Griff's "let's see if I have learned anything" upgrade

griff500 · Feb 21, 2019

There wasn't much room in the cabinet for equipment and for some reason the top shelf they designed had no way to get cables up there (apparently they designed the hole between the sump and cabinet that's actually under the shelf for a chiller... I'm sure there's big demand for chillers in the UK - probably a mandatory bit of kit! So I had to knock together a quick fix so that I could hide the equipment. It will need some improvements and it's a work in progress, but I think it's a reasonable start. All is working perfectly!

griff500 · Mar 2, 2019

Everything seems to be going quite well so far. No corals in yet but I'll try something shortly.

The KHD appears to have been measuring very consistently and accurately. I let it drift down a bit as something was using up alkalinity and then let the KHD control dosing and it seems to do it extremely well.

Very, very pleased with all of the GHL equipment and happy that I made that decision.

I'll be able to tell how the ATI Essentials Pro works in due course...

I ran a bit of GFO as a precaution and I'm using ATI Nutrition C with N at the moment. Nitrate seems to be about 0.2 and Phosphate about 0.04.

All fish appear very healthy and are eating well.

So far so good.

I have more automation to work out, the manifold to build and some other things to implement, but that all got a bit delayed as my car threw a piston at 130mph on the autobahn while bringing my girlfriend and our new puppy home. Fortunately all were OK but my car's a total loss.

Still, all in all, things are going well.

griff500 · Mar 4, 2019

I added a Diamond Tail Wrasse and some corals today. The Wrasse hid straight away of course but the next day was out and feeding and doesn't appear to be getting hassled by the other fish. Then again, they are a bit preoccupied as a bit of ich or something similar has shown up.

The PBT had looked a bit paler than usual for the last couple of days and so I wasn't entirely surprised. They usually shrug it off when they get it once in a while so I'll keep feeding plenty and I've sent off a water test to see if there's anything there that might have stressed them.

I also added some corals. It's probably only a couple of weeks since the tank was set up but the rock was excellent from Dan so we'll see what happens with the corals.

The GHL KH Director is handling the alkalinity dosing and seems to be doing a great job. I really love the GHL equipment so far. Highly recommended.

Nitrate at 0.2 at the most and phosphate at 0.04. I've slightly increase the Nitrate dose as I wouldn't mind it a bit higher but I'm ready to drop it back if I see any negatives from the slight increase.

griff500 · Mar 15, 2019

Enjoying the GHL app and everything is looking good (apart from the PBT being rather unhappy at the moment, so I added a Cleaner Wrasse and he is working hard).

1$adream · Mar 16, 2019

Looking good!

griff500 · Mar 24, 2019

The tank has been fairly stable as I get to grips with it. The KH Director really is an excellent bit of kit.

I have added a pair of Lineatus Wrasse, a Phantom Blenny (I've wanted another one of these for ages - it was one of the first fish I got but jumped eventually) and a load of cleanup crew. My Clowns have increased by what seems at least a third in size. I also had to add a Cleaner Wrasse as my Powder Blue Tang still hasn't shaken the ich that came back on. He's still eating and fat so I expect him to pull through. It's happened before, although not for a couple of years.

The only problem is that I cannot get Phosphate above 0-0.01 and Nitrate will not go above a maximum of 0.2. I'm using ATI Nutrition CNP and following their guidance and I think it seems to be doing ok.

I added a few coral frags to see how they go but the tank has only been going a short while so we'll see what happens.

Some algae growth but nothing crazy and the snails, urchins and Blenny should keep it under control so I'm going to see how it plays out.

Some pictures, taken under blues... I've got to dig out my proper camera at some point...

griff500 · Mar 25, 2019

The new fish appear to have settled in well. I still love the Yellow Tang that I've had for probably five years now - looks like I took him by surprise! I still cannot get a decent picture of the Lineatus but I am using an iPhone...

It looks like there are some updates for the GHL equipment and apps so I'll need to have my first go at doing that shortly. The app changes look excellent though and it seems you can now add PAB devices (connected to the Profilux via USB cable) all through the app! It's great to see that GHL are providing regular updates and continuously improving things for the current and older products.

griff500 · Mar 31, 2019

I got what appear to be Dinos after Nitrate and Phosphate dropped to zero (I wasn't doing anything aggressive to do this). I've stopped the little bit of GFO that I was running and I've been using Microbacter7. I've added my UV back into the system and popped an Oxydator in that I had laying around. I'm dosing Carbon but only 1ml per day in a net 480l system and I've got 2ml per day of Nitrate and Phosphate going into the system to try and raise them.

I don't want to do a blackout as the corals are quite pale due to the lack of nutrients.

griff500 · Apr 4, 2019

Two tests have come back with copper in the RO and the tank. As it's in the RO it can only be the RO unit or the ATO pump. The RO unit had all new filters and membrane between tests and so I think it was probably the ATO pump, so I've removed that and set up an ATO using the GHL Maxi Doser and programmed using the two-sensor setup (float and optical). It's working great and was very easy to set up. It only needs one pump and the plan will be to remove tank water to keep salinity steady once I am using enough two-part dosing to see increases in salinity (at present the water removed for testing and from the skimmer is sufficient to keep salinity steady).

Nitrate and Phosphate are pretty much zero both in my tests and the ATI ICP tests and that's probably why I have Dinos. I have a feeling that the zoox expelled, probably due to the copper, combined with the low nutrients have created the Dinos situation. I am not dosing Carbon at the moment and I am dosing Nitrate and Phosphate. The levels do not rise despite this. Dinos are not getting worse and might be gradually going - hard to say but certainly not getting worse. There have been no snail deaths so the Dinos would appear to not be the toxic variety, but I am keeping an eye on that.

The Powder Blue Tang is covered in ich but is still quite fat and eating. The other fish are no longer showing any symptoms of ich.

griff500 · Apr 13, 2019

Starting to see small amounts of nitrate and phosphate and so the Dinos are dying back and the corals are starting to get some colour.

Unfortunately the PBT got really bad and died, as has one of the Lineatus and my Phantom Blenny. It looks like it's probably Brooklynella and I'm in the process of trying to get a QT started.

Absolutely gutted.

griff500 · Apr 17, 2019

Dinos have gone and corals are starting to show some growth and colour, but I lost the Diamond Tail Wrasse.

griff500 · Apr 21, 2019

I've also lost the other Lineatus but finally got all fish out of the DT and I've now started a 21-day Chloroquine Phosphate treatment and I'll be leaving the tank fallow for 12 weeks.

The corals appear to be doing quite well and I'm using ATI Nutrition CNP to maintain nutrients for them.

So the survivors so far from the fish are the Yellow and Purple Tangs, the Clowns, Cleaner and Tamarind Wrasse. Hopefully I'll not lose any more. I've lost a pair of Lineatus Wrasse, a Diamond Tail Wrasse, Phantom Blenny (I think it was probably him that brought it into the tank) and my lovely Powder Blue Tang. I'll be putting any new additions in the future through QT.

griff500 · Apr 22, 2019

Corals appear to be doing ok.

griff500 · May 27, 2019

Completed the CP treatment with no more fatalities. The fallow period will be completed on 13 July.

I'm ghost feeding the tank occasionally and dosing ATI Nutrition CNP and ATI Essentials, with Kh and appropriate dosing being handled by the KH Director and other GHL equipment. It's doing a great job and I am SO glad that I went with this instead of sticking with the Apex equipment that I had. That reminds me, I must get around to posting my Radions, Apex and Gyres...

I've also got to get around to putting in the flow sensor. I was going to use this to automatically maintain flow rates when changing GFO (and I'd had a custom GFO reactor made by Pacific Sun - their top model but less height to fit in the cabinet nicely). With the excellent live rock and using ATI CNP I've simply got no need for GFO at the moment though. Current levels are N at 1 and P at 0.3 on average. I'd like N a bit higher but it's pretty good.

So I suppose I'll just keep the return simple and put the flow sensor in at some point and see what return flow rate I'm getting compared to what I think I should be getting...

Some corals are showing quite a bit of new growth from the base and good colours. Others have lost a bit of colour - probably due to levels being a bit lower than I'd like and no constant fish poo to help them along - but seem to be coming back and even those were showing some growth.

Overall, it's definitely heading in the right direction.

griff500 · Sep 1, 2019

I completed the fallow period and unfortunately only my two Clownfish survived the QT process. Some lessons learned and much that I couldn't do anything to avoid.

I lost some corals during this period but some survived (barely). I'm getting varying rates of recovery but some growth and I've also added a lovely Powder Blue Tang who seems very healthy and is settling in well. I'll be adding other fish as I find the ones I want and further corals.

I have some algae to deal with but nothing major and nothing that concerns me.

Skynyrd Fish · Sep 7, 2019

How are you liking the ati CNP?

griff500 · Oct 7, 2019

Skynyrd Fish said:
How are you liking the ati CNP?

Sorry, I didn't get a notification for some reason!

I think it's a good product. The 'issue' is that the live rock does such a great job that there's really not much for the Carbon part to do - even a small does seem to upset the balance and I have low (probably too low) nutrient levels. I think it's an excellent product, but my tank currently seems to be about as low maintenance for nutrient control as any tank I have had since I first started.

Funnily enough, my first tank was with live rock (proper stuff that we used to be able to get) and I had pretty much zero cycle and never any nutrient issues. The same with this superb live rock. The two tanks I started with Real Reef Rock had nothing but issues.

griff500 · Oct 7, 2019

The Powder Blue Tang is doing very well. I got a new Lineatus but I think he's managed to swim into something and hurt his spine based on how he is swimming, but he's still feeding so it's not over yet!

Some coral growth and I've really got to mount a few of them now they are starting to grow off the plug. One rather dull one was like that at the shop but had a tiny bit of colour starting to show and more seems to be coming. Alkalinity had risen a bit for some reason (the KH Director was working fine and had stopped dosing alkalinity) but it's come down a bit now.

I've also got a little bit of snotty brown stuff again but minimal and it only seems to show up when I dose any Carbon. The tank seems to do best without any dosing and without doing anything to control nutrients (currently running a bit low at 0.5 Nitrate and 0.03 Phosphate). Just letting the live rock do it's thing seems to keep things pretty much ok, although Phosphate is prone to rise a bit more easily than Nitrate, which is not a surprise. As is often the case, doing less is the best thing to do and the tank seems very low maintenance, primarily due to the great live rock from Dan at Coral Cabin and the automation provided by the GHL equipment, which I am exceptionally happy with.

I might be speaking in a vacuum here but I'll keep updating anyway. It's good to have a record of coral growth and progress (or lack thereof).

Some pictures to follow...

Skynyrd Fish · Oct 7, 2019

Good to know . Funny my tank always does better leaving it to do it’s thing also. I have upped the feeding and backed the skimmer down to try to up the nitrates. Your tanks looking good.