Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

Red Bug Battle - Round 3!

Last Thursday I noticed my Alien Freckles Acro (the one most affected in the first infestation) was lightly covered in red bugs again. I treated for a second time as described above. Last night I notice a few RBs on the AF Acro AGAIN! So I'm going to break off as much of the AF Acro I can (it is short growing and very encrusted), give it a 2 hour strong Interceptor bath, and put it in my Zoa tank. I will use a pipette with boiling water to kill the remaining part of that coral. I'm hoping I can get away without treating the tank again.

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My SPS corals' colors continue to improve since I ditched the Zeovit and started running my GFO reactor again. As expected, the Halimeda and Grape Caulerpa are significantly repressed as well, but surprisingly the Bubble algae seems to be showing a bit of die back. I can only cross my fingers! These red bugs are just hindering my attempts to use Emerald crabs to graze the Bubble algae, and that is getting frustrating.

[fishytime]

aw geez Mindy.....that sucks.....RBs are definitely a tough one to get gone..... I hope you can nip it in the butt.....

[Myka]

I don't have anything to complain about compared to you Doug. Most people seem to get good results on a single dose of Interceptor, I think I am the exception.

[Myka]

Ok, now I am confused. I look at the AF Acro a couple times today looking for RBs. I can't see any today. I used a siphon to suck off all the rock yesterday, including some detritus that accumulates near the AF Acro. What are the chances the RBs I saw yesterday were dead ones from last week's treatment that were somehow still stuck to the coral??? Boy would that be awesome. I didn't notice the RBs moving yesterday, and I did think that was a bit odd. Either way, I'm chiseling that AF Acro out of there today...I need to move it anyway since it gets too much light to color up properly where it is. I'm going to put it on a plug and drill a hole in the rock so I can remove it for RB dipping in the future since it's turning out to be such a magnet.

[Myka]

An update is long overdue!

I am very pleased with the results of ditching the Zeovit system. Back to the basics!! I'm on my second rotation of GFO now. I still get the same phosphate test result of 0.008 ppm using a Merck kit. The rampant Grape Caulerpa growth has slowed down, and the red and green bubble algae has finally backed down some. The 5 or 6 Emerald crabs may be helping too! I used to rip the Bryopsis off my clams in clumps every couple weeks for about 8 months. That was the only place in my tank that had Bryopsis...and try as I might I just couldn't get it to stop growing on them, and now it is gone. The day after I put GFO back online (about 8 weeks ago now), there appeared a black cyano on the top rocks in my tank directly under the halides. It is persisting to this day. Not sure what is up with it. I'm hoping with good maintenance it will cure itself. Also getting a bit of cyano on my sand...I need a couple bigger powerheads.

So far so good on the RBs. *fingers crossed* However, I noticed one of my Validas browning out...I know what that means, and most of you Acro keepers probably know too. The first corals to get an AEFW infection are Validas. Hooray! Wtf?? I mean seriously??? Is my tank cursed this summer or what?

So I pried out the two infected colonies and a couple bonus colonies and gave them all a 20 minute dip in TMCC scraping eggs off beforehand. All except the Alien Freckles Acro...he's special, he got a 45 minute dip because I forgot about him! He survived. That Acro has taken a real s**t kicking this summer. He's nearly all bleached out, but the neon green polyps are still neon as ever. Go figure. LOL

I would post up a FTS, but the tank is a mess with Acros laying all over the place (haven't glued them back down yet).

So here are some pics of non-Acros!

Def not an Acro...Tuxedo Urchin (after I pulled off all his decorations):




New Stylo that is too far from the glass to get a good pic:




Ok, so here IS an Acro! This one is red, but I'll be darned if the camera will pick up the color very well...hmmmph.




Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:




Oh I lied again, another Acro. This one is a deepwater of some sort that is finally coloring up...has SWEET neon green polyps:



A couple Goniopora frags. These ones have a good track record for survivability:




Blue Rics:




Palau Nepthea:




Favia (one of my oldest pieces):

[Myka]

I just fed the fish, and what comes creeping out of the rock? A Eunicid worm! My luck! So far I don't think it has caused any troubles, but it is pretty small still. It's body was about 3mm diameter, and I saw about 4" of body.





Got a FTS today too:




Candlelight Acro that was a brown blob in my tank for almost a year is suddenly bursting with growth and color:

[Myka]

Added some photos. Including the Eunicid. Eek.

[hillegom]

How are you going to catch him?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by hillegom

How are you going to catch him?

Tomorrow I have to remove a bunch of rock to catch a fish. I know which rock the Eunicid is hanging out in so I will give it a freshwater dip. If that doesn't work I will squirt some soda water in the holes. If that doesn't work I will dip it in PraziPro. That should get him for sure.

[Myka]

I have finally beat the Valonia plague!!!

In celebration, and because I am finally fairly happy with the way my tank is looking, I think it is time for a top to bottom update (mostly for my own records actually!! lol). Here is what I have goin on now:

Tank is 90 gallon 48x18x24"
Sump is ~30 gallon 30x16x14"
Halides are 2x250w DE w/ Plusrite 20,000K bulbs (look like 13,000K to my eyes)
T5s are 2x39w Fiji Purple and UVL Super Actinic
Halides 12pm-7pm
T5s 8:30am - 9:30pm

Return is Poseidon PS3
Skimmer is EuroReef RS-180 with gate valve mod semi-wet skimming
2x150w VisiTherm heaters
PhosBan reactor with 300 mL GFO changed every 6 weeks
Carbon run passively in a bag in sump for 48 hours once per week
BRS Drew's Dosers (x2) for Calcium and Alkalinity

Tunze Osmolator ATO
Tunze 6055 on single controller
Koralia 3 (x2)

50-60 lbs live rock (many years old)
<1" aragonite sand (Caribsea Special Grade)
3 lbs coarse shells n stuff for Jawfish (Caribsea Super Reef)

ZEOvit Coral Snow 3mL once per week
ZEOvit Spur2 3mL once a month or so to lighten SPS
Magnesium and Potassium added to water changes
10 gallon weekly water change

Temp 78-80
Specific Gravity 1.026-7 (refractometer)
Ammonia not detectable (API and Salifert)
Nitrate not detectable (Salifert)
pH 8.2 (Hanna handheld digital meter)
Calcium 420-425 ppm (Elos)
Alkalinity 8-9 dKH (Elos)
Magnesium 1350-1400 ppm (Salifert)
Potassium 380-400 ppm (Korallen Zucht)

I took a bunch of fish out recently and replaced them, so now I have (in order of addition):
Pearly Jawfish
Sharknose Goby
Hector's Goby
Picasso Percula Clownfish (F)
Platinum Percula Clownfish (M)
McCosker's Fairy Wrasse 2" (F)
Candy Hogfish 2 1/2"
Peppermint Hogfish 2" (still in sump)

Orange Lip Conch (x2)
Fighting Conch (x3)
Ring Cowrie (x2)
Astraea snail (x3) (all diff species)
Nassarius snail (small white kind)
Banded Trochus snail
Emerald Crab (x4) (one big one banned to sump)
Tuxedo Urchin
Black Brittle Starfish (4+ yrs old)
Stomatella snails (many, self reproducing)

Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (x2)
Squamosa Clam
Gold Teardrop Maxima Clam
Photosynthetic Gorgonians (x5)
Palau Nepthea
GSP on back glass

Brain (x5)
Candy Cane (neon green)
Duncan
Torch (Aussie Gold)
Acan (x2)
Blue Ridge
Pipe Organ (green)
Cyphastrea (x3) (Meteor Shower, Toxic, and decadia)
Fox
Ricordea (x4 colors)
Goniopora (x2) (pinks)

Acropora (x8) (Bali tricolor, Candlelight, Red, etc)
Deepwater Acropora (x2) (blue one and yellow one)
Birdnest (x4) (Snappy's blue polyp pink and Bird of Many Colors, ORA Green, and a sweet green and pink)
Stylophora (x2) (Snappy's rainbow and a red one)
Pocillopora (sweet green and pink)
Millepora (x2) (Snappy's SuperGrape and a red one)
Porites (yellow)
Monti cap (green w/ purple rim)
Monti samarensis (orange w/ green tips)



I think that's all the nitty gritty details.

Some near future lighting changes:
Halides PFO pendants w/ IceCap electronic ballasts w/ Phoenix 14,000K SE bulbs
Tek 48" T5 retrofit kit

Oh, I had to move a Jawfish to another tank because the Candy Hogfish kept diving into the Jawfish's burrow and upsetting him. So I just moved him out, and there is only one Jawfish still in my reef. The Blue Assessor is also in another tank, as well as the big male Banggai, and the big female "normal" Percula clown.

I'll get some pics next weekend maybe. I have a halide burned out right now, and some of my super high light Acros are not impressed!