Reef Pilot's Undersea Oasis

[KPG007]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Beautiful tanks Walter! I need to do a road trip soon and pay you a visit.

I got that coral from Chris (Chowder). It was a unspectacular green rock when I got it. After a couple months it coloured up and started to look like yours. I made a few frags, then, after my frag rack kept falling because of the weight, I sold the majority of it to Paul at Oceanic. I still have a piece, but it's still quite small.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by KPG007

Beautiful tanks Walter! I need to do a road trip soon and pay you a visit.

I got that coral from Chris (Chowder). It was a unspectacular green rock when I got it. After a couple months it coloured up and started to look like yours. I made a few frags, then, after my frag rack kept falling because of the weight, I sold the majority of it to Paul at Oceanic. I still have a piece, but it's still quite small.

Thanks, Kelly, and for sure drop by some time. Look forward to picking your brain again on a bunch of things.

Yeah, that little frag I got from you turned into a really nice little gem. Do you know the name of it?

[Reef Pilot]

My Setosa and Red Planet were about to go to war, so I laid down an epoxy border (was more concerned about the Setosa). Just below is a Purple Cross (another aggressive coral) that will soon meet up with the Red Planet. So will see what happens there. The frag at the top left can be moved so am not worried about it.


And mounted this little Red Planet frag just yesterday. It was an accidental casualty when I was laying down the epoxy. But today, I see all the polyps are out. It is less than 1/2 an inch, but obviously a tough coral.


A few days ago, I removed (and sold) my original Purple Cross mother colony. The stalk was more than an inch in diameter, and needed a hammer and small wooden mallet (am not joking) to do the job.

But it came out pretty cleanly, leaving only some growth around the bottom which I will leave in place. It was just too big for that location, and kept beating up on its neighbors, so it had to go. I have another one growing lower down (can see it at the bottom of the 1st pic), and is again growing rapidly. The Purple Cross is my original SPS (bought a good sized frag just over a year ago) and probably my most prolific coral.

[Reef Pilot]

Yesterday, I moved my Kole Tang from my downstairs tank to my upstairs tank, along with a small Purple Tang and a Melanurus Wrasse that just completed their QT. I have a very bully, large Yellow Tang upstairs (has caused great havoc with other new fish in the past) and was hoping adding multiple new fish would divide his attention.

It took me a week or so to finally catch the Kole. I have a fish trap that I set up near where I feed, and kept putting some food inside. Eventually, he would go in, and I let the trap door go down and caught him. Almost didn't get him, though, as he escaped once when the door came down too slowly. But he was dumb enough to go in again, and the next time I got him.

But to my surprise and relief, the move went pretty well. The Kole was not bothered at all. The small Purple Tang, though, had a bit of a rough introduction. But not from the Yellow Tang. Instead my Dwarf Flame Angel went after him. The Purple seemed to hang around one spot, and didn't try to hide. Instead he fought back with his tail slapping. If he would have just gone somewhere else, the Angel probably would have left him alone. The Yellow did come by a few times with a few tail threats. But again the Purple would fight right back (even though he is about 1/4 the size), and the Yellow would go away. The Melanurus, of course, had no problems, and made himself at home almost right away.

By the evening all was at peace in the tank. Both the Kole and Purple were picking away at algae, like they've been there all along. And the Melanurus was in pod heaven...

Maybe the Yellow Tang is getting mellow in his old age. Or being together with the Pearlscale for a few years wore out his aggression. That little Purple one is a real toughie, though. Wonder what he will be like when he gets bigger...

Now I have to buy another Bristletooth for my downstairs tank. My big Foxface there might get lonely now with his buddy gone. I am thinking of a Chevron. Not sure if J&L or King Ed's ever get those ones in.

[H2o2]

You need to buy some more stuff off Nick so I can deliver and have another look at those beautiful tank and I can get some frags this time :-)

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by H2o2

You need to buy some more stuff off Nick so I can deliver and have another look at those beautiful tank and I can get some frags this time :-)

Hey, Harry, drop by any time... I'm keeping an eye on Nick's site, and sooner or later will get something again.

[Reef Pilot]

Can't believe what an algae eating machine my Kole Tang is!... He has only been in the upstairs tank now for 2 days, and almost totally cleaned the whole back glass (acrylic, actually) of all algae, leaving only the coralline. Here is a pic of part of it from before.

You can see how green it was (upper right). I had to regularly clean it with a scraper...


And this is today. You can see a bit of a pattern to his cleaning...


No wonder my downstairs tank (same sump and water as upstairs tank) was always so clean of algae... For sure now, am going to have to get another bristletooth tang for it, or it will likely soon get algae again.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

My Setosa and Red Planet were about to go to war, so I laid down an epoxy border (was more concerned about the Setosa). Just below is a Purple Cross (another aggressive coral) that will soon meet up with the Red Planet. So will see what happens there. The frag at the top left can be moved so am not worried about it.

The above pics were from Dec 24. The below ones are from today, Jan 30. Seems my epoxy border didn't completely do the job. Some Red Planet snuck through underneath somehow, and it is indeed killing the Setosa. Will have to get in there tomorrow, and see if I can separate them again. May have some more Setosa and Red Planet frags soon...




While it may not exactly look like it (with the bright green base), this is a sliver of Red Planet tissue that I salvaged last month, and is now growing into a frag. Incidentally, this is about the size of the original Red Planet frag that I got about a year ago, that turned into this beautiful and large colony. It started with just a bit of tissue and a few polyps. Sure is one very aggressive coral, though.

[Reef Pilot]

Today, after 3.5 years running, I decided to disconnect my Vertex UF20 bio pellet reactor. It certainly did its job at the beginning, bringing my nitrates from a high of 100 ppm down to zero. But have been running at zero for 2+ years now, and my bio pellet consumption has slowed to almost nothing.

The last time I had to add any bio pellets was about a year and half ago, and finally now they were pretty well spent, with only about 3 inches left on the bottom still tumbling nicely. I never cleaned or serviced my reactor in all that time either. Needless to say, it was well encrusted inside with calcium and other growth deposits. Had a hard time just getting it apart. Will let it sit in fresh water for a few days before trying to clean it. Hard to believe the water was still able to circulate and the pellets tumbling properly.

I will be testing my nitrates more frequently now, to see if there is any change. But I think my tanks (live rock and sand) were doing a good enough job of natural denitrification, and will watch to see if that continues.

Now what am I going to do with 2 large unopened 1000 ml bags of Vertex bio pellets that I bought on boxing day a couple years ago??...

[Reef Pilot]

After removing my bio pellet reactor, my nitrates have gone up to about 5 ppm now, where before they were always zero. Will continue as is for awhile, but if they creep up to about 10 or so, will have to reinstall the bio pellet reactor.