Dawn's natural nutrient reef garden

[vlangel]

This is what my tank looked like Jan 2021.

0 new items by Dawn Gilson

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This was it in Jan 2022.

0 new items by Dawn Gilson

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I am pleased to see the progress.

 

[vlangel]

I have an order placed with KP Aquatics for 4 more feather dusters, another gorgonian and some cheato.

 

[vlangel]

I was frustrated that my gyre was not functioning well on one side, (the right side had a lot of flow but the left side had barely any). Also I did not know how to program it. I took it to a lfs where a friend works and took the gyre with me. Jaime took it apart, cleaned the components and reassembled it. It is functioning much better now. He also showed me how to program it.

While I was there I got a small birdsnest colony, a frogspawn frag as well as a hammer. Finally I got a small green slimer frag so my reef is moving into more of a mixed reef. I am anxious to see if I can keep these new coral since my tank is pretty stable.

This upcoming week I have more feather dusters coming and a gorg as well as cheato. I will take a pic or video when I get them all in the tank. It's starting to fill up which is very exciting.

 

[vlangel]

My order came from KP Aquatics and looks pretty good. One gorg came in brown water but it looks ok in the tank, just a tad lighter than the other gorg I got. Everything else was perfect.

I was making room for stuff and ended up changing the back left side significantly. I removed more green palys along with the purple sponge. I puttied an old figurine of a seahorse that I bought years ago at the pet store I worked at. It might be tacky but it's a tribute to an animal that I love and also a job that I loved. Maybe I will try to get zoas to grow on the base and let the macro algae grow on it. Anyway, this is what the tank looks like now. I will take a video when the cloudiness settles.

 

[vlangel]

My tank is still a bit cloudy but I made a video anyway. The video starts out with the gyre on so you can see the flow. Then as I move to the left of the tank, I turn the gyre off so the shimmer does not totally overtake the video, although it still flickers from the return pump and tunze powerhead.
I am not sure if the one new gorg from KP Aquatics is going to make it, it has lost significant flesh this morning. Thanks for watching.

 

[vlangel]

This morning I gave my display a little extra lovin' while I was doing my weekly water and filter media change. I got airline tubing and used it to syphon out detritus. I feed my tank so heavily and it would build up fast. To my surprise and pleasure, it really is much improved since using the gyre and the filter floss was much dirtier. That means that the gyre is keeping detritus particulate in suspension until it can be filtered out which is awesome. The tank looks bright and clean, and the coral and macro algae look good. I could not be any happier with how this tank is progressing.

 

[vlangel]

Here are some pics! The left side of the tank and a front left side.

 

[vlangel]

More pics! The middle of the front and the right of the front. And finally the right side of the tank. Viewing my tank from the ends used to be not as attractive but those angles have improved greatly!

 

[vlangel]

The gyre still wasn't working up to par. I mentioned that on a post that is seen by my local club and a friend who owns a lfs offered to look at it. He replaced parts and showed me how it's done and now the gyre is dead quiet! Not only that but it moves so much water that I have it set at only 20%. Needless to say, I am thrilled. This gyre has spent the bulk of the 2+ years I have had it on a shelf in my fish room because it just didn't work well and made a lot of noise. Now I understand why they are revered! Here is a video clip of it at 20% in gyre mode.

 

[Diastro]

Beautiful tank, looks so good.

 

[vlangel]

Beautiful tank, looks so good.

Aww, thank you Diastro, that is very kind!

 

[vlangel]

I puttied down some of my coral that I have just set or temporarily lodged in places this morning. When they aren't fixed to a location it's too easy for them to fall into obscurity in a tall tank like mine. I also tidied up the macroalgae some more, (basically means I pruned it into submission, LOL).

I am pondering slowing down the flow from my return pump now that the gyre is working so well. Since I have a HOB overflow box that is calibrated for the 400 gph after head pressure, I will need to use a smaller HOB overflow box which I happen to have. With a variable speed return pump, I should be able to dial the flow to match the drain capacity of the much smaller overflow box.
My main reason for doing this is to have a smaller overflow box in the tank, which will be more aesthetically pleasing. It should allow me to run the water in the display a bit high and when the return pump is off, less water should drain into the sump. That would allow the gyre to be higher in the tank and closer to the surface which again is less intrusive in the tank. Anyway, that's what I am thinking.

 

[vlangel]

I slowed the gyre down to 10% and the coral seem to really reacted favorably. Yesterday and today the tank looks so clean after working on the glass Saturday. I always love that fresh clean glass look!

 

[saltnut]

That looks amazing!

 

[vlangel]

That looks amazing!

Thank you so much!

 

[vlangel]

As I further pondered slowing down my return pump, (and all the changes that would be needed to necessitate that) I have decided against it. Having 10 fish in a 56 gallon display makes a lot of detritus and although the gyre helps greatly in keeping some of it in suspension, it's also important that the water column is turned over enough to get that detritus to the filtration part of the tank. So for that reason, I am going to leave well enough alone.

I puttied down the new birdsnest coral on top of the seahorse statue. LOL, it kind of reminds me of King Louis of the Lemurs in Madagascar, (which makes me laugh)! I also puttied the yellow ball sponge that I have had for a while to the rock right below the seahorse statue. Slowly the statue is fading into the more natural background of the aquascape and I am pleased with the effect.

 

[vlangel]

I am always amazed that my filter floss is this dirty every week. A year ago I did not use any media to catch the yuk, ha ha, no wonder my tank was so dirty. Now I change the filter floss and carbon every week and the water is markedly crisper. This is a very easy chore as the floss and carbon are in filter bags and are easy to dump and change. I have no excuse to be lazy.

 

[vlangel]

I probably take way too many videos of my tank but here is one I took this morning. It's a front tank view only, about 1 and half minutes. It shows the new placement of the corals that we're puttied down, it shows the flow in the tank. Nearly all the fish except one of the masked gobies, and the green citron goby made an appearance along with Karl, the cucumber, the flame scallop and the coral banded shrimp. The colors are close to what I see but slightly muted as compared to real life.

 

[vlangel]

Today I put a new glass top on my reef. Prior to this had a combination of the front of a versa glass top and a diy net top. The versa glass top was about a quarter of an inch too long even though it was for a 30" tank, so it never fit right. Finally I decided to go to a glass company and have 2 panes of glass made for the top. This should slow down my evaporation too which was about a gallon a day.

 

[vlangel]

Today I installed another upgrade to deal with the evaporation that my aquarium system experienced,,, a float ATO. Since the furnace came on this fall, and especially now in the dead of winter when the furnace runs a lot, I have been dumping 2 gallons of water into the aquarium every other day to deal with evaporation. Fortunately my softie coral/macroalgae are pretty resilient about salinity but I knew it was not ideal. And then there is our big motorcycle road trip to Alaska coming up this summer, where we will be gone for at least 3 weeks. I did not want to overly burden my sister with tank care so it was past time to address the evaporation issue.

I had tried smart ATOs in the past and the sensors were never reliable. My very first ATO was a float type and it worked well so that is what I am using now. I should have a good idea by summer if this ATO is reliable. I never like to install anything brand new before an out of town trip as Murphy's Law often seems to happen. Anyway, it's working perfectly now at installation.