Isaac's Cadlight 70 Gallon Artisan II Build

[Isaac Alves]

Just to update. The Ocellaris was put into an isolation container picture above. He's been doing great. Fins and bruises have all cleared up and repaired.

So it took about 20 or so days with isolation in the tank, with enough flow, fed a lot of Hatchery Diet and Rods. And nightly cleaning. His poop is good and his energy is all good.

You can see that the white gladiator continues to relentlessly challenge and rush the container. The little guy in his private digress not seem to give him/her the time of day.

So the little dude is still in his private room. I still need to sell off two clowns.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great stuff! I love this pic!

 

[Isaac Alves]

Got the white slime, the fuzz, the VOC bacterial infestation, chrysophytes,...i also have Cyano in my sump.

Ordered some Dr. Tim's WasteAway, but started using some Kz coral snow with ZeoBak in it tonight. Also going to crack a window.

Here's an ID thread I started. Seems a common thing.

ID Strange White Fuzz Growing on Rockwork
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/ID-Strange-White-Fuzz-Growing-on-Rockwork.280402/

 

[Isaac Alves]

Here's the thread shared with me that goes into detail regarding this type of bacterial infestation.

White Fuzz...What is it?!

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/White-Fuzz...What-is-it?!.265601/


I'm convinced that I've introduced the juice for this growth with my hand lotion. Every morning I put a chunk of Rods food by putting my hands into the intank defroster/distributer.

I'm sure this is the source of the carbon dosing that's feeding this bloom. Add that our house is sealed tight.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Here are some measurements and pics of my current situation today...

Nitrate at 75ppm
Phosphate to .33ppm
Alk is 10.4dKH
Mag is low at 1260ppm
Calcium is 500ppm+ (no consumption, need to lower dosing)
Ammonia is at 0
Salinity is 1.026sg


Full tank shots at scheduled spectrum and just white light. Surprised at the amount of algae.

Shots of the sump with Cyano:
Note, no cyano in display, red is also the color of the macro...

The white reef slime is now expanded to cover my green Galaxea rock. They've retracted and have not shown themselves this whole weekend.

Plan:

1) cut back feeding
2) increase skimming
3) add GFO back, and carbon
4) Dose Dr. Tim's Re-Fresh
5) Dose Dr. Tim's WasteAway
6) 10% water changes

 

[Devesh.R]

Great read up on the tank, great setup and it.looks awesome.

 

[justingraham]

So would u say it nitrates are that high because of the skimmer not working that well? I just read thru great read nicely documented and good luck

 

[Isaac Alves]

So would u say it nitrates are that high because of the skimmer not working that well? I just read thru great read nicely documented and good luck

I'm not sure. I believe the skimmer is pulling nicely. And I change my filter socks every other day.

Tonight, I dosed half the amount of Dr. Tim's Waste Away. With 80 gallons that includes the sump I'm going to under dose. The directions say to dose 10ml per 10 gallons - equates to one capful per 10 gallons. So I under dosed with 3 capfuls tonight. I'll re-dose in 48 hours. Then increase to a full dose after a week or two depending on the improvement signs.

I'm starting to see the white fuzz on my yellow gorg. This definitely makes me nervous.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Dosing Dr. Tim's RE-FRESH for last 6 days is working. Cyano fading, sand clean and white Echtoplasm (slime) is receding.

After some extra reading regarding this bio fuzz the suggested treatment should start with Dr. Tim's RE-FRESH then move to WASTEAWAY.

Current results as of tonight:

 

[Isaac Alves]

Some full tank shots in the ramp down:

Love these guys...

 

[Isaac Alves]

Got Nitrates down to 50ppm. It must be the Dr. Tim's RE-FRESH I've been dosing. Now up to 25ml every other night. I'll do this until Friday then move to RE-FRESH.

Since I've got two weeks of adding nothing else I know I'm going to start seriously researching RedSea's NOPOX additive. I think I may do this plus replacing GFO monthly after I get the bacterial bloom under control.

 

[Isaac Alves]

And trying to use Red Sea Ph test is utterly useless. Speaking of utters, I've got no reason to doubt the APEX probe at this time...

Seriously, why is the color I'm seeing not even close to any color on the card chart?!

Geez...

 

[Isaac Alves]

Neptune "Scemes" is awesome. Not sure why I haven't come across this. I really wish AquaIllumination would release a module for their FiftyTwo HD line.

Video posted by Neptune today:

 

[Isaac Alves]

Dosed Dr. Tim's Waste Away tonight. Only did 20ml. Will up this slowly over two to three weeks. I'm hoping this clears up the external bacteria I've got on my rocks. Will document here with pictures.

You're supposed to dose 10ml per 10 gallons but I'm going to start slowly. 20mls tonight. And I'm leaving skimmer on and flow exactly the same. Even going to leave my carbon and GFO reactors running. Then I'll wait 2 days and dose the same amount ---- Monday night. Do this for 3 weeks. Let's see what happens.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Love @AlgaeBarn's new eco-friendly packaging for their copepods. Got 6k Tisbe pods to re-up my population in the fuge and DT.

 

[Isaac Alves]

What I did to my tank today:

Stopped by Reef Lounge USA in Anaheim. The owner has an awesomely quirky habit of just randomly choosing corals and putting them into his entry way ---then slapping a "any coral for $20" sign. Not always as low as that but I haven't seen higher than $35. I've heard his daughter complain about this business practice, but he still does it. So I love stopping by when I get a chance.


To my surprise, they had a Bubble Coral. I couldn't resist. These don't come around the LFSs in south OC.

Luckily I had my mini ice chest. These are great for insulation and protection:

Here's the piece when I got home:

Now, I'm hoping I dip this without killing it. These appear fragile and need to remain in water or they can tear. Sorta makes dipping hard.

I

Instead of using Bayer or Reef Dip, I used Coral Revive.

I thought it might be gentler...



Then using a clean large bucket I cut the bag with the Coral letting it and the water fill the bucket. Coral never sees air.

Then I guessed the amount of water to be about a half cup. I poured 2 cap fulls of Revive into the water. I used a long pipette to gently mix and move the water around the Coral. At this point I noticed the Coral deflating. But I timed 10 minutes to allow the solution to irritate any unwanted inhabitants.

The tissue definitely deflated. I feared I F'd it up and caused a tear, but for $20 I rather dip than introduce something worse in my tank. I carefully continued.

Glad I did because at around the 8 minute mark a 3/4" long fire or bristle worm came thrashing out of a crevice in the calcium stalk.

The hard part was how to transfer from that solution into another container with clean warm saltwater.

I used a four cup measuring container filled with clean, warm water, same as my DT. I picked up the Coral from the base and gently lifted it out of the bucket and into the clean solution. I let it sit for 5min. Of course it looked awful and I was sure I killed it --- my luck has not been good lately...

I had gotten some Dendros 2 weeks ago that have yet to open. And I've repeatedly tried teasing food into their stalks. They're still pink but I don't see any heads. I'm not holding any hope. I think the Bayer was too much or I shocked them somewhere.

Anyway, the bubble Coral slowly inflated over two hours when I put into the tank. It's still inflating in this pic:

And even now, it's little tentacles are all out. So I think he's happy.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Here's a day pick of the "probably dead" Dendros:

 

[Isaac Alves]

Reef Lounge USA has some nice stuff. A pretty large store for this area. They have Kessils, Radions, and Orpheks over their tanks. I asked one of the family members about lighting and he gave me their best spectrum for a mixed reef. Now this is based on the Radion Gen 3 pros they have hanging. This is where AquaIllumination's web interface shines,...I pulled up the iPhone app and adjusted the schedule with him.

I saved this profile and will see if it improves my growth and helps with other issues.

Interestingly, they run all blue for six hours with one or two hours of full spectrum.

Here's a pic of the Reef Lounge USA schedule for my AI FiftyTwo HD:

...note: I do ramp up and down. They don't.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Bubble Coral (Plerogyra sinuosa) is looking good.

The polyps seem very expanded today.

 

[Isaac Alves]

MP10 Vortechs have adjusted flow to go with new lighting spectrum schedule.

This is an dual MP10 Scheme I pulled off of the Fusion App Scheme community. I adjusted it a bit too soften the flow.

This scheme is really nice for producing random flow throughout the day.