After a 15 year hiatus, Starting a 60W x 22D x 20H Custom

[JCOLE]

Tank looks great! Love the build. Following along!

 

[tang_man_montreal]

1 year update!
Unbelievable that a whole year has passed since I started this tank.
There have been ups and downs.

But here she is after a whole year!
Currently struggling with a fight against some cyano, and the glass needs to be cleaned (i need a new scraper to get the stubborn stuff off) - my apologies.

vs last year:

...and a shot of the sump room with some upgrades

Let's start with THE BAD:
* December, I lost a Copperband butterfly who stopped eating after a month with me.

* Late January, I introduced a lawnmower blenny to the in-line frag-tank. It seems the blenny carried with him a "wonderful" case of brook and ich. As a result I unfortunately lost several fish including:
- 3 bimac anthias
- 1 Whitetail bristletooth tang
- 1 Bullethole clown
- 1 mandarin
- 1 Royal Gramma
- 1 Starry Blenny

The silver lining, is that I managed to save my other fish
- Yellow tang (developed mild spots which are now gone)
- Tomini tang (developed mild spots which are now gone)
- PowderBlue tang (I was sure I was going to lose him. He was covered in so many spots it looked like velvet, now all gone)
- Coral Beauty (never developed symptoms)
- Diamond Goby (never developed symptoms)
- Bangaii Cardinal (never developed symptoms)
- Sixline wrasse (never developed symptoms)
- One spot foxface (developed mild spots which are now gone)

Not being able to remove the fish without tearing down the complete tank, I found a way to manage the disease(s) through H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide dosing), and a Lifegard Pro-Max 55w UV set at a low flow to target protozoa.
Dosing H2O2 had no effect on any of my SPS or LPS. Currently dosing a therapeutic dose of 3% H2O2, 194ml over 24hours daily for the past 4 weeks.

H2O2 will continue for a few more weeks and monitor for any issues after stopping it.

* Cyano. I've been dealing with a cyano bloom for the last 2 months. In hopes of addressing the cyano, over the last few months I have stopped adding Fauna Marin MinS, Organic, and AMIN. However the cyano has still not dissipated. I will probably try Chemiclean once I stop the H2O2 as I'm concerned how it might interact with the H2O2.

THE GOOD
Coral growth has been amazing.
I added a Neptune Trident, and I am using it to control my alk and CA dosing. It has never been more stable. I still test manually on a weekly basis with my Hanna and Salifert tests.

I am still needing to add ESV Nitrate and Fauna Marin Component P (Phosphate) to maintain Nitrate and Phosphate from bottoming out.

Tank parameters:
SG 1.026
dkH 8.2
Ca 430
Mh 1400
pH 7.8 to 8.1(daily swings)
Temp 78-79 (daily swings)
Nitrate 3-4
Po4 0.04

I also setup a QT/hospital tank (for Copper and Metroplex) located below the sump, and an isolation/observation tank which is currently sitting dry.

UV Sterilizer is plumbed with a dedicated pump pulling from the skimmer chamber, and outputting to the return pump chamber. Monitored with a Flow meter at ~340gph.

Automatic water changes are currently offline until H2O2 regimen has been completed.

Apex Dashboard:

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Looks great. I like your use of Montipora digitata. I think large colonies are as striking as any Acropora.

i have a mature SPS tank and have low level cyano that I clean up weekly. I feel it’s just part of the routine and I’ll live with it. Just be careful with Chemiclean if you use it. I’ve read some posts that make me not want to take the risk of using it.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Looks great. I like your use of Montipora digitata. I think large colonies are as striking as any Acropora.

i have a mature SPS tank and have low level cyano that I clean up weekly. I feel it’s just part of the routine and I’ll live with it. Just be careful with Chemiclean if you use it. I’ve read some posts that make me not want to take the risk of using it.

Thank you very much. I too love the large colonies, and Monti's just seem to thrive in my tank.

I hear you on the Chemiclean, and I have been reluctant to use it. It's been sitting on a shelf for a while now.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Playing around with some end shots now that the glass is clean

 

[tang_man_montreal]

Some recent tank shots...

Hard to believe that this Hollywood stunner

started from this little frag

I'm still dosing Fauna Marin 3 part, however the consumption is at a point that I have had to look at alternatives.
I'm currently dosing ~475-500ml per day of carbonate to maintain my alk at 8.3 dkH.

I will be transitioning to a Calcium Reactor and Kalkwasser. I'm jumping on the "chasing pH bandwagon" as I struggle to maintain an average of 8.0 pH with daily swings from 7.8 to 8.15 pH.

Since I'm leaving on vacation in a month, I won't make any changes until I return. I'm slowly gathering the equipment.
Already have the Calcium Reactor, Kamoer FX-STP2 continuous duty doser, Apex PM1 and pH probe, and a Apex DC4.
Will get the other bits such as a good CO2 regulator/solenoid, CO2 tanks (main and spare), and the rest over the next few weeks.

I'll be setting up the Kalk in a 3rd Rubbermaid Brute, dosing it separately from regular top-off until such a time that the tank becomes dependent on it 24/7.

Currently looking over my programming so that I can set up a DOS head for kalk top-off over night, and freshwater top-off during the day via the ATK, which will be backed up by the Calcium Reactor and supplemented as needed by the Fauna Marin 3 part for redundancy. If anyone can chime in on my programming question HERE I'd appreciate it!

Meanwhile, I've also been adding Fauna Marin Color Elements (Red, Green, and Blue), and a lot of their other products including CarbL, UltraPhos 0.04, AMIN, Organic, MinS, Bactoballs, as well as Elementals K, B, Br, and Sr as needed per ICP's. Speaking of ICP's, it seems I need to make regular adjustment doses of Vanadium, Chrome, Nickel, Zinc, and Iron every few months as well every other month.

It's not all easy as there have been some bumps in the road along the way... but I'm glad to say she's coming along