Fostering Fillory - Mixed Reef - IM 25g

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Reef of Fillory

Reef of Fillory

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Update time:

So I built a canopy, but when we test fit it, the wife didn't like it (it's about as tall as the tank is tall). We've decided to go without a hood. The AI Primes came in and I've got those on the sides of the 150w MH, in acclimation mode.

I also got in my BRS dual reactor, filled it in with CO2 scrubbing material and then hooked it up to my skimmer. It's not recirculating at the moment because i'm not sure how to connect it in to the skimmer cup/cap since the skimmer is so small [K1 skimmer].

Running into low nutrient issues now... I added the tang for two purposes - for alga management and for nitrate production. I also added the second cleaner shrimp, and the 6-line for the same reasons.

Here's yesterday's test results [3/24/21]:

1616595258576.png


Alk was rising, but seems to have settled down. I mixed the new ATO water to a lower concentration than previously because I saw it creeping up [9.6 level] from the ATO. I'm going to monitor ALK a little more closely this week and if necessary i'll stir in a bit more kalk to the top off water.

Phosphates are staying nice and consistent, but the nitrates are bottomed out [absolutely no color to the Nitrate test]. I'm trying to avoid dosing nitrates directly, but I already feed a TON [4 fish, autofeeder goes off twice a day with flakes/pellets and I also feed 10ml+ of frozen food blend including reef chili each night]. I also dose Red Sea Amino Acids 4-5 nights a week [when I remember].
 
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Reef of Fillory

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Some pictures with the new lights added.

PXL_20210326_010135697.jpg


PXL_20210326_010153053.jpg

Here's on of my corals after turning the pumps off for feeding time.

PXL_20210326_012426043.jpg

Here's the strawberry something or another that I'm watching because I think it might be dying/receding. Thoughts?

PXL_20210325_011247333.MP.jpg
 
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This past weekend, I got some phytoplankton from a LFS and i'm going to start dosing [in an attempt to increase Nitrate levels].
Reference: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/food-sources-with-higher-nitrates.815918/#post-8755930

I also took the cup off of the skimmer, and removed a bag of Chemipure Blue.

I'm ordering some Sodium Nitrate from Amazon, but it won't be here until the end of the week.

What I'm noticing is paling colors on the corals, and recession on the coral I posted about above [sps]. I am attributing this to
1) Too low of nutrients
2) Too high of lighting [for the nutrient level]

I think that the ALK level is okay with this level of nutrients, but please correct me if I'm wrong here.



Any suggestions on how much phyto to start with, and how often/when to feed it?
 

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I just started dosing phyto in an attempt to combat dinos. Similar thing happened to me. My Acros started getting pale because nutrients dropped to low and then the outbreak happened. Algaebarn recommends 5ml per 20gallons and I believe that’s daily. I’ve been doing 5ml daily in my 7 gallon. After two weeks they say you can adjust your dose as needed
 
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I just started dosing phyto in an attempt to combat dinos. Similar thing happened to me. My Acros started getting pale because nutrients dropped to low and then the outbreak happened. Algaebarn recommends 5ml per 20gallons and I believe that’s daily. I’ve been doing 5ml daily in my 7 gallon. After two weeks they say you can adjust your dose as needed
You're meaning that the dino outbreak happened after having too low of nutrients?

Have you seen any measurable increase in Nitrate by dosing phyto?
 

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You're meaning that the dino outbreak happened after having too low of nutrients?

Have you seen any measurable increase in Nitrate by dosing phyto?
Yeah the Dinos occurred once the nutrients got too low and the acros could no longer compete. I haven’t measured nitrate since dosing but my understanding was the the phyto would consumer nitrate and phosphate rather than add to it. Nonetheless it would serve as a food source for both coral and fish
 
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Yeah the Dinos occurred once the nutrients got too low and the acros could no longer compete. I haven’t measured nitrate since dosing but my understanding was the the phyto would consumer nitrate and phosphate rather than add to it. Nonetheless it would serve as a food source for both coral and fish
How long have you been dosing the phyto? I saw you said recently, but how recently?

At the LFS near me, the only saltwater guys that actually does saltwater tanks is a jerk, but he suggested that phyto would increase my nutrient levels. My hope is to be able to continue utilizing my filtration/system more or less the way it is, but also provide the nutrients needed for the corals.

The decrease in refugium photoperiod, and removing Chemi Pure Blue, and taking the collection cup off of the skimmer are all recent changes [today/1 day old].
 

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How long have you been dosing the phyto? I saw you said recently, but how recently?

At the LFS near me, the only saltwater guys that actually does saltwater tanks is a jerk, but he suggested that phyto would increase my nutrient levels. My hope is to be able to continue utilizing my filtration/system more or less the way it is, but also provide the nutrients needed for the corals.

The decrease in refugium photoperiod, and removing Chemi Pure Blue, and taking the collection cup off of the skimmer are all recent changes [today/1 day old].
I started on Thursday. I’ve read a few threads where people dose phyto as a supplement for water changes. It maintains nutrient levels while feeding fish and coral. Hopefully those changes help you get your nutrients up
 
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I started on Thursday. I’ve read a few threads where people dose phyto as a supplement for water changes. It maintains nutrient levels while feeding fish and coral. Hopefully those changes help you get your nutrients up
Yeah I hope so too - I had to dose nitrate in my last tank and I'm really hoping to avoid it now!

Thanks, and hopefully the phyto works out for both of us!
 

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Yeah I hope so too - I had to dose nitrate in my last tank and I'm really hoping to avoid it now!

Thanks, and hopefully the phyto works out for both of us!
Honestly I find it strange how many people dose nitrate and phosphate now. I even started doing it out of necessity. Before I temporarily left the hobby a few years ago I had never really heard of it and never needed to do it but now it seems more common than ever
 
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Honestly I find it strange how many people dose nitrate and phosphate now. I even started doing it out of necessity. Before I temporarily left the hobby a few years ago I had never really heard of it and never needed to do it but now it seems more common than ever
Yeah I think it's due to a combination of better tools and a bit more understanding [anecdotal or not] about what's actually needed to have success.

That said, I don't know if i'd trade low nutrients for high nutrients. I've never had major algae issues in my tanks [got bryposis once, but it was easily handled w/ flucanazol]. What I don't want is yet another thing to test, dose and monitor.

With high nitrate/phosphate at least you can dose nitrate and phosphate removers as needed [weekly test or something like that]. But you often also have to deal with nuisance algae.
 

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Yeah I think it's due to a combination of better tools and a bit more understanding [anecdotal or not] about what's actually needed to have success.

That said, I don't know if i'd trade low nutrients for high nutrients. I've never had major algae issues in my tanks [got bryposis once, but it was easily handled w/ flucanazol]. What I don't want is yet another thing to test, dose and monitor.

With high nitrate/phosphate at least you can dose nitrate and phosphate removers as needed [weekly test or something like that]. But you often also have to deal with nuisance algae.
Yeah that’s very true. I think with my new tank I’m going to try and keep the water a little “dirtier”. This battle with Dinos has been brutal. The less I have to dose the better
 
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So I've started to:

Doubled Frozen feeding from 10ml to 20ml every night
Amino Acids twice a day [morning and night - a "splash" from the bottle]
Phyto twice a day [morning and night - 1/2 oz from the squeezable plastic container]
I pulled out a bag of Chemipure Blue
I took the skimmer collection cup off of the IceCap skimmer
I took out 1/2 of the chaeto, and reduced photoperiod by 3 hours

Hopefully this combination of things will

1) Increase Nitrates
2) Increase or maintain Phosphates when Nitrate rises and chaeto growth increases [reducing phosphate]

My goal is to find a level of input that matches keeping my skimmer online [preferably with collection cup on] and maintaining Nitrates and Phosphates at detectable levels. I'm sure it will take some time to find the feeding balance. I would hope not to have to feed/dose phyto and aminos twice a day, but if that's what it takes I'll do it!
 
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One more note/update: The coral that I was watching fade to white had algae growth on the white portion, so I "chopped" it in half with some coral cutters. I'm hoping that cutting down to the level of flesh will help it to avoid having algae irritate the flesh and prevent growth.
 

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I have a question... I noticed you have some acros and zoanthids at nearly the same level in your tank. Is that just a matter of acclimating the zoanthids to higher lighting, or are those species just particularly good in high light environments?

Tank looks great btw!
 
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I have a question... I noticed you have some acros and zoanthids at nearly the same level in your tank. Is that just a matter of acclimating the zoanthids to higher lighting, or are those species just particularly good in high light environments?

Tank looks great btw!
Honestly there's no rhyme or reason for the placements. I just placed them where I thought there was room, and what looked aesthetically pleasing to my wife.

One thought on the SPS was to provide some shading to the Zoas when they grow in and become big branches [fingers crossed].

I haven't measured PAR, but I figure that with the lighting I use there's little chance that any but the most light demanding SPS would be wanting for higher PAR in any part of the tank.
 
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Oh and how could I forget - I bought an electronic ballast for my 150w Hamilton MH fixture. I [wife] wanted the ballast inside the stand, and it quickly became apparent that the "standard" ballast gets far too hot to feel comfortable with leaving it in the stand. The new selectable wattage ballast is much cooler. It has options for 150/175/250/Super Lumens. It's the IceCap brand that I got from MarineDepot. So Far I'm very happy with it.
 
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I've got another update here - I dosed Nitrate 3 times [have not had a chance to test in the past week as my wife and I got two Foster placements].

According to my calculations, the dosing should have increased the nitrate by around 7.5 ppm.

Very shortly after dosing the first bit of nitrate, I started to get cyano. The cyano has covered and killed a few of my SPS so i'm calling those a loss. The Softies still look okay. I'll take and post more pictures today after work if possible. I also hope to get a full set of tests in tonight as well.

Two days ago I accidentally sent around 1/4 of the bottle of Red Sea aminos to the tank [was distracted and had just put the phyto in, which has a "stop" so I can just "dump"... Tank was green for a good 4 hours before I went to bed. Woke up yesterday morning and the tank was fine. When I came home from work there was again cyano covering a lot of the corals.

I continued to dose the phyto and amino acids to the tank until yesterday. Yesterday I didn't feed, dose aminos or phyto.

What I've been doing about the cyano: Turkey basting it off of the corals/rocks. This ticks the corals off of course, but I figure it's better than them being covered with the cyano.

I'm not sure how to find the balance in nutrient levels and keeping away cyano. Did I stop dosing too soon?
I'm sure that testing will be necessary to get any idea of what's going on in the tank at this point. I'll try my best to make time tonight to do it!
 
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