Half of my aquarium looks good. The other half ... I’m not sure.

TinyChocobo · Mar 23, 2018

One half of my aquarium looks good to me - there is some algae on the rocks which I’m ok with because my urchins and snails eat it and I don’t want them to starve.

The other half it looks like I’m getting some cyano starting up and something long and stringy looking I don’t recognize.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 23, 2018

Cyano starting. New tank uglies. (That corraline sure is coming in)

The snot looks like a diatom or a dino.
Avoid a lot of coral foods and aminos. Keep your nutints up.

Lighthouze08 · Mar 23, 2018

i would suck as much of it out as possible

TinyChocobo · Mar 23, 2018

I’m going to suck it out. I’ve had cyano before but haven’t had the stringy looking stuff.

I’m just feeding frozen mysis as well as some nori for the tangs.

I will check parameters this evening as it’s been a few days but last I checked it was ok. I only have one coral - a birds nest that seems to be growing quite quickly.

I also considered turning the intensity of my lights down a bit?

I am running a small chaeto reactor that is growing chaeto like crazy.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 23, 2018

I never touch my leds.

TinyChocobo · Mar 23, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
I never touch my leds.

This is my first tank ever with LEDs beyond freshwater - so I can't say I have them 'dialed in'.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 23, 2018

TinyChocobo said:
This is my first tank ever with LEDs beyond freshwater - so I can't say I have them 'dialed in'.

Got it.

Here’s a pretty good thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-lux-meter-how-do-i-use.368945/#post-4549549

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

Whole tank.

Sand in front left

Rock in back left

Rock in left side front

Rock in right side front

Vahanyos · Mar 25, 2018

Have you ruled out any flow issues? Are you getting even flow everywhere?

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

I have an MP40 on back on each end in pulse mode at 40% in anti-sync.

Flow seems good to me but I’m not sure how to tell if it’s better in front or back. I could put some locline on my return and point it down towards the back...

I could also more easily move the mp40’s down so they hit the back of the rocks sending some of the flow back there more directly.

Any suggestions on determining if flow is good enough back there?

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 25, 2018

Your tank actually looks pretty good. Minor new tank uglies.
Prob want a chonk for the sand.

The purple corraline is about to pop big time. That’s the light green Stuff in The rocks.

That’ll help the nutints a bit and keep the rock clean and algaes from growing.

Yea. Tank looks pretty good.

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

I am just trying to provide the best environment for my little critters I can.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 25, 2018

TinyChocobo said:
I am just trying to provide the best environment for my little critters I can.

And your are doing quite well. The corraline is forming well all over
Looks like the diatoms are fading in the sand. Conks like diatoms and are good sand cleaners.

We’re it me at this stage of the tank, I’d look at the adding snails in the next while. Some herbivores on omnivores as well. If your feeding meaty foods , carnivores.

Adding good bacteria like DT Tim’s won’t hurt as a pro biotic as well.

Not sure if you’ve done this, but if you use a turkey baster and blow the rocks off , it helps stop build up and you can “watch” the flow for dead spots and spots than might have to much.

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

The sand was clear up until a couple of days ago - when the stringy stuff showed up in the back of the tank on the back rocks.

I do have a couple of turbo snails and a couple of urchins that generally keep things pretty clean.

I do have some bacteria I can add but I have no ammonia as the cycle finished a while ago. I do have an 8x8x4 and 2 8x8x1 marinepure blocks in my sump as well as a Reef Octopus Regal 150-INT skimmer.

I stop the pumps when I feed and a good bit settles - and then once the pumps come back on it all blows around and the fish eat some more.

I cleaned the sand really well before I started.

I do have a small chaeto reactor that has grown chaeto really well - it has ~39 Watts of 6500K LED and ~200 GPH of flow through it. It has gone from a tiny ball of chaeto to being packed full in only about a week - so it's definitely been pulling nutrients out.

TBH so long as it's diatoms and not dinos - I'm not worried.

I do have two Kessil A360WE's running and they're running 60% intensity from 10 AM to 4 PM every day - I am thinking I should maybe lower the intensity down to 40%.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 25, 2018

You won’t need the ammoina. Just the bacteria. The fish and food will provide it. I wouldn’t worry about the Light at all. Especially Loki g at the Rock and coral.

Naturally it hard to get picks of the back of the rocks, but overall it looks good.

A good read on cuc jobs.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

I did have a 29G reef for a couple of years so I’m trying to put what I learned there in place here.

So far I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the DT algae under control I think.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 25, 2018

TinyChocobo said:
So far I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping the DT algae under control.

I agree!

TinyChocobo · Mar 25, 2018

I did have a very early diatom bloom that seemed to go away on its own. I’m about to research identifying diatoms vs Dino’s. I’ve had diatoms before but never long stringy ones from my rocks. It’s possible I didn’t cure my BRS dry pukani well enough.