Johnny Reefer's FOWLR

[Palster]

How about an update on this tank. I am curious how all of the Triggers are co-existing now that they are getting bigger?

[Johnny Reefer]

Thanx for asking.
Water parameters as of yesterday:
Temp: 80.6F
pH: 8.15
Alk: 10.2 dKH
NO3: 20 ppm
PO4: .25 ppm (Time to replace the RowaPhos).
SG: 1.022

The Toadstool and Colt corals didn’t make it. Most likely due to high Alk. I use ReefBuilder in my top-off tank to try to maintain it. A previous Reef set up I had had a 45g top-off tank. I would use 12 Tbsp of ReefBuilder in that tank and it would maintain the Alk at around 10 dKH. The top off for this FOWLR is a 90g. So it would stand to reason that 24 Tbsp would do the trick. But the FOWLR Alk was dropping. It got down to 6.4 dKH. Well, since I moved and am now in a different environment, the evaporation rate is less than expected. So I bumped the ReefBuilder dose for the top off tank to 36 Tbsp. Wrong thing to do, I guess. As summer came, the evaporation increased. That and the fact that while doing a water change one time, I forgot to close the top off valve. Thus when I was pumping water out of the sump, the top off was putting water in. Not much. Probably only about 5g…10g at the most. But it certainly didn’t help. Long story short, the Alk went up to 17.6 dKH. I think the Toadstool and Colt didn’t like that very much. All things being good….Zoas do not do well in this tank. It appears to me that something eats them. They just slowly disappear. Palys in this tank don’t do well either. They stick around, but they do not thrive. Mushrooms, on the other hand, do great. Most of them, save one, are full and robust. Not sure why the one isn’t fairing well, because it once was full and robust as well. Needless to say, I’ll be getting more ‘shrooms for this tank. Now that the Alk is back down, I’d like to try a Toad and a Colt again also.

As for the fish….I guess they are growing???? Haven’t really noticed any growth other than the Clown. It is definitely bigger, but not by a substantial amount. It’s disposition is still the same. Haven’t noticed any berserk behaviour yet, as I’ve read Clowns are prone to do when they get older. All 5 Triggers still are getting along.

Other than that…not much change.

Edit: The Pink Tail is bigger also, but not by much.

Cheers,

[Palster]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

[color=black]


As for the fish….I guess they are growing???? Haven’t really noticed any growth other than the Clown. It is definitely bigger, but not by a substantial amount. It’s disposition is still the same. Haven’t noticed any berserk behaviour yet, as I’ve read Clowns are prone to do when they get older. All 5 Triggers still are getting along.

Other than that…not much change.

Edit: The Pink Tail is bigger also, but not by much.

Cheers,

One of the reasons I asked was because of the Clown Trigger. I recently got a 2 inch Clown Trigger for my FOWLR and was concerned about the aggressive behavior that these fish are known for as they get bigger. I am hoping that by introducing this fish last and when it is small that this will reduce the chance of this fish eventually becoming a bully.

[Johnny Reefer]

I'd say the Clown is 6" now.

Cheers,

[Johnny Reefer]

Well I see I've neglected this thread for close to 1.5 years now, so I figure I should update it. The following few posts are a copy/paste from another board I frequent. For anyone that is interested, please forgive me if some of it doesn't make sense, chronologically. I have paid a bit more attention to the other board thread, but here there is a big gap.

Wow, no update since March/08. I guess it's time. I haven't been happy with the progress of this tank, but more on that later.

Recent changes to the sump. Refugium out, ZeoVit in. EuroReef out, BK in. No more canisters. No more Nitrate Sponge. No more RowaPhos. Running carbon passively. I also added a grounding probe.



Very happy with the skimmer, although it is taking a while to break in and is still skimming quite wet. The cup was cleaned late this morning.

Tank shot, left side.


Tank shot, middle.


Tank shot, right side.


I lost the Clown Trigger in late April due to unknown causes. Perhaps cyanide? Then again, I had it for 2.5 years so perhaps not.

The giant mushrooms did not work out. They slowly disintegrated. Not sure why. Might try a smaller one again when I think the time is right.

In August/08 I introduced four new fish. Blue Ring Angel, Niger Trigger, Yellow Tang, and a Cleaner Wrasse. The Angel and Niger are twice the size now. The Tang is not entirely happy, hence the grounding probe. I think it has improved. The body anyway (HLLE), but fins are still ragged.

Did the annual major sump cleaning in November. Going to increase this task to semi-annually. In December/January I did 13 x 20% water changes. This was to bring the NO3 and PO4 down. Last year the sump cleaning was enough for that, but not this time. ZeoVit didn't do it for me either (wishful thinking). NO3 is now 5 and PO4 is still up at 0.1. Okay Zeo...you can now do your thing.

As you can see, this tank is still dull and brown. Mushrooms have no colour whatsoever. Zeo is supposed to help that too, but I'm not expecting any dramatic colour improvement on that alone. What I think this tank really needs is a lighting upgrade. So that's the plan. I have a scoop on a good condition CoraLife Aqualight Pro 3 x 150W MH unit for an awesomely reasonable price. Looking forward to getting it on there. Just waiting for the seller to receive his new lights.

Stay tooned and cheers,

[Johnny Reefer]

Here's a couple of pics of some interesting sponges that have grown in over the last 3 months, or so.




Stay tooned and cheers,