Caleb's first reef tank

[tbrown]

That almost looks like it's getting slightly more aggressive flow there?

 

[Impunitus]

That almost looks like it's getting slightly more aggressive flow there?

I will say this area in my experience has less flow, it got a little unhappy when I moved it. If it looks like its getting blasted still I'll move it backwards, but liked having it more forward for easier viewing. Maybe under the MP40 will work too, that is a lower flow area as its not getting blasted by anything there.

 

[Impunitus]

Decided to move to the bottom left under the MP40 rather than pushing back. This is lower light, lower flow than where it started so if it was getting too much, its getting a little less of both now.

Also a bonus picture of one of the porcelain crabs I got as hitchhikers. This one is starting to adventure a bit more, and is growing :)

Hammer is receding a bit, I'm assuming the tank being in blues and being moved a few times aren't helping it be happy. Will grab more shots tomorrow

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure first it’s not test error by taking a water sample to an LFS that does not use api tests and see what reading they come up with and for comparison
Skimming will help, reducing slightly amount fed and increased water changes, even 2-3 gallon a day water changes
As you don’t want to drop levels quickly, use of chemipure blue will also help

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure first it’s not test error by taking a water sample to an LFS that does not use api tests and see what reading they come up with and for comparison
Skimming will help, reducing slightly amount fed and increased water changes, even 2-3 gallon a day water changes
As you don’t want to drop levels quickly, use of chemipure blue will also help

 

[Impunitus]

Assure first it’s not test error by taking a water sample to an LFS that does not use api tests and see what reading they come up with and for comparison
Skimming will help, reducing slightly amount fed and increased water changes, even 2-3 gallon a day water changes
As you don’t want to drop levels quickly, use of chemipure blue will also help

I am consensus testing with my Hanna testers and Salifert tests. I can get to the LFS to have them test too, but feel confident in my test results when comparing across different methods.

I can order some chemipure blue. I do have GFO and carbon in right now which has been in for a week now.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I am consensus testing with my Hanna testers and Salifert tests. I can get to the LFS to have them test too, but feel confident in my test results when comparing across different methods.

I can order some chemipure blue. I do have GFO and carbon in right now which has been in for a week now.

I trust the tests you are using. Be careful with GFO which can quickly drop levels ( a teaspoon or so often sufficient)

 

[Impunitus]

The GFO definitely pulled down phosphates fast but they appear to have stabilized around 0.2 now. I'll keep testing through the weekend and if it does not go down I'll pull and put in a smaller amount. I did half of what the recommended amount was which I believe ended up being 3 tablespoons of the GFO from BRS.

You can see it has yo yoed a bit in the past 9 days but it came down a lot faster than I had intended. From 0.73 to 0.19 in 9 days is a pretty big swing. I believe the 0.73 was a spike but not sure from what.

 

[tbrown]

That's definitely a quick drop which can be pretty harmful to both fish and corals.

 

[tbrown]

When did the hammer start struggling?

 

[Impunitus]

When did the hammer start struggling?

I noticed a missing head on Wednesday after work. With Thanksgiving yesterday I just kept an eye to make sure it wasn't BJD but made it a thing to start looking into and asking about this morning because I noticed the second head starting to detach.

In terms of missing fleshband, I cant really say. It has been in this part of the tank for a couple of weeks now

 

[tbrown]

I noticed a missing head on Wednesday after work. With Thanksgiving yesterday I just kept an eye to make sure it wasn't BJD but made it a thing to start looking into and asking about this morning because I noticed the second head starting to detach.

In terms of missing fleshband, I cant really say. It has been in this part of the tank for a couple of weeks now

That makes me wonder if it's the dropping phosphates that caused it. It usually takes a couple of days for corals to react to changes - especially negative changes.

 

[Impunitus]

That makes me wonder if it's the dropping phosphates that caused it. It usually takes a couple of days for corals to react to changes - especially negative changes.

It did not look like this when they were high. Of course the green slimer that keyed me into high phosphates is also basically completely bleached now too

The hammer's decline does line up with the drop we saw, and to your point about 2 days after they got down to .2 range from the .6-.7 range.

Learning the hard way on this one, but learning none the less.

 

[tbrown]

It did not look like this when they were high. Of course the green slimer that keyed me into high phosphates is also basically completely bleached now too

The hammer's decline does line up with the drop we saw, and to your point about 2 days after they got down to .2 range from the .6-.7 range.

Learning the hard way on this one, but learning none the less.

Unfortunately I've had to learn a lot the hard way.

 

[Impunitus]

Unfortunately I've had to learn a lot the hard way.

I am coming to accept the hard way as part of the hobby. Need to get a feel for what is right with these corrective actions on my tank, this is helping me learn that. Tried to be cautious with 1/2 of recommended, really should have gone with 1/4 or maybe 1/8!

Live and learn. Thank you everyone for helping me through this. Will try to keep phosphates around this level or slowly trending down, rather than sharp jumps. Will share the fate of the hammer, both for my sake of having it documented but for others that may be in a similar situation down the road.

 

[tbrown]

I am coming to accept the hard way as part of the hobby. Need to get a feel for what is right with these corrective actions on my tank, this is helping me learn that. Tried to be cautious with 1/2 of recommended, really should have gone with 1/4 or maybe 1/8!

Live and learn. Thank you everyone for helping me through this. Will try to keep phosphates around this level or slowly trending down, rather than sharp jumps. Will share the fate of the hammer, both for my sake of having it documented but for others that may be in a similar situation down the road.

My tank operates best between 0.14 and 0.2 phosphates honestly. Some like to be lower but you start risking bottoming out and also starving corals when you get too low.

 

[Impunitus]

Once I have a skimmer in I think it'll be a lot easier to keep things stable. Also get to learn what a good happy point for my tank is now. Fish are still looking happy, eating when I feed and also constantly hunting down pods in the water column as well as on walls of the tank.

Did some Black Friday shopping. Got an X10 to put on my tank and move the X4 to the wife's tank.

I did also get some more corals. A few hammers, a torch, a mushroom, and monti cap frags from SWA. SWA also did give free random frags, so could be getting a holy grail torch in that if I'm lucky. May be a bit impatient of me, but I'm not going to let my first losses dissuade me from putting stuff that I want in my tank. I would have been getting these during sales anyways, so still doing what was planned.

Also got my Secret Santa assignment their gifts :)

 

[tbrown]

Make sure and keep the torch separated from the hammers.

 

[Impunitus]

Make sure and keep the torch separated from the hammers.

Yes absolutely! Had spots planned for torches and hammers in the tank, and they are very much separate! I know torches can be near torches, and hammers near hammers, but not near each-other.

 

[tbrown]

Yes absolutely! Had spots planned for torches and hammers in the tank, and they are very much separate! I know torches can be near torches, and hammers near hammers, but not near each-other.

I think Aussie torches sometimes have to be separate from others like Malaysian and Indo as well but most torches usually play nice together.