Matt's natural reef
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Dealing with the uglies and don't have enough time to clean the glass
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Well I cleaned the glass and did some testing.
NO3 - 25ppm
PO4 - >3ppm
PH - 8.6
Cal - >500
KH - 7.6
NO3 - 25ppm
PO4 - >3ppm
PH - 8.6
Cal - >500
KH - 7.6
Subsea
5000 Club Member
I saw what looked like Apstasia on my new live rock. For now I will do nothing. If it starts to get out of control, I will get a nudibranch and/or CBB.
Edit: maybe I should just kill what I find.
View attachment 20190202_183615.jpg
Aptasia are easy to spot treat. Peroxide is a great oxidizer of pest in & out of tank.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
I received a box of rock today. I got 17 lbs of premium live rock from gulfliverock.com I have never bought live rock before so I don't know how it compares to others. First off it came in a plastic bag with paper towel on top of the rock and enough water to cover the rocks. The rock was shipped with a heater pack and was still warm when it arrived. This rock was definitely in the Ocean curing for awhile. I'm not sure of the quality of the base rock used. Some of the pieces were oddly shaped. Here's the pics.
Matt,
You received uncured diver collected live rock which was mined in Florida rock quaries from ancient lime stone reef laid down by Byazones, which are more primitive than Sponges. Railroad cars transported
> 10M tons to barges which floated to leases 10 miles offshore Tampa Bay in 30’ of water. If you ask @Dana Riddle, he can give you a reference to PAR value, so that you will know that spectrum & intensity.
I spoke with one diver owner two days ago. With the information that I just gave you, you have the
“life history” dating back 300 million years. That is an impressive “chain of custody” you now have for such beauty & diversity.
During this curing process, you should stop measuring numbers and help oxidation chemistry by providing more circulation, more gas exchange. Install air bubblers. Also, you should help by using granulated activated carbon to remove yellow from phenols and other DOC.
If you could borrow an oxygen monitor, it would tell you everything. Until money is available, you must use bio-indicators: yellow water, cloudy water, rapid breathing of fish, closed polyps and the list goes on".........
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
Sometimes the janitors in our tanks fall victim to these natural defenses. Sometimes the janitors in our tanks are the source of some of these toxins.
Anthony Calfo is an accomplished author & reef hobbiest. The second time that I meant him was in Pittsburgh at MARSH event. He was a diva then with two bodyguards, an attractive husband & wife team of retired policemen, having fun and getting paid. During dinner conversation, he mentioned licking his finger after fragging paly’s. He said his vocal mussels shut down for several hours.
Dana Riddle
2500 Club Member
I received similar rock from KP Aquatics back in November, and this process worked well for me. Place the rock in a 5-gallon bucket and aerate (although I used a 100-gallon tub with 20 gallons of water so I could protein skim.)
Perform 25% water changes daily for the first 3 days. Test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH every few days. Don't let ammonia go higher than about 0.5 ppm. Afterwards perform biweekly water changes of 50% until your levels read zero.
Do this is darkness - light can encourage growths of unwanted algae. In my case curing took about 3 weeks and was helped by adding a heater to keep water at about 82 degrees. I added a light after the curing was complete and calcareous algae growths were explosive - but monitor calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity. Unidentified corals (likely Porites) survived all this too, much to my surprise. Let me know if you have any lighting questions.
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
I have found that if I increase my return pump flow through my sump, the water flowing over the weir in my return chamber will cause bubbles which will come out in my DT in the form of 1000s of micro bubbles. This should help?
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Yes, that addresses BOD in water column. The source of the BOD is in the live rock, therefore maximize water flow to wash away decaying stuff and give oxygen a chance at the source of the BOD. That requires water velocity not micro bubbles.
@Matt Carden
PS: In a tank of that size, you could use a paddle and create chaotic turulent flow
In my 4’ long tanks, using large cleaning magnets, I create a surge effect by dancing with the waves, without getting water hand wet.
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vlangel
Seahorse whisperer
That is not a regular aiptasia although it is related. It is a corkscrew/ curlique anemone and they do not multiply like aiptasia. They will form a symbiotic relation with pistol shrimp. They can grow fairly large if fed a lot of food.I saw what looked like Apstasia on my new live rock. For now I will do nothing. If it starts to get out of control, I will get a nudibranch and/or CBB.
Edit: maybe I should just kill what I find.
View attachment 20190202_183615.jpg
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Green algae outbreak looks better today. I keep seeing little explosions coming from my live rock.
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Friday FTS!
I have not cleaned my glass since Saturday. If you compare my last FTS with today's, there is less algae on my glass! I have a thriving colony of pods covering my glass. They are white, probably 1mm long by 1/20mm wide. Looks like really small rice.
I have not cleaned my glass since Saturday. If you compare my last FTS with today's, there is less algae on my glass! I have a thriving colony of pods covering my glass. They are white, probably 1mm long by 1/20mm wide. Looks like really small rice.
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Still waiting on my GARF order. It was supposed to be here Thursday.
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
The growth on my live rock is crazy. There is an explosion every couple of minutes. My water is cloudy from all the debris being spewed into the water column. A pic of a snail that is easily 10 times bigger than when I got him 3 weeks ago. He grew so fast his shell is split in several places.
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View attachment 20190216_220529.jpg
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
More uglies algae starting to grow today. Got a yellow Wrasse and a fire fish and a Ricordia frag as my first additions.
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View attachment 20190217_173857.jpg
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
So on Saturday 2/23/19 I did a 10% water change. I pulled out a gallon ziploc full of macro from my fuge. Cleaned the front glass, that stuff was really stuck on there! I found my fire fish dead☹
Kaylee named our Yellow Wrasse - Jerry. He seems to be doing good so far. My Ricordia seems to be doing well also. In fact he seemed to open up while I was cleaning the glass from the stirred up sediment.
Kaylee named our Yellow Wrasse - Jerry. He seems to be doing good so far. My Ricordia seems to be doing well also. In fact he seemed to open up while I was cleaning the glass from the stirred up sediment.
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
crusso1993
7500 Club Member
I've seen you on the main reef-pi thread and just read through this build thread and am now following along. I like what you have going on but it sucks about the firefish.
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Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Thank you.
I have added alot of diversity over the last few weeks and I guess it's just a little too stressful for certain fish. Jerry has been eating well since I introduced him. The fire fish, which we hadn't named yet was eating but not very much. I am currently feeding Hikari frozen brine. Could the food been the problem?
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