Amalee’s 75g Build

[AmaleeC]

I disagree, the majority if not all that I have seen started with dry rock. Sure it is possible to have them with live rock, but the net cause is probably the same, zero nitrates and zero phosphates.

Hello everyone! So I recently decided to test my tank and noticed that now that there’s no algae, the nitrate and phosphate are elevating like crazy! @Snoopdog, I’ve been thinking of your theory and you actually made a really valid point. Nowadays, when starting a tank, one can use dry rock and cycle the tank with bacteria in a bottle. This lowers ammonia and nitrite, but that’s only half the battle because there’s not enough bacteria to take care of the other parameters (Nitrate and phosphate). Live rock has matured and has enough “good” bacteria to balance out water parameters and keep things in check vs dry rock which isnt going to be sufficient. No one considers this when starting a tank, we automatically just think about ammonia and nitrate. I’m adding biopellets, macro algae, and some live rock to the tank today in addition to dosing bacteria daily. This should help lower parameters. Best of wishes friend, I appreciate your advice greatly. It really got the ball rolling for me!

 

[AmaleeC]

Unfortunately it seems like my efforts didn’t make too much of a difference. I noticed the dinos are making their comeback and so is the hair algae! But now that I know what’s powering them (High NO3 + PO4) I can go about finding a way to get rid of them. I’ll be buying a microscope today & I’ve purchased some NO3 PO4 X by Red Sea.



On the bright side, I have two “test frags“ (Kenya tree, and Duncan coral) That are doing very well. And my test today was looking better than the last. Ph is starting to look good, ammonia is going down and nitrate/phos. as well.

 

[Snoopdog]

Hello everyone! So I recently decided to test my tank and noticed that now that there’s no algae, the nitrate and phosphate are elevating like crazy! @Snoopdog, I’ve been thinking of your theory and you actually made a really valid point. Nowadays, when starting a tank, one can use dry rock and cycle the tank with bacteria in a bottle. This lowers ammonia and nitrite, but that’s only half the battle because there’s not enough bacteria to take care of the other parameters (Nitrate and phosphate). Live rock has matured and has enough “good” bacteria to balance out water parameters and keep things in check vs dry rock which isnt going to be sufficient. No one considers this when starting a tank, we automatically just think about ammonia and nitrate. I’m adding biopellets, macro algae, and some live rock to the tank today in addition to dosing bacteria daily. This should help lower parameters. Best of wishes friend, I appreciate your advice greatly. It really got the ball rolling for me!

I am good for something on occasion :)

I have two tubs in my dining room right now with uncured rock from KP aquatics. As soon as it cures it is going in my sump, refugium and anywhere else I can cram it.

 

[Snoopdog]

Unfortunately it seems like my efforts didn’t make too much of a difference. I noticed the dinos are making their comeback and so is the hair algae! But now that I know what’s powering them (High NO3 + PO4) I can go about finding a way to get rid of them. I’ll be buying a microscope today & I’ve purchased some NO3 PO4 X by Red Sea.



On the bright side, I have two “test frags“ (Kenya tree, and Duncan coral) That are doing very well. And my test today was looking better than the last. Ph is starting to look good, ammonia is going down and nitrate/phos. as well.

That looks to be a very high range phosphate test kit. You may also want to get a low range one, Salifert

Just get the parameters where they need to be. Hair algae is easier to deal with than dinoflagellates. Get the tank matured, whenever you rock and sand is showing life you are probably almost there. I have yet to see a worm, pod, etc in my sand. That is a problem! A reef tank's sand should be alive, crawling with life!

 

[brandon429]

Keeping the system cleaned made a big difference, it would be compounded bigtime without the intervention

This tank needs a big uv sterilizer it would save headaches. Still remove massing invasions as they're small, leave none in place

Your search should be for preventatives not removers, we spot siphon out little patches, catch the sand rinse and put back

We wouldn't let it remass again for sure, looking nice

This is the work involved with running large tanks/ dry rock starts, if it was not cleaned up you'd like it less

The right pond sterilizer uv off Amazon isn't expensive and could really make a difference, they're rated for fifteen hundred gallons

 

[AmaleeC]

That looks to be a very high range phosphate test kit. You may also want to get a low range one, Salifert

Just get the parameters where they need to be. Hair algae is easier to deal with than dinoflagellates. Get the tank matured, whenever you rock and sand is showing life you are probably almost there. I have yet to see a worm, pod, etc in my sand. That is a problem! A reef tank's sand should be alive, crawling with life!

I’m working on the parameters to get them within a good range. I had soooo many copepods. I’d see them in the overflow, my filter sock, my rockwork, my refugium - everywhere. But for some reason it all died away, then I lost my coral to the dinos. I’m not sure why. But maybe I overdosed on one of the additives that I was using.

 

[AmaleeC]

I am good for something on occasion :)

I have two tubs in my dining room right now with uncured rock from KP aquatics. As soon as it cures it is going in my sump, refugium and anywhere else I can cram it.

Best of luck friend!

Keeping the system cleaned made a big difference, it would be compounded bigtime without the intervention

This tank needs a big uv sterilizer it would save headaches. Still remove massing invasions as they're small, leave none in place

Your search should be for preventatives not removers, we spot siphon out little patches, catch the sand rinse and put back

We wouldn't let it remass again for sure, looking nice

This is the work involved with running large tanks/ dry rock starts, if it was not cleaned up you'd like it less

The right pond sterilizer uv off Amazon isn't expensive and could really make a difference, they're rated for fifteen hundred gallons

Thanks! I’ll look for one now.

 

[brandon429]

So there’s a neat choice

high dollar matched ones to your tank, pro hobby uv pentair for example. 800$, will last a long time and have very consistent burn with maintenance


then theres $150 ones rated for a 1500 gallon pond, oversized, off amazon see the reviews


theyll turn green water ponds to clear in two days

they power zap misbehaving reefs possibly even more than the eight hundred dollar ones due to oversized lol

they dont last years and years and might not even be a permanent fixture as the tank ages. They’re a zap on as needed cheat

uv doesn’t hurt your reef, can run uv its tried and true cheat burner for 25 yrs in the hobby and probably fifty years in zoo setups.

though becoming popular nowadays, zoo and facility large aquariums nearly always ran uv

rip cleaning eighthy thousand gallons isn’t easy, it’s preferable to burn and filter and backflush and export vs allow massive buildup on surfaces then work backwards

we still hand cleaning cause the clean condition before installing uv. It becomes the grow back preventer, lessener, but not the remover. the theme of being uninvaded by choice never leaves first position, remove a mass then make the change to prevent

years old reef tank, same growths
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diatoms-“but-i’m-past-the-uglies-”.750875/

 

[AmaleeC]

Hey everyone! It’s finally time for an update.
I went on a two day stay-cation, and left the tank without an auto feeder. Boy did the fish have an appetite when I got back! But everything looked good. Here’s a photo of the tank on the camera

I got some new corals in from ultrarainbowcorals.com & endeavoraquatics on eBay! I also added some Zoas, from a fellow reefer. Photos under blues coming soon!

Dinos & hair algae are gone! I did a few things, starting by rebuilding my refugium. I removed the dry rocks that were in there, added some macroalgae (ulva/chaeto) and then added copepods (5000 count with 6 different types).

Then I went back to running good old carbon in my sump (not to knock Chemipure but the carbon does much better IMO). Lastly I decided to regularly dose Microbacter7 & Brightwell Aquatics NeoNitro. The NeoNitro has done a spectacular job at raising my nitrates/lowering my phosphates. I don’t know how I managed without it! I also added some hermit crabs, I didn’t notice I had lost the ones I had until a week or two ago while going through my Instagram photos and I decided to restock. Those guys really helped out with the bits of remaining hair algae.

I The lights will come on later today, so I’ll be able to capture a better photo. I truly believe it was the DinoX that killed my inverts and eventually my corals. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. It’s all just a part of the game. Thank you EVERYONE for your help and advice. I think we’re finally in the clear.

 

[brandon429]

Wow that is amazing

 

[AmaleeC]

Hello everyone! Here’s an update:
Water Parameters
Ph 7.8
Ammonia .25 ppm
Phos .25 ppm
Nitrate 30 ppm

I noticed that two hermit crabs have died and learned that high nitrates are the reason why. The nitrates are a bit high from adding the NeoNitro. Instead of adding something to lower them, I’m going to depend on my macro algaes and a water change to do the work for me. Other than Microbacter7 and NeoNitro, no more additives for me. :)

Fish
Everyone is alive and well! ;Joyful I do plan on adding a yellow eye like tang and possibly another purple dottyback.

Coral
I got a great deal on indo torches from ultrarainbowcorals.com, Aussie torches + a scoly from endeavouraquatics on eBay, and zoas from a fellow reefer. I’m really enjoying the tank nowadays! I’m hoping the RFAs really come back, but I know it takes time.

 

[fnlyreefready]

Yeah I’m already starting to see that. I was avoiding buying glass but I just might have to spend the extra money. That’s okay though - I’ll get some help and get on it. And thank you! I have one of my first blisters from hard work ;Hilarious


Thank you! Since my 20 is already up and running, I’m going to let this tank cycle all the way through the ugly stages too (diatoms, cyano, GHA, etc.). I want to use Fritz Turbo Start or a Microbacter7 product while dosing ammonia to start the cycle. I’m going to visit my LFS (WWC) and speak with them on which method they like better to get a cycle going. Technically, there’s several methods I can go with and I just want to have their input

Seed it with bacteria from the established tank will help the ugly stages. Also Home Depot will cut glass baffles cheappp attaches is my 22 dollar diy sump with center fug

 

[fishguy242]

hi,just a thought ,yellow eye,and tomini are most likely not going to get along,just my opinion ,see what others think :)

 

[AmaleeC]

hi,just a thought ,yellow eye,and tomini are most likely not going to get along,just my opinion ,see what others think :)

I’ll check now! Thanks!

 

[AmaleeC]

I’ll check now! Thanks!

Wow! You weren’t kidding. I’m finding a lot of stuff on it. I’ll have to try a royal gramma instead. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[AmaleeC]

Hey everyone!
So, sadly, I had to say goodbye to my maroon clown today. She grew very, very fond of my NY Knicks and, since I’m starting a torch garden, that’s not going to fly. It was VERY sad to see her go, I have her for almost a year :confused:

In other news, I also banned my Fiji blue devil damsel to the sump for being a bully. My first damsel (Springers damsel) wasn’t such a jerk but this one has gotten way too cozy for comfort. He digs in the sand (nesting behavior) and bothers any new additions or shy fish. Mainly my firefish who I never see, unless there’s food. Anytime he comes out of his cave - my damsel chases him right back in. Im considering adding a Springers damsel again. I really liked his personality, and his color of course but the aggression Is too much.

In exchange for those fish, I added a Ruby Longfin Fairy Wrasse, a Royal gramma, and a bicolor blenny. Here they are being drip acclimated and SUPER stressed.

The bicolor is AWESOME to watch on the rockwork! Wow! I could watch him all day. On the contrary, my new wrasse has hidden most of today so I look forward to hopefully watching him tomorrow. My royal gramma is such a pleasure to have! He has taken up residence where all my previous gramma’s lived, and I’m just happy to see one that’s healthy + doing well!

 

[fnlyreefready]

Hey everyone!
So, sadly, I had to say goodbye to my maroon clown today. She grew very, very fond of my NY Knicks and, since I’m starting a torch garden, that’s not going to fly. It was VERY sad to see her go, I have her for almost a year :confused:

In other news, I also banned my Fiji blue devil damsel to the sump for being a bully. My first damsel (Springers damsel) wasn’t such a jerk but this one has gotten way too cozy for comfort. He digs in the sand (nesting behavior) and bothers any new additions or shy fish. Mainly my firefish who I never see, unless there’s food. Anytime he comes out of his cave - my damsel chases him right back in. Im considering adding a Springers damsel again. I really liked his personality, and his color of course but the aggression Is too much.

In exchange for those fish, I added a Ruby Longfin Fairy Wrasse, a Royal gramma, and a bicolor blenny. Here they are being drip acclimated and SUPER stressed.

The bicolor is AWESOME to watch on the rockwork! Wow! I could watch him all day. On the contrary, my new wrasse has hidden most of today so I look forward to hopefully watching him tomorrow. My royal gramma is such a pleasure to have! He has taken up residence where all my previous gramma’s lived, and I’m just happy to see one that’s healthy + doing well!

Don’t feel bad I have 2 nems and 2 clowns in my sump

 

[AmaleeC]

Don’t feel bad I have 2 nems and 2 clowns in my sump

It was more the sentimental value than it was actually getting rid of her. She was the first clown I could keep alive after numerous attempts.

Your sump must be huge! Lol

 

[fnlyreefready]

It was more the sentimental value than it was actually getting rid of her. She was the first clown I could keep alive after numerous attempts.

Your sump must be huge! Lol

Nope

 

[fnlyreefready]

If I must say tho... if you hard a hard time keeping a clown... torches are gonna be incredibly hard