Hey Wes, you might be right...the Scoly has made a turn around! Big and puffy (what's left of it) the last couple days.

Lnace, these sorts of things hurt don't they?
---------------------------------
So here the detailed update:

The tank has really taken a beating this year since I was out of province until mid-July, and then had 3 weeks of holidays. Tank sitter was looking after it and is not as picky as I am regarding maintenance. It was so bad that there was a layer of detritus covering fairly large portions of the sand which was then covered in cyano, and hair algae was just starting to sprout up. Eck!

I finally got around to looking after the tank this week. I did a 20% waterchange vacuuming all the sand real well. Then I cheated and ChemiCleaned it to get rid of the cyano, following that with another 20% waterchange and vacuum 48 hours later (as per instructions). Over the last couple weeks I also replaced the GFO and carbon that had been in there since April. At the beginning of August I replaced the skimmer with a SWC 180 Cone, and am very happy with this skimmer! Great buy at the price point, and a powerhouse of a skimmer.

For anyone familiar with the Sicce PSK-2500 pumps that come with many of the SWC skimmers, I replaced the stock needle wheel with a Red Devil and so far have had no issues with re-start. I did a bunch of Googling and discovered the Red Devil seems to solve the re-start issues on all counts I could find.

I also started dosing potassium again a couple days ago as I quit back in February I think it was. As expected potassium was sitting around 250 ppm. I am up to about 350 ppm right now on my way up to 400 ppm and you guys should see the polyp extension! What a difference. :rockon:

I am happy to say that the tank has bounced right back, and is now on the mend. Whew! It's nothing to brag about yet, but it is definitely doing much better in just a few weeks. The color difference from a week ago to today is pretty impressive if I do say so myself...I'm surprised actually! :eek:

I was messing around with some macro shots yesterday...I was trying to get accurate representation of color. I edited shadows to black out the background to make the photos look prettier because I can't figure out how to make my camera do that. LOL. Anyone know that trick? Colors are pretty accurate when I put them up on my plasma tv.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept420113.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept420116.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201121.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept420118.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201117.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201120.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201124.jpg

great photos Mindy!
I love that rasta mulit color.
and thanks for all your help lately.
brent

Thanks Brent, and you're welcome!

those is some pretty sweet macros there Girly

Yup, I'd say you have the macros down pat now. :biggrin:

Thanks guys!

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201125.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201127.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201129.jpg

Well, apparently I'm not over the hump yet...there has been diatoms on the sand since the last update, and some cyano starting up again. Those patches of hair algae that were starting up two weeks ago have grown now too. So...apparently it is still a toxic waste dump! :eek:

I should test phosphate today to see if my GFO is burned out already. I tested nitrate yesterday, and saw just a hint of color in the water...so maybe 0.1 ppm? I tested in the morning while the sand was still white for a better test. I'll do a waterchange today too. Potassium has been up to 400 ppm for a week now. I don't see any changes yet.

One other thought is I recently switched back to IO. I have done one waterchange with 50/50 IO/H2Ocean, and one waterchange with just IO so far.

I'm interested to see what this Milli does. I rescued it as a browned out, mostly receded, 3/4 dead piece. I chopped off all the dead branches, stuck it in the tank, and forgot about it. Now it is turning yellow...I hope it stays yellow, but I see some blue and green showing up too. Hmmm...
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept112011.jpg



Yesterday's FTS. I wish I could get better at FTS. I really need to get those corals off the sand too.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1120114.jpg

Um.... Not a milli Mindy..... Polyp structure isn't right:wink:.... Starting to look good whatever is is tho..... So does the FTS

It was a Milli when I cut the branches off. :wink: Let it grow, it will be a Milli again. :D

Great pics. Your tank is so colourful!!

why do I like arguing with you Mindy?:biggrin:........ if thats a milli...... I will...........buy you a coral of your choice (within reason of course, no scolys) next time I see you at the shop......the polyp structure isnt right, the coralite shape isnt right, the shape of the tips isnt right......heres your branch less "milli" base and heres mine.....you cant tell me these are the same type of coral:wink:....


http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept112011.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP5764.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...2/IMGP5808.jpg

Hey Myka,
What type of clownfish is that (the one in the middle picture with less white). Thanks

i'm going to have to agree with doug on this one. Doesn't look like a milli, i would think its a tenuis before a milli. interested to see that beast branch out, looks like it has some cool coloring

It's possible I'm not remembering which coral it was. It could be that I didn't look at the branches very close when I cut em off...they were only about 1" long and encrusted with coralline. Tenuis is a good guess...especially with the colors. It does look a lot like this one doesn't it:
http://www.aquaticartinc.com/images/...cro_tenuis.jpg



She's a grade a ORA Picasso.

Thanks Sunee...here I thought it was bland. :lol: I think our own tanks always look nicer through someone else's eyes.

Hows the scoly?

Here's a pic from a week ago. It looks about the same now. It has definitely perked up since I posted that first pic.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept4201110.jpg

Very nice FTS Mindy..we don't care what you think :P That's the thing with acropora i like the most,a palette of colors.If you like yellow i have a golden yellow milli i'm bringing back from a very low light former life.

It has similar features... the polyps are throwing me off though. A.Tenius ussually have thicker polyps where yours has really thin ones. Your going to have to jeep us updated on that piece

Wow....great job Myka.

Thanks Darryl. :)

Haha, thanks. :) If it's from low light, are you sure it isn't a bleached out green? Post a pic if you want, I would like to see it! :D

I will post pics as it grows. It's getting green and bluer everyday...slow grower though so far.

The flesh suddenly fell off the Scoly yesterday. :cry: Why is it always the expensive pieces that have accidents and die? This hobby can be soooo depressing sometimes. :neutral:

How's your Scoly doing? Was it able to pull through?

Thanks for asking JMes...the post right above you says it died. :(

Well, my tank is trying to crash, and I'm half-heartedly trying to stop it. I've been trying to clean up the tank after it being in the hands of a tank sitter for 8 months and the tank is resisting.

Here's the low down...

Calcium 420 ppm (Elos)
Alkalinity 8 dKH (Elos)
Magnesium 1350 ppm (Salifert)
Potassium 400 ppm (Elos)
Ammonia not detectable (Salifert)
Nitrate trace (Salifert)
Phosphate trace (Merck)

Prodibio Biodigest and Bioptim dosed on 1st and 16th of every month (started in June)
Zeovit Sponge Power 3 drops daily (started in July)
Calcium and alkalinity dosed via dosers.
250 mL BRS pelleted GFO changed every 6 weeks (not changed Apr-Aug)
300 mL Kent carbon changed every 6 weeks (not changed Apr-Aug)

Nitrate and phosphate were tested this morning before the algae fired up for the day, but I still don't trust those numbers.

When I quit working out of province and came back home in mid-July there was raging cyano covering most of the sand, and SPS colors were fairly pale. I had a lot on my plate at that time, so I pretty much ignored the tank until mid-August. I then did some waterchanges, vacuumed the sand, replaced resins, got in there and started cleaning things up. Cyano was knocked back, but still persisted. I cut back on feeding, and cut out frozen foods entirely. Cyano still persisted, and I ran out of patience.

In mid-Sept I dosed the tank with ChemiClean which didn't completely knock the cyano out...maybe 90%, but coral colors improved 50%. I was told to dose Biodigest weekly by a rep for 3 weeks right after the ChemiClean (and stick to the regular dosing of Bioptim) to help get the nitrifying bacteria up to snuff. This caused the tank to break out in a bacterial bloom of 2" long snot. Brilliant. Now the cyano is back to where it was when I started, and hair algae is just starting to tuft up pretty much everywhere.

Anyway...tomorrow, or maybe the day after I'm going to siphon the entire sandbed out of the tank, and hopefully catch the Jawfish to move him into a different tank (with sand). While siphoning the sand out I will probably end up doing a 30% waterchange. I am considering modifying the sump for chaeto harvesting, but that would mean putting the sump (and skimmer) off line for at least 24 hours. I'm also considering another dose of ChemiClean...I know it won't get rid of the problem, but it will at least get rid of the toxins that cyano releases. I'm also going to quit dosing Prodibio and Sponge Power until this is all under control.

At this point, I'm paranoid I'm going to wake up in the morning to massive RTN. I think the tank was too dirty for too long and the rocks absorbed a bunch of nutrients which are going to continue to leech for a long time.

I know the tank is close to the verge of collapse, and I just want to put my head in the sand. I have some really big projects on my lap right now, and I soooo do not want to deal with this right now. :neutral:

...and a big flash of light just came from the sump, and then sizzling and red hot burningness. Apparently a heater was feeling a bit explosive tonight. I'm glad I was around for that.

WOW...if its not one thing...its another.:sad: Hope everything is ok.

Ya, when it rains it pours!!

I managed to get about half of the sand out today while only changing about 12 gallons of water, so that's good. I left the sand that was piled up around the Jawfish burrows because there's no way I can catch him where he is right now. I also have a Melanurus Wrasse that sleeps in the sand, and a couple of Fighting Conchs. The corals have better PE now, but that's probably because of the waterchange. I'm going to try to be more consistent on the waterchanges...I've been slacking.

*waves*

good catch.. mine went while I was sleeping and wiped out my entire tank.


Steve

Nazarine! You stranger!!

Ugh! How did it wipe the tank out? :eek:

didn't , spark and such.. controller for the heater welded its self on and I woke up to coral soup. tried saving stuff but with in 3 days four 5gal buckets of skeletons was all that was left.

Steve

OMG. :eek: That would be heartbreaking! I use two small heaters, and having just one stuck on is not powerful enough to wreck havoc.

hey mindy i hope everything gets back on track with your tank yours is by far one of my faves here.sorry to hear about the scoly:( i had a heater go crazy on me a while back got stuck on the on position and when i got to the tank it was 90 degrees nothing harmed thankfully as i had no really sensitive corals in there:)

keep battling you will win:):) cheers

yup so did I, two 250 watt heaters on a system with 150 gal of water, but it happened when I had the corals in a temp tank as I was removing the sand bed from my main tank. so one 250 watt heater in a 75 gal tank.

Steve

I took a FTS today...got most of the sand out now and the tank looks much better.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Oct1520116.jpg

Looks real good..... glad things are getting better.

Tank looks good Mindy! What is the blue fish? Do you still have the cutie pie Tang???

Thanks for the comments! The tank has been running here for 2 1/2 years now, and I'm finally at a point where I'm fairly happy with it! :lol: When I move it into the new tank and glue all the corals down again then I should be quite happy! :D

Leah, that is actually a Melanarus Wrasse! He is very blue. He was a she until about 3 weeks ago he started changing into male, and turned this lovely blue color. I will try to get a close up pic of him. His fins are almost as blue as a Mandarin's fins.