ar-photography

xmas tree worms the colours are stunning The left side of my tank Nem Blue Linkia damn i love this guy so pretty.

50ltr NSW change this weekend corals loved it all inflated and looking lovely. Gave the full thank a good scrubbing and also cleaned the debris out of the sump. But this morning found my Cleaner shrimp dead, now to start he was pretty big when I got him so am thinking he was just old. ? . ? On the other hand when I pulled him from the tank he seemed to be stuck in his shell shedding, I have also cut my feeding back to every 2nd day and frozen on the weekend. Water... Calc: 480 Mag: 1440 kH: 10 SG: 1.026 pH: 8.4 Temp: 25-26 deg A few update photos: Old skimmer / very old picture New skimmer Full tank shot

Hey PP so what’s my best option do I sell off the coral or do I just keep an eye on it? So far the coral looks fine and is always fully extended. It’s only the male clown that plays in the coral and is not in there constantly. I’m hoping to get an anemone in the new year do you think the coral will be ok till then?

25ltr NSW water change this morning and my weekly test with great results. Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0, P04: 0 Calc: 480 Mag: 1320 SG: 1.026 pH: 8.4 kH: 10 Also added about 2 cups of cycled sand (had it in my sump for about 2 month) to the bottom of the tank i looks so much nicer than with out also make it seem even brighter. so finally here is a full tank shot now that i have no hair algae to be ashamed of. The SPS corals are starting to grow now you can see this acro is now starting to grow over the coral putty. and wow this open brain can eat and swells up something awesome after wards, iv been feeding hole whitebait to it :super: The new clowns have settled in well and the male likes the frog spawn which is so cool to watch, cant wait to have a nem for him

He ate nori today and cleaning up my rocks big time. I still have some hair algae in my tank and he has found that today also. So far looks good

Yes was thinking the same thing this morning. He has been picking algae off the rocks allot should I feed anything else at this stage like frozen food etc

Collected 240ltrs of NSW today ready for a 50ltr water change tomorrow. Also popped over to Rotorua wonder world and got this awesome lawn mower blenny (wow what a character) and a huge Torch coral and 2 tiny baby clowns. more photos to come.

Some of you may already be aware of this but I have just been hunting the Environment Waikato website and have finally found this information I wanted to clarify for myself. 16 Implementation Methods 16.3 Water Quality 16.3.2 Taking and Use of Coastal Water (Permitted Activity) The taking and use of water from the CMA is a permitted activity provided it complies with the conditions stated in this Rule. Conditions i. The take and use occurs in open coastal waters; or ii. The take and use occurs in estuaries, inlets, harbours or embayments and the quantities taken and used are less than 1,000 cubic metres per day. Principal Reasons for Adopting: The RMA distinguishes between open coastal water and water in or near estuaries, inlets, harbours and embayments. In general there are few if any, adverse effects on the environment from taking open coastal water. However, potential adverse effects on taking water from more enclosed areas and areas closer to land, include effects on sediments and habitat.

What better way to distract myself from study and to take photos of my fish tank, so here is a few procrastination photos :hello2: This is the newest addition to the tank a FoxFace rabbit fish you can see the hair algae disappearing in this photo the rocks behind him use to be covered in hair algae really happy how its coming along. Yellow polyps loving the flow Orange spot zoanthid More Zoanthid (help me ID this one please) A nice close up of Sean the Skunk cleaner Shrump

My new open Brain coral i got this over the weekend did a 10% NSW change over the weekend also. Woke up this morning and the Hair algae has halved its finally starting to look good. Will have to get a nice full tank shot soon

Thanks I waited out 6 weeks to make sure the tank was clear of any parasites. During that period I did many 20% NSW changes and got all my levels 100% I now have approx 25 coral frags all growing well and a Small FoxFace will post a picture of him when i get a good one My firefish died of a bacterial infection he managed to cut himself open on a rock really good and it just didn’t heal and he stopped eating. I now have 1 FoxFace he is doing really well The Gash

Updated Coral pictures as promised Refuge Micro Algae

Hey Atrem The fan is almost dead silent much to my surprise. The coral frags have taken off and are loving the new lighting.

On another note my new lights have arrived I now have the Maxspect Gen2 LEDS 110w (White 54w + actnic 54w) they are equal to 150w Metal Halide + Blu-ray tube T5 thank to raeh1 for getting them in for me. Sorry about the photos was in a hurry they really don't do these lights any justice they are SO bright and have an amazing colour and the shimmer is just tranquil Timer / program unit LED unit Quick Demo Mounting Tank (terrible photo and the glass is filthy) also a few new coral frags from raeh1 (please do let me know if my method of attaching them to the rocks on wrong)

So the final outcome was 5 fish dead only my fire fish survived turned out to be Marine Velvet. This disease took 3 days to knock off 5 fish i tried to QT them bit still no luck. Poor guy covered in the white powder looking spots I now have a load of weapons up my sleeve that i hope don't have to use. I managed to QT my firefish and treat with Seachems Cupmarine which i think may have saved him. I also have on board a half Bottle of Polylab Medic (got a good score half the bottle left for $25 from my LFS) Thank to everyone that helped me out.

male baby clown found dead this morning

Just after getting over the fact that my BT died from white spot this weekend some other issue has killed my Double saddleback butterfly and my yellow tail damsel. I cannot believe it the butterfly was my favorite fish and such a friendly we guy. I did all I could for the fish but this disease took them in less than 24 hours after seeing any sign of illness, I feel so useless I never thought this hobby could be so disheartening. I guess we spend SO much time and money on our fish when things go wrong you kick yourself well I sure do. I had my LFS check my water as my tests at home where showing no signs of bad water quality. The LFS tested it and also showed everything being stable. Ammonia 0.00ppm Nitrite: 0.00ppm Nitrate: 5ppm (now at 0ppm after a water change) kH: 8.5 Cal: 430 (Working on bringing up to 450) Mag: 1150 (Still a bit low but am working on it) Copper: 0.00 (tested just to make sure) Temp: 26 The only change I have made to the tank was I have made 2x 20ltr (10%) water changed using RODI water from my LFS (not from my usual LFS) and I have also changed my salt to Sera Reef salt as the AquaOne salt ran out and was showing SUPER HI P04 readings straight out of the Bucket but this was after the death of the fish. I have done a lot of reading online to try and pin point the possible problem as I can’t pick it from my water parameters. The first signs my butterfly showed was cloudy eyes on Saturday evening followed by not eating and for him that’s not right at all, after that he showed powder like white spots and very lethargic swimming on Sunday morning, by Sunday night he was dead. I was already treating the cloudy eye with Melafix which my LFS and 2 other LFS mentioned I treat him with…. But this was before the other signs showed up. I turned off my power heads as he could not handle the flow and was looking VERY weak by about 4pm Sunday not long after died. When I picked him out of the tank his tail and fins looked a bit tatted (pictures to come) So to me looks like a bacterial infection ?….. Is this possible with good water quality? Below is what I have read online Brooklynella - Similar in appearance to Uronema, these protozoa seem to be increasing in importance. The infections are initially confined to the gills but eventually will spread causing tissue irritation and skin slough producing ulcers. Fish become lethargic and secrete excess mucus. Death can occur within twelve hours from toxins released by the protozoa. First indicators can include heavy breathing, cloudy eyes, excessive mucus and Ich like lesions. This parasite must be dealt with very quickly!! A helpful read for fish Disease http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html When I read this it was too late and every sign above is what both the Butterfly and Damsel had : ( My firefish (Arnold) is showing a tatty tail but this morning looks to be healing and he is still eating and looking pretty happy with himself, the 2 baby clowns look in good health and are eating well and bobbing up and down all day as usual. Fingers crossed they hang in there but for now I plan to do another 20% water change on Wednesday and Friday as well as continue to treat with the Melafix to help with the tatty tail.

No they don’t as much as I would love one I’m not experienced enough to own one just yet. ha-ha but they do have a Leather coral they house

male baby clown found dead this morning

There is also a Natural product Called MelaFix by API it is pretty much TeaTree oil its a 7 day treatment and works really well not to mention smells great

When you say wait it out do i just wait and see if the others survive or do i treat with say Poltlab Medic ?

Just after getting over the fact that my BT died from white spot this weekend some other issue has killed my Double saddleback butterfly and my yellow tail damsel. I cannot believe it the butterfly was my favorite fish and such a friendly we guy. I did all I could for the fish but this disease took them in less than 24 hours after seeing any sign of illness, I feel so useless I never thought this hobby could be so disheartening. I guess we spend SO much time and money on our fish when things go wrong you kick yourself well I sure do. I had my LFS check my water as my tests at home where showing no signs of bad water quality. The LFS tested it and also showed everything being stable. Ammonia 0.00ppm Nitrite: 0.00ppm Nitrate: 5ppm (now at 0ppm after a water change) kH: 8.5 Cal: 430 (Working on bringing up to 450) Mag: 1150 (Still a bit low but am working on it) Copper: 0.00 (tested just to make sure) Temp: 26 The only change I have made to the tank was I have made 2x 20ltr (10%) water changed using RODI water from my LFS (not from my usual LFS) and I have also changed my salt to Sera Reef salt as the AquaOne salt ran out and was showing SUPER HI P04 readings straight out of the Bucket but this was after the death of the fish. I have done a lot of reading online to try and pin point the possible problem as I can’t pick it from my water parameters. The first signs my butterfly showed was cloudy eyes on Saturday evening followed by not eating and for him that’s not right at all, after that he showed powder like white spots and very lethargic swimming on Sunday morning, by Sunday night he was dead. I was already treating the cloudy eye with Melafix which my LFS and 2 other LFS mentioned I treat him with…. But this was before the other signs showed up. I turned off my power heads as he could not handle the flow and was looking VERY weak by about 4pm Sunday not long after died. When I picked him out of the tank his tail and fins looked a bit tatted (pictures to come) So to me looks like a bacterial infection ?….. Is this possible with good water quality? Below is what I have read online Brooklynella - Similar in appearance to Uronema, these protozoa seem to be increasing in importance. The infections are initially confined to the gills but eventually will spread causing tissue irritation and skin slough producing ulcers. Fish become lethargic and secrete excess mucus. Death can occur within twelve hours from toxins released by the protozoa. First indicators can include heavy breathing, cloudy eyes, excessive mucus and Ich like lesions. This parasite must be dealt with very quickly!! A helpful read for fish Disease http://www.chucksaddiction.com/disease.html When I read this it was too late and every sign above is what both the Butterfly and Damsel had : ( My firefish (Arnold) is showing a tatty tail but this morning looks to be healing and he is still eating and looking pretty happy with himself, the 2 baby clowns look in good health and are eating well and bobbing up and down all day as usual. Fingers crossed they hang in there but for now I plan to do another 20% water change on Wednesday and Friday as well as continue to treat with the Melafix to help with the tatty tail. Any suggestions would be of great help.

Hey Zayne thanks for your comment, in all honesty no it not as hard as SOME make it out to be I have learnt allot in starting this setup and yes it does take allot of patients sometimes more than I can handle ha-ha. I started by reading and reading some more and asking loads of question at my LFS and also on the forums also following other peoples tank journals etc to get an idea of the process. The marine hobby is much more accessible to the average Joe these days rather than just hi paid lawyers etc. As the products/equipment is more readily available at a more realistic price as well as the larger knowledge base the hobby now has.

WOW had a bit of a disaster late last night I got home late after work and did my usual routine of walking into the fish room and say hi and noticed that the tank lights were out ??? I paused for a min and thought to myself what the hell that electrical smell…..is and other pause followed by a oh poop!…… switch the power off. My filter wool in the sump was blocked but not so id didn’t block the flow just slowed it down due to allowing very little air into the overflow. This annoyed me as I change the filter wool every 2nd and as well as rotate it every other day so gunk does not build up. Anyway long stressful story short the tank overflowed all over my carpet in the fish room and managing to somehow splash onto my multi box which was set up with nice drip loops and what I thought was out of the way of potential overflow. The box melted 3 plugs to the box as well as burning thought a plugs positive pin pretty damn scary. My multi box has a surge protector and my wall mains have a circuit breaker both of which had popped THANK GOD. Fish weren’t so happy I must say as the temp had dropped to 22deg with no flow in the tank or heater or lights. With my butterfly and baby BT showing signs of white spot my guess being the stress of the low temp as it was at 26-27deg. I managed to get a new heater plugged in and also set the return pump / overflow / sump going before heading back to bed last night, this morning the whitespot looks better with the BT still showing a few small spots but was more than happy with her food this morning. I’m heading home from work at lunch with new multi boxes and replaced equipment that was mangled from the burning. Hmmm I better work out how I’m going to dry this damn carpet to??? But hey we aren’t a real reef keeper until you get a load of salty water all over the floor

Here is a few update photos of the crew not a lot new to report back on all is going well i have a few nice spots of coralline algae popping through. Iv been looking into UV sterilizers at the moment also.