Cali Kid Corals

NanoCrazed's Lazy Tank(s) Journal

NanoCrazed said:
AquaJapan 85
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Rough day today... lost a few frags and mini colonies but I can't figure out why. The biggest change really is I restarted my skimmer a few days ago so not sure if it's shocking the system by pulling too many things out at once after being offline for a few weeks. Nothing else has changed in my system except the addition of the frag tank and slightly reduced flow / turnover in the main tank area as a result.

Other thought is that it can be a delayed impact of that 13dkh alk spike I had last week and just took awhile for the affect to show.

One of the casualties is my RR Dante Inferno milli. It was doing really well so I decided to make a small nub of a frag to grow out as back up. The main colony RTN'd after a few days but the nub is looking good still.. for now. Hopefully , it's not a case of the apple falling not far from the tree. Spoke to a friend in the aquaculture biz and he suspects it could be a combination of stress from fragging plus the alk and skimmer creating a perfect storm. Another casualty is @ofzakaria's DBTC red planet -- i had moved this piece to the frag area when I got the tank plumbed in. Saw a good deal of receding tissue from the middle of the trunk... so, tried saving as much as i could with aggressive fragging and applying a coating of superglue all around the margins of the dying tissue. Hopefully, I can save it. @Coral reefer @ofzakaria any other ideas for things I should look into? stumped. (or perhaps at this point, it's a matter of waiting and seeing)

The other thing he pointed out is that I shouldn't use the flat edge bone cutter I recently got but stick to my old cutter that's small and curved for acros. I suspected that the tool is adding additoinal stress to my pieces as frags made using the tool have had more issues than any other time prior. The tool has a blunt edge that I feel created more pressure and damage when cutting.

Pic of my RR Dante Inferno (RIP):
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Dude WTH..u r close to be on the shot list with DBTC lol.
Its the alk swing and probably paired with nutrient spike and possibly low o2
 
ofzakaria said:
Dude WTH..u r close to be on the shot list with DBTC lol.
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Yah. I'll volunteer to jump overboard.

The ironic thing is as i am doing more conventional / best practice things , i am experiencing more challenges. Perhaps a learning curve...:/

Maybe should sell all my gear and go back to my haphazard ways. Lol.

The red planet got really big too. So thought the frag tank would suit it. I even run it at lower lights to ease transition. 150PAR vs 250 where it was...
 
NanoCrazed said:
Yah. I'll volunteer to jump overboard.

The ironic thing is as i am doing more conventional / best practice things , i am experiencing more challenges. Perhaps a learning curve...:/

Maybe should sell all my gear and go back to my haphazard ways. Lol.

The red planet got really big too. So thought the frag tank would suit it. I even run it at lower lights to ease transition. 150PAR vs 250 where it was...
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It's ok man do not be bumped out. Enough frags to spread around. Will restock you again once you stable..
 
AquaJapan 85 (...ish)
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On a positive note, I finally manage to rework the plumbing to add some security to the overflow. Ran the return over the top and implemented a small gap the width of the tank glass for the return assembly bites against the glass for stability. The original return port is now and emergency overflow with a sprinkler 90 degree elbow installed.

I might change out the return with a T and split the flow to the bottom of the tank as well for more movement.

20200813_211630.jpg
20200813_211642.jpg
 
Need to figure out why there's so much diatom build up in the frag tank. May be flow or the light...?

I might just cave and switch in a XR15 and call it s day... at least the spectrum with match whenever i move frags between the display and the frag.

Need to figure out my issues asap before my next shipment of sps arrives next week. Losing those is not an option!
 
I would say delayed reaction to the alk spike is a likely major factor, and general alk instability possibly as well it seems.
Usually I think there’s more than one thing at play. If a coral has say 5 of the 6 main things it needs dialed it can more likely handle the 1 that’s out of whack. Whereas if 2 or 3 of those things go out at the same time or in close proximity more likely to Be trouble imo.

As for the diatoms in the frag tank, i believe that if a new surface material (tank bottom/egg crate) isn’t colonized with anything yet it’s going to experience a diatom bloom and likely some green algae before it acts like your main tank. Kinda like adding dead rocks. They will get that stuff on them even if you put them in an established tank before coraline starts to grow. Not sure the role of bacteria/lack thereof in this process, but I suspect it’s important.
 
Coral reefer said:
I would say delayed reaction to the alk spike is a likely major factor, and general alk instability possibly as well it seems.
Usually I think there’s more than one thing at play. If a coral has say 5 of the 6 main things it needs dialed it can more likely handle the 1 that’s out of whack. Whereas if 2 or 3 of those things go out at the same time or in close proximity more likely to Be trouble imo.

As for the diatoms in the frag tank, i believe that if a new surface material (tank bottom/egg crate) isn’t colonized with anything yet it’s going to experience a diatom bloom and likely some green algae before it acts like your main tank. Kinda like adding dead rocks. They will get that stuff on them even if you put them in an established tank before coraline starts to grow. Not sure the role of bacteria/lack thereof in this process, but I suspect it’s important.
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Biofilm/bacteria. There's nothing competing for the surface of the rock/glass/sand and that's why the diatoms win, then the algae steps up and finally the bacteria/biofilm.

Edit: oh and that's why I kinda "cheat" whenever starting up a new tank, I always have a fuge with chaero running from the get go. I barely ever have a see much of the of the uglies on new rock or sand, but you still gotta watch out for the dinos if you don't have UV running.
 
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Really a shame on the Dante... was growing really well with great PE, which is why I wanted to frag it and have a back up. should've made a bigger frag than the nub!
RandyC said:
Biofilm/bacteria. There's nothing competing for the surface of the rock/glass/sand and that's why the diatoms win, then the algae steps up and finally the bacteria/biofilm.

Edit: oh and that's why I kinda "cheat" whenever starting up a new tank, I always have a fuge with chaero running from the get go. I barely ever have a see much of the of the uglies on new rock or sand, but you still gotta watch out for the dinos if you don't have UV running.
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This is plumbed into my established DT so didn't expect the dinos / diatoms outside of the usual biofilm. So waa definitely surprised to see the uglies show up in a 5G tank based on total volume. Though since i running only 1/2" lines, my flow may notnbe turning over enough... but theoretically, 1/2" lines should give me 800GPH
 
ELOS 70
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Yet another mystery... and disappointment... one of my mocha storm babies jumped the basket into the main part of the tank a few days ago. Tried unsuccessfully to catch it and put it back but it kept running into a Supernova to hide.

Not wanting to hurt the nem in the process i figured I would let the storm be until I had more time...afterall had some plumbing and rtn issues to sort out.

Finally got to it this morning and the baby storm is no where to be found. Hopefully it wasn't the red crab that snagged it over night. Literally turned the tank upside down... nothing. It was a really nice and healthy one too.

Too bad. I had 4.. and hoping to produce 2 breeding pairs down the road.
 
Newjack said:
dang dude, you’re on a bad luck streak for sure. Hopefully, you can get a handle on some of them tanks sooner than later.
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I think I have the tank parameters dialed back in. So everything seems to be normal again except for the surprise urchin attack. Also had a dragon soul knocked into a prized goni...and well , half a goni now. I love urchins but some days... sushi sounds delish. I love uni.

Had a few more pieces rtn and brown but i think that's the last of the delayed fallout from the alk spike.

Hopefully my next solution batch will be more uniform!

Have a box of ultra high end sps coming in later in the week, so watching tank like a hawk!
 
I researched chopping scolys for propagation awhile ago and the Reefer used witch hazel as a dip after cutting. I have no idea if it would help in this situation but might be something to look into, it’s available at most drug stores. I think it works as an antibacterial dip to ensure the coral stays healthy while healing from a lot of stress. But I have no first hand experience, just something to maybe research
 
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