Tigebell's Build

[mpoletti]

Well done. New tanks are always so much fun!

[Saltwaternooby]

Great job, David. Well thought out and put together.

[TigeBell]

Got my Algae Barn order in. I got the Copepod 2x 5280 Pods pack and 2x Ocean Majik 16 oz packages. I did add all the copepods on the first day and have to say that those copepods are very small and hard to see without a magnifying glass but after my shipment was delayed because of the USPS (2 day service from USPS came to be 6 days because the package was stuck in San Francisco for nearly 2 days) everything came alive. YEAH!!!

I also dosed the Ocean Majik at 90 ml and after the first dose, I a extremely happy with the product and it seems to do exactly what Algae Barn has said it would. Yes, unscientific on my end but my nitrites were at 5 ppm the day I dosed and today, those nitrites are at .25 and nitrates where at 50 when I dosed and today those are at 25 ppm. My phosphates were at .61 ppm on 2/3/2017 and today the phosphates were at .21. Again, just my experience and it could be that the tank decided that it wanted to complete the cycle process.

Anyways, that is the update and we keep moving on.

[TigeBell]

Okay, with my current experience, I can honestly say that the Algae Barn Ocean Magik is definitely magical. Either the tank decided to rush the cycle to completion or the Ocean Magik did wonders. I have dosed it twice now and performed a 33% water change yesterday. My parameters from 2/6/17 and from 2/9/17:

Ammonia Monday 0 ppm Thursday 0 ppm (API test kit)
Nitrite Monday 5 ppm Thursday 0 ppm (API test kit)
Nitrate Monday 50 ppm Thursday 2.5 ppm (Salifert test kit)
Phosphate Monday .6 ppm Thursday .19 ppm (Hanna Phosphorus ULR test)

I did do a water change (33% to be exact) on 2/8/17 because my nitrites were at 0 ppm and I am sure that helped things along with Thursdays reading but I am amazed at how things progressed lately. I don't believe that the Ocean Magik is snake oil either.

[SeaMonkee]

That was quick.

[TigeBell]

Tank if progressing well and ready to add fish. Looking to add a Copperband Butterfly and then a White Tail Bristletooth Tang.

Phosphates are reducing but not very fast. Seems to be reducing at a rate of .01 ppm every three days. However, not wanting to reduce any faster at this time.

I did add a CUC of Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, Turbo Snails, Emerald Crabs, Astraea Snails, and Trochus Snails about 6 days ago. I also added some dried nori for the snails to eat but they seem happier with the algae on the rocks and tank glass.

Happy with the XF 250 Gyres and glad that I didn't go with the XF 230's. If you believe the XF 230 will work with your tank, upgrade to the XF 250 IMO. You won't be disappointed. Running the Gyres at 70% max and that seems to keep the detritus suspended in the water column for awhile. I do have two to three areas where I have a pile up of detritus but that is better for cleaning up and water changes

[Saltwaternooby]

Sweet, time to get some fish

[TigeBell]

wow, almost a month has gone by.

Update:
two weeks ago my phosphates skyrocketed to .2 ppm. The SeaChem Seagel couldn't keep up with the amount of phosphates leaching from the rock. The rock that I have, basically came from my old 280 gallon system. Apparently I had a problem with phosphates in that tank even though I ran Rowaphos and the Elos test I was using showed < .05. Once the Seagel wasn't keeping up, I switched to ChemiPure Blue and that didn't do what it was suppose to do and allowed the phosphates to raise to .2 ppm. I did put the sack of Chemi pure into a reactor but my gut feeling here is that the water was going around the media more then going through the media and that was why it didn't work like I thought it would. Now, I have basically gone with Aquamaxx Carbon One and PO4x4. The carbon was added earlier this week while the PO4x4 was added 1 week ago. This combo seems to be working since my phosphates have gone down to .04 ppm and they are slowly going down still. 4 tsp of PO4x4 is exhausted in three days and my rock has a "nice" layer of green algae growing on it. So, I should have soaked my rock before adding to the tank to help remove some of the phosphates. Lesson learned.

Added a CBB three weeks ago and he/she decided to go on a hunger strike and died on me. I think I will remove that fish from the wanted list and move on with something else. I haven't had great success with CBB anyways.

I have added around 9 sps frags, 1 lepto, 1 fungia, and 1 favia coral to the system. The phosphates being high have browned some of the corals but over time, they should come back to normal.

Overall, the tank is running well besides the phosphates being higher then I would like. My levels are good on alk, calc, and mag. I test weekly still to make sure that the dosing pumps are doing their job.

[TigeBell]

Another option with algae growth might also be that I am dosing phytoplankton and might be too much. I do dose the minimum recommended does that Algae Barn suggests. I might stop dosing the phyto for a week and see what happens. Ideas???

update: after searching, I have come to the conclusion that my dosing of phyto is the problem. since I don't have the bioload in the tank to consume the phyto, the phyto is dying and causing excess NO3/PO4. Since I have a 80 lbs of live rock, two Marine Pure 8x8x4 blocks, and a Bio-Pellet reactor with 8 ounces of Aquamaxx BioPellets, I believe that the rock/blocks/Pellets are taking care of the No3. The PO4 is remaining because I am not stripping out the phosphates as fast as the nitrates can be stripped.

So, does anyone need some live Phytoplankton from Algae Barn? I have approximately 14 ounces left from the 16 ounce bottle that I received from Algae Barn last Monday with an expiration date i believe of 3/28/2017.

[Diamond Jack]

Originally Posted by TigeBell

Another option with algae growth might also be that I am dosing phytoplankton and might be too much. I do dose the minimum recommended does that Algae Barn suggests. I might stop dosing the phyto for a week and see what happens. Ideas???

update: after searching, I have come to the conclusion that my dosing of phyto is the problem. since I don't have the bioload in the tank to consume the phyto, the phyto is dying and causing excess NO3/PO4. Since I have a 80 lbs of live rock, two Marine Pure 8x8x4 blocks, and a Bio-Pellet reactor with 8 ounces of Aquamaxx BioPellets, I believe that the rock/blocks/Pellets are taking care of the No3. The PO4 is remaining because I am not stripping out the phosphates as fast as the nitrates can be stripped.

So, does anyone need some live Phytoplankton from Algae Barn? I have approximately 14 ounces left from the 16 ounce bottle that I received from Algae Barn last Monday with an expiration date i believe of 3/28/2017.

Hang in there. New tanks always have something to deal with. I stopped with the live phyto after the first batch also. Just wanted to feed the pods a bit. I'm getting a lot of algae on the glass also. Maybe from phyto. Shouldn't be from my rocks really. They were live and fully cycled for months. So maybe its from the phyto in your tank also. Going to add a few more snails myself and a gfo reactor eventually. Good luck!

[TigeBell]

Originally Posted by Diamond Jack

Hang in there. New tanks always have something to deal with. I stopped with the live phyto after the first batch also. Just wanted to feed the pods a bit. I'm getting a lot of algae on the glass also. Maybe from phyto. Shouldn't be from my rocks really. They were live and fully cycled for months. So maybe its from the phyto in your tank also. Going to add a few more snails myself and a gfo reactor eventually. Good luck!

Thanks, it is interesting the you might be thinking that the phyto my be the issue. However, the more I think about it, the more I believe that they phyto isn't being consumed since there isn't enough inhabitants to eat the stuff and the phyto eventually dies. From there, we all know what happens.

[Brieninsac]

Sounds like my problem too. After dosing phytoplankton for 3-days I had an algae outbreak I'm still battling. I got a new CUC from Reef Cleaners this week so I'm hoping they'll work on it.

[TigeBell]

Here is some current pictures

[TigeBell]

Additional pictures

[TigeBell]

The tank has been going well and the phosphates are now under control. However, the phosphates are now leaching out of the rock but I do see a decrease in the amount of GFO that is needed to remove the phosphates.

I did go down to Taps Plastic and bought a 3/8 inch black acrylic sheet that I cut to make a better shelf for the reactors and to cover the ATO tank. Definitely better then the eggcrate that I was using and looks much better IMO.

Measurements are:
temp: 78.7
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .1 ppm
Calc: 450 ppm
KH: 9.15
PO4: .01 ppm
Mag: 1380

Mag is a little high but not that far out of range. I have adjusted the doser to reduce my daily dosage of mag.

[TigeBell]

Current fish:
3 - Springer Damsels
2 - Royal Gramma's
1 - Starry Blenny
? - seems like a ton of snails.

Currently looking for:
1 - White Tail Bristletooth Tang
1 - Pacific RedStrip Hogfish

There is a favia, fungia, Purple Stylo, Green Birdsnest, jack-o-lantern lypto, and 8 other acropora corals around the tank. The corals are still brown but look to be coloring up since my phosphates were too high.

I love the bare bottom tank and it is very easy to clean.

Water changes are ever 2 weeks at 10 gallons each time.

[Saltwaternooby]

WOWEE that sump looks awesome, Your rocks still look very clean so you cant have that much phosphate. Awesome attention to detail in this build!!

[TigeBell]

thanks Anthony. I guess I learned a ton from my 280 and applied what I learned to this tank. I feel like I jumped up to a big tank way too quick and still needed to learn some basics. But, I have lived and learned.

I don't have that much phosphates any more. I just did another test and came back with the same amount of phosphate as I did two days ago. that is after adding 4 tsp of PO4x4. so I believe I got the phosphates under control and the amount leaching from the rock is minimal now.

The rocks look white because of my snail clean up crew
14 Mexican Turbos,
2 Trochus,
3 Astraea, and
5 bumblebee's.

[TigeBell]

A little update on the tank. As you can see, I got my White Tail Bristletooth Tang. He/she is still a little shy but the fish is definitely getting use to the new surroundings. The fish is extremely aware of who is around him/her outside of the tank and does not like being out in the open swimming areas unless I am at the tank and even then, the fish doesn't stay out very long. The tang is eating like a horse but still learning how to eat nori from the Veggie Clip.

so, that puts me at 7 fish:

3 Sapphire Damsels
2 Royal Gramma
1 Starry Blenny
1 White Tail Bristletooth Tang

Debating on adding more fish but kind of waiting to see where things are going.

Readings are:
Temp: 79
Calc: 425
Alk: 8.9
PO4: .01
Mag: 1350
Nitrate: .1
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025

[bfliflet]

Nice tang! The coralline algae grows much faster on the bottom of your tank than mine. Must be because of my ATS.

[TigeBell]

Originally Posted by bfliflet

Nice tang! The coralline algae grows much faster on the bottom of your tank than mine. Must be because of my ATS.

I am very happy with the tang. great personality and very, very alert. Funny how alert the fish is. John @ YR got me a extremely healthy one Thanks JOHN!!!!!

There is one funny thing so far with the tang. he doesn't like the Starry Blenny eating his algae and will chase the blenny into the rocks to discourage the eating but the blenny just rolls with it. No tail biting yet.

There is starboard on the bottom so the algae isn't trying to grow on glass. I have noticed that coralline doesn't grow as fast on glass so far. But there is a dime size patch of coralline algae growing on the back wall. Might have to take it off

[TigeBell]

Well, it is about time I update this thread. The tank has been running for nearly 7.5 months with growth on the corals along with the growth of inhabitants. There are a few issues that I have still and one I do believe is my lights could be stronger. the coloration of the corals are not great but they are growing.

[TigeBell]

Here are a few pictures of the tank

[TigeBell]

Second set of pictures

[TigeBell]

And the front side picture