48x24x16 Lowboy Build

[BroccoliFarmer]

Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a while for me..but I have had just a depressing month. To the point I have debated shutting down my tank. Lost well over 1,500 of my happy euphillya. and SPS...INCLUDING the battlebox that came early. Just feel like crying (hey..men are allowed to cry now adays). Going to just spend the next few months trying to stabilize the system and hopefully regain my passion for the hobby.

Looking over the issues, I have had a prolonged nitrate spike. Apparently my cheapy API Nitrate test kit was giving me false low readings for a while. When I got a hanna nitrate tester it was over 75 (unreadable) and I have not been able to get the nitrates down. Outside of this..everything else is dang near perfect...except for my dying corals. I have been told that a nitrate spike should not be a death sentence but here I am.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a while for me..but I have had just a depressing month. To the point I have debated shutting down my tank. Lost well over 1,500 of my happy euphillya. and SPS...INCLUDING the battlebox that came early. Just feel like crying (hey..men are allowed to cry now adays). Going to just spend the next few months trying to stabilize the system and hopefully regain my passion for the hobby.

Looking over the issues, I have had a prolonged nitrate spike. Apparently my cheapy API Nitrate test kit was giving me false low readings for a while. When I got a hanna nitrate tester it was over 75 (unreadable) and I have not been able to get the nitrates down. Outside of this..everything else is dang near perfect...except for my dying corals. I have been told that a nitrate spike should not be a death sentence but here I am.

Sorry to hear this. Curious what is phosphates at?

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Sorry to hear this. Curious what is phosphates at?

Been going between 0.11 and 0.17 for the last month. I was curious if the ratio of phosphates is too low for high nitrates but couldnt find anyone indicating that would be a problem.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a while for me..but I have had just a depressing month. To the point I have debated shutting down my tank. Lost well over 1,500 of my happy euphillya. and SPS...INCLUDING the battlebox that came early. Just feel like crying (hey..men are allowed to cry now adays). Going to just spend the next few months trying to stabilize the system and hopefully regain my passion for the hobby.

Looking over the issues, I have had a prolonged nitrate spike. Apparently my cheapy API Nitrate test kit was giving me false low readings for a while. When I got a hanna nitrate tester it was over 75 (unreadable) and I have not been able to get the nitrates down. Outside of this..everything else is dang near perfect...except for my dying corals. I have been told that a nitrate spike should not be a death sentence but here I am.

OMG!
Michael, I'm sooo sorry!!! Don't loose hope.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a while for me..but I have had just a depressing month. To the point I have debated shutting down my tank. Lost well over 1,500 of my happy euphillya. and SPS...INCLUDING the battlebox that came early. Just feel like crying (hey..men are allowed to cry now adays). Going to just spend the next few months trying to stabilize the system and hopefully regain my passion for the hobby.

Looking over the issues, I have had a prolonged nitrate spike. Apparently my cheapy API Nitrate test kit was giving me false low readings for a while. When I got a hanna nitrate tester it was over 75 (unreadable) and I have not been able to get the nitrates down. Outside of this..everything else is dang near perfect...except for my dying corals. I have been told that a nitrate spike should not be a death sentence but here I am.

So, when you're ready back to stable parameters and you feel like you're ready to start adding back in, let me know!
I have several hammers, froggies, and torches already that are growing really well and I could absolutely frag a bunch for you!
When that time comes, lemme know! Come on over and you can pick out what you want!!!

 

[Utubereefer]

I got sticks for you when you’re ready brother…. I can make it a tax write off right???

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Today is a proud day. After approximately 1 year with my current build..I finally have a clown fish being hosted by an anenome. Never mind that I have lost just about every coral in my tank (a couple of ks worth) and my levels are a little unhappy...but I finally got a hosted clown fish in my BTA. Life is good!!!

 

[taulgrl]

Today is a proud day. After approximately 1 year with my current build..I finally have a clown fish being hosted by an anenome. Never mind that I have lost just about every coral in my tank (a couple of ks worth) and my levels are a little unhappy...but I finally got a hosted clown fish in my BTA. Life is good!!!

Congrats! I know (and continue) the struggle

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Congrats! I know (and continue) the struggle

I tried with the designer clowns. No luck and a lot of frustration. Ultimately, I got a clarki and viola. At first, the Clarki would not go into the BTA..but once I did a water change and it felt a little threatened by my hand in the tank...zip...right in.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I gotta say...the clown being hosted by the anenome has really re-invigorated me. After watching my corals die off one by one in slow motion and NOTHING I did stopped it..i really was on the verge of giving up. Literally was debating how to break it to the wife that this huge hobby that I jumped all in on and spent the equivalent of a few months mortgage on..well its over and I might be back 10 cents on the dollar. But this little clown and this annoyingly mobile anemone...I have to say I really am excited about the hobby again. Not going to lie to you..probably going to be staying away from normal corals for a while..even if I come back. But a 90 gallon nem tank seems to be in my future. Let's hope the excitement last. Will drop a few pictures when I can get a few good ones.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I think everyone can relate to wanting to give up , ( me during Dino’s lol ) I’m there with ya , I keep lps / softies and nems it’s less stressful and helps me enjoy the tank in being so

 

[Projects with Sam]

I gotta say...the clown being hosted by the anenome has really re-invigorated me. After watching my corals die off one by one in slow motion and NOTHING I did stopped it..i really was on the verge of giving up. Literally was debating how to break it to the wife that this huge hobby that I jumped all in on and spent the equivalent of a few months mortgage on..well its over and I might be back 10 cents on the dollar. But this little clown and this annoyingly mobile anemone...I have to say I really am excited about the hobby again. Not going to lie to you..probably going to be staying away from normal corals for a while..even if I come back. But a 90 gallon nem tank seems to be in my future. Let's hope the excitement last. Will drop a few pictures when I can get a few good ones.

lets make some lemonade!

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Looks like my tank has finally stabilized. My nems are doing well and are fully extended. My three torches seem to have held on and come back to a reasonable level of health. My zoas are still existing (not reproducing, but still nice and open). My levels are in a better spot (Nitrate 60, Phosphate 0.11 and Alk 8.5). Nitrate a little high but its coming down over time.

I am running a level of confidence again that I decided to play my first coral order in months and start down the path of rebuilding!! Will be posting up a vid once they get place. Hope all you dads out there are having a good one.

 

[tbrown]

Happy Father's Day!

 

[OrchidMiss]

Teasers lol

 

[tbrown]

Teasers lol

Those two on the bottom... Joker and Jester? Cotton Candy and Joker?

 

[OrchidMiss]

Those two on the bottom... Joker and Jester? Cotton Candy and Joker?

Great question!! Haha
One's a jade torch and the other was just called a yellow tipped. I'll have to take photos of the mouths.
They're pretty torches! And they look all ready to frag when Broccoli's ready!
He's gonna have to bring his own tools though, I don't have anything to frag with. Never done it! YET!

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Great question!! Haha
One's a jade torch and the other was just called a yellow tipped. I'll have to take photos of the mouths.
They're pretty torches! And they look all ready to frag when Broccoli's ready!
He's gonna have to bring his own tools though, I don't have anything to frag with. Never done it! YET!

You are too kind and generous!

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Just a little status update. I got my delivery from AquaSD on Thursday. 4 BTAs and a splattering of other LPS, SPS and shrooms. Things were drip acclimated, dipped and are being acclimated to tank settings. All of the corals are opening up beautifully, even the dreaded SPS. One of the most SHOCKING things is that I ordered a goni for the heck of it knowing that I have not bee successful in the past (saying not successful is an understatement, i have never had polyp extension for a second), but the goni i have seems to be doing well. Nice polyp extension, nice movement, happy little guy. Overall, i am very happy and pleased with the tank and will be posting pictures once I figure out where things should be placed. Only REAL difference between my past attempts and this attempt seems to be most phosphates..they are ridiculously low that I am over dosing a bit to try and get them off the floor. Wonder if that has been the issue all along, not being able to control my phosphates.

Stuggling a little getting my PH up. bobbing up and down between 7.7 and 8, even with a CO2 scubber on my skmmer. May end up drilling a hole in my floor and running a tube to my ventilated crawl space.

Anyways..hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Gotta love windex hour