Jackie and Glenns 180g Reef Build

[prsnlty]

Watch your alk as you bring the nutrients down. I learned the hard way that when nutrients go down and alk goes up simultaneously and too quickly, it's not good news for SPS.

I'm with Bruce, the tank still looks great!

Yes I agree. For that reason I stopped the doser until I can get a handle on it. Ran tests after last night's wc... alk up to 10.5, po4 down to .o4, no3 5, ca 425. No more water changes for now. Letting things settle now aside from removing the dead. I'm not liking green on the surface of the sb and glass though...

 

[prsnlty]

I noticed something else too. No asterina stars left to feed the harlequin shrimp... I need to go get him a starfish.

 

[prsnlty]

Update.
My skinny bn that is actually sitting on the sb between the overflows is flourishing. It is not getting a lot of light down there but it's fluffy and colorful as can be LOL my thick bird's nest at the top seems to be recovering as is the Stylo and the green slimer is green again not neon but green. The purple Slimer is still surviving as is the Red Robin. Pretty much the rest of the acro's are gone. The Bonsai is 80% gone however the frag I took of it is doing well and the part of the colony that is alive is doing well I'm just not sure if it's going to stay that way. I also have another purple Acro that I lost the majority of seems to be getting color on some of the Dead tips along with polyps. I'm debating on what to do about this one. Here are a couple not so good pictures. I'll habe more tomorrow.

 

[Maritimer]

Hopefully, the coral will recolonize the dead skeleton ... but maybe take a frag from it for insurance?

~Bruce

 

[Richard baker]

If you have anything you want me to house for you until you get your tank stable let me know

 

[prsnlty]

The tank is definitely stable now and of course something just has to go wrong... Had some sort of power surge and it blew out my return. Waiting on another to arrive Thursday. In the meantime I came up with a game plan to keep water circulating from sump to tank. I simply hooked up a maxi jet 1200 and a MAG 5 pump that I had lying around and ran the hoses into the tank and just let them over flow back to the sump. It's slow flowing but it is definitely flowing and that's what counts. Of course my powerheads create quite a wave in the DT so I'm not concerned with loss of flow there.

 

[Janci]

Luck, or even normal, is not at your side lately, Jackie. Good solution you found and another proof (which i will use here at home) to never have enough equipment!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Jackie, sorry to hear about the return pump, but kudos to you on the work-around while you wait for the new pump to arrive. Glad to hear that the tank is stable. This hobby has it's ups and downs for sure...

 

[hybridazn]

Glad to see things stabilizing. I'd get that alk down with those nutrient numbers, closer to 8-9 would be best.

 

[prsnlty]

Glad to see things stabilizing. I'd get that alk down with those nutrient numbers, closer to 8-9 would be best.

Yes I have done so It is now 9.1 and holding. I turned off the doser until the DT got to 9 then turned it back on and readjusted it.

 

[prsnlty]

Being that my house is closed up now for the summer I can't go below 9 without loss of color and growth. I am doing what I call low dosing vodka for both bacteria and to drop the nitrates and phosphates some. And to keep them where they are. The coral colors are coming back beautifully. Check out this green slimer that turned brown. Its branches are not only thicker but Lush and colorful also.

 

[prsnlty]

Jackie, sorry to hear about the return pump, but kudos to you on the work-around while you wait for the new pump to arrive. Glad to hear that the tank is stable. This hobby has it's ups and downs for sure...

Thank you when I finally got over my frustration I was sitting in front of the tank and thought "Well all I need is flow going into the tank from the sump to keep the sump from going foul. There's great flow in the dt." Then remembered I had a MAG 5 stuffed in a closet and knew that wouldn't be quite enough the only thing I had left was Maxi Jets. So I decided to hook up both the mag 5 and one of the Maxi Jets and it is just enough for the water to ripple through the sump from the overflow drains. I have a MAG 9.5 but it requires a much larger tube line and I didn't want it blowing sand everywhere. Next time I rebuild my piping I'm going to add an emergency valve to hook up an extra return such as a MAG 12 in the main line.

lol It sure does! And it tends to get you when things are going better than ever [emoji12]

I think the controller for the return is shorted out (it was sparking) so when I ordered the new pump I also ordered an extra controller. If it fixes the other pump then I have an extra pump, if it doesn't fix it then I have an extra controller. LOL

 

[prsnlty]

Luck, or even normal, is not at your side lately, Jackie. Good solution you found and another proof (which i will use here at home) to never have enough equipment!

Lol, that's for sure! It's ok, I am great at bouncing back after I get over it [emoji12]

I rarely get rid of extra equipment. And because of that I set up 3 other tanks with much of it and still got lucky enough to have the pumps to keep the flow in the 180 while waiting on the new one to arrive My husband says I'm a hoarder lol

 

[prsnlty]

In the next couple of weeks I intend to build a DIY Rock ancient Bridge from one of the overflows to the really large Rock in the middle of the tank. Then it will have to cure of course which is going to take probably a month maybe less if I'm lucky. The bridge is intended to create more swim room for the tangs and I'm going to put acro's across it. I thought I might add my leptos onto the sides of it. It will be 12 inches in height by 16 inches long and 4 expanding to five inches at the ends wide. Or at least that is the game plan the end results will tell the tale [emoji6] but during this time while I wait to be able to use it I am removing all of those rocks with the paly's on them that are in that area. I figure that within a year one will hardly notice that it is a bridge at all. It's going to look something like this one.

 

[justingraham]

In the next couple of weeks I intend to build a DIY Rock ancient Bridge from one of the overflows to the really large Rock in the middle of the tank. Then it will have to cure of course which is going to take probably a month maybe less if I'm lucky. The bridge is intended to create more swim room for the tangs and I'm going to put acro's across it. I thought I might add my leptos onto the sides of it. It will be 12 inches in height by 16 inches long and 4 expanding to five inches at the ends wide. Or at least that is the game plan the end results will tell the tale [emoji6] but during this time while I wait to be able to use it I am removing all of those rocks with the paly's on them that are in that area. I figure that within a year one will hardly notice that it is a bridge at all. It's going to look something like this one.

Haven't you been talking about this for awhile??? I'm excited to see it

 

[prsnlty]

Haven't you been talking about this for awhile??? I'm excited to see it

Hahaha, yes [emoji12] But I am going to do it now. Gotta take advantage of all the coral no longer there and loss off rock that I have to remove due to runaway palys

 

[prsnlty]

I've been wanting to do this rock project for at least a year... I am ALWAYS busy doing projects of all sorts (not just reef related) plus have a pretty large family (it is somebody's something weekly) and I babysit my granddaughter 5 days a week on top of it all. Last week while my "crafty" 20 yr old was here she coerced me into building her several things for her craft room. She wanted a thread rack like the one I built myself then she wanted a rack that held ribbon and turned into a table plus a paper rack for about 40 different styles of paper and 2 Peg boards for her walls LOL.
The 1st pic is her thread rack before all the dowels were added, the 2nd pic is her craft room with the pegboard and paper holder. I'm still waiting on her to send the pic of the fold out work table/ribbon rack lol.

Anyway sometimes it takes me a long time to get to projects that I really want to do...

 

[prsnlty]

Today is my last day off of babysitting so I am busy cleaning up after all the kids now that they're gone and filling up ATO'S, changing socks, refilling dosing containers and doing general minor maintenance on all 4 tanks. Oh and hanging out on the forum lol!

The new return is due to arrive tomorrow and hopefully I can remove and replace on my own. I sometimes need extra help because my arms are just a little short for the job. I can reach but it's hard to get a grip on it. I should've made that chamber with just a little more room in hindsight....

 

[prsnlty]

New return pump arrived and installed. I have ordered another since this one is loud and flow isn't consistent and steady... When the next new pump arrives this pump is going back.... ugh

 

[Janci]

New return pump arrived and installed. I have ordered another since this one is loud and flow isn't consistent and steady... When the next new pump arrives this pump is going back.... ugh

Ouch... that sucks