In-wall/Behind-wall, 180g peninsula, with a basement fish closet

[rmorris_14]

Yikes. I haven't found anything that will eat it when it's long. My last tank I battled and finally did a 7 day black out and it knocked it down, but also had some coral deterioration.

I'm surprised he didn't suggest urchins, but I think you already have some (3?)

I have one patch of UFA (Unidentified messing Algae) that's about golf-ball sized and I just leave it out of frustration. My foxface and tang just look at me like "What? We're saving it for later."

I have yet to find anything that eats when it is that long either... I gave in and removed the worst of the rocks and scrubbed followed by Hydrogen peroxide treatment.

 

[New&no clue]

@Beau_B and @rmorris_14 AGREED!!!!

My plan is three parts.
1. Manual removal to get rid of the vast majority. I have never found anything, fish or invert, that will go after it when it's long.
2. Added CUC to continue with the cracks and crevices I can't reach with the toothbrush and keep it manageable.
3. AWC to at least keep up with water changes and keep nutrients reasonable.

I have five urchins already, and they love coralline algae but don't touch this stuff. Again could be because it is too long and needs to be mowed down before they are interested. I expect that I will have to do manual removal once a week for at least a couple of months. In my other tank, it took about four months of manual removal, several blackout periods, and a host of other things to get it under control. So clearly, I am overly optimistic with this tank... but here's hoping.

My three tangs are clearly too spoiled to touch the stuff. Sometimes I withhold nori to see if they will pick at the rocks, but they just go on a hunger strike.

 

[rmorris_14]

@Beau_B and @rmorris_14 AGREED!!!!

My plan is three parts.
1. Manual removal to get rid of the vast majority. I have never found anything, fish or invert, that will go after it when it's long.
2. Added CUC to continue with the cracks and crevices I can't reach with the toothbrush and keep it manageable.
3. AWC to at least keep up with water changes and keep nutrients reasonable.

I have five urchins already, and they love coralline algae but don't touch this stuff. Again could be because it is too long and needs to be mowed down before they are interested. I expect that I will have to do manual removal once a week for at least a couple of months. In my other tank, it took about four months of manual removal, several blackout periods, and a host of other things to get it under control. So clearly, I am overly optimistic with this tank... but here's hoping.

My three tangs are clearly too spoiled to touch the stuff. Sometimes I withhold nori to see if they will pick at the rocks, but they just go on a hunger strike.

your GIFs cracked me up

 

[New&no clue]

your GIFs cracked me up

I get bored at work, and these fools give me unlimited access to the internet.

 

[rmorris_14]

I get bored at work, and these fools give me unlimited access to the internet.

Same!

 

[fishguy242]

Doabela sea hare may help loads, but short lifespan 1-2yrs max...

 

[SteveMac84]

Day 7- It was a sad day for the Purple One. When I got home from work, it had let go of the net, but its foot was not holding on to anything. It still did not look good.

I did a 100% water change with fresh water and then dosed the recommended amount of Cipro at full strength at lights out. When I came to check on it in the morning, it had started to disintegrate. I used a feeding tube to nudge it a little to see if its foot was stuck, and it pretty much fell apart.

I am really disappointed and now questioning everything I did. Should I have left them in the QT for longer? Should I have immediately pulled them from the DT for treatment? Should I have not let them settle so close to each other? Should I have left the Purple one in the DT and moved it to a different spot away from the Green one?

Thankfully the Green one is doing well. The clowns are still happy with their new home, and the tank doesn't seem to have any issues from the Cipro treatment. I did add some bottle bacteria back into the tank just in case.

Beautiful

 

[SteveMac84]

Now that the plumbing is done, it is time to address the real issue with this tank, and that is that it is a NIGHTMARE!

I have bubble algae, hair algae, aiptasia, cyano, dinos, SPS and LPS dying left and right, and my heaters won't keep up at night. After having the 75 gallons for a couple of years, I honestly thought I could handle a bigger tank. I was excited about the increase in possibilities that come from a big tank, more fish, adding difficult corals, better filtration, and stability. I know the tank is young and still trying to find its grove, so I will be patient and wait it out.

As for the algae issues, I've noticed that my nutrients seem to be yo-yo-ing, mainly my nitrates. My phosphates have been pretty steady at 0.21 since the first dino outbreak. However, my nitrates have been between 14-0.8.

I don't want to have to dose nitrates in the long run but instead figure out a balance with nutrient export. One reason I'm not too concerned with the skimmer being utilized less. However, for the short term, I will dose to keep them around 5-10. I plan to use some food-grade sodium nitrate and this calculator instead of a name-brand product to create my own solution.

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

Hopefully, with nutrients stable and in a good range, it will help the algae. But just looking around my tank, I see a lack of CUC. I hope beefing up some will help with bubble and hair algae. I don't have many options here at the LFS and would like to order from ReefCleaners, which is where I've used in the past and usually had good luck. However, I live in Maine, where the temps have been below freezing for the past three weeks and, the last couple of weeks, dropping into the negatives at night. While I like reef cleaners, I have typically seen a lot of loss when shipping in the winter. So I will probably wait until spring to order from him and just deal with issues for the next couple of months.

For aiptasia, I've been doing a lot of research on the best way to rid your tank. I would like to go a more natural route with livestock that eat it; however, I'm not sure any would be a good fit for the tank. I have had luck with peppermint shrimp in the past. I plan to get Aiptasia-X to get rid of what I can see and then add some peppermints after. Again waiting until this spring before ordering shrimp to make sure they survive the shipping.

LPS and SPS loss I am attributing to the plumbing issue not keeping things stable(salinity), nutrient issues, and because of nutrient issues, fewer water changes. My goal this winter/spring is to focus on stability. Again I decided not to order anything new for the tank, coral-wise, until summer. That will be a year of having the tank up and running.

Now I’m nervous about upgrading. Hope it’s balancing out for you.

 

[New&no clue]

Now I’m nervous about upgrading. Hope it’s balancing out for you.

I would say the good definitely outweighs the bad. And stubbornness, patients, and indifference take care of the rest.

 

[New&no clue]

TL;DR- FTS, GHA getting better, Aiptasia maybe better, Gobies live in the sump, feeding anemones squid, photo dump of corals and clams.

I realized it had been quite some time since I posted a full tank shot. So here they are.

I have been continuing with the manual removal of the GHA, and so far, it seems to be working. I still have it all over, but it seems to be growing less thick in areas, and I definitely see the emerald crabs going after it in places where I have been able to keep it short. So the plan is to continue.

The peppermints may or may not be doing anything with the Aiptasia. The large ones are still there, but I haven't noticed any new ones popping up. Which is good and possible when they do, the peppermints are eating them. I may do another round of Aiptasia-X to see if I can get rid of the large ones, and hopefully, the peppermints will keep anything new in check.

By their choice, the green and yellow goby live in the sump now. I was able to catch them both and move them back to the DT, but down they went again. The YWG seems happy under the rocks, and the clown goby is skipping about through the chaeto, so I will let them be.

The anemone collection is growing. I went to a local frag swap and got several new RFAs which are settling in nicely.

The Purple Magnifica found a spot it liked. I assumed it would climb to the top flat rock, but it stopped next to it and seemed to like it there. The Green Gigantea appears to be doing good, except it appears to be shrinking. I have read lots of different things about feeding anemones. Some say yes, some say no, and some say occasionally. I started by just broadcasting feeding the tank and hoped some would get to it... or maybe the clowns would bring food. The purple one has seemed fine, but perhaps because it was close to the top and got more. So then I decided to direct feed my frozen mix, which has mysis, brine, and Calanus. Which it seemed to like. However, it still didn't seem overly happy. So I am now going to try adding in larger pieces of squid.

And lastly, the mystery anemone died. It was doing pretty well, but then the GHA overtook where it was. It kept moving around but was looking worse and worse every day. Its food let go and ended up in the sand face down. I put it in a bowl in the tank to give it some shelter from the flow, but the peppermints all swarmed and picked it apart that night.

Here are some photos I've taken recently of the corals, fish, and clams.

 

[SteveMac84]

TL;DR- FTS, GHA getting better, Aiptasia maybe better, Gobies live in the sump, feeding anemones squid, photo dump of corals and clams.

I realized it had been quite some time since I posted a full tank shot. So here they are.

I have been continuing with the manual removal of the GHA, and so far, it seems to be working. I still have it all over, but it seems to be growing less thick in areas, and I definitely see the emerald crabs going after it in places where I have been able to keep it short. So the plan is to continue.

The peppermints may or may not be doing anything with the Aiptasia. The large ones are still there, but I haven't noticed any new ones popping up. Which is good and possible when they do, the peppermints are eating them. I may do another round of Aiptasia-X to see if I can get rid of the large ones, and hopefully, the peppermints will keep anything new in check.

By their choice, the green and yellow goby live in the sump now. I was able to catch them both and move them back to the DT, but down they went again. The YWG seems happy under the rocks, and the clown goby is skipping about through the chaeto, so I will let them be.

The anemone collection is growing. I went to a local frag swap and got several new RFAs which are settling in nicely.

The Purple Magnifica found a spot it liked. I assumed it would climb to the top flat rock, but it stopped next to it and seemed to like it there. The Green Gigantea appears to be doing good, except it appears to be shrinking. I have read lots of different things about feeding anemones. Some say yes, some say no, and some say occasionally. I started by just broadcasting feeding the tank and hoped some would get to it... or maybe the clowns would bring food. The purple one has seemed fine, but perhaps because it was close to the top and got more. So then I decided to direct feed my frozen mix, which has mysis, brine, and Calanus. Which it seemed to like. However, it still didn't seem overly happy. So I am now going to try adding in larger pieces of squid.

And lastly, the mystery anemone died. It was doing pretty well, but then the GHA overtook where it was. It kept moving around but was looking worse and worse every day. Its food let go and ended up in the sand face down. I put it in a bowl in the tank to give it some shelter from the flow, but the peppermints all swarmed and picked it apart that night.

Here are some photos I've taken recently of the corals, fish, and clams.

Absolutely awesome.

 

[Beau_B]

How is the Kamoer AWC working? I dream of adding one.

 

[New&no clue]

How is the Kamoer AWC working? I dream of adding one.

So far, Five Stars. The app is really easy to use, the setup was quick and painless, and it's been working great. I mean, the best part is I don't have to do a water change anymore, which is tank goals for me.

 

[New&no clue]

The time may have finally come when I change salts.

Okay, it's probably not that dramatic, but it kinda seems like a big deal to change the salt mix. I currently use Brightwell and have no complaints except the cost. It has been creeping higher and higher, and now that water changes are happening regularly, the cost is adding up. I don't even know how to go about switching to a new salt. I think I picked Brightwell because the parameters mixed where I wanted mine to be. I know there are several posts about different brands and switching, so time to dive into some old threads.

 

[Sean Clark]

Find one that matches your alk and it shouldn't be too dramatic.

 

[zbryant91]

I imagine since you're doing AWC it really won't matter especially if the main parameters are somewhat close

 

[rmorris_14]

The time may have finally come when I change salts.

Okay, it's probably not that dramatic, but it kinda seems like a big deal to change the salt mix. I currently use Brightwell and have no complaints except the cost. It has been creeping higher and higher, and now that water changes are happening regularly, the cost is adding up. I don't even know how to go about switching to a new salt. I think I picked Brightwell because the parameters mixed where I wanted mine to be. I know there are several posts about different brands and switching, so time to dive into some old threads.

If you can plumb an AWC, I have faith that you will be able to research and find a salt that wont cause you problems. #stillreallyimpressedbyyou

 

[New&no clue]

So here's where I am. I made a chart of the most common salt mixes, what their parameters are mixed too, and what the cost is for each.

	Calcium	Alkalinity	Magnesium	Price/gallon	Yearly Cost
Tropic Marin	375​	10​	1230​	$ 0.52	$ 401.94
Tropic Marin Pro	450​	8.5​	1380​	$ 0.54	$ 423.88
Instant Ocean	400​	11​	1350​	$ 0.42	$ 331.45
IO Reef Crystal	490​	13​	1440​	$ 0.37	$ 292.45
Brightwell	420​	11​	1380​	$ 0.58	$ 455.21
Red Sea Coral	450​	12.2​	1340​	$ 0.47	$ 365.58
Red Sea	430​	8​	1300​	$ 0.47	$ 365.58

I read a bunch of different threads on here for people switching salts, the pros and cons of each, and opinions, as always, were spread across the board. I then watched a bunch of videos from BRS and some independent reefers that I follow, and all said the same thing...

It doesn't matter

So, in the end, I may go with Instant Ocean. For starters, the price is low, and I can purchase it locally. Secondly, it mixes pretty similar to what I am currently using. I may bump up to reef crystal, depending. The only thing I've heard that is negative about Instant Ocean is that it mixes dirty. However, it seems if you keep a pump running, it will precipitate less.

 

[Beau_B]

I use IO. I’m not a great success story, nor failure… but either way I don’t think my choice of salt has played any role.

I mix at time of use, so the claims of dirt buildup hasn’t been experienced here. However, with AWC and long term storage I understand the potential.

Some of the salts advise against mixing/storing for long periods. I don’t have a list, but perhaps that’s something to look into.

 

[rmorris_14]

So here's where I am. I made a chart of the most common salt mixes, what their parameters are mixed too, and what the cost is for each.

	Calcium	Alkalinity	Magnesium	Price/gallon	Yearly Cost
Tropic Marin	375​	10​	1230​	$ 0.52	$ 401.94
Tropic Marin Pro	450​	8.5​	1380​	$ 0.54	$ 423.88
Instant Ocean	400​	11​	1350​	$ 0.42	$ 331.45
IO Reef Crystal	490​	13​	1440​	$ 0.37	$ 292.45
Brightwell	420​	11​	1380​	$ 0.58	$ 455.21
Red Sea Coral	450​	12.2​	1340​	$ 0.47	$ 365.58
Red Sea	430​	8​	1300​	$ 0.47	$ 365.58

I read a bunch of different threads on here for people switching salts, the pros and cons of each, and opinions, as always, were spread across the board. I then watched a bunch of videos from BRS and some independent reefers that I follow, and all said the same thing...

It doesn't matter

So, in the end, I may go with Instant Ocean. For starters, the price is low, and I can purchase it locally. Secondly, it mixes pretty similar to what I am currently using. I may bump up to reef crystal, depending. The only thing I've heard that is negative about Instant Ocean is that it mixes dirty. However, it seems if you keep a pump running, it will precipitate less.

I’ve had some issues with IO mixing dirty. However, I just came across a bunch of people that posted they only have that issue if they leave the heater on while mixing (which is what I do) instead of heating right before use. I’m gonna try that way and see if it helps.