Ritter's 75 Gallon Reef

Sps have been going through a real nice growth spurt lately. I ordered a dosing pump since my calcium usage has increased to more than I can handle with water changes and manual dosing. I tested for alkalinity and got a reading of 6.2! I added a tsp. of baking soda to the tank and increased my dosage in the ATO.

Great to hear! So interesting that it took off after the gfo went offline. I may never fully understand reef chemistry!

Tank is looking fabulous Gabe. I like the new additions.

Thanks Tony.

I set up a BRS dosing pump tonight for Calcium. So far I really like it but I need to dial it in perfectly. I'll probably order another for alk dosing as well and eventually for magnesium if needed. I'm mixing my own calcium with BRS calcium chloride.

Sweet. I bet that's going to be easier with maintenance. I'm going to try the reef angel dosing pumps eventually.

will have to look in to these when I get my bigger tank but for my 75G at this time I will wait.

I guess my Bangaii was hungry this morning.

Oh my! That's going to be more expensive to keep than your Mantis at that rate, and i always thought that the Bengaii were one of the more peaceful and community type of fish.

I guess ALL livestock should be labeled as "Reef Safe With Caution".

Took him over 8 hours but the Bangaii finally choked down the shrimp. I was starting to worry it was stuck there.

ritter678 wrote:I guess ALL livestock should be labeled as "Reef Safe With Caution".

So true...

I went to war on the blue snowflakes. They knocked out my big green millepora colony last week.

There was a large patch of polyps around the bottom of the milli. It's been that way almost a year but I woke up and the bottom of the milli was dead and spreading upwards. Almost all the blue snowflakes around the milli were gone overnight.

Everyday for the past week. I took a toothbrush to patches of the little polyps. My tank is about 99% free of blue snowflakes for now. It was easy to do but I didn't want to do too much at once and nuke the tank. The little polyps just brushed right away. I put fresh carbon in the reactor and today did a big water change. So far so good. I was lucky enough to catch it and save several large frags of the milli but now my biggest sps colony is gone.

If you have these in your tank don't let them grow around your sps.

Isn't that basically exactly what happened to your monti as well?

Man, those little things seem so peaceful. Lol. They do look very pretty and it's good that they basically have to grow right up to the vase to do damage.

Yep. Took out a small orange cap, the BOP birdsnest and the brown digi I got from you.

I won't happen again.

My best guess is the sps sting the blue polyps and then they release a toxin or something. Funny thing is that they've been that way for a long time with no issues. It's like a domino effect with both corals. The sps slowly peels away and the snowflakes die off in bunches until they're all gone.

Dang. Crazy. Glad you figured it out! Want a digi frag again? If so I'll cut it for you also.

Nah. Thanks for the offer though. If the ones I'm buying work out I may get one from you later.

Did some remodeling. I was on the verge of going with easier corals like softies and lps. I even remodeled a bit and added some big soft corals to the tank...within about 2 seconds I was bored with it and decided SPS ALL THE WAY! There are still several LPS in the tank and I plan on keeping several of them in the tank but I'll be moving out LPS to make room for sps as I acquire them. I removed the clams and lps from the upper rocks under the lights to make more room for sps.

IF IT'S NOT STONY IT'S A WEED!



All sps are showing more growth since adding the dosing pump for calcium. I have it dialed in pretty good now and it's benefits are showing in the tank. My alk has even been more stable since starting the calcium dosing.

Ohhhhh. It looks sexy. :-)

Yea.. I see what you mean. All those Zoas seem to be taking up valuable realestate. I might be able find some room for them if it helps... you know, free up space

Looks awesome man!

Took some more pics just for the heck of it.

Haha. Somebody has always got to harass the expensive corals!

Great pics! Thanks for posting them. Love that blue milli. Can't wait till the frag I've got grows up.

Great pics Gabe, is that from the Canon?

Fantastic pics Gabe! You have gotten good with that new camera.

Wow.....just wow....