Diatoms issue resolved.

It seems the filter media I was using was leeching bad stuff back into the tank even though nothing was showing up in the water param tests. Once I replaced the media the diatoms cleared up in about a week-and-a-half. The coral are still a lil upset; I'm hoping they get happy again soon since the diatoms are no longer choking them out and the water is cleaner. I may have lost the SPS coral and the Candy Cane coral although the Candy Cane still has visible flesh even though much of its skeleton is exposed and is closed tightly. I guess time will tell. I'll have to monitor the water params a little closer over the next few weeks.

I think I may have lost my Pom Pom crab as well. I fed the tank last week and didn't see her dancing anywhere and haven't seen her at all in the past couple weeks :( Hopefully, she's just up to her usual good hiding game.

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Plate Coral has regenerated!

I'm so happy right now; I came into work this morning and the Plate Coral has regenerated! I noticed that it looked like it had a mouth again which got my attention and then I noticed that it was all puffed up! I'm so glad I decided not to take it out of the tank this weekend thinking it was too far dead to regenerate. I really hope it pulls through; I have high hopes for it ^.^

On another note: it looks like I may have a diatoms issue again and I think it's due to the fact that I haven't replaced the filter media in a while which is long overdue. I bought some new media and replaced it this morning. Things should (hopefully) clear up in the next couple weeks.

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~ 

Peppermint Shrimp ate some corals :(

Very upsetting day to come into work and see 2 of your corals have been eaten. I had a 3 day weekend because I took Friday off. Came in this morning and the Purple Hammer Coral flesh is completely gone. Even more upsetting is the Plate Coral is all but gone; it's skeleton is fully exposed :( I do not believe it will recover. I'm very sad because it was one of my favorites in the tank. I'm going to keep an eye on the Shrimp and up his feeding a lil to see if that fixes anything. If not, I'll have to give him away.

Hammer Split and new Live Stock

LiveAquaria finally got a restock of the Spiny Star Astraea Snails so I've been able to place an order to replace the previous one that died a few months back. The old one was not actually a SSA so it was a incorrectly sent item on LAs part.

In order to meet the $29.99 min order criteria I also ordered a replacement Super Tongan Nassarius Snail, Peppermint Shrimp and a Two Spot Bimaculatus Blenny. The blenny is an omnivore so I'm hoping he'll help control some algae as well as eat any uneaten food.

The Nassarius snail is significantly bigger than the previous one I had so I'm hoping there will be plenty of food for all the new guys.

The Hammer coral has split a head again and is growing like crazy. Not sure why he is so happy and the other Corals as not as the water params are just fine.

Hammer Coral continues to grow 

Hammer Coral growth progression

Normally I'd do a water change tomorrow but considering I just added some new livestock I may put it off to next week.

~ Keep on Swimming ~

Filter Clog

Been having an algae issue again and have cut the feeding down to about once a month to get it down but it never did. I also lost a snail; I'm thinking the hermit killed and ate him because of the tank food cut.

But I just discovered the filter tube was completely clogged with hair algae; water wasn't even moving through it. It looked like it was working because the filter still had water movement and was spilling back into the tank but it's flow had diminished. I cleaned out all the algae from the tube and the filter is working back to full efficiency. I just hope this does not cause a mini tank cycle...

Guess we'll see what the future holds...

Pom Pom Crab is still alive!!!

So excited! I happened to notice crab shells on the sand and thought the Pom Pom Crab may have officially died but I wasn't able to tell if it was a molt or not. I decided to do a small feeding of the tank to see if I could coax her out if she were alive. I didn't have high hopes.

But lo and behold I happened to catch her by random luck! So glad she's still alive :)

Pom Pom Crab feeding (w/ flash)

Pom Pom Crab feeding (no flash)

I also noticed a bivalve shell in the Zoas that was not there before. I've occasionally seen a couple of these guys show up in the tank but this is the biggest one I've seen so far. Unfortunately, I think they guys was a meal for the hermit crab that you can see right next to the open shell.

Hermit crab next to Bivalve shell 

And lastly, the Green Hammer is exploding! My last post has a picture of the Hammer from 1 month ago and it's crazy to see its growth; 2 more of the heads are splitting! No idea why the hammer grows so much and so efficiently while the other corals are a little slower or angry. Irony is for a few months after getting the hammer it stayed closed with its skeleton exposed and I thought it wasn't going to make it. Haha, this tank is still proving to be quite the adventure.

Hammer Coral is growing like crazy!

Until next time!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank is stable and recovering

After weeks of stability issues, the tank seems to be stable again and the Coral are starting to open up more. The Candy Cane Coral is really the only one that is still a bit closed up. However, all the coral fed fine on Thursday so things seem to be looking up. 

I believe I lost the Pom Pom crab as there was a huge algae bloom during the stability issues and I didn't see her when I fed the tank. Sad day :(

Also, one of the Hammer Coral heads is beginning to split again so I should soon have 5 fully grown and working heads in the next couple weeks. The body buds on some of the other coral still continue to grow.

Hammer Coral

The Plate Coral continues to astound me with its beauty. The tentacles are getting really long and I love watching them sway in the current. These pictures do not due it justice.

Plate coral tentacles are getting long

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank is still a bit upset.

Salinity levels have been stable for the last two days, finally; for some reason they had been spiking to 1.030 every day. I won't be performing a water change today as usual to give the tank a full week to stabilize. The SPS coral seems to be doing ok and has it's tentacles out. The other LPS corals are still pretty upset and closed but not fully as they have been. I did lose the Tree coral, however.

Hoping things continue to improve.

~ Keep on Swimming ~

Salinity levels are unstable.

I'm not sure why but the Salinity levels of the tank keep rising way above what they should be. Today, the salinity was at 1.035; well above what it should be. No idea what it is doing this. I may stop the Nano daily micro dosing for a few days, maybe it is causing the influx. Wouldn't know why though as I've been using using for for over a year now. Very strange indeed.

Hopefully things settle out soon or I may lose the entire tank :(

Tank isn't doing too hot...

The tank isn't doing too well. The algae bloom is still going strong and the Corals have been closed all week. Performing the water change today I checked the salinity of the tank water as always and discovered it was sitting at 1.030. Not good. I also haven't seen the Pom Pom crab for awhile and trying to coax her out with food didn't bring her out. She may have expired during the salinity spike :(

Also, the circulation pump kind of just stop circulating water. I was thinking this could have been an issue for a little while now but just though I was just overthinking things. I bought a new one when I replaced the Purigen filter and noticed that the old one was indeed not circulating water properly. This also probably attributed to the algae bloom as well as the last SPS to die. Dammit.

I'll be performing some water tests today to see how things are looking before the weekend hits.

Hoping things begin to turn around soon.

Tank is upset

I'm not quite sure what is going on but the tank has been upset for a little over a week now. The corals don't open all the way and one of them pretty much went half white/dead overnight :( I think dosing the Carbonate Hardness buffer a couple weeks ago is what did it; I think my tank likes a slightly lower CH. Couple of water changes since then haven't really rectified the situation. Hopefully things get back to normal soon.

:(

Also, a slight worry of a Federal Furlough coming up in December which would prevent me from entering the building as long as the furlough is in place. That could bet a month+ which would not be good.

But here's to a good outcome!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Pom Pom Crab is getting big!

I may have overfed the tank a bit on Friday; the corals have pretty much been shut all day and a lot of algae seems to have sprung up over night. Whoops.

But on a happier note: the Pom Pom Crab has gotten big and her Anemone's are big and healthy as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the camera to focus very well so this is the best photo I could get of her.

Pom Pom Crab is big and healthy

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

10/27/2016 Update

The AlgaeFix has really done a number on the Algae in the system. The tank has definitely started to clear up. I did a full water parameter test last Friday and things are looking well. The Carbonate Hardness was a little low but was still in an acceptable range. As always, Magnesium is being used up so I dosed a little Friday and Monday.

I'm really impressed with the Plate Coral lately. It's fully open and beautiful. It's tentacles have gotten longer and I love watching them sway in the current. Unfortunately, my phone camera isn't the greatest so these photos are the best I could provide.

Plate Coral fully open

Another shot showing the tentacle extension

And with that, I think this will be it for today's post. I'll definitely be holding myself to posting frequent updates on the tank. I'll be doing a post, at most, every 10 days.

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Current day post

Hey all! So I'm gonna try and get back on track with frequent updates. Maybe daily or weekly updates but I don't want to promise anything quite yet :P

As you can see from the below photo, the Green Hammer Coral has grown even more since last time. Both it's heads have fully split and there are now 4 full grown heads. Today, I discovered each stalk has 2 additional buds coming off of the stock. It's hard to see in this photo but click here and I've circled them. This is quite exciting!

Hammer coral has 4 new buds!

This photo is right after I finished target feeding the coral so they are a bit closed up but you can see that each of the heads have finished splitting. You can also see a bit of the algae issue I've been dealing with the past few months. It's not nearly as bad as it used to be but still a little ways to go.

Candy Cane Coral heads have completed splitting

This one came as quite a surprise to me today. I never noticed any significant grown or changes from this Blasto. I can see it's grown a little bit when looking at older photos but nothing really stuck out. However, today after feeding I noticed a new bud coming off of the coral! I'm glad to see that the Blasto's are also growing and reproducing as well.You can also see a big of the algae problem in this photo as well.

Blasto has a new bud!

I'll have to get a whole tank photo soon so I can have a photo comparison because the tank is officially 1 year old as of a couple weeks ago!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Extremely long overdue post.

Wow, my last post was from 5 months ago. That is not ok...

A lot has happened in that time and I was able to grab a couple pictures so I'll try to summarize as best as I can to get us all up to current time.

I had thought the Pom Pom Crab had perished but she suddenly appeared a couple weeks ago when I was feeding the tank. This was great news.

The Peppermint Shrimp had passed sometime I went on vacation a few months ago. I may have to get another here soon as the Aiptasia has slowed started to come back.

The Spiny Star Astrea has also passed :( I'm not sure what caused the passing of the snail as the others are all doing just fine. However, I did not catch it's passing for awhile which caused a large algae bloom. I ended up getting some Algaefix and have been dosing as directed for 2 weeks now and it is clearing up the system slowly. I'll be getting another Spiny Star Astrea at some point to help combat the algae issue; he was a lawn mower when it came to that stuff. I'll also be checking the water parameters this week to be sure the algae isn't making the water tests give off false readings.

Anyway, without further ado, here are some of the missed photos from the past.

05/25/16: Blastos with thier tentacles extended

5/26/16 Candy Cane Coral feeding and tentacles extended

5/26/16 War Favia with tentacles extended

5/27/2016 Green Hammer is growing quickly!

7/19/16 Candy Cane Coral heads are beginning to split!

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

POM POM CRAB IS CARRYING EGGS!

LOOKIT LOOKIT LOOKIT!

OK, so the photo quality is horrendous but I was able to get a picture of the Pom Pom Crab with her... bushel? *ahem* of eggs on her abdomen before the flash scared her off. They are probably not fertilized but it's a cool sight to see! If they are fertilized, the odds of them surviving are next to none in the aquarium but it would be neat to see a bunch of baby crabby's running around... but it that was the case I wouldn't know what to do with them as it would most likely overload the system very fast... I'll have to keep on eye on it...

Pom Pom Crab with her eggs!

In further news, it seems the Peppermint shrimp has made nice work of the Aiptasia; I don't see any significant growths anywhere anymore and the bigger ones are all gone. Good work, lil guy!

The Duncan buds continue to grow and they opened up quite a bit during feeding today and the Leptasea has begun to show some of it's green color again. I'm taking all of this as a good sign that the eco system is healthy and thriving. I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank updates

I picked up a Pom Pom Crab and a Peppermint shrimp last week and I haven't really been able to find them since. I think Lieutenant Dan is still alive because during feeding I saw a Crab feeding and the new one didn't have any anemones and this one did. So I may have 2 crabs... This morning I found an empty shell of a crab though so one may have perished/been killed. It didn't look like a molt.

Also, the buds on the Duncan continue to grow quite quickly; I can't wait to see what it looks like when they've grown! I found another sponge underneath the Duncan again and just left it there.

Buds continue to grow

Plate Coral nomming

Blastos nomming

This was actually pretty cool to see because the Candy Cane's tentacles have never come out that far. Also, the top right head is regenerating nicely.

Candy Cane Coral with tentacles out

Those strange tube growths on the rocks are beginning to concern me; I think they may be those worms that release the sticky lines to gather food because whenever I feed the tank some strands come out but I can't quite tell if they are attached or not. I may have to try and remove them soon.

Also, the Aiptasia are still growing and there are a few more buds. I really hope the hrimp isn't dead because he needs to nom those right up...

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Tank seems to be thriving

I've began introducing some of the Red Sea Coral Pro Salt slowly into my water changes over the past few weeks and the tank seems to be adjusting to it well. The coral are growing rapidly (especially the Green Hammer), there's a ton of purple coralline algae growing throughout the tank and the water chemistry seems to be better. The Sarlacc Leptastrea also seems to be recovering as it is getting color back. The plate coral has constantly been moving itself and is covering it somewhat so maybe that helped.

I also seem to have a few more hitchhikers that I've never seen before so I'm hoping they didn't come in with the salt since I haven't added anything new in months. I removed something that I thought could be a type of weird worm from the tank that was underneath the Duncan plug that had gotten knocked over. I found another today and decided to try and ID it. It looks to be a pineapple sponge and they aren't really good or bad so I think I'll just leave it for now. There's also various feather dusters sprinkled around the tank and some other tube-y critters that are too small for me to ID just yet.

Pineapple Sponge attached to the Blastomussa

I'm not quite sure what this is on the Duncan but I'm hoping it's just splitting and isn't injured or a parasite.

Not sure what that white area under the head is...

I do have some aiptasia growing still and I found a new bud in a different location in the tank so I'll need to get a peppermint shrimp tomorrow. Hopefully he'll take care of them but for not I tried to syphon them out. I went to Petco last week but they didn't have any so they should have a new shipment in by now. They also had a lil pom pom crab that I may end up grabbing as well.

Plate Coral super expanded

Until next time,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Coral growth photos

Short post today but I managed to get some photos of the neat stuff going on in the tank.

Plate Coral has expanded a lot.

Plate Coral expanded. They do this to "move"

Plate Coral expanded (underside). You can see how much it has expanded from the center "core" of the coral.

The Green Hammer Coral is still growing profusely!

Purple Hammer Coral head splitting

I'm really happy to see noticeable growth of the tank :) On a sadder note: I believe the Pom Pom Crab has perished as I haven't seen him in a couple weeks now :( I really hope that isn't the case but he usually becomes active during feedings and I haven't seen any indication of activity from him. Sad day, indeed.

~ Keep on Swimming! ~

Noticeable growth

So it turns out there are a few more feather dusters on the Zoa's. I moved the Zao's and happened to see a couple more attached. So, neat.

The Green Hammer and the Plate coral are continuing to grow pretty quickly. I'll have to post some pictures soon once I clean the glass a little bit.

Also, something that is pretty neat: It seems that the Purple Hammer is beginning to split into two heads! The head has been closed for probably a month now and I noticed some strangeness with it a couple weeks ago. Last week, I noticed a second mouth had developed and this morning there is definite signs of splitting. Very cool!

As always,

~ Keep on Swimming! ~