Time for a very long overdue update on this tank - and a request for brainstorming!
This tank has been through a lot since May - mostly summarized here:
https://www.livingreefs.com/fishyreefs-10-gallon-contest-tank-t41670.html Cliff notes version is that I added a Par38 bulb, traded in the urchin, added coral and several inverts, had a minor tank crash from the death of a poorly shipped brittlestar, then had a major tank crash resulting from an aggressive bacterial infection that wiped out all of my fish, tried to save my last fish by treating the tank with maracyn and maracyn II, which wrecked havoc on my corals, and tank then sat fallow for two months.
I finally decided it was time to bring this tank back from its despair and tenatively added a captive bred clownfish a week ago. The LFS told me I could use him to verify whether my water was okay again and could return him in a few weeks if all went well. So far so good, Tango is settling in and hasn't (yet) exhibited any signs of bacterial infection. If I can get him past the two week mark I am going to presume the problematic bacteria has died off and my tank will be good to go again. I'm optomistic :) I've also grown kind of attached to this little guy so he might be staying in my tank - just means I'll really need to rethink my stock list.
Corals are in major need of help. My duncan is the only coral that seems to be happy. The pipe organ partially died off, but the part that didn't seems to be slowly improving. I have a few zoas that have either shruken considerably or haven't opened - the blue hornets haven't opened in a good 2 1/2 months but haven't melted away, and I added a new frag of magicians that never really opened in this tank (though the mother colony they came from is doing fabulously in my 90g). I have a trachy brain coral that has lost considerable tissue around the rim. I dipped it in coral rx and it looked better for a few days, then showed another huge chunk of tissue loss on the opposite side a few days later. I want to save this coral but just can't figure out the problem with it. My orange scolly is hanging in but has receded a lot. Also dipped it and it seems to be holding. Finally have a small favia that doesn't look great but has never really looked great in this tank. Everything else died.
I've thought for a long time that this tank was getting too much light with the Par38 bulb and had the light mounted a good 3ft off the tank. But I recently borrowed a par meter and found that at my sand bed the meter was only reading 11, and at the surface it was only reading 19. Now, I don't entirely trust the meter because it also gave pretty low readings in my 90g, and Northstar suggested that Par meters don't do a good job of reading the blue spectrum lights (which this par38 bulb is heavy on), so I don't really feel confident in the number. But, I did go ahead and move the light closer, about 2ft above the tank now. I still feel like my corals respond negatively to the light but am really at a loss at this point as to what to do. Tango also hides in the shadows a lot but comes out swimming when the light goes out, again suggesting to me that the light is too bright. I dunno, any advice on this one?
Inverts are good in this tank - sexy shrimp are growing, pompom crab is still around, and snails are going strong, even my baby nassarius snails :) I also shined a light under a rock tonight to get a good look at my pompom crab and discovered that my long lost pink dwarf feather duster is still alive and happy with its crown out - that was quite the surprise!
The other big issue right now beside my un-thriving coral is that I think I picked up colonial hydroids along the way. I've thought they were mini feather dusters, but looking again at pictures of hydroids I now think that's what they are - which really bites :( They are white in color, and also on a rock in my 90g (big :( ) I know these are virtually impossible to get rid of. Is there anything that is a predator of them?
Okay, that's it for now - no pics, the tank just isn't worth photographing in its current sad state. If anyone has advice on my corals, lighting, or the hydroids, I'm all ears :)