Adventures in keeping a sps reef

[Llorgon]

Since for now, the coral losses have stopped I figured I would take a look at some things I need to deal with regarding the tank.
Things I want to address, probably in order
1. cyano and algae
2. Apex hasn't connected to fusion all freaking summer
3. CUC needs updating
4. Refugium needs a bit of an overhaul
5. Dosing needs to be dialed in again since the coral losses seem to have stopped
6. I have an aiptasia problem... this is in both tanks
7. Euphyllia still aren't opening or coloured up like they used to be.

This is a lot, but I have a plan...somewhat.

1/3/4. These all sort of fall in together. Right now, since the scrubbing and picking of the gha seems to be really annoying the remaining coral( it's growing on the dead tips of the space invader) I'm going to run flux rx to kill off the gha. Order a pod seed pack and add more cuc. I am going to try and get a variation of snails and urchin if back in stock. Once I have run the course of flux rx, I will clean out the refugium and add some chaeto instead of the caulerpa. I may also need to either get a new fuge light or add a second one. I will also continue the MB7 and live phyto dosing to the tank. I will switch MB7 to weekly, but continue phyto daily.

2. The stupid Apex just decided not to connect one day, status light is orange, but refuses to connect to wifi no matter what I try. I will probably have to reach out to support for help since I have tried everything else. Once that is connected I can increase the refugium light time.

5. For this, I may turn dosing off for 4 days, test on day 1 and 4, take the average and go from there. I am almost out of red sea foundations Alk. I am thinking of switching to the ESV B-ionic. I am not sure what the best way to do that is since I have a bunch of calcium left. I guess doing a quick switch of everything would be best. The red sea stuff wasn't bad, but expensive and the mixing can be a pain, it would never mix well for me.

6. I have been trying to keep up on this with aiptasiaX, but that just isn't doing it. I guess I have the choice of nudibranch, file fish or peppermint shrimp. This tank doesn't have too bad of a problem...yet, but my small tank has way too many. I am leaning towards peppermint shrimp for both tanks since that is the cheapest option.

7. I am really not sure on this one. I hope if everything else is on point then this will solve itself. If not, I can look into the par levels and flow. I do have a few SPS left so I don't want to change things up too drastically.

 

[Llorgon]

I tested my water again on Sunday night. My main 3 consumption has dropped again.

Temp: 78
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 9.6
Cal: 485
Mag: 1500
Nitrate: 6.1
Phosphate: 0.07

I'm on day 4 after dosing flux rx. Seeing a bit of an improvement on the gha situation. I'm still scrubbing the rocks daily to help speed the process along.

Apex is still being a pain and I haven't got it back up and connected to fusion yet, but I am working with support.

Flux rx says it can take 10-14 days to work. Should I wait until the 14 days to start adding pods and CUC or better to start adding them now? My only concern is what if it isn't actually gha and just looks like it. Then the new CUC starves.

 

[Llorgon]

Some current tank shots. It's still not looking great, unfortunately.

 

[BAMatter]

Have you sent out an ICP test? Don’t recall if that’s been discussed or not

 

[Llorgon]

yep. ICP test was done in the summer, a link to it is on page 8. Nothing really stood out as any cause of issues, but check again, maybe something was missed.

I made a few purchases today.

Ordered a large seed pack of pods/rotifers, it's rated for a 100gal+ tanks so hopefully that will help in cleaning up some of the algae.

Ordered 5 cerith and 5 nassarius snails. I'm going to start small in case it is lyngbya and not gha so I don't spend a bunch of money on CUC and have them all die.

Ordered another tunze refugium light and an 2k gyre to help add some flow.

 

[BAMatter]

Do you shut your skimmer off for a few hours every day? I turned it off for 4 hours every morning. The bacteria in fish poop is very much needed while dealing with nuisance algae.

 

[Llorgon]

Do you shut your skimmer off for a few hours every day? I turned it off for 4 hours every morning. The bacteria in fish poop is very much needed while dealing with nuisance algae.

Yep, skimmer is shut off for around 4 hrs in the morning after adding the live phyto.

I got my apex reconnected to fusion, finally. I bumped my refugium light time up a bit. I will see if that helps out with the Display algae at all.

 

[Llorgon]

It's now 9 days after adding flux Rx. There seems to be no change in the algae. Since there was pretty much no die off, I'm assuming this is lyngbya and not gha.

Here's the tank after not scrubbing the rocks or stirring the cyano side of the sand for 2 days.

I'm going to do a 15g water change tomorrow and try and suck out as much of all the nasty stuff as I can.

The pods and snails I ordered should come on Tuesday. I ordered a pod seed pack rated for 100g tank, so I hope they can help out a bit in cleaning things up.

Since I was finally able to get the apex connected to fusion again, I can see what the pH is doing. pH seems to go between 8.4 - 8.2.

 

[Llorgon]

Came back from a 5 day fishing trip to the tank looking pretty rough. Lots of algae and the caulerpa in the sump is completely gone. Actually very little algae in the refugium now which is weird.

While I was away the pod seed pack I ordered came and I had my wife add them to the tank for me. They were added Thursday night.

The 2k gyre and second refugium light arrived yesterday. So I will hopefully get those up and running soon. Any tips on where to add the gyre with the two octo pulse 2's?

All the snails I added before going away still seem to be alive which is good. I think I might be fine to add a few more.

I tested my water last night and I'm still struggling to keep nitrate up. It read 0 while phosphate was 0.12. I added some nitrate to bring it up to detectable levels.

 

[Llorgon]

Since all my recent posts have been negative lately, here is some good news. Colour is coming back to my one montipora! I also saw my fighting conch for the first time in weeks.

I'm seeing some bubble algae on the rocks as well. Not sure if that is good or bad.

 

[Llorgon]

I spent some time today pulling out algae from the display. It pulls off the rocks pretty easily so hopefully that is a good sign. I pulled out about another cup. I will do some scrubbing and pulling out of algae again tonight.

I'm looking for some positive ID on this algae. It didn't seem to respond to flux Rx, but it pulls off the rocks pretty easily and doesn't leave much behind. See pictures

 

[BAMatter]

I spent some time today pulling out algae from the display. It pulls off the rocks pretty easily so hopefully that is a good sign. I pulled out about another cup. I will do some scrubbing and pulling out of algae again tonight.

I'm looking for some positive ID on this algae. It didn't seem to respond to flux Rx, but it pulls off the rocks pretty easily and doesn't leave much behind. See pictures

Looks like good old GHA to me, but if you really want an ID grab a cheap microscope off Amazon and look at some under a slide.

 

[BAMatter]

And yes, if it’s starting to pull off easy that’s a great sign! Just keep up with the process…

 

[Llorgon]

Looks like good old GHA to me, but if you really want an ID grab a cheap microscope off Amazon and look at some under a slide.

It looked like that to me too, but it's weird that the flux Rx had no effect on it.

And yes, if it’s starting to pull off easy that’s a great sign! Just keep up with the process…

I'll keep pulling stuff out and then see how long it takes to grow back. Looking at the tank at night, I have a ton of little snails all over the glass. Not as many on the rocks though. I'm hoping as I remove the algae, more will go to the rocks.

 

[BAMatter]

It looked like that to me too, but it's weird that the flux Rx had no effect on it.

Maybe it did have an effect if it’s easier to pull off…

 

[Llorgon]

Maybe it did have an effect if it’s easier to pull off…

Maybe! When I tested nitrate and phosphate last night they were at 0.1 and 0.03ppm. So that might be helping too

 

[Llorgon]

I'm slowly making a bit of a dent in the algae. Since all the snails I added seem to have survived, I'm going to slowly start adding more.

I can see more bubble algae showing up on the rocks. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I guess I will need to get some hermits or an emerald crab.

I really need to find a good way of getting the algae off the LPS bases. They are really annoying the corals. I'm thinking of trying a peroxide dip. Unless anyone has better suggestions?

I did a 10g water change on the weekend and I vacuumed the left side of the tank. Obviously I didn't get all the cyano because I can see small patches starting to come back.

 

[BAMatter]

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I'm slowly making a bit of a dent in the algae. Since all the snails I added seem to have survived, I'm going to slowly start adding more.

I can see more bubble algae showing up on the rocks. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I guess I will need to get some hermits or an emerald crab.

I really need to find a good way of getting the algae off the LPS bases. They are really annoying the corals. I'm thinking of trying a peroxide dip. Unless anyone has better suggestions?

I did a 10g water change on the weekend and I vacuumed the left side of the tank. Obviously I didn't get all the cyano because I can see small patches starting to come back.

I’d get an emerald crab or 2 for the bubble algae. Don’t know if I’d do the peroxide dip, if the algae is starting to make progress with going away I’d let it see how it pans out personally. Moving them around could stress them out more so if they’re having a rough time already.

 

[Llorgon]

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I’d get an emerald crab or 2 for the bubble algae. Don’t know if I’d do the peroxide dip, if the algae is starting to make progress with going away I’d let it see how it pans out personally. Moving them around could stress them out more so if they’re having a rough time already.

Everything I have seen says the peroxide dips are ok for the majority of LPS. I am a bit hesitant as well, but it's hard to pull it all off by hand.


Sent an order off for some more cuc. Unfortunately they are still sold out of urchins and peppermint shrimp.
1 - emerald crab
1 - mexican turbo
5 - Blue legged hermits
3 - astrea snails
plus some free extra shells for the hermits.

I'll see how these do and then slowly add more. I'm concerned the algae is too long for anything to want to eat, but I guess we will see

 

[BAMatter]

Everything I have seen says the peroxide dips are ok for the majority of LPS. I am a bit hesitant as well, but it's hard to pull it all off by hand.


Sent an order off for some more cuc. Unfortunately they are still sold out of urchins and peppermint shrimp.
1 - emerald crab
1 - mexican turbo
5 - Blue legged hermits
3 - astrea snails
plus some free extra shells for the hermits.

I'll see how these do and then slowly add more. I'm concerned the algae is too long for anything to want to eat, but I guess we will see

Yep, that’s why you gotta trim as much as possible and keep it short. Have you considered a smaller tang for your tank? Bristletooth will be fine in a 75. I actually recently added a 2 Spot and he’s always picking at algae in the tank.