IM EXT 50 - photo dump!

[Arkayology]

My P04 and N03 are so low. I've been dosing NeoNitro and NeoPhos to get the levels up to detectable amounts. Monti setosa is barely clinging on, PC rainbow STN'd, purple bonsai STN'd. The rest are holding on, but not looking happy. N03 is about 5, P04 is .05. I also have some acropower and poly-booster on the way to *hopefully* help the SPS recover along with the nutrient supplements. Skimmer has been offline for about a month.

I am looking to get a Cirrhilabrus lubbocki and a Halichoeres chrysus. Where have you ordered online from? The closest LFS to me is an hour away and they don't have great stock.

 

[Arkayology]

New tank issues... 4 months in

dkh - 8.5-8.8 (Hannah)
Ca - 420 (Hannah)
pH - 8.0 - 8.3 daily (probe)
Mg - 1250 (Salifert)
These are pretty consistent numbers. I check daily because of the issues I am having.

My P04 bottomed out yesterday - 0.0 and 0.01 readings on my Hannah ULR Phosphate and undetectable on my Salifert test. N03 is 5-10 (Salifert). I added 5ml of NeoPhos to get some Phosphate up. The algae just ate it up and got ugly.

All zoas are closed up. SPS are showing STN from the base and tips. What would you all recommend? Ride it out?

 

[X-37B]

My thoughts are the system is to new for acros. I have never used less than 50/50 live/dead.
Most of my friends used dead rock with good results but you need to feed the fish enough to keep po4 and no3 stable.

I run alk of 7-7.5 on all sysyems.
You may want to lower alk to this range until your numbers are in range. Zeroish no3 and po4 dont work well, imo, with your current alk range.

You will need a plan to keep the uglies under control when it appears.
20 trochus or pyramid snails are worth the investment.

The green slimer on the back wall was a 1/2" broken nub 4 months ago. I have always used the green slimer as the canary in all my systems. If coralline and the slimer grow you know the system is ready for additions.

I have 2 pieces of dead rock in my ext 50 and the rest live. The dead rocks get the ugly algae.
A few pieces of live rock, sump or tank would help the system, imo.
My ext 50 is 4 months old now and very stable.
You can see the growth from the first pic I sent.
200ish par across the system running ab+ at 60%.

 

[Arkayology]

I too always used the coraline algae as a sign that the system is ready for SPS. I got ahead of myself when I added the sand/rock/mud from IPSF. I appreciate you reminding me to slow down. It's been almost 10 years since I had a reef, so I got too excited.

My thoughts are the system is to new for acros. I have never used less than 50/50 live/dead.
Most of my friends used dead rock with good results but you need to feed the fish enough to keep po4 and no3 stable.

I run alk of 7-7.5 on all sysyems.
You may want to lower alk to this range until your numbers are in range. Zeroish no3 and po4 dont work well, imo, with your current alk range.

You will need a plan to keep the uglies under control when it appears.
20 trochus or pyramid snails are worth the investment.

The green slimer on the back wall was a 1/2" broken nub 4 months ago. I have always used the green slimer as the canary in all my systems. If coralline and the slimer grow you know the system is ready for additions.

I have 2 pieces of dead rock in my ext 50 and the rest live. The dead rocks get the ugly algae.
A few pieces of live rock, sump or tank would help the system, imo.
My ext 50 is 4 months old now and very stable.
You can see the growth from the first pic I sent.
200ish par across the system running ab+ at 60%.

 

[reef-rc]

We've all been there, for sure. SPS definitely needs more tank 'cooking' time before the 'soup' is ready. Most new systems introduce SPS around the 6-12 month mark, but 9-12 months is often better. Ironically, I’m about to add my first SPS after nearly 9 months. I only thought about it yesterday because I knocked over a huge SPS branch that can handle both low and high sps par while cleaning and have nowhere to put it. 2nd, I was going to bump up the lights on the system to be within the lower sps range and figured it's as good as any to test the water and see how it goes for the next month or so.

 

[Arkayology]

We've all been there, for sure. SPS definitely needs more tank 'cooking' time before the 'soup' is ready. Most new systems introduce SPS around the 6-12 month mark, but 9-12 months is often better. Ironically, I’m about to add my first SPS after nearly 9 months. I only thought about it yesterday because I knocked over a huge SPS branch that can handle both low and high sps par while cleaning and have nowhere to put it. 2nd, I was going to bump up the lights on the system to be within the lower sps range and figured it's as good as any to test the water and see how it goes for the next month or so.

Thanks for sharing! I knew this, but I had "forgotten" after 9 years out. I just wanted to get back to my former glory... too quickly lol. Here's a pic from my last tank in 2015. I will just have to sit tight. It's too bad that I had to lose all my SPS frags in the process.

 

[reef-rc]

nice

 

[Arkayology]

I have the beginnings of coraline algae! Not a great photo - couldn't focus on it, but it's there.

The tank continues in its rough patch. Call it new tank or whatever, but things are stable, and just blah. All zoas have been closed for two weeks, though some began having issues over a month ago. It's very strange as my params are consistently:

s.g. - 1.026
temp - 78
ph - 7.9-8.3 daily swing
CA - 455
dKh - 8.5
P04 - .03
N03 - ~10

I am not dosing anything atm. I stopped AFR because there is no consumption. I was dosing small amounts of NeoNitro and NeoPhos as noted above, but I stopped when I got a small algae bloom. Now diatoms are back and cyano has shown up for the first time in this tank. Just small amounts though. Probably nutrient issues as well as a small bacterial bloom as things continue to stabilize. Fun times with a new tank! :winking-face-with-tongue:

Zoas are mad and closed up.

Current FTS 12/16/24:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Tomini Tang has been in the tank for three weeks and is doing well. No signs of distress and is eating like a pig. I will rehome once it outgrows my tank - no need to tang police me! :D

 

[Arkayology]

Tank is on the downswing (hopefully) of a small cyano outbreak. I am dosing hydrogen peroxide at night and adding bacterial supplements during the day. I'm not doing anything else other than AFR still. The zoas and BTA are starting to open back up after the nutrient swings. I have Chemiclean but I don't want to use it. I will give it a month or two before I take that option.

I ordered a Cirrhilabrus lubbocki and Halichoeres chrysus online. These are my first fish I have ever bought online after 15 years in the hobby. They should be here Thursday morning.

 

[TheWB]

Tank is on the downswing (hopefully) of a small cyano outbreak. I am dosing hydrogen peroxide at night and adding bacterial supplements during the day. I'm not doing anything else other than AFR still. The zoas and BTA are starting to open back up after the nutrient swings. I have Chemiclean but I don't want to use it. I will give it a month or two before I take that option.

I ordered a Cirrhilabrus lubbocki and Halichoeres chrysus online. These are my first fish I have ever bought online after 15 years in the hobby. They should be here Thursday morning.

I have both of those wrasses, actually two of the chrysus. Which variant of the Lubbock's are you getting?

 

[Arkayology]

I have both of those wrasses, actually two of the chrysus. Which variant of the Lubbock's are you getting?

I'm not actually sure. I bought it off Live Aquaria and it doesn't specify. I was hoping I could get a Lubbock's and Yellow from Reef Beauties, but they were never in stock at the same time. Hopefully Live Aquaria goes well.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really understood the “wait for SPS” thing, I’ve not had issues adding it to new tanks. Biggest issue I’ve found with new tanks is that we can’t keep our hands off and there is always endless tweaking of lights and flow for the first few months, not to mention nutrients tend to bottom out. It’s almost like the reefer needs to mature more than the tank.

I guess not all SPS are built the same though, and I tend to stick with montis, seriatopora, etc. I only have a few Acros.

Tank looks great OP!

 

[X-37B]

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really understood the “wait for SPS” thing, I’ve not had issues adding it to new tanks. Biggest issue I’ve found with new tanks is that we can’t keep our hands off and there is always endless tweaking of lights and flow for the first few months, not to mention nutrients tend to bottom out. It’s almost like the reefer needs to mature more than the tank.

I guess not all SPS are built the same though, and I tend to stick with montis, seriatopora, etc. I only have a few Acros.

Tank looks great OP!

Waiting to put in sps is for dead rock system starts, imo.
This is my current 150 at almost 9 months. 150lbs liverock start. Across in when system is stable which was 2 weeks.
A well understood plan with everything in place from the start makes reefing fun.
Check my build thread and you can see the progress from day one.
I currently have 9 fish 50+ across and a couple lps.
I took this pic today.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

Waiting to put in sps is for dead rock system starts, imo.
This is my current 150 at almost 9 months. 150lbs liverock start. Across in when system is stable which was 2 weeks.
A well understood plan with everything in place from the start makes reefing fun.
Check my build thread and you can see the progress from day one.
I currently have 9 fish 50+ across and a couple lps.
I took this pic today.

Yes I agree - I would go further to say dead rock starts shouldn't even be a thing. 80% dead? Sure. You gotta have some mature rock or media, though.

Coral don't mind ammonia, in fact they love it :)

Having a couple Photons or Orphek's (or maybe Reef Brites?) will definitely help too! Nice lighting setup. I went Hydras + T5s. Hard to find Photons here in Canada.

 

[Arkayology]

Yes I agree - I would go further to say dead rock starts shouldn't even be a thing. 80% dead? Sure. You gotta have some mature rock or media, though.

Coral don't mind ammonia, in fact they love it :)

Having a couple Photons or Orphek's (or maybe Reef Brites?) will definitely help too! Nice lighting setup. I went Hydras + T5s. Hard to find Photons here in Canada.

Waiting to put in sps is for dead rock system starts, imo.
This is my current 150 at almost 9 months. 150lbs liverock start. Across in when system is stable which was 2 weeks.
A well understood plan with everything in place from the start makes reefing fun.
Check my build thread and you can see the progress from day one.
I currently have 9 fish 50+ across and a couple lps.
I took this pic today.

To be fair, I did get some sand and mud from Indo Pacific Sea Farms. I thought that plus the rubble and bottled bacteria that I added would give me a good foundation to work from. I think it actually did go well until I started adding phosphate and nitrate because they were so low. I should have just let it ride a little longer. Oh well, I think the tank is on the upswing. I may add a tester SPS in a couple months to see how it goes

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

To be fair, I did get some sand and mud from Indo Pacific Sea Farms. I thought that plus the rubble and bottled bacteria that I added would give me a good foundation to work from. I think it actually did go well until I started adding phosphate and nitrate because they were so low. I should have just let it ride a little longer. Oh well, I think the tank is on the upswing. I may add a tester SPS in a couple months to see how it goes

If you do, I've found Seriatopora to be incredibly hardy. I've had branches break off and fall into caves, and still grow. Plus grow like weeds, which feels good if you have a big empty tank. My teal one has survived from being a tiny bump on a frag disc :D

(not my photo - from Algae Barn)

 

[TheWB]

I'm not actually sure. I bought it off Live Aquaria and it doesn't specify. I was hoping I could get a Lubbock's and Yellow from Reef Beauties, but they were never in stock at the same time. Hopefully Live Aquaria goes well.

Well it’ll be a nice surprise then, won’t it?
You can’t really go wrong either way. I have the Cebu variant. I think it’s a little less common than the Indonesian version. The Indo is the more colorful of the two. I believe both can coexist together, pretty sure there at least one person on here with both variants in the same tank. Can’t remember their user name.

 

[Arkayology]

Live Aquaria order for the two wrasses is delayed because they don't have one or both of the fish that I ordered.

I did find a flame angel locally that I added yesterday. The tomini tang is bullying it a bit. Hopefully the aggression ends in a few days. Otherwise, I will have to get involved.

 

[Arkayology]

Whelp, LiveAquaria cancelled the order because they didn't have the livestock. I was able to find a Halichoeres chrysus locally, so at least I have that. I will have to wait for the fairy wrasse until the weather gets better.

 

[Bohemian Waxwing]

My P04 and N03 are so low. I've been dosing NeoNitro and NeoPhos to get the levels up to detectable amounts. Monti setosa is barely clinging on, PC rainbow STN'd, purple bonsai STN'd. The rest are holding on, but not looking happy. N03 is about 5, P04 is .05. I also have some acropower and poly-booster on the way to *hopefully* help the SPS recover along with the nutrient supplements. Skimmer has been offline for about a month.

I am looking to get a Cirrhilabrus lubbocki and a Halichoeres chrysus. Where have you ordered online from? The closest LFS to me is an hour away and they don't have great stock.

Might I reccomend using marine flakes+ ReefRoids to boost phosphates, and DIY dosing ammonia or nitrate (I used calcium nitrate) for nitrates.

I had very little success with those solutions and they become very expensive. I might turn the skimmer on as well, but run it completely dry.

Hope things improve for you!