Matt's natural reef

[That Crusso Kid]

1200 gph - head and friction loss so I'm guessing 500gph.

What return pump are you running? I ask because if you're @1200gph with zero head I'd be surprised if it dropped to 500gph with the short run you have back to your tank.

The whole point of these questions is because I've seen many people have chaeto problems due to too much flow through their refugiums.

 

[Matt Carden]

Jaebo DCP 8000 running at 55%. 5ft of head with 2- long radius 90° and a 45°. I haven't increased flow and it was growing fine before. My uglies have switched from GHA type to green film on my glass that builds up within hours needing to be scraped. I also have black algae. My 3 hitchhiker Urchin seem to be keeping my rocks pretty clean. Overall my DT seems under control. I am running my fuge light 18 hours a day.

 

[Matt Carden]

I checked my NO3 today with a Salifert kit with a result of 2 ppm. I have been feeding alot of fresh frozen homemade mussels, clams, and oysters. There is obvious detritus build up on my sand and in my sump. Obviously my Nitrate removal processes are keeping up but need more work on my PO4 removal. I ordered some GFO from Marinedepot so hopefully that will help.

 

[Matt Carden]

Started running GFO on Friday. I checked with API PO4 kit yesterday and it seemed like my PO4 had dropped below 10ppm. Tested today with Salifert and API. Salifert still shows over 3ppm. API hasn't changed. I'll keep checking every day with the API kit.

My white reef saver rocks are now completely covered by a variety of algae.

 

[Matt Carden]

I just ordered 12 frags on the Aqua SD spring 40% off sale. They will be here Saturday!

 

[Matt Carden]

So I get home from work last night to see this
My Sea Cucumber stuck in a powerhead. After removal of said Sea Cucumber.
Checked on him a little while later
Looks like he'll be ok. Funny thing is I've never seen him. Kori received the order from LA and added the CUC into the tank.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

So I get home from work last night to see this
My Sea Cucumber stuck in a powerhead. After removal of said Sea Cucumber.
Checked on him a little while later
Looks like he'll be ok. Funny thing is I've never seen him. Kori received the order from LA and added the CUC into the tank.

Good stuff!

 

[Matt Carden]

I'm relatively certain that the following pics is a Tunicate. When I first got the live rock from gulfliverock.com I saw a protruding growth on this rock but it was covered in growth and I couldn't make out a mouth or anus. It has been fully uncovered by my many Urchin so I can now make out what it is.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I'm relatively certain that the following pics is a Tunicate. When I first got the live rock from gulfliverock.com I saw a protruding growth on this rock but it was covered in growth and I couldn't make out a mouth or anus. It has been fully uncovered by my many Urchin so I can now make out what it is.

Looks like a tunicate to me too.

 

[Matt Carden]

It's amazing to me the amount of reefers that don't want the diversity that comes with True Live Rock.

 

[Island Reef 242]

Looks like a tunicate to me too.

Looks like a oneicate to me :D. But who knows, one day there might be two :eek:

Biodiversity is the spice of life ;)

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Looks like a oneicate to me :D. But who knows, one day there might be two :eek:

Biodiversity is the spice of life ;)

You need to take a closer look. I know this because, at first glance, I thought it was a threenicate. However, upon some serious further examination, which mind you was very intense, I deduced it is, in fact, a tunicate. :p

 

[Island Reef 242]

You need to take a closer look. I know this because, at first glance, I thought it was a threenicate. However, upon some serious further examination, which mind you was very intense, I deduced it is, in fact, a tunicate. :p

;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious My bad. I was looking at it with only one eye. ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[Matt Carden]

So I got home from work last night and checked out my tank as usual and noticed my hitchhiker Ivory branch sps had none of its polyps out. He always has his polyps out feeding from the water column. I dropped a couple of frozen homemade mollusk cubes to feed the fish. I came back 10 minutes later and the polyps were out feeding. I have been running GFO for the last week so it's probably stripping the water of all excess nutrients.

I would think that seeing polyp extensions would be an indication of a healthy water column. On the other hand it may indicate that I have excess nutrients of which this coral can thrive in but others may perish???

I guess this is one of those things we learn as reefers to observe our corals to know what to do to keep a thriving tank?

 

[Matt Carden]

I got a box of corals from Aqua SD yesterday!

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[Matt Carden]

I built a media reactor today to run GFO. I rerouted my return piping for the reactor. I'm allowing it to dry overnight so I don't poison my water. I was just looking at the pieces to be installed tomorrow and realized that I didn't allow for draining in my design. I'll have to modify it tomorrow to accommodate a drain.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

I got a box of corals from Aqua SD yesterday!

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Exciting things happening!

 

[Matt Carden]

Yeah it's coming together slowly but surely

 

[Matt Carden]

Ok so I've had quite the busy week between working 13 days on 1 off and the recent modification to my return piping to incorporate a Media chamber. I will post pics of my media chamber in the next few days. I also had an incident with my new Hammer frag with the consensus that my Peppermint Shrimp ate the Hammer! Apstasia is growing in my tank again so the Peppermints aren't doing there job so they gotta go. If I can trap them, I will banish them to the Sump. Otherwise I will need something that will eat them and not eat other iinhabitants. To top it all off, my Red Lined Wrasse was missing from Monday through Saturday only to show up today.

All of my new frags seem to be growing especially the mushroom and the Blasto.

I've been running GFO for 2 weeks now and my PO4 is still off the charts. I think I'm going to get an ICP test done because something could be skewing the PO4 test results. NI3 still between 0-2ppm.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Ok so I've had quite the busy week between working 13 days on 1 off and the recent modification to my return piping to incorporate a Media chamber. I will post pics of my media chamber in the next few days. I also had an incident with my new Hammer frag with the consensus that my Peppermint Shrimp ate the Hammer! Apstasia is growing in my tank again so the Peppermints aren't doing there job so they gotta go. If I can trap them, I will banish them to the Sump. Otherwise I will need something that will eat them and not eat other iinhabitants. To top it all off, my Red Lined Wrasse was missing from Monday through Saturday only to show up today.

All of my new frags seem to be growing especially the mushroom and the Blasto.

I've been running GFO for 2 weeks now and my PO4 is still off the charts. I think I'm going to get an ICP test done because something could be skewing the PO4 test results. NI3 still between 0-2ppm.

Sorry to hear about the hammer, Apstasia and Peppermint. Wrasses like disappearing sometimes. I've known them to be gone for mostly weeks but sometimes months!

What are you using to test your PO4? Is there a nearby LFS that you could have test the water?