75g Build Progression

[ZooMontana88]

Due to recent explosions of bacteria and algae growth, I had to qt all of my fish and most of my coral while the DT underwent a blackout cycle. I also did a major cleanup of the substrate and canister filter system. Yesterday I was finally able to reintroduce everyone to the DT. Here are some updated photos.

I’m really liking this new build. It has more caves for the fish and more access to the substrate for cleaning. Still waiting on a few coral to reopen, but all in all everyone seems happy and healthy.

 

[nano reef]

What do you think started the problem? I have been very fortunate that I have nevr had algae or any problems at all until a few weeks ago. I think its because I took so many peoples advice on nano reef.com and that was to be patient. I also heard Brs say more than once to leave lights off for months even after cycle is complete. They are now saying 4 months but who can wait that long? I id leave it off for almost 2 1/2 to 3 then waited a few more weeks for corals and bought one at a time in the beginning. Well so much for being patient because e I got impatinet and added 2o corals at once! Mostly frags but 2 were colonys. The tank was 6 months old so I thought it would be okay but its only 10 gallon. Dont hate me but I wonmost of them fromunique coarls, and was tired of holding on to my gift certiiiiiifiacte so I went nut and they owed me 12 from a live sale that I had not collected on from moths earlier after I decided to wait.

Honsetly I dont know what came first the chicken or the egg but all hell broke lose and my tank crashed and I lost more than Half including th ones I had before even and all my lps and 2 sps(only had 2 anyway) so all thats left is softies and the cheap ones at that. I am not even sure if these will all make it. None of the m are fully opened yet!
First I noticed my salinty was way low at 1019 when I went to do my weekly water change. Honestly I think i may have been mixing wrong for a while because I just went with whatevr my refractmeter said and now I have noticed its all over the place even after calibrating it! so I got a hana checker and I love it! Its so easy to just dip it and bam a reading that is always right! so I changed water and over 2 days got the salinity back but then I had high ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, low alk. I started dosing it with prime but wasnt changing it enough it only lowered it but after abou 4 days and 2 times a day I got it under control and now its fully cycled again without a reboot.. yay!

I have learned a huge lesson and glad it happened early on and thats always have a ER tank or quaratine! I have one I added Fritz turbo start and man thats the only stuff that works! i have nitrates already and its only been 2 days since I set it up!

Stupidest thing I did is I have a 36 gallon now that has been cycled for a month or more and had one fish, now 3 because I put the other two in there. Anyway, lights still off but I have a current that I could have hooked up and a coral life and put the frags in there! I guess I thought I could nurse them back and get it under control plus I idint know if me adding all them overwhelmed my system and I didn't want it to happen in there. That tanks is doing great, no nitrates even. I always had them in my 10 gallon but I used a lot of bioballs so maybe thats why but I am shopping for better lights now and I wish I had of at least moved the lps and the more expensive ones and the colonys. I had a super nice green mouth torch and a unusual shaped duncan colony, so now I am getting cheaper lights than I wanted because I have a lot of coral to replace!

I cant seem to find any many being sold on here, so might get Ocean revive. Its a step up from black box or noopschhye which is basically the same thing but look more like radions with mounts! Still thinking about Radions, but doubtful. Hubby gave me the go a ahead though. I aplied for the zero interest paypal so might just do that if I dont like the way the others look on tank!

Sorry this is so long! LOts happen since I asked you about my 36 and It wasnt even up yet! Yours has come a long way.. hopefully you have seen the last of the cyano! I have a few red blothes that have appeared on my rock in my 10. he one that went through all that. I just wiped it off but I hope thats not whats about to happen next! If it does I will be ready with my quarantine!

 

[ZooMontana88]

What do you think started the problem? I have been very fortunate that I have nevr had algae or any problems at all until a few weeks ago. I think its because I took so many peoples advice on nano reef.com and that was to be patient. I also heard Brs say more than once to leave lights off for months even after cycle is complete. They are now saying 4 months but who can wait that long? I id leave it off for almost 2 1/2 to 3 then waited a few more weeks for corals and bought one at a time in the beginning. Well so much for being patient because e I got impatinet and added 2o corals at once! Mostly frags but 2 were colonys. The tank was 6 months old so I thought it would be okay but its only 10 gallon. Dont hate me but I wonmost of them fromunique coarls, and was tired of holding on to my gift certiiiiiifiacte so I went nut and they owed me 12 from a live sale that I had not collected on from moths earlier after I decided to wait.

Honsetly I dont know what came first the chicken or the egg but all hell broke lose and my tank crashed and I lost more than Half including th ones I had before even and all my lps and 2 sps(only had 2 anyway) so all thats left is softies and the cheap ones at that. I am not even sure if these will all make it. None of the m are fully opened yet!
First I noticed my salinty was way low at 1019 when I went to do my weekly water change. Honestly I think i may have been mixing wrong for a while because I just went with whatevr my refractmeter said and now I have noticed its all over the place even after calibrating it! so I got a hana checker and I love it! Its so easy to just dip it and bam a reading that is always right! so I changed water and over 2 days got the salinity back but then I had high ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, low alk. I started dosing it with prime but wasnt changing it enough it only lowered it but after abou 4 days and 2 times a day I got it under control and now its fully cycled again without a reboot.. yay!

I have learned a huge lesson and glad it happened early on and thats always have a ER tank or quaratine! I have one I added Fritz turbo start and man thats the only stuff that works! i have nitrates already and its only been 2 days since I set it up!

Stupidest thing I did is I have a 36 gallon now that has been cycled for a month or more and had one fish, now 3 because I put the other two in there. Anyway, lights still off but I have a current that I could have hooked up and a coral life and put the frags in there! I guess I thought I could nurse them back and get it under control plus I idint know if me adding all them overwhelmed my system and I didn't want it to happen in there. That tanks is doing great, no nitrates even. I always had them in my 10 gallon but I used a lot of bioballs so maybe thats why but I am shopping for better lights now and I wish I had of at least moved the lps and the more expensive ones and the colonys. I had a super nice green mouth torch and a unusual shaped duncan colony, so now I am getting cheaper lights than I wanted because I have a lot of coral to replace!

I cant seem to find any many being sold on here, so might get Ocean revive. Its a step up from black box or noopschhye which is basically the same thing but look more like radions with mounts! Still thinking about Radions, but doubtful. Hubby gave me the go a ahead though. I aplied for the zero interest paypal so might just do that if I dont like the way the others look on tank!

Sorry this is so long! LOts happen since I asked you about my 36 and It wasnt even up yet! Yours has come a long way.. hopefully you have seen the last of the cyano! I have a few red blothes that have appeared on my rock in my 10. he one that went through all that. I just wiped it off but I hope thats not whats about to happen next! If it does I will be ready with my quarantine!

So I was initially battling nitrates and phosphates. I was gifted some NoPoX and began that treatment. Soon after, the cyano started. Then I also noticed diatoms. I tried the H2O changes and the substrate cleaning and the syphon method but all of that just made it spread even more. My last effort was the blackout after I removed the livestock. That eradicated it so far. Fingers crossed it doesn’t return. I just checked all of my parameters today and everything is perfect or close to perfect. The corals began opening up but not in full swing yet.
Now I’m dealing with Velvet on my Tang. I believe all of the changes has weakened its system. I plan on doing minimal water handlings and another few days of low light in the DT. Fingers crossed it survives this. No other fish have been infected so I think it might just work.
Having the back up QT tank has been a life saver, especially being a beginner/novice reefer. Do you have a link for your Progression build? As for salt mixing, my lfs guy advised 1/2 cup/gal... I’m not sure if that’s a rule of thumb or just the brand he carries that I bought. For my measurement on salinity, I have a basic meter that suctions to the inside of my tank. I take it out regularly to clean so it measures accurately. Are you using any wave makers or power heads in your system?

 

[ZooMontana88]

Update on the DT:

There have been some sad losses throughout the month. Recently lost the Tang and Royal Gramma. Also, both Lettuce Sea Slugs have disappeared. Almost 2 months ago the Condylactii disappeared but I discovered it living it up in the canister filtration and returned it to the tank.

Everyone else seems to be recovering quite nicely and there’s new growth in the Coral and fish. I’ve also included photos. There’s a lot of zooplankton activity going on at various life stages as well.
Here’s to lessons learned, recovery, and future growth!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

@ZooMontana88 how's the reef doing? Any updates?