I am covering the polyps with small freezer bags and the pulling them off the rock. Most of the rubbish they release stays inside the bag and no contact with me.
Continuing the process of polyp removal. One small area left and a few stubborn ones in this part of the tank and I am just about done. I am thinking about having an acan garden on the shelf space vacated by the button polyps. This would add colour and interest into the centre of the tank. The small shelf is surrounded by frogspawn and hammer head corals which would look good and protect the acans from too much flow.
I am covering the polyps with small freezer bags and the pulling them off the rock. Most of the rubbish they release stays inside the bag and no contact with me.
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I am continuing to slowly remove the button polyps from one are of the live rock. Doing this slowly and carefully and small amounts at any one time. This is providing a shelved area that I think I would like to populate with two or three acan corals. I already have a couple and I think they would look really good and add to the reef.
I might also consider a couple of colourful zoa colonies. I did a weekly water change yesterday and decided to bite the bullet! I removed a small rock covered in button polyps and had an experiment in removing them. Hands in plastic bags I scraped the rock layer beneath the polyps with a Stanley knife thus removing the polyps and the rock. One or two awkward little suckers still there but I am pretty pleased. Did all of this in the bucket of waste water I had already removed from the tank. After reading all about how toxic these little gems are I was rather nervous but I am here to tell the tale.
Had the usual flutter of the heart this morning when I saw a shrimp exoskeleton wrapped around one of the powerheads. I have just placed two new and quite small cleaner shrimps into the tank and am checking regularly to see if they have settled and are OK. Fortunately the exoskeleton was from my large boxing shrimp which is happily roaming the tank as usual. I don't know how many times this has happened over the years but I still see the skin shed and do a quick check to see all is OK. It is a fascinating process and one that often occurs after a water change. Reckon my cuc is getting up to speed with the addition of three brilliant and big nassarius snails. They are the biggest I have ever seen so hope they have appetites to match. Think it is now just a matter of time before the hair algae is reduced... hopefully. Am feeling the need to do a little bit of reefscaping and coral moving to see if I can improve water flow and remove detritus traps. Early days yet but my tank appears to be settling down. hair algae is not getting any worse and is maybe lessening. Hope this isn't wishful thinking on my part!
I have been reading about algae turf scrubbers and algae reactors. These appeal to me as natural solutions, basically improving the role of my refugium and cheato growth in removing nutrients. At present I don't have the facility to put either of these into my sump but I have positioned a piece of eggcrate that I have roughened up a bit, so that water going back to the return pump has to flow over it. It will be interesting to see if this allows for algal growth which can be harvested and removed. Worth a try as I cannot see any negative effects. If you are familiar with my website you will see I tend to read quite a bit. Whilst browsing around the issues relating to 'Old tank Syndrome' I have come across a number of very interesting if somewhat complex articles and papers relating to reef care. It is amazing how many different factors impact upon the water and life within the reef tank. Some interesting articles and blogs on the Advanced Aquarist site amongst others. These highlight the amazing number of elements that impact on our reef tanks and their care that are very difficult for us to have direct control over. When my tank has regained some semblance of balance I am thinking about removing some of the green and brown polyps, which do look rather good but are tending to overtake some areas of my tank. So then I find out about palytoxin...' 'Palytoxin is one of the most potent toxins known to mankind and poses a high risk to humans through ingestion, inhalation and dermal routes .' So now I find out my reef is trying to kill me! Will need to think very carefully how to go about removing these little beauties from my reef. Added four more trochus snails yesterday to continue the renewing of my clean up crew. The turbo snail added recently certainly enjoys the algae on the glass. Have read some interesting articles and had some good conversations with Louis at Octopus8 and Carl at CSC Aquatics. I reckon after blowing out my live rock the balance of bacteria will slowly change and improve the biological filtration within the live rock and substrata. This could be like going through a mini cycle as the bacteria grow and become more diverse. Hopefully this will recreate the balance in the aquarium resulting in a die back of the hair algae. I have also been thinking about all the chemicals and toxins the corals can put into the water. The corals certainly do their own thing in the aquarium. I had a beautiful McCosker's Flasher Wrasse for 3 years and lost him when he went carpet surfing. No Idea how he jumped out of a tiny space in the glass top. Couldn't resist a lovely replacement so added a new little chap yesterday. Seems to be settling and feeding. This is another fish with a variety of common names which can be confusing. Just spotted this photo of one of my first frags. about 1" (2.5cms) across. How things have changed. It has been 'pruned' a couple of times and is now well over 12"(30cms) in diameter. No wonder water flow, light etc all change over time. I must admit though it does look stunning in the tank with very long flowery polyps swaying in the current.
I have been searching the internet for information regarding the care of a mature or older reef tank. There seems to be an amazing amount of information about starting a reef aquarium but comparatively much less information about older and longer established tanks. I wonder why this is? Do people break up, radically change or upgrade their aquariums before they are a few years old? Is there less motivation to write about older aquariums? Are older aquariums more problematic? On one forum they discussed tanks that had been set up more than two years as old! Anyway I am still plodding on with my new regime. Continuing to be amazed at the rubbish blown out of the live rock by the turkey baster. |
AuthorI have always enjoyed keeping fish and began this website when doing the research before setting up my own modest reef. I couldn't find this type of site so decided to make my own. Archives
December 2020
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