Aquatop Recife 24

[putsumranchonit]

3/2
7:22PM EST

Seems like there’s a phosphate suck somewhere. Could be due to tank immaturity. I’m thinking maybe diatoms, although they have kind of dissipated. Theres some left but not as heavy as the initial bloom. The phosphate/nitrate imbalance is bothering me.

I’m thinking of very gently dosing some phosphorus and testing to see if it’s consumed or if there’s an actual imbalance. If anyone is following along, any two cents?

Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: ~50
Alk: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.01

 

[putsumranchonit]

Update: Got some phosphorus to dose. Dosed 1ml of the solution to raise my phosphate ~.05ppm. Retested 60 minutes later and phosphate is at 0.05ppm. Will test again for consumption tomorrow.

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/3
6:50PM EST

Phosphate holding decently since that little dose yesterday. The SPS don’t look so great. Maybe a little premature to add those. Oh well. Everything else is looking pretty awesome at the moment. Diatoms fading out.

Temp: 77F
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphate: 0.04ppm
Alk: 8.0

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/4
7:19PM EST

Nitrates still high, phosphates are at a desirable number now. Feeling like another wc is necessary if I want these SPS to survive.

I had a fresh 5g batch of water from last weekend ready to go. The problem is the Alk is testing at 6.6. Added some sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and got the water up to 8.0-8.2ish alk. Brought the nitrates down ~10-15ppm. Getting to a happier zone for sure. Plan to do another change this weekend so I can get ahead of the curve and manage the nutrients easier.

Temp: 77 F
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphate: 0.05ppm
Nitrate: ~50ppm
Alk: 8.0 dKh

AFTER the WC
Phosphate: 0.04ppm
Nitrate: ~35-40
Alk: 8.1 dKh

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/5
7:00PM EST

Added some new livestock today. I’ve always loved goni’s but never wanted to spend a lot of money on one because I’ve heard they can be fickle. Found a frag for $25, figured it’s a cheap litmus test to see if I can keep them. Also grabbed this bi-colored hammer, it was too beautiful and it came with a free, decently sized frag of red encrusting monti.

Now it’s looking a bit like a reef in here. Time to keep stable and watch it all grow. I think I could still squeeze like one or two more frags in here not gonna lie.

Phosphate coming in low again. Tested a few times to be sure it was accurate. Dosed it up a bit more this time. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Temp: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025a
pH: 7.9
Phosphate: 0.02ppm —> 0.07ppm
Alk: 8.1 dKh

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/7
Water change day. These tests were preformed post water change. Wow, now my phosphate has completely shot up. This is crazy. Tested twice on hanna and one on salifert to confirm what I was seeing. Maybe from all the detritus suspended in the water column after basting the rocks? Will be able to tell tomorrow once we get a retest in.

Otherwise, the tank looks real healthy. The fish are beautiful and happy. The corals are nice, fat and puffy. Two of the SPS are showing polyps finally. The other two are hanging on but I’m not sure what direction they are heading in. Either way, I purchased them as a litmus test and this tank has been pure excitement so far.

Hammer looks a little upset because I just glued it to the rock. It’ll be okay little buddy.

Temp: 79F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 25ppm
Phosphate: 0.27
pH: ~7.9
Alk: 8.3 dKh

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/9
3:36PM EST

On a mission to reduce these nitrates just a little bit more. Since phosphate also went up, I figured another water change won’t hurt. Temp is lower than normal. I didn’t match water temp for water change. Phosphate swinging like crazy. Must be from blasting the crap out of the rock(no pun intended) before the water change a few days ago. I’m liking these parameters today. Will keep observing phosphate regularly. Also seems like Alk maybe starting to become consumed? Will keep a close eye on that as well over the next week. Maybe time to begin dosing.

Corals looking fluffy today. The polyps on the SPS are actually out to play for the first time since I put them in. Green flag. Can’t wait to see how everything fills out.

Diatoms look pretty nonexistent today. Should be a welcome invitation for some green algae to start populating. Praying it’s not anything too nasty. It shouldn’t be because I run my whites at a pretty low percentage.

Overall, feeling like a successful 5th week of operation.

Temp: 76F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 20 ppm
Phosphate: 0.03 ppm
Alk: 8.0 dKh
Calc: 420 ppm
Mag: 1260 ppm

 

[MushroomMan101]

Great looking tank! I also have an Aquatop 24, it's fun to see what someone else is doing in their reefing journey with the same tank.

 

[putsumranchonit]

Great looking tank! I also have an Aquatop 24, it's fun to see what someone else is doing in their reefing journey with the same tank.

Thank you man. A lot of ways to skin the cat, right?

 

[putsumranchonit]

3/14
11:56AM

Dosed 1ml of phosphate to avoid bottoming out. This increases the level to about 0.05ppm on average from previous dosing. Im not sure if it’s placebo, but it seems like the corals are so much happier looking after a phosphate dose. Will test again tomorrow.

Everything is generally looking nice and fluffy in the tank. Great polyp extension. The only thing not looking happy was my chalice. I took it off the middle rock and placed in on the sand bed in hopes it will revive. I also moved the Oregon Tort to where the chalice was and now it looks much happier.

Temp: 79F
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 30ppm
Phosphate: 0.01ppm
Alk: 8.0 dKh

 

[putsumranchonit]

 

[putsumranchonit]

Added a few more SPS.
A bubblegum digi, allegedly. It looks a lot more twiggy than other examples I’ve seen. A blue stylo and some green and pink acro from TSA supposedly.

I also added a tailspot blenny, he’s super cool.

No more fish will be added to the tank. I’m not sure if I’ll add anymore coral either. Famous last words.

 

[putsumranchonit]

Welp, took a break from logging. The worst of the worst happened. Had a couple little bushes of GHA and decided lemme do some landscaping. Got my trusty toothbrush and nipped a little here nipped a little there, nice. Everything looks great. Next day…. Dino outbreak. Nooooo.

Immediately starting upping my nutrients. Dino’s getting worse day by day. I have not identified with a microscope, I’m battling dark here. Been dosing phosphate, microbacter, feeding heavy, and praying. I’ll take GHA back any day now, **** I’ll even take cyano over this.

Today I purchased a UV sterilizer. Let’s see if this helps in the coming days. In the meantime I’m basting this stuff off my corals as fast as it reproduces. Dino’s are some truly nasty specimen. I don’t wish it on my least favorite reefer.

All in all, I find this to be a great learning experience. Let’s see if I can get this tank through the nasty and come out better on the other side.

 

[putsumranchonit]

Haven’t been active recently due to being deployed at war with dinoflagellates. I believe I’m reclaiming the territory and the terrorist dino’s are finally scattering.

My weapons:
36 hour blackout
24/7 UV sterilizer
Added additional live rock from a mature system.
Basting dino’s from rocks 1-2x a day
Daily phosphate dosing
Daily Microbacter7 dosing
Replacing filter floss daily
Heavy feeding (half cube of frozen mysis a day)
No water changes
Reduced lighting schedule. 6 hours of 20% blues and 10% violet.

I have no idea which species this is, but it’s brown, stringy, bubbly, and encapsulating. I scraped the glass today, and surprisingly there were a few coralline spots. Seems like stability if you ask me.

 

[Saintbroseph]

Welp, took a break from logging. The worst of the worst happened. Had a couple little bushes of GHA and decided lemme do some landscaping. Got my trusty toothbrush and nipped a little here nipped a little there, nice. Everything looks great. Next day…. Dino outbreak. Nooooo.

Immediately starting upping my nutrients. Dino’s getting worse day by day. I have not identified with a microscope, I’m battling dark here. Been dosing phosphate, microbacter, feeding heavy, and praying. I’ll take GHA back any day now, **** I’ll even take cyano over this.

Today I purchased a UV sterilizer. Let’s see if this helps in the coming days. In the meantime I’m basting this stuff off my corals as fast as it reproduces. Dino’s are some truly nasty specimen. I don’t wish it on my least favorite reefer.

All in all, I find this to be a great learning experience. Let’s see if I can get this tank through the nasty and come out better on the other side.

I really want to thank you so much for posting your logs and adventure. I have this same tank and I’m dealing with some issues right now. I think I bought tank in February or March, AND it’s my first ever saltwater tank. I’ll post pictures soon but I think I have a dino outbreak. Can you post an update on your dino issue? I know it’s been over a month now since your last post.

 

[putsumranchonit]

Welp, took a break from logging. The worst of the worst happened. Had a couple little bushes of GHA and decided lemme do some landscaping. Got my trusty toothbrush and nipped a little here nipped a little there, nice. Everything looks great. Next day…. Dino outbreak. Nooooo.

Immediately starting upping my nutrients. Dino’s getting worse day by day. I have not identified with a microscope, I’m battling dark here. Been dosing phosphate, microbacter, feeding heavy, and praying. I’ll take GHA back any day now, **** I’ll even take cyano over this.

Today I purchased a UV sterilizer. Let’s see if this helps in the coming days. In the meantime I’m basting this stuff off my corals as fast as it reproduces. Dino’s are some truly nasty specimen. I don’t wish it on my least favorite reefer.

All in all, I find this to be a great learning experience. Let’s see if I can get this tank through the nasty and come out better on the other side.

I really want to thank you so much for posting your logs and adventure. I have this same tank and I’m dealing with some issues right now. I think I bought tank in February or March, AND it’s my first ever saltwater tank. I’ll post pictures soon but I think I have a dino outbreak. Can you post an update on your dino issue? I know it’s been over a month now since your last post.

Hey man, I think the biggest lesson learned for me is to go slow. I ended up losing a good chunk of my frags. I have no more dino’s, but i’m still running the UV 24/7, and I ended up sprouting GHA all over the tank from the increased nutrients. It truly is a patience game waiting for a new tank to become stable.