Thursday, February 26, 2009

Kenya Tree's (Katy's) Disappearance

Today I noticed that Kenya Tree Katy disappeared. I wasn't a good daddy because I didn't look her up... I'll have to do it tomorrow night. Skimmer is behaving strangely - it produces lots of soft foam that disappears as soon as the cup is taken off. The cover from the cup is being blown-off almost right after the cup is placed back on the skimmer. Will have to investigate why this happens...
The green hydnophora is... well it is green, but I don't know if it is doing well

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tank upgrade to 14G

Today is the big day!
I got a 14G Oceanic Biocube tank!
It is a major upgrade as the tank has separate light conrols for each light (Actinic, 10K and Lunar); it also has a skimmer and a mid chamber can be used for chaeto as the back is clear glass.
The tank came with some live sand and some rocks.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

First other than corals inhibitants spotted!

The Kenya Tree is not doing very well after being glued to the rock in the middle of the tank probably due to stress, but maybe due to reduction in lighting because of the chaeto...
The baby Kate is not doing well as well as she was knocked off during the move and glueing of Katy... I'm dreaming of a large (16") tank...

Today I found other life forms on the front of my glass. Some white 1/4" long "bugs" were crawling on the front window. I keep wondering what are they?

In the evening 3/4-bucket PWC was carried out. Some more foam was put into the first chamber of the filter. The heater was moved to the right. And a handfull of chaeto was removed to provide more light to Katy. The picture above was taken prior to chaeto removal.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Temperature drop

The temperature dropped this night to 75 F which still was within normal parameters. I'm starting to eye a tank upgrade!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Corals Gluing

Tonight, I have turned the lights back on since I came home late.
Then I took the Superglue Gel and glued both Kenya Tree (to the branched rock) and Green Hydnophora to the back rock. Right after the procedure I turned off the powerhead as I was advised on one of the forums. Sure I turned off the lights as well.
A side note: either dosing some burbon or intro of chaeto have helped tremendously to reduce the hair and slime algae.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Addition of Green Hydnophora ($8)

A 1-bucket PWC was carried out.

Today I bought off MR member a piece of Green Hydnophora. I had acclimated it by placing the bag into the tank and then pouring water into the bag with a small scoop over time.
Then I had placed the coral on top of the rock, but it was leaning against the glass so I had it relocated on another rock in the center of the tank. The coral feels soft to touch with a stony core.
I didn't see it under "daylight" yet

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Dosing of Bourbon

After some heavy dosing of alcohol in myself I decided this morning to dose some into my tank as well. I measured approximately.25ml into a syringe and sprayed it into the tank. On the forums it was said to help grow bacteria and reduce green hair algae.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Addition of water

The problem with the surface skimmer over this weekend resulted in the water level drop in the exhaust chamber. I had to manually lower the skimmer cup down to allow for refill of the three chambers.
Then I had added the water mixing up fresh with pre-mixed salt water.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Major Change in Flitration

As I was told multiple times biorings in marine aquaria cause issues with Phosphate etc. Phosphate in turn feeds green hair algae. My tank is being overrun by gha.
So, to combat this issue:
  1. I had removed all biorings from the middle chamber of my filter along with filter pads.
  2. I took one of the gha covered rocks from display and crushed it with wire cutters placing the rubble in the middle chamber. I had filled it up by use of another ugly rock from display.
  3. I had placed the the filter pads into the left (intake) chamber of the filter where the heater is.
Hopefully the change above will help with stabilizing the parameters and bringing them back to norm

Salty First Attempt (Failed)

Salty First Attempt (Failed)
My Salt Water Tank Very few mods from how I got it.

Water weed bought 5/6/08

Water weed bought 5/6/08
red gracilaria (?) - Got either desintegrated or eaten

Moni Jr. on top of live rock!

Moni Jr. on top of live rock!
I have like 3-4 of these - turned out to be Petsts!

Moni Sr.(Haitian pink-tip anemone)

Moni Sr.(Haitian pink-tip anemone)
Largest Anemone in my tank RIP - (rock crashed on her during tank maint)