Innovative Marine 30 Gallon Long AIO Build

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Hallowhead

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My zoa's are in the funk again... My nitrates are very close to zero, I have taken my protein skimmer offline. I have a small issue with bubble algae right now but not growing near the polyps.

I have fragged my colonies and every since then things are just not what they used to... could they all still be in shock?

My clown fish & lawnmower blenny LOVE swimming through all my zoa's - I have seen them swimming through zoa's and I am thinking this isn't helping.

Any ideas?
 

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They could probably still be in shock. Also the low nitrates may not be helping. Zoas tend to love a tad bit more nitrates and phosphates compared to some other corals. You could try feeding more often or feeding reef roids/ reef chili to the corals to bump up the nitrates
 

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I originally considered a mighty jet mid size but the head room isn't great from what I heard.

I'm looking at either a sicce 2.0 or a jabao DC 2500 / 3000
I’m in the process of putting a 30L and bought the sicce 2.0. The only issue I have run in to (not wet yet) is the outlet for the sicce is 3/4. I bought a reducer yesterday and used the IM outlet. Not sure how the reduction is going to work. Should get a lot of pressure/velocity out of the nozzles. We’ll see
 
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I’m in the process of putting a 30L and bought the sicce 2.0. The only issue I have run in to (not wet yet) is the outlet for the sicce is 3/4. I bought a reducer yesterday and used the IM outlet. Not sure how the reduction is going to work. Should get a lot of pressure/velocity out of the nozzles. We’ll see
I've been using the 2.0 and it's amazing. You do have to reduce it but it's nothing wild
 

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Nice Work!!!
I love what you have done, the ups and down happen to us all! I love that even though you have had some mishaps that you have persevered through them!! Watching your build come along!!
 
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Little update!!

Tank is doing great. I started to dose alk via liquid soda ash. Simple BRS 1.1ml doser - mine doses at 1.9ml per min. I have LOADS of vermetid snails that I am trying to eradicate from my tank - probably won't ever but the battle continues. I am slowly increasing my light intensity from a peak of 45% to 70% which a local reef buddy has convinced me will help my corals grow.

Here is a current full tanker.
IMG_20200117_185200.jpg
 
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Update !

My nitrates have been sitting around 10ppm forcing me to do routine weekly water changes and I couldn't really put my finger as to why they're all of a sudden High.. maybe it's due to the 1000 vermatid snails I have lol.. but for real I noticed my skimmer cup was filling up with water and not really getting any good gunk. I did some research and believe I may have had the cup too high above the water line resulting in not enough water to properly bubble it was kind of just spitting over the neck.

Why I was doing my water change tonight I cleaned out the entire skimmer briefly with some hot water. In the coming weeks I plan to do a thorough vinegar soak of one power head and my return pump. I also pulled my return pump out for the first time in about 6 months and it was covered in bubble algae.. so that's where it all went ! Haha but I cleaned that off and pulled the pump apart to remove some gunk. When I put it back together it's making some noise :( have to let it work in again.

My dosing of alks seems to be going great and some corals you can tell love it!!

My biggest update for this thread is rasing my lighting intensity.. it has come to my attention that my max intensity of 50% is probably not strong enough to produce enough par deeper in the tank resulting in some zoas legging. I've bumped up the intensity and will again next week to hopefully hit higher par. I've been trying to find a local buddy with a par meter or a reasonable one to rent so I can truly figure out the proper settings.
 
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I somehow managed to let the phosphates bottom out now and dino's are everywhere :(

I added Nori & continue to feed pretty heavily to help get them back up however, that won't kill the dino. I see so many methods to remove them but I am just not sure which route is best for me. I just know the dino's are stringy & suffocating corals. I am basting every night to remove the growth from the corals.

I would imagine the bottom out came from turning light intensity up & somehow caused algae growth which ate all available phosphates.

Any suggestions or guidance would be great.
 

MombasaLionfish

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I somehow managed to let the phosphates bottom out now and dino's are everywhere :(

I added Nori & continue to feed pretty heavily to help get them back up however, that won't kill the dino. I see so many methods to remove them but I am just not sure which route is best for me. I just know the dino's are stringy & suffocating corals. I am basting every night to remove the growth from the corals.

I would imagine the bottom out came from turning light intensity up & somehow caused algae growth which ate all available phosphates.

Any suggestions or guidance would be great.
I'm struggling with a similar thing.
 

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IMO, feeding is not very good at increasing Po4. I used NeoPhos from Brightwell with great results.
Were you able to identify which species of Dino you have?
 
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IMO, feeding is not very good at increasing Po4. I used NeoPhos from Brightwell with great results.
Were you able to identify which species of Dino you have?
Negative - I believe have subdued them with dinox and have begun a large dosing off phosphates per randy. With time I think I'll get this under control.

My tanks have both been a serious battle lately... Looking for some positives lol
 

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Your Duncan and Hammer will come around when your Po4 comes up. (Your other thread).
Had a battle with Dino earlier this year, bottomed out Po4 was the cause.
Took a month to get any reading above 0 with daily doses of Neophos.

Have you dosed your solution and take a reading like an hr later?

I was shocked at how much my Nano with a few coral used so much of P04. Would get a decent reading after 1hr. Then at 24hrs after dose still back to 0!

Really like the ship lap on your stand! Thinking I might steal that idea! Looks great
 
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Your Duncan and Hammer will come around when your Po4 comes up. (Your other thread).
Had a battle with Dino earlier this year, bottomed out Po4 was the cause.
Took a month to get any reading above 0 with daily doses of Neophos.

Have you dosed your solution and take a reading like an hr later?

I was shocked at how much my Nano with a few coral used so much of P04. Would get a decent reading after 1hr. Then at 24hrs after dose still back to 0!

Really like the ship lap on your stand! Thinking I might steal that idea! Looks great
I just wonder if I should get a 1.1ml doser and auto dose phosphate to never have this issue again.. never had issues and it was stable but now it's gone so quick mostly because of dinos
 
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Little update!!

Tank is doing great. I started to dose alk via liquid soda ash. Simple BRS 1.1ml doser - mine doses at 1.9ml per min. I have LOADS of vermetid snails that I am trying to eradicate from my tank - probably won't ever but the battle continues. I am slowly increasing my light intensity from a peak of 45% to 70% which a local reef buddy has convinced me will help my corals grow.

Here is a current full tanker.
IMG_20200117_185200.jpg
Looking at this photo makes me so depressed with the current condition of my tank :(

I've been battling dino's since mid summer and I guess you could say I've lost...

I've lost:
- Hammer coral
- Acan
- Caulastrea is on it's way out
- Duncan is just about dead... hanging on by a thread.
- Zoanthids have receded incredible amounts.
- Coralline
- Dignity.,.

What happened was my nutrients bottomed out and I kept dosing phosphates & nitrates to bring them up while daily husbandry & dinox. The dino's grew on everything suffocating a lot of corals and killing some. Afterwards I didn't realize that my alkalinity went through the roof to about 12 dkh and my calcium went above 550 ppm... I imagine coral didn't like that much...

My phosphate is leveling off at .1 and nitrate are at ~ 50 ppm right now.. I've noticed what may be dino's again... not sure how they'd grow at this elevated nutrient level though :(

I got an ICP test to confirm my thought that all parameters are in check and nothing else existed killing corals.. I am defeated for sure. I still think something is occurring in my tank that shouldn't be. I know time is needed in this hobby, but I would have thought I'd have seen my corals come booming back after beating dinos.
 

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That’s ruff man, I’m so sorry to hear that. Dino’s can be hell. I have a local buddy that just got some and it killed all of his hard coral. When I had a small outbreak I got the IM UV and it cleared it right up. Apparently it only works on some strains but have you given UV a thought?
 
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That’s ruff man, I’m so sorry to hear that. Dino’s can be hell. I have a local buddy that just got some and it killed all of his hard coral. When I had a small outbreak I got the IM UV and it cleared it right up. Apparently it only works on some strains but have you given UV a thought?
I have the IM UV larger scale - guess I don't have that strain :(

I don't even wanna get into my frag tank loses.. my tanks were both doing so well than COVID hit and I was home more tweaking stuff and they just hit the fan.. I'll grow them back better than before.
 

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I have the IM UV larger scale - guess I don't have that strain :(

I don't even wanna get into my frag tank loses.. my tanks were both doing so well than COVID hit and I was home more tweaking stuff and they just hit the fan.. I'll grow them back better than before.
That’s the right attitude to have. I have read of so many people do tear downs from Dino’s. This can definitely be a challenging hobby at times but can be rewarding when things are going well.
 
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I added a goby and it jumped thru screen and died within 24 hours.. I'm gutted

Came home from work and sand bed is covered in dinos again.

Phosphate is .03ppm down from .1ppm and nitrate are still 25 ppm..... What the heck. Should I go straight to dinox ?
 

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Not having luck with fish either. I’m wondering if fish just don’t like long shallow tanks. My tank, 20 long also, fish keep jumping out.

Are you still using chemipure blue? I’ve heard it contains GFO which lowers P04.

Identification of which Dino species you have will help the battle. Some Dino don’t go into water column at night. UV will not help with those.
 

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