100g Corner Mixed Reef

[Liquid360]

Just wanted a thread so that I could document my killing of coral over time. Hopefully not, but let's be realistic [emoji4]

This is the beginning of my tank... this particular style of rockwork I've named "Uninspired"

 

[Liquid360]

I was Sooo concerned with my mandarin having plenty of rock to graze that I just stacked as much as I could despite the awful appearance. This was obviously a mistake.

 

[Liquid360]

I love my sea apple and "fancy" brittle star. Both still in my tank today.

 

[Liquid360]

and here are more current photos after a nasty tank disaster. For some reason I have yet to figure out, upon a power outage, my thermostat resets itself at 94deg. I woke up one morning and checked the tank. I stuck my hand in the water and went back into panic mode. What I SHOULD have done was slowly bring the temp back down. What I DID was crank the chiller. I have a probe chiller once used on my fathers 600g system. It dropped my 130g system from 94deg to 77deg in maybe 20min. This likely was more damaging than the hot water was, but not by much. My chaeto turned to soup. I lost a gold nugget Maroon and I lost a bunch of coral. It is absolutely shocking to me that I didn't lose

every living thing in the tank. My GSP took a week to withdraw its polyps.
I used this as an opportunity to redo my rockwork a bit. I had phosphate problems. I added a geosreef GFO reactor, a Kessil H80 for sump, and a new NYOS 160 skimmer. Everything is stable now.

 

[Liquid360]

Added these coral yesterday... all from Cornbred. A Orange Passion acro, a Creamsicle Milli, a Flaming Phoenix monti, and a blazing Sunkist mushroom

 

[Liquid360]

Some zoas/palys

 

[Liquid360]

Ordered this awesome torch coral from yesterday/today's 20%OFF sale at EXTREMECORALS. I had a nice torch with 4 heads,but it became a 2 head torch during my Reef Soup Event Of 2017. I'd been wanting another nice torch because I love the color and movement. This one is seriously nice and is 4.5 x 4, great size! It arrives tomorrow AM.

 

[Liquid360]

I had been scrapping these weird gelatinous growths off my rock, assuming that nothing I didn't put there myself could be good. After posting here, I was told they are sponges and very good sign of a healthy system... and they are everywhere.

 

[Liquid360]

My purple tang, Wu, HATES my "thing" tool I use to blow sand off the corals/target feed. I mean she HATES it. She starts posturing when she sees me reach for it. It's the only time she ever shows aggression.

 

[Liquid360]

I have a very healthy pod population. I have spent serious cash in the irrational effort to prevent my mandarin from starving. I even have a very healthy amphipod breeding colony loving inside my GFO reactor.

 

[Liquid360]

A time laps video of my diamond Goby eating sand. I like to imagine that, as punishment, he's been forced to eat sand for his lifetime and he hates it and is ashamed, but he must keep eating sand forever [emoji4]

 

[Liquid360]

A time laps of my brittle star. CREEPY!

 

[reef heaven]

Nice additions

 

[Liquid360]

What a drag. I was so stoked about that torch, but got this email

I am sorry I am just getting to office, the order was supposed to ship last night but the coral did not look good. We will refund your money for this order in full. Sorry, Scott
--
Happy Reefing,

The Extreme Corals Crew

 

[prsnlty]

Wow nice comeback and coral. Love the creamcicle!

I'm sorry about what happened with your torch order. I know how it feels when you get all excited about a coral and then they tell you nope sorry can't have it. Maybe something better will come up [emoji6]

 

[Liquid360]

Wow nice comeback and coral. Love the creamcicle!

I'm sorry about what happened with your torch order. I know how it feels when you get all excited about a coral and then they tell you nope sorry can't have it. Maybe something better will come up [emoji6]

Much thanks! Yeah it sucks when you're awaiting the FedEx driver only to discover it was wasted anticipation. Such is life.

 

[carlson]

I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with your probing the past or not but I saw that you have a sea apple and the reason they're considered expert only is because when they get too stressed or died they release toxins that can kill everything else in the tank, just a guess

 

[Liquid360]

I'm not sure if this could have anything to do with your probing the past or not but I saw that you have a sea apple and the reason they're considered expert only is because when they get too stressed or died they release toxins that can kill everything else in the tank, just a guess

Prior to buying the sea apple, I did a lot of research and looking around. This from Advanced Aquarist. I've actually had a seaaople die in my tank and it was no big deal. It's extraordinarily rare for a sea apple to "go nuclear". Unless one were caught in a Power head, your very safe. From all I've read. Zoas/palys are FAR more dangerous than a sea apple.

" Ok, having explained what a sea apple actually is, let’s get down to the discussion of why they have such a dangerous reputation among reef aquarists. As I explained above, many marine plants and animals defend themselves from being eaten by having some sort of chemical defense that makes them toxic or highly distasteful to potential predators. These brightly colored sea cucumbers are popular because they are so beautiful, but in this case, sea apples are one of those species that appear to advertise the fact that they are toxic by having bright and easily recognizable color patterns on their bodies. The potent chemical defenses of these colorful sea cucumbers can be extremely toxic to fish and other coral reef inhabitants in an enclosed aquarium. The dangerous reputation of this attractive sea cucumber is certainly based in reality, however, as I explained in my previous articles (Toonen 1998b, 2002, 2003), sea cucumbers have a variety of defenses that are generally tried before they resort to a general release of their toxic chemicals for defense. In general, it is only when a sea apple is extremely stressed that they will actually release the toxic chemicals that are capable of wiping out an aquarium, and many people have had one of these animals die in their tanks without any evidence of toxic release. Furthermore, there are many animals that we commonly keep in our tanks (in particular some sponges and zooanthids) that have much more potent chemical defenses than do sea apples. So, basically the main reason that sea apples are potentially dangerous to a reef aquarium has less to do with their chemical defenses than with the fact that they move around and are more likely to meet an unpleasant end in our reef tanks than an equally toxic sponge or soft coral

 

[carlson]

Oh okay well that's interesting! I might try one now some day

 

[Liquid360]

Oh okay well that's interesting! I might try one now some day

They are seriously cool animals. Sooooo completely alien. Fun to watch feed.
Here's a video I took of mine. All current turned off. All movement is the apple feeding.