Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[Bearchumjs]

Found the betta this morning. Now I know where he's hiding. Also got the skimmer skimming nicely, turns out it had red bubble algae growing I side the pump restricting flow. That and with the purigen and high efficiency Gfo in the reactors we are looking good.

That's all good news! But how are the plate corals doing? I think we need pictures.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Very cool Betta there!

 

[Sniperhank]

Frustrating last couple of days. I have what looks like cyano starting to start up in my sandbed. It is odd since I haven't increased feedings at all and finally have my skimmer working consistently. And with so much flow in my tank, not sure how it's possible. Here is hoping it is a late diatom bloom...but I have a feeling the missing shrimp is a cause.
Through this odd occurance, the coral are doing well. Quite colorful, besides the purple and green tentacled plate coral is losing some of its color. Probably just wants less light, we'll see on that.
I've taken sporatic pictures, but haven't found the time to post any. Hopefully will get a chance to do so later on in the week during weekly water change.

 

[Sniperhank]

Continued frustrations. I came home last night to find one of my acan lords receded into the skeleton, one head already lost. I pulled it out today to do a dip in coralrx and found that a red algae that reminds me of dragon's breath over took it. Removed what I could and did the coral dip. I rehoused it away from the other colonies and hoping for the best.
I last posted about the growth on my sandbed. It is now gone, and probably was by the end of work when I posted that. Not sure why it came and went so quickly if it was anything but cyano. Just going to skip feeding today and plan on a larger than normal water change this week.
Still no sign of the blood shrimp, so he is no longer alive. If it was molting he would have shown himself by now. Also haven't seen the comet in awhile, but I know how shy they are and won't worry about him for another week being MIA. But the deaths would explain the sudden nutrient spike and that weird cyano bloom.
On my days off I'll try to get pictures of the tank. I've been so busy at work that I have only had time to keep up with maintenance at this point. Since I'm salty about a kid punching me in the back of the head last night, seems like a good way to relax to me.

 

[Sniperhank]

Well, the acan lord colony is all gone. Thankfully, while looking at it I fed the tank and the marine beta came out! So, I'm happy.

 

[Mrc8858]

Noooo, not the acans :'(

 

[Sniperhank]

I know. It was one of my nice ones too. The largest colony is still growing and the smallest has finally grown a new head.

 

[bigbanker]

Sorry you lost the colony!

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Sorry. That does seem super frustrating. How Long did you have your fire shrimp? Are they sociable or just hide all the time?

SRC

 

[Sniperhank]

A month I think? It was sociable, always cleaning the lawn mower blenny.

 

[Sniperhank]

So, it's been awhile since I've played with my DSLR. What better reason to do so than sitting back drinking Kraken rum. So, here you are.

 

[Spicemonkey]

Wowie beeeuteeful Hank

 

[Beengirl]

Very nice!!

 

[Sniperhank]

Glad you like things. I wish it was better.

 

[Spicemonkey]

Lol that is the artiste talkin. one is never satisfied with their own work. and like a garden things are always to improve on and move around

 

[bigbanker]

Just drooled. Looks realllly good!

 

[TLTGF]

Really liking those plates.

 

[Sniperhank]

Thanks. The purple/green plate has me worried. I just don't understand why it lost so much of the purple, I think it is from too strong of lighting for it. We'll see. Been spending so much time at work I haven't had time to mess with the tank. After taking the pictures and posting last night I got called in for AWOLs at midnight, hence the one posting being at 4 am after I caught them LOL.

Overall though I'm happy with what I see when I pass the tank. The new lighting schedule I started way back on the Radions is doing well. The tips on the bird's nest are more colorful than ever. The GFO/Purigen is doing what it needs to do, as is the red bone grass in the refugium. Still need to clean out the sump in a bad sort of way, as does the skimmer. I'm thinking that I should add a small powerhead in there, but that'll be a work in progress down the road I think. Would rather plan on an upgrade first...

 

[TLTGF]

Glad to hear the lighting schedule success. I put mine on Natural mode straight out of the box and haven't turned back. The only thing I keep forgetting to do is to turn OFF the silly storms. I turned it on initially just to check it out, for the cool video factor to show off and basically convince myself that $800 for a light was worth it. Now it comes on once in a while and scares all the fish... Keep forgetting to turn it off.

Any way, I swear you and I have the same issues. My sump and the bottom of my skimmer need a cleaning like no tomorrow. I just noticed the other day when I shined a flash light looking for a cord end. No algae in mine, but a ton of detritus build-up. Can't be good.

I've upped my GFO and Carbon changeout schedule to once a month - six weeks. It was every three, but I've noticed that if I wait more than a month or so, the water starts getting the greenish tint back, and the cyano starts encroaching a bit more.

 

[Sniperhank]

I got to the point with the Gfo that I needed so much that I had to get the high efficiency Gfo. I still have hair algae that grows in my sump, but I'd rather it be there.