200G IM EXT (First tank ever)

[vittpsu21]

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Just wanted to let you know, in a public way, that you still stink. (Probably worse than the sea hare.)

 

[vittpsu21]

Just wanted to let you know, in a public way, that you still stink. (Probably worse than the sea hare.)

Haha, I have to hook the hydros up still, and then xfer the f1s I use currently over to the x10.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Haha, I have to hook the hydros up still, and then xfer the f1s I use currently over to the x10.

Yeah, like, whatever man. No one cares. LOL!

 

[vittpsu21]

Well a lot has happened, our order from dr reefs showed up, since 2 of the fish must not ship well, we ended up with way more fish than I expected!

2 carpenter wrasse
2 diamond gobies
1 yellow watchman
1 tiger pistol shrimp

All arrived alive and are eating and doing well 24 hours later. It does occur to me I’ll likely have to move some of the duplicates around for now but I wasn’t very sure what to do at first! That being said everyone’s getting along for now and my royal gramma who was bullying yesterday has calmed down a lot.


My tank looks like a sand storm atm tho with all these creatures digging atm

My new interior decorator apparently

Both wrasse

Watchman

The gobby is so tiny he scares me lol


On top of that…in the qt I managed to get a leapord wrasse and tamarin wrasse who were in my lfs for 4 weeks and eating frozen already. Both are over 2 weeks int qt and doing amazing, so they will likely be joining the party after that!

The last batch of fish for me will be 3 tangs and a rabbitfish. The only thing I plan to add after that will be a mandarin but I’m making myself wait until one year despite me culturing pods and phyto!

It’s crazy how both fast and time slow go in this hobby. It’s really something to see where I started with 3 fish and white rock to how far I’ve come in 8 months!

 

[vittpsu21]

Alright well yesterday was a busy day! Got both the x10 and x8 setup and rhe probes placed into the tank!

Still need to run new dosing lines and then swap over to the new dosers, but I do feel slightly better now with alerts on the return pump if something goes wrong!

I also have a ton of cable management to do this weekend but mostly wanted to get it up for now!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Alright well yesterday was a busy day! Got both the x10 and x8 setup and rhe probes placed into the tank!

Still need to run new dosing lines and then swap over to the new dosers, but I do feel slightly better now with alerts on the return pump if something goes wrong!

I also have a ton of cable management to do this weekend but mostly wanted to get it up for now!

I wish I could like your post but, well, you know...

 

[vittpsu21]

Alright well yesterday was a busy day! Got both the x10 and x8 setup and rhe probes placed into the tank!

Still need to run new dosing lines and then swap over to the new dosers, but I do feel slightly better now with alerts on the return pump if something goes wrong!

I also have a ton of cable management to do this weekend but mostly wanted to get it up for now!

I wish I could like your post but, well, you know...

I had to drive 1.5 hours each way to pick it up if that makes you feel better. Really cut int the cost…

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I had to drive 1.5 hours each way to pick it up if that makes you feel better. Really cut int the cost…

Oh stop! I'm getting all misty-eyed over here.

 

[vittpsu21]

Little update:

The unplanned double diamond goby, has been an experience! they are sifting sand so fast that my entire tank had been a snowstorm for a week, I finally drove to petco and got a polish filter to put in for a little until they get through the sand.

They already have my sand looking wayyyy whiter than before, and eventually I believe I will rehome one as I only planned on one, but they are both eating frozen and healthy. That being said it is actually crazy how much these two are filtering, while I know its good as my sand hadn't really been touched in months, but dang if they aren't messy to start. Gonna post some pictures from my phone after this post for ya'll to see lol

 

[vittpsu21]

 

[vittpsu21]

Alright well today, I have made the choice to start working toward automatic water changes...bit worried about it, but I have extra doser head on the a10 and an extra f1 doser. Plus a wife who really wants the brute out of the laundry room thats been there for 8 months lol

The idea is I will move my brutes into the garage

| | | |
| | | |
| garage | laundry | tank |
| | | |
| | | |


There will be 2 brick walls between from the garage --->laundry room ---> tank

Things I have/ordered:

2 Float Valves 1/4"
2 Bulkheads 1/4"
100 ft of rodi cable (red)
25 ft of waste cable (black)
10 ft of rodi cable (blue)

x10 head (put in)
f1 doser (pull out)
3 way ball valve

I will use the Hydros to put some checks in place, will purchase the salinity module for the hydros as well as the sensor module for the sump level. Should allow me to get the rodi unit and the brutes into the garge which will make my wife very happy lol

 

[vittpsu21]

Happy early birthday to me, not a ton to report but tank does seem to be looking much better and numbers are also reflecting that!

I did pick up some new corals form a reef2reef member that lives nearby. Below are the additions just a few hours after dipping and being put in! I also have my first 4 acros coming later this week, they were very inexpensive and I felt like maybe it was time! Would suggest to anyone looking the corals are in good health and I had previously gotten three from him at a trade show @Luke Schnabel

Also managed to crash my diatom phyto somehow, so that’s good

White is not really good lol, diatom cultures are such a pain. Also looking like I’ll need to rehome one of the diamond gobys at some point the plan was never two but since two were shipped and both made it will have to figure that out.

 

[vittpsu21]

Last of the birthday corals have arrived, and will be my first attempt at acros. They were a decent price so I figured now was as good a time as any to try.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Last of the birthday corals have arrived, and will be my first attempt at acros. They were a decent price so I figured now was as good a time as any to try.

Hope you had/have a very Happy Birthday!

 

[vittpsu21]

Well the diamond gobys are still exporting tons of stuff from the tank, little less of a storm then their was but still an on going fight! My Nitrates during all of this have climbed higher than they have ever been and the combo of that and the fines (mostly the fines I think) are causing some of the corals to be irritated!

I went ahead and added 100 astrea, as my current theory is that the algae that still remains in the display is trapping the fines from the gobies (you can see it when you pick the big mats and big clouds come out). If I get the mats gone then less to trap the fines and keep exporting it out! I have been changing floss every 24 hours and it gets nasty and smelly, so clearly stuff is being exported out properly!

I haven't missed any water changes and I did previous to this week for the last 3 weeks even cleaned out big detritus piles in the sump! So the nitrates climbing definitely surprised me! I did try to catch one of the diamond gobys (since I only planned on one) but that was impossible. We will see how it goes but I am hopeful that is what is going on, I have seen the gobys eating off the rocks and also stuff coming off the rocks just from the powerheads!

My refug is also getting overrun with algae of the bad kind, which I am picking a few times a week, but is definitely out competing my chaeto which was previously thriving!

 

[vittpsu21]

Alright, little update on the above, the astrea snails haven't been in long but are already knocking back the algae quite a bit! The snowglobe effect is still occurring, but I did happen upon another piece of information I thought might be contributing, I think likely it is not just one thing! When pulling big mat algae out, I noticed big puffs come out of the algae of stored up fines (from the gobies I assume) so my next assumption is that my rocks are completely loaded with stuff that resettled and didn't export out!

With that said, starting yesterday I started turkey bastering my rocks for 5 minutes, right before the mp40 nutrient export mode. My thought is, if I do this for a while and my theory is correct, the stored mess should become less and less over time! When I did it yesterday (first day) I stopped pretty quickly after as the mess it created was a lot before it could be pushed down the overflow! So my plan over the next few weeks is to be to continue to do this right before the export mode and see what happens!

The filter floss was a bit dirtier this morning then normal (expected with me stirring more up) and my thought was I can also use this as an indicator of if I am having any impact. I also noticed that the side of my tank with only one mp40 seems to have trouble getting things down the back of the overflow. It may be I eventually need an additional powerhead over there but I wont address that until I see how the astrea and the stir up goes for a few weeks! I imagine when the time comes, it will be less about tank flow for me and more about pushing stuff down the overflow, so the need might be something I can aim and not another mp40. But I have made enough changes with the snails and the stir up that I think its important to track it for a few weeks and see how it does.

If I am right all of these things are kind of feeding into each other, diamonds stir up stuff, some gets exported some settles on rocks algae. The astrea will help with algae part, the baster will help get more off the rocks, etc... we shall see

 

[UncommonSense]

Alright, little update on the above, the astrea snails haven't been in long but are already knocking back the algae quite a bit! The snowglobe effect is still occurring, but I did happen upon another piece of information I thought might be contributing, I think likely it is not just one thing! When pulling big mat algae out, I noticed big puffs come out of the algae of stored up fines (from the gobies I assume) so my next assumption is that my rocks are completely loaded with stuff that resettled and didn't export out!

With that said, starting yesterday I started turkey bastering my rocks for 5 minutes, right before the mp40 nutrient export mode. My thought is, if I do this for a while and my theory is correct, the stored mess should become less and less over time! When I did it yesterday (first day) I stopped pretty quickly after as the mess it created was a lot before it could be pushed down the overflow! So my plan over the next few weeks is to be to continue to do this right before the export mode and see what happens!

The filter floss was a bit dirtier this morning then normal (expected with me stirring more up) and my thought was I can also use this as an indicator of if I am having any impact. I also noticed that the side of my tank with only one mp40 seems to have trouble getting things down the back of the overflow. It may be I eventually need an additional powerhead over there but I wont address that until I see how the astrea and the stir up goes for a few weeks! I imagine when the time comes, it will be less about tank flow for me and more about pushing stuff down the overflow, so the need might be something I can aim and not another mp40. But I have made enough changes with the snails and the stir up that I think its important to track it for a few weeks and see how it does.

If I am right all of these things are kind of feeding into each other, diamonds stir up stuff, some gets exported some settles on rocks algae. The astrea will help with algae part, the baster will help get more off the rocks, etc... we shall see

Wow! This is a LOT of silt accumulation… the sand itself (too many fine particles not screened out) is the likely culprit…

Thankfully, it’s an issue which fixes itself over time… however, that doesn’t make it any less annoying!

— here’s a trick which I don’t typically recommend (it’s buying extra stuff and doing extra work), but I believe will work very well for your specific issue:

I think several companies still sell these cheap/ugly “water polisher” filters; it’s just a plastic housing which comes with a thin filter floss inside… I toss the factory filter floss and roll in a cut-to-size swath of 5 micron filter floss (of the style you see in canister filters)!

Ideally, you want one that disassembles as seen here, with an inner mesh “cage” to protect the pump inlet from sucking floss in!


— This contraption, with the pump of your choice, can be stuck in the display to either suction, or blow off the rock structures while catching the majority of the ensuing silt! — a bit like an aquatic vacuum cleaner/blower!

 

[vittpsu21]

Wow! This is a LOT of silt accumulation… the sand itself (too many fine particles not screened out) is the likely culprit…

Thankfully, it’s an issue which fixes itself over time… however, that doesn’t make it any less annoying!

— here’s a trick which I don’t typically recommend (it’s buying extra stuff and doing extra work), but I believe will work very well for your specific issue:

I think several companies still sell these cheap/ugly “water polisher” filters; it’s just a plastic housing which comes with a thin filter floss inside… I toss the factory filter floss and roll in a cut-to-size swath of 5 micron filter floss (of the style you see in canister filters)!

Ideally, you want one that disassembles as seen here, with an inner mesh “cage” to protect the pump inlet from sucking floss in!


— This contraption, with the pump of your choice, can be stuck in the display to either suction, or blow off the rock structures while catching the majority of the ensuing silt! — a bit like an aquatic vacuum cleaner/blower!

Hey! So... would you believe me if I said I tried this, I did use the um... **** whats the name of it (common red brand) version of this! I also wrapped it in filter floss and through it in the tank. The polisher actually didn't pull much out, I was so surprised! Marineland, that was it, when I would pull it out to swap the floss after 24 hours it would still be completely clean lol

 

[vittpsu21]

This is 24 hours of floss btw, I roll it so part of it looks clean just because it wasn’t exposed

Have not missed any water changes or a single 24 hour floss change.