My 120g "shoulda/coulda" build

[That Crusso Kid]

( @That Crusso Kid , where's the Bob Dylan version of Rollin' and Tumblin'? You can't let us all just flap in the breeze like that!)

While I am a Zimmerman fan, I am not a fan of his cover.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

So, been busy since my last update. So, Feb 20th, I stayed up really late putting shortening brackets on my geisseman stellar, making custom light brackets and rehanging my light. Came out nice. T5's are way more centered on the tank and getting a really good blanket of light in my tank with less light slill. Project done, lay down at 2:30am and go to sleep.

6:30am comes around my very pregnant wife wakes me up. "I think its time we call the mid wife, i've been having contractions since 3am."

Long story short, I could have slept, because she didnt have our son till 9:58pm that night. I'm not bitter. Just pointing it out. All seriousness though, worth it.

So, in dealing with a toddler, I didnt test like I should, so I didn't notice the increase in lighting that i've added lately, the boosting of ph(which boosted my alk consumption) and the just overall uptick in coral growth really started to take a toll on my nutrients. I tested my alk like a good little reefer, but not my nutrients. They tanked. I noticed a little bit of snot, tested, nitrates zero'd out. Luckily phosphates were still around .08ppm so I had something going for me.

I have since added neonitro to get my nitrates up to about 8.5ppm, i'll maintain it there till the assumed dinos subside via neonitro, then dial my inoort/export back in. I ordered some basic shelf stable components tp keep on hand and to make cheaper diy versions of neonitro, and neophos for any future incidents. Dinos are still present, but seem to have stalled a bit and dont seem to be getting worse at the moment. I'll call that a win.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

So, been busy since my last update. So, Feb 20th, I stayed up really late putting shortening brackets on my geisseman stellar, making custom light brackets and rehanging my light. Came out nice. T5's are way more centered on the tank and getting a really good blanket of light in my tank with less light slill. Project done, lay down at 2:30am and go to sleep.

6:30am comes around my very pregnant wife wakes me up. "I think its time we call the mid wife, i've been having contractions since 3am."

Long story short, I could have slept, because she didnt have our son till 9:58pm that night. I'm not bitter. Just pointing it out. All seriousness though, worth it.

So, in dealing with a toddler, I didnt test like I should, so I didn't notice the increase in lighting that i've added lately, the boosting of ph(which boosted my alk consumption) and the just overall uptick in coral growth really started to take a toll on my nutrients. I tested my alk like a good little reefer, but not my nutrients. They tanked. I noticed a little bit of snot, tested, nitrates zero'd out. Luckily phosphates were still around .08ppm so I had something going for me.

I have since added neonitro to get my nitrates up to about 8.5ppm, i'll maintain it there till the assumed dinos subside via neonitro, then dial my inoort/export back in. I ordered some basic shelf stable components tp keep on hand and to make cheaper diy versions of neonitro, and neophos for any future incidents. Dinos are still present, but seem to have stalled a bit and dont seem to be getting worse at the moment. I'll call that a win.

Good update.

Happy you supplied the update as I was going to ping you, in 4 days, at the 30 day mark.

 

[IPT]

No, I just made an input and add it manually when I test. Gives me a nice graph to look at

Interesting, that's cool. So you can add a separate graph to a Hydros display and manually enter data? How do you do that?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Interesting, that's cool. So you can add a separate graph to a Hydros display and manually enter data? How do you do that?

Create a new input as a static input, alkalinity is one of the preset static inputs, so just select that and boom. All done!

 

[Red_Beard]

Hey, I think we are due for an update! How is stuff?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Hey, I think we are due for an update! How is stuff?

Well, dinos are getting worse. But. I think that's my fault. I started feeding some benereef and a touch of Reef roids(like 3 or 4 times) over the last week or two and then I noticed it started picking up, and read the dino guides in one of the R2R articles and realized that was a no go lol. So i have stopped broadcast feeding altogether now. So my current approach is this:

Dosing neonitro as necessary to keep nitrates at around 10ppm

Monitoring phosphates and making sure they stay around .08-.1ppm

Stopped doing water changes

Siphoning visible dinos/blasting to disturb them

Stopped using GFO

Stopped dosing tropic marin trace A and K for the moment.

Steady use of activated carbon, replacing weekly, to control dino toxins

So we'll see how it looks in the coming weeks. Hopefully the uptick from feeding the coral foods subsides..

My icp tests came back and my calcium is moderately high as well as strontium, so I'll probably cut back on some of kalk, let my calcium and alk creep down, and then maintain alk with a baking soda or soda ash solution until I get calcium in range. Hopefully strontium follows suit.

Excited for my battle pack arriving Wednesday! Also nervous though, as these dinos were minimal/trending towards going away when I ordered these corals.

 

[Red_Beard]

Well, dinos are getting worse. But. I think that's my fault. I started feeding some benereef and a touch of Reef roids(like 3 or 4 times) over the last week or two and then I noticed it started picking up, and read the dino guides in one of the R2R articles and realized that was a no go lol. So i have stopped broadcast feeding altogether now. So my current approach is this:

Dosing neonitro as necessary to keep nitrates at around 10ppm

Monitoring phosphates and making sure they stay around .08-.1ppm

Stopped doing water changes

Siphoning visible dinos/blasting to disturb them

Stopped using GFO

Stopped dosing tropic marin trace A and K for the moment.

Steady use of activated carbon, replacing weekly, to control dino toxins

So we'll see how it looks in the coming weeks. Hopefully the uptick from feeding the coral foods subsides..

My icp tests came back and my calcium is moderately high as well as strontium, so I'll probably cut back on some of kalk, let my calcium and alk creep down, and then maintain alk with a baking soda or soda ash solution until I get calcium in range. Hopefully strontium follows suit.

Excited for my battle pack arriving Wednesday! Also nervous though, as these dinos were minimal/trending towards going away when I ordered these corals.

Sounds like you have a solid plan of attack. Sorry to hear they flared up again though. Hopefully your wednesday additions stay healthy!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Yeah, so what's going on over here? Making people wait over three weeks for an update. Sheesh!

 

[Red_Beard]

Yeah, so what's going on over here? Making people wait over three weeks for an update. Sheesh!

For reals. Its ok to share the ugly dude, we all go through it, you are not alone!

 

[That Crusso Kid]

For reals. Its ok to share the ugly dude, we all go through it, you are not alone!

"We all go through it?" I've been in it my whole life.

 

[Red_Beard]

"We all go through it?" I've been in it my whole life.

You are not alone. Come join me though and we can suffer through toxic optimism together :)

 

[tharbin]

"We all go through it?" I've been in it my whole life.

Some of us excel at one thing more than another but it all ends up equal. While you may, or may not, have been going through the uglies your whole life, you make up for it with charm, wit, and a really superior built in solar reflector.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

You are not alone. Come join me though and we can suffer through toxic optimism together :)

Some of us excel at one thing more than another but it all ends up equal. While you may, or may not, have been going through the uglies your whole life, you make up for it with charm, wit, and a really superior built in solar reflector.

Ohhhh, you guys... you really know how to make a guy feel special.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Yeah, so what's going on over here? Making people wait over three weeks for an update. Sheesh!

For reals. Its ok to share the ugly dude, we all go through it, you are not alone!

Good morning! Sorry, I thought i was banned!

Busy weekend and missed this, but yea. Tanks hanging on in a moderately annoying but not the worst case ever of dinos. Everytime it seems to get better, it just settles back into where its been hanging out. Kept my nitrates and phosphates around 8ppm and .08ppm, dosijg Microbactor7 each morning when i get up for work(4+ hours before lights on) and at night I dose DIY coral snow with a touch of MB7 as well. I had stopped dosing trace elements for awhile but started again last night as it had veer awhile and I have quite a few acros so don't feel comfortable going much longer Siphoning/blowing stuff as time allows. Haven't lost anything yet though, so thats a plus.

Gonna do some water tests tonight. I've been maintaining alk by adding some extra 1 part(baking soda and rodi) each night, for the last week or two as my calcium was a touch high. Hopefully thats squared away and I'll up my kalkwasser again.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Good morning! Sorry, I thought i was banned!

Busy weekend and missed this, but yea. Tanks hanging on in a moderately annoying but not the worst case ever of dinos. Everytime it seems to get better, it just settles back into where its been hanging out. Kept my nitrates and phosphates around 8ppm and .08ppm, dosijg Microbactor7 each morning when i get up for work(4+ hours before lights on) and at night I dose DIY coral snow with a touch of MB7 as well. I had stopped dosing trace elements for awhile but started again last night as it had veer awhile and I have quite a few acros so don't feel comfortable going much longer Siphoning/blowing stuff as time allows. Haven't lost anything yet though, so thats a plus.

Gonna do some water tests tonight. I've been maintaining alk by adding some extra 1 part(baking soda and rodi) each night, for the last week or two as my calcium was a touch high. Hopefully thats squared away and I'll up my kalkwasser again.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

All-in-all, things aren't so bad. Sounds like you've got a grip on them. Intersted in seeing the results from the testing tonight.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Alk, calcium, magnesium are all dialed in again. Still battling some dinos but they are maintaining in the "unsightly but no actual negative effects to livestock" range. Tanks doing well overall! Been upping the whites on my nicrews lately and it seems to have made a good improvement to my acros. Just a 10% increase on the white channels caused my alk consumption to increase .2dkh per day! So i'm gonna keep at it. Some of my new battle corals have exhibited some new uncrustation and everything's still doing well. I think i'm semi considering a Tunze Orca.

@That Crusso Kid did i forget anything I should touch on?

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Alk, calcium, magnesium are all dialed in again. Still battling some dinos but they are maintaining in the "unsightly but no actual negative effects to livestock" range. Tanks doing well overall! Been upping the whites on my nicrews lately and it seems to have made a good improvement to my acros. Just a 10% increase on the white channels caused my alk consumption to increase .2dkh per day! So i'm gonna keep at it. Some of my new battle corals have exhibited some new uncrustation and everything's still doing well. I think i'm semi considering a Tunze Orca.

@That Crusso Kid did i forget anything I should touch on?

Nice update. You nailed it!

Which Nicrew are you running? is it the HyperReef 200?

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Nice update. You nailed it!

Which Nicrew are you running? is it the HyperReef 200?

Yea, I have 2 of the new 200's. I'm considering either adding a third or adding a couple quanta bars. 24" is a deep tank to light. Leaning towards the quanta simply because i could get the blues and use more white power on my existing 2 nicrews

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Yea, I have 2 of the new 200's. I'm considering either adding a third or adding a couple quanta bars. 24" is a deep tank to light. Leaning towards the quanta simply because i could get the blues and use more white power on my existing 2 nicrews

Sounds like a good plan.