Teeka's 120 g coral pictures

[Teeka01]

Here is the latest addition that I got. A Pink Pearl Bubble

[Teeka01]

Green Zoos.

[Teeka01]

Mushrooms

[Teeka01]

Green Striped Mushroom

[Teeka01]

Blushy Leather

[Teeka01]

Red Zoos

[FragOutpost]

Very Nice Teeka! All of your corals are looking good! :)

[Teeka01]

Thank you. I am a pround momma of my new reef.:cool:

[FragOutpost]

So what is next for your reef?

[Teeka01]

I think I am going to hold tight with what I have until I can get my water par. into shape. I have a fear of killing corals. I will be adding the cleanup crew which should be here the end of this week or the beginning of next.

[FragOutpost]

Have you tried adding some calcium?

[FragOutpost]

What is your alk at now?

[Teeka01]

I just tested it it is KH 15.70, alk. in meg/L is 5.60

[Teeka01]

Have to wait on payday for the calcium.

[FragOutpost]

Wasn't your alk at 13 dkh just a few days ago?

[Teeka01]

I just did a water change. Now my bubble is totally closed up.

[FragOutpost]

Ok that explains where the extra alk came from. Don't worry about doing anymore water changes until you can get your alk down below 10 because IO will have a tendency to want to raise your alk. How are the rest of your corals doing? The bubble coral will be more sensitive to changes in the parameters than the softies or zoos.

[FragOutpost]

Here is a great article - Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Issues (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm)

[Teeka01]

the others are fine

[Teeka01]

Now i tested my ammonia it has spiked to .25 .

[FragOutpost]

According to the above article it looks like you are in Zone 3.

[Teeka01]

the nirate test 2 and nitrite tested 0

[FragOutpost]

Now i tested my ammonia it has spiked to .25 .

That is a little weird. Check it again over the next few days and it will likely drop on its own. Ammonia is usually produced because something is decaying.

[FragOutpost]

I wouldn't worry too much about the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at the moment. I think that your only concern right now is to lower your alk everything else should be fine.

[Teeka01]

The bubble is trying to come out alittle since the MH has kicked on.

[Teeka01]

If I am in zone 3 then it says to add calicum.

[FragOutpost]

Calcium chloride would be the best form of calcium to add. Make sure not to add something that has any form of carbonates in it. You need calcium only.

[FragOutpost]

After adding calcium chloride for 1-2 weeks your water parameters should stabilize.

[Teeka01]

Where should I get this?

[FragOutpost]

At any LFS or even Petsmart has it. Kent and Seachem both make calcium supplements using calcium chloride. (Kent liquid calcium, kent turbo calcium, seachem reef advantage calcium, seachem reef complete, to name just a few).

[Teeka01]

Okay I went to the lfs and they had kent liquid calicum. It says to add 1 cap full for every 50 gallons. I est my total gallonage at 170 so add 3 cap fulls.

[FragOutpost]

Test your calcium and alk before adding the supplemen. Wait about 6-12 hours and test again and see how much your parameters have changed.

[Teeka01]

Great news on Mr Bubbles, He is almost fully extending again. This is one of those DUH cases. I had forgot about moving him until yesterday. When we had gottn home from fishing yesterday Mr Bubbles was on his side. The flow was strong enough to move the sand from one side of him over time. When my hubby set him back up . He put him alittle deeper in the sand and said I put him back in his oringinal spot. Within an hour, he can out some. He contuniued to come out more. Today when the MHs came on out came Mr Bubbles even further. I am so happy I had just about given up hope on him.

[FragOutpost]

Great! Glad to hear that Mr. Bubbles is doing better.
Did you catch anything while fishing yesterday?

[Teeka01]

Yesterdays fishing was junk day. I caught a puffer, stingray and a very nasty baby American Eel.

[FragOutpost]

We caught some 14-16" sea trout at the local pier a couple of weeks back.
But anyways, sorry to hijack your thread. :D
To get back on topic - How's your alkalinity lately?

[Teeka01]

Alkalinity is still high I haven't done anything different except to add the gallon a day top off. It is so high it is not registering. Calicum has dropped alittle tho not much 400 today. As far as hijacking the thread, fishing is always a favorite subject, it is right up there with my reef.

[Teeka01]

Frag I have been trying to do some research on my alkalinity problem. I am going to throw a curve into my situation here. Could my magnesium be off? According to this article, that could be a problem too. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2003/chem.htm
I don't have a test for magnesium.

[FragOutpost]

Instant Ocean is low on magnesium to begin with so it is very likely that your magnesium levels are on the low side. 1200-1300 is the target for mag. Epsom salts in small amounts is a good way to raise magnesium but since epsom salts is magnesium sulfate you would not want to use that as your sole source of magnesium due to excess sulfates. Sulfates are needed in the reef aquarium it is just that epsom salts has a high ratio of sulfates to magnesium. As long as your bubble coral is looking good then I would not stress the high alk or the magnesium levels for now. Your tank is still very new and your bioload is light. Are you begining to get coraline growth on your glass?

[Teeka01]

No, no coraline is on the glass yet. But I think I am getting new coraline on my rocks. There is some patches of very white growth on my rocks next to the pathces of coraline that I have. It seems the coraline is one of the few algaes that is slow growing in my tank.

[FragOutpost]

Garf has some interesting articles on coralline growth -
http://garf.org/news19p2.html#coralline
http://garf.org/news5p2.html#coralline

[Teeka01]

I n the morning I will try to get a picture of all the new stuff. I also got a new coral today. I got a open brain the is a real bright florscent green. It is about 3" L x 1 1/2" W. My daughter sent me some "fish money" as she called it for Mothers Day. So I got me the coral.

[FragOutpost]

WooHoo! Fish money...That is something you can never have enough of! :D

[Teeka01]

My open brain.

[Teeka01]

My Orange Striped Prawn Goby (Randall)

[FragOutpost]

Very nice Teeka! Thanks for sharing your photos. How are the goby and pistol getting along?

[Teeka01]

They was sharing the hole under a rock until my serpent star decided to take it over. The shrimp left, but the goby stayed for now. But I don't think the goby has settled in all the way yet.

[Teeka01]

My blenny after getting fed. Yesterday I started feeding frozen mysis shrimp, to make sure my goby eats. So today as soon as my baster went in the tank to feed them, the blenny came right up to the baster and started watching for the mysis to come out. When some snails got close to him, he would pick the snail up and throw it. It also would try to scare the goby away from the area. I never knew the lawnmower blenny was so aggressive. But isn't he a cutey. He decided to be a ham after he was fed.

[FragOutpost]

Excellent photos Teeka! :)