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Tank Log: Month 4 |
General Observations
The tank is now at the four month mark and continues to progress well. SPS
growth continues at a very fast rate since the move from the old tank as can be
seen from some of the growth sequences and in the pictures below. The top
set are current pictures, the bottom set are from when the tank was setup 4
months ago.
Current water parameters:
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Alkalinity - 3.5 meq./l. - I am trying to raise it a little with the calcium reactor. |
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Calcium - 500ppm |
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pH - 8.00 Night to 8.25 during the day |
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Temp - 79 to 81.5F |
Current tank pics
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| Left End |
Left Side |
Center | Right Side | Right End |
Pics below show tank when setup 4 months ago.
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| Left End |
Left Side |
Center | Right Side | Right End |
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And finally, this is the view from the family room couch. |
New Additions
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Baby Green Goniopora This is a tiny Goniopora (1/2" skeleton) that dropped off a larger wild colony at the LFS. I decided to give it a try to see if it might be hardier than a typical large wild green colony. It has been placed in the back left corner of the tank in a low current, moderate light area next to the purple Goniopora and Alveopora. |
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Mandarin Goby Pterosynchiropus splendidus A medium size (1 1/2") Mandarin was added. It is a fairly healthy looking specimen, but does have a somewhat sunken belly. It appears to be feeding well on the live rock, but is not taking any prepared food. There should be plenty of wild food in the tank for him. Hopefully he will fill out |
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Purple-tipped Acro A 3" frag has been added. The parent colony has an upright branching structure with tan branches and nicely colored purple tips. It is located toward the back and high up where it gets fairly high lighting and moderate to high water flow. |
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Yellow Scroll Coral - Turbinaria A 2" wide frag of a yellow scroll coral has been added to the right side of the tank. It is located in a moderately high light, moderate current flow area. |
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Lightblue-tipped Acro A 2 1/2" frag has been added to the rear of the right side of the tank in a high light and moderate water flow area. The tips are very light blue, almost white. |
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Fuzzy Green Acro Very small frag (1/2")of a light green coral, probably a variety of Pocillopora. It is in a high light, moderate current location. |
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Brown Club Acro This is a very small frag (3/4") of coral that may be a variety of Stylophora. It is in a moderate light, moderate current location. |
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Knobby brown SPS with green polyps. This coral is an interesting chocolate brown in color with contrasting green polyps. It is in a moderate light, high current location. |
Deaths/Specimen Problems
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Missing in action: The new red anemone has wandered off somewhere and cannot be found. I originally tried to contain him by placing it on a rock island on the sand. He still managed to get off and onto the main live rock. After a couple of days, I found him hanging off one of the SPS corals and decided to banish him to the other end of the tank. After a couple of days of wandering, he has disappeared. |
Tank problems and opportunities for
improvement.
The turf algae that had me concerned is now under control.
After about 6 weeks of using a phosphate/silicate remover, the algae has given
up and is virtually gone. No detectable amount of phosphates or nitrates
have ever been measured in the tank. Algae growth on the front glass still
needs to be cleaned every other day to keep things looking good. There is some green coralline algae growing in the lower light
areas of the tank. It won't hurt anything, but hopefully it will not start
to take over the more attractive pink and purples varieties.
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Here is a picture of the short turf algae that was becoming a major concern about 6 weeks ago. It was spreading quickly, was smothering the live rock and could not be mechanically removed. |
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Here is the same picture today. The algae is completely gone. I credit this turn-around to the use of Marc Weiss Phosphate and Silicate remover. |
