OINK! I'm a Pig. 200g Reef Savvy, Bashsea, Royal Exclusiv -Direct sunlight- In wall w/ IKEA fishroom basement sump build

[drtechno]

So jumping on for another update. As you can see from the previous picture, the hair algae has gotten a bit out of control. Whatever was growing on my sandbed before is now gone and was only a minor irritant. Went away by itself.

Now the hair algae is exploding. So with the philosophy of "heavy in heavy out", I maxed my fish load (or close to) pretty quickly with nothing but my roller mat and skimmer taking things out. I guess that translated into algae going nuts. So since the prior pic, it grew probably twice as long in one week (eek). It was so long the clownfish started hosting in it ! So I set about going after it. I turned down my feedings and swapped to frozen food for the evening fish meal. I started becoming more careful about removing the nori feeder grid things from the water after the fish were done, instead of letting it decompose. I also cranked my skimmer to wet skim. I also started dosing Microbacter Clean and Razer. Wow.. That stuff is incredible. Within 5 days, the hair algae is literally melting away. It's almost completely gone by today. Unbelievably effective.

On another note, from my first batch of corals only about half survived. None of the SPS or montis lived. In addition to my messed up parameters from my incorrect pH readings, I think the CoralRx in addition to Bayer in addition to peroxide was too much. No more coralRX in addition to Bayer. The fact I also QT'd some inverts with the corals did not help, as there was an ammonia spike when a snail died. Basically, a learning experience, which is what I assumed it would be. Both my small gonis lived, as well as some micromusa. They are now in my main tank on egg crate.

I ordered 'wave 2' of coral, mostly easy SPS, and dipped and QT'd them last week. Looks like I bleached the acro again, I am guessing it was too long in the peroxide. Frankly, Im just going to stop peroxide dipping the acros.. Its pointless since I clip them off the base anyway. Currently, I am doing the following:

SPS
10 mins Bayer
multiple rinses

LPS
10 mins Bayer
10 mins Brightwell Medicoral Rx
10 mins peroxide (depending on type of LPS)

My favia is happy as can be in the QT, my montis survived pretty well (a little bleaching on one), my green slimer is ok, oregeon tort is 50/50, and my smooth skin blue acro is completely bleached. I may have lost it as I don't think I see polyp extension.

What else has happened?
I added a Red Hawkfish and Midas blenny. Never thought I would love the Midas blenny so much.. he is so different than the other fish in how he swims and behaves. Awesome fish, so happy I got him. Unfortunately my Melanarus wrasse died several days after going in the acclimation box. It sounds like there was a problem with the supplier they were using, since they had many unexplained Melanarus losses couple days after getting them to the QT facility. This must just have been a delayed response.

In terms of fishroom/background things going on.
Avast kalk stirrer K2 is working well now that I figured out I need to add half a cup of kalk every 2 weeks to keep it charged up.
Parameters are doing much better since I figured out what had happened with my pH probe calibration. Slowly elevating my alk to 9, ca at 450, ph 8.3

After this algae situation is completely beat back, I think I need to cruise control the tank for a while and let things just calm down for a while.

Elliot from Marine Collectors says the Anthias are doing well in QT so hopefully those will be inbound soon ! Next update will be with more pics hopefully with the new fish

 

[drtechno]

Nope. Anthias did not make it thru QT :/
So still waiting on those. But we did get our Melanarus wrasse.

Tank is still on autopilot and maturing. Sent off my first ICP test which was fine (borderline low on trace elements so I have to figure out how we are going to dose those)

For now, just a fish pic

 

[drtechno]

By the way this Orphek lens kit for phone cameras off of Amazon works great!

 

[drtechno]

So my trace elements are slightly low or borderline low normal, despite water changes. So I decided to try my hand at trace element supplementation using the Tropic Marin K+ and A- additives, and starting up the balling method. Figured might as well get used to it. In the meantime things are just on cruise control waiting for some frags to clear my 60 day QT :/. A bit unnecessary but might as well get used to doing it and not rush things.
Anyway, the tank this morning with some early afternoon direct sun so I can show that part of the build. Lights are just coming on hence the blue.

 

[drtechno]

So I found these things in my Bubblegum monti digi which is still in QT. Looks like spionida worms from what some people suggested in the SPS forum. Thankfully they are still in QT and on a sidebranch of the monti digi, so I was able to frag them off easily. But its interesting that I didn't notice them until 5 weeks (!) into the coral QT procedure. Now maybe this is because I didn't know what I was looking for before, but I just find it interesting. It also means that they survived the 'standard' dose Bayer dip for 10 mins, which goes along with what people claim.

Ill have to watch the rest of the monti digi for another couple weeks before moving it up into the DT. You learn new things all the time in this hobby

 

[drtechno]

Happy Thanksgiving all!
All my frags are still in QT for another week. No signs of any more spionida worms, so that's a good sign

I've been struggling with trying to understand why my nitrates remain super low (as in <1 and not detectable on the RedSea regular Nitrate test kit). My P04 is .04-.05 so that has been fine. I am going to back off the water changes as well as maybe start to decrease my skimming. In the meantime, I tried dosing NeoNitrate into my frag tank and after like 4 days of dosing I managed to get a reading today of 2. So that is progress. Now I will see how quickly it drops and replicate the procedure in my display tank.

On a separate note, spent way too much money on Black Friday frags, which should arrive in mid December (yay!). Will see how the acros do with the increased light as well as proper levels of nitrate now.

 

[SPSReeferMI]

Great thread, @drtechno I’ve read through it and I have a couple of questions. These are questions I’m contemplating for my next build, so I wonder your take on them now that you are about a year or more ahead of me. I’ve never seen an ATO chimney and now I’m borrowing that idea.

1. I really like your aquascape and I’m considering white Marco rock, colored Marco rock, or potentially live rock. Would you do it another way if you could reverse it? I’ve been watching 52SE from BRS and Ryan made an interesting point, that live rock (from Tampa Bay SW for example) might be the most preferred in high intensity lighting setups. In other words, high light = more potential for cyano, diatoms, etc. Live rock could help curb that.
2. Did you consider a closed loop? Would you consider it with another build?
3. I think your overflow is on the back of your tank vs inside. I’m working with Felix as well and for mine he is suggesting the overflow inside the tank. I feel inside overflow require more cleaning and impede flow. Curious of your thoughts?

Thanks in advance for my random questions!

 

[drtechno]

1. I really like your aquascape and I’m considering white Marco rock, colored Marco rock, or potentially live rock. Would you do it another way if you could reverse it? I’ve been watching 52SE from BRS and Ryan made an interesting point, that live rock (from Tampa Bay SW for example) might be the most preferred in high intensity lighting setups. In other words, high light = more potential for cyano, diatoms, etc. Live rock could help curb that.

Great points. I can see both sides of the argument. In my distant history, in an old (old) 65 gallon tank, I used Tampa Bay SW rock. I had so so many hitchhikers on that rock, both good and bad, as one would suspect. I am not sure if I would go that way even if it sped up the entire process. It took me a long time to get the guerilla crabs completely out of the tank, I constantly had all kinds of weird (and interesting?) worms and creatures popping up, I'm pretty sure I had a mantis shrimp that I saw only once and never again, and I kept hearing clicks form the tank for years (pistol shrimp or the mantis). I never ever found it or was able to catch anything more.

In any case, with this tank I wanted the no hitchhiker approach regardless of the initial biome or ability to speed up the process with real live rock. I figure there are a million and one ways to get bacterial biodiversity, that live rock is not essential.

I think in the end, I would go the same way I went with this tank - dry Marco rock with Ocean Direct 'live sand'. While I probably am not getting off the ground or able to insta-tank this thing, I just remember all the crazy stuff I had growing in the old tank (including algaes) and don't want to have to fight that stuff again. And that pistol shrimp or mantis that I never found even after years of having the tank. Some people may choose to go with the live rock, and thats okay. Just a different way of doing it.

2. Did you consider a closed loop? Would you consider it with another build?

Felix suggested this to me, but I am too paranoid - just another place where a leak can occur. And the deeper the closed loop holes, the lower your tank can drain all over your house In the end, I wanted to control and programmability of Vortechs. I'll probably throw a gyre or two into the mix as well. Now I know that you can do some cool things with closed loops if you drill the bottom of your tank, but I can just imagine that pvc failing or joint cracking and the entire tank draining lol.

Definitely closed loops can do some cool things, but I'm too paranoid about destroying my house

3. I think your overflow is on the back of your tank vs inside. I’m working with Felix as well and for mine he is suggesting the overflow inside the tank. I feel inside overflow require more cleaning and impede flow. Curious of your thoughts?

Thanks in advance for my random questions!

So actually my build has the overflow on the side. We couldn't put it along the back due to the brace we had to put there. We did a ghost overflow on the side. I attached pics. Its very low profile and totally not noticeable. In fact, because of the angle at which we usually look at the tank from the living area, the overflow is completely hidden. See the pics below

Happy to have helped and can answer any questions.

 

[drtechno]

Happy Holidays all

Just an end of year tank update pic

Everything is on cruise control but I’m still struggling with getting acros to survive the dipping regimen (or shipping stress?)

Also starting the new year with having 2 more frag plugs with spionid worms, so going to remove the frags and put them into Ivermectin. But that’s for later in Jan

Happy New Year all

And our new pintail fairy wrasee

 

[Macbalacano]

Amazing journey. Following along!

 

[drtechno]

Looks like I traded one peat for another. Got rid of the brown hair/slime algae and traded it for a cyanogen outbreak as I started dosing nitrates. Great . My kids think it’s a type of coral tho lol

Time for a chemi clean nuking.

 

[drtechno]

Learned a very important lesson this past week in Apex Programming. I think this needs to be highlighted more in all of the programming threads - alarms need to be cleared or they can block higher priority alarms !!

I learned this the hard way last weekend.

I shut off my drain line to my sump to bypass the filter roller, for Microbacter dosing. In order to “balance” return and drain (and stop the bean animal from making noise for 4 hours) I turned off return pump 2

As expected, this triggered my low priority flow sensor alarm “flow return2 is less than 100” which is always ignored when I do this.

Unbeknownst to me, in shutting off the drain line, I slightly twisted the ball valve body, slightly loosening it. This resulted in a small leak that drained to the fish room. The multitude of leak sensors which would usually trigger were all suppressed by the nuisance “flow less than 100” alarm. Thankfully I noticed the issue before too much water had leaked. Could have been really bad. I ended up frying the osmolator control board (which was actually the alarm I ended up hearing when I went to the basement) … otherwise no real damage.

So take this point seriously folks! Alarms need to be cleared or they will suppress more important alarms.

 

[drtechno]

Just got done with my Ivermectin dip (1 hour) at 1cc/liter. Spionid worms toast

 

[drtechno]

 

[drtechno]

Just got my first acro pack from BattleCorals. Since I have been having trouble getting Acros through my quarantine tank regimen, I’m trying a bunch of new techniques. I know WWC has recommended that you don’t dip your coral first, but you let them acclimate for sometime after receiving them, and then dip them prior to putting them into a tank. Therefore I’m trying to set up an acclamation tank where I will watch these corals for about one week, then dip them and put them in the quarantine tank for the remaining 60 days plus.

Incidentally, these fags look awesome with some of them being quite sizable. Crossing my fingers that this all works out but the health of the Karl on arrival is pretty amazing.

 

[drtechno]

Update pic for the weekend with blue throat trigger in acclimation box

 

[Dburr1014]

Just got done with my Ivermectin dip (1 hour) at 1cc/liter. Spionid worms toast

In tank or dip? How is everything now?

 

[inetjnky]

Hey buddy, glad to see you’re making progress on your journey!! Do you have any cleanup crew in your tank? I added 100 red striped trocus snails, 25 cats eye turbo snails, and 25 blue legged hermits to the tank. Plus 3 pincushion urchins. Only algae issues I have now are bubble algae. Highly recommend a blue streak cleaner wrasse and one or two cleaner shrimp. Kleins butterfly for aptasia control before you get it. I’ve spent the last year battling it. My rock work looked hairy because I was infested with so many. Nice fish selection!

 

[drtechno]

In tank or dip? How is everything now?

I was able to pull out these couple frags (they were on small rocks in the sand bed) and ivermectin then at double the usual dose. So the coral boring spionid worms were killed but the expletive spirobid worms survived. Maybe the smaller ones were nuked? But certainly the large fat one survived. I think when they shut into their tubes they become impenetrable. In either case, the corals weren’t affected.

 

[drtechno]

Hey buddy, glad to see you’re making progress on your journey!! Do you have any cleanup crew in your tank? I added 100 red striped trocus snails, 25 cats eye turbo snails, and 25 blue legged hermits to the tank. Plus 3 pincushion urchins. Only algae issues I have now are bubble algae. Highly recommend a blue streak cleaner wrasse and one or two cleaner shrimp. Kleins butterfly for aptasia control before you get it. I’ve spent the last year battling it. My rock work looked hairy because I was infested with so many. Nice fish selection!

Hi Inetjinky!
Yea, I have ~12 trochus snails that have tripled (?) in size in the last year. It's insane how much they have grown. I will probably get some more since I see you have far more
My 3 pincushion urchins are doing well as well, they are workhorses for sure.
My blue leg hermits tend to just die after some time. I have maybe a handful left. Theres another couple coming through my QT that I will be adding.
I have a serpent star that is doing pretty well as well.
I have countless (countless!) ceriths that are reproducing in my tank. Once the lights go out, they are just everywhere.
I have maybe 6 nassarius, and 1 super nassarius somewhere in there.

In QT currently:
12 bumblebee snails
1 - 3" Tiger conch

Those should be coming out in a couple weeks.

Shame to hear you battled aiptasia, but glad you finally have it under control.

My current battles are with hairalgae and cyano, which I beat back with CyanoRx but it seems to come back after a couple of months. I have been also struggling / fighting bottomed out No/Po readings. I have had to start dosing No since I cannot get it up no matter what I do (currently targetting 5). I am probably just going to take my skimmer offline half the day, everyday, if I can't get it to stay up. I refuse to take the rollermat offline as I think it captures debris and keeps the water clearer.

Final update is that I have to clean the quartz sleeves on the UV, but am realizing that I never plumbed in valves to drain the UVs. So the next project in a couple weeks will be to plumb in something where I can drain most of the water in the UV sterilizers (remember they are in the basement so have a vertical segment of pipe above them, which needs to be drained).

I'll post some more updates with my on-going battles later this week.