How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[Why-Me]

Been a while since I've read through those bottled biobac threads but fritz may be working fast enough you don't see the nitrites, because they could be quickly converting to nitrates already.?!

 

[living_tribunal]

Been a while since I've read through those bottled biobac threads but fritz may be working fast enough you don't see the nitrites, because they could be quickly converting to nitrates already.?!

I don’t think so. I’ve used fritz to cycle about 4 times now. Typically, you see ammoni cleared and converted to nitrite super quick. Nitrite to nitrate is much slower, usually twice as long.

I have a theory on what happened.

 

[Why-Me]

Ok so it's the ammonia that can be almost undetectable? Got it.

 

[living_tribunal]

Ok so it's the ammonia that can be almost undetectable? Got it.

No, the ammonia is detectable at .35ppm currently. Typically ammonia clears to 0 very fast.

What I'm seeing is 3ppm of nitrate and 0 nitrites. Also, ammonia has stayed at .35ppm for two days now.

What I think happened was I did the initial large pour into the dt and some in the sump.

I then did the test runs on running the whole system. I removed my filter sock but did not remove the filter sponge that trickles into the return baffle of the refugium. I think the bacteria got clogged there. Something tells me if I test my sump, ammonia will be 0 and nitrites will be up.

So I just need to pour another 40z of fritz into the dt. I've poured enough fritz for a 300 gallon tank haha!

 

[living_tribunal]

Ok so it's the ammonia that can be almost undetectable? Got it.

My apologies, I misread what you typed. Yes, in normal situations the bacteria in fritz will clear the ammonia like ASAP.

 

[living_tribunal]

Dosing more purple helix coralline algae seed, phytoplankton, tyger pods, rottifers, arctic pods, and getting my Chaeto going in the refugium.

I also threw in a hermkt from the frag qt to finally have something living in my new display tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

And on the 8th day, God said “let there be pods”.

Dosed a whole lot of phytoplankton, pods, and added Chaeto as well as setup my fuge light.

Ammonia levels are getting pretty dang close to zeroing out.

I believe tomorrow will be the official day for the clown babies to move out of the trailer park and into their Beverly Hills estate.

I plan on slowly adding cuc members into the display, there’s no reason to chunk them all in there and risk one of the pure ammonia cesspools dying and leaking out crap everywhere.

I’ve also killed enough of them sadistically pitting the hermits against sails in gladiator like combat with this 10G frag tank aptly named “The Coliseum”.

As for the status on the frag tank, it seems like they took well to the phosphates. Current levels are phosphates of .9 and nitrate of 1.

I’m happy with those levels but may try to increase the nitrate a little bit.

I’ve been dumping bacteria, pods, and plankton into the frag tank as I dose it into my display. It may help a little.

Last night, I viciously blew the hell out of the Dino’s with a turkey baster as well as removed them all from the sides of the tank.

The toxicity levels seemed way too high to just sit and wait for algae to take over. I doubt algae could even overtake the blooms on the side.

The frags seemed to respond really well to this and I’m seeing better PE from everyone except the Duncan.

I decided to give the Duncan a 45 second freshwater bath as I’ve read that Dino’s can’t survive freshwater for longer than 30 seconds.

We’ll have to see. I’m confident he’ll make it.

I also think my uv killed a bunch by having all of those Dino’s wishing around in the water column.

Following the purge, and consuming a sleeping pill, I decided “eh, what the fudge.” And added the second hydor Koralia nano. The increased flow hit these Dino’s like the tornado that passed my townhome two nights ago. It was like a vortex devouring the cockroaches of the sea.

It’s a little strong but the frags don’t mind so I’m going to stick with it for the time being.



Here is a picture of the post-apocalyptic update:

 

[Why-Me]

Nice looks like you'll win your battle with the dinos.

 

[living_tribunal]

Nice looks like you'll win your battle with the dinos.

I sure hope so. They are by far the worst thing I’ve faced so far. I’d rather have bryopsis and bubble algae at the same time rather that Dino’s.

I did have a thought, if the freshwater dip does work then I’m considering dipping all of the frags that are coming out of qt, placing them in a holding tank, coral rx them, remove the plugs, and add to the display.

I’m still planning on just waiting it out and seeing if I’m effective with removing them.

 

[Why-Me]

I'm going through a GHA removal process currently,
Going to pull out and scrub one rock per day until it's done.
Did a nice sized rock today.
There's only 5 rocks and 2 are smaller or easier to scrub so they'll get done together on the same day.

Before:

After:

Best pics I could get while my lights are ramping down, they're very blue right now.

 

[living_tribunal]

I'm going through a GHA removal process currently,
Going to pull out and scrub one rock per day until it's done.
Did a nice sized rock today.
There's only 5 rocks and 2 are smaller or easier to scrub so they'll get done together on the same day.

Before:

After:

Best pics I could get while my lights are ramping down, they're very blue right now.

Give it to me!

Have you tried fluconazole? Scrubbing rocks ain’t fun :/

 

[Why-Me]

I haven't but have heard great things, should help release the GHA so it just pulls off making removal easy.
I believe peroxide does the same??

 

[living_tribunal]

I haven't but have heard great things, should help release the GHA so it just pulls off making removal easy.
I believe peroxide does the same??

You won’t even have to pull it off. It will just turn the hair algae white and it will fall off the rock and your overflow will pick it up.

Fluconazole is really a big breakthrough for algae. It’s consistent, reliable, and safe.

Also, I just finish the new drain (had to work a few things out to safely connect it to the sump bulkhead) and was able to get that perfect quiet siphon you were talking about.

The only thing is the bulkhead in the overflow box on the dry side is slightly tilted as is the gasket and so there is a leak when the water level hits that point.

That will be a super easy fix tomorrow. I’m feeling better about officially running this through the whole weekend.

I’m more than amped to add the frags in the next week or so.

I can’t believe I’ll actually have a legitimate reef tank in a handful of days or less.

Been a heck of a ride to get here, makes it all the more sweeter.

 

[Why-Me]

That's great glad to hear things are coming together and panning out for ya.

 

[living_tribunal]

That's great glad to hear things are coming together and panning out for ya.

This build was the most rushed patient build I’ve seen yet haha.

I apologize for the 38 pages of spam that culminated in my last post. I personally blame the mods for allowing me to incessantly complain and post trivial tank images.

 

[living_tribunal]

While I do think the hydrogen peroxide, uv sterilizer, and increased params are helping get rid of the Dino’s, I decided to perform a black out to start with a clean slate.

I really want to kill most spores before transferring the frags into the display tank.

I will update you in about 2-3 days.

The hermits seem to be doing great in the Alamo. I just tested ammonia levels and they are basically 0, the tank should be good for the clowns to go in later this evening.

 

[Why-Me]

 

[living_tribunal]

These d*** entitled crabs think they're the king of this castle. Should have known they would claim the Alamo before the clowns smh.

I'm about to purchase a brittle starfish as well. The good news is they don't require a qt so it will be fun to immediately place him(it) in there.

 

[living_tribunal]

I’ve tried several times now to prevent the overflow box from leaking dry side. The main two drain pipes may be slightly too short and pull the overflow down which makes the opening at the top.

I really don’t know if I can re-do those two drains until I know for sure. I’d also prefer not to silicone the overflow box. It wouldn’t be a huge deal but still.

 

[Why-Me]

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