rock get little light. There continues to be a little cyano and dinoflagellates on the sand in places. Bryopsis continues to grow in a few areas, especially where coral growth has caused contact of the colonies and subsequent areas of dead coral. As noted last time, I did eradicate the flatworms using Flatworm Exit and they have not come back. Tomorrow I am planning on blowing out the live rocks and vacuuming the sand bed as best I can to help reduce detritus and do a larger than normal water change of about 25%. I have also decided to do battle with the aggressive pink Zoanthids I have taking over the tank.

Current water parameters:

	Alkalinity - 3.2 meq/l
	Calcium - 380 ppm
	pH - 7.8 night to 8.3 day
	Temp - 77.0 to 79.0F
	Salinity - 1.025

Interesting recent pictures

Picture showing the center of the tank.

Here is a picture of the larger of the two Derasa clams in the tank spawning. One or both spawn on an infrequent basis. Usually seems to be triggered by me cleaning the tank or otherwise disrupting their environment. They can put on a pretty impressive display. This specimen is about 13"-14" long in the shell.

A good shot of the male Mandarin Dragonet.

Of the 5 young Green Chromis that were added to the tank when first setup, 3 are still in the tank. There is 1 male and 2 females and they have started to spawn on a regular basis. They always spawn in the same location on the coralline algae along the top of the front glass. The male rotates between the two females, spawning with each one a number of times.

Here is the male guarding the eggs. He and I are often at odds when it comes time to clean the front glass. The females do not seem to pay attention to the eggs once they are laid.

Here is a picture of the Green Chromis eggs shortly after being laid.

Nice picture of the Hippo tang. I left it at a fairly large 800x600 resolution. He continues to grow and is probably about 7" long at this point.

New Additions

Raccoon Butterflyfish Chaetodon lunula.

Not a common addition to a reef tank since they have a tendency to eat soft corals, but I have added one in an attempt to naturally control the pink Zoanthids that are over taking the tank. He is picking at them, but so far has decided that some of the mushrooms in the tank are tastier. I don't mind some foraging since the tank is getting pretty overgrown.

Deaths/Specimen Problems

	The female Mandarin Dragonet has gone missing. She is the lower fish in this shot of the pair doing the mating dance. She appeared to be fairly young, so not sure what happened to her. Probably ran into foul play of some type.
	Decorated Goby. Had him for 5 years. I will look for another to replace him, but I don't find them in the LFS very often which is a shame as they are very nice fish to have in the tank.

Tank problems and opportunities for improvement.

Bryopsis algae	Bryopsis algae continues to colonize spots in the tank. Still relying on manual removal to keep it somewhat contained.
Cyano	Some cyano on the sand. Has not become much of a problem yet. I hope that vacuuming the sand bed to remove some of the detritus will help to knock it down.
Dinoflagellates	There are some Dinoflagellates which have taken hold in a dead area of the large salmon colored Millipora on the right side of the tank. I had removed a top swirl to reduce it's size which left a dead area exposed and the Dinoflagellates root in it. To help combat them, I have reinstalled an 18W UV filter on the sump. I used this a while back to when I had a similar problem and it seemed to pretty well take care of the problem (at least temporarily).

Maintenance

Water changes	I am going to do a couple of fairly large water changes each week (about 25%) to see if that helps improve the tank vitality.
Sand bed cleaning	I am going to vacuum the sand bed and try to remove as much detritus as possible to reduce the load on the tank.
SPS reduction	I think I may have to do some fairly significant fragging to reduce some of the colony sizes to improve water flow. Many of the colonies have grown together into a tight mass which really restricts water flow as well as light penetration to some of the lower levels of the tank.

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	Picture showing the center of the tank.
	Here is a picture of the larger of the two Derasa clams in the tank spawning. One or both spawn on an infrequent basis. Usually seems to be triggered by me cleaning the tank or otherwise disrupting their environment. They can put on a pretty impressive display. This specimen is about 13"-14" long in the shell.
	A good shot of the male Mandarin Dragonet.
	Of the 5 young Green Chromis that were added to the tank when first setup, 3 are still in the tank. There is 1 male and 2 females and they have started to spawn on a regular basis. They always spawn in the same location on the coralline algae along the top of the front glass. The male rotates between the two females, spawning with each one a number of times.
	Here is the male guarding the eggs. He and I are often at odds when it comes time to clean the front glass. The females do not seem to pay attention to the eggs once they are laid.
	Here is a picture of the Green Chromis eggs shortly after being laid.
	Nice picture of the Hippo tang. I left it at a fairly large 800x600 resolution. He continues to grow and is probably about 7" long at this point.