Dany's frag tank build

[Miami Reef]

You must very very meticulous because I see a ton of tiny nooks and crannies all along the back wall without a spec of coralline! :D

 

[DanyL]

Hehe I guess so, but I also think growth rate plays a role here too - less footprint means fewer spores, so the regrowth stays slower.
Makes it a lot easier to keep up with it :)

 

[Miami Reef]

What do you feed your fish?

 

[DanyL]

Dry food - A mixture of Ocean Nutrition and Omega One foods, both meaty and algae based, and I also add a bit of spirulina powder to the mix.

Liquid food - currently I use Fauna Marine Red Plankton (not sure if that’s the official name, but you will recognize it by the color).

Frozen:
Mysis, Krill, Gut fed Brine Shrimp, Natural Brine Shrimp (from the sea, they’re visibly larger and redder), some random “sea mixture”, Copepods and Rotifers.

As of right now I feed 2 cubes daily - I usually pick either Copepods or Rotifers, and another one from the rest.

Dry food I mostly use when I have no time to thaw and strain frozen food, but also sometimes to balance nutrients - usually about twice a week.

But overall it really depends on how packed the tank is. I try to feed heavy, but only if I know the fish or corals will eat it all. Leftovers will fuel algae, especially with frags so close together, so I just try to keep that balance between feeding vs nutrient control vs detritus as tight as I can (I.e feed less-dose more vs feed more-dose less).

 

[Miami Reef]

Wow! That’s quite the buffet! I didn’t realize how much variety you fed!

How do you keep your phosphate so low 0.02ppm-0.06ppm?

I need to look over this build thread in depth because I don’t want to ask repeated questions.

I hope my tank can look like this one day!

 

[DanyL]

How do you keep your phosphate so low 0.02ppm-0.06ppm?

The nutrient dynamics of this tank can be quite painful at times

The main issue, as I’ve mentioned when talking about coralline algae in this tank, is that when I remove a bunch of frags (which aren’t that small), nutrient uptake drops - and that somewhat throws off the balance abruptly. Which ends up with nuisance algae growing on the newly exposed rock until things restabilize, either through increased export or by adding new frags (which take time to acclimate) and waiting for the Coralline to recolonize.

So it swings from “I can’t feed enough and nutrients are bottoming out if I stop dosing” to “I’ve got too much excess and need to ramp up export” within days.

I tried carbon dosing, but it only fueled algae even more. So I switched to GFO - which helped, but it was tricky to match the release and binding rate, and I had to test more often than I would like to admit (well, almost daily).

So a few months ago I started experimenting with an upflow algae scrubber, and so far it seems to smooth out the transitions better - though I’m still figuring out how to tune it accordingly to changes.

I haven’t fully nailed it yet, but I feel like I’m heading in the right (or at least a better) direction with the scrubber. I might even build a second one to make things even smoother (in theory, switching between two should give better control over uptake and reduce maintenance).

During normal periods, it’s mostly just steering. I’ve got enough filtration that it naturally bottoms out when the tank is full - so it’s mostly a matter of feeding consistently and fine tuning with dosing.

Definitely a different story compared to my main tank, where I’ve just been running GFO, biopellets, and dosing for years :grinning-face-with-sweat:

I need to look over this build thread in depth because I don’t want to ask repeated questions.

Nah you actually make me share information like I should’ve been doing here in the first place - go on :)

 

[Miami Reef]

What types of algae are prone to forming?

Have you considered low doses of lanthanum to supplement the GFO? It might have the fine-tuning potential you’re seeking.

I haven’t had luck with an algae scrubber because it just grew slime — probably from the carbon dosing at the time.

My nitrates are 10.5ppm which is at an all-time high. I’m starting some new export methods myself.


Thanks for always responding. I’m definitely incorporating some of your methodologies.

 

[Miami Reef]

Definitely a different story compared to my main tank, where I’ve just been running GFO, biopellets, and dosing for years :grinning-face-with-sweat:

Wait. Did you just say there’s a main tank???

Umm…so…can you show it?!?!? :cool:

 

[DanyL]

What types of algae are prone to forming?

Usually it’s a mix between green hair algae or golden algae (Chrysophytes I believe) - both usually just die away naturally and Coralline starts to take over within 2 to 3 months.

But I also had a battle with Red Turf Algae, which was a tough one to eradicate.
You probably familiar with it - it grows deep roots, manual removal is physically difficult and doesn’t work and only a few CUC are known to eat it - most of which aren’t legal where I live, and the only recommended treatment - H2O2 didn’t seem to punch hard enough to eradicate it. So I sort of had to experiment with it on my own, but eventually found a solid solution which I documented just recently here:

Turf algae? And best form of attack?

Thick algae that clings very strongly to the rocks. This rock I tried dipping in hydrogen peroxide and it killed a lot but not all: This one I pulled off as much as possible and scrubbed with a toothbrush: Any suggestions on the best way to deal with it? Seen my emerald crab eat some but...

www.reef2reef.com

Have you considered low doses of lanthanum to supplement the GFO? It might have the fine-tuning potential you’re seeking.

Yeah, I completely forgot about it, but I did give it a try - the problem is that I dislike the whole setup around it.

I could manually drip it into the skimmers neck - and it works fine when you’re trying to knock down high phosphates, but when you have a slow and persistent release, it requires an extremely diluted solution with a dosing pump or an IV bag into 5/10 micron sock. I do this occasionally on the main system because it’s at that age where some people like to label it with some kind of syndromes lol
But yeah, overall LC is a bit tough for my taste. It has its use cases where it fits perfectly, but this isn’t one where I feel comfortable using it.

I haven’t had luck with an algae scrubber because it just grew slime — probably from the carbon dosing at the time.

I had the same problem - you need to stick with it and keep cleaning the sludge every 3-4 days until it starts to grow actual algae.
After a month or so I had patches of GHA growing there, and it took around 2 months to get a uniform growth of GHA.

I also found that the distance between the light and the screen plays a huge role - I first had it set too close, and it likely either promoted the sludge, or discouraged the GHA from growing.

Look at this beauty:

My nitrates are 10.5ppm which is at an all-time high. I’m starting some new export methods myself.

Interesting, what new methods you plan to try?

Thanks for always responding. I’m definitely incorporating some of your methodologies.

It’s my pleasure :)

Wait. Did you just say there’s a main tank???

Umm…so…can you show it?!?!? :cool:

lol See main post :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:
This build thread is all around a separate frag tank.

The main tank is 17-18 years old (including tank transfers), so I never had a build thread for it.

Here are a couple of more recent photos (though we taken apart some colonies since than):

 

[Miami Reef]

I had a quick battle with bryopsis. I used fluconazole. Fortunately, I never dealt with RTA.

Your paste advice was how I eliminated the last remaining bryopsis patch that wasn’t affected by the Fluc.

The algae scrubber was a pain to clean because of my sump setup. I’d like to avoid the scrubber if possible, but your harvest looks great. If I get desperate, I’ll know how to battle the slime stage.

I’m using vodka now (day 2). I think my tank preferred it over vinegar or Bacto balance.

 

[Miami Reef]

When I visit Israel again I’m going to your place…

…and maybe @Yanir34 ’s as well. I need a tour of my favorite tanks.

 

[DanyL]

I had a quick battle with bryopsis. I used fluconazole. Fortunately, I never dealt with RTA.

I only ever seen a small patch of Bryopsis, fortunately it was enough to just physically remove it with a small part of the rock to get rid of it entirely.

RTA is so far the toughest I’ve ever battled.

Your paste advice was how I eliminated the last remaining bryopsis patch that wasn’t affected by the Fluc.

Similar minds come to same conclusions ;)

More people need to know about this technique, it’s far more effective than the old school kalk paste.

The algae scrubber was a pain to clean because of my sump setup. I’d like to avoid the scrubber if possible, but your harvest looks great. If I get desperate, I’ll know how to battle the slime stage.

Yeah, it doesn’t fit all tanks and defiantly needs a sump to accommodate it comfortably.

I do plan to design a proper 3D printed scrubber to replace the one I improvised though, and I have a few ideas which should in theory make it a bit easier to maintain.

I’m using vodka now (day 2). I think my tank preferred it over vinegar or Bacto balance.

Vinegar from what I remember creates clumps of bacteria when used alone, so it makes sense you’d prefer Vodka.

Bacto balance on the other hand has somewhat slower impact, but it also meant to maintain nutrient levels (it contains small amounts of NP if I remember correctly) while increasing bacterial populations from what I understand. I think they have a different product to reduce Nitrate.

When I visit Israel again I’m going to your place…

…and maybe @Yanir34 ’s as well. I need a tour of my favorite tanks.

You are more than welcomed :)

Just be aware, there is almost a cross-country distance between Yanir and me :grinning-face-with-sweat:

 

[Miami Reef]

Just be aware, there is almost a cross-country distance between Yanir and me :grinning-face-with-sweat:

How much time does it take to drive between you guys?

 

[DanyL]

How much time does it take to drive between you guys?

Its around 5 hours for a round trip on average

 

[Miami Reef]

Whaaaaaat? Yeah…that’s insane. I thought you guys were like next door neighbors.

 

[DanyL]

Hehe I wish, it would’ve made this hobby a lot more fun for both of us :grinning-face-with-sweat:

But when you do visit here, I’ll also take you a bit farther North (around 30 min drive from me) to a friend of mine who runs the largest and most diverse local farm in the country. In terms of diversity, his collection is on PAR with some international vendors (in fact, he outright bought a whole farm in Australia recently, in addition to what he already had). So it should be fun ;)

 

[Yanir34]

When I visit Israel again I’m going to your place…

…and maybe @Yanir34 ’s as well. I need a tour of my favorite tanks.

You're more than welcome!!

 

[Yanir34]

Hehe I wish, it would’ve made this hobby a lot more fun for both of us :grinning-face-with-sweat:

But when you do visit here, I’ll also take you a bit farther North (around 30 min drive from me) to a friend of mine who runs the largest and most diverse local farm in the country. In terms of diversity, his collection is on PAR with some international vendors (in fact, he outright bought a whole farm in Australia recently, in addition to what he already had). So it should be fun ;)

Yep buddy, it was a lot easier for me ,definitely!!

Danny's main tank and frag tank , are by far the most beautiful is Israel !
I have learned a lot from Danny !
We do have some difficulties here to buy CUC , not like in the US ....

Also , the price tag here in Israel on equipment is most expensive then any other country that I know. Its pretty expensive country to live in , and the reefing hobby here is even more expensive.

But , if you got beaten by the reefing bug , we'll it's for lifetime

 

[Miami Reef]

Which one of you lives closest to Or Yehuda?

How far is the drive from there?

 

[DanyL]

Or Yehuda is considered to be Center, and located right in between us (I am from the North, and Yanir is from the South).

It would be approx 3 hours on average for a round trip to either way according to Waze.

Edit: BTW I have a friend from Or Yehuda with a nice tank, he will likely be happy to show it off if you’re interested.