400 gallon project

Delphinus · #1 12-04-2007, 05:41 AM

Dude, you have no idea how jealous I am of those gorgonians.

I hope one day I have something of value I could offer you in trade for some frags of those

untamed · #2 12-17-2007, 01:23 AM

For no reason...here's some photos.

This is Bubbles...the smaller of the two Maroon Clownfish. He rarely ventures out of the anemone, so it is hard to get a photo like this one. The larger Maroon is Chuck (he used to be a boy!), she's much bolder and gets 8x as much food as little Bubbles gets.

And finally, un updated shot of Moe..who has grown quite a bit. His peduncal spines are starting to show now.

Canuckgod420 · #3 12-17-2007, 01:40 AM

I read back a few pages and was wondering how the hair algae problem was coming along?
You have zero nitrates and still have algae?
Maybe some one can help me understand why I have nitrates..10-15ppm...and I cant grow algae if my life depended on it.
I see sweet reef tanks all over the internet and they almost all have some algae growing somewhere....not me....not 1 speck. I dont get it.

justinl · #4 12-17-2007, 05:35 AM

tank's looking good Brad!

Rob, algae growth depends on a lot of things. nitrate is only one part of a very complex equation (light, DOC, tank age, etc etc etc).

untamed · #5 12-17-2007, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canuckgod420

I read back a few pages and was wondering how the hair algae problem was coming along?
You have zero nitrates and still have algae?
Maybe some one can help me understand why I have nitrates..10-15ppm...and I cant grow algae if my life depended on it.
I see sweet reef tanks all over the internet and they almost all have some algae growing somewhere....not me....not 1 speck. I dont get it.

Yes, I still have hair algae. You can see some of it in the clownfish photo.....but it's controllable. I still have one sea hare who manages to find enough to eat. My refugium grows chaeto, but not as quickly as it first did....and yes, I never have any measureable level of nitrate. I've confirmed that many times now, with Salifert tests and the Nitrate monitor.

My guess is that the nitrate is getting used/converted up by algae or bacteria before I can measure it.

I also continue to measure Phosphate using the colorimeter and have a reading of .02 +/- .02....basically nearly zero as well.

Every tank is different, I suppose. I don't aggressively pursue a "low nutrient" environment. I feed heavily because I'm attempting to feed not only the fish, but the billions of other critters that are trying to survive in there.

untamed · #6 12-21-2007, 09:16 PM

Today, I noticed that the male Maroon Clownfish (aka "Bubbles"), was preoccupied with a certain spot behind the anemone.

Yes, they've finally laid eggs. Of course, they were very careful to do it in the most difficult spot to photograph. Here are the proud parents with their brood.

Skimmerking · #7 12-27-2007, 03:47 AM

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh look at all the babies

untamed · #8 01-03-2008, 05:11 AM

The clownfish are working on their 2nd batch of eggs. Maybe it is time to do a bit of reading to see if I can raise some baby clowns. Might be fun...

My pink pocillipora decided to RTN this morning. It went from having a small white area to almost completely gone within 12 hours. I've now intervened by fragging off the dead areas and iodine dipping the remaining live portion. I suppose we'll know how I've done by morning.

My theory is that I somehow transfer some sort of bacteria or virus onto the coral when I have my hands in there. I'm fairly confident that nothing has significantly changed with my water parameters and nothing new was added to the tank.

I've been having some fun with a Xmas present. It's a macroscope. Like a telescope with a focal distance of 18". Very cool. By putting it in front of the camera, I get images like these.