Adventures in keeping a sps reef

[Llorgon]

No luck on any sort of discount or refund for the urchin as expected. I might have had better luck if I had remembered to take a picture of it in the bag... oh well.

I finally got an email saying my N-Doc sample is on the way to Triton so that's progress at least. I'm not sure if it is really that slow or if messaging support helped. It seems like my turn around time on these tests is a month. I sent it out Dec 30th and hopefully I will get a result before the end of the month.

I have to say, $80 to have the test shipped to me and then $23 dollars to send it to Triton and wait a month doesn't seem super useful for me. The month is 4 water changes and 40ish gallons ago. Any results might be way out of date by now.

 

[BAMatter]

No luck on any sort of discount or refund for the urchin as expected. I might have had better luck if I had remembered to take a picture of it in the bag... oh well.

I finally got an email saying my N-Doc sample is on the way to Triton so that's progress at least. I'm not sure if it is really that slow or if messaging support helped. It seems like my turn around time on these tests is a month. I sent it out Dec 30th and hopefully I will get a result before the end of the month.

I have to say, $80 to have the test shipped to me and then $23 dollars to send it to Triton and wait a month doesn't seem super useful for me. The month is 4 water changes and 40ish gallons ago. Any results might be way out of date by now.

Wow! You’re using the Triton brand? Seems off for pricing… in US they’re $49 and that includes shipping back to Triton with a return label. There are other brands for ICP testing out there, I’d shop around if that’s how long yours take… but Triton is international and that really surprises me.

 

[Llorgon]

Wow! You’re using the Triton brand? Seems off for pricing… in US they’re $49 and that includes shipping back to Triton with a return label. There are other brands for ICP testing out there, I’d shop around if that’s how long yours take… but Triton is international and that really surprises me.

Yep Triton. The ndoc test was more expensive than the regular ICP test and I only found one place that had them. Remember everything is more expensive in Canada. There are cheaper ICP tests from other brands, but I hear Triton is the go to for them so that's what I went with.

 

[BAMatter]

Yep Triton. The ndoc test was more expensive than the regular ICP test and I only found one place that had them. Remember everything is more expensive in Canada. There are cheaper ICP tests from other brands, but I hear Triton is the go to for them so that's what I went with.

Fair enough. Didn’t know that test was more than the OES test, but aware of higher CA costs vs US. But $80 on $49 seemed extreme. Makes sense now… I bet they don’t have as many labs that run the DOC tests and likely have to ship it overseas, if I had to guess!

 

[Llorgon]

Fair enough. Didn’t know that test was more than the OES test, but aware of higher CA costs vs US. But $80 on $49 seemed extreme. Makes sense now… I bet they don’t have as many labs that run the DOC tests and likely have to ship it overseas, if I had to guess!

$80 was for the cost of the test plus having it shipped to me from across the country.

The test actually goes to Quebec, so again across the country, but another reason I went with Triton is because they have Canadian testing places.

 

[BAMatter]

$80 was for the cost of the test plus having it shipped to me from across the country.

The test actually goes to Quebec, so again across the country, but another reason I went with Triton is because they have Canadian testing places.

Crazy the shipping takes so long. I’m on pretty furthest coast east in US and sent my test to the furthest west coast in US (New Hampshire to California) was sent in on a Monday and had results posted that Saturday.

 

[Llorgon]

It took a month, but the n-doc test results came in!

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de

 

[BAMatter]

And what’s the plan ?

 

[Llorgon]

Honestly not sure yet.

It says organic carbon and nitrogen is high. But that was from a bit over a month ago.

Nitrogen makes sense since I was trying to keep nitrates up.

I don't do any carbon dosing, so I'm not sure where that is coming from or how to reduce it yet.

 

[BAMatter]

I would email Triton and explain the situation. I think they’ll help since you have that test now

 

[Llorgon]

I would email Triton and explain the situation. I think they’ll help since you have that test now

Do they do that? I see I can pay monthly for 5 questions, but I'm not sure the regular support would do that?

 

[BAMatter]

Do they do that? I see I can pay monthly for 5 questions, but I'm not sure the regular support would do that?

You on Instagram? I’ve asked a question there and got a response…

 

[Llorgon]

You on Instagram? I’ve asked a question there and got a response…

I'm not. I could create and account and give it a try.

 

[Llorgon]

Here's some pics of the tank after this weekends cleaning.

I'm slowly moving the acans out of the 25g and into this tank. They all seem to be doing well so far. I still have 6 or so more to move. I also put the toadstool in to see how that goes. Then I can restart the 25g.

One thing I did notice and should have earlier was I have been ordering phyto feast live, but up until now they have been sending me regular phyto feast... So I have been dosing non live phyto for months. This recent order they sent me live so we will see if that makes any difference.

 

[Llorgon]

So, I have been trying to scrape the rocks of algae and it seems to be doing a good job of keeping the algae from coming back. But I'm not seeing anything else come back in the spot that was removed of algae. I have to clean the glass every 2-3days, but the rock seems to have the gha or mostly nothing on it.

I removed a big chunk of bubble algae almost a month ago and that spot on the rock is still white.

See the attached photo of the algae free spot on the rock. That was last touched 2 weeks ago.

Is this normal? It might be why I never see any of the cuc on the rocks.

 

[BAMatter]

Yea the live phyto is 100% the way to go, the non-live you’re just adding nutrients into the tank without any sort of benefit, may have even been fueling the issue. Have you stopped dosing NO3 and PO4?

Another thing to consider would be to send an ICP, not the DOC for this, but an ICP-OES, on both freshly mixed salt water, and on RODI.

 

[Llorgon]

Yea the live phyto is 100% the way to go, the non-live you’re just adding nutrients into the tank without any sort of benefit, may have even been fueling the issue. Have you stopped dosing NO3 and PO4?

Another thing to consider would be to send an ICP, not the DOC for this, but an ICP-OES, on both freshly mixed salt water, and on RODI.

ya... I should have paid more attention. The only reason why I even noticed was because the bottle cap was a different colour... Wouldn't that be funny if this was part of my problem. Maybe the actual live phyto will make a bit of a difference.

Yes, I've stopped adding any nutrients. I can tell they are low as less algae is growing on the rocks. I've got out of my weekly testing routine so I will try and get back on that tomorrow night.

I'll think about the ICP tests. I get that they are useful, but with the cost and turn around time, I'm not sure I get much benefit out of it since the results are from a month ago.

 

[Llorgon]

But of an up and down day for tank related things.

I went snail and coral searching today, I placed an order for 10 astrea and a couple soft corals, but that was cancelled a few hours later it was cancelled since neither the corals or the snails we're actually available. I'm still working with them to see what they actually have in stock.

I did find some corals through another place, I've ordered from them before and have had good experiences. Unfortunately most of the soft corals aren't that cheap. So I picked up a few chalices and cyphastreas that were on sale for $9 each. I also got an acan frag pack(6 frags) and xenia and gsp. I figure the gsp could go on the back glass and help take over that area from the algae. And the xenia can be isolated to the one rock in the back left of the tank.

What do people use for glueing frags to rocks/glass? I normally buy the coral glue form the LFS, but that tends to be hit and miss on if the coral actually stays glued.

I've also now moved almost all corals out of the 25g. Today I moved a montipora and the rest of the acans. Acans seem to be adjusting well and I fed them some reef roids tonight.

I finally got to testing my water again.
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 78
Alk: 8.3
Cal: 470
Mag: 1380
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0.02

Really frustrating on the nutrients, but I was expecting them to be low since the algae was slowly getting better. I did add some nitrate.

The current corals and tank is looking better than it has for awhile. I'm tempted to leave things as they are this week and see how nutrients are doing next week. I have been trying to feed all the corals reef roids a few times a week to maybe offset the current low nutrients.

 

[BAMatter]

This is what I use, after trial and error with several types. This one gives me best results. Use liberally, and when the frag is where you want it, twist it a couple times to break the barrier that was formed when it hit the water originally. Hold for 15-20 seconds firmly in place. Should be good to go after that.

 

[BAMatter]

Can you post screenshots of your WaveEngine setting schedules and pump settings? I still feel like you’re lacking flow, primarily due to the amount of algae growing on the sand bed, and how it’s growing on the sand bed…