Another Build Thread You Won't Read

[FishLvR]

So I am running uv. Even though the dinos are gone I'm still letting it run. There is a small lifeguard pump on it. I didn't put a guard on it because I don't have one. Today I came home to that brand new lawnmower blenny head first in it. I'm gutted. I don't lose fish very often and I hate it when they die like this. I feel so bad. That stupid fish.

 

[jerricolaboy]

I’m glad your winning your war with dinos.

Sucks about the blenny, I’ve had 2 of those jump

 

[FishLvR]

I’m glad your winning your war with dinos.

Sucks about the blenny, I’ve had 2 of those jump

The dinos are pretty much dead then were replaced with dino and cyano. But I threw 100 snails and hermits and in one week they destroyed the hair algae. Now I just try to keep things in balance.

 

[FishLvR]

So update. No dinos. I'm going to permanently plumb in uv. Hair algae is gone. The CUC I bought is working flawlessly. For the first time since starting this hobby I have Coraline algae. Corals are bouncing back and coloring back up.

Problems are aiptasia. The berghina were a waste of money. They have done nothing and it's been a month. Something will need to be done.

Other problem is this refugium. Using live rock and sand from the coast means I have bad critters. Today I found a baby bobbit worm. I'm hoping this stays in the sump but this one was on its way to the main display before I caught it.

It might not be a bobbit but I'm not taking chances.

 

[jerricolaboy]

Glad your problems have cleared up. I’ve never used Berghia but I’ve had success using peppermint shrimp for aiptasia

 

[FishLvR]

Glad your problems have cleared up. I’ve never used Berghia but I’ve had success using peppermint shrimp for aiptasia

I might get a molly Milly. They eat it and are more hardy than the other options.

 

[FishLvR]

Had my surgery so tank was on auto pilot for 2 weeks. All dosing was automated and my wife fed the fish. I have done two 10 gallon water changes since then. Dinos have not come back, hair algae is gone with all those snails. I noticed I have turf algae now. I hit it with H2O2 which sort of dings it. Snails won't eat it, and I have not seen the crab I bought since I put him in the tank. So I pull the clumps off with a tweezers.

I noticed my aiptasia was disappearing. I figured they were self regulating until I saw 5 berghina munching away on them. Hopefully they are breeding.

My reef breeder lights refuse to hold the schedule especially the older of the two lights. Then annoyingly anytime I want to make changes to the schedule I have to create a new account because it forgets me. I was still slowly ramping up since the last hair algae outbreak. So I kept losing my settings. I contacted a group nearby and asked if they wanted to buy the lights at a discount knowing they didn't work well. They did! So at least I will recouped some money. Burns me up, because these lights were amazing with the old app they just worked. Now they don't.

My next surgery it in May so I will get my new light hooked up and dialed in. I'm going to add some more plants to the refugium, hopefully add more berghina and just let it ride again.

Maybe one day I'll actually get coral and more fish.

 

[FishLvR]

So the berghia ate all the aiptasia. It took a really long time for it to happen. I thought I got ripped off then all the sudden I saw those critters EVERYWHERE, and the aiptasia disappeared within the week. Then the aiptasia all disappeared too.

Around this time bryopsis appeared again. I know EXACTLY where it came from and I have been fighting it off ever since. I'm not going to blast them here, but a well known place. Also turf algae. I was spot treating with H2O2 and it would die and come back. So I got some fluconazole. I hit the turf with H2O2. It took about 200mL of H2O2 to spot treat it all. Then pulled the UV, skimmer, and carbon offline. Dosed the fluconzole then waited. Within four days all bryopsis and turf was white then dead. I waited three weeks, did a massive water change then put everything back online. My Macro algae took a hit but seems to be OK. The corals are fine. Fish are fine. So hopefully everything just stays as is. I am adding more macro to the sump later, and probably some more corals finally. I am just so sick and tired of fighting all the algae all the time. It sucks the fun right out of this hobby. This winter I am going to probably redo my plumbing. I really don't want to but I have salt creep around the bulkheads and I need to plumb in this UV. I'm tired of it hanging off the side of the tank.