I did point the flare more straight towards the surface after I noticed the debris accumulating on the surface. What type of livestock do you keep in yours?Looking great. I have my wave maker in about the same spot-- I point the return flare straight to the top to give the surface aeration/oxygenation, and use the wave maker for flow deeper inside the tank, like you have it.
), a Sixline Wrasse, a Firefish, and I think a Yellow Tail Damsel (I can't recall). Lol. It has minimalistic rock work, just as a stylistic choice.
Can’t go wrong with nemo! This tank won’t see many fish. The two clowns and a goby are it for me. This will be mostly coral.They key is to really research the tar out of your fish selections, and chose wisely, because a 24-gallon fills up fast! Most people read the descriptions on Live Aquaria .com and Saltwater Fish .com, as well as other sources. Right now we have a pair of Clowns (not my choice-- but the office staff insisted that 'Nemo' was a must
Do you have an ATO on this chamber? You definitely want at least a few inches or more a over the return pump to prevent running the pump dry. How high is the water in the 3rd compartment? You may just need more water in the tank.
Surface flow looks like it's rocking!2/28
7:30PM EST
Did a water change today. I’d guess it was around 4 gallons. Looking at doing another one tomorrow because nitrates still seem pretty high. It’s like the water change didn’t even put a dent in them. Used water from the LFS. I’m guessing it was some coral pro because my Alk jumped 1+. Corals are opened and colored today. They don’t seem to mind at the moment.
Ordered a smart plug so I can control wavemaker and return pump from my phone for easier water changes. Also
ordered an orange filter so I can start posting some progress pics.
Adjusted my water level. It was a couple inches too high initially. Now it’s fully dialed.
Temp: 77F
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.0
Nitrate: ~50ppm
Phosphate: 0.02ppm
Alk: 9.6dKh
Calcium: 425ppm
Magnesium: 1200ppm
Forgive the windex photo. Filter should arrive in a couple days
Oh yeah! There's some color!2/20
9:18PM EST
After work there was a fish store nearby. I had to stop in. Small shop, fish weren’t too healthy, but the guy had a solid selection of coral that was pretty affordable. Frags all the way up to whole colonies. I’ve never seen this before, but he was growing GSP on plastic spheres and hung them off of his led lights. They were floating balls of GSP. Very very cool.
I realized I didn’t test phosphates properly yesterday. New test kit, learning curve. Today I followed the correct procedure. Need to get some phosphate in there. Can’t get an accurate nitrate reading with presence of nitrite.
Temp: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrite: 0.25ppm
pH: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.00 ppm
Alk: 8.4 dKH
2/21
No testing
2/22
10:50AM EST
When lights came on today, i noticed diatoms starting. Interesting, as soon as nitrites zeroed out, we get a diatom bloom.
Temp: 77 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0.00ppm
Nitrite: 0.00ppm
Nitrate: 0.0ppm
pH: 7.9
Alk: 8.4 dKH
2/23
7:00PM EST
Added an ATO system today. I’ll be honest I had no idea what I was doing while initially setting up. I have the pump coming out of a 5g bucket. For return hose I had it submerged in my return chamber and it siphoned a gallon or two out of the tank into the 5g bucket. Thank god it was only half full or else that would’ve been messy. Removed the return line from underwater and now it works perfect.
New livestock today: 3 trochus snails and another zoanthid frag
Temp:
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrite: 0.0ppm
Nitrate: 0.0ppm
pH: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.06ppm
Alk: ~8.2dKh
2/24
no testing
2/25
7:28PM EST
Alk isn’t really being consumed. I’m guessing there are a lack of Alkalinity absorbing sources in the tank right now. Will test again after I add some LPS corals. I think I’ll test again Friday and then let the LFS do a spin test to compare my parameters to theirs.
Today I pulled my zoas out, broke the frag plugs off and then super glued them to the rocks because the snails were wreaking havoc.
Temp: 77 F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 0.0
pH: 8.0
Alk: 8.4dKh
Calcium: 450ppm
2/26
6:48PM EST
Snails are **** like it’s going out of style, sand bed is covered in snail waste. Impressive. Will add Nassarius snails this weekend if I can source from LFS. Also planning to add some more corals this weekend. Really going for some LPS and maybe a tester SPS so i can get a gauge on alk consumption to begin eventually dosing.
Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.025
2/27
7:54 PM EST
Today I had a hunch to buy a new nitrate test since I kept getting 0 readings with API. Got a Salifert kit. Reads 50ppm. Test API to reference. 0ppm. Wow someone’s lying here.
I viciously shook both reagent bottles for API, retest. 40ppm. Holy smokes, I’ve probably been ready for a water change for a week now. Oh well, the zoas and mushrooms were content.
Tomorrow I will perform a water change and start a new baseline for alk and calc consumption with the new LPS additions.
New livestock today:
2 Nassarius snails
3 Zoanthid varieties
1 Acan frag
1 Chalice frag
1 Frogspawn
Temp: 77F
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphate: 0.00
Nitrate: 40-50ppm
I was wondering how to do that.
