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Tank Log: Month 15 |
General Observations
Despite efforts to control the cyanobacteria naturally (better water
circulation, increased skimming, etc.) I have not had much success over the last
couple of months. Since it was starting to encroach on some of the corals,
I took the measure of eradicating it with antibiotics. This is a
controversial approach, but I have done this before with previous tanks with no
ill affects. Details are below. I also had the 2 large Derasa clams
spawn for the second time (that I have observed anyway). I had shut half
the recirculating pumps down to replace the return lines and I think the change
in water motion must of induced the spawning as they started spawning within an
hour of shutting the pumps down.
Current water parameters:
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Alkalinity - Not measured (yeah, I'm lazy) |
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Calcium - Not measured |
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pH - 8.05 Night to 8.35 during the day |
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Temp - 79.5 to 83.5F |
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Salinity - 1.025 |
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I have finally broken down and started to feed Nori seaweed and veggies to the tangs. My tangs have always seem to do quite well between picking at the live rock and normal meaty foods. The Achilles tang I got last month refused all food until I introduced the Nori. I also put some yellow crookneck squash or cucumber on the clip as well. I should have this sooner as the tangs obviously enjoy it greatly. The other fish like the Copperband butterfly are just checking out what all the excitement is about. |
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The Achilles tang contacted a low level case of ick soon after introduction. The Neon Goby is giving him a cleaning service. Notice that the color of the tang is much lighter as it is being cleaned than it normally is. The Achilles usually has a black background |
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Here is my fragging setup as I take some SPS cuttings. I use large stainless steel shears to cut/break the frags from the parent colony and then use the superglue gel to glue them to the cement frag mounts that I make. I then set them in a plastic container for several minutes while the superglue hardens. |
New Additions
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Here is a frag of a nice blue-tipped SPS coral that I received from a local reefer. I mounted it on a cement plug temporarily until I find a place to mount it. |
Deaths/Specimen Problems
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The pink Stylophora / Pocillipora has started to degenerate in the lower levels of the branches. As can be seen in the photo, algae has started to take over the inner parts of the coral. Since it will otherwise probably continue to decline, I plan to frag this coral into a bunch of new small corals to save it. I have never seen one last a long time in captivity. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has had one for more than 2 years in captivity. |
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The purple Goniopora has an area of die-off which can be seen in the picture to the left. Since Goniopora do not have a good success rate, this may be a sign of bigger problems to come. We will keep an eye on it to see if it enlarges. |
Tank problems and opportunities for improvement.
As noted above, I treated the tank with antibiotics to kill the cyanobacteria that was proliferating in the tank. To do this, I shutdown the skimmer to keep it from overflowing and removed the carbon. For this 225 gallon tank, I used six 200mg tablets of Erythromycin like you can buy at the LFS for treating some fish diseases. I placed these tablets in the sump. Within 24 hours, the cyano was on the way out and after 72 hours, I restarted the skimmer and placed the carbon back in the sump. The concern with this approach is that it might be possible to suppress the normal bacteria population enough to cause the tank to have to recycle, but I have never experienced this. I have similarly treated a 29 gallon reef with one 200mg tablet.
Maintenance
Doing mostly normal maintenance at this time. 10-15 gallon water change each week. I am also continuing to drip a gallon or two of Kalk each day to keep the pH high. Since I have clear tubing for my return pumps, I tend to get a buildup of algae in them which gradually cuts down the water flow. I replaced them this month and this time I have covered them with black electrical tape to see if it helps prevent this problem.
