Mr. Z's EXT 50

[Mr.Z]

Additional update. I’ve declared all-out war on the dinos.

Almost all of my coral have declined in health significantly over the past few months and probably at least half have comp. Parameters have been tested multiple times per week, and have been very steady. Also, through ICP testing confirmed nothing is off that I couldn’t test for myself (strontium and iodine a bit low, which I’m resolving with some minor one-time dosing).

I’ve ripped all my coral out (excluding a couple leathers and some zoa polyps) and temporarily rehomed to my IM Nuvo 10 gallon.

Running lights out in the display tank for at least a week or two, dosing microbacter7, and ordered 20 pounds of live rock from KP Aquatics, which will need to cure for a couple weeks.

As best as I can tell, I believe instability from dry dead rock made my tank vulnerable. And my best guess is that dosing aminos (Red Sea AB+) set off the dino outbreak. I had stopped dosing aminos a month ago because I was suspicious they were exacerbating the issue. My suspicions were solidified when I dosed a small amount (2ml I believe) earlier this week and the next day, the dinos were noticeably worse. I was hoping a small amount of aminos wouldn’t be a problem and would help the coral which were looking terrible. But within 24 hours, one of my acans and chalices completely melted off the skeleton.

I’ve accepted the fact there will be more casualties before this war on dinos is over, but I hope I’ve at least turned the corner and am working towards the right solution.

 

[Mr.Z]

20 lbs of live rock from KP Aquatics came in and it looks great. I stayed on top of doing 100% water changes in the bucket with live rock, 1-2 times per day for a few days. This kept the ammonia at reasonable levels and so far I’ve identified at least 4 different sea stars that have made it through alive.

The live rock is now in the tank and corals were added back. I’ve also recalibrated my UV to make sure it’s delivering at least 180,000 µw/cm2 and 3x turnover.

I now have the lights back on after an 11 day black and coral back in the tank.

The remaining coral still look deflated and browned out, but I think I’ve turned the corner and so far haven’t seen any sign of dinos.

This is what 20 lbs of live rock in an old salt bucket looks like.

Latest shots of tank. Some of the live rock is in the sump and I removed some of my old (formerly dry) rock from the tank to make room.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

How is battle going?

 

[Mr.Z]

How is battle going?

Thanks for asking!

Since adding the live rock, I have had zero issues with dinos. And any surviving corals have bounced back. So that’s a big win!

But of course, now I’m dealing with serious green hair algae issues.

First time around I tried manual removal but then resorted to Vibrant, which worked extremely well. However, I removed my chaeto from the refugium during that time so it wasn’t at risk. As a result, nitrates and phosphates got quite high, so once I stopped Vibrant dosing, the algae returned.

I tried long photo periods for my refugium once I added it back in, which finally got my nitrates and phosphates down. And the past couple weeks have tried a small amount of Vibrant so I could hopefully keep my chaeto alive, along with regular Brightwell Razor dosing.

That combo seems to be handling the GHA well, but my chaeto looks like it may be completely melting.

So, the tank is looking decent from an algae perspective (with room for improvement) but it’s certainly not a stable situation.

So far, I have been running only a refugium and no skimmer. If I can’t reach an equilibrium with my nutrients and minimal algae, then I may have to add a skimmer to the system.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

Looks great! Good to hear. Skimmer sounds like an easy to add potential long term solution!

 

[Mr.Z]

Update on the GHL doser after using it for several months. It's a huge pain in the butt and definitely not worth the price. Even if it was a quarter of the price, my recommendation would be to run in the opposite direction. Accessing even the most basic functionality is incredibly frustrating/impossible.

• When I first got the device, it took HOURS to get it connected to WiFi
• Every time I try to connect to the doser via the mobile app, I have to retry multiple times
• Today, I couldn't connect via the app at all
• I tried resetting my connection by plugging in via a computer and USB
• My computer is unable to recognize the device
• I tried an alternate method of connection via wifi on my phone, but the doser doesn't even show up on my phone's wifi as GHL's own instructions say it should
• I've spent a couple hours today just trying to make a minor adjustment to my doser and have made zero progress

If you want to waste hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours of your life, then the GHL doser is the product for you!

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

Update on the GHL doser after using it for several months. It's a huge pain in the butt and definitely not worth the price. Even if it was a quarter of the price, my recommendation would be to run in the opposite direction. Accessing even the most basic functionality is incredibly frustrating/impossible.

• When I first got the device, it took HOURS to get it connected to WiFi
• Every time I try to connect to the doser via the mobile app, I have to retry multiple times
• Today, I couldn't connect via the app at all
• I tried resetting my connection by plugging in via a computer and USB
• My computer is unable to recognize the device
• I tried an alternate method of connection via wifi on my phone, but the doser doesn't even show up on my phone's wifi as GHL's own instructions say it should
• I've spent a couple hours today just trying to make a minor adjustment to my doser and have made zero progress

If you want to waste hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours of your life, then the GHL doser is the product for you!

I have had a VERY time consuming experience with GHL too. I too have serious app and connectivity issues...

 

[Mr.Z]

After a few months of bad algae, I finally got that in check with adding a skimmer, a few weeks of carbon dosing, manual removal, and weekly water changes.

The coral were starting to look very unhappy, I think because of my attempts to use Vibrant as well as Razor. Have discontinued both of those products and most coral have rebounded nicely.

I also noticed a decent amount of shadowing issues, so I’ve added another Kessil A360x. One light is definitely enough power and spread for this 50 gallon tank, but the single point source of light causes too many problems. So I’m currently running two 360x at 55%.

Dinos have just started to try to creep back too. It’s possibly my nitrates bottomed out while I’ve been trying to get my phosphates down, so have been adding NeoNitrate regularly and testing at least twice a week to avoid that issue.

It’s also been just over a year since I installed my UV. Supposedly the UV bulb needs to be replaced annually, which also might explain why dinos are coming back. New bulb ordered and on the way.

 

[Mr.Z]

Tank has been cruising along very nicely the past ~6 months with virtually no issues. Between a few new additions of coral and some things really starting to grow out, I’m just about tapped out for space for any further coral additions since I don’t want anything looking crowded/busy.

I’ve managed to keep parameters pretty stable with regular testing and recent ICP test indicated the only shortfall was needing to dose some iodine.

Only real hiccup is a pajama cardinal that seems to be blind and will be living in an acclimation box for the foreseeable future so I can make sure it’s eating and no longer getting bullied

Just going to enjoy regular maintenance and watching things grow in further now. It’s nice not feeling the urge to buy any new equipment for once!

 

[rioreef]

Glad it has settled down. Enjoy your hard work.