Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[needmorecowbell]

The nem or the crab? Your Hawk would dominate the crab....

the crab, and yeah lol forgot about that. But some people say that hawks have only given shrimps trouble.. Idk.

The crab is the size of the fingernail on my pinky finger, one of the fish farts too hard it'll dominate the crab! Oh, update. Skimmer is really working now. Increased water restriction, restricted more air from silencer, cleaned skimmer. Was really spitting water all over, so I added my new favorite thing...panty hose. Problem solved.

haha I'll keep that in mind, don't want any fish farts.. So how much was it? And that's great! I'm sure algae issues will be gone after it removes all the crap that's accumulated.

 

[Sniperhank]

The crab was like 12 bucks or something. Don't really remember. I have been working lots of unpaid OT at work and haven't been giving the tank much attention. I wish I had, I would have been able to see what my clam is doing more...don't think it is doing well. Mantle isn't extended. I moved the rock it is on and it adjusted itself on the rock for better flow so IDK. I target fed it some microvert this morning so we'll see. I just know with clams once you catch it it is probably too late so Im not getting my hopes up.

Other news...skimmer is still going. Really wet skim, but it is skim so I'm happy. Did a water change on Monday and replaced the panty hose in the tank. They are doing a great job at catching junk. Quite happy with it. Fish are doing well, even the mandarin looks to be good and chubby. My only concern is with my sps corals and them being white. Now, they have full polyp extension and are growing, so I'm confused. The prime example is my Stylophora which is white on the side facing the light and maroon on the underside. I moved it into the sandbed to see what happens. My birdsnest is doing a similar thing as well, even my frag of it. The frag has encrusted and is growing, just white...

 

[Bearchumjs]

The crab was like 12 bucks or something. Don't really remember. I have been working lots of unpaid OT at work and haven't been giving the tank much attention. I wish I had, I would have been able to see what my clam is doing more...don't think it is doing well. Mantle isn't extended. I moved the rock it is on and it adjusted itself on the rock for better flow so IDK. I target fed it some microvert this morning so we'll see. I just know with clams once you catch it it is probably too late so Im not getting my hopes up.

Other news...skimmer is still going. Really wet skim, but it is skim so I'm happy. Did a water change on Monday and replaced the panty hose in the tank. They are doing a great job at catching junk. Quite happy with it. Fish are doing well, even the mandarin looks to be good and chubby. My only concern is with my sps corals and them being white. Now, they have full polyp extension and are growing, so I'm confused. The prime example is my Stylophora which is white on the side facing the light and maroon on the underside. I moved it into the sandbed to see what happens. My birdsnest is doing a similar thing as well, even my frag of it. The frag has encrusted and is growing, just white...

Petco has Pom poms for 12.99.

That stinks you are working OT and not getting paid for it! Sorry about that.

Im glad the skimmer is skimming!

That's weird about the corals and I hope thu start coloring up for you. Also I really want your clam to perk up! Thank you for the update. I was beginning to wonder how it was going.

 

[Sniperhank]

Here is the resilient purple na na still holding on

 

[needmorecowbell]

I have had similar coloration issues with my light, I put them lower and it seems to help, but very little.. I wish I woulda just went halide tbh, I'm not very thrilled with led. I think it's a you get what you pay for type of thing

 

[Sniperhank]

If you get what you pay for then They should be so colorful they shoot rainbows out of their polyps. I'm going to continue lowering intensity, I think it is just too much for them, hence the reason they don't to be vibrantly colored.

 

[needmorecowbell]

If you get what you pay for then They should be so colorful they shoot rainbows out of their polyps. I'm going to continue lowering intensity, I think it is just too much for them, hence the reason they don't to be vibrantly colored.

Lol yeah, but ive seen some pretty corals with them above it. Just keep on lowering, I'm on 25% with mine and I still have issues!

 

[Sniperhank]

You should see the other corals though! My orange monti is going to town growing. Same with the bottle brush and everything else sps wise.

 

[Bearchumjs]

You should see the other corals though! My orange monti is going to town growing. Same with the bottle brush and everything else sps wise.

I want to know what the red thing in the center are of the tank is. It pops right out at you and says "pleased to meet you!"

 

[Sniperhank]

You mean the big red sponge? Ugh, I hate that thing.

 

[Bearchumjs]

You mean the big red sponge? Ugh, I hate that thing.

Whaaaat?! Why?? Its purdy!

 

[Sniperhank]

I just can't keep build up off of it. In a high flow tank. Hurts my brain. If never do it again. Be room for another coral!

 

[Sniperhank]

So, I have been pondering. On my 55, I do a weekly 5 gal water change. That is just shy of 10%. No issues in the tank and, I'll be honest, I just don't test anymore. Now that the octopus has started skimming the issues in my tank have plunged down to trying to figure out my silly SPS issues, which I believe comes down to lighting and I will continue to adjust. Well, that is slightly untrue. My candy cane continues to be a pain in my side. I put it right beside my blue trumpet, which is doing quite well. Same level, same flow...yet the candy cane continues to struggle and die off. Like I've said time and time again, I'll never own another one.

So, my head scratcher is this. Should I do slightly larger water changes? Am I just looking for problems to solve at this point?

Also, my current dirty secret is that I have been testing out PurpleUp on my reef. Had been quite disgruntled regarding my coraline growth considering how my sps are actually growing. After several weeks of dosing I actually noticed some significant growth. I then stopped adding it for 2 weeks. No real noticeable growth. So I dosed again yesterday before work after I target fed my clam, which I just feel it might be too late for.

Oh, so now that I've painted the back of my tank black how am I supposed to clean it? Using the magfloat is almost impossible and my tank's toothbrush isn't tough enough to get it off. Any ideas?

 

[Steve silbernagel]

Test your water if u don't need a water change hold off bc my guy told me when doin water changes u are removing bacteria from the water which might need to stay in the the tank. I haven't done a WC in 6 weeks I test my water for certain things every week not all. And I'm running great.

 

[spoonman]

Test your water if u don't need a water change hold off bc my guy told me when doin water changes u are removing bacteria from the water which might need to stay in the the tank. I haven't done a WC in 6 weeks I test my water for certain things every week not all. And I'm running great.

You are removing nitrates and gunk if you are vacuuming. Beneficial bacteria is not in the water that you are taking out.

 

[Sniperhank]

Well, there is very little bacteria in the water column of your tank. Most of it is on the rock and sand. In terms of not doing a water change for 2 months...I just won't do it. In my FOWLR tank I don't do the water changes weekly, but it is obvious. There is algae on my rocks, something that isn't acceptable in my reef.

 

[Sniperhank]

So my bw clown is acting like she is getting ready to be hosted by my flowerpot...stupid fish. Maybe I'll print a pic off of one with a men...maybe them she will get the picture.

Added 1k pods last night and it came w/more few zoas. This frag is actually large and I'm interested to see what it is once it opens up, so far 3 have skirts showing and they are orange. Free bam bams? Score. If they aren't bams, be interesting to see what they are.

 

[Bearchumjs]

So my bw clown is acting like she is getting ready to be hosted by my flowerpot...stupid fish. Maybe I'll print a pic off of one with a men...maybe them she will get the picture.

Added 1k pods last night and it came w/more few zoas. This frag is actually large and I'm interested to see what it is once it opens up, so far 3 have skirts showing and they are orange. Free bam bams? Score. If they aren't bams, be interesting to see what they are.

Yay for free coral! Boo for silly clowns! Tell her to leave that flowerpot alone! Or at least post a picture of her by it.... Lol!

 

[Sniperhank]

Orange skirt with blue/white middle. Nice.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Orange skirt with blue/white middle. Nice.

I like those!!