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

[Crabs McJones]

Looks awesome! Beautiful tangs following along for the progression

 

[griff500]

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.

Thanks! I'm having the same issue trying to keep nitrates up. I've had worse issues to deal with though!

 

[griff500]

Looking good! Some great looking fish you've got. Following along!

Thanks. The fish stock needs to be increased again after the problems I had - it's quite sad to look back at the lovely fish I've lost but I guess it's part of the hobby.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Thanks. The fish stock needs to be increased again after the problems I had - it's quite sad to look back at the lovely fish I've lost but I guess it's part of the hobby.

It definitely sucks, but now that things are back on track, I'm sure the new ones will do better.

 

[4FordFamily]

Sorry for the struggles, we’ve all been there! Thanks for sharing your journey for us all to learn from!

 

[Reefing Madness]

WOW, how did we miss this BUILD??
Very nice, very clean!!!

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[HotRocks]

Thanks. The fish stock needs to be increased again after the problems I had - it's quite sad to look back at the lovely fish I've lost but I guess it's part of the hobby.

Amazing setup, you went full GHL

Looks like @Brew12 tank!

I love the GHL equipment I do have but I’m split some GHL and some Apex.

What kind of fish problems are you having? Do you QT your fish? Your SPS looks like it’s doing well so that’s half the battle won!

 

[griff500]

Amazing setup, you went full GHL

Looks like @Brew12 tank!

I love the GHL equipment I do have but I’m split some GHL and some Apex.

What kind of fish problems are you having? Do you QT your fish? Your SPS looks like it’s doing well so that’s half the battle won!

I lost nearly all my fish due to disease. No QT so it's always a risk. SPS is starting to show some strong growth.

The GHL equipment is all excellent and I much prefer it to the Apex equipment that I had on my previous tank. I'm looking forward to the ION Director coming out as well. I'm very happy that I went all GHL on this tank.

Annoyingly my new Lineatus seems to have hurt himself - based on how he is swimming he seems to have hurt his spine and I guess he must have swum into something rather fast... He is eating well, his colour is getting stronger and I think he seems to slowly be getting better, but time will tell.

I'm currently on the lookout for new fish and more corals. I've got to get around to fixing them permanently now that I'm a bit more confident that things seems solid.

I did a Triton ICP test and things seem good. Calcium and Magnesium need to be increased so I've got some arriving shortly. I'm waiting on the results of an N-DOC test - interested to see where Carbon is. Nitrate is around 1 and Phosphate varies between 0.02 and 0.04 and I'm barely using any Carbon dosing at all - just a trace of it - and adding a little bit of Nitrate each day.

Starting with great live rock seems to have been the key with this tank and it supported a decent bioload and supported corals growth from day one, although it's improving at a good pace. There was some automation that I had planned with the GHL controller that I haven't been able to do because the nutrient control methods that I had planned simply haven't been needed.

No doubt it will all go horribly wrong now...

 

[griff500]

A couple more corals from Coral Freaks are in the tank. I'll get some pictures soon. Thanks to @paul@AAC and all the team and everyone involved for organising an excellent and interesting day. I hope it's the start of bigger and better events in the future with more of the industry getting involved.

I've adjusted the Gyres to aim slightly higher and I'm getting more surface agitation and I prefer it.

Coral colours are improving every day and there's noticeable growth. I've really got to get them glued down to make some space for a few corals I ordered that should be turning up next week.

I got a Triton test done by way of a change from ATI and it was done super-quick - I sent it Monday and got the results online on Wednesday. Still waiting for the N-DOC though... The results look pretty good. Calcium and Magnesium were a bit low and I'm dosing back up to the required levels using ATI products as they seem cheaper in price and more concentrated. I've also dosed Boron, Bromine and Lithium to get them in line because... well, why not. Potassium has also been dosed as that was a bit low and I think that's a bit more important based on something I read somewhere that I can't remember... Overall the levels seem pretty good. Phosphate was at 0.04 but generally varies between 0.02 and 0.04. Nitrate is around 1 most of the time, although I'm still dosing and wouldn't mind it a bit higher.

The Lineatus is swimming better and I am mildly optimistic that he's going to make a full recovery. He's eating well and his colours are stronger than when I got him.

I've added a Phantom Blenny... the fish that caused my wipeout... Very cute.

All seems to be going reasonably well! I'd better give the back of the tank a scrape at some point...

 

[griff500]

I've cleaned just over half of the back glass and it's looking much nicer.

I keep getting little brown bits on the sand and glass. It's a bit different from anything I've seen before but I suspect it's just an imbalance. I'd like to know what it is. I sent off a Triton N-DOC test on Monday of last week but for some reason I am still waiting for the results nine days after getting the email saying that the lab in Germany had received my sample...

The ICP showed that calcium and magnesium were a bit low along with potassium and a few other less important things. I've got them all up to the required levels and also glued down the corals that had just been sitting there and a few days later I am seeing increased uptake of alkalinity, which is either interesting or coincidence

Corals are generally doing ok - growth on some, a bit of burnt tips in a couple of places but I think things are fairly steady and overall it's not too bad.

 

[griff500]

Oh, and I got a few more corals...

 

[griff500]

With a bit of help on the forums I found out that the horrid brown stuff was Red Planaria flatworms. I wanted more wrasse in the tank anyway so today I got a Six-Line, Dusky, Yellow Tail Tamarin and Black Leopard. Hopefully at least one of them will fancy eating the flatworms but they were all fish that I quite fancied having anyway.

I've also taken a risk with an Achilles and Yellow Tang. Predictably the Powder Blue was not happy at all and rather aggressive. The Yellow was protecting the Achilles, which was interesting to watch, and they were hanging out together. Or maybe the Achilles was simply hiding behind the Yellow...

The idea of adding the Yellow at the same time was to try and spread the expected aggression but the PBT didn't seem bothered about the Yellow but seems to hate the Achilles. It wasn't surprising but I fancied giving it a go and the Achilles was stunning and came from a tank with plenty of other Tangs. If the aggression doesn't pass then the PBT will go and be replaced with a smaller one. The Achilles and Yellow seem to be quite chilled characters.

I'll be watching closely. Hopefully my Nitrates will rise a bit as well... surely they must with that extra bioload (the tank has had the same before and coped fine).

 

[Peach02]

Looking great so far!

 

[griff500]

All the new fish are out and about. There's been a little bit of tail wagging from the tangs, which is to be expected, but they are all out and swimming around and seem to be finding their places. The PBT clearly wants to be the boss of the tank but the aggression is hugely diminished now and it looks like there's a reasonable chance of the PBT and Achilles co-existing. The Yellow certainly helped with this.

It's nice to see more movement in the tank again and the only 'must-have' fish on my list that I have not got yet is the Diamond Tail.

Hopefully the wrasse will sort out the flatworms - I should have some idea this evening if they have had any effect.

 

[John R]

wow. really enjoying your diary entries. Lots of ups and downs. Sorry about the downs!

I liked the pic with the weimaraner!

 

[griff500]

Thanks John! I appreciate the comments.

Our Weimaraner is just about to have her first birthday! She’s a sweetheart and sometimes spends a little time watching the fish swim around.

A few pictures (some sand thrown into the water by the wrasse).

 

[griff500]

The Tamarin died for no apparent reason - there were no marks on it and it looked perfect. It really does seem like a 50/50 chance with these, but apparently the Yellow Tail are better than the Red Tail. I'll try another and hope for the best.

 

[griff500]

The PBT is certainly keen to show all the other fish who's boss but it's nowhere near as aggressive to the Achilles as it was at first. It's certainly far more aggressive than my previous PBT. The Achilles seems a fairly chilled character but he's getting bolder... Fingers crossed and watching them closely...

Possibly a couple less flatworms on the front glass but that could be wishful thinking. It probably is.

The Six-Line is tiny but a bit of a terror. He seems to hate the Black Leopard Wrasse, which isn't coming out very often.

Overall, it could have gone far worse! And it still could...

 

[griff500]

Current fish list for my records:

- Powder Blue Tang.
- Achilles Tang.
- Yellow Tang.
- Lineatus Wrasse (still clearly not swimming right but steadily improving and eating and his colours are great).
- Six-Line Wrasse.
- Black Leopard Wrasse (MIA).
- Yellow Tail Tamarin Wrasse (going in today).
- Dusky Wrasse (some lovely colour showing in him now).
- Phantom Blenny.
- Pair of Picasso Clownfish.

I'm still wanting or considering the following:

- Femininus Wrasse.
- Diamond Tail Wrasse.
- Potters Wrasse.

I haven't seen the Black Leopard Wrasse for a couple of days or so. I have seen clean patches of sand though so there's a chance he's still around. I'm not sure if the flatworm population has decreased - possibly less on the glass and there certainly don't appear to be more. Time will tell...

The Achilles has the expected spots but is feeding well and active and his wound has healed already. A new UV bulb should arrive today as it's time for it to be changed.

The PBT is being a bit of a pain but it's occasional chases not at full pace rather than the rather violent attacks that happened at first. The Achilles sometimes seems to be goading the PBT! It's acceptable at the moment but I'm keeping a very close eye on it. I'm confident that the Achilles would be quite chilled in the tank without the PBT and so it's still a possibility that I'll remove the PBT and put a smaller one in, but hopefully it will all work out. It could certainly be going worse!

I'll be picking up another Yellow Tail Tamarin Wrasse later today - fingers crossed with this one...

Alkalinity consumption has increased quite a bit, which I'll take as a good sign. Coral colours are getting stronger. Nitrate is at or just above 2 and Phosphate goes between 0.02 and 0.04 (usually the higher of the two). No carbon being dosed.

ATI CNP calculator is recommending equal dosing of N and P and a tiny bit of C. Their set point for P seems to be higher than I would like. I'm not convinced C is really needed and even a little does tend to encourage Cyano in my tank, but that might be due to the N and P not quite being in balance previously (I would tend to have almost zero N with the same level of P that I have now. With N getting higher it might be that the balance is better and that the system could tolerate some C being dosed but I don't think it's of any particular benefit at the moment.

A Triton N-DOC test seemed to indicate that some Nitrogen should be dosed (they recommended the one that is related to Ammonia) but I have added LOTS of fish since then and I am feeding more so I'll do another test shortly and it will be interesting to see what's changed. Hopefully the N-DOC will be done in better time as the first one took almost two weeks... The result seemed to indicate Carbon being lower than is ideal but I have a feeling this could be based on them assuming a set point of 8 for Alkalinity - not entirely sure about that.

Taking all of that into account, I'm currently dosing a small amount of N to keep that up and help to control P (no dosing of P or C). Without dosing N at all it drops to nearly undetectable while P stays in the usual range, without any nutrient control other than the roller filter and skimmer.

Still using ATI Essentials Pro but I've gone from dosing twice a day to four times a day, shortly after taking an Alkalinity measurement, so hopefully the KHD will be adjusting the dosing of Alkalinity shortly after checking the level.