IM 25 lagoon build

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Llorgon

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Tank is doing well minus hair algae. It's always hair algae! Someone help me get rid of the hair algae.

All the fish are doing well and always hungry.

Corals seem to be doing well. I had one coral that I thought was dead make a comeback which I am happy about. Seeing some new growth on my acans, Duncan, hammer and frogspawn. I sold my Kenya tree as it was dropping branches everywhere and taking over the tank. Now I have room for more corals!

I have got my nitrate and phosphate under control. They both read 0 on my last test. I don't think it's true 0 as algae is still growing. I would like to have a bit of nitrate and phosphate so I guess the vodka dosing is still a bit of a balancing act to find what's right for the tank.

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Llorgon

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Anyone have any tips on getting these corals going?

The first two I got in early Feb and I haven't been seeing any growth.

The acan I have had for a year now and it just won't grow. The other 2 acans I have are growing perfectly fine. But this guy always looks unhappy.

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for Coral growth: feed the tank! I broadcast feed Phyto Feast Live, Red Sea A+B, and Oyster Feast every day and get really fantastic growth. Here’s my acan colony from today, going nuts for Oyster Feast:
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for the algae: try just increasing the size of your cuc. Some algae isn’t a bad thing, just think of it as food to support specific kinds of life. A lawnmower blenny, tuxedo urchin, blue legged hermit crabs, and astrea snails can all help keep things mowed down and add some diversity to your tank.

if some corals are happy and others aren’t (of the same species) then most likely it is an issue with light and/or flow. Try to reposition the unhappy corals to get similar light and flow as the happy corals :)
 
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Llorgon

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I've had a real pain getting cuc here. The joys of a small town. A new saltwater store was supposed to open end of March, but covid has killed that for now. Not sure how online ordering is working at the moment. I agree algae isn't a bad thing, but I would like to get it more under control.

I will have to try phyto feast or oyster feast. I have LPS pellets and some reef roids that I target feed every so often, but for the acan it doesn't seem to eat it. Everything else gets some food and closes up. That one acan just sits there with the food sitting on the mouth. It's weird.

I have tried moving all 3 around. Maybe I just haven't found the right spot yet!
 

Magellan

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That acan sounds stubborn! Good luck with your tank, I’m worried about being able to continue getting everything I need for mine. Not sure how this shutdown is going to effect things, you’re right online ordering is a nightmare at the moment.
 
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Llorgon

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Thanks. It really is stubborn. Just grow already!

Thankfully the only thing I am short on is corals and cuc. So those can wait. I have enough food and all that for a few months.
 
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Llorgon

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How's everyone enjoying their quarantine? Not a whole lot is different for me. I already worked from home. Except now I don't go to the gym after work. Or able to do anything on the weekends.... My wife wasn't taking the whole no gym thing well so she bought a Bowflex for the garage. I must say it's very different from dumbbells.

Anyways back to the tank. Things are pretty stable right now. I seem to have my nutrients under control. With dosing 0.55ml vodka a day nitrate is at 1.5ppm and phosphate at 0.009ppm. I wouldn't mind getting nitrates to be 5 ppm, but I will leave it as is for now since everything looks happy.

Unfortunately I'm still getting gha on the rocks. Winning in some spots and losing in others. I have been picking it out by hand and using a stiff brush on the rocks as well. But it's hard to get into all those little crevices.

Still trying to find some more cuc, but it's been difficult due to things shutting down. I can order from Ontario, but they are getting hit hard with the virus so I would rather not have things shipped across country.

Fish are all doing well. Never much to report with them.

Corals doing well. I moved my cyphastrea do a higher light and flow part of the tank, but it got knocked down by a snail and burned the favia a bit. Moved it back to a safer spot after that and the favia has recovered surprisingly quickly. I've also started feeding the corals with lps pellets every Friday.

I've moved my water changes to once ever other week. Doing weekly was raising my alk and Cal a bunch. All was at 10.2 and Cal at 500. After 2 weeks they are down to 9.6 and 480. So at least thing are growing!

What does everyone use for calcium testing? I have salifert test kit which I find to be kind of annoying. I also have Hanna calcium test kit which I can never get consistent results.

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Llorgon

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Been awhile since I updated on the tank. Tank is doing ok, going through a bit of a rough patch I think.

Fish are doing well and eating as always. The larger clown has started to host in the frogspawn which is cool to watch.

Corals are ok. My frogspawn has 2 heads that aren't looking great, but the rest of it is big and seems fine. My duncan coral has been closed up since Sunday afternoon about an hour after I did a 10 gal water change on the tank.

Acans are doing well including the one that was always a little deflated. It is now big and has feeding tentacles out!

The cyphastrea isn't doing great, but the one near it seems to be growing fine.

Still battling gha. I think I have got my nutrients under control using vodka dosing.

I tested my water last night, 2 days after my last water change.

Tank Params are
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0.5
Phosphate: 0.018
Alkalinity: 9.5
Calcium: 435
Magnesium: 1470

I added some calcium last night and will test again today to see where calcium is at.
 
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Llorgon

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The tank has seen better days. Since my large water change 2 weeks ago my duncan coral has been closed up. I tried feeding it and I got one head to take a LPS pellet, but didn't get it to open up. I have tried moving it and still no luck.

Also noticed that my two kenya trees have been really closed up the last few days so something is going on. The acans, favia, hammer and frogspawn are all doing well though.

I did my regular 5 gal water change yesterday and I'm hoping that will help the tank.

I tested the water and nothing out of the ordinary. Calibrated and rechecked salinity and it was still at 1.026. I've put in fresh carbon which hasn't helped either.

Any ideas on what could be going on?
 
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Llorgon

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Alright, been awhile since I posted an update. Work has kept me crazy busy!

Tank is doing alright? Not great, but not terrible.

For the most part the corals are doing well. I have 2 heads of my frogspawn that are looking very pale and not really opening up. The rest of them are big and happy though.

My one cyphastrea is dying. I'm not sure why. The other one in the same area as it has been growing. I have tried moving it around, but no luck with it so far.

Also been having troubles with my duncan. For the last month or so it hasn't been opening up. Just closed up one day and hasn't really been open since. I have tried to up my feeding of the corals more, but so far that hasn't helped.

Still fighting gha. If I keep up with my daily brushing of the rocks it seems to say in check somewhat, but I was away for the long weekend and I am still trying to catch up from that.

Still dosing vodka. Dosing 0.7ml/day. It's been working well to keep nutrients low although I think it needs to be lower since I still have lots of gha growing. I did pick up a bottle of waste away and did my test half dose last night. Hoping that can help things out.

I am low on CUC, which is probably at least part of the problem. Unfortunately there isn't anything available locally and nothing is shipping.

How does everyone manage nutrients? I feel I am really doing a poor job of it. I have filter socks that I change out weekly and do a 5 gallon water change every weekly and 10 gallon water change and sand vacuum every 2-3 weeks.
 
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Llorgon

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Been pretty busy lately and had a couple week long camping trips. Tank husbandry has suffered a bit.

Honestly the tank is pretty stagnant progress wise right now. Being in a smaller town there isn't much for lfs so everything has to be ordered in and with covid most places here aren't really shipping. So no new corals and still struggling to get cuc.

Fish are all doing well, corals are not dying, but also not seeing much growth though.

Trying to fight back this gha. Seems to be a losing battle though. Been dosing vodka and waste away while doing weekly water changes.

Nutrients are low nitrates 1.5ppm and phosphates 0.015.

I seem to always have this problem with gha. All 3 tanks I have had all ended up with huge gha problems. And nothing seems to ever eat it. Managed to get a couple turbo snails and they have no interest in it.

How can I beat this?!

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Llorgon

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Ok. Been quite awhile since I updated this thread. This has officially been the longest reef tank I have had up and running without any interruptions!

Since my last update I had been trying multiple things to control the gha. Vodka dosing, diy algae scrubber, tons of water changes. Nothing really worked. The scrubber got rid of too many nutrients and corals took a hit. And the water changes caused my parameters with ALK and cal to go too high.

The thing that worked was flux Rx. Then I was finally able to get my hands on some snails!

Right now things are going well. I'm seeing growth in most of the corals. Some of the acans are having some issues and the lobo I got hasn't changed in months. But other than that corals are growing and not losing colour!

My main issue right now is dealing with aiptasia. Every week during water change I use a syringe to put lemon juice in them, but they pop back up in other places. Might be time for a peppermint shrimp?
 

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Llorgon

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Still dealing with aiptasia. Seems like almost a daily thing of seeing another little head popping up somewhere.

I ordered 3 acan frags. Unfortunately 2 of the 3 have skeleton showing so hoping they bounce back quick!
 

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Llorgon

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Picked up a couple more acans, a toadstool and a jack o lantern lepto that I am hoping to grow out over the back wall. I've tried a few encrusting corals on the back wall without success. Hoping third time's the charm!
 
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Llorgon

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The acans and the lepto
 

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Llorgon

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Tank is doing well. Still fighting aiptasia. I kill a few and more pop up. It's never ending...

I added a toadstool which is settling in nicely as well.

Also noticed the hitch hiker pocillopora seems to be colouring up and growing too!
 

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Llorgon

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Anyone have any idea on what this is? Almost looks like a little anemone of some sort.

Best pic I could get with my phone.
 

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