Well I guess I have an SPS tank...

[.Chris.]

So when I originally started composing the opening post for this thread, it was very rambly, with my aquarium history and all that, but I said screw it, and instead I'll just post some pictures. I'll field questions as they come up, if they do.

Excuse my poor photography skills, as they were all done with my Galaxy Note 4, from the front. If you can suggest some tips on taking better photos with my phone, then by all means.

I will just give a couple of notes about my system before the reef porn.


75g rimless, with a 30g sump.
160w 10000k MaxSpect R420R on it, with 2x39w Giesemann Aquablue+, 2x54w Giesemann Lagoon Blue, and 2x54w Giesemann Actinic+.
Eshopps S-150 Skimmer
3L Media Reactor with Seachem Matrix
XF130 Gyre, Jebao RW-4, Jebao RW-8, Jebao DC12000 Return
Jebao DP-4 Doser, for Alk, Ca and Acropower.
Alk sitting around 6.2 right now, but going up after a crash down to 5.3. Ca at around 480. N is 10-15, P is 0.1ish.


I guess that's it. Some other notes on what will come in the near to middle future.

I will be changing my sump for a 75g in the next month or so, which will have a refugium and deep sand bed to try to help bring down N and P. I will also be adding a 30g frag tank onto the system, as some of the corals I have are large enough that they'll need fragging in a few months time. I will also be changing the T5s out in January for a mix of Pure Actinic, Actinic+ and Aquablue Azure if I can find them, and if not, Coral+ or something similar. I'm not satisfied with the colours on the corals, and the overall colour of my tank.

Also, I don't think there are any named corals in there, as most of them are wild specimens from fiji and indo. I know generally what they are, i.e. Acropora, Montipora, Echinophyllia.

Anyway, pictures:

FTS:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PL1FCw8Xg_I/VkEwQN1mqDI/AAAAAAAAIpw/-7Fj2SuYhq8/w1485-h835-no/20151109_184555.jpg

Left:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cs5yCY6_c2w/VkExAzW6ueI/AAAAAAAAIqY/c8C-uTNiCYY/w1485-h835-no/20151109_184900.jpg

Right:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J5clAacP4qM/VkExEW4S2iI/AAAAAAAAIqo/Vn627-syy_o/w1485-h835-no/20151109_184905.jpg

Some close up shots of various:

My first chalice, it's going through a rough patch right now, but it's recovering slowly. It used to have brilliant green patches on the vibrant orange.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J0Hp8A311Lg/VkEwR04syhI/AAAAAAAAIp4/8rx29UnnzNI/w1485-h835-no/20151109_184602.jpg

This is a fiji I picked up. The body seems to be going towards a pastel green, with bluey tips. The colour is a lot better than when I picked it up, and I think with the change of lights in the new year, it'll be something very nice.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VzISXJx9-H8/VkEv6WoisrI/AAAAAAAAIo4/804DG3lRq4o/w1485-h835-no/20151109_184430.jpg

This is a terrible picture of a lovely coral. It has very nice purple tips with a pastel blue body.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uIkQYtIdDgs/VkE_hsp2-iI/AAAAAAAAIrU/w2Aj1O_R1PY/w470-h835-no/20151109_195111.jpg


I think that's it for now.

[scumbag_gli]

Very nice! Glad to see someone else keeps more than one tang in a small tank successfully.

[.Chris.]

Don't tell anyone, but I actually have a Hippo and a Yellow in the softie tank next door.

My Kole and Goldrim are totally happy in my 75g. There's abundant flow. And aside from the Kole scrapping with the female clown constantly, they're fine. The clown actually has a huge gash in her head right now from the Kole's scalpel.

The Goldrim and Sargassum occasionally wiggle at each other.

[.Chris.]

Another picture of my apartment. It's small, but you can see where the priorities are.

75g SPS is on the right, 60g softy is in the middle, 20g planted fire belly newt tank is on the left on my desk.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QBw7UJrQclo/VkE1uuUTl2I/AAAAAAAAIq4/X4NeBcE0BFY/w1485-h835-no/20151109_190925.jpg

[reefsahoy]

You're definitely sick! Lol. You got reefers sickness!

[M007]

Nicely done :thumbsup:

[.Chris.]

The current inhabitants of my tank are:

Sargassum Trigger (Smiley)
Goldrim Tang (Arthur)
Kole Tang (Squibbly)
Ocellaris pair (DeeDee and Frankie)
One lonely Bicolour anthias (Tangerine)
Bluefin watchman goby (Galaxy/Gally) + tiger pistol shrimp
Bangaii pair (Spike and Drusilla)
Mystery Wrasse (Angel Eyes / Rollypoly)
Pair of Fire shrimp
Various snails and hermits

The names come from my girlfriend... It helps keep her from complaining too much when I buy stuff for the tank. "But it's to keep DeeDee alive!"

I'll probably add about 10-20 nano fish eventually. I was thinking geometric Hawks, coral gobies, maybe a Mandarin pair, some hover gobies, etc. I find that while the big fish are active there is nothing small to draw the eye.

[reefmutt]

Looking good Chris!
I like your dedication.. That's code for I enjoy seeing people who are as sick as I am..
Now, just because you got a couple sps in there doesn't mean you can just leave the tank like that..
You better add a couple more or the sps bullies will run you out of town.
Curious, what's the t5/led configuration under the hood?

[.Chris.]

160w 10000k maxspect razor
2x 39w giesemann aquablue+
2x 54w giesemann lagoon blue
2x 54w gisemann actinic+

I'm not satisfied with the colour though. I'll be switching to 2x 39w pure Actinic, 3x 54w aquablue+, and maybe 1 coral+ or something. I'd like the Aquablue azure but I can't find them locally.

The plan is to leave the tank more or less alone as far as stocking is concerned. I only have room for maybe 3-4 frags and I'd like to see what kind of colour and growth I get on these first before going bananas. But who knows maybe I'll take some stuff out.

[reefmutt]

that's a serious amount of light.
Are you running 3 tubes, then the maxspect and then 3 more tubes?
Don't worry, I'll be nice, you don't have to change your corals.. :)
Anyways, once you start to see your acros grow, you'll want to try a couple more and then it'll all be over.. You'll be hooked.

[.Chris.]

That's right. I'll post a few pictures of my setup and my mess of wires. It was NOT fun to run them all through a tiny hole I drilled through my wall. I'm looking forward to cutting out some gyprock to run my pipes through when I upgrade my sump in a few weeks!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ch21lt_RwHYtgwGgjWY0PKFvWr4Yzfk5XXRu66Fdje1JooNZCPsFIBMKEYakD8htfjpn89T04NLekvAOanFdyOVqNLLtOGzlz53B 0apVN4q7XhJ3N0Hmn370FhRZpHZp0osxkj_XGUele-136e5oOrbST48b-JReL0LNIzj5EnXOi_u8yGWHz8SUfqrkE2PF-vMuypxKr0iY0cAoM9818aHe4QY4CRvEhPWMhYZyNXD5vg9j6K5UNaXqvv-Pt3N-QHNnqiXa-6p4Yaazv46eXKmYUEFbnkYlktKKdZdtT8_xPxcmUyYPBB9vnLv4BLgV0Mk1VPlyx47BjkanyKcGNQltPU2YzPbtkqfPd9FcTaw3F _7doiXAf2cqD_n39eQWoBqzJOE-FWz7HQq6gwqQujTImaarSUfi7OrHbreU3iW4FKsBtwVmjr6suWV9DegYwef-yqyYHr_v5AGfsMoeLzAPMgRwKQ8T7Onz1mqFzJVvFk0BJye6p-c9jXopxKvs8ME00BCHkLJlbRNKhWnU12V-i-MlKEgAK8f_m-n-7kc=w1280-h720-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z_nbb6mMqtpJ__rC1b5RGNUOAwOi31RasPBJg3Umma-X7xZpqkVeXO3FxpIdIjpFvr4X1wkXSUMQGPJlJek1TXcFMGaER8pydrImXpcQTaWgTxTe9D12CAFpt9Bcg-gmlWuhFVWWNZf0qGQLyoN2QRUjkKDvq-fxOe_0gdx6ce7A9bEPzpBlv27LkUwCUfLGkeDL_qmSdsNXltMEetQ6KH4dMlPvvq5OjO6fEHO4Yze9WmUTtwZrcUkzejRsFkEdGm tLuyQ3rwuAKlkevfjiH7kk4crlpjDOaOZ_35mUhDlPPjf8r_xIwxzHhWmnCR-x5HTk9QK7G2fSCbV7eEeSBeT8a0XMSYCujuQ0URQIBPOv4FJxzqG3GpTehMXrmEyq_QCXlF_SlwzCoZDg55fl4Ny09pFIlX5GPGF axxmwRo_jFOsOLF_29x3J7lDObJilm-8Ah7yOhxocTbOUif3wg_-pqKV6OnpxoVOT6kHzHzGjkQ7VHBdQEd_bU3M5k1MUXhr2x8D0xh2_iQPnOW696cPB12pGNrxhihZyclvh7Y=w493-h876-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oeBhfA29s3lwTL8NnVdnP4-tx-gW_iciNDONIK5yekjZI-H84VzWhCj0SH6W-FXJiCp5U7tpLVbtwgECWbclpHQ3-TyDwWycapFnwl7Q7tbmvgMUA3EiiFlhh09ly2WvFpUXr1PQ1-6mdUiRJXoliBUQxjTmZqP76wix-AQgyBCA4A1oZs9kBiQtsuozm4fjM2UUWtOY7RzKL2iTBqYJ-ORIDEm5yzNBYH-nak4tyudx5s4qheg3QkDLgZuXEEeYxN4fHFYU8eXbw_xuTUR6u5noF5tzGp9C6TrQ5pqYNExtOoghVyRjzqntNVkvrCn432O6-ZDYQVsJoyVxJRiPpsTnmF3NhUXKrxw6X5rZRMm3UtV-C7NjvG1iJW12BuoXLOApAGrYoERC3QJliASA112MSwDNTUMHnksHF5HRyXqu07HA0xDNGHY20YNnx8jVWhwHS_Z5IAM3Q5Yx1quH Kh-TSiuuQsHVD5fd3UOVqavKt1HCBF9haza6tXt-o1hEYoDGXuj6rY4mHJZj8-1ceMQ9FIbmpnUFptI9dTsSe0A=w493-h876-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/2fp9kCFIkLI04mzRUUwnmdkN5frIMsUI5Fslz4qux7dF99_Z-2Ktr6QA-6NvNmipeRViJgL-ooW-5VZMwVmKbt69LGxMjSOw9Ddbv7vKwkXpIKdMaVDrKWXsi41lmYYeqDSrYegn36opQVtKWDgolOLWS5OAid7rXNNyJ7BXTAYtphTo wLk6NPDzYxLnSKhBwBRxfL-aX_nJ9Sqc-P707Vb0Wf12xma3_diBX-Do1eyHsGnPcIOupEtMLDTckzIzYFhcmrA7RqZ57G8jVNBfD_ZnwvZ_c02t1cc1omoNWcEU6g_SYtjKEaqxUBFTKpwBYXO2tDeWgt a4bXlRXxLjvJgifGYJzCVV727WmnDYC3gtCd9UhXiObkxrdmOflxiUC8iyg72eU9uWYWwwSONz8lFz-1vbgZCQtFbzISQmyVugEdTCLlqtm1SpdBUeTKTH5kE_HrZuN7odgyI7zHU6BR6zeLI9OLp222C_jwifoc-yVHYjBiwkUqneD8SK7RovtOW1fwwEoJF1qIpa2zu8EnFNq6cyonl_yr9v97_WQKU=w493-h876-no

In the next picture, you can see where I'll be putting my sump. it'll be on the floor against the wall on the left. That shelf will be coming out, and either put elsewhere, or junked. I'll have to sacrifice one of my waterchange bins (containers with the yellow tops) to do it, but it's worth it to increase the system volume by 70g and add a refugium/frag tank.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/MqOxgGoPCsjZpWs0IK7y1NSrMHPFLk__XfmbwUMf_14Ti3BA4rvkNBn5bcjpzdy2MYv0YarbS2Yo_lhcaoQA2Di7U_lrzpwwkdnT DUthgvvefgK3qWMoomklHiLVst2VhKEnvCJVf8ci_9Ucu0zObrME3I5m5COQNlMSk28cZMYEzoXs-CqVdvvyHj5k6nNlaUCkztdYf8ofrYejlCTMrJIYojTlDndgwhF5t_o8qOhaGSMovGGKSNg4Yb2Bhd6WSbsOGSqAflpgJC3SRLEhF 9-XE1cnLNDfLshGtzhhMgkldho672xSwjGwS33a7AQQiiJNraM1bj-uehHDvWNZ_1R7fJ0qrWgwA0xNBZ5vGP4_Pn6x__suL3RIkATC1ZG54_rq44lPBBUpOrazoIGK3d_HnYilXhVWmaZ96VMzqjVcaiz DqxjgdsgFM10FHkFq47BPfUSjuhODQMbXssIKxsp6gfAxRnlDinW7b_e5oB_q2K8hjRQ9u_EXtpd2_LUzkXX1DrTsagVE_ElCgQM yaedVVUlo7Ys8w6CLLlcNgAo=w493-h876-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6F0i9ft5TArZ7JdGiE9ZUECtevofnzoTOIThlSqN85z601xjkl0KEXq2Iw-foOWnt2hZcuDXXshUqne1gE-Q08Bg8jLszz3i0_64D3BW615Jrw_j2NVA__A0K7sl-F62Hpa7n8F1azVEAOOeHyXqQWf_eKwZt6m3xxwCQEZgKsQUa0l7ZaOLcf6eDkZkZEkUF0lNxjVL4JSRHxOlLqvDRccgwz2dkp6kX bC0tPVnJfx2GVOBuAQ6jKGRSoI64s4vTikwhyrYV-vlG67-0UyD3WW-HO0j32UFACCmBABFw57KXQSOdFNaKBusiL1dgvttlk3vuSizrDG-ARLbFbzFKyM0jV9ZKqfQk_YyT5bJT7C47RGX1VhbhcflF4Uxg7-Qeh5ugLhyrFCa_GMjUfbchG9AsWDfZalp5JoFgYPJhiioG_kR4its_1Fe8ce4Jd5pXKCCTDJflqyCOmH8gnMT7cXPjS5zMu1XNwC-Fjr2KHbDWUBPOFvREMPlG7VXU6fb_EY16cNMCijkQK_8IlWg-S2Twwju18zSLNyHRI-VSRM=w493-h876-no



A question I have is whether or not it's worthwhile or necessary to upgrade my skimmer. The one I have now performs flawlessly, and seems to handle the bioload well. With the increase in system volume, but no increase in bioload (and probably a decrease in nutrient levels with the added refugium), is it worth looking into a skimmer upgrade?

[.Chris.]

Another question I have.

Currently I'm dosing alk, ca and acropower. I have another dosing head available. Should I dose magnesium? Or some kind of coral food? And if coral food what do you guys recommend?

[Usernam Invalid]

Nice clean display. As for dosing mag is your system consuming it enough to warrant dosing. What alk n ca are you dosing now 2-part?

[.Chris.]

Well from what I understand mag level isn't very important except to "lock in" ca and alk. Higher mag means you can keep ca and alk higher.

So I just don't know if it's worth it, maybe I should just add it in bulk periodically?

I'm using Red Sea Foundation.

[reefmutt]

I don't see the point in changing your skimmer if your system is doing fine.. No problem algea or anything like that. Still pretty early in your system's development..
What is your mag level?
Not sure constant dosing of mag is necessary..
Testing and adding the required amount is usually sufficient. It's usually not something that swings dramatically..

[.Chris.]

I don't see the point in changing your skimmer if your system is doing fine.. No problem algea or anything like that. Still pretty early in your system's development..
What is your mag level?
Not sure constant dosing of mag is necessary..
Testing and adding the required amount is usually sufficient. It's usually not something that swings dramatically..
Well I'll be adding a significant volume of water. I realise the size of the skimmer is dependent on bioload and not the system volume but still.

Mag is 1200.

[reefmutt]

I'd certainly boost that mag.. Not sure it needs to be dosed, though..

[Icefire]

Nice to see a local!
keep the mag there, found some article that bumping mag 100ppm can decrease growth

I run 6 head Alk Ca Acropower and Redsea B C D

How the tank love the hi light? currently building a 36x36x24 cube with 1 Radion G2 pro, 2 Radion G2 and 2 Hydra 52 (~680 W or 66W/sq feet)

[.Chris.]

So I decided to dose mag. Unfortunately it seems I miscalculated somewhere and my mag is now off the charts of the red Sea test kit. I hope it doesn't affect anything but for now I've stopped dosing it.

My phosphate and nitrate remain stubbornly high. I have a media reactor with 3L of seachem matrix with the hope that it would reduce nitrate but it's been quite a while now with no changes noticed in the nitrate level. Still riding about 15ppm.

I'm also experiencing some minor cyano though it's definitely spreading. After asking mhucasey and reefvet over in mhucasey's topic, it seems as though the acropower is the cause. I've reduced my dosing of it slightly and am considering vodka or vinegar dosing to compensate for the added nitrogen source in acropower.

I cannot find any reliable information about which is better (vodka or vinegar) so I might just do vinegar for cost reasons.

This brings about another question. I'm concerned that if any of this actually brings down my nitrate, will phosphate go up? Should I be trying to solve that phosphate problem first? I wanted to change out my sump for a larger one with a fuge but that seems to be cost prohibitive at the moment. Do I try GFO? I have a reactor and GFO waiting for me to use just not sure if I want to go down that route. Very expensive long term.

I also feel like I'm chasing numbers right now too given that things are going well enough in the tank. Just not seeing the colours I'd like and expect. And is that lack of colours due to the elevated nutrients or my current set of bulbs which runs pretty white (2x lagoon blue, 2x Aquablue+, 2x Actinic+ all giesemann).

[.Chris.]

Nice to see a local!
keep the mag there, found some article that bumping mag 100ppm can decrease growth

I run 6 head Alk Ca Acropower and Redsea B C D

How the tank love the hi light? currently building a 36x36x24 cube with 1 Radion G2 pro, 2 Radion G2 and 2 Hydra 52 (~680 W or 66W/sq feet)

Tank loves the high light. I'm not personally satisfied with the colour of the tank so will be switching to a bluer set of bulbs in January when it's time for a bulb swap.

[Icefire]

Go slow while doing change, your SPS look like mine exept I have 0 NO3/PO4.

Currently started dosing Nitrate to get a mesurable amount and hope to get more deeper color.

[.Chris.]

Go slow while doing change, your SPS look like mine exept I have 0 NO3/PO4.

Currently started dosing Nitrate to get a mesurable amount and hope to get more deeper color.

Of course. I've changed several things but always allowed 4-6 weeks between each change to measure and observe the changes. I only change one thing at a time.

The good news is that I only upped mag to 1400 in the end. I flubbed the test so I redid it and was pleasantly surprised. Went back to dosing it but at a much reduced rate (10ml per day as opposed to 50ml).

I have decided not to vinegar dose for now. If the cyano seems to be worsening then I will consider it further but so long as it remains contained to a couple of small patches along the sand I'll leave it be.

The next change, therefore will be my light bulbs. That is scheduled for January and am considering ATI instead of giesemann. Does anyone have suggestions as to what combination to go with (for either brand)? Keep in mind I have a 10000k maxspect razor that I use between 6x t5s.

I will also be buying a second 4 head doses for Red Sea colour elements in January.

[reefmutt]

Chris, vinegar is a good start. It will bring both n and p down. But will have more effect on n. Start very slowly and test often.
Once you get n down to around 5ish ppm. We'll see where the p is an deal with it then.
P will only begin to rise if/when n drops completely to 0. You just want to make sure you don't over do the vinegar and allow n to drop to 0.
Once you've got n where you want it, see where p is sitting. I bet it won't be to excessive.. If it is,you can either employ gfo or increase vinegar while using a nitrate additive.
As for the acropower, like reefvet said, just start feeding your tang some nori and you will get natural additions is aspartic acid..
All of this info is 'what I would do' and certainly not the only way of doing things..

D'oh.. I just read your last post where you said you'd decided not to dose vinegar... That's fine, too!
But if you want to scratch the 'adding aminos itch' just feed the nori and you get some of the benefits of the acropower without having to add it..

[deeznutz1]

Very nice indeed. I love the sargassum trigger. Do yourself a favour and put a cover on the tank in the evening. You will lose it from jumping. I've lost many triggers from jumping. Actually, I've lost all my triggers from jumping!

[.Chris.]

Chris, vinegar is a good start. It will bring both n and p down. But will have more effect on n. Start very slowly and test often.
Once you get n down to around 5ish ppm. We'll see where the p is an deal with it then.
P will only begin to rise if/when n drops completely to 0. You just want to make sure you don't over do the vinegar and allow n to drop to 0.
Once you've got n where you want it, see where p is sitting. I bet it won't be to excessive.. If it is,you can either employ gfo or increase vinegar while using a nitrate additive.
As for the acropower, like reefvet said, just start feeding your tang some nori and you will get natural additions is aspartic acid..
All of this info is 'what I would do' and certainly not the only way of doing things..

D'oh.. I just read your last post where you said you'd decided not to dose vinegar... That's fine, too!
But if you want to scratch the 'adding aminos itch' just feed the nori and you get some of the benefits of the acropower without having to add it..
That's certainly what I would have done with the vinegar. And I may yet do it but I'd like to let things go for the moment. I haven't really let my matrix seed properly so I want to give it some time. In the Siporax/Matrix topic people are reporting results on Siporax after 4 weeks so I'm thinking it could take 2-3x as long for the matrix.

Also like I said I'd like to take the changes slowly so one thing at a time.

I probably will not do nori just for practical purposes. I have a canopy and cover which are annoying to lift up daily for nori. Plus I do like the affect acropower is having so we'll continue down this route for now. I'm fine with being patient unlike some people! ;)

Very nice indeed. I love the sargassum trigger. Do yourself a favour and put a cover on the tank in the evening. You will lose it from jumping. I've lost many triggers from jumping. Actually, I've lost all my triggers from jumping!

His name is Smiley and he's my favourite fish. I have a cover on the tank specifically because he jumped on me three times in the middle of the night. Luckily I sleep about six feet from my tank and got him all three times. Once he managed to get under the couch before I got him back. Nice and dusty fish!

[reefmutt]

Triggers are tough fish!
Several years ago a had a trigger with a very, very persistent ich problem..
I decided to give him fresh water baths as I didn't want to add copper to the tank.
I started at probably 30 seconds..... Over the course of a month, I continuously increased the bath time as the ich wasn't going away
My last dip was close to TEN minutes in fresh water!!!
After that, I figured if he could survive ten minutes in fresh water he could probably survive the ich, so I stopped....... Then the ich just went away...

[.Chris.]

So to answer the question no one asked, this is what I feed both my tank and my fish.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VpKxHxGShjn49o8FTRLgeZRF5V17o4te8Gv4Id721KaPPSgEJoCpvcgCULjt-X-jYHwa-yikIGKIfy_oKrv8G9Bhh5GyiOASHDb7O12XD6oHojrI1p9OhweYJPI-ioz5t_X5WK2xSdojkZHZ10MQ0pHI2qzocwWxnNDDwP7BHTAPttO4MYERPmxMpSNOnYa_D126NB-ytBQOcETkDuF0mS6Euw2arDUMPSGCJ_MPblZQ1kZYg0zYm0zwIg1CkuikLy2oS2NHjUVBOnyNqTbsnxlqJgGMCOAAPQvyabBr0Mn oLj3E8vDcRDX3Yip89c718Jv4FjjiCdz6aM2zfqi-G56t2G6gR_wM5cG-qd0tcPcw_d1IvTK9GUltQs4qn08vNh_dIQMavJkq-Ric2Ojfvsx9JGGqG_0gTAr1y34VmuARZiAvhKI8pJmvb6q2fvP5o0-pfP2gv1xbQ1M52yIHh2yGZ0n3MJiFD_2qvAYccgz5nKJCnhG92Ct22klZthi_F10LPAcOHinddumSzYN2fRFiEVs5Xi2QmK2PROe kNOA=w1685-h948-no

If you can't make out what everything is, it's a combination of:

Spirulina Brine Shrimp by Pro Salt/Hikari
Mysis by Hikari/PE
Squid by Hikari
Omni Marine by Cobalt
Mega Marine by Hikari
Cyclops by Cobalt
Rotifers by Cobalt
Coral Gumbo by Cobalt

The bloodworms are for my fire belly newts.

Two cubes of each, except Coral Gumbo which gets 5 cubes, is added to a squeeze bottle. RO water is added, along with a squirt of Selcon, Vita Chem and about 2 tsp of Reef Roids.

This all melts and gets distributed once daily (sometimes twice if I'm feeling generous) to each of my two tanks.

I also feed the following once daily:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/UEJ0b2ueKm1WDmg6yIJGL2-obC9YFX6Y0S36p3KvG-WYkrQhuvrd0VvWz297fHBpYNTRpGYLpqxaABG3vGhPRqaawlk0o6ZlmlLbxXNXgFGq8YDrSaeZ-QyzNVSNZd2-qunQXeo-5htbaUwugaTGtM2lP__1BaReeNxjgsr2F1gPbyQmhTDJ2XAcvwyB3uuTLWePqWMhTT9WPIujmxIwXWdqNwhSOErfptzROmlmrak3 M2PTHSK-oe618A81buar3bKqvykHUqH1NEyb3y5njI5fEmDemJY7f64X30nSNkf_pikKFhmFS9TCKULMIYlBtasDKr6ObTXVTq-qVc1cd8i5xOydLqexy2k_y-PAHZmxT-0VhEv4mtjDmDmbgc_Mr1bmfCWnvHiJ0IPPY4ywIo5I9FJSEkxb-njd3mgU9wg7x88nA7inGotZ7lZMw3M06VX5pTi233VQLSBT6qpK-3kpHb9LnyOw1HZ5f-T36jG5Gx5JR2r6Lr-OY0uDjGMSJfSnKDuqS_Iff1QDzLaZ7c_YT0N0waUun4e4MDM54GE=w1685-h948-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8CuMCdwAGANQohBdDcm4KZzKBkqheqREQhLNcXZN3X0rcMwqa4wkHQALYHioI4UhvBTqu-3om4bqjsuvmvsHo4nL2OvCCYqKF-ZpZkOrRJRNxZasEiQi426MyBoKtw8OFGCv5QictbWzG3zGG3U0PiFFkADCBh_JIKIBZ4xbU37eh-KFACf9Yg_DSiISTeAHS7XeluMlR6rV3OEVBqXs-_A2PwQApzvCqQIWZhIehOyjsO-rfVxz0vHo0lfTDG1D-Hd6Eq50rndj6xO-nwn8GdW5gQVtjGB9g3IZYO6ubEJctb52GvVl-TbIYJ4-d4v5fYaAJT0LZ97gprt3Xx0cLDJQ9eiq4cHX6fiFYMVc8RcIcZetrvDtqx_Yz09s2T-Sw54j_gSaSFJG0JSXurZUR0GMvWYrCsry6jenRor4zzRumWI47zGF_1cBYL1PncU5SLg4AqMfGkCoC33fzMjcKG3vTQggL0JljGs dmsHHeLdKf0IwYryC21j7DK4uk2TN6wW-BvGopOH0G-ygw0LZkbkD6VXpllbRC5M3_P-9IuM=w1685-h948-no

Seachem Marine flake
HBH Flake Frenzy
Ocean Nutrition Reef Flake
Cobalt Mysis Spirulina
Tetra Color Granules
NLS Thera+A
Hikari Marine A
Hikari Seaweed Extreme
Hikari Marine Omni

I firmly believe in a diverse diet for fish, as you can tell.

[reefmutt]

Hm... I think somebody didn't like a bunch or your photos, Chris..
Or you didn't like them..

[.Chris.]

There's just one not showing up. Not sure why. Can't be bothered to try to figure it out.

[A1t2o]

I can't see any of your picture after the first post. looks like a great tank though from what I can see.

[reefmutt]

Odd. All I see are the shots in your very first post and then your full room shot..

[.Chris.]

Odd. All I see are the shots in your very first post and then your full room shot..

Bizarre...

I'll try to take a look at the issue when I'm home on an actual computer. Should be easy enough to fix.

[reefmutt]

Yeah.. Get back to work!
It's bad enough, I come in and distract you.. Now I'm doing it virtually as well! :)

[.Chris.]

That's right. I'll post a few pictures of my setup and my mess of wires. It was NOT fun to run them all through a tiny hole I drilled through my wall. I'm looking forward to cutting out some gyprock to run my pipes through when I upgrade my sump in a few weeks!

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20150605_202541_zpssl61hgxi.jpg

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20150605_195916_zpshvpp5r5o.jpg

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20150605_195903_zpsrlwmpvlt.jpg

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151017_162122_zpsyvng82ud.jpg

In the next picture, you can see where I'll be putting my sump. it'll be on the floor against the wall on the left. That shelf will be coming out, and either put elsewhere, or junked. I'll have to sacrifice one of my waterchange bins (containers with the yellow tops) to do it, but it's worth it to increase the system volume by 70g and add a refugium/frag tank.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151017_162111_zpsd82c6rci.jpg

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151017_162100_zpsmrnr6b9v.jpg



A question I have is whether or not it's worthwhile or necessary to upgrade my skimmer. The one I have now performs flawlessly, and seems to handle the bioload well. With the increase in system volume, but no increase in bioload (and probably a decrease in nutrient levels with the added refugium), is it worth looking into a skimmer upgrade?

That should work now.

Although should update this: I probably will not be upgrading my sump at the moment. Maybe in several months, but I want to let things settle in before making any serious changes.

[.Chris.]

So to answer the question no one asked, this is what I feed both my tank and my fish.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151122_194146_zpswez6wkhz.jpg

If you can't make out what everything is, it's a combination of:

Spirulina Brine Shrimp by Pro Salt/Hikari
Mysis by Hikari/PE
Squid by Hikari
Omni Marine by Cobalt
Mega Marine by Hikari
Cyclops by Cobalt
Rotifers by Cobalt
Coral Gumbo by Cobalt

The bloodworms are for my fire belly newts.

Two cubes of each, except Coral Gumbo which gets 5 cubes, is added to a squeeze bottle. RO water is added, along with a squirt of Selcon, Vita Chem and about 2 tsp of Reef Roids.

This all melts and gets distributed once daily (sometimes twice if I'm feeling generous) to each of my two tanks.

I also feed the following once daily:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151122_195143_zpshuc5rlen.jpg

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151122_195145_zpsfvraaqva.jpg

Seachem Marine flake
HBH Flake Frenzy
Ocean Nutrition Reef Flake
Cobalt Mysis Spirulina
Tetra Color Granules
NLS Thera+A
Hikari Marine A
Hikari Seaweed Extreme
Hikari Marine Omni

I firmly believe in a diverse diet for fish, as you can tell.

[.Chris.]

All pictures should work now. Unfortunately I can't edit my previous posts to fix the links, but I quoted the posts to fix them.

[.Chris.]

Cyano starting to get slightly out of hand. Stopped dosing all acropower. No noticeable difference in coral health since I stopped but also no reduction in cyano. I will probably go minimum two weeks without acropower and observe the results.

It's theoretically possible that something else is causing the cyano but given that I've changed nothing aside from acropower I have difficulty believing it's not that.

Still struggling with keeping alk elevated. Upped my dosage again. I'm sitting at about 7dkh but would like it to go up to 8 ideally.

Nitrate and phosphate still elevated. Will probably remain elevated until I either get a chaeto refugium going or dose vinegar. Media reactor and 3L of seachem matrix seem to do diddly squat and it's been 5 weeks. On the off chance that it might do something I'll leave it as it causes no harm and costs nothing to leave it.

Corals seem fine for now. No real change. No new pictures as nothing to report. I will likely get rid of my chalices as the tank looks unbalanced and I'd like to go full full SPS.

[markalot]

Hi Chris,

thanks for fixing the pics, love the T5 additions to the razor. Need more corals pictures now. :)

[reefmutt]

Ah.. There it is.. 'Go full sps' :) I was waiting for that..
Was only a matter of time!
Good idea to stop aa additions.
Chris have you tried adding some bacteria based additives?
It may or may not help..
What are you n and p levels now?

[.Chris.]

Ah.. There it is.. 'Go full sps' :) I was waiting for that..
Was only a matter of time!
Good idea to stop aa additions.
Chris have you tried adding some bacteria based additives?
It may or may not help..
What are you n and p levels now?
A friend of mine offered to buy the chalices and suggested the tank didn't look balanced and he's right. It's something I've been thinking about since you mentioned it a few weeks back.

What would you suggest for bacteria? Only thing available here is Bactiv8. I did add 250ml over the course of a couple weeks to help seed my matrix but I noticed no difference.

N is 12-16, p is 0.12-0.16. Both Red Sea, considering getting Salifert to check against.

[.Chris.]

So

Did some more tests tonight. Calcium and mag dosing seems to be dialed in. Holding steady at 460 and 1500 now. Alkalinity stability is there, but too low. It remains around 7.0 which I feel is too low for a high nutrients system like mine. I'd like to keep it around 8.2. I've upped the dosage by another 33%, from 60ml Red Sea Foundation B, to 80ml daily. Believe it or not, I started at a dkh of 5.6 when I got my dosing system online, and I went from dosing 8ml daily, which is what I calculated to increase kh by 0.5 dkh weekly. Apparently my aquarium is smarter than I am.

I borrowed a friend's Hanna phosphorous checker, since I am convinced it's more accurate than my Red Sea. I know part of my phosphate issue is my RODI unit. I haven't changed the membrane in over a year, and the last batch of DI resin I put in there less than a month ago has already been used up, and that's only the second time I've changed it in 15 months. So clearly soemthing was up. Finally got out the trust TDS metre...10 TDS after DI. Oops. Gotta check it more often. No clue how long this has been going on for.

Anyway, I'm sure that's not entirely the issue, but partly. According to the Hanna checker, PO4 is at 0.18. Fairly consistent with the 0.16 I was getting with my Red Sea, surprisingly.

RO water is at 0.11.

Interesting note though. I checked the out on my inline TDS metre, and it spiked all the way up to 30 before settling in at around 7. The way I top off my tank, the unit is directly connected to my sump, with a sensor and solenoid valve opening and closing my RO auto top off line (with a float valve failsafe). So each time my solenoid opens, TDS spikes to 30 for about 15 seconds, before dropping down to 7.

Could that TDS of 30 topping off my sump 4-5 times daily be part of the problem?

Also another interesting note, I got the exact same result as a friend of mine who just did the same test on his RO unit. And he has an identical unit as mine, bought at the same time from the same place. Coincidence, right?

[.Chris.]

Interesting...

I just checked the PO4 in my flubber reef...I got a reading of 0.11, just like my RO. I was nearly certain (though I haven't checked in forever) that my flubber tank had 0 phosphate. 4-6 inch sand bed, plus plenty of softies sucking in nutrients, very few fish, almost no algae growth on glass, and absolutely no algae on sand or rocks. Always assumed it remained 0 in there.

So possibly this hanna checker is a POS? I need a better test kit. How's Salifert?

[reefmutt]

I have more to say but I'm going to bed, now..
.. you have the same po4 as me. And my ro unit works the same as yours.... Hm...
But most of the ro units I look at do this when starting up. There is a spike and then tds drops down after a few minutes of operation..
Po4 test kit: elos high resolution phosphate test kit.. The best. Most accurate, most consistent and easiest to read..

[reefmutt]

Come to think of it.. I have a couple at my place.. I was using two and comparing results.. They gave the same results.
I'll bring you one, next time I'm in..

[.Chris.]

I have more to say but I'm going to bed, now..
.. you have the same po4 as me. And my ro unit works the same as yours.... Hm...
But most of the ro units I look at do this when starting up. There is a spike and then tds drops down after a few minutes of operation..
Po4 test kit: elos high resolution phosphate test kit.. The best. Most accurate, most consistent and easiest to read..

Just makes me wonder if that initial spike could cause issues long term. Most people fill a bin or aquarium with RO for waterchanges and top off so the amount of high tds water that gets into the system is comparatively smaller than mine since I have mine turning on several times daily.

I'd greatly appreciate that test kit! I'm curious to see if it gives a different result. A lower result Haha.

I'll put up new pictures tomorrow when I give the glass a scrubbing. I'm having some die off at the base of one of my oldest and healthiest colonies. Slightly concerned it'll spread further. Might have to do surgery and frag off the healthy portion.

[.Chris.]

So Matt (reefmutt) gave me an Elos Pro PO4 test kit to use, and lo and behold, previous tests were incorrect. I'm getting a reading of 0.10 or so (between the 0.092 and 0.14 on the test, and closer to the former), which is far more agreeable than the 0.16 from Red Sea, and 0.18 from the Hanna checker. Did not check my RO source again, but I'll assume there's still something funky going on there and change the membrane and DI resin anyway. Flubber reef is (annoyingly) at 0.03 p, probably the result of having a 4" DSB in the tank itself.

With this result, not nearly as in a rush to do something about p, so I'll live with it for now. I suspect vinegar would help bring both p and n down, but I won't go there yet. N remains high, but don't want to say how high since I don't trust the Red Sea kit. I will try Salifert when I get my hands on one.

Alkalinity is (finally) on the rise. 7.5 now, after bumping my dosing to 80ml/day from 60ml/day. I will likely have to lower the dosing amount to stabilise it at 8.2 or so, but we'll see how that goes!

And finally, the mystery of the bleaching base on one of my acros will likely be resolved by me fragging out the major branch of it, and chucking the rest. Not sure what it is, but it's continuing to climb up the base, and I'd like to take care of it before it gets worse.

No new pictures for now, since I'm running out of the house at the moment, but I'll try to get some this evening when the lights are on.

[.Chris.]

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184440_zpsebgywv9i.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184440_zpsebgywv9i.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184427_zpspbqerol8.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184427_zpspbqerol8.jpg.html)

So no idea where this tissue loss came from all of a sudden but it kept going so I decided to frag it out to be on the safe side. Nothing else seems to be affected by it. So I took the two largest unaffected frags and glued it down to its encrusted base. Still kinda looks natural. Eventually it'll grow back.

[reefmutt]

Chris, in the first pic, right up near where the flesh stops and the white begins, there is a beige cluster that looks distinctively (pretty much exactly) like aefw eggs.. Hard to really tell because it get too blurry when you expand the photo.. But the shape, colour and location really look like them..

[.Chris.]

I have the original photo in higher resolution. It looks more like algae to me... But not sure. We'll have to wait and see now.

[reefmutt]

Well, if you chopped and glued, maybe they are history anyways..

[.Chris.]

Well, if you chopped and glued, maybe they are history anyways..

So it was definitely that. I happened to not have thrown out the parts I fragged off and it was absolutely eggs. I'll keep a close eye on it for now and Bayer dip them if necessary.

[reefmutt]

Get some peppermint shrimp in there..
They love aefw eggs..

[.Chris.]

I'll post some pictures tomorrow, but for now, here's the scoop:

I have not water changed my tank for three weeks, partly due to laziness, partly too busy, partly as an experiment. The only things I have done are clean the front glass (only because I had someone over), empty the skimmer cup once as it was about to overflow, took 4 of my 6 chalices out with the other two being removed tomorrow morning.

I forgot to check my alk dosing container, so alk dropped from 7 to 5.5, and I worked hard to get to that 7. Back to square one there.

Nitrate dropped from 16 to 0.25...no joke. Phosphate dropped from 0.14 to 0.09. Matrix kicking in finally?

Almost all remaining corals have excellent PE and colour. Even some of my formerly reject fijis are coming back. One is stubbornly pale pale pale green, wondering if it'll come back, but I doubt it as PE isn't wonderful.

I think I will continue this nonwaterchanging for a while. But with this step, the question becomes, should I dose my Red Sea ABCD colours? Or some equivalent? To replenish trace elements. I've resisted doing so until now.

Also, still considering dosing vinegar. Though with the current reduction in nutrients, I'm not as sure anymore.

Totally off acropower. I think I quit on that. The cyano basically went away when I stopped using it, and I've seen better everything since, so. Waste of money there. Ah well.

Also, nearly due for changing my tubes. I am soliciting suggestions on what I should use. Gman or ATI or a combination of both. I have six tubes total, 4 54w, 2 39w. I currently have 2 Aquable+ 39w, 2 Lagoon Blue 54w and 2 Actinic+ 54w, all Gman. I was thinking something like 3 ATI Blue+ 54w, 2 Coral+ 39w, 1 Purple+ 54w.

[reefmutt]

Seems your system is really beginning to get well established with bacteria.. Good!
Trace elements .. Tough question.. Maybe go half dose?
I wouldt hink vinegar should be off your 'to do' list now that nutrients are way down... But by the same token, you may want to keep that acropower around.. Or start feeding more fish or coral food..
As for bulbs, personally, I think it has little to do with coral colour and more to do with how you want your tank to look.. Assuming you're not going to go with kitchen lights...

Didn't I hear you say something about pics?? :)

[.Chris.]

Yeah yeah, pictures are incoming now. I just took a lot of shots of each colony/frag individually, so prepare for coral porn.

With how well the tank is doing, I am honestly loathe to touch anything. To dose ABCD, I would need another dosing pump absolutely, because I am far too lazy to do it manually with regularity. On top of that, I have a widely varying schedule, so I wouldn't want to miss a day if I started the process.

Current parameters are as follows:

kH 6.5 (Red Sea, up from 5.7 a week ago)
Ca 450 (Red Sea)
Mg 1400 (Red Sea)
PO4 0.09 (Elos Pro)
NO3 0.02 (Salifert and Red Sea)

So pretty happy about that. Not really sure if I should touch anything based on that. PO4 is a little high, but not unmanageably so. I MAY start dosing nitrate to see if it reduces phosphate, but more feeding would also do the same, so I'll probably (finally) rig up my dry auto feeder to feed twice a day, plus feed frozen on days where I remember to do so/am home to do it.

Light bulbs get changed out next week. Going to go significantly bluer. I decided on 3 Gman Actinic+, 1 Gman Aquapink, 2 Gman Lagoon Blue. If I find it too blue, I'll ramp up my Maxspect Razor higher in the white, as it's only peaking at 30% right now.

For now I think that's all the change I will do. Observe for a month with heavier feedings and changed light configuration to see how the tank reacts. Next step will be to decide on the Red Sea ABCD, vinegar, and a return to acropower, based on the way the tank reacts to this.

Can't think of anything else for now. So here's some porn.

Sargassum Trigger (Name: Smiley) Photobomb

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222734_zpsxlxeeudl.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222734_zpsxlxeeudl.jpg.html)

Remaining piece of tricolor acro after fragging it to attempt to remove AEFW eggs. Seems fine. Needs a permanent home, but my coral glue is rock hard (and brand new, which ****es me off).

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222729_zpsyvf3xeqb.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222729_zpsyvf3xeqb.jpg.html)

A previously white out millie, which seems to be going greenish blue. I got it because it had a pale yellow body with blue tips, but it went white, and now this.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222748_zpsecxrnzhu.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222748_zpsecxrnzhu.jpg.html)

Nice purple maricultured piece. Not sure if this will be it's final colour, but it's been holding on for a while. Had to move it recently, as my big *** carpet anemone was stinging the base. Will remount properly soon.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222751_zpsyhgrqn3z.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222751_zpsyhgrqn3z.jpg.html)

This frag is a red sea purple stylo, which my friend bought at the same time as I bought a frag of the same, at the same size. I plan to rescue it...

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222802_zpsuenr5mp0.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222802_zpsuenr5mp0.jpg.html)

Because this is the same coral, but this is my frag...clearly mine won this round between my buddy and I.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222816_zpsrsavpnnb.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222816_zpsrsavpnnb.jpg.html)

Another maricultured frag. It was originally a pale green body with blue tips. Went almost white, seems to be coming back now.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222824_zpsoaqallyp.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222824_zpsoaqallyp.jpg.html)

This is by far my favourite piece right now. Nothing really on growth yet, but the colours are so nice. The green is pale, but extremely vibrant, and the purple is bright and happy looking. Fantastic PE too.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222834_zpsc29wnbui.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222834_zpsc29wnbui.jpg.html)

[.Chris.]

Boring green acro, but a good grower. Had a much bigger piece, but I never removed it from it's stone plug and it looked ugly, so I fragged off the biggest piece, and reglued it down minus the ugly rock.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222844_zpsb83xvdko.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222844_zpsb83xvdko.jpg.html)

Green slimer really taking off.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222907_zpsvac3nerc.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222907_zpsvac3nerc.jpg.html)

Medium Sarmentosa colony, the colours went from yellow-green with pinkish polyps, to the standard Sarmentosa colours of green body, reddish brown polyps. I like it though.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222914_zpsgfwsru8b.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222914_zpsgfwsru8b.jpg.html)

Green and pink stylo frags.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222925_zpsytuenkzb.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222925_zpsytuenkzb.jpg.html)

And lastly, FTS. My big green monti colony is mangled right now as I just broke up a huge piece to clear up some viewing space. I actually have a question regarding this: If it was only attached to my overflow, would the monti support itself? I'm strongly considering removing more and letting it grow on the overflow, without support from the base.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222937_zpsqcklznr6.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20151229_222937_zpsqcklznr6.jpg.html)

[markalot]

Boring green acros are the best, they live when everything else dies. :D

Tank is looking good, hope you find that blue stag!

[glaukos]

Boring green acros are the best, they live when everything else dies. :D

:lolspin::lolspin:
So true mark,so true!

Tank looks good chris and i love the trigger:)
When the corals grow even more, it will be awesome.It won't be long before that green monti take over all that free space in the middle of the tank.
You must have some serious flow too with all these pumps huh?

[.Chris.]

Boring green acros are the best, they live when everything else dies. :D

Tank is looking good, hope you find that blue stag!
I so hope that never happens, but if it does, I'll be happy the boring green one lives.

:lolspin::lolspin:
So true mark,so true!

Tank looks good chris and i love the trigger:)
When the corals grow even more, it will be awesome.It won't be long before that green monti take over all that free space in the middle of the tank.
You must have some serious flow too with all these pumps huh?
My big anemone will probably keep the monti under control. I think it would look pretty impresisve if it filled up the whole centre, though. Nothing else is going there, so.

I have a Gyre XF130, that I run at 100% forward, and 50% reverse, switching every 15min. Then I have a Jebao RW-4, and a RW-15, synced up to run on Jebao's version of the Reef Crest mode, at lowest power. And then I have my return pump which splits into four nozzles, from a Jebao DC-12000 pump.

[reefmutt]

Looking good Chris.
Nice clean algea free tank!! Mumble grumble..
I think the monti will support itself, but like Mike said, it won't be long until it grows into a monster.
Love the sargassum!

[.Chris.]

Looking good Chris.
Nice clean algea free tank!! Mumble grumble..
I think the monti will support itself, but like Mike said, it won't be long until it grows into a monster.
Love the sargassum!

I'm fortunate...my Goldrim tang seems to love bubble algae. My overflow is absolutely overrun with it. I should take a picture, but there's probably an inch of bubble algae on all sides in there, no joke. But the tang will eat any he can get to, so I only see them inside powerheads and the overflow.

The only other algae problem I ever had was red brush algae. Mexican turbos took care of that very quickly, within ten days of putting them in. Most of them have since died off, but I don't seem to have any further need of them.

I did notice I had some aiptasia recently though. I had to move my anemone as it was stinging a frag, and when I turned over my anemone's rock, bam. Like eight aiptasias. I'll have to keep an eye on that, or get some peppermint shrimp in there.

I think it would be an interesting effect to have the monti floating. I might regret doing it, but I think I'll break off the support structure it has this weekend, and leave it floating. It'll give me more room to get some frags in there too. :D

[sahin]

I am sorry to inform you, but the photo below shows the unmistakable AEFW eggs. :sad1:

The coral the eggs are on is also one of AEFW's favorite acros...

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184440_zpsebgywv9i.jpg

It might have been early stages of infestation, and if you've covered the eggs with glue, then hopefully its ok...but I would certainly keep an eye on that colony for bitemarks...

[.Chris.]

I am sorry to inform you, but the photo below shows the unmistakable AEFW eggs. :sad1:

The coral the eggs are on is also one of AEFW's favorite acros...

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20151205_184440_zpsebgywv9i.jpg

It might have been early stages of infestation, and if you've covered the eggs with glue, then hopefully its ok...but I would certainly keep an eye on that colony for bitemarks...

I fragged it out and am only left with the largest portion of the colony, as the damage continued. I'm hoping it arrests them.

[fearyaks]

Any chance someone can point out the eggs for a newb?

[.Chris.]

Any chance someone can point out the eggs for a newb?

It's not fully resolved but if you look at the bleached portion of the coral near the stone base there is a small brown patch at the top of the bleached area. That's the eggs. When you see them in person they are distinctly separate brown eggs.

[fearyaks]

Aah thanks! Is there any reason they are on the bleached portion as opposed to the living tissue?

[sahin]

Aah thanks! Is there any reason they are on the bleached portion as opposed to the living tissue?

AEFW's always lay the eggs on newly exposed skeleton or on a section of rock VERY close to LIVE Acropora tissue.

This is because due to two reasons:
1. If they lay on live tissue the acropora tissue may damage the eggs or grow over;
2. New hatchlings need to eat right away; they die within a few days without acropora tissue; therefore the eggs are always located VERY close to live tissue.

AEFW's are bloody clever little $hit$.

[glaukos]

AEFW's always lay the eggs on newly exposed skeleton or on a section of rock VERY close to LIVE Acropora tissue.

This is because due to two reasons:
1. If they lay on live tissue the acropora tissue may damage the eggs or grow over;
2. New hatchlings need to eat right away; they die within a few days without acropora tissue; therefore the eggs are always located VERY close to live tissue.

AEFW's are bloody clever little $hit$.
Couldn't agree more buddy:beer:
Nasty @#@$%@s

[fearyaks]

Thanks so much for the info.

[.Chris.]

AEFW's always lay the eggs on newly exposed skeleton or on a section of rock VERY close to LIVE Acropora tissue.

This is because due to two reasons:
1. If they lay on live tissue the acropora tissue may damage the eggs or grow over;
2. New hatchlings need to eat right away; they die within a few days without acropora tissue; therefore the eggs are always located VERY close to live tissue.

AEFW's are bloody clever little $hit$.

Sahin explained that better than I could.

So given this, hopefully my aggressive fragging of my piece will alleviate the situation. The frag itself was actually on a separate stone base, so I junked the whole thing.

[.Chris.]

So I got a shiny new coral viewer. Unfortunately it's slightly too small for my giant phone to fit in, so the pictures weren't the greatest, so this is a test run. Might buy a bigger one. I also have an underwater point and shoot I'm going to give a shot tonight or tomorrow, we'll see.

I also haven't adjusted anything from the default settings on my phone. If someone has suggestions for what might make the pictures come out nicer, I use a Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

I picked up this little guy on friday. Seems to be happy. PE isn't 100% yet, but it's as good as it was in the store when I got it.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191604_zpslxfbo1i1.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191604_zpslxfbo1i1.jpg.html)

I broke off the bottom portion of my monti colony to leave it floating, connected to my overflow.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_190117_zpsdqlc1fqy.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_190117_zpsdqlc1fqy.jpg.html)

And then I'm just going to dump the rest.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191734_zpsqb5ffd7s.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191734_zpsqb5ffd7s.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191709_zpsvud67mnq.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191709_zpsvud67mnq.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191617_zps0shjspsq.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191617_zps0shjspsq.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191553_zps0ku0odzw.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191553_zps0ku0odzw.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191539_zpsgdx7oc17.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191539_zpsgdx7oc17.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191544_zpsqawgqgnk.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160110_191544_zpsqawgqgnk.jpg.html)

[reefmutt]

Looking good, Chris.
Daniel- nemodan, uses a note 4.
He has some fantastic shots.

[.Chris.]

Looking good, Chris.
Daniel- nemodan, uses a note 4.
He has some fantastic shots.

Thanks! I just poked my nose in to ask him what settings he used.

I'm planning to do an order with fragbox this weekend, so I'm super excited for that. Got plenty of room now that that flubber is all gone.

[nemodan]

Hi Chris

I have answered your question in my thread.

Nice looking tank you have here !!!! But it still have a lot of real state to fill...... Let see how it is filled.

If you don't mind I will start to follow this thread. There is always something to learn !!!

Again nice tank and nice shoots too. I am sure with your Note 4 you will be taken the same quality pictures as Matt, that are better than mine

Cheers
Daniel

Forgot to say: for the upside down pictures I use an acrilic viewer.

[.Chris.]

Hi Chris

I have answered your question in my thread.

Nice looking tank you have here !!!! But it still have a lot of real state to fill...... Let see how it is filled.

If you don't mind I will start to follow this thread. There is always something to learn !!!

Again nice tank and nice shoots too. I am sure with your Note 4 you will be taken the same quality pictures as Matt, that are better than mine

Cheers
Daniel
Thanks so much! Yeah, it's a work in progress. I probably won't stuff it like most of you SPS freaks do, but there's defintiely room for another 15-20 frags!

[reefmutt]

Thanks so much! Yeah, it's a work in progress. I probably won't stuff it like most of you SPS freaks do, but there's defintiely room for another 15-20 frags!

Ha! Famous last words... We'll see about that..

[.Chris.]

Ha! Famous last words... We'll see about that..

I just simply don't have the room for more and even that is stretching it. But don't worry there's always room for a frag tank... Or a new tank.

[.Chris.]

Okay, so in theory the last of my flubber should be gone soon, though I know I missed some because I ran out of putty. Taking a cue from markalot (though I have to say, I came up with the idea on my own, but I took solace in the fact that he did it first without killing his tank... :P), I puttied over my zoas. Damn things are like weeds. I think I got most of them, we'll see when they open up tomorrow.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160112_222504_zpszmhq7dzw.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160112_222504_zpszmhq7dzw.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160112_222514_zps1axkhfau.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160112_222514_zps1axkhfau.jpg.html)
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160112_224439_zps9ctgjpv6.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160112_224439_zps9ctgjpv6.jpg.html)

And here are a couple of pieces I tossed in tonight for good measure. One is a frag from the big pink milli I have in my "office" tank. I don't officially care for that tank, and recently most of the SPS went pale, unbeknownst to the caretakers of that tank, which when pointed out they couldn't even tell the difference. I don't really care why, I just finally got myself a frag of this damn coral I've been wanting for ages.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160112_230007_zpst3lv3ypn.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160112_230007_zpst3lv3ypn.jpg.html)

This is also a piece I've had my eye on for ages but no one ever seemed interested. It's interesting, has this bizarre yellowish-greenish body and white polyps. Curious to see what will happen in a properly set up tank.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160112_225950_zpsxfho40bj.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160112_225950_zpsxfho40bj.jpg.html)

And in other news, placing my first ever online frag order. Super excited. I'll be getting everything next week.

[nemodan]

For sure the Zoas are gone now. I have done that to palies that I find were damaging the SPS.

I like those , on my tank. Unfortunately the green didn't do well and the reds are slow growers. They do not harm SPS and give a touch to the tank..... just my taste.

Does anyone knows if SPS and zoas are mixed in nature ?

Cheers
Daniel

[markalot]

Good luck with the 'coverup' Chris. :D I think it will look like rock in no time.

[.Chris.]

For sure the Zoas are gone now. I have done that to palies that I find were damaging the SPS.

I like those , on my tank. Unfortunately the green didn't do well and the reds are slow growers. They do not harm SPS and give a touch to the tank..... just my taste.

Does anyone knows if SPS and zoas are mixed in nature ?
Just means less room for me to put sps. :rollface:
Cheers
Daniel

Good luck with the 'coverup' Chris. :D I think it will look like rock in no time.

Yeah well the hope is to take off the putty at some point.

[.Chris.]

So I switched out my bulbs, and I added some new frags.

Old bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Lagoon Blue, Actinic+, Aquablue+, Aquablue+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue):

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160113_215853_zps80vlru8b.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160113_215853_zps80vlru8b.jpg.html)

New bulbs (From front to back, all Giesemann, Actinic+, Actinic+, Lagoon Blue, Lagoon Blue, Aquapink, Actinic+):

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160113_230852_zpsj0hxz33q.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160113_230852_zpsj0hxz33q.jpg.html)



I'm fairly satisfied with the combination, I'm curious what it would look like with a pure actinic instead of one of the actinic+, but I think I'll leave it alone for at least the six months, see how the corals react.

Here are some shots of the new frags, and a new FTS with the new frags. Pardon the cloudiness, I had just fed when I took them. I'll try to get some overhead shots and underwater shots tomorrow.

New Bonsai frag, a bit different from my other one, so we'll see what happens.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160116_181741_zpsxmbntlys.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160116_181741_zpsxmbntlys.jpg.html)

Tricolour Acro frag, curious to see how it turns out considering how different it is from my bigger piece.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160116_181731_zpsyihgwdo2.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160116_181731_zpsyihgwdo2.jpg.html)

This is allegedly a RR ultra pink milli, but we'll see.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160116_144006_zpsxlkheyfq.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160116_144006_zpsxlkheyfq.jpg.html)


Here's a cool picture of Arthur, the Goldrim Tang. Wish it was a little more in focus.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160116_143942_zpsg1bbkajv.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160116_143942_zpsg1bbkajv.jpg.html)

[.Chris.]

Okay, it's been three months. Time for an update.

It all went to ****, basically. A combination of neglect, equipment failure and adding too many fish added up to a minor crash, severe cyano outbreak, massive increase in nutrient levels, and the loss of perhaps 50% of my corals, and maybe up to 75%. We'll see how it ends up.

The longer version is:

I lost my job two weeks after my last post because the LFS for which I worked closed, and while I immediately found a new job with a local aquatics wholesaler, the new schedule threw me for a loop. This meant that when I got home after working a 5am to 2pm shift, I wasn't really up for doing maintenance. Because I wasn't doing maintenance, I wasn't checking things I normally look at daily/weekly. This led to my alkalinity bottoming out, due to my alk solution running dry in my doser. This also led to my 3L Seachem Matrix reactor having a pump failure. At around the same time as those two things, I added a number of new fish. Not an overpopulation by my reckoning, but I increased the feeding to try to reduce stress. So alk goes down, corals stop growing and consuming nutrients, Matrix stops working and consuming nutrients, fish level and feedings go up, increasing nutrients to over 100ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm PO4.

I got a cyano outbreak, but I didn't want to deal with it, and kept putting it off and putting it off, which made it worse and worse. At one point it covered 3/4 of the tank, including all three visible windows on my tank. My skimmer also failed during this time, and rather than fix it, I just unplugged it and continued ignoring the tank, as I couldn't muster up the effort to care about it.

Anyway, all that to say, I made some booboos. To rectify it, I did a 50% waterchange to remove as much cyano as possible, then began a 4 day blackout, while doing two full doses of Ultralife RSR, 48 hours apart. I have done another 35% waterchange today, and plan to do another one on both Saturday and Sunday. Next Wednesday, I will do one last RSR treatment (with no blackout) to hopefully ensure I kick the cyano for good. Meanwhile, I will continue 35% water changes 3 times weekly for the next two weeks. At that point, I will test my water and see the difference my work has made. Hopefully it is significant. If it's to my satisfaction, I will start carbon dosing with vinegar, and continue doing 35% water changes weekly for the next two months. If things seem to be on track, I will reduce water changes to 10% weekly thereafter.

I took some pictures, but I'm only going to post the FTS. Please compare with the last FTS I took.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj240/Chris_Dance/Reef%20Tank/20160415_223842_zpsmv3e5pnu.jpg (http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Chris_Dance/media/Reef%20Tank/20160415_223842_zpsmv3e5pnu.jpg.html)
Total losses include:

Hot pink stylo
Green stylo
Purple stylo (my favourite)
Red millipora
Two fiji mini colonies
One fiji frag

I will probably lose another fiji frag, one of my tricolour acros, my hawkins echinata, and possibly my green slimer (yeah, it was that bad).

We will see. I'll try to keep this more current.

[reefmutt]

I think we've all been there..
Looking forward to a nice bright clean tank, soon enough..
I probably have a frag or two for you, if/when you're interested.

[.Chris.]

I'm sure I can get back to it pretty quickly, with some intense maintenance. And I'm sure you know, I am interested in all frags, at all times. :D But I think I'm going to give my tank a few weeks to settle in again.

Also most annoying of this whole endeavour, I've not done any maintenance aside from scrape the glass on my smaller soft coral tank in six months, and it's flourishing. Frustrating stupid tank. At least it keeps me motivated.

[markalot]

I'm sure you can get it back, good luck!

[ComforablyNumb]

May I ask you Montreal guys a dumb question? There used to be a reef store, on Papineau I think it was, called Aquarium Octopus. I can't find anything about them now..are they still in business?

Tim/Fredericton

[reefmutt]

Yes. Octopus. John, the owner closed his doors about a year and a half ago. He threw in the towel.
It was sad. His was the store that got me into the hobby in the 90s. He was an institution.
He's retired now and loving it.
There is a very good reef shop way up on papineau north, though, called Raging Reef..

[ComforablyNumb]

Hi Matt! Jon was the one who got me into the hobby as well in '92! I was living in St.John's NF at the time and he would take my orders out to the airport himself and put them on the plane. When I moved to Ottawa, I bought all my stuff from him and always looked forward to seeing those display tanks of his. Sad to hear he's not in biz anymore, but glad to hear retirement suits him.

Thx for the tip about Raging Reef, I'll check them out next visit to Mtl (along with a visit to Schwartz's too of course...best smoked meat on the planet) ;)
Cheers, Tim