FarmerTy

They can just melt away sadly or sometimes retreat deep into the rocks to die. You might get a small ammonia-nitrite-nitrate spike from its death if it truly died. Hopefully it's just retreating to recover. Sent via Tapatalk

Try where you want the frag to be and glue it there, and if it doesn't seem to be happy there or look good there, in about 3-4 weeks time, I will try relocating it somewhere else. It's just trial and error. Have lots of epoxy and super glue on hand and make the glue sandwich I was talking about... super glue, epoxy, then super glue, and then press it quickly into the live rock. Sent via Tapatalk

A possibility is the cyano are uptaking the available phosphate so that your meter will read zero. I have a reference standard for the hanna meter if you want to test your meter. I will be bringing it to the frag swap if you just want to bring your meter to the swap to test. If you aren't going, just PM me and we can find a time for you to swing by to test it. Sent via Tapatalk

I vote to drop toadstool. Lone star leather!

I could see some more bits of green algae on the glass and on some of the rocks but my tangs and clean-up crew make short work of that. I feel like my massive ball of chaeto grew some too but it's hard to quantify something that big. Btw, you can totally get the Spectracide stuff at Lowe's if you didn't want to order it online. Sent via Tapatalk

What? Somebody actually reads my thread? Lol! I was happy to report after dosing the potassium nitrate, as well as feeding a ton, as well as running my skimmer only during the day (while an air pump going at night to mitigate loss of aeration when the skimmer was off), that I was able to maintain a concentration around 4-5ppm the last couple of weeks. It dipped down slowly over the course of 4 weeks when I first dosed but at the rate it is dropping, a monthly dose of patassium nitrate may be my regiment for now. Hopefully you will have some success at maintaining your levels as well! Sent via Tapatalk

At a boy Sam! Way to work those top-down shots! Tank looks great! Sent via Tapatalk

The clam opened up in the tank. It looks a little rough but I feel like it'll make it. Sent via Tapatalk

The results are in: PO4 - 0.12 ppm (Hanna Phosphorus meter) - little high, perhaps even higher before water changes where conducted to alleviate tank conditions NO3 - 0.50-0.75 ppm (Red Sea) - good Alk - 8.8 dKh (Hanna alk meter) - good Ca - 375 ppm (Red Sea) - low, NSW around 420 ppm, shouldn't really cause many issues until it gets below 360 ppm Mg - 1,320 ppm (Red Sea) - good Sal - 1.026 (Milwaukee digital seawater refractometer) - good pH - 7.73 (Apex pH probe) - low for not running a CaRX, if this is the lower side of the swing, then its fine Temp - 79.5 (Apex temp probe) - good So, the only thing that really stands out to me may be a possible PO4 spike while trying to dose the tank with phyto to feed the clam. I read 0.12 ppm, which isn't terrible but not all that great either, but who knows what it was before the water changes were conducted. Mixed reef tanks have the ability to spiral out of control when one species is ticked and dies, as it leads to possible chemical warfare and the melting of other species as they die. For instance, the euphyllias started dying because of the high phosphate, which in turn ticked off the other corals, then the leathers start releasing terpenoids, then the trash palys start dying, and releasing palytoxins... etc. You get the point I'm trying to make. I would continue to run carbon, maybe more so than you have going right now Elizzy, to remove any chemical warfare that may be going on right now. I know I already advised you to remove the melting texas trash palys, as they can only be hurting the tank right now as they are melting away and releasing who knows how much toxins. Water changes are always going to be your best friend and maybe down the line, look at possibly running GFO to help lower your phosphates. Just use it in moderation at first as it can strip phosphates very quickly and that can also be a detriment to your system. If you don't have a reactor, you can borrow one of mine for the GFO until you get one ordered. It's just a standard TLF 150 reactor but I'm not 100% sure if it leaks or not since I always use it in the sump. I have GFO too and you can use it as long as you replace what you use. As things are getting better, I'd look to increase your calcium a bit to somewhere near the 420 ppm range. Every other parameter looks great but hopefully that rules out some of those as issues. If it's not the phosphates, then I would agree with most others as it may be some type of chemical or metals contamination, with which water changes will always help and for the metals, perhaps a poly-filter or curprisorb. I have just a little cuprisorb left over if you want to try to run that. Again, same as the GFO, just replace what you use would be sufficient for me. I'll see if I can revive that clam of yours and whenever your tank is ready, I'll replace that ORA Jeremy's monti frag you lost. Hopefully your tank turns around real quick! Cheers, -Ty

That's awesome! It's like a crooked echinoderm smiley face! GLWS! Sent via Tapatalk

Same here Elizzy. Let me know if you need any help, especially in the diagnosing department. I have every manner of test kits and could maybe help you get to the bottom of the issue... as long as it's not a toxicity/metals issue. Sent via Tapatalk

That may be the misses. Haha. Sent via Tapatalk

Doing some good pod hunting... Sent via Tapatalk

Aww, isn't that cute? You're like 1/50th of his size. Sent via Tapatalk

I was thinking the whole time what a good gumbo I could make out of that! Sent via Tapatalk

I didn't think to add reef chili. Had some just sitting there by the tank and the thought didn't ever occur to me. Your fired Dustin as my reef consultant. Where were you when I was whipping this up! Sent via Tapatalk

So, here's what I started with from Central Market: For the spirulina component, I used NLS algaemax pellets, which are a mixture of Spirulina and 8 other algaes. I left the sugar out as it is generally used as a carbon source and I'm already solid carbon dosing so I didn't feel the need to add it. Viola, everything blended into a tasty SPS soup concoction. I think people have exaggerated the smell of this mixture. It reminded me of the ocean. I was preparing for the foulest smell to ever accost my senses but it never happened. I froze it in little flat sheets in a zip lock bag since I didn't have a small ice cube tray for it. I figured I could just break it off in roughly 5 ml chunks and feed it to the tank. Sent via Tapatalk

Came home from work today and decided to whip this up for my SPS while cooking the wife some mom's famous mac and chz. They call it Pappone's recipe. Old recipe that's been around for awhile from an Italian reefer. Materials: 5 Oysters 5 Mussels 5 Clams 5 Shrimp (NOT cocktail shrimp, the big scampi type w/o the head and the shell) 1 Tablespoon of Sugar 200 mL of RO/DI water 10 g of Red Algae (Palmaria palmata; Bisck uses Julian Sprung's brand) and/or 10 g of Spirulina, 10 g of Nori (spirulina is what Bisck prefers) "Methods: Make SURE that all ingredients are the freshest possible and DO NOT use frozen foods (unless it is impossible for you). Make sure everything "live" is rinsed and cleaned before putting it into the blender. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend for 5 min, wait 2 min for it to cool, 5 more min blending, 2 min of waiting again, then finally another 5 min of blending (the pausing is so that the solution doesn't get too hot and "cook" from the heat of the blender/blades). Pour into cube forms (approx 10 mL each). Then freeze it all. You want to minimize how long everything is at room temperature. Procedure: One hour prior to turning off your lights, you have the option of adding Amino acids to the tank*. (For example, 11pm Halides off, add AA's, 12am, actinics off, then add pappone). Take off the cup of your skimmer, but leave the skimmer running (so you don't have a massive drop in O2 levels overnight). After the lights are off, start with only a cube per WEEK for every 400 L of tank water (approx 100 gallons). Be sure to measure NO3 and PO4 the next morning so that these parameters don't spike after feeding. You can reduce the amount fed if you are having nutrient problems. Also don forget to put the skimmer cup back on the next morning before the lights go back on. *If everything is going well. It is good to wait and see how the tank is doing for awhile before trying this. The whole point here is that you don't want to change anything too fast, because nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. (Another method to grind up amino acid pills in the next batch of food; however Bisck found that it sometimes causes diatom outbreaks in his tank)." Sent via Tapatalk

Good looking tang! GLWS! Sent via Tapatalk

This isn't the same one cbayer just sold, is it? Sent via Tapatalk

I think it's worth the effort to remove the base rock. These guys have some powerful toxins and I'd hate to hear that killing them in tank ended up taking down other things in the tank. Any other paly/zoa and I'd destroy in the tank, but not these guys. Alright, maybe not purple deaths either. Those are loaded too! Sent via Tapatalk

We might have to call a tow truck when your tank gets stuck in the mud. Sent via Tapatalk

Pretty fancy sump light! Are you running a frag system down there? Sent via Tapatalk

Thanks Jim. The Hawkins and the surhasoni were generally unaffected by STN in my tank up until the STN got worse on some colonies and caused my alk to spike from my CaRX from lack of uptake. That set the Hawkins and surhasoni in motion to STN in my tank. The Hawkins has stopped STN'ING in the tank but I still see some signs on the surhasoni. It'll typically take a couple weeks of recovery even after the event happened to recoup. Keep me updated on your frags progress. Generally, any new frag I add to the tank takes about a 1-2 week acclimation period and then I'll start seeing encrusting. Sent via Tapatalk

Gone! Sent via Tapatalk