IM EXT 50 - photo dump!

[TheWB]

MP10qd is installed. This thing is pretty loud for having a "quiet" in the name. It seems just as loud as my old mp10s that I had years ago. I expected this pump to be much quieter as it is easily the loudest thing on my tank right now. Is there really such a thing as a break in period for these pumps?

I've never had a Vortech pump but I do have two of the bigger Jecod knockoffs and they are pretty quiet. Did you make sure that the two sides are lined up perfectly? That might cause some noise. They also might just need to break in a little. One of mine was noisier than the other at first but with a little tweaking it quieted down significantly.

 

[Arkayology]

I've never had a Vortech pump but I do have two of the bigger Jecod knockoffs and they are pretty quiet. Did you make sure that the two sides are lined up perfectly? That might cause some noise. They also might just need to break in a little. One of mine was noisier than the other at first but with a little tweaking it quieted down significantly.

The noise is coming from the dry side whether it is attached to the glass/wet side or not. Alignment doesn't impact the noise from what I've seen. I guess I will give it a few days before I reach out to BRS.

I have the Gyre 4k, 2k, and mp10qd running right now. The flow seems good!

 

[TheWB]

The noise is coming from the dry side whether it is attached to the glass/wet side or not. Alignment doesn't impact the noise from what I've seen. I guess I will give it a few days before I reach out to BRS.

I have the Gyre 4k, 2k, and mp10qd running right now. The flow seems good!

That's a lot of flow potential for that tank.
I have both of those gyres but I took them off my tank and replaced them with two of the DMP45's. The flow is just different and I don't get sand blowing all over the place now even if I turn them up to 100% on both pumps.
You'll have no trouble with high flow for SPS, or just random flow, with your current set up.

 

[Arkayology]

Ecotech (BRS/Aperture) are sending me a new dry side for my MP10qd. It was easy enough to work with them given that the pump made the noise right out of the box. Hopefully the replacement will work flawlessly. I've had a couple MP10s (white controller) and an MP40 back in the day, and the MP10qd is working well. I like the MP10 so far as I can get a more focused stream of water going into the center of the tank to create some more random flow. I may get an MP40qd and mount the Gyre 4k to the back wall if things continue to go well with the Vortech.

 

[Arkayology]

The mp10qd replacement dry side arrived today (only one day shipping because I am in PA ). I swapped out the dry side and the pump is silent now. Ecotech support was excellent.

 

[Arkayology]

It looks like that my P04 and N03 bottomed out while I was gone on vacation. Now I have dinos (likely ostreopsis) and some cyano. Not plague proportions, but the corals are not liking the low nutrients. N03 is at 1 and P04 is at .03. I dose 5ml of NeoNitro and NeoPhos daily, but I will have to up it.

 

[Arkayology]

N03 is 4.9 (Hannah) and P04 is .06 (Hannah). I'm trying to get the P04 up to .1 and then maintain at these levels to help with the dinos/cyano.

The SPS are doing well - growing and basing out. Some PE, but still not great.

Photo dump:
Tyree Pink Lemonade - one of my favorites. It's basing a little as well as branching.

PC Superman - a recent addition. It has turned more green when it was added to my tank, but it was blue when I received it. I had a piece of this in 2015 that I got from Adam @Battlecorals and I am stoked to have it back in my system.

A recent addition sold to me a TSA Dan Aykroyd We will see what it does.

Another new addition - A red/green grafted tort or stag

Pearlberry I got from FishOfHex - this one is really starting to take off

Another new addition - POTO Sidechick. I have high hopes for this one once it settles in

 

[Arkayology]

Red Planet from FishOfHex - this one is basing out while also losing some tissue in shaded areas. I think it didn't like the bottoming out of nutrients. Things are looking up for it now.

Raspberry Table from FishOfHex. I will admit that I didn't have much hope for this looking any good months ago, but it is really starting to color up and is growing well. Noticeable growth at the base and some PE

Tort that is slowly getting there. There has been some growth at the base and coralites as well as some coloring up. It's not in super high light, so I may have to move it down the road.

 

[Arkayology]

@LiverockRocks I think I will be ordering a sand and rox box from y'all to add a little diversity to this tank and maybe help with the dinos and cyano. Maybe some diversity can help me kick these issues. It looks like I have to wait until September 9th for shipping?

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

@LiverockRocks I think I will be ordering a sand and rox box from y'all to add a little diversity to this tank and maybe help with the dinos and cyano. Maybe some diversity can help me kick these issues. It looks like I have to wait until September 9th for shipping?

The Sand & Rox Box is a great way to add diversity.
We are pausing orders for the month of August so we can plant more ROCK, WooHooooo. A container of Walt Smith rock is schedule to arrive August 5th, then begins the process planting. A lot is going to depend on the weather, so if we can get a few orders out in August, we will.

 

[Arkayology]

The Sand & Rox Box is a great way to add diversity.
We are pausing orders for the month of August so we can plant more ROCK, WooHooooo. A container of Walt Smith rock is schedule to arrive August 5th, then begins the process planting. A lot is going to depend on the weather, so if we can get a few orders out in August, we will.

Thanks for the heads up! I will be checking the website every week to see if there are any updates.

 

[Arkayology]

I took the orange spot sand sifting goby out of the tank. With little/no sand for it to sift, I felt my tank wasn't the best place for it.

 

[Arkayology]

P04 is .17ppm (hannah) and the corals are liking it. This is the most P04 that I have ever seen in this tank in the year that it has been running. It could be because the trochus snails spawned this morning.

 

[Arkayology]

After doing some microscope viewing this weekend, I can tell that most likely the P. parvum is back. It is eating away at my nutrients and making the tank very unstable.

I've given it some thought and if I cannot find a way to kick it by the end of the month, I will break this tank down and restart it. At the end of the month, I am going to move all the livestock to a 10g holding tank with some live rock, heater, mp10, and UV. I will then drain and clean the tank and set it back up with TBS live rock and sand. I will move the fish back as well as the corals without their bases. I am not sure what to do about the snails and hermits though. I do not want to bring this plague algae back into the tank.

I am trying a blackout for 3 to 5 days with hydrogen peroxide dosing during that period. If that doesn't work, I may try an algaecide as a last resort. Interestingly, after blacking out the tank for one day, the polyps on some of my sps are extended a lot more than normal.

 

[Arkayology]

I checked multiple surfaces of the tank under the microscope today and did not see any of the P. parvum that I think are causing my nutrient levels to bounce all over & irritating my corals. I turned the lights back on this afternoon. We will see if they come back or not and how long it takes.

 

[Arkayology]

Still no sign of pest algae anywhere. Nutrients are still low. Maybe the marcorock is still absorbing P04?

I ordered a TBS Sand and Rox Box :) @LiverockRocks I'm looking forward to adding it!

 

[TheWB]

Still no sign of pest algae anywhere. Nutrients are still low. Maybe the marcorock is still absorbing P04?

I ordered a TBS Sand and Rox Box :) @LiverockRocks I'm looking forward to adding it!

I got one of those TBS Sand and Rox boxes and it worked out well.

 

[Arkayology]

I ordered a 2L jug of NeoPhos to keep up with demand. My tank drinks P04 like

P04 consumption may be slowing a little? I am getting small amounts of hair algae for the first time ever in this 11-month old tank. It must be the MacroRock. It's weird because I didn't have this problem in any of my previous tanks that used MarcoRock. It would explain why I have had such instability in my P04.

I got one of those TBS Sand and Rox boxes and it worked out well.

I am hoping it gives me more microfauna and more diverse bacteria that will spread around the tank.

 

[TheWB]

I ordered a 2L jug of NeoPhos to keep up with demand. My tank drinks P04 like

P04 consumption may be slowing a little? I am getting small amounts of hair algae for the first time ever in this 11-month old tank.


I am hoping it gives me more microfauna and more diverse bacteria that will spread around the tank.

I also did the live mud from floridapets.com and I've used the mud or slurry from IPSF too, but in my old tank. I think that stuff helps and at the very least doesn't hurt anything. You might consider looking into those as well if you haven't already.

 

[Arkayology]

I also did the live mud from floridapets.com and I've used the mud or slurry from IPSF too, but in my old tank. I think that stuff helps and at the very least doesn't hurt anything. You might consider looking into those as well if you haven't already.

I ordered the wondermud and live sand activator from IPSF to start this tank. I may do another order in a few months after I see how things go with the TBS stuff. I still have most of the hermits and snails that I got from IPSF. The amphipods are also doing very well. I have not seen any of the white mini brittles that I ordered, however. I think that was a dud. I did end up getting a bunch of micro brittles from a local though, so I have them now. They are one of my favorite parts of a CUC.