Better than ever after tank crash

[Squamosa]

Nothing to report really, nutrients are low, chemical parameters are steady, hands are out of the tank, mostly and so here are a few pictures from today.

 

[mazoli]

The tank ran for around 2 years when it crashed.
I changed out 50% of the water at first and then left it for around 1.5 months.
Didn't touch anything after that except for a slight aquascape and chiselling coral bases off rocks.
I don't do water changes and carbon dose with vodka and the nutrients were left to drop in the fallow period and then I added the frags.
GHA eventually died off (after 2 months or so) after the bound PO4 in the rock became exhausted.
Next up came dino's, Ostreopsis flavour and those were beaten back with the use of Vibrant.
After that I had the odd patch of cyano but that has cleared up and the tank basically runs on autopilot now.

I have to add that I added a filter using crushed coral that runs on a similar principle to the Dutch 'Dymico' system, minus the calcium reactor part of their filter. In this filter that recirculates a part of the tank return water, there is ~60 kg of crushed coral (5-10 mm). Basically water comes in over the top in the middle compartment, gets recirculated around the filter by a small pump in compartment B and then exits through the bottom of compartment C and overflows back into the sump. I filter ~300 L/hour of my tank water this way and I had to stop carbon dosing, turned off my skimmer and I still have to add NO3 in from time to time, that's how efficient it is working for me.

Could you explain your gravel filter ín more detail? I did not get the water flow part. Do you have a build thread for this?

 

[Squamosa]

Another update to the tank, everything is in cruise control and tank is now filling up very fast with frags that have turned into little colonies and colonies that have turned into large colonies..
Here is a comparison of a frag I received on the 27th of March 2017, a few months after my tank crash. It survived the tank move in December 2017 and now looks like this more than a year later. I really like the shape, something I'm more used to seeing when diving in the ocean.

Here are some collages of various corals in my tank.

Enjoy

 

[Bronc]

I am still amazed by the lightning fast growth you get!

 

[Squamosa]

I am still amazed by the lightning fast growth you get!

Yes, I have to run a big calcium reactor and work hard to keep the alk at 7.8-8 dKH, which seems like a problem but it's not really

 

[Dogtown]

I use the Salifert test and had it ordered in for me from my LFS, but it's very finicky to use. A triton test is also done every 4-6 months. Boron levels don't deplete very fast at all in my tank.

I finally got a boron test kit from an LFS in Germany. The fact that you were able to get one made me realize it was possible. Thanks!

 

[sasa]

Yes, I have to run a big calcium reactor and work hard to keep the alk at 7.8-8 dKH, which seems like a problem but it's not really

I wonder - have you ever did a Trition or similar ICP-OES test you'd willing to share?

 

[Squamosa]

I wonder - have you ever did a Trition or similar ICP-OES test you'd willing to share?

I have done tests but that can't compare as it was before the set-up of this tank.
I will do a test when 6 months comes around and post it up then.

 

[UWC]

Bump for updates

 

[Squamosa]

Update time.
Six months have come and gone and a Triton water test was done two weeks ago, here are the results:

 

[Squamosa]

An update on some corals, which have now become colonies

 

[Squamosa]

One month of growth on this tiny digitata frag, now it's going places

 

[Ds04384]

Any idea why your B was so high on your triton test? See any negative effects from it? Coral look great!

 

[Squamosa]

Any idea why your B was so high on your triton test? See any negative effects from it? Coral look great!

I was adding it (with a heavy hand) to see if colors improved, as anecdotal evidence suggests this might be the case with reds and pinks.
However, I am seeing some damage to corals e.g. slowing down of growth, unexplained STN on the branches of certain corals and very thin flesh on some species especially tenuis.

I have removed the boron with a large water change and will see if this was the case, although I fear when damage is done in this way to a coral of the Acropora sp. it never really recovers or may take months to recover.

 

[laurensvanpoucke]

any updates?

 

[Kartago]

Hi, I'd like to ask you if you could make a more accurate drawing of your broken coral filter. if I understand it correctly from the picture then the water flows up through the coral and then flows through the perforated tube into the zone with a small pump and it returns the other tube back to the coral? But at the moment I don't see how the water gets to the other side of the big return pump. One more thing how strong is a small pump? In total, 300 liters of water per hour will flow through the filter? When your aquarium has how many liters? thank you for answer

 

[Dennis Cartier]

How is the tank doing? Still have you DIY DyMiCo on auto pilot? Updates please, your followers are wanting to know!

 

[JCOLE]

Any updates on this awesome system?

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Hey @Squamosa , I was hoping you were going to be back online soon. I am building a DyMiCo filter into the sump for my new tank. It takes up 5 feet of the sump. I would love to pick your brain and compare notes on the operation of these filters. The photos of the sump are in my build thread.

Dennis