120 Gallon Mixed Reef in progress

Tristren · Aug 31, 2018

Hi there,

Just a quick update to say that the Vibrant seems to have worked wonders (though now waiting through a cyano bloom).

Never did see that fifth chromis unfortunately. But the other four are all still present and accounted for.

Time will tell if I can make this reset stick. But I'm building back up the cleanup crew, and they seem to be doing well.

The GHL Mitras Lightbars are working great. All the corals are happier and seeing good Coraline growth as well.

Unfortunately the lights and the camera on my phone don't sync up well and so photos are tricky.

Here are a couple anyway...

Tristren · Nov 18, 2018

So a general update I suppose. The system trundle on. Some good things and some bad.

Overall what is great I think is that the algae that was plaguing the system all of last year does seem to be fully gone. Because whatever that was was toxic to my clean up crew it made everything harder. Now I hope I'm into a more normal cycle of managing algae cyano, diatom, etc...

There really do seem to be some quirks with this system. I've never been able to see any measurable nitrate or phosphate numbers in the tests (including Triton tests). The algae was unstoppable on the rocks, but the glass was frankly pretty clear.

I've had good luck with softies and LPS. Except that a sinularia that was ok for 10 months just shrunk back and closed a month ago. Still don't know why.

Any sps I've tried has not been happy. More light coming soon so that might help.

Coraline is ok but not particularly fast growing.

Gorgonians are very happy it seems. As are the Zooanthids.

All the fish are fat and happy.

I'll be adding some exciting equipment in the near future, so looking forward to that. Will update as that arrives.

In the meantime here are a couple of photos, mainly for my own tracking.

This from October, before the last of the algae was gone. It's very messy I know, but I actually liked the way it looked here. The problem is it wouldn't stay at that level and would take over everything

Here is what the refugium looks like now. Doing its job in that it is full of copepods. The macro algae isn't doing as well as it could be. As I back off the Vibrant we'll see how it responds. They quite like the Oxydator. Oh! I should mention that I added an oxydator a month or so ago. I'm happy with how that's going too.

The skimmer is working hard. This is around 4 days worth I'd say. Sometimes more like a week.

And here is the tank last night. Still not at all where it should be. But I'm still enjoying the journey!

Cheers, Tony

Dsnakes · Nov 18, 2018

I just read through your build

you have really knocked the algae back. I’m sure letting the fish eat it and adding the urchins helped as well. Keep it up!

Tristren · Nov 18, 2018

Dsnakes said:
I just read through your build you have really knocked the algae back. I’m sure letting the fish eat it and adding the urchins helped as well. Keep it up!

Yes, I've tried as much as possible to focus on longer term balance as opposed to over compensating and throwing the system further off. That has probably meant it is taking me a lot longer to get these things fixed but hopefully will be worth it in the end.

Tristren · Dec 11, 2018

Just a quick little update to tell the story of this little guy:

So a few days ago my wife mentioned that she hadn't seen him all day. He doesn't normally go far from his home, but he is visible. By the next day I was curious enough to take a look up under the tank. Sometimes we can see where they've burrowed down.

We saw his tail through the sand back under the taller rocks. Watching for a while it was clear he wasn't moving and his tail looked odd and translucent.

I couldn't move those rocks or poke around back there so I pointed my return straight down and it started clearing things away.

We had to go out for a bit and when we came back the sand was cleared away and we could see him more clearly, looking pretty much dead. No breathing we could see.

It was pretty sad, and more so the next day when there was no signed of him at all...

A couple of days later I was back under the tank for other stuff and I happened to see a bare spot at the bottom of the corner overflow, and then saw a flash of yellow.

Somehow he got back there. Best I can figure is that something bad happened to get him stuck back under the rock, and after the sand was cleared out he was washed out, up and over. Then he got better...

So I gave him a squirt of ROE back there which he gobbled up. We let him rest there overnight and the next day, when we had time to do it carefully, we scooped him back out. We got a fairly good look at him and he seemed ok.

When he got back in the tank he spent a couple of hours sitting there thinking about his life. Now back to normal!

So a roller coaster for sure but I'm really really glad how it turned out

Tony

najer · Dec 25, 2018

Result, gorgeous little guy!

Tristren · Feb 9, 2019

Ok, I've had a series of projects in mind since the holidays and was waiting to get them done before doing a proper update. But all that means is no updates!

Overall the tank is doing very well. Still some issues, but very happy overall.

Two things I did get done were adding a media reactor, and also setting up the GHL ProfiLux 4. Very happy with the ProfiLux, although I still haven't set up the doser, so kind of halfway there.

So in terms of updates:

After the algae came the cyano. This is from December:

I cut back on the Vibrant and that gradually went away. Here is the tank at the end of January:

Looks a bit bare really

One of the things I've been doing is adding corals to take up nutrients. The softies Gorgonians, Zooanthids, are all doing well. The LPS not so much. Not sure if it's just because it is still definitely a nutrient rich system, because I'm not dosing so less stable, or something else...

I will try and post more on the equipment, update on the animals in the system, talk about starting to remove some (but not all) of the sand, and talk about the projects that are mostly (but not completely) still in my head, including using the doser to set up an AWC and an autofeeder for Reef Nutrition foods, adding a manifold, adding a cryptic refugium, building a saltwater mixing station, etc... etc...

I'm the meantime, a glimpse behind the curtain. This is my fish corner of the basement. A few changes since but this is while I was setting up the ProfiLux over the holidays. It's messy...

Clayton Jessup · Feb 25, 2019

The tank looks great @Tristren ! I love the fish room/ basement! I like the layout of the aquarium. I would love to see more updates if possible. I am actually thinking this same size aquarium as a upgrade.

Tristren · Mar 2, 2019

Clayton Jessup said:
The tank looks great @Tristren ! I love the fish room/ basement! I like the layout of the aquarium. I would love to see more updates if possible. I am actually thinking this same size aquarium as a upgrade.

Thanks very much. Despite ongoing problems I really am happy with it. I do think going with this size was the right choice as well. It is our first tank, but the size and total volume has made it quite stable. And we've had room to grow in the existing set up.

I will try and do a proper update soon. I set up the doser last week and am using it for automatic water changes (10x150ml daily). It's just placed temporarily for now but I'm very happy with how well it works.

Also happy with my newer softies too

What kind of system do you have now?

Tony

Tristren · Mar 9, 2019

Just a quick shot of the tank. From a couple of weeks ago now. Not what you might expect from a tank coming up on two years old, but quite happy with how it has recovered from the last year.

I have next week off so hoping to get some work done here

Tristren · Mar 24, 2019

Trying to update more frequently so I can keep track of progress (or regress) over time...

First some positives. All the fish seem happy and healthy. As do the snails and crabs and such. Continuing to see Coraline growth, which is nice.

Still doing the AWC, and have added - NP Pro via the doser. All set up using the GHL app and very happy with how that went.

And finally seeing some coral growth as well. The toadstool softie seems quite happy:

And nice polyp extension from the Gorgonians

So, in parts, just looking like a happy tank

On the other hand, a euphyllia I got isn't doing well. Likewise a Trachyphyllia.

And then there is the Green hair algae. Same stuff as last time it seems. It's making a comeback. But interestingly it is only growing in areas with less light. Around the backs of rocks, in little crevices on rocks under overhangs etc...

Not sure what to make of that...

Cheers, Tony

Tristren · Apr 14, 2019

Two new additions, and some removals.

In general things are progressing as they were. For the most part the corals seem to be doing well. All the fish and inverts are happy and healthy.

First of all I removed the candy coral and the euphyllia. They are in the refugium for now as I've reason to think that they were being bothered by some of the other inhabitants (more on that another time). I have another solution for that longer-term, I hope (more on that another time too!).

I've also added two corals that are both doing well.

One more Gorgonian that is very similar to one we had but the polyps are larger and further apart. Not sure if that means it is a slightly different species or one that grew in a different environment. It seems happy for now and is more active than the others at catching food particles at feeding time.

Seems like I should have a nice Gorgonian garden on that side.

The other new addition is a nice neon green Sinularia. We had one for the first year and it was definitely a favorite. Towards the end of the reset it just melted away...

This new one is another frag from the original colony, so very happy to have it. It has stretched out since, and has attached to the rock nicely.

On we go!

Cheers, Tony

Tristren · Apr 19, 2019

Just dropping in a FTS as I usually forget.

Note the (inactive) magnum water polisher in the left corner that I need to pull out as I'm done with it for now.

Overall I'm quite happy with where things are going!

Tristren · Jan 1, 2020

Ok,
New Year’s Resolution to post more. Strategy being to just post things as they come up as opposed to trying to figure out where I left off months ago and provide a coherent update. Hopefully if I keep it up the story will tell itself.

In that spirit here is a video of the new Pearly Jawfish irritating the Watchman Goby. With guest appearances by one of the two newish Hector Gobies, as well as the Yellow Wrasse and Magnificent Foxface.

Apologies for the dodgy camera work, reflections in the glass and the messy glass itself.

All in all a fair representation of life in the tank (one corner of it anyway

Tony

Tristren · Jan 1, 2020

YouTube link of the above

Lasse · Jan 1, 2020

It looks good

Sincerely Lasse

najer · Jan 1, 2020

I did chuckle out loud at the jaw fish, great vids!

Tristren · Jan 6, 2020

In keeping with that spirit:

Here is what the tank looks like these days. Im actually quite happy with it. These are from the evening so lights are a bit less white than during the day.

After all the trials and tribulations, last spring is when it actually stabilized and coral started growing. So pretty good in that context.

Closer look at the right end:

The foxface makes sure she is in the shot.

Cheers, Tony