Krawl's First Reef Tank Attempt (90g)

[Brew12]

We have not updated much. Didn't know if anyone is interested. We have had the tank up and running for a year. If anyone wants to see what's going on, let us know and we can post some pictures. A lot has changed that is for sure!

Still waiting for some photos.... ;)

 

[Krawl]

Wow... There is life! Okay here is some pictures of the tank when we came back from vacation. The person watching the tank way over feed the tank! So some things got set in motion to stop this!



This is our Zoa colony!



GHA was a huge issue! Asking around amd talking to thr LFS we staryed dosing vibrant twice a week!

 

[Krawl]

Vibrant kicked in. Too over a month at twice a week with biweekly water changes. Slowly getting back to where it needs to be. Still have some green algae (Not sure the name) but I can clean it. I know off the rock with a power head and try and vacuum of the sand at water changes.

This is about a month in...



You can see we had some growth starting back up.

 

[Brew12]

Vibrant kicked in. Too over a month at twice a week with biweekly water changes. Slowly getting back to where it needs to be. Still have some green algae (Not sure the name) but I can clean it. I know off the rock with a power head and try and vacuum of the sand at water changes.

This is about a month in...



You can see we had some growth starting back up.

Now that is looking much better!

Vibrant does work very well if you can keep the Cyano away.

 

[Krawl]

Yes so far so good! Back to once a week now with biweekly water changes.

So end of last month, our zoas feel down off tbd top rock. I had cut my hand pretty bad so I didn't want to stick my hand in the tank so I left it there. It was good for the zoas! They started growing! They have started to take a good turn!

 

[Krawl]

Not a lot has changed with the tank but have a HUGE update...



We are one of the cool kids now! Totally forgot these were coming. Very cool!

@revhtree, can you send me a PM about this please sir.

 

[Krawl]

Wait... Just looked back through our thread. I guess there is a lot to update. 6-7 new coral and our new 14g Biocube! Have not posted any of that. Lol...

 

[Krawl]

Okay let's bring this back from the dead. Call it a last ditch effort maybe? We started in the hobby almost three years ago. Man, how time flies. Started for the love of the ocean. The corals are just amazing and the fish. Love how the colors pop when everything is just right.

So, over the past year, not much has happened. Nothing good that is. The tank has went downhill. Fish wise we are down to our big clown (might need to post a picture) and our coral beauty that has been in the tank since the beginning. We dont have dye off persay but we just keep losing fish. Really! They are there one day and then we never see them again!

Coral... the big green zoa colon is gone. I have 2 zoa polyps on frag pedistool. We have 2 okay size green start popup colony's but that is it. Word has it though GSP will grow just about anywhere so not a grad achievement.

What are we growing though? Green hair algae! I think we had the best collection around. My wife said it would kinda wave at you as you walked by! Lol. It was to the point where it had covered the tank and would wave back and forth. Some hairs were easy 4-5" long! Yeah... I hit rock bottom and gave up. Nothing was working, nothing was growing, and it seemed like no one would read my comments here... so I gave up! Hit rock bottom! I think it started when we were fighting with the tank. Nothing was growing and just putting more and more money into it. My wife surprised me and got me a Kessil AP700 the LFS said we needed for the corals. $1000 in a light and all we could grow was algae! Soni just let it go. Wave makers stopped working and I was just done!!

Finally, after almost a year went back into the LFS. Not sure for what but their display tank up front is a inspiration. We were there. We have most of the equipment but nothing to show for it. That day, we picked up 2 more wave makers and finally a proper mount for our light, and a ATO. Dang it! I am going to give it one more shot before it all gets sold. I dont want to give up and I cant. I want one of the reef tanks we see everywhere...

So, did a lot of cleaning. Fixed the light (still think my programming is wrong and could use some help) and got 3 of the wave makers running. Still need a yank for the ATO but that will get taken care of this week. I am going to do weekly water changes 2 in so far) and going to test water every Wednesday I hope. Hopefully I can get some involved here and help push me and to help me stay on course!

Then if there is any equipment or anything we can do different, hopefully someone will chime in and tell me! 3 years in and dang it... I want some nice coral to look at. Is that to much to ask?

So, what do you guys think? Want to help? Want to see a FTS sump pictures... anything??

Thanks guys.
-Krawl

 

[Krawl]

Got home and snapped a picture of our zoa and GSP. No clue on what the zoA is LOL...





View attachment 20190306_194442.jpg

View attachment 20190306_194442.jpg

 

[Krawl]

Okay no clue why it posted it 3 times. Lol same little colony but just different angles. Sorry about that...

 

[Krawl]

What are some good, reef safe fish we can add to help take care of the small GHA that is left in the tank?

 

[Krawl]

Did a water test. Having a hard time getting the calcium to come out right. It referres to the color as blue but the color to match to is purple... and getting purple is hard! I will post a picture and let me know which one you think is right. Here is what we came up with...

Call 18drops at 360
KH 6 drops at 107.4
Phosphate 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

 

[Crustaceon]

Did a water test. Having a hard time getting the calcium to come out right. It referres to the color as blue but the color to match to is purple... and getting purple is hard! I will post a picture and let me know which one you think is right. Here is what we came up with...

Call 18drops at 360
KH 6 drops at 107.4
Phosphate 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

Get the red sea calcium and alkalinity tests. I’m partially color blind and even I can see the color change. I flat out can’t use API tests and the like for that reason.

Also, you don’t want 0 nitrates. Fish can tolerate high and low ranges of nitrates & phosphates but corals can’t. Either they need a few ppm of nitrates present or if you export nutrients like crazy, you’ll also have to feed like crazy to compensate. Phosphates can be undetectable and there’s an age-old theory that they are continually consumed and released which made it notoriously difficult to accurately measure until recently. Essentially, if you’re still getting algae growth your panels, you still have phosphates. Even the very best reef tanks still need their panels scrubbed of algae regularly. IMO, it’s best for coral growth and coloration to keep nutrients low but not non-existent.

 

[Krawl]

Wow.... there is people that are actually reading this. We were starting to wonder!

Yeah, I was thinking that the nitrates were low. That could also be caused by the green hair in the tank? Still fighting that battle. Also, we feed the 2 fish in the tank pellets twice a week. Would increasing the feedings help?

LFS called and said our new tank lids were in. So we are going to try and get them soon. I guess we should being down the hight of the Kessil to compensate? Also they mentioned they had a Yellow Eye Kehol Tang that could help with the GHA. Any thoughts?

Did see some new GSP on a rock today! That was not there last water change so we are seeing some sort of growth back in the tank!

 

[Reefpuck]

Just because people aren't commenting...doesn't mean they ain't looking!

The more updates (and photos) the better...it's what keeps people interested in these tank builds. I have the same exact 90g as you...but haven't started my build thread yet. Following along on your build.

 

[Krawl]

Just because people aren't commenting...doesn't mean they ain't looking!

The more updates (and photos) the better...it's what keeps people interested in these tank builds. I have the same exact 90g as you...but haven't started my build thread yet. Following along on your build.

Lol very true. I guess the more people comment the more it makes us want to post pictures and updates!

I have a few projects we are working on. Once we get those finished I will get some full tank pictures. I can also get some of the sump and the APEX setup. One day, we will have great looking reef tank like the cool kids at R2R!

Thanks for the post and words of encouragement!

 

[Crustaceon]

Wow.... there is people that are actually reading this. We were starting to wonder!

Yeah, I was thinking that the nitrates were low. That could also be caused by the green hair in the tank? Still fighting that battle. Also, we feed the 2 fish in the tank pellets twice a week. Would increasing the feedings help?

LFS called and said our new tank lids were in. So we are going to try and get them soon. I guess we should being down the hight of the Kessil to compensate? Also they mentioned they had a Yellow Eye Kehol Tang that could help with the GHA. Any thoughts?

Did see some new GSP on a rock today! That was not there last water change so we are seeing some sort of growth back in the tank!

Enough GHA can absolutely consume every bit of nitrates and phosphates in a tank. Some of us even grow the stuff with algae turf scrubbers as a form of nitrate and phosphate reduction. The trick to getting rid of GHA is to physically remove it before it starves, decays and releases those nutrients back into the water and growing more GHA. Simply by keeping nitrates and phosphates low, GHA will have a tough time taking hold and critters like a Mexican turbo snail or two will keep your rocks and panels clean-ish. I would advise against adding a fish to control GHA as it’s really hit or miss and either way, you’ll be stuck with a worse nitrate and phosphate source in the tank than a few snails.

 

[Krawl]

Enough GHA can absolutely consume every bit of nitrates and phosphates in a tank. Some of us even grow the stuff with algae turf scrubbers as a form of nitrate and phosphate reduction. The trick to getting rid of GHA is to physically remove it before it starves, decays and releases those nutrients back into the water and growing more GHA. Simply by keeping nitrates and phosphates low, GHA will have a tough time taking hold and critters like a Mexican turbo snail or two will keep your rocks and panels clean-ish. I would advise against adding a fish to control GHA as it’s really hit or miss and either way, you’ll be stuck with a worse nitrate and phosphate source in the tank than a few snails.

Yeah fighting the GHA is tough. We have been doing weekly water changes now (except this week and you will see why in the next post). While doing the water changes we have been doing the "pluck and pull" method. Pluck and pull the GHA off the rock and suck it up with the siphon tube. I do need to get more CUC. I dont know why but they keep coming up empty shells in the tank. Had a urchin at one time that did good. Might go back that route. Like the diamond gobi for the sand but have lost 2 of them so far...

 

[Krawl]

So this is why no water change this week. Needed all the fresh water for our new ATO setup! Hopefully this well help keep the water level in the tank where it needs to be. I am a business owner and never home at a decent time. Have came home many times and the sump is blowing air. The up and down water levels have got to be hard on the corals in the tank. Hopefully this will help level it off. Now back to making water for another water change this weekend. Also, a trip to the LFS to pickup our lids and maybe a few other things! If you guys want, I can take some pictures of their cool frag tank and predator tank. Not to mention their really nice main display tank. One of my favorite!

 

[Crustaceon]

Yeah fighting the GHA is tough. We have been doing weekly water changes now (except this week and you will see why in the next post). While doing the water changes we have been doing the "pluck and pull" method. Pluck and pull the GHA off the rock and suck it up with the siphon tube. I do need to get more CUC. I dont know why but they keep coming up empty shells in the tank. Had a urchin at one time that did good. Might go back that route. Like the diamond gobi for the sand but have lost 2 of them so far...

Typically what happens is the CC wants to only eat the tasty algae and by the time the only thing really left is GHA, they’re too weak to go after it and die, often leaving only a few snails that were “on the ball” and outlasted their competition long enough for that tasty algae to come back as a result of the decaying CC corpses and lack of CC competition.