ggNoRe's Prostar 200 Peninsula Build Thread

[ggNoRe]

Got my ICP sample back from ATI. Sample was taken on 4/4/21

Salinity	30.26 PSU	35.00 PSU	-4.74 PSU		Show
Carbonate hardness	7.56 ° dKH	7.50 ° dKH	+0.06 ° dKH		Show
Set elements
chloride	17362 mg / l	16244 mg / l	+1118 mg / l		Show
sodium	8403 mg / l	9024 mg / l	-620.9 mg / l		Show
magnesium	1518 mg / l	1079 mg / l	+438.7 mg / l		Show
sulfur	929.4 mg / l	754.8 mg / l	+174.6 mg / l		Show
Calcium	439.5 mg / l	345.4 mg / l	+94.16 mg / l		Show
potassium	299.9 mg / l	334.7 mg / l	-34.78 mg / l		Show
bromine	50.58 mg / l	54.97 mg / l	-4.38 mg / l		Show
strontium	7.27 mg / l	6.56 mg / l	+0.71 mg / l		Show
boron	3.72 mg / l	3.61 mg / l	+0.11 mg / l		Show
fluoride	0.72 mg / l	1.07 mg / l	-0.34 mg / l		Show
Trace elements
lithium	216.1 µg / l	139.5 µg / l	+76.66 µg / l		Show
Silicon	168.1 µg / l	82.04 µg / l	+86.03 µg / l		Show
Iodine	19.57 µg / l	53.33 µg / l	-33.76 µg / l		Show
barium	28.94 µg / l	8.20 µg / l	+20.74 µg / l		Show
molybdenum	10.98 µg / l	9.84 µg / l	+1.14 µg / l		Show
nickel	2.33 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+1.92 µg / l		Show
manganese	nn	0.82 µg / l	-0.82 µg / l		Show
arsenic	nn	1.23 µg / l	-1.23 µg / l		Show
beryllium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
chrome	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
Cobalt	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
iron	4.57 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+4.16 µg / l		Show
copper	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
selenium	nn	0.41 µg / l	-0.41 µg / l		Show
silver	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
Vanadium	nn	1.23 µg / l	-1.23 µg / l		Show
zinc	6.40 µg / l	1.64 µg / l	+4.76 µg / l		Show
tin	25.33 µg / l	0.41 µg / l	+24.92 µg / l		Show
nutrient
nitrate	1.37 mg / l	2.00 mg / l	-0.63 mg / l		Show
phosphorus	7.74 µg / l	12.31 µg / l	-4.57 µg / l		Show
phosphate	0.02 mg / l	0.04 mg / l	-0.01 mg / l		Show
Pollutants
aluminum	7.45 µg / l	0.08 µg / l	+7.37 µg / l		Show
antimony	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
Bismuth	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
lead	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
cadmium	nn	0.16 µg / l	-0.16 µg / l		Show
Lanthanum	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show
Thallium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
titanium	nn	0.08 µg / l	-0.08 µg / l		Show
tungsten	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show
mercury	nn	0 µg / l	+0 µg / l		Show

RODI sample:
Has high silicon

Silicon

792.5 µg / l

0 µg / l

+792.5 µg / l

 

[ggNoRe]

Still battling Dinos. Think I made a big mistake in feeding corals last night. No more aminos or coral food until the battle with dinos is over. Did a 20% water change, brushed rocks with a toothbrush, and cleaned the sand the best I could. Sucked up a ton of dino slime. Took out filter socks and using filter floss instead. Afterwards dosed a little more vibrant and this time I left my skimmer off for a few hours before turning it back on. Tonight I shut off all lights and will keep off until I get home tomorrow around 1pm to slow down the dino growth. Good thing is I still have not loss any coral or fish.

I'm also having a really hard time with my RODI filter. It is a 6 stage and unless I change out both DI filters every time I make a new 20 gallon batch I start to see my PPM rise. In the ICP test silicone was high which I'm pretty sure that's what's going on just not sure how to fix it. It's becoming quite expensive and frustrating ordering more and more filter replacements constantly.

Dosing nitrates and phosphates and testing both daily. 2 days dosing and still testing 0.00 phosphates and .5-1 nitrate. Tripled the dose tonight and will test again tomorrow.

It's a tough fight but I'm going to keep battling!

 

[ggNoRe]

Had my first casualty in a while today. Unfortunately my CBB passed. I don't think it was the dinos directly but rather a combination of stressers. Increased flow, increased temperature, new to system, and being around many fish. It's a shame as he did so well in quarantine eating like a hog.

Dinos still giving me a good fight. Turning the lights completely off for about 16 hours really didn't do much to slow them down. Going to continue to try and increase nutrients. If they did not go up when I test today I will remove chaeto.

 

[ggNoRe]

Still battling Dinos. Got my nitrates up to 4 by dosing. Phosphates at .01 but were .05 just a couple days ago. I fear I may have lost the mystery wrasse as well as I haven't seen him in 2 days and he usually comes out quite often. All corals and other fish hanging in there. Although the SPS frags aren't looking too great. I am constantly having to shake the dinos off of them daily. Starting to get a green tinting on the glass which I will take as a good sign. Also started dosing Microbacter 7 for 2 days.

 

[ggNoRe]

After dosing Microbacter 7, nitrates, and phosphates for about a week and seeing green film algae on the glass I figured it was time to take the next step in fighting Dinos.

Did a two day blackout and then cleaned the crap out of my tank. Used a tooth brush to scrub off all the rocks and siphoned into a filter sock back to my sump. I also siphoned all of the sand. Spent about 2 hours siphoning as much brown and red slime out as I could. Right now my tank looks about 95% clean. Dosed a little more Microbacter7 and turned my LEDs back on. Still no skimmer, T5s, or White/Red/Green LEDs for now.

My nitrates tested at 7 and phosphates .07. My hope is that more film algae will grow and the dinos won't come back!

Thankfully I have not had any more casualties although the tips of my starfish are falling off and my SPS frags are likely hanging on by a thread.

 

[ggNoRe]

Current state of affairs:

Still battling dinos but slowly but surely things seem to be getting better. Finished a whole bottle of Microbacter7 and continue to dose nitrates and phosphates. Ran out of reagent for nitrate test and won't get more until Tuesday but last time I checked was holding steady around 5. Tested phosphates today at .06. Alkalinity started to slowly decrease from about 9.5 to 8.5 which I will take as a good sign that my corals are doing well. Doing heavy manual removal of dinos to keep things at bay. Cleaned the glass as seeing my tank so ugly everyday was really discouraging. It is a lot of work but seems to be paying off.

3 weeks of Dinoflagellates battling

youtube.com

 

[ggNoRe]

Final weapon in the arsenal. Used first dose tonight.

 

[ggNoRe]

5th dose tonight. The sand and the frag rack hosting my SPS frags has cleared up but my rocks still have a lot going on. I noticed it seems like stages. First bubbles, then they die and leave a red matting. The problem is that red matting is too dense to blow in the overflow or even be syphoned which makes it difficult to remove from the system. Good thing is no more stringy stuff that wraps around the corals so everything is good and healthy.

Introduced my long nose hawkfish and blue tang to the display. My red angel being a bully again. Hope they make it. I have killed waaaay too many fish already.

 

[ggNoRe]

Continuing the log so hopefully one day I can look back on this and realize success through many hardships. Also hope others might be able to learn something that are going through similar struggles.

Had a frogspawn melt on me. Not too sure why. Seemed bacterial so tried a dip with coral rx and iodide but died anyways.

Did a major cleaning, syphoning into a filter sock back to the sump while scrubbing all the rocks with a toothbrush again. This time was incredibly hardwork and tire some. About 2 hours and a major spillage ending up with saltwater all over my living room. Thankfully it didn't get on anything other than the tile floor. Not too sure if I have the energy or passion to do this intense of a cleaning again so really hope this is my last battle with dinos. The intense cleaning had an impact on my SPS with one frag RTN and turned solid white by the next morning. Doing a 2 day blackout while continuing to dose DinoX as scheduled with the hopes that when I turn the lights back on dinos do not come back.

I'm having a new issue of green algae growing at the base of my frags and affecting corals. Not to sure what to do about it. Did a peroxide dip on a few frags that seemed to be effected the most. Hope they recover well.

As soon as I stopped dosing Microbacter 7 I had a nitrate spike. So for about a week or so the have been around 20 but slowly seem to be coming back down. Phosphates have been around .05 and I'm having to dose small amounts to keep at that range.

On a good note fish seem to be doing well. Both my blue tang and longnose hawkfish are still slive, eating, and not being harassed near as much from the flame angel.

 

[ggNoRe]

Dinos and cyano coming right back again. Dosed Dr Tims Waste Away today as I'm starting to get desperate. At this point it's about 5% dinos growing back, 70% cyano, and 25% green algae. Everything still surviving but I can tell my corals really aren't appreciating all these changes and algaes.

 

[ggNoRe]

Came home after a one week vacation to a MASSIVE cyanobacteria outbreak. Had some Chemiclean ready to go for as soon as I got back. All SPS frags dead. Dragon soul torch looks like it may be too late. And almost all LPS look to be holding on by a thread. I've decided not to get too upset about the situation. Practically speaking I've done everything I can to circumvent such a situation but we can't control everything. On the bright side all my fish seem to be doing well.

 

[ggNoRe]

24 hours after dosing Chemiclean:
I followed directions exactly as described. Thankfully I have a decently powerful pump with 2 airstones to provide extra oxygenation. Skimmer has been going bananas every since I added Chemiclean but should help with oxygenation as well. The Cyano is starting to peel back in big sheets. All fish so far looking healthy. Corals are in poor condition but this is not due to the Chemiclean because they looked like this before I dosed. I am not surprised at this outcome since for the past 2 months I have been making constant and quite drastic changes trying to beat dinos and cyano. The exact opposite of stability.

Under the sheets of cyano is really nice clean rock with no fuzz, algae, or bubbles. I'm hopeful that this will be the end of the "ugly phase" and I can really start to enjoy the tank again. Time will tell..

 

[ggNoRe]

One week after using Chemiclean all the cyano is gone. To my dismay the dinoflagellates came back and it looks like I'm back to square one. ‍

This time I am trying out elegant coral regimen to try and get rid of them. Did a 20% water change today and dosed ATM colony, Dr Tims Waste Away, and vodka. Also turned off skimmer and put air stones back in the tank.

 

[CoralClasher]

Wow sorry for all the troubles you are having! I’ve used the bacteria method a few times and it definitely helps. The first thing I noticed is the air stones are not wood and in the wrong place. You want wooden air stone in the sump just before the return pump using outside air and a valve to turn down the air so just the smallest air bubbles make it to the DT.

 

[ggNoRe]

Good to know! I just used this one because I had it on hand. I would have to buy a wooden one if necessary. Would you mind explaining to me if it is a significant difference? Worth going out and buying a new one?

I tried Microbacter7 in the past with no success. Only thing that worked last time was DinoX but they came back.

 

[CoralClasher]

Have you ever added live sand or rubble from the ocean?

 

[CoralClasher]

Definitely want wooden air stone!! Most of the magic happens in the return pump and line.

 

[ggNoRe]

I did not. Unless you count the small rock my wife snuck in the luggage when we went to Maui. But I can not imagine this would be live after being in open air for several days before making it back to water.

 

[CoralClasher]

The key for keeping them gone is biodiversity. There are many methods for getting rid of them but the after treatment is more important.

 

[ggNoRe]

Definitely want wooden air stone!! Most of the magic happens in the return pump and line.

Ok I purchased wooden air stones and also used it as an excuse to get a small battery operated pump which I think is good to have on hand for a backup anyways.