Adventures in keeping a sps reef

[Super Fly]

Still no response on the triton test. Hopefully it comes soon...

The two corals I added were from my 25g and were testers to see when I can start the rebuild process of it. It seems like acans will be ok to move, but not the few euphyllia I have left.

Not much to update. I did my weekly water change, scraped the glass, pull a few more cups of algae out... general tediousness of trying to right the ship.

Today is water testing day, so I will test nutrients and see how they are going. I'm getting to the point I can tell when nutrients are getting low since I have less algae growth... of course that doesn't help the corals. So I shall continue my nightly algae removal and weekly big clean.

My normal place to order CUC is back to shipping again. Of course they are sold out of tuxedo urchins, trochus and mexican turbos. The only place with tuxedo urchins in stock is selling them for $60! Every other place is $20-25, so I guess I will continue the wait. I could order a small army of cerith and astrea though.

Since I'm really getting tired of seemingly getting nowhere with this algae or coral situation and my refugium is completely algae free. I am wondering if I should try and get some chaeto and put it in the refugium after a big algae removal session and see if I can get the chaeto to out compete the gha in the display.

Just read entire thread and oh wow. Have to give you credit for not giving up yet, bravo.

GHA thriving in ur tank at the expense of coral growth, esp euphyllia, shows they are consuming all nutrients faster than the corals can take up. Refugium is clean bc the DT GHA is taking up all nutrients. I recently went through GHA outbreak on a 5 yr old tank due to rogue serpent starfish that wiped out most of CUC. GHA was growing in DT and refugium, out competing the previously thriving caulerpa. I removed the starfish, added appx 40 snails to 90 cube (yes 40, bc u need a lot of snails to keep tank clean) and plan to add at least 2 more dozen snails. Siphoned GHA while doing massive WC's and scrubbing rocks/refugium. Ramped up the refugium light from 12 hrs/day to 24/7. Finally GHA has receded while chaeto is thriving and growing rapidly to outcompete GHA. ALso added 2 bottles of Copepods after noticing they had disappeared during GHA outbreak. U should contact @hollback to see if he ships to Canada, he has excellent pods at very reasonable price.

Here's also a very good video by Rich Ross re. algae control
GL

 

[BAMatter]

Just read entire thread and oh wow. Have to give you credit for not giving up yet, bravo.

GHA thriving in ur tank at the expense of coral growth, esp euphyllia, shows they are consuming all nutrients faster than the corals can take up. Refugium is clean bc the DT GHA is taking up all nutrients. I recently went through GHA outbreak on a 5 yr old tank due to rogue serpent starfish that wiped out most of CUC. GHA was growing in DT and refugium, out competing the previously thriving caulerpa. I removed the starfish, added appx 40 snails to 90 cube (yes 40, bc u need a lot of snails to keep tank clean) and plan to add at least 2 more dozen snails. Siphoned GHA while doing massive WC's and scrubbing rocks/refugium. Ramped up the refugium light from 12 hrs/day to 24/7. Finally GHA has receded while chaeto is thriving and growing rapidly to outcompete GHA. ALso added 2 bottles of Copepods after noticing they had disappeared during GHA outbreak. U should contact @hollback to see if he ships to Canada, he has excellent pods at very reasonable price.

Here's also a very good video by Rich Ross re. algae control
GL

I actually saw a short conversation between 2 reefers regarding GHA and not being able to grow macro in their fuge, and the one giving advice said “if you have GHA in your display and nothing in your fuge, you don’t have enough herbivores in your tank to keep it under control.” And that really made a lot of sense to me…

 

[Llorgon]

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.

I'll give that a try! Thanks

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…

Attached are screenshots of the programs. I have them alternating between LPS reef and square wave.
Octopulse left and right

Nutrient export that I trigger manually at the moment.

LPS reef

Square wave

I also have a gyre pump I can put on the tank.

 

[Llorgon]

Just read entire thread and oh wow. Have to give you credit for not giving up yet, bravo.

I still might! The thought crosses my mind each night as I pull out algae.

GHA thriving in ur tank at the expense of coral growth, esp euphyllia, shows they are consuming all nutrients faster than the corals can take up. Refugium is clean bc the DT GHA is taking up all nutrients. I recently went through GHA outbreak on a 5 yr old tank due to rogue serpent starfish that wiped out most of CUC. GHA was growing in DT and refugium, out competing the previously thriving caulerpa. I removed the starfish, added appx 40 snails to 90 cube (yes 40, bc u need a lot of snails to keep tank clean) and plan to add at least 2 more dozen snails. Siphoned GHA while doing massive WC's and scrubbing rocks/refugium. Ramped up the refugium light from 12 hrs/day to 24/7. Finally GHA has receded while chaeto is thriving and growing rapidly to outcompete GHA. ALso added 2 bottles of Copepods after noticing they had disappeared during GHA outbreak. U should contact @hollback to see if he ships to Canada, he has excellent pods at very reasonable price.

This tank now seems to be where euphyllia go to die, unfortunately. I turned off the refugium light at the advice of a few people on another forum, but I have been thinking of getting some chaeto and turning it back on to see if I can get the chaeto to help outgrow the gha.

I have to order everything in and getting large quantities of snails seems to be tricky. I tried ordering 10 yesterday and they didn't have that. It's been slow going on the snails. But I definitely need more.

I added 100g seed pack of various pods back in oct and have been adding phyto to the tank since. Maybe I need to up the phyto dose and add another batch of pods. Just more money for unknown results it seems.

Here's also a very good video by Rich Ross re. algae control
GL

I actually watched that video on the weekend! Very interesting and definitely some good takeaways.

I actually saw a short conversation between 2 reefers regarding GHA and not being able to grow macro in their fuge, and the one giving advice said “if you have GHA in your display and nothing in your fuge, you don’t have enough herbivores in your tank to keep it under control.” And that really made a lot of sense to me…

I'm definitely short on the herbivores. The one thing that has me hesitant to add lots at once is with the larger snails, well anything other than cerith, their survival rate is pretty low. Most seem to die off pretty quickly. I've tried Mexican turbos a few times and the most they last is 2 weeks.

 

[BAMatter]

I'll give that a try! Thanks

Attached are screenshots of the programs. I have them alternating between LPS reef and square wave.
Octopulse left and right

Nutrient export that I trigger manually at the moment.

LPS reef

Square wave

I also have a gyre pump I can put on the tank.

You have an hour from 8:00am-9:00am where the tank is getting no flow. Not that I think this is a huge problem, but you’ll want to switch the run count to 24, OR switch it to 0 which will be unlimited and may be easier.

Also, nutrient export is also a pattern that takes a full 2 hours to complete. I wasn’t a fan lol. If you want a surge, you can program a “hurricane” mode which is an anti-sync sine wave at high intensity, like 80-100%, on a 1 minute cycle duration, for as many minutes as you want. I do a 85% and let it run for 2 mins every hour.

 

[Llorgon]

You have an hour from 8:00am-9:00am where the tank is getting no flow. Not that I think this is a huge problem, but you’ll want to switch the run count to 24, OR switch it to 0 which will be unlimited and may be easier.

Also, nutrient export is also a pattern that takes a full 2 hours to complete. I wasn’t a fan lol. If you want a surge, you can program a “hurricane” mode which is an anti-sync sine wave at high intensity, like 80-100%, on a 1 minute cycle duration, for as many minutes as you want. I do a 85% and let it run for 2 mins every hour.

oh good catch. Fixed that!

oh really, ha, I've been running it for 30mins to an hour. Hurricane mode might be a good one to look into then.

 

[Super Fly]

I still might! The thought crosses my mind each night as I pull out algae.

This tank now seems to be where euphyllia go to die, unfortunately. I turned off the refugium light at the advice of a few people on another forum, but I have been thinking of getting some chaeto and turning it back on to see if I can get the chaeto to help outgrow the gha.

I have to order everything in and getting large quantities of snails seems to be tricky. I tried ordering 10 yesterday and they didn't have that. It's been slow going on the snails. But I definitely need more.

I added 100g seed pack of various pods back in oct and have been adding phyto to the tank since. Maybe I need to up the phyto dose and add another batch of pods. Just more money for unknown results it seems.

I actually watched that video on the weekend! Very interesting and definitely some good takeaways.

I'm definitely short on the herbivores. The one thing that has me hesitant to add lots at once is with the larger snails, well anything other than cerith, their survival rate is pretty low. Most seem to die off pretty quickly. I've tried Mexican turbos a few times and the most they last is 2 weeks.

I had to toothbrush clean several corals bc GHA was growing on them, corals didn't like it. AFter siphoning GHA into a brute, I'd brush clean corals that I could pull out in the brute to prevent cleaned off GHA remaining in tank. Keep siphoning GHA during frequent WC and u'll eventually start turning things around. But most importantly need to establish CUC/Pods & if possible algae eating fish that'll graze the rocks/tank to keep it clean. I have tons of Chaeto to harvest that u can have for free, too bad ur in Canada... any idea shipping cost from USA to Canada... never mind just looked online and its expensive. Thought I read in one of your posts that ReefDudes is nearby. If so I'd definitely reach out to him and see if he has some chaeto or advice too.

 

[Llorgon]

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…

I'm kinda wondering about the flow myself. On the regular LPS and sine wave patterns I'm getting pretty much no movement of the hammer and toadstool tentacles.

I had to toothbrush clean several corals bc GHA was growing on them, corals didn't like it. AFter siphoning GHA into a brute, I'd brush clean corals that I could pull out in the brute to prevent cleaned off GHA remaining in tank. Keep siphoning GHA during frequent WC and u'll eventually start turning things around. But most importantly need to establish CUC/Pods & if possible algae eating fish that'll graze the rocks/tank to keep it clean. I have tons of Chaeto to harvest that u can have for free, too bad ur in Canada... any idea shipping cost from USA to Canada... never mind just looked online and its expensive. Thought I read in one of your posts that ReefDudes is nearby. If so I'd definitely reach out to him and see if he has some chaeto or advice too.

Unfortunately shipping to Canada doesn't work well. I'll reach out to ReefDudes directly and see if he has any ideas.

I've been scrubbing and pulling out algae nightly since Oct ish. Pods should be good, I see them on the glass, sand, rocks. The snails are definitely lacking. I have 2 tangs in the tank, but they rarely seem to pick at the rocks.

Onto tank update, for the first time in almost a year, I bought some corals. I've been scraping the rocks with a knife to get the algae off which seems to do a slower, but better job and my new theory is to see if I can put a coral on clean parts and have it grow...

I didn't pick up anything fancy or expensive. I grabbed a bunch of $10 corals which were the cheapest I could find. I was expecting soft corals, but with the exception of gsp and xenia... Which I did take a chance on, most of the corals are encrusting chalices and montis and alike. I did buy a 6 pack of acan frags because I like acans, I can generally grow them well and it was reasonably priced.

I also picked up some neonitro so I can keep nitrates from hitting 0.

I should also have 10 trochus snails being shipped out on Monday. Fingers crossed they are actually available!

 

[BAMatter]

I'm kinda wondering about the flow myself. On the regular LPS and sine wave patterns I'm getting pretty much no movement of the hammer and toadstool tentacles.

Unfortunately shipping to Canada doesn't work well. I'll reach out to ReefDudes directly and see if he has any ideas.

I've been scrubbing and pulling out algae nightly since Oct ish. Pods should be good, I see them on the glass, sand, rocks. The snails are definitely lacking. I have 2 tangs in the tank, but they rarely seem to pick at the rocks.

Onto tank update, for the first time in almost a year, I bought some corals. I've been scraping the rocks with a knife to get the algae off which seems to do a slower, but better job and my new theory is to see if I can put a coral on clean parts and have it grow...

I didn't pick up anything fancy or expensive. I grabbed a bunch of $10 corals which were the cheapest I could find. I was expecting soft corals, but with the exception of gsp and xenia... Which I did take a chance on, most of the corals are encrusting chalices and montis and alike. I did buy a 6 pack of acan frags because I like acans, I can generally grow them well and it was reasonably priced.

I also picked up some neonitro so I can keep nitrates from hitting 0.

I should also have 10 trochus snails being shipped out on Monday. Fingers crossed they are actually available!

These pumps move a lot of water. You should definitely see movement.

 

[Super Fly]

yeah, unfortunately Tangs and others wont touch GHA esp when they are large/hairy. Their grazing on rocks before an algae outbreak is what prevents GHA

 

[Llorgon]

These pumps move a lot of water. You should definitely see movement.

I'll attach some videos of the tank to show the movement or lack of. Maybe the powerheads need a real good cleaning?

Here is the tank on the SPS day schedule and with the live phyto being added to the tank.

 

[Llorgon]

And then here is a video with the pumps on at 100%.

 

[Llorgon]

yeah, unfortunately Tangs and others wont touch GHA esp when they are large/hairy. Their grazing on rocks before an algae outbreak is what prevents GHA

they have both been in the tank since before the outbreak, but they never grazed on the rocks.

 

[BAMatter]

And then here is a video with the pumps on at 100%.

Can’t see the video unfortunately. You getting good surface agitation ? Usually you can capture that in a picture

 

[Llorgon]

Can’t see the video unfortunately. You getting good surface agitation ? Usually you can capture that in a picture

Weird. It plays on my phone, but not my laptop. I'll have to see if I can upload it another way.

Surface agitation is good. I seem to get better movement of the corals in the LPS reef mode over the square wave.

 

[Llorgon]

Tried another video test, but again only seems to play on mobile. I guess I have to upload to youtube

 

[Llorgon]

Square wave, with dosing live phyto


Square wave


Pumps at 100%

 

[BAMatter]

Yea those videos popped up. Nothing alarming looks like water is moving.

Can you post a pic of your sump and skimmer? What color is the skimmate you’re pulling?

 

[Llorgon]

Yea those videos popped up. Nothing alarming looks like water is moving.

Can you post a pic of your sump and skimmer? What color is the skimmate you’re pulling?

Skimmate is dark and smelly.

 

[BAMatter]

Man this is a tough one. Everything seems ok in terms of flow, filtration. Just an influx of PO4 coming in somehow.

What lights are you using and what settings?