Rebirth Of My 270..The Slow Journey

[lowman31]

I set this system up in the fall of 2010. I spent all summer finalizing plans and waiting for my tank to come in. On September 1, it was up and running. Here is where I started:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1pqwJtASLcw/TIlwaRNEk-I/AAAAAAAADYQ/g5pihRCGTr4/s800/Napa%2520Valley%2520017.JPG

About one year later is when the system peaked. Most of my corals were looking great. My fish were healthy and algae was at a minimum:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-z82y-Go05Uc/UR_DpxLBFZI/AAAAAAAAEjM/PEH3hmhdyjU/s800/fishtank10102011%2520001.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gXC5Rqw0MBg/UR_Dp9H8nqI/AAAAAAAAEjQ/_9gr2L9WNpc/s800/fishtank10102011%2520002.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1AbUBU0v7B0/UR_DspqdPiI/AAAAAAAAEjc/FkFItyLPGOs/s800/fishtank10102011%2520005.JPG

Then my focus waned throughout the winter and the summer of 2012 went to golf. I don't have any more full tank shots of this point which shows I wasn't paying enough attention. I started noticing some white lesions on the montis and polyp extension throughout was poor. Then my alk dosing pump got stuck on.....salinity went to 1.036 (and probably higher since later I found my hydrometer was measuring low about .005) and my alk went t0 about 15. My system was in a downward spiral at that point already and this made it faster. I lost a lot of stuff. Here is September 9th, 2012:

<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QsFiLcSvRT-yFkm-Xi31ydMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kgbcrh7Vsf4/UR_JVsfAelI/AAAAAAAAEk0/Fl5NZxYIkbI/s800/September202012%2520014.JPG" height="533" width="800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/111922877865903858748/Rebirth?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Rebirth</a></td></tr></table>

It has been a slow process to turn my tank around. I vowed not to gut my tank and just wait for it to rebound. Here it is now:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-8IVym46mCvI/UR_N9hwo4xI/AAAAAAAAElk/s7Blfs9-L4E/s800/02062013%2520076.JPG

In my next posts I will chronicle a little more closely how I got to this point.

[lowman31]

Here is my current equipment list:

A.G.E. custom 270 gallon aquarium. 72" x 36" x 24" deep. Three sides starphire glass, pvc bottome, and acrylic euro bracing. There are two overflows, one in each back corner.

Return pump is a Pan World 200PS

Skimmer is a Octopus 6000 SSS(Super Space Saver I think) with one three inch neck extender

For water movement inside tank I have two Vortech mp 40's sinked. Both are placed on the right side and run in long pulse mode. There is a modded Maxijet 1200 placed inbetween the two mp 40's. On the left side of the tank there is one modded Maxijet 1200 and a Tunze nano.

Lighting consists of 3 400w MH, 4 t5, two 24" strips of LED's. Two of the MH's run on ice cap ballasts, the third on a Coralvue 250-400w selectable wattage ballast. The t5's are run on an icecap 660 ballast. The 2 LED's are all Cree royal blue on a Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmed all low as possible. The lights are run on an Reefkeeper Lite.

Temperature is taken care of with a Finnex 300w and a Jager 120w.
Dosing Alk and Cal is done with a 2 BRS Drew's Doser Pumps. Vodka is dosed with a third Drew's Doser

The sump is in a dedicated fishroom and consists of a main sump with a refugium/frag bin and a garbage can with live rock connected to it.

More on the rebirth later. This experience really taught me some patience.

[lowman31]

So here is what I believe was my biggest mistake: Not having a refractometer. Now I knew beforehand that hydrometers were known for being a bit off. I thought that meant if the hydrometer said 1.026 my water my be somewhere between 1.025 and 1.027...not 1.034! When I checked out my hydrometer the first time with my refractometer, I was both enraged and relieved. Enraged because a manufacturer put out a product this poorly accurate and relieved because I was sure that I had found one big reason for my problems. I am sure that my salinity being off caused more than just my corals to look horrible and die.

I know one huge improvement that occurred when the salinity was normalized was my skimmer being more stable. When I first got my Reef Octopus it ran great. At some point it started going haywire. Underskimming and then overskimmimg and overflowing. I tried just about everything and nothing worked. My skimmer has been totally stable since my salinity has been stabilized. Having a stable skimmer that I can adjust to skim pretty wet is hugely important IMO.

The bottom line is....Hydrometers are a poor investment. Buy or borrow a refractometer.

[lowman31]

I took another FTS today messing around with RAW on my camera.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FDFgqWByKUg/USVwhXv8V1I/AAAAAAAAEnQ/pEeyN769_hI/s800/02202013%2520FTS.jpg

Yesterday I increased my MH lights on cycle to 7.25 hrs from 7 hrs. I had the cycle at 7 hrs trying to reduce algae growth and to keep temps below 80F. I think I have both of those things under control so I am going to start trying to jump start some faster SPS growth.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Wow you sure went through alot in a little short period. You have recovered well and the tank is coming back. Everything is looking good.

[lowman31]

Thanks Newbie. Its still coming along slow and steady.

Here is the story of my Grape Monti. Started off small...

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dVVTimKX6TU/TMoO9QZbN1I/AAAAAAAADn4/vGRxQAUGlkc/w517-h386-o-k/102810%2Bpics%2B032.JPG

Grew very quickly into this.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zm2Yt1SrNtI/US_FwJjWTzI/AAAAAAAAEn0/lM6hG6Vhvts/s860/Grape+Monti+Color.JPG

I like the spiral layers.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-byi0TM-ilnI/US_FwB02GqI/AAAAAAAAEn0/xN4XhlnZpMI/w739-h428-o-k/Grape%2BMonti%2BLayers.JPG

Now it is here:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LxuPUqKCqPg/US_QYXtFJyI/AAAAAAAAEpk/u1sXcR41BZ4/w493-h328-o-k/02282013%2B011.JPG

I really like the color of this monti and how fast it grows. One thing I have learned to really keep a close eye on is the polyp extension. One thing I remember is not seeing this monti's polyps extended...now I do.