Back in again. 75g sps build thread

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DesertReefT4r

DesertReefT4r

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Well I spent part of my reefer cash I had set aside for maybe an ApexEL on a few sps frags. Got 3 for $100, so pretty good deal and some good sized frags too not 1" nubs. Pics coming soon.

On another topic not reef related. Last night at 1am the neighbor's house behind mine burned down nearly to the ground. She is out of town so luckly no human lives were lost. However 3 of her 4 dogs died in the fire. She is a bad neighbor but I wish that on no one and feel very sad for her loses. Talk about ruining your vaction! The fire was crazy, never witnessed anything like it.
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DesertReefT4r

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I think I just found out why my stylo, duncan and porci all died or are not doing well. I was watching the reef looking at the new frags and my bowtie damsel started picking at a hairy acro frag. Watched as it did it 3 times! Decided to feed some flake to redirect attention thinking maybe its just because its new stuff in the tank or that the damsel is hungry. As I watched the damsel and other fish eat the damsel kept coming right up to the top of the water. Quickly grabbed a fish net and waited. Bam! Caught it first try. Could not believe it. The guilty fish is now in the QT tank until rehoming. After seeing it pecking at the fleshy acro frag it makes sense that the porci, stylo and duncan went from growing and doing really well to dieing and no PE almost over night. Avoid this damsel, its the only one I have ever run into that has a taste for corals. Also known as Bluefin damsel.
 

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I saw your previous mention of 0 Iodine. When my duncan retracts, I know I have depleted Iodine. A couple drops of Lugols seems to perk them up right away.

Curious also if your potassium came back low. My bouts with dinos seemed to deplete Iodine and potassium.
 
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I saw your previous mention of 0 Iodine. When my duncan retracts, I know I have depleted Iodine. A couple drops of Lugols seems to perk them up right away.

Curious also if your potassium came back low. My bouts with dinos seemed to deplete Iodine and potassium.
I have added 1 drop of iodine on Thursday. Potassium cam back good at 392 ppm. As for the duncan not opening, within an hour of removing the Bow Tie damsel thr duncan started opening. No question it was eating coral. I did some research on them and as babies they eat plankton, as juveniles they eat mostly sof coral and as adults they eat giant clam poop lol. Odd diet but it confirms their are coral eaters and mine was no exception, it was doing some decent damage to any coral that had fleshy polyps.
 
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Wow I rehomed the Bow Tie damsel fast, only took 1 day on my local reefing FB group. Dont worry I fully disclosed it was a coral eater and made sure it was going in a FOWLR tank.
Doing a 5g water change today and water testing. This will be my regular Sunday tank maintenance day to get back to regular water changes now that dinos are no longer an issue. Going to hit the GHA again as well, its getting much better and is also gone now that I have been giving it my full attention instead of the dinos.
Very happy with how the reef is doing right now. Corals are looking great and holding color for me finally. In the past all sps would do well and grow but color would fade to greens or browns. I always wondered if it was the lighting I used. If you have been following I ran 250w DE 20K lights on this tank my last few tanks as well. Acro color was always an issue for me. Now that I have been running the Hydras acro and all coral color has been better than I have been able to produce.
 

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So sad on the neighbors home. I assume one of the pets may have caused it accidentally ?
 
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Did my weekly 5g water changes and testing last night. Tank is staying stable but no3 has bottomed out on me again, undetectable on API and Red Sea Pro kits. Corals all looking great though, even my greyed out monti cap is fully colored up again. Removed more GHA as well, not much left and its in hard to reach placed in the rock. Winning the battle with the GHA. Dinos have not come back and thr tank feels like its back in biological balance. Just need some detectable no3 and I may dose some Neo Nitro. Wondering if my fuge is needed at all yet again.
 
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Water test and water change day. Happy to report alk and cal are staying stable, no3 went up to 0.25 and po4 is 0.04. My kalk amount is doing the job and is being used by the coral. Pretty sure dinos are totally gone but the UV will remain for awhile still. GHA is nearly gone with daily Microbacter Clean dosing and weekly manual removal. Corals are doing really well, I am see growth and happy with coral color for once. Oh and I am using HW Reefer salt now and not Fritz blue box, I have just been happer with HW salt. Some pics before the water change.
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I scored some corals yesturday. Small frag of Walt Disney, a frag of Red Planet but is browned out and does not have the right growth shape its branching not tabling so not sure, frag of green birds nest, 2 large frags of red monti cap, lastly a full on colony of Pearlberry! The Pearlberry is going to get fragged up once it settles in, I just wanted a frag and there is no good place to put a coral that size on my rock. Once the new corals get settled into my tank I will try to get some good pics of all my corals. Still have a few sps on the wish list and it looks like I can get most locally.
 
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Yesturday was water change day. I finally took some new pics of the corals, you can really see how much growth there is. Alk tests are backing up the visual growth, alk is dropping and I need to bring it up a bit and adjust the kalk concentration. It was a good time to do some fragging as well. Made a bunch of frags of the pearlberry and red monti cap.
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Some build related updates for you all. Getting some momentum on the water station build. Had a plumber come over and quote me a price to install a water tap after my water softener. That will be happening in the next week or so. Ordered some needed gear off Amazon. Jeboa return pump and 50ft water change hose. 3 way inline tds meter wanted this for a long time for the rodi. Lastly but not related to the water station, an auto feeder.
 
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! ;Singing! The Reef is 2 years old as of yesturday! I could not be much happier with how its has been goi g of the last few months. I would take less GHA but it does not bother me too much since my corals are doing so well. Obilgitory FTS.
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Other news to report. I had my water tap installed in the garge this morning for the water station. Pretty excited to get this going. I have shopping cart full of parts at BRS needed to make this work. Just need to make sure I have everything I need before I place my order. I got the pump and tubing I ordered in already and still waiting for the 3 way TDS meter. Having plenty of clean RODI and mixed saltwater will never be a problem again and I cant wait to not deal with buckets any more.
 
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Hello everyone! Yes I am still here and yes my reef is still going. Its been a while since I ha e been on and did any updates. Really not much to say honestly. I had a PP-8 die after 2 years of use. While that kind of sucks it was a cheap pump and it lasted for a decent amount of time. No dino issues at all since removing the UV. Corals are all growing and doing well with great color. In fact I need to frag my caps, birds nest and a couple acros. Coralline algae is out of control and grows super fast. The back and bottom glass is totally covered and if I dont clean the veiwing glass weekly coralline will grow. Green hair algae is making a come back as well but I have been lazy. Pics to come after I do a water change for the first time in a couple months.
 
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Well its been a bit. Im still here and still reefing. Nearly bailed out though and was going to sell off everything. I ended up totally changing my mind but did sell a few corals, my clamand some rock. The reef is and has been doing well dispite an alk drop to 6 dkh and me being lazy for a few months. Some sps lost a bit of color like my bubble gum digi but thats it. So that change in direction I mentioned...I am trying to start fragging and offering coral for sale. Time will tell if it works out and at the prices I plan to offer frags at, hint its low. So this old build will see some action again. I just picked up a 40B to add onto the 75g as a frag tank! And a pic of the reef from today.
 

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