★★★ Project " GENESIS (II) 2020 " ★ [ Re-Engineered / REBOOT ] ★ SPS 110G ★★★

[PegasisR]

Hi Wally, Just wanted to ask how you used Kz cyano clean and coral snow together to get rid of your cyano? Thank you!

 

[WallyB]

Hi Wally, Just wanted to ask how you used Kz cyano clean and coral snow together to get rid of your cyano? Thank you!

Basically like the instructions say.
You put the right amount of Cyano Clean into the Coral Snow (shake/mix) for 10 seconds. Then add to tank.
You probably can do it separately as well, however the mix method is suppose to be better for distribution of bacteria. (Coral Snow is a transport media)

 

[PegasisR]

Basically like the instructions say.
You put the right amount of Cyano Clean into the Coral Snow (shake/mix) for 10 seconds. Then add to tank.
You probably can do it separately as well, however the mix method is suppose to be better for distribution of bacteria. (Coral Snow is a transport media)

and thats weekly?

 

[WallyB]

and thats weekly?

The instructions for Cyano Clean say (DAILY: 2 drops per 100 litres of Tank water). I find the product quite expensive for my 110Gallon Tank. Used it a couple of times with some degree of success over the years. I actually am battling a year long cyano outbreak. Can't shake it off.

I used the Dr. Tim method this time. Same old story...Can't get rid of the cyano.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...r-tims-refresh-waste-away-recipes-for-success


You really have to find the source of the Cyano Issue. New tanks generally go thru some cyano phases, and it dies off.
Sometimes it's lack of flow in tank. Dead spots.

In my case my tank is way more mature. Few years. I think I'm just feeding to much, or some kind of Phosphate/Nitrate inbalance. No idea.

For Cyano Clean This video might help you.

 

[WallyB]

GREAT NEWS!! (Berghia FARM (Take 2) Might be working ))

So I had that 2.5 Gallon Berghia Farm running for a month. I didn't see a single egg cluster show up.
These Berghia's are suppose to lay eggs as frequenty as daily. That's why they are so effective to wipe out Aiptasia from a tank as their population explodes.

I thought maybe the Beghia's were not mature enough. However the breeder did guarentee Breeding Adults.

I did read that one failure for a Berghia farm is contaminating a Farm with AMPHIPODS which eat eggs.
When I started transfering Aiptasia to the Farm I did dip the rocks and stuff, so I though thing would be ok.

Last night I decided to start up a fresh Berghia Farm with my 10 Gallon QT tank.

Carefully I transfered over the Berghias.

Then I shined a bright light sideways thru the 2.5 Gallon tank to see every particle while removing stuff.
BINGO!! An Amphipod scooted out, while removed a piece of rock. He was big...so that explains things. For a month he was in the 2.5 G Farm, pigging out.

Now I was super careful when adding new Aiptasia to the 10 Gallon Farm. I dipped each aiptasia in Fresh Water for 5 minutes, to kill off any Amphipods.

That was last night. Tonight I checked on the Berghias, and there was a egg cluster, squigy shape.

A better zoom photo confirmed it. I have eggs as expected.

If they are fertilized by the 2nd Berghia, I should see baby berghia's hatching in the next while.
Then Aiptasia dissapearing as the young Berghias do their Aiptasia extermination work!!

Once I have enough Berghia's hatched, I will start moving them to my Infested Frag tank, and other tanks as well.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

GREAT NEWS!! (Berghia FARM (Take 2) Might be working ))

So I had that 2.5 Gallon Berghia Farm running for a month. I didn't see a single egg cluster show up.
These Berghia's are suppose to lay eggs as frequenty as daily. That's why they are so effective to wipe out Aiptasia from a tank as their population explodes.

I thought maybe the Beghia's were not mature enough. However the breeder did guarentee Breeding Adults.

I did read that one failure for a Berghia farm is contaminating a Farm with AMPHIPODS which eat eggs.
When I started transfering Aiptasia to the Farm I did dip the rocks and stuff, so I though thing would be ok.

Last night I decided to start up a fresh Berghia Farm with my 10 Gallon QT tank.

Carefully I transfered over the Berghias.

Then I shined a bright light sideways thru the 2.5 Gallon tank to see every particle while removing stuff.
BINGO!! An Amphipod scooted out, while removed a piece of rock. He was big...so that explains things. For a month he was in the 2.5 G Farm, pigging out.

Now I was super careful when adding new Aiptasia to the 10 Gallon Farm. I dipped each aiptasia in Fresh Water for 5 minutes, to kill off any Amphipods.

That was last night. Tonight I checked on the Berghias, and there was a egg cluster, squigy shape.

A better zoom photo confirmed it. I have eggs as expected.

If they are fertilized by the 2nd Berghia, I should see baby berghia's hatching in the next while.
Then Aiptasia dissapearing as the young Berghias do their Aiptasia extermination work!!

Once I have enough Berghia's hatched, I will start moving them to my Infested Frag tank, and other tanks as well.

Awesome!! Glad you found the culprit! Now on to success!!

 

[Rakie]

Your SPS have come a long way Wally

 

[WallyB]

Your SPS have come a long way Wally

Rakie,

Your comment came at just the right moment.

I was thinking Maybe do the CHEMICLEAN one more time to fight off the never ending cyano.
Then your post came along.....
I thought. SPS are doing fine. Cyano is just an eyesore, and I'd be way more depressed if I messed up my progress on SPS.

THanks!

 

[WallyB]

Day 11 (Berghia Eggs) No Action Yet??

Berghia eggs typically hatch 10-15 days after laying. (If fertilized).

I do see aiptasia vanishing, and I'm replenishing. At this point I think it's the Adults munching.

The egg ring hasn't really changed much. Beghia adults have been in the area, so I'm assuming eggs have been fertilized.

Today I noticed the egg cluster looks a bit different. Like a bit fluffy and maybe broken up. Hard to tell at microscopic size.

Maybe eggs have hatched,and if they have the baby berghia are certainly too small to see.

 

[WallyB]

Berghai Farm update (Eggs have Hatched).

Now I'm sure the Eggs have hatched, since they are gone. Don't think they were eatten since they hung around 14 days, which is the proper hatch period.

The adults continue to get bigger and bigger.

I still can't see baby berghia's. Don't expect to at this point since they are super tiny.

However I've noticed Aiptasia's starting to dissapear quicker than before.

I'm adding more aiptasia to the Aiptasia QT tank. Then moving them to the Berghia Farm.
If things are going correctly, things should speed up.

I keep looking closely with my Camera zoomed in, to possibly see the little Berghia babies as they get bigger.

Fingers crosssed!!

 

[WallyB]

Good News. 2nd Egg Batch. At least the 2nd one I noticed. I see other spots, but can't get a good zoom in photo.

 

[WallyB]

HAPPY 2022 NEW YEAR (New Years Resolution!!)

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.

Almost like a new years tradition..... @tenurepro gifted my tank with some POP & PIZZAZ (few SPS FRAG cutting).
Last year I kill most of his frags.....my 2022 New years resolution....Keep these beauties alive and thriving.

6 Freshly mounted Frags (look for the Bright new Putty).....Here is the new Tank look.

Yeah things are a bit crowded. Future problem I look forward to if they survive and grow.

 

[WallyB]

FINALLY TACKLING the (Planaria Outbreak)

So the Planaria Flatworms were getting on my nerves. Red coverage everywhere. Every time I blew them off, they would make their way back onto rock in about a week or so.

I certainly not willing to use a Chemical like Flatworm-Exit with this many Flatworms. Too much risk if not done right.

All the RED you see isn't Cyano, it's Red Planaria PLAGUE.

-> Sealed up the Tank Top for the Melanrus Wrasse.

- This time I raised my lighting and did a proper siphoning of the Planaria off the rocks. With a narrow tube I had plenty of sweeping time. I got a good 75% of the Planaria removed.

Blew off the remaining planaria on the rocks and sihpon/swept the bottom of the tank one more time.

Added a Sandbed for the Wrasse. For now I added just one bag of Special Grade Sand. AT THE BACK OF TANK ONLY.

The Melanarus Wrasse was added to the Tank.

So far so good. The resident fish didn't go Balistic with the new Tank Mate. It was interesting to see my Black Cap Basslet show his dominance by opening his Jaw Very Wide.

Now the tank looks much better, and the Planaria population is drastically reduced, so hoping the Wrasse eats the rest for snacks.

I'll see how things go with Sand Bed at back. Easy to maintain and clean. Front of tank isn't as easy for reaching, but i may add Sand Bed all around, if things go well.

 

[Susan Edwards]

wow. a lot of work! Hope the wrasse takes care of it for you. Nice set up

 

[WallyB]

PLANARIA Flatworm UPDATE : (Menalarus Wrasse WORKING wonders )

The Melanarus Wrasse has been doing wonders. Barely any planaria left. He is getting bigger and fatter eating the pests.

I got more of my Purple Coraline colors back. . Still a bit of Cyano but that's no worry.

Some new SPS frag too. @tenurepro is upgrading his tank to a larger one and I got some Colony clipping.

 

[WallyB]

Frag Tank Update (Apatasia and Berghia/Farm Progress)

I never provided any on how the Berghia Farm turned out. It was a bust in the sense of getting eggs to hatch in the 10G.

Berghia's are not cheap so I decided to put them to good use. I move all 5 to my Frag tank 30 Gallon setup.

Going back to March 2021, this is the 30G when I got the hand-me-down Corals. Few trumps and a some Frogspawn.

Shortly after I also go some hand-me-down rock from a Tank Tear down, which quickly turned into a Aiptasia distaster.
This was the Aipastias outbreak back in Dec 2021, just before I transfer the Berghia into this tank.

At first it seemed the Berghia we not doing much. They dissapered into the rock and I never saw them.
About a month ago I noticed Aiptasia vanishing, and it accelerated. Then all of a sudden not single Aiptasia left.

Over the last week I was inspecting the tank at night since I heard that Berghia's start coming out much more as they get close to starvation. With luck I was able to catch 4 out of the 5 I originally bought. One was put into my 110G SPS Tank that has a few Aitpasia, mostly in sump. The other three beghias were put into my Mix/LPS 90 Gallon which is starting to get a serious aipatasia outbreak. I'm really happy that the Beghia's didn't starve and dive, plus the will live to continue their work in my other tanks.

This is the Aiptasia Free 30 Gal Frag Tank right now. I would say it's become more of a mini reef than a frag tank.

The box fish has been getting bigger, and he certainly has become a very entertaining fish. Quite hungry all the time and if anyone passes by the Tank he will shoot water at you using his spout mouth.

The bubble coral is getting massive, and is squished into the corner. I'm containing it since it has deadly long stingers. Having the Tunze Pump pulsing high flow next the bubble keep the Bubble's stinger tentacles short.

I learned that you can prune a bubble by wrapping an elastic around segments to get it to separate. It's taken a a couple of weeks, but just yesterday the elastic trick started the flesh separation.

I'll keep the smaller two head for the 30G tank. The Picasso Clown has hosted the Bubble, so it needs it's home.

Not sure what I'll do with the rest of the bubble coral.

 

[WallyB]

(Less Skimmer, more Algae Scrubber) results is better coral color and growth.

My SPS tank is doing best ever. I decided to run my skimmer only 12 hours a day. What I noticed is whenever I got lazy and skimmer would overfill cup it couldn't skim anymore and then corals looked better. Maybe my skimmer is skimming too much.

As soon as reduced my skimming time the Algae Scrubber took off.... I was stunned when I went to harvest the Cheato. Normally I would get a bowl full, this time it was so much it wouldn't fit into the bowl.

So I'm going to stick with the new way to run things. It's not a big change but worth a try.

This is how things look after the improvement.

As far as red planaria, they are certainly not gone, but fully under control after adding the Melanurus Wrasee.

The asternia's are back but not a major outbreak like last time. I'll just scoop them out to keep under control. Last time I got a harlequin shrimp and he got most of them quickly, but he died before he got them all. Let the beautiful Harlequins live happy in the ocean.

I do have a few small patches of Bryopsis algae. Not that worried since I've learned to carefully pluck it off by carving the rock under the patch, then cover the removed area with Glue/Putty. I do have a Bryopsis treatment but I'm not willing to add chemicals to my tank when it's doing this good. Could mess things up.

 

[Susan Edwards]

(Less Skimmer, more Algae Scrubber) results is better coral color and growth.

My SPS tank is doing best ever. I decided to run my skimmer only 12 hours a day. What I noticed is whenever I got lazy and skimmer would overfill cup it couldn't skim anymore and then corals looked better. Maybe my skimmer is skimming too much.

As soon as reduced my skimming time the Algae Scrubber took off.... I was stunned when I went to harvest the Cheato. Normally I would get a bowl full, this time it was so much it wouldn't fit into the bowl.

So I'm going to stick with the new way to run things. It's not a big change but worth a try.

This is how things look after the improvement.

As far as red planaria, they are certainly not gone, but fully under control after adding the Melanurus Wrasee.

The asternia's are back but not a major outbreak like last time. I'll just scoop them out to keep under control. Last time I got a harlequin shrimp and he got most of them quickly, but he died before he got them all. Let the beautiful Harlequins live happy in the ocean.

I do have a few small patches of Bryopsis algae. Not that worried since I've learned to carefully pluck it off by carving the rock under the patch, then cover the removed area with Glue/Putty. I do have a Bryopsis treatment but I'm not willing to add chemicals to my tank when it's doing this good. Could mess things up.

Looks great. I'd be afraid my no3 would shoot up if I cut the skimmer.

 

[WallyB]

TANK COMPARISION (4 Months) After two incidents

Here is a neat Slide Tank Comparison between March 2022 and July 2022.

https://www.instarestoration.com/slider/view/5837d55a-0c38-41ec-843c-6c7fa4bae71d

I didn't post anything about two incidents that happened over last two months.

One incident was we had a 4 day power failure due to wind storm knocking down many power lines. Good thing I bought a 3000 Watt generator a few years ago which was never used and still like new in never opened box. It certainly came in handy to intially get things wired up for heaters and pumps. Then as the power failure dragged on, I added more thing like lighting, dosers, etc. Certainly saved a full fridge and freezer from food all spoiling. I had enough watts left to share power with my neighbour via extension cord (for his fridge a basic lights/TV).

The really good news is my reef buddy gave me a piece of every one of his SPS corals as a backup. Just before the power failure. He lost a few fine specimens due to he power failure and once I grow them out, he will get them back.

The 2nd incident was certainly a repeat dumb mistake. This time I dialed in 333ml/day on my doser when I meant a small increase to 33ml/day. Noticed it on 2nd day when I noticed Part-A Alk container much lower than Calcium. The Alk overdose spiked my tank from 8dkh to 13dkh. I didn't overeact like last time, and didn't move all corals to a holding tank like last time since is was impossible... but I did do a a few large water changes and while waiting for RO water to be made I did a few small doses of vinegar. Then I let alk drop slowly over a period of two weeks. As photo shows there was no damage and it's been over a month. Things actually improved due to the water changes and my extra attention for a few weeks.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

dang Wally, I haven’t been on here for ages. Glad your tank is turning up for you bud!