Some updates…
On the biocube, things are progressing slowly with this tank. I have been battling turf/hair algae and I’m fairly certain it’s the rock that’s leaching phosphates (Caribsea life Rock shapes). I broke down and brought up the nano aquamaxx reactor and put 1/4c of GFO in it, removed a good portion of the algae, did a 10g water change, and took some peroxide to the exposed portion of rocks. That rock is clear and clean. I dose Vibrant twice a week, and once my Bacterclean gets here, will be using that instead (Vibrant almost gone). No corals as of yet in this tank and have a yellow watchman goby in QT from Vivid Aquariums downstairs in 2.6ppm Copper Power. Will move the fish into the display probably this weekend. It’s eating and looks really healthy. Unfortunately my cleaner shrimp didn’t make it and since I got it from Vivid it was hanging on the back wall, just really not as agressive as I have seen cleaner shrimp be when food is in the tank. Came down 2 days after the peroxide treatment and it was in the front corner dead. I don’t think it was related to the peroxide, but who knows. I also got 100g of Aquachar that I’ll be using next month when the chemi-pure elite is due to be removed from the tank. Curious about that stuff as it’s supposed to last 4-6 months from what Brian Covey told me.
I also added a blue tuxedo urchin to this tank and he’s a freakin lawn mower. Plenty of food for this guy.
For the 120 downstairs, it seems like the less I do, the better this tank does. The purple stylophora that was struggling in the holding tank, has spread out and is growing now. Bulletproof…it’s the only coral I had that survived the holding tank and confirmed one thing for me…I don’t have the means or the ability to set up a coral quarantine tank. In that holding tank, the dkh fell to 5.7, nitrates well over 100, calcium hovered about 300…not to mention my light is good for a fish holding/QT but not corals.
Back to the 120, the algae that was over the rocks is gone, literally, like overnight it disappeared. I have coralline algae growing out the wazzoo, as the floor is for all intents and purposes covered in coralline algae, both pink and purple. The Rainbow Bubble Tip that I got from someone here is doing well and has split about 3 times, 2 of which are now in the biocube. All fish are doing well, and even the hippo tang which got trapped under a rock and had 2 big wounds has made a full recovery (after a 2 week stint in a hospital tank). The Yellow tang, which is a massive prick has settled down, though he still hates the Tomini Tang for some reason, but it’s not as severe since I have moved to an alternating feed/nori day. For example, on monday, I’ll feed LRS about the size of a nickel, and the next will get a big piece of raw, unsalted sushi sheets in the algae grazers on each side of the tank. This has appeared to really settle the aggression down between the tangs…The clownfish, that I also got a few years ago from someone here lay eggs about once a week it seems, so I’m taking that as a good sign. The Midas Blenny is probably my favorite fish, just chalk full of personalty and has his own little hole in a rock. You can walk up to the tank and see him popping his head out with his horns over his eyes looking for food. He’s not afraid to mix it up with the bigger tangs for food. In this tank, the only place that I have algae is in my overflow box (a 60" glass coast to coast) that i toothbrush off every other week, almost like an algae scrubber, it goes into the socks and a day later, I swap out the socks.
This tank, however is still up for sale. It’s a steal for what you get with it (all rock, sump, equipment) and will basically fund my next thing, which is tear down of the biocube and put a 40 breeder in place of it using my life rock shapes as one piece of the aquascape, and a big piece of Pukani as a stand alone island, lit by 2 Hydra 26 HD’s…maybe I could get away with a single Hydra26 on that tank, but I think 2 would be better. The 40 breeder would be drilled for an exotic marine 20" overflow (picture synergy, but quieter) down into a 20 long sump. I would prefer to buy a 40 breeder stand, but if I have to make one, I will. But that’s all future plans if/when I sell the 120 gallon (not your standard 120 either, 60" long).
