Keith's IM 100 INT

[crabgrass]

Weekend update:

- Sadly the Leopard wrasse is a goner. I found him Saturday after being MIA for a day. They are a more difficult type of Wrasse, and even when he was alive, spent 18 hours a day hiding in the sand. It may had issue from stress of transport and acclimating/ eating (although I tried attempted to feed them everything they were eating at dr reefs). This is my first saltwater fish death in either tank. I will go with a more hardy variety of wrasse next time

- New Tangs are doing great. Eating everything in site. I swear the yellow grew 25% in a week. They were raised on shirp and pellets, so I am training them on nori (may have had a break through with the Yellow this evening). Lots of good posts here on how to train them

- Diatoms came and went last week (3 days total maybe). I am sitting at 0 N and 0 P which is a little concerning, some upping the feeding and took the skimmmer cap off for a few days.

- Tank is chewing through Alk. I am guessing it’s a combination of the live rock and also growing new correline (pink spots are showing up on the dry rock now — much earlier than I expected). Alk will drop beteeen 0.5 - 1 dkh a day. I started dosing AFR and some supplementary Part B yesterday to keep things level.

- My 20g in the office continued to have a terrible GHA issue that I could not kick. My Coral were suffering, so I made a game time decision to clean up the frags and give the plugs a quick dip in hydrogen peroxide before transferring to the new tank. Also moved the Urchin (after giving it a good brush off of all the GHA), and remaining small remnants of the CuC in there.

All of the Coral seemed to have accepted the transfer. The cyphestria got some peroxide on the tissue unfortunately during the dip. It looks OK, but is be shielded from a direct light for a while.

- And lastly, the live rock is insane to look at at night. It’s creepy but very cool. So many sponges and sweeper tenticals thar come out. Like there are some tenticles that look like they are 6-8 inches. I am not sure if all of it is “good” at this point and how much will bother corals. It’s cool to look at and certaibly is helping the micro-biome

 

[crabgrass]

Start of the Weekend update:

- Tank has been nuisance algae free for the first 4 weeks- outside of the initial Diatoms outbreak. I think this is a combination of pre-cycle rock, live rock addition, fuge and heavy a healthy clean-up crew from the start. I am also not naive enough to think that the first 4 weeks is a good window for success. It is a very small window to measure, and time will tell. Remind me to look at this comment in April and September

- Nutrients this week are looking better:
- N: 5
- P: 0.14
I had increased feeding a bit and took the collection cap off the skimmer for a couple of days to try and get the P up. I am planning of a WC today, but not mess with anything else and see if we can get the parameters to balance out. My goal is to get N into the 5-30 range and P to be at .1 - .15 or so.

- Fish are doing great. Feeding 5x a day (half cube in AM and a half at night). Variety of pellets in between. Still struggling to feed Nori, but it’s a process

- corals transplanted great. I have been ramping up the lighting over a week and they seem to be happy in the new tank (certainly better than in my 20g). I have been feeding phyto nightly and direct feed them once a week (a reef roids mix).

 

[StrictlyBusiness]

Should add a variety of copopods to deal with the diatoms and nuisance algae, also would have gone a long way with leopard wrasse. They graze on them all day long. need a healthy population that has had months to fully populate the system before adding those types of fish. My 2 cents!

 

[crabgrass]

I dumped about half a gallon of copods into the tank right after it was setup (rocks were cycled). Diatoms disappeared in about 2 days after appearing so I think they helped

 

[crabgrass]

Start of the Weekend update:

- Tank has been nuisance algae free for the first 4 weeks- outside of the initial Diatoms outbreak. I think this is a combination of pre-cycle rock, live rock addition, fuge and heavy a healthy clean-up crew from the start. I am also not naive enough to think that the first 4 weeks is a good window for success. It is a very small window to measure, and time will tell. Remind me to look at this comment in April and September

Diatoms!

I jinxed myself with the statement above. So interesting observation- A week after putting sand and rocks into my tank, I got a diatom bloom on the sand (completly covered). Within 3 days, it all went away (maybe a combination of Pods helping + running its course). Diatoms didn't go over any of the rock.

About 30 days later, I got a second bloom. I was traveling this week, but my wife reported that that the glass was completely covered in tough "algae" (what I observed was Diatoms when i came back). Within a couple of days the glass coverage went from 80% coverage to about 50%. By this AM we were down to about 35%. The dry rocks (ones that just had a 30 day cycle) are now getting hit with diatoms. The live rocks are untouched (as I would expect).

I am not really concerned, as I know this is just running the natural course. I was suprised about how much of the glass was covered however.

Needless to say, the CUC army is happily eating.

Nitrates are sitting at 8, and Phosphate is at .09 - which is in my ideal range.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Diatoms!

I jinxed myself with the statement above. So interesting observation- A week after putting sand and rocks into my tank, I got a diatom bloom on the sand (completly covered). Within 3 days, it all went away (maybe a combination of Pods helping + running its course). Diatoms didn't go over any of the rock.

About 30 days later, I got a second bloom. I was traveling this week, but my wife reported that that the glass was completely covered in tough "algae" (what I observed was Diatoms when i came back). Within a couple of days the glass coverage went from 80% coverage to about 50%. By this AM we were down to about 35%. The dry rocks (ones that just had a 30 day cycle) are now getting hit with diatoms. The live rocks are untouched (as I would expect).

I am not really concerned, as I know this is just running the natural course. I was suprised about how much of the glass was covered however.

Needless to say, the CUC army is happily eating.

Nitrates are sitting at 8, and Phosphate is at .09 - which is in my ideal range.

I've noticed that my sand has a diatom bloom. wasn't till the light got turned on. turned the % down a few times but then just keeps coming as the light % goes up. added the full CUC on Wed. Hoping they help. I just don't know what I should run this light at really. I stirred up my sand bed 3 times and placed a 4x12 or so filter floss over the socks to help get some residual fine sand and gunk out. will do a water change on both tanks this weekend but I just shoveled 2" of heavy slop so not today. but I have the water in jugs. too cold outside to run my RODI.

 

[crabgrass]

I've noticed that my sand has a diatom bloom. wasn't till the light got turned on. turned the % down a few times but then just keeps coming as the light % goes up. added the full CUC on Wed. Hoping they help. I just don't know what I should run this light at really. I stirred up my sand bed 3 times and placed a 4x12 or so filter floss over the socks to help get some residual fine sand and gunk out. will do a water change on both tanks this weekend but I just shoveled 2" of heavy slop so not today. but I have the water in jugs. too cold outside to run my RODI.

Mine are there all of the time (although fading - assuming chewing through silicates in the water). I use RO water for water changes so far, but someone accidentally added about a gallon of tap into the tank 2 weeks ago, that maybe refueld them (for me)?

I know this is normal course for the tank, and since I have livestock, I've just kept running my lights as normal (at around 40%).

Good idea around the extra filter to capture the crud too.

I am relying on my CUC right now, and fish to do the sand stirring. I have about 100 inverts in the tank + Conch that is moving stuff around.

Was your Sand actually live (purchased with your live rocks), or dead + bacteria. Mine was the latter.

 

[crabgrass]

will do a water change on both tanks this weekend but I just shoveled 2" of heavy slop so not today. but I have the water in jugs. too cold outside to run my RODI.

Are you planning on doing a tank transfer at some point, or keep both of them running?

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Mine are there all of the time (although fading - assuming chewing through silicates in the water). I use RO water for water changes so far, but someone accidentally added about a gallon of tap into the tank 2 weeks ago, that maybe refueld them (for me)?

I know this is normal course for the tank, and since I have livestock, I've just kept running my lights as normal (at around 40%).

Good idea around the extra filter to capture the crud too.

I am relying on my CUC right now, and fish to do the sand stirring. I have about 100 inverts in the tank + Conch that is moving stuff around.

Was your Sand actually live (purchased with your live rocks), or dead + bacteria. Mine was the latter.

I had dead Arag Fiji Pink. I'm using the RO from Whole Foods probably till spring. My sink faucets have unusual threads to get adaptors. And don't think I want to add it to the toilet compression hose. WF's water is only $0.49 a gallon. I put pods in the tank as soon as Dinkins started delivering again. So I think 2 weeks. The photo though fuels the growth each time. I have one large strawberry conch in there right now dredging some sand. I'd put the Jawfish over there but don't want to clean the rocks off.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

Are you planning on doing a tank transfer at some point, or keep both of them running?

it'll be a long time for the transfer but eventually. Going with a two spot octopus for the start then will transfer over after the 6-24 months. Gotta do it. Everything's ready but just waiting for more tank maturity and a vacation.

 

[crabgrass]

I had dead Arag Fiji Pink. I'm using the RO from Whole Foods probably till spring. My sink faucets have unusual threads to get adaptors. And don't think I want to add it to the toilet compression hose. WF's water is only $0.49 a gallon. I put pods in the tank as soon as Dinkins started delivering again. So I think 2 weeks. The photo though fuels the growth each time. I have one large strawberry conch in there right now dredging some sand. I'd put the Jawfish over there but don't want to clean the rocks off.

i did basically the same - added pods and dosing phyto daily. I didn't correlate the two, but mine might be related to Phyto being added.

 

[StrictlyBusiness]

I probably wouldn’t have nitrates that high until you’re trying to get some established corals going. your tank is too young and unestablished with enough bio diversity to out compete the nuisance algae. the uglies will happen regardless and it seems like everything is normal but for now I would try to keep the nitrates much lower.

 

[crabgrass]

I probably wouldn’t have nitrates that high until you’re trying to get some established corals going. your tank is too young and unestablished with enough bio diversity to out compete the nuisance algae. the uglies will happen regardless and it seems like everything is normal but for now I would try to keep the nitrates much lower.

Nitrate at 8 is too high? I am not an expert, but trying to push much lower will cause a lot more problems, right?

 

[StrictlyBusiness]

Your tank is about a month old, you have to remember that it’s an ecosystem, an ecosystem has to work in balance. At a month old, and no live rock, the past algae’s don’t have enough natural predators to be out competed. You did the right thing by adding copopods, but then you added the wrasse right away. Most people would tell you to wait 12-18 months before adding something that feeds on copopods so they have a chance to populate the tank fully. I think that’s a bit aggressive but the idea is sound. Copopods feed on things like diatoms. Your wrasse, probably decimated your pod population, then starved. No pods left, and the diatoms flourished.
If your interested BRS did a wonderful job of breaking it all down here:

 

[crabgrass]

Your tank is about a month old, you have to remember that it’s an ecosystem, an ecosystem has to work in balance. At a month old, and no live rock, the past algae’s don’t have enough natural predators to be out competed. You did the right thing by adding copopods, but then you added the wrasse right away. Most people would tell you to wait 12-18 months before adding something that feeds on copopods so they have a chance to populate the tank fully. I think that’s a bit aggressive but the idea is sound. Copopods feed on things like diatoms. Your wrasse, probably decimated your pod population, then starved. No pods left, and the diatoms flourished.
If your interested BRS did a wonderful job of breaking it all down here:

Plenty of pods on sand and substrate at night (when viewed with a red flash light at night). Second round of diatoms also disappeared within a couple of days so I am assuming they are doing their job.

The tank is also 15% live ocean rock, that is super active.

Agree on the “too early” for a leopard wrasse. I didn’t realize how sensitive they were and that was an oversight on my part. I got it from Dr Reef and it was quarantined on shrimp and blood worms (same diet I fed it). They can be poor shipppers and extra sensitive. But yeah - too early..

 

[crabgrass]

Did a final migration of Coral in another tank + added a few more stuff over the weekend. Video below.

1. Added some torches to the left (may need to move as they are extended / encroaching on other stuff)
2. Acans, bottom left
3. Hammer garden mid-left.
4. Blastos garden lower mid
5. Goni garden is mid-center + leptra
6. Couple of Montis up top (not adding new SPS yet, but we’re transplanted and had to move).
7. Mushrooms bottom right
8. Pipe organs mid-right
9. RFA mid-right (they will move themselfs, so tbd)
10. Rando hammer mid-right
11. baby Duncans on island in lower center-right
12. Plate Coral Bottom of tank (ontop of some gravel)

Not in picture, but there is a single cephastria on a tiny rock island in the center + 2x chalices on the far left side of the tank against the rock work.

Probably missing a couple others.

 

[Fishy Guy]

Looks great!

 

[crabgrass]

Looks great!

Thanks. I am pretty happy about how it’s turning out. The dry rock is 60 days old at this point and the mix of ocean rock has helped things mature (filter feeders and sponges are showing up on some of the dry rock now + new patches of correlline).

I am positive I’ll get him with many more rounds of uglies, but so far it’s a couple quick rounds of diatoms.

Everything added so far is pretty “easy” LPS or softies and I am not planning to add anything challenging quite yet (or maybe ever in a mixed). But what has been added appears happy so far.

 

[crabgrass]

Weekend Update - Overall things have been going along great

- All fish getting along great. Yellow is hanging out with the Clowns about 50% of the day. At this point I think they think they are a clown. Kole spends half the time in a cave and the other half pecking rocks. The lawnmower provides overwatch and tries to keep them inline.

- All of the Corals moved are looking good and fully extended, minus a plate coral. For one reason or another it basically died within 48 hours of coming into the tank.

- parameters are OK. 11 N, 0.14 P. I will try and run fuge slighly longer to try and get the P down

- Alk is 8.4-8.9. I started dosing AFR a few weeks ago and still dialing it in. Calcium is at 450. I would like the all to be in the 8.25 - 8.5 range. The tank consumes about 0.5 - 1 dkh of Alk per day.

- Added second round of pods and continuing to feed phyto nightly.

- Recalibrated Ph, IV and Salinity proves for Hydros IV. Without offsetting values they seem dead on with Hanna tests which is cool.

- Continued with 10% WC weekly. A few weeks ago I got the Python No spill setup for quick water changes. I had a hard time justifying the price, but it makes the WC process so fast and dry compared to how I would do it for a much smaller tank: with the money 100%.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

are you doing any CuC in the sump?