Back in again. 75g sps build thread

Graffiti Spot · Jan 1, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
Yeah I am excited to get them hung over the reef. Possible project for tomorrow if Homedepot is open. Going to make a hanging rail.

Getting used to the BB look again, once coraline starts growing on the bottom glass it will look better. I still need to black out the under side of the tank, all the light spill into the sump really bugs me. Yeah I am seeing more and more posts about amphidinium dinoflagellates too. I just ID'd amphidinium in my brothers tank as well. Seems the only way to get an upper hand on it is to remove the sand. I really wonder why this seems to becoming a common and major issue the reef tanks. Lack of real ocean live rock is part of it for sure but in my case I started with some fairly decent live rock that had a good diversity of life on it and just after a year dinos showed up.

No3 was 15-20ppm on API and 40ppm on Red Sea Pro, not sure why the large difference but no3 is there. Po4 is 0.21ppm Hanna ULR. Bought some liquid no3 and po4 and have not even needed it.

API always tests nitrate way lower then it actually is. That’s why people use salifert or Red Sea or the like.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 1, 2020

Yeah I prefer my Red Sea kit for no3. I do like having more than 1 of each test in different brands to test against each othernif something is off.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 2, 2020

Picked up 2 AI hanging kits from the LFS today. Changing out the lights this weekend and dialing them in with an Apogee PAR meter. Think I am going to use the BRS AB+ settings but I may check out the 20K preset too.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 5, 2020

Hydra 32s are up and running a basic AB+ program on acclimation mode for now. I love these lights! Spread is great, color and blending is great. On the 14k setting it looks exactly like my 20k MHs and is putting out away more PAR, about bouble. Still need to get all the PAR numbers and setting dialed in so I will report back. I need to figure out how to set up the lights to run blues only in the morning and night and how to ramp up the channels individually. Looks way better I think. Imalso picked up 2 small pieces of live rock from the LFS, they let me pull some out of a sump from a very mature coral tank. Hoping to add some diversity. Also got a small piece of rock and some cheato from a local member. The reef is looking much better and no signs of dinos, doing a microscope check later. Thinking of adding a couple more fish and try a frag of sps.

ScottB · Jan 6, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
Hydra 32s are up and running a basic AB+ program on acclimation mode for now. I love these lights! Spread is great, color and blending is great. On the 14k setting it looks exactly like my 20k MHs and is putting out away more PAR, about bouble. Still need to get all the PAR numbers and setting dialed in so I will report back. I need to figure out how to set up the lights to run blues only in the morning and night and how to ramp up the channels individually. Looks way better I think. Imalso picked up 2 small pieces of live rock from the LFS, they let me pull some out of a sump from a very mature coral tank. Hoping to add some diversity. Also got a small piece of rock and some cheato from a local member. The reef is looking much better and no signs of dinos, doing a microscope check later. Thinking of adding a couple more fish and try a frag of sps.

Great update and looking good. Don’t be too upset if you still find some dinoflagellates under the scope. While not obvious in my tank anymore I can still find them under the scope. Keep erring on the side of too much versus too little nutrient and stay away from aminos for a while longer.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 6, 2020

Going to be getting some frags in trade so we will see if the water is good again. Did a 10g water change last night. My alk is a little low but every else is good, plenty of no3 and po4 still. I just started dosing phytoplankton to the tank, should help with dinos and pods.

Rick5 · Jan 6, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
Hydra 32s are up and running a basic AB+ program on acclimation mode for now. I love these lights! Spread is great, color and blending is great. On the 14k setting it looks exactly like my 20k MHs and is putting out away more PAR, about bouble. Still need to get all the PAR numbers and setting dialed in so I will report back. I need to figure out how to set up the lights to run blues only in the morning and night and how to ramp up the channels individually. Looks way better I think. Imalso picked up 2 small pieces of live rock from the LFS, they let me pull some out of a sump from a very mature coral tank. Hoping to add some diversity. Also got a small piece of rock and some cheato from a local member. The reef is looking much better and no signs of dinos, doing a microscope check later. Thinking of adding a couple more fish and try a frag of sps.

I'm happy to hear that the dinoflagellates have not resurfaced in your tank and I think adding the additional live rock for diversity (bacterial or otherwise) was a sensible move. At least in my case, dinoflagellates has changed the way I run my tank in terms of nutrient level, feedings and bioload. It has had a lasting nearly PTSD like effect.

I'm a fan of the Hydras. I like the form factor/that they're compact and sleek, as well as the functionality (once you get them dialed in). My mistake was not purchasing a PAR meter at the outset. I was fortunate enough to have another member assist me with revamping my Hydra settings, although I should probably still procure a PAR meter.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 6, 2020

Rick5 said:
I'm happy to hear that the dinoflagellates have not resurfaced in your tank and I think adding the additional live rock for diversity (bacterial or otherwise) was a sensible move. At least in my case, dinoflagellates has changed the way I run my tank in terms of nutrient level, feedings and bioload. It has had a lasting nearly PTSD like effect.

I'm a fan of the Hydras. I like the form factor/that they're compact and sleek, as well as the functionality (once you get them dialed in). My mistake was not purchasing a PAR meter at the outset. I was fortunate enough to have another member assist me with revamping my Hydra settings, although I should probably still procure a PAR meter.

Yeah Dino PTSD is a good term for it. That fear of another bloom is real. Totally changed my methods as well. No more keeping no3 under 5 ppm, feed fish heavy, algae does not bother me anymore as its a sign of keeping dinos at bay, po4 over .10 ppm to me is good now. I fear aminos and coral food right now. Water changes have become much fewer in my world no more weekly 10% water changes only as needed. I want "dirty" nutrient rich water as opposed to how we ran reef tanks 10 years ago believing we needed to keep no3 and po4 as low as possible.
I am digging the Hydra form factor as well, super sleek and so much power in a small package. I have a PAR meter on lone right now so I was able to dial in the PAR to 250-300 in as much of the tank as possible and still have more power if needed. I was using the R2R AB+ settings but it was way blue so I made some changes. Hope I have the right setting for coral health. Current setting.
Cool whites 65%
Blue 101%
Royal blue 101%
Green 5%
UV 110%
Violet 110%
Deep Red 5%
Seem ok? The spectrum chart beind the sliders looked good, very similar to the AB+ spectrum but visually looks more 20k MH with pop.

Rick5 · Jan 7, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
Yeah Dino PTSD is a good term for it. That fear of another bloom is real. Totally changed my methods as well. No more keeping no3 under 5 ppm, feed fish heavy, algae does not bother me anymore as its a sign of keeping dinos at bay, po4 over .10 ppm to me is good now. I fear aminos and coral food right now. Water changes have become much fewer in my world no more weekly 10% water changes only as needed. I want "dirty" nutrient rich water as opposed to how we ran reef tanks 10 years ago believing we needed to keep no3 and po4 as low as possible.
I am digging the Hydra form factor as well, super sleek and so much power in a small package. I have a PAR meter on lone right now so I was able to dial in the PAR to 250-300 in as much of the tank as possible and still have more power if needed. I was using the R2R AB+ settings but it was way blue so I made some changes. Hope I have the right setting for coral health. Current setting.
Cool whites 65%
Blue 101%
Royal blue 101%
Green 5%
UV 110%
Violet 110%
Deep Red 5%
Seem ok? The spectrum chart beind the sliders looked good, very similar to the AB+ spectrum but visually looks more 20k MH with pop.

I agree with the above sentiment 100%. I haven't quite caught onto the whole coral food and aminos craze, however. I tried aminos years ago (pre-dino era) and in retrospect I think fish, fish food and detectable nutrients are sufficient.

I think your light settings look good, but you may want to be careful with cool white at 65%. This is largely anectodal, but I've had some difficulty early on with an elevated cool white level and SPS. I also just lost a red dragon frag to what I suspect may have been due to elevated cool whites (although you never really know). Some other reefers tend to agree that an elevated cool white level can burn SPS. Having that said, every tank is different and, as I'm sure you already know, there are people who get away with an elevated cool white and their SPS do beautifully. I think it's worth a shot to see if cool white at 65% will work for your tank, particularly if you like the color. I just lowered my cool white from 40% to 25% and I'm eager to see how the SPS respond over the next couple months.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 7, 2020

Thanks. I may lower the cool whites a little then just to be safe.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 8, 2020

I lowered the cool whites to 45%. Traded my old MH setup for 12 frags today, mostly easy sps. Hopefully my tank is back to being abke to keep sps alive. I also made a trip tomthe LFS and got 30 snails, 2 damsels cause they where cool and an urchin to help with algae control. Also saw a cool rock of mushrooms so I grabbed that plus another small piece of rock I talked them into tossing in for free. Unfortunately I am seeing some snotty type dinos on the back glass and on the rock a little. No3 and po4 are still elevated at least 20 ppm no3 and .21 ppm po4. May be time for UV on the tank, need to keepmp an eye on it and pull out the microscope. I have not been dosing bacteria for a week, I ran out and figured I needed to stop at aome point anyways. Might start it back up again. I have been dosing Reef Nutrition phytoplankton live for the last few days to help the pod population which should help prevent dinos. Hopeful but nervous about the tank and adding sps but I have to try sometime.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 9, 2020

Just ordere a 9w in tank UV sterilizer off Ebay.

Rick5 · Jan 9, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
Just ordere a 9w in tank UV sterilizer off Ebay.

Hopefully this eradicates the snotty stuff. Maybe it's just algae, though.

I've been running a 10w Danner Mag pond UV with a Maxi-Jet 1200. I like the idea of running one for Dino-related protection (and, in my case, eliminating green water that was so bad that I could not see the fish or rock in the tank).

biecacka · Jan 9, 2020

Did you get a par meter yet? You said your getting double par then you had on your halides. I’m getting about 900at the water surface with my bulbs. So you probably got similar and now getting 1800 with way less power consumption? That is very impressive if that’s accurate but more importantly you want to know those numbers so you don’t burn your new corals. You could turn them down 70% or so and be fine.
I wish more leds had an acclimation mode like the hydras, it’s how it should be, slowly building up to desired levels. My orpheks are getting repaired now so I put the halides back on and I hate the fact the Orpheks don’t have that type of acclimation.

corey

Reef Nutrition · Jan 9, 2020

DesertReefT4r said:
I lowered the cool whites to 45%. Traded my old MH setup for 12 frags today, mostly easy sps. Hopefully my tank is back to being abke to keep sps alive. I also made a trip tomthe LFS and got 30 snails, 2 damsels cause they where cool and an urchin to help with algae control. Also saw a cool rock of mushrooms so I grabbed that plus another small piece of rock I talked them into tossing in for free. Unfortunately I am seeing some snotty type dinos on the back glass and on the rock a little. No3 and po4 are still elevated at least 20 ppm no3 and .21 ppm po4. May be time for UV on the tank, need to keepmp an eye on it and pull out the microscope. I have not been dosing bacteria for a week, I ran out and figured I needed to stop at aome point anyways. Might start it back up again. I have been dosing Reef Nutrition phytoplankton live for the last few days to help the pod population which should help prevent dinos. Hopeful but nervous about the tank and adding sps but I have to try sometime.

Thanks so much for dosing our Phyto-Feast Live. We hope that it not only keeps the pod and filter-feeders happy, but also outcompetes some of the nuisance algae and dinos. We really appreciate the support.

Best,
Chad

DesertReefT4r · Jan 9, 2020

biecacka said:
Did you get a par meter yet? You said your getting double par then you had on your halides. I’m getting about 900at the water surface with my bulbs. So you probably got similar and now getting 1800 with way less power consumption? That is very impressive if that’s accurate but more importantly you want to know those numbers so you don’t burn your new corals. You could turn them down 70% or so and be fine.
I wish more leds had an acclimation mode like the hydras, it’s how it should be, slowly building up to desired levels. My orpheks are getting repaired now so I put the halides back on and I hate the fact the Orpheks don’t have that type of acclimation.

corey

Yeah had a PAR meter the day I put up the Hydras. I wish my MHs put out 900 at the surface, was getting 350 now getting 650-700. So yeah double the par using under 180w compared to 500w. Currently have the Hydras on acclimation mode to slowly adjust up to full power on my settings.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 9, 2020

Reef Nutrition said:
Thanks so much for dosing our Phyto-Feast Live. We hope that it not only keeps the pod and filter-feeders happy, but also outcompetes some of the nuisance algae and dinos. We really appreciate the support.

Best,
Chad

Hey thanks! Love your products. Wish my LFS would stock your live Apex pods.

DesertReefT4r · Jan 9, 2020

Rick5 said:
Hopefully this eradicates the snotty stuff. Maybe it's just algae, though.

I've been running a 10w Danner Mag pond UV with a Maxi-Jet 1200. I like the idea of running one for Dino-related protection (and, in my case, eliminating green water that was so bad that I could not see the fish or rock in the tank).

Man I sure hope so. Im so over fighting dinoflagellates. Beat back amphidinium after loosing all my sps now this new kind just showed up over the last few days. Second thinking that 10g water change I did over the weekend. Im so scared of water changes now.