Tritie
Active Member
I started this last year but it got away from me this summer. After a good cleaning and pruning of the Chaeto, Feather and Blade Caulerpa, I'm back into it again. Previously, I was using the stock light (white) and it grew Chaeto, Caulerpas, Dragon's Nest and Dragon's Breath well. However, I have switched to a full spectrum light as of today. I also used to use untreated well water for water changes top-ups, but I plan to return to RO. I used to dose a drop of Dr. Tim's ammonia, some Chaetogro, iron and TSP, but am switching to Thrive aquarium supplement for shrimp. I had massive outbreaks of hair algae and bubble algae. It was the hair algae that bothered me the most. During the summer neglect the Caulerpa and Chaeto took over and formed a dense mat on the surface which killed off all the hair algae and most of the bubble algae.
Macro tanks are not so easy in Ontario. Unique algae species are hard to come by here. They are expensive and often require longer distances for shipping. We have a few good suppliers, but it would be nice to see more.
Lighting: Hygger 18w full spec clip on light. Currently running daylight-moonlight setting. 10 hours of full spec light at 75%, followed by 5 hours of 100% actinic moonlighting.
Flow: Just Sicce upgrade pump for now. Plan to put in a small wave maker if all goes well.
Nutes: 2ml Thrive (shrimp-safe) 1x per week.
Coral: Just 1 blue and 1 green mushroom for now. These cheap and common mushrooms still look really good under white light. Will add some red discos later.
Inverts: Just a small lonely nassarius snail that has been in there for some time now, and some brittle star hitch hikers from one of my reef tanks.
Macro: Pom Pom (hayi), Feather Caulerpa, Blade Caulerpa, Dragon's Nest, Orange Galaxy (Halymenia Stipitata), Angel Hair Chaeto (this species feels like filter floss when it forms dense mats on the surface. I have a medium stranded species in my coral reef refugium. I avoid the thick stranded stuff as I can't grow it).
Phos: Between 0.1 and 0.25 (I'm a bit concerned this is too high).
Nitrates: Between 5-10 (I will probably aim to increase this a bit, but I have some concerns about nuisance algae with phos levels).
Salt: I am just using IO Reef Salt. It is what I use in my coral tank, so it's always kicking around.
Temp: Inkbird is set for 77F
My phone takes horrible pictures, and I hate seeing through to the kitchen from the back of the tank. I will probably block that black pane with some aquarium background. I don't think I will use black as that will reduce par, but I'm not sure. I was surprised at the PAR readings between the Hygger and Fluval stock light. I tested both this morning. Fluval was brighter than I expected and there were some oddities between Hygger 75% and 100% on the rockscape. It is likely due to algae moving around or not quite having the Seneye at the correct angle (may be picking up shadows or not quite level).
Macro tanks are not so easy in Ontario. Unique algae species are hard to come by here. They are expensive and often require longer distances for shipping. We have a few good suppliers, but it would be nice to see more.
Lighting: Hygger 18w full spec clip on light. Currently running daylight-moonlight setting. 10 hours of full spec light at 75%, followed by 5 hours of 100% actinic moonlighting.
Flow: Just Sicce upgrade pump for now. Plan to put in a small wave maker if all goes well.
Nutes: 2ml Thrive (shrimp-safe) 1x per week.
Coral: Just 1 blue and 1 green mushroom for now. These cheap and common mushrooms still look really good under white light. Will add some red discos later.
Inverts: Just a small lonely nassarius snail that has been in there for some time now, and some brittle star hitch hikers from one of my reef tanks.
Macro: Pom Pom (hayi), Feather Caulerpa, Blade Caulerpa, Dragon's Nest, Orange Galaxy (Halymenia Stipitata), Angel Hair Chaeto (this species feels like filter floss when it forms dense mats on the surface. I have a medium stranded species in my coral reef refugium. I avoid the thick stranded stuff as I can't grow it).
Phos: Between 0.1 and 0.25 (I'm a bit concerned this is too high).
Nitrates: Between 5-10 (I will probably aim to increase this a bit, but I have some concerns about nuisance algae with phos levels).
Salt: I am just using IO Reef Salt. It is what I use in my coral tank, so it's always kicking around.
Temp: Inkbird is set for 77F
My phone takes horrible pictures, and I hate seeing through to the kitchen from the back of the tank. I will probably block that black pane with some aquarium background. I don't think I will use black as that will reduce par, but I'm not sure. I was surprised at the PAR readings between the Hygger and Fluval stock light. I tested both this morning. Fluval was brighter than I expected and there were some oddities between Hygger 75% and 100% on the rockscape. It is likely due to algae moving around or not quite having the Seneye at the correct angle (may be picking up shadows or not quite level).
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