Dusty's 75 Gallon First Reef Build

[dustynavy]

Hi, everyone I have my tank up and running with a clean-up crew and one clownfish. I was wondering if I should use the media reactor when I have a cleanup crew? Do I want algae for them to feed on or should I have this on all the time to keep the bloom down? Thanks again for any advice.

 

[dustynavy]

The lights arrived and the cleanup crew. Probably got the clean-up crew too early but I’m going to just feed them until the tank is a little more established.

 

[Stevesw718]

Hello, was just reading through, where did you settle on the blue/white setting? I’ve been playing with mine, corals seem to bloom and open up of all settings, I do like the higher blue for looks, like 80% but wasn’t sure if that was too high. I have two vispectra on a standard 75 gallon, right now I’m at 25 blue and Whites are on 1…

Visually, blue on like 80-90 gives the corals and nice glow, but I’m still trying to see what #s are best. I have windows in the room with the tank, during the day there is sun light. I’ve had my tank running since April, have too much algea growing on my rocks, so I took the whites down from 4 to 0 and back to 1 about a week ago, just noticed today I have a bunch of purple spots growing over the hair algea, hopefully a good thing as I try to increase the blue setting, I think whites will leave to 0 or maybe 1 for a couple hours since I have day light in the room

 

[dustynavy]

The lights arrived and the cleanup crew. Probably got the clean-up crew too early but I’m going to just feed them until the tank is a little more established.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Great to see you got spare shells for cuc
From your pics I believe bubble tip anemone is on the move, also you are getting algae from lighting (as all sits on top/where light from above hits), this is unavoidable in most cases so I would not worry too much.
What settings do you have your vispectra blue and white and also what times have you set, how long are they on per day
mine currently blue at 40%, 8:00am on, then whites at 40% 8:30 am on. Whites off at 6pm, (blues still on throughout the day) then blues off at 6:30pm

Your aquarium seems to be moving forward nicely

 

[dustynavy]

Hi I haven’t posted in awhile but thought I would update my build thread so I can keep track of the tank’s progress. There has definitely been some ups and downs but I am still loving the tank. Hope everyone is having a great start to their year.

 

[dustynavy]

Just did my first ATI test and was wondering if anything looked off.

 

[nuxx]

Looking great and fun so far

 

[dustynavy]

Hello, was just reading through, where did you settle on the blue/white setting? I’ve been playing with mine, corals seem to bloom and open up of all settings, I do like the higher blue for looks, like 80% but wasn’t sure if that was too high. I have two vispectra on a standard 75 gallon, right now I’m at 25 blue and Whites are on 1…

Visually, blue on like 80-90 gives the corals and nice glow, but I’m still trying to see what #s are best. I have windows in the room with the tank, during the day there is sun light. I’ve had my tank running since April, have too much algea growing on my rocks, so I took the whites down from 4 to 0 and back to 1 about a week ago, just noticed today I have a bunch of purple spots growing over the hair algea, hopefully a good thing as I try to increase the blue setting, I think whites will leave to 0 or maybe 1 for a couple hours since I have day light in the room

Hey sorry for the late response. I watched a black box comparison that bulk reef supply did a YouTube video on. I have my blues at 100 and whites at 30. Height is 22 inches. I also have been battling algae a lot and have been feeling like giving up. I went from green hair algae to Dino’s back to green hair haha. I will be curious how your tank is coming along. I got back on here to post about my ph always creeping up. Bulk reef supply had an education section that talks about battling algae as well. Anyway, hope your tank is going well.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hi I haven’t posted in awhile but thought I would update my build thread so I can keep track of the tank’s progress. There has definitely been some ups and downs but I am still loving the tank. Hope everyone is having a great start to their year.

Tank is looking great!

 

[dustynavy]

I haven't posted in a while. I have been pretty frustrated but I am continuing to learn. It has seemed like one issue after another.

I have been trying to keep my parameters around:

PH 8.3
Temp 78.2-78.7
Alkaline 9.3
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.04
Mag 1350
Calcium 450
Main tank light schedule 1 hour all blue, 8 both, 1 blue at night.
Refuge light schedule 10 hours
Skimmer running 24hrs
UV running 24hrs

Parameters that I am battling with:

-PH continues to raise each day and have been using distilled white vinegar to lower
-High calcium and magnesium at times
-Nitrates and phosphates being high but recently being too low and either getting Dinos or more hair algae.

Algae battle:

Green hair
-Feeding less
-Beneficial bacteria
-3-day blackout
-Manual removal
-Scrubbing rocks

Dino

-Increased nitrates and phosphates with additives

Coral issues:

-Not growing very well
-Bleaching or dying?
-Retracting, I believe due to a lack of nitrate and phosphate
-Correct position in the tank
-Not gluing them due to algae, recently glued them all to rock.


Fish / Inverts issues:

-Wrong fish together / Three stripped damsel
-Goby that spit sand all over the coral
-Sally foot crab killing other crabs and possibly one fish during the 3 day blackout.
-Lawnmower Blenny not eating algae but actually eating brine shrimp haha
- Add two fish-only tanks because of fish non-compatibility and no one wanted them for free

Equipment problems:

-Not having the skimmer setup correctly
-Failing heater
-Tripping the breaker when using the microwave haha
-ATO not able to keep up
-Not knowing the best lighting setup / settings
-Going the cheap route
-Lots of evaporation


Even though these are all user errors I still love the hobby and want the best for everything in my tank. I will continue to learn and improve my skills as a reef keeper.

 

[Screwgunner]

125 gallon with 30 gallon sump running large ats and protein skimmer. First 1.5 years no algea issues. But my nitrates and phosphates bottomed out 0-0 yep dinos, finally put in a uv light and changing filter every night. Dinos are receding for the first time without turning out the lights. After installing the uv light my skimmer went crazy and coral finally are looking so much better. I think there was so many in the water colum they are blocking the light to the coral or just toxic. .

 

[Screwgunner]

? Why are you lowering your ph we all strive for high ph it makes your coral grow faster. Mine is always around 7.9 to 8.1 got the top of my water moving better now I hit 8.3

 

[NCsalt]

I recently figured out I had my skimmer height off a bit and was using it wrong too. Having similar issues with algae and my alk has been low but hanging in there as well.

 

[dustynavy]

125 gallon with 30 gallon sump running large ats and protein skimmer. First 1.5 years no algea issues. But my nitrates and phosphates bottomed out 0-0 yep dinos, finally put in a uv light and changing filter every night. Dinos are receding for the first time without turning out the lights. After installing the uv light my skimmer went crazy and coral finally are looking so much better. I think there was so many in the water colum they are blocking the light to the coral or just toxic. .

That’s great that they are dying back and the coral are doing better. I always seem to worry as soon as my coral looks upset and want to fix it right away. I think I do too much and need to start being patient. I chase numbers a lot. Mine are starting to go away as well. What kind of IV did you get? My skimmer has been all over the place too. I think I have it dialed in now after the algae is less. I think the algae definitely irritates the coral and steals their food.

 

[dustynavy]

? Why are you lowering your ph we all strive for high ph it makes your coral grow faster. Mine is always around 7.9 to 8.1 got the top of my water moving better now I hit 8.3

I was worried the ph was hurting everything but from research it looks like you can't really have unsafe ph unless I am adding products like I was I think the algea was raising it with all the photosynthesis going on during the day. I'm going to stop checking it everyday and look at it again in a week. It was definitely a rookie mistake adding the vinegar. That brought my nitrate and phosphates to zero.

 

[dustynavy]

I asked a ph question here About suggestions about it.

 

[dustynavy]

Ok, so I am going to go with this plan.

1. Stop using vinegar to lower ph and reef builder for alk.

2. Leave the tank's ph alone

3. Baking soda to keep alk at a stable level

4. Cut skimming down by 6 hours

5. Maintain Calcium, Magnesium, and Alkalinity at recommended levels

6. Watch Nitrate and phosphate levels.

7. 10% water changes every week

5. Be patient

Does this look like an appropriate plan everyone?

 

[dustynavy]

Cut back my pulsing Pom Pom Xenia. It was taking over my tank. I used forceps to clip to the base as close to the rock as possible. I then move back and forth, left and right until it pulled off cleanly. I read that was the best way to do it. I put the cuttings on pieces of rock that I am just going to give away locally if people want them.

 

[dustynavy]

Switched from using that Seachem reef builder to a baking soda mix from Randy to raise alkalinity. 1 1/8 cup (297 g) of arm and hammer baking soda to make one gallon with RODI water. With 34.2 ml it raises it .2 dkh for my tank. I’m using the bulk reef supply calculator find how much to add.

Brs calculator
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator/alkalinity-calculator-reef