Mark's 150 gallon

[nemodan]

Originally Posted by markalot

Hi Daniel,

Happier than with it at < 0.03, but I'd rather it be .06 - .08.

Ok... I see now


I did some measurements yesterday in my tank:

P. 0.06 ppm .... Hanna

No3 0.5 ppm .....Salifert

Alk 7.36 dkh .......Salifert

I was lazy to continue with Ca and Mg .........

I will continue in the following days checking P because last measurement (2 weeks ago) was 0.04 ppm . It could be just the Hanna window of error. But because I increased my fish population significantly with the bigger fuge. I want to see if the Macro can keep with their work.

Cheers
Daniel

[joshky]

Originally Posted by markalot

I found a few pictures of when I was joking with the owner of the nasuta, which we call the Katropora and how it liked nitrates. It tends to match the test results.

This was in January 2015





By May I had my nitrates under control, around 5.



Lower nitrates did help reduce the bubble algae, but I kind of miss those days.

That is insane.


It was really pretty when you had decently high No3!!!

[aggie13reef]

Mark,
Sorry to hear about your nasuta losing color, hope it gets back to its beauty quickly! Also got to love the recent LPS additions.

[markalot]

Thanks guys.

So I did my weekend top downs and I have to say some of my red colors appear to like higher PO4.

If this one wasn't so darn fuzzy the skin would look amazing. I still can't believe this is coloring up so well ... a random frag.


The so called pink milli is looking ok, it hasn't lost nay pink, but come one, this is pretty weak.


The Palmers Blue is looking decent.


The block is also continuing to look good, and now the polyps have green centers.


Wild Aussie also continues to show good health and a few new colors.


Lokani is yet another set of colors. Showing those scratch marks again so I may have to dip.


On the bright side you can see the Nasuta is showing polyps with green centers now and the base has more green. Other than that, how brown it is.


I had to scrape clove polyps away from the SSC again. Looking darn good at the moment.


Turned this one around for a better pic. I'm a sucker for red and orange.

[aggie13reef]

What do you use to scrape the clove polyps away?

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by markalot

PO4 appears to be .15
NO3 5
KH 7.5

Going to retest PO4 this afternoon since I fed reef roids yesterday evening and this sometimes inflates the PO4 reading.

This is almost exactly where I am.. P.13, n 3..
But I got cyano and bubble algea running rampant again.. Grr.
Nice top downs!
That wild Aussie has crazy potential. It's looking like it could have amazing colours..
Lokani as usual makes me weak in the knees..

[markalot]

Originally Posted by aggie13reef

What do you use to scrape the clove polyps away?

I bought a set of cheap dental tools at Walgreens. One of them has a thicker flat edge that works well for scraping.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

This is almost exactly where I am.. P.13, n 3..
But I got cyano and bubble algea running rampant again.. Grr.
Nice top downs!
That wild Aussie has crazy potential. It's looking like it could have amazing colours..
Lokani as usual makes me weak in the knees..

Thanks. I see some bubble algae coming on as well, need to get that Foxface to work on them.

[mhucasey]

Dental tools are great for delicate picking and scraping, especially bubble algae. Mark, the corals are looking better, I'm happy about that. Is it just color changing now, or are you having any tissue loss? The pics you posted look like the acros are healthy, which is priority one. Hopefully the trend with the color continues.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by mhucasey

Dental tools are great for delicate picking and scraping, especially bubble algae. Mark, the corals are looking better, I'm happy about that. Is it just color changing now, or are you having any tissue loss? The pics you posted look like the acros are healthy, which is priority one. Hopefully the trend with the color continues.

Hi Matt, thanks.

The receding base on the valida may have stopped. I need another week to make sure, but it's slowed down at least. No other tissue loss on any acro at the moment. My Red Planet browned out after I moved it but still has decent polyp extension.

The Lokani has no tissue loss, just a continuation of those odd scrape marks. Polyp extension is good and it looks darn healthy.

[milsaltnewbie07]

Dang mark that tank is turning arround brother! !! Things are on the way up. Guess our tanks like dirty water lol

[markalot]

Originally Posted by milsaltnewbie07

Dang mark that tank is turning arround brother! !! Things are on the way up. Guess our tanks like dirty water lol

Thanks, good luck with your tank, hopefully the STN stops!

So apparently I need to go back to reef school. I stirred the gravel again yesterday, fed the fish and included reef chili for the coral, and tested PO4 twice, morning was 1.4, evening was maybe a hair less than 1.4. Tested today, .04, tested again, .04, tested with Hanna, .03ish.

The tank is currently smoking a heavy dose of reef roids while I think about what I did.

I diluted topped off the topoff with 2 gallons + kalk and no vinegar, this should have continued to dilute the remaining vinegar in the topoff to near negligible.

I increased the flow from the BP reactor from a trickle to a little more than a trickle.

I dosed 2 ml of NOPOX and added some CaNO3 to raise nitrates from just under 5 to just over 5.

Obviously I did too many little things so determine exactly what happened. How in the world can I drop PO4 that fast over a single day?

BP reactor reduced back to a trickle, no more NOPOX for a while but I will dose CaNO3 if NO3 drops below 5.

[glaukos]

Good moves mark,hope they will do the trick!
Really liked the pics
Aussies are hard to please but once you do they can be mind blowing!
Other corals look great too!

That nasuta is a dirty girl indeed
Regarding the test,you place it on the 25 side or 50,mark?
Always had problems with the color tests

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by markalot

Thanks, good luck with your tank, hopefully the STN stops!

So apparently I need to go back to reef school. I stirred the gravel again yesterday, fed the fish and included reef chili for the coral, and tested PO4 twice, morning was 1.4, evening was maybe a hair less than 1.4. Tested today, .04, tested again, .04, tested with Hanna, .03ish.

The tank is currently smoking a heavy dose of reef roids while I think about what I did.

I diluted topped off the topoff with 2 gallons + kalk and no vinegar, this should have continued to dilute the remaining vinegar in the topoff to near negligible.

I increased the flow from the BP reactor from a trickle to a little more than a trickle.

I dosed 2 ml of NOPOX and added some CaNO3 to raise nitrates from just under 5 to just over 5.

Obviously I did too many little things so determine exactly what happened. How in the world can I drop PO4 that fast over a single day?

BP reactor reduced back to a trickle, no more NOPOX for a while but I will dose CaNO3 if NO3 drops below 5.

I would guess the nopox but you're right that you made too many changes to know what specifically did the trick.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by glaukos

Good moves mark,hope they will do the trick!
Really liked the pics
Aussies are hard to please but once you do they can be mind blowing!
Other corals look great too!

That nasuta is a dirty girl indeed
Regarding the test,you place it on the 25 side or 50,mark?
Always had problems with the color tests

Hi Mike, thanks for the nice words.

the ELOS expert kit is very high res and easy to read. It's just a tad under .04 is my guess and that was confirmed by the Hanna, apparently.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by mhucasey

I would guess the nopox but you're right that you made too many changes to know what specifically did the trick.

Yea, but just one dose? Maybe the super smelly black bacteria stuck in the reactor was some magic sauce.

So I dipped the poor Lokani again, I swear it had AEFW, and big ones. 30 minute extra strong dip, not a damn worm found. This worries me, do I have a predator of some sort in the tank? Is the Lokani showing signs of ill health? It had polyp extension 30 minutes after double rinsing, remounting on it's stick, and returning to the tank. That is one rugged beast of a coral.

[reefmutt]

I'm with Matt.. Adding the nopox and cano3 together.. That'll hit po4 pretty hard..

[markalot]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

I'm with Matt.. Adding the nopox and cano3 together.. That'll hit po4 pretty hard..

Thanks for the confirmation. Today PO4 bounced back to .09 ... the corals can't be liking the instability of that.

Top downs from the other side of the tank.

The Red Robin is really starting to show red now, a big deal for me. Unfortunately there's an area where the branches join that looks quite stressed, maybe even missing some skin.


I have the think the incident that browned the nasuta had to have an effect on the other corals and perhaps everything is still pulling out of it.

Another favorite looks to have lightened up a bit, doesn't look quite as healthy as before.


Red Planet has browned but doesn't look as bad as I thought it did.


SSC looks fine


Of course these two look the same.


Even the Lokani, post dip, still looks good.

[milsaltnewbie07]

Wow Mark, things are looking good.Btw Took your advise and started nightly coral feeding with coral frenzy. A wee bit and then every 2 or 3 days ill double it for a big feast that night. Showing way better p.e

[afernandez]

Corals are looking good!

They will be back to their full glory in no time !

[markalot]

Originally Posted by milsaltnewbie07

Wow Mark, things are looking good.Btw Took your advise and started nightly coral feeding with coral frenzy. A wee bit and then every 2 or 3 days ill double it for a big feast that night. Showing way better p.e

Hope it works out, looking forward to seeing the progress!

Originally Posted by afernandez

Corals are looking good!

They will be back to their full glory in no time !

Thanks Arlin, and thanks for stopping by.

So while all my fancy acros are showing some stress these two just keep going. I'm not sure what I think about the slimer nearing the top. Perhaps this is the signal to restart the tank, removing the pest corals?

With the sump off during feeding it's getting close.



Apparently my Kentucky Blue Grass loves a lot of light. A marked improvement since putting it under ~360 PAR.


The nasuta has not regained color but it has regained healthier looking skin (flash)


I do have one thing that is still a mystery to me. My purple Duncans, have always lived under 250 PAR, but I'm having issues acclimating the frags that are left to anything over 200. Here is what they look like on the frag rack.


Another frag, that looked identical, is now cowering in fear under the main lights.


I have literally put $50 worth of coral food in the tank over the last week and a half and I have a set schedule that should keep nutrients elevated, if not worse, yet my LPS continue to complain.

[markalot]

Pulled the BP reactor and did a 20 gallon water change via stirring and sucking out the first 2 sump chambers. GFO like dust and crud everywhere. Used Blue Bucket salt to match KH at 8, and let it heat up in the sump before turning it back on.

Hopefully this puts a halt to the lingering LPS and some SPS recession.

[reefmutt]

You pulled the pellet reactor for good?
Curious to see where nutrients go..and how the nasuta will react.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

You pulled the pellet reactor for good?
Curious to see where nutrients go..and how the nasuta will react.

Cleaned and on my unused equipment shelf. I'm slowly ramping vinegar back up in my topoff. Only at 5ml per gallon at the moment, and flow from the BP reactor was down to a trickle so hopefully overall carbon dosing is similar? Maybe?

The Nasuta is transitioning to a healthy brown now, and polyps are green, so it's getting there.

[cugly]

Amazing Mark looks very healthy love the colors.