Kessil

In the beginning...

I checked the ammonia and also the nitrites and nitrates while I was at it.
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I don't think I've ever seen the nitrates so low. I was worried that I might be over feeding too. I guess not.

The smell has subsided a bit and it's looking less cloudy but still has room for improvement.
 
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I went to work this morning and the tank was cloudy like usual and I came home and it's nearly crystal clear. The diatoms are almost gone and the algae is taking off. I just put in 3 chestnut turbo snails last night to help ward off the GHA until my tangs get in there.

The first death occurred too. I found my tuxedo urchin on my sandbed. His little tentacles were dangling in the flow and when I tried to put him back down he floated.
 
I just did a full work up on my water quality. This is the first time I've actually tested for some of these things.

Alk - 9.3
Ca - 380
Mg - 1180
NO3 - 0 undetectable
PO4 - 0.05
pH - 8.2 average (8.1 low, 8.3 high)
Salinity - 33

Overall I think it's pretty decent. I think my Ca and Mg could be a little higher but it's not too bad.
 
Coral reefer said:
Bump up salinity a touch will help those numbers a bit too. Looks pretty darn good to me? You got corals in there? They happy?
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For the most part I would say yes. My 30 gallon had nitrates consistently in the 20-40 range but everything was thriving so I didn't do anything to change it. In this tank nitrates have always been undetectable. I think the combination of low nutrients and strong light has been something they are adjusting to. I've been seeing some colors pale and few white tips but still good polyp extension. I lessened my peak light schedule by an hour and switched to a little more blue light instead of white to hopefully help cut back on some of the algae production.

Speaking of algae, I just finished the TTM with my Achilles and white tail bristletooth tangs and added them and my yellow tang and coral beauty to the tank. There's been no aggression and everyone is swimming around peacefully. I've already seen them picking at the algae too.

The first thing my wife said about the white tail is that it had big lips so we named it Jolie (Angelina). Then we got really creative and named the Achilles tang Achilles.
 
Nice tank! What beautiful fish! Will they hide in the rocks and sleep at night? I wonder how they interact once they've all been in there awhile, like if some will hang out together. How do tangs feel about eels?
 
MolaMola said:
Nice tank! What beautiful fish! Will they hide in the rocks and sleep at night? I wonder how they interact once they've all been in there awhile, like if some will hang out together. How do tangs feel about eels?
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They don't seem to be phased by Maury (the eel). In fact, Jolie (white tail) spent most of her time in TTM in the pvc pipe and as soon as I put her in the tank she swam into Maury's cave. She came out like it was nothing all in one piece.

I wonder the same thing about their temperament over time once they've had a time to settle into their areas of the tank and decide a pecking order.
 
I'll see if I can snap a picture tomorrow but the tangs have efficiently eaten almost all the algae that was making the tank ugly.

Some updates. Mandy, our mandarin jumped out of the tank :(. My wife said she was really sad about it so we'll likely get one or two more. It just means I need to get on making that lid :/. Also for some reason many of my snails and my short spine urchin have died. I'm wondering if it had something to do with the bacteria bloom or lack of nutrients or what.

Here's some of the new additions from the swap.
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Unknown tabling acro from @iCon

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Rainbow acan from @Gablami (I think).

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Vamps in drag from @RandyC (this one's technically a DBTC but I received it at the swap).
 
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