Chlorinated's IM Nuvo 20

[revhtree]

Nice job and looking great!

 

[Chlorinated]

Not much new. Did a water change yesterday and moved some zoas around to try and get some spread on the big branch in the middle of the tank.

The German Blue digi just keeps growing up and it about to break the water surface.

 

[Chlorinated]

I have never dosed trace elements. But I am debating giving them a try.

My tank coloration is poor on some corals. I use Kak in my ATO and bi- weekly waterchanges with RSCP. Keeps my parameters very stable

Cal 450
Alk 8.5
Mag 1350
Ph 7.8-8.2 depending on the day
Salinity 1.026 using refractometer
Temp 77-78 Inkbird control with fan

4bulb T5 2 B+, C+, P+...2B+ on 12hrs. All 4 on for 10. Fixture is about 10" off the water.

All corals are happy, and have poly extension. My sunset monti is brownish with green polyps..used to look great before I almost lost the colony a year ago. Zoas don't really grow for me...I've had the same 20ish polyps for years. Changed locations, lighting...always happy, but no growth. My hammer which was bleached a year ago has only gained minimal color back. On the other hand my German blue digi grows non-stop regardless of being up under the lights on the rock or in the sand lol.

So basically, I am looking to try something new to boost colors and growth. I know from reading many reviews people get mixed results. Many also say not to dose what you can't test. I understand that perspective as well.

Anyway...any pointers or guidance is appreciated! Thanks everyone

 

[Chlorinated]

Been way too long since my last update and a lot has happened.

First back in Sept I finally bought a new clown to pair up with my black and white female. Long story short. I bought it at Petco...didn't qt and lost BOTH fish to velvet. Lesson learned.

While I was waiting for time to pass to let the velvet work its way out of my system, my T5 fixture kicked the bucket. It was a used Aquaticlife T5 that I bought second hand for like $40 5 years ago and long since discontinued. The controller died so even getting lights to turn on was hit and miss.

As a result I took the dive back to LED with a single AI Prime 16HD. Mounted 14" off the water using BRS's settings at 100% i get 80-160 PAR throughout the tank...just perfect for LPS/Softies. Went through acclimation mode and with the swapp, growth went down, so now im back to adjusting my kalk dose.

Now, we will be moving in a few days so tank will come down to be transported and reset in our new home...more stress. Given the move, I put off the fish purchase, and will be getting a new clown pair in 2 weeks...qt at the store so no worries.

Anyway, I hope all goes well with the move. COVID isn't helping things either and just makes the whole process more difficult. Recent FTS is below. Im sure some will change after the move with hopefully minimal loss. Wish me luck!

 

[BaysEndReef]

Good luck with the move! Will be following!

 

[Chlorinated]

Well move is over and tank is a MESS! lol looks as though all corals survived so I am grateful for that.

Took about an hour to break down...hour drive and another hour for setup with some moving nonsense between.

The sandstorm stopped me from being able to see so things were just placed in the tank. Heater read 62 when I first turned it on! Wee but chilly!

Sand has cleared but ive been so bogged down with unpacking i havnt gotten to reorganize the tank....may tomorrow lol.

Enjoy the....mess

 

[Chlorinated]

Finally got around to reorganizing the tank. Not exactly the same but not bad.

The sinularia had 1 stalk get pinched behind a rock for the last week...couldn't see it and had no idea! Its free now and bent and ticked off but it should bounce back eventually. It's basically closed and laying horizontal rather than vertical for the time being..ill keep an eye on it.

Otherwise parameters are stable and everyone else looks good. Digis got all beat up as expected but they grow like weeds so no big loss.

On a positive note, I am picking up 2 new.. quarantined... clowns to match my pair that passed months ago on 12/23 right before Christmas. Nice way to start the holiday in a new home.

Happy holidays everyone!

 

[mallorie.gaughran]

Looks nice! Did you get your clown pair?

 

[Chlorinated]

Looks nice! Did you get your clown pair?

I did!

I didnt post right away because it took them over a week to start eating. I think they were just super stressed.

Eating like pigs now!

Got a 2+" black wide bar and a 1" Occy with some nice black coloration along the dorsal fins.

Been feeding a mix of Rod's food...original...and Hikari pellets. They won't touch the pellets but go crazy over the frozen so I may stop with the pellets all together.

My one issue with the Rod's food is some pieces are just too big, even for the big clown. I may try the small mouth version next to see if they take to it better. For now any large pieces they don't eat i grab with my baster and feed to my Duncan...they don't mind large meaty foods lol.

 

[Chlorinated]

Been a while since I updated and there have been several notable changes.

First is fish. As I mentioned i finally got 2 new clowns after going months fallow and having a tank move. Both are doing great, no agression and eating like pigs!

Second I finally moved on from cheap pumps and ordered my first MP10. The Coral Box QP5+ is a nice little pump, but even on max random mode (about 1500gph....) I still felt like I needed more flow. I took out the QP and installed the new MP and running at only about 75% blows away the QP flow wise.

I have debated throwing the QP back in on the opposite side for some low constant flow to oppose the reef crest mode of the MP but so far things seem happy so I will be keeping wires out of the tank for the time being.

In an additional attempt to improve flow and make things "sway" I bought 2 VCA RFG's. It's onky been a week and I don't see much improvement on flow. Partly I think is due to an under powered return pump (MJ900 @ about 230gph). VCA recommends 240-400gph min... 600gph is ideal. So needless to say im in the subpar zone and that doesn't help. May look into a DCP-2000 (500gph) but for now I will leave it be.

Last, I have been having issues with the filter floss in my filter holders clogging within 24hrs causing the water level in my middle chamber to fluxuate and thus salinity change as well.

I have has Seachem Matrix filling both media chambers for a couple years, and attribute it to my stability. I shake the media baskets like once a week to get things moving and release some buildup. I debated trying something new like Siporax since it's a tube snd would in theory offer less restricted flow.

So I ordered 500ml and pulled the left media tray...doing 1 at a time so I don't destabilize my system... upon removing the tray it took almost 30sec for the water trapped in the tray to tricked out...it was completely clogged! Obviously my weekly shaking was not enough.

I fit the whole 500ml of Siporax in the tray stacked nicely to ensure solid flow and did my usual floss on top. When the pump came on I could not believe the difference. I had to add water to the tank because flow was so much higher!

I rinced the matrix that I removed from the tray and the water was unbelievably dark and dirty. Happy to have that out of my tank. I plan to give the Siporax a month or 2 to mature and then swap out the second tray.

Overall things are good. No losses and corals are happy.

 

[doh_nutz]

Tank looks really well after the move. I'm really looking forward to your updates on the siporax media. I decided on it as well and will be throwing them into my temporary cycling bin. In hopes of getting a little head start on getting it seeded. As I wait for my tank to be delivered sometime next month.

 

[Chlorinated]

So I just changed out the second media basket from Seachem Matrix to Siporax. I now have 1L of Siporax split between the 2 media baskets.

I have not noticed any huge changes. The one thing I have noted, and to me is a big deal is the flow through the media is MUCH improved.

The Matrix would clog with detritus very quickly, even with regular maintenance and using floss as a profiler. The Siporax being rings allows them to be nicely stacked and little collects in the media basket mitigating clogging.

I have also purchased a used MiniMax reactor that now runs my Rox 0.8 carbon. The reactor is easy enough to clean, but my issue is the detritus in the back chambers now cloggs the carbon quite quickly resulting in more frequent changes.

I may look for a larger particle carbon to help avoid this in the future.

 

[Chlorinated]

 

[Chlorinated]

Did some testing...

Salinity 1.026 - BRS refractometer
Temp 77 - Inkbrid
PH 7.8-8.1 - API
Alk 10 - Hanna Alk
Ca 440 - Salifert
Mg 1350 - Salient

Overall happy. Need to invest in phosphate and nitrate tests. Thinking Hanna for phosphate and Nyos for Nitrate

 

[PR_nano]

Tank looks really good. Nice soft corals selection btw, trying to get a few myself.

I use the hanna ULR and love it. I been using the Nyos for nitrate and my only complaint was the gap from 12 to 25 but now that my N03 is stable at 12 I will say it's a nice and easy to use tester.

 

[Chlorinated]

Tank looks really good. Nice soft corals selection btw, trying to get a few myself.

I use the hanna ULR and love it. I been using the Nyos for nitrate and my only complaint was the gap from 12 to 25 but now that my N03 is stable at 12 I will say it's a nice and easy to use tester.

Thanks for the compliment! Love softies and LPS. If done right can be really colorful and the motion they provide cant be beat!

What types are you considering?

Thanks for the feedback in the tests. I was leaning towards the ULR checker, but I feed pretty heavy haha, so maybe just the low range...713? Im more concerned about it being low-ish as opposed to being 0.03. As for Nitrate BRS did a video and it seems like the most straightforward test with an easy read. And again...I dont need pinpoint accuracy...I just need to know I am in a ballpark and not sky high.

 

[Chlorinated]

New fish update!

About a month ago I bought a yellow watchman goby. Yellow is my son's favorite color so it was a no brainer. Got it home, acclimated and once in the tank went right to the sand bed in a corner and hung out right in front...great! Ate right away and no agression at all from my clown pair....probably the least aggressive clowns I have ever seen haha.

He would come out every day and just chill in the same corner, swim around a bit, eat, but not do much else. About a week in I couldn't find him. I took a pic behind the rocks where I knew there was a small cave and sure enough he was there. So all good he's alive atleast. Since that day he's been MIA. I take pictures of the cave every once and a while but no dice...alive maybe?

So this past weekend, in an attempt to have another fish in the tank that we can actually watch, I purchased an orchid dottyback. Both the watchman and dotty were quarantined at the store so no worries there. The dotty has been super active, eats like a beast and chills with the clowns like he belongs. Super vibrant color and has been a wonderful addition.

 

[Chlorinated]

Quick question....how do I modify the main picture in the thread title?

And how do I modify old posts? Like if I wanted to do a progression in my first post?

 

[Chlorinated]

So for the last 5-6 months I have been battling a bacterial bloom of some kind. My water is not cloudy, but I get this clear gelatinous bacteria that clogs my filter floss in like 12 hours and when it collects on the rocks and glass it gets strings and blows around in the current.

I change the floss daily when I feed and use a baster on the sand and rocks a couple times a week, bi-weekly water changes, but it never goes away.

A little over a year ago I started doing Vibrant. I had some alagae issues...bubble and hair....so I gave it a try. Did half dose for like 6mo and all the algae finally meted and has been gone ever since. I stopped dosing once the algae melted, then a couple months later the bacteria bloom started.

I dont run a skimmer only floss in the overflows. I have both media racks filled with Siporax and carbon in a MiniMax reacto that cloggs in a day due to bacteria rendering it useless.

I am truely at a loss as to what to do to resolve the issue.

I just purchased a Hanna ULR Phosphate kit and the Nyos Nitrate kit. Ive always tested the big 3 but ive never had kits for Nitrate and Phosphate. They were delivered today so I tested everything.

Salinity 1.025 - refractometer
Temp 77 - Inkbird/glass
pH 8.0 - API
Alk 10.8 - Hanna
Ca 450 - Salifert
Mag 1350 - Salifert
Phosphate 0.07 - Hanna
Nitrate 0 - Nyos

All looks good. But I was shocked by my Nitrate reading. I feed pretty heavy LRS reef frenzy daily with 4 fish....2 clowns, yellow watchman and orchid dottyback.

I am assuming the bacteria is just consuming all of my Nitrate bottoming it out. Luckily my Phosphate isn't too high.

So I guess my question is where do I go from here? My fish and corals are happy, but growth is slow, and color could be better. Bacteria are probably outcompeting the corals for Nitrate which would effect both. So my options are feed more to try and raise levels....feed less to try and starve off the bacteria or something else? Hahaha

Any guidance is greatly appreciated!

 

[Chlorinated]

Been a while since I've updated. Tank is chugging along. Stuff is growing. Finger leather has been on hyper speed and is close to having to be fraged. Will post some pics tonight

Also, how do I change the main pic at the top of the thread? Needless to say the tank has changed!