IA Reef 75... The Return

[Michael John]

Finished tge testing 24hrs later after dosing ammonia...
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0

Waiting on the two jars of Poseidons Feast and Ocean Magik I ordered the other day to arrive.

 

[Michael John]

Two portions of Poseidons Feast from Algae Barn added today. Also started the daily additions of Reef Magik.

Lights going to be turned on tomorrow for more than a few minutes for the first time.

Going to keep the pump on 1% for about 6 hrs, then ramp it uo a little to a steady 15%

 

[Michael John]

Been feeding the pods OceanMagik 14ml per night. Phosphates are climbing. Currently at 0.24ppm.

I put 1/4 pouch of chemipure elite into a high flow area of the tank. I also cut back on OceanMagik feeding from 15ml per night to 8ml per night. Hopefully the po4 level starts to decline.

 

[Michael John]

More water testing

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate ~15
Po4 0.10
Calcium 350
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1320
pH 8.4

Started adding disolved calcium chloride. 16g disolbed in 500ml of RODI. Starting with 250ml of solution per day.

 

[Michael John]

Calcium is now where it should be

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate ~15
Po4 0.10
Calcium 450
Alkalinity 8.5
Magnesium 1320
pH 8.4

Also started building the screen tops. Going with bare aluminum window frame, that will be painted with SPI expoxy 0rimer. This is a chemically inert primer once cured. Going to wait for a warmer day then spray and give a week to fully cure vefore use. The screen is 1/4 mono netting from BRS.

 

[Michael John]

Diatoms are starting to grow

 

[Turbo5150]

Looks great! following

 

[Michael John]

Didnt get to update these yesterday, however, the first snails came in from Reef By Steele. I drip acclimated them in a small container, then added them to the reef. 10 Cerith. 5 Trochus

A few hours later... some were already out exploring

.

Heres a pretty interesting photo of one of them crawling horizontally up the front glass. I never knew they curled their foot like that as they climb.

 

[Michael John]

Ordered two clownfish from ORA through BRS. One orange ocellaris and one black ice snowflake.

Some more water testing as well

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15ish
PO4 0.10
Alkalinity 8.2dkh
Calcium 430
Salinity 1.025
Magnesium 1260

Putting this here for future reference. To match up between Hanna checker and Red Sea marine test kit, each 1 ml is 17.83dkh. So if I was to use .45ml it would give me a alk of approx 8. 17.83 x amount used = alkalinity.

 

[Michael John]

Was gifted an Aqua Ready Bullet 1 protein skimmer from BRS, along with a very cute kids toy and Marco Rocks hat during their Black Friday promotion.

Even though it will be undersized as the reef gets to a heavier bioload --at which time I will move it to a smaller quarantine tank, I installed it on the 75.

Checked pH before the lights went off tonight, and as expected, was greeted with a nice pH rise, pH Is now a solid 8.4.

 

[Michael John]

After shipment getting held up in KY due to a storm, combines with our IA winter weather --Five degrees F below zero, the two clownfish I ordered from ORA through BRS arrived today.

One seemed to be still be fairly energetic, the Black Ice Snowflake, however, the other -- the Orange Occellaris was clearly struggling

I quickly ran a 15 minutes temperature acclimation, drained the bags, then placed the clowns into the tank. I will be keeping the lights turned off for a few days I also lowered the flow in the tank.

The skimmer seems to really be doing a great job with keeping the wqter oxygenated.

I will take picturrs tomorrow or next way when the clowns have calmed down a bit.

 

[Michael John]

Sorry I did not post the previous pictures. Went a bit of an emotional ride with the two clownfish then went into a bit of a depressive funk. After struggling for a few days, and starting to look like it may make it, the one clown did not survive the trauma from shipping.

Here is a picture, which hopefully makes up for that. The two clowns --one from original shipment and one replacement, are acting like the best of friends, and are aways at each others sides.

Been busy with the holidays
Checking in to provide some updated test results and an update

Temp 77
Salinity 35ppt
Alk: 8.5 dKH
Ca: 414 ppm
Mg: 1380 ppm
PO₄: 0.08 ppm
NO₃: ~10 ppm
pH, measured exery 10 mins over 24 hrs
Low 7.96, high 8.0

Tank update...
Coraline algae is starting to grow

 

[Michael John]

Added our first coral today...

Montipora colony. About hand sized at purchase.

Thank you Aquatics and Exotics for the great deal.


.

 

[Michael John]

Some updates

Bacteria bloom occured. Cleaned it up with a uv. Ran 3 days 24/7, 3 days 12 hrs, 3 days 6 hrs, 3 days 3 hrs, then took it off


Replaced the undersized skimmer with one mucg more appropriate. An icecap k3 250 HOB.

Skimmer broke in over 5 days, on the 5th day, running on p06, we are getting some nice foam high up in the neck with the waterline just under the collection cup / skimmer body junction.

 

[Michael John]

Doing an updste
~10 months since the reef was started.

Everything has been remaining stable. Have added a few batches of snails. Trochus and Nassarius.

Current challenges:
Hair algae growth.

Feeding is minimal, approx what the two clowns can eat in 20 seconds.

Montipora growth has been decent, but color muted. Nice growth rim occurring.

Still dosing all for reef. Currently 12ml per day over a day weighted 24hr period. 80% during the photo period.

Parameters
alk 10.2
Magnesium 1380
Calcium 420
pH around 8 at low end 8.2 at high end over a day
Po4 0.08
Nitrate 5
Temp 78
Salinity 35ppt

 

[Michael John]

 

[vlangel]

My 75g reef is also on its 10 month anniversary, (although most of the coral & and rock were from a 10 yr old 56g reef). Finally the 'uglies' on the sandbed are gone! I too am dosing AFR but am up to 40ml daily and am struggling to maintain alkalinity of 6. I am getting lots of growth from the monticaps, the lepto, the scroll corals, the trumpets, and the zoas/palys. I have a foxface so no hair algae at all.