Caleb's first reef tank

[Impunitus]

Hey man, sweet tank! What is all the equipment that you have? I see the I’m roller, is that working great? I’m thinking about getting a IM 50 AIO

Thanks! See below for equipment list as it has updated a bit since the start

Tank: SR60
Return Pumps: Whatever came with the SR60 kit. I don't rememeber the names, sorry
Heaters: Helio 400W package with 2x 200W heaters
Powerheads: MP40 and AI Orbit 2
Lights: 2 XR15 G6 Blue
Tunze Eco Chic refegium light
Roller: IM roller Pro 2
ATO: Tunze osmiliator 3
Controller: Hydros X4 and XP8

The roller has been doing it's thing. I found that it somehow was getting bound up, I'm not sure exactly why but it has been easy enough to fix when it happens. I've made it a habit to manually advance it just a little bit and it hasn't happened since. I do have it on the lowest setting right now so that may have been part of it.

Happy to answer any questions you might have :)

That sounds like a sweet set up! That’s good to know about the roller. What size did you get? Also, do you have a refugium in there too? That’s sweet! What compartment do you have it in? Also, do you have another mechanical filter on the opposite side of the roller, or are you just using the roller for mechanical filtration

I did the midsize/full size for mine. The desktop one wouldn't fit in the compartment in the sump I don't think, or would have to make something to get it to rest properly.

I turned the second compartment on the right into a fuge. The far right has some filter floss at the top of the media tray, but it's also loaded up with ceramic media and some rubble. I'll eventually swap out the rubble in the bottom 2 compartments for carbon/gfo as needed. May not be a perfect way to do things but has been working out for me so far.

Really leaning on the roller being my primary means of mechanical filtration

 

[Impunitus]

Hey man, sweet tank! What is all the equipment that you have? I see the I’m roller, is that working great? I’m thinking about getting a IM 50 AIO

Thanks! See below for equipment list as it has updated a bit since the start

Tank: SR60
Return Pumps: Whatever came with the SR60 kit. I don't rememeber the names, sorry
Heaters: Helio 400W package with 2x 200W heaters
Powerheads: MP40 and AI Orbit 2
Lights: 2 XR15 G6 Blue
Tunze Eco Chic refegium light
Roller: IM roller Pro 2
ATO: Tunze osmiliator 3
Controller: Hydros X4 and XP8

The roller has been doing it's thing. I found that it somehow was getting bound up, I'm not sure exactly why but it has been easy enough to fix when it happens. I've made it a habit to manually advance it just a little bit and it hasn't happened since. I do have it on the lowest setting right now so that may have been part of it.

Happy to answer any questions you might have :)

That sounds like a sweet set up! That’s good to know about the roller. What size did you get? Also, do you have a refugium in there too? That’s sweet! What compartment do you have it in? Also, do you have another mechanical filter on the opposite side of the roller, or are you just using the roller for mechanical filtration

Took a few pictures after night lights were on and fuge light had kicked on. Also a shot of the back, a little dark but gives you the idea.

 

[skey44]

Took a few pictures after night lights were on and fuge light had kicked on. Also a shot of the back, a little dark but gives you the idea.

I love a refugium! Very cool.

 

[Impunitus]

Took a few pictures after night lights were on and fuge light had kicked on. Also a shot of the back, a little dark but gives you the idea.

I love a refugium! Very cool.

Your tank is making me kick myself for not going with a slightly bigger system with a sump underneath. I love my tank but I already want more space than the AIO provides

 

[Impunitus]

Did some tests today, and I think I know why my green slimer is looking a little sad. Waiting on Salifert Calc/Mag tests to arrive. I did Nitrates and Phosphate with my Hannas and Alk is Salifert.

Nitrates: 13.4
Phosphate: 0.73
Alk: 8.5
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 7.8-8.1 daily swing

How often should I be changing out my GFO/increasing to help pull this down? I will admit I have not been on top of testing because of life getting in the way, things were looking OK so I let it ride. The slimer losing the green glow on the body and looking more blue/purple and the polpys being the only green was a tell for me on this. This may explain the duncan being moody recently too :(

I know I need to do this slow, and from what I've read a water change isn't going to be a one stop shop for this. Just don't want to hurt what is already in the tank with these high levels

 

[Impunitus]

I'll do a full set of tests tomorrow. Amazon delivery got here late to will do during lunch tomorrow go have same time of day.

I increased the photo period on my fuge light as well today. Hopefully that paired with the gfo gets some good results at pulling down my phosphates.

 

[skey44]

I would use less GFO than recommended and run it passively. I’d do a water change. Stay consistent with husbandry practices and recheck weekly to see the trend. I also test before I feed for the day just to make sure there’s no test interference from food in the water.
Do you know your phosphate source or why they may have gone up?
You have relatively new LR correct? It may just be from the initial die off.

 

[Impunitus]

I think some overzealous feeding of frozen for the fish and potentially stirring up some junk when I was getting the fuge put together may be contributers. They line up with the trend of seeing the slimer starting to look meh. For what it's worth it started looking better in my tank than it did at the LFS.

Definitely starting slow with the GFO.

 

[Impunitus]

Monti cap is RTNing/melting away. Pulled it out.

Going to put a small bag of carbon in when I have a moment during the day today. The slimer isn't melting yet but I'm getting scared I just went too fast and screwed up my tank. Going to do a 10-15 gallon water change since I have the saltwater on hand for it as well.

Sucks cause I liked that thing, Im afraid to frag it and put the problem back into the tank.

 

[skey44]

Don’t over react. Just keep steady. Your tank just probably isn’t quite ready for sps. You’ll get there! Putting the frags in until they’re totally gone will probably not hurt anything as long as it’s not a pest issue. I have plenty of blue and green frags for free when you’re ready to try again and take a drive down to Greenville SC
I could even ship usps if you pay shipping. I’d think it would get there overnight. You’re in NC, correct?

 

[Impunitus]

Don’t over react. Just keep steady. Your tank just probably isn’t quite ready for sps. You’ll get there! Putting the frags in until they’re totally gone will probably not hurt anything as long as it’s not a pest issue. I have plenty of blue and green frags for free when you’re ready to try again and take a drive down to Greenville SC
I could even ship usps if you pay shipping. I’d think it would get there overnight. You’re in NC, correct?

I'm in Western NY so would be a bit of a drive for SC sadly!

Just got a 10 gal or so water change done during my lunch. Everything else is looking OK. I may lose the slimer too but I'll keep an eye on it. It didn't blow away when I dusted it off with a turkey baster. The monti cap was legimately melting in the flow of my Powerheads when I went to go take a look at the tank this morning :(

I matched salinities and just did the WC quick. Will test everything this afternoon once I'm done with work.

 

[skey44]

Good luck! Hopefully everything. Else hangs in there while you reach some stability. I’m participating in too many threads maybe
I think someone else is from NC I’ve been following.

 

[Impunitus]

Test results are in, minus calcium because the test pack I bought was shipped with an extra nitrate test instead of the calc one :) Not going to complain cause the Salifert tests are awesome and use them for more periodic checking of the wife's tank, as well as consensus testing with my Hanna on the bigger tank. Water change did help pull down nitrates a little, I'm assuming GFO + water change helped with the phosphates. They're still very high, but will continue to test and make sure its continuing to trend down

Nitrates: 12.4
Phosphate: 0.56
Alk: 8.9
Mag: 1330
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 7.8-8.1 daily swing

I should have been more on top of testing my parameters. Now to keep a hawk-eye on the tank as phosphates hopefully continue to trend downward.

 

[Impunitus]

Decided to grab come pictures under blues tonight. Losing your first piece of coral sucks, but the tank still is looking good. Some stuff is already closed up for the night, but GSP and my hammer are looking pretty nice. Zoomed in shot of the slimer too. Tips are green but the whole body of the coral has no color.

 

[FishBeast]

Looks sweet!

 

[Impunitus]

Did a phosphate test last night, then another one cause a rise scared me, and then another this morning. I wanted to do this morning to avoid any potential feeding influencing the readings but honestly think I'm just seeing an expected rebound as I work to bring down my levels. Will replace my GFO with the same amount and test in 24 hours.

Last night 0.64 and 0.59
This morning: 0.66

If whoever gets me for Secret Santa is reading, I could use some more Hanna phosphate packs I'll probably start using the Salifert tests I have for more often testing and do the Hanna every couple of days.

 

[Impunitus]

GFO swap done and cleaned the front glass. Got a good view of one of porcelain crabs, and decided to take a quick video of the tank too. The right side of the tank is absolutely covered in pods (the whole tank is tbh). I have left that side uncleaned for the most part. Is that an OK thing to do? Good/Bad/Neutral? I figured it would give another spot for pods to hang out since we can't really 'view' from that side of the tank in normal day to day. Much more natural viewing the front/left side of the glass.

 

[Impunitus]

Double post, heres a picture of the dogs from a few months ago to cover up my mistake :)

 

[Impunitus]

Tested Phosphate this morning before feeding. Also did a concusses test with my Salifert and my Hanna and Salifert agree. Calcium test came yesterday and decided to test that as well to see where things are at.

Phosphate: 0.25
Calcium: 435

Big swing, bigger than I expected but corals do not look any more stressed than they were before. Will keep an eye on things and test with the Salifert kit again tomorrow morning.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I come bearing pictures of progress/change as well as some questions.

The red/brown/green algae has all but subsided and I'm now getting a green color on my rocks that has been progressing over the last week or so. The last color I had on the rocks was like this, then it disappeared over 2-3 nights. I am assuming that was a combination of my snails, hermits, and my pod population.

I have only cleaned the front glass, and that I did over a week ago now and its still pretty clean in person. Honestly most spots on the front glass are actually pods that are just sitting on the glass from what I have seen. Even the side glass is pretty clean and is absolutely covered in pods.

I do have some more flowwy clean algae forming on a piece of my rock as seen below. Should I just let it ride, or remove? I've been hands off in manual removal so far, but am not opposed to manual removal if it is the right course of action. This has been growing for the better part of a week at this point. Sorry if the video isn't great, still trying to learn how to best take pictures of the tank with my phone :)

Is the brighter green on the rock anything to be concerned of? I assume not, but it is noticeably more 'bright green' than what is forming on the rest of the rock so am curious more than anything else.

Biggest question is what are all the white tubes on this rock from TBS? Are they a sponge or something that I may want to remove? I know its a bit late to ask after they've been in the tank for over a week. They are something that lasted on the rock in my tank so if they're beneficial I would like to know, and likewise if I should remove them I'd appreciate pointers in how you would recommend handling them.

My second question for critter ID are these tubes with little antennae coming out. These are all over multiple different pieces of my rock as well. If they are no good, I'd appreciate guidance in how you have dealt with them if they are not good.

I'd also like to show off some of the cool stuff that is on this rock! Multiple different (what I believe to be) feather dusters

A tiny one even seems to have jumped to my rock and started growing! May be hard to see in picture but its almost center of frame.

Final question/ID help request! I know I asked about these before, and after observing them I really do not believe they are aptasia but trying to get a definitive or more informed ID on them. The arms on the polyps are translucent and have dots on them. They also appear to have a ball tip on the arms. These pictures are a pain to get due to where this is in the tank, as well as the number of pods. If I can get some pointers on potential IDs I can try and do some matching myself. This is the largest cluster of heads I have in the tank, but multiple of the TBS rocks have a few of what appears to be the same head on them as well.

Hard to tell from the picture, like you said, but might be lightbulb anemone. I had a couple on my TBS rock