120gal mixed predatory reef tank

whatcaneyedo · #1 01-28-2011, 02:19 AM

I'm happy to report that the expensive little frags that I bought from Oceanic Corals last September (5 months ago) are doing quite well.

Jason McK · #2 01-28-2011, 04:29 AM

Great looking frags. The first one has a mimi brittle star

whatcaneyedo · #3 01-28-2011, 02:13 PM

Yeah the brittle star came from my tank, not from the frag. I bought a piece of liverock at our LFS around 5 years ago because it was covered in the little things. Now my tank is full of them. I probably have thousands. I also have a big green 'death' brittle star that I bought 7 years ago as a bad impulse purchase. Fortunately I've never had the desire to keep any small fish with it so it has not caused me any problems. But it is huge... heres a pic of it in the bottom of an IO bucket (the white balance is off on the camera) so that you can see the size.

whatcaneyedo · #4 02-06-2011, 08:50 PM

Those who are familiar with my tank know that I've had a minor bryopsis problem for a few years. By decreasing the phosphate level in the system I've been able to get most of it under control. However a few areas still remained. Most notably along the spraybar that extends across the lower back of the tank. Some of it can been seen just to the right in the picture of the the platygyra if you scroll up the page.

On RC I had read about some impurity in Kent Tech M that for whatever reason kills bryopsis. So after watching a friend experiment with it on his own system I gave it a shot too. I purchased a 64oz bottle and added 200ml daily for about two weeks until I ran out. This brought the Mg in the system up from 1300ppm to 1500ppm (the total system volume is just over 200gal). Some of the bryopsis I pulled out manually which I would do monthly anyways and the rest yellowed and disapeared.

Here is a picture of the spray bar now bryopsis free:

Madreefer · #5 02-06-2011, 10:43 PM

Tank looks great as always. Good to see the Kent Mag worked for you. I ended up using 6 liters of it.

abcha0s · #6 02-07-2011, 12:50 PM

+1 on the tank looking great.

Was it the "impurity" that killed the bryopsis or was it simply the elevated mag levels?

http://austinreefkeeper.wordpress.co...f-of-bryopsis/

Brad

corpusse · #7 02-07-2011, 01:23 PM

Tank looks really great, while I have seen this thread before I went through it today for the first time in a really long time, it's great to see the changes throughout the years.

What is almost equally impressive is that you wear gloves! I've never seen a refer wearing them! I used to wear smaller gloves sometimes when fragging, but I can't tell you how many times I've been stung by bristleworms and other things, and once even stung by my own dwarf lion fish. Your hands must love you!