My 50 gallon slice of the ocean

[LEOreefer]

You should try out a turbo snail or something likewise. I had a couple tuxedo urchins when I had a little algae outbreak also and they did well but went to my lfs and they gave me a turbo snail to try out. I have to say they put in work as soon as I put them in the tank just make sure to probably only get one as in you'll need enough algae to feed it.

The vibrant seems to be working. My gha has gone from bright green and thick to a dark green with see through strands. I will be doing a water change tomorrow and scrubbing the rocks I didn’t scrub last time. The gha never grew back in the rocks I scrubbed a week ago. Part if that I believe is due to me doing a 3 day blackout and cutting my light schedule down to 4 hours at peak intensity.
I will post some pics 2moro but all corals are happy, my frogspawn was getting blasted with flow and I didn’t really realize it. I noticed it dropped a few polyps and is kind of retracted. I moved it to a lower flow area hoping that it will make it.

As long as I get out if work on time in the morning I will be going to TJM corals by @usernam invalid ! He lives near me and has a extremely impressive grow out system. I’ll be looking into a hammer and torch so I can start my euphyllia garden. Also will be looking at a birds nest and candycane coral !

I should have plenty of pics by tomorrow night as long as I don’t get stuck at work !

 

[LEOreefer]

Tank maintenance today:
Alage continues to get better. It is much slower growing back if at all. 15 gallon water change done as well as all water parameters
Phosphate:.06
Nitrate:1-3 ppm
Alk:9.3
Calcium:450

Haven’t seen much growth on any corals but all are happy during the lights on period which is only 3 hours of full intensity until I get alage situation under control. Also I have a 2 week acclimation period set on my radions because of new corals ! The light is set to ramp up from 35% intensity to 75% over the next 2 weeks.

Speaking of new corals I went out to @usernam invalid house today to shop around, man what a setup you know he’s good when he has 8-10 year old fish in his display tank! I picked up a torch coral , hammer coral , acan, and birds nest coral! The hammer , frogspawn, hammer and torch are in there own corner on the sand bed for new while the rest up on my frag rack until I decide where I want to place them !

 

[LEOreefer]

Another thing I decided to do is change my skimmer. I know it’s a debatable topic but like everything I’ve done thus far I did a ton a research and decided to go with a @lifereef skimmer from Jeff. I did this for 2 reasons 1) I’m not happy with the skimmate being produced, I know I have a low bioload but I consistently have issues where my skimmer is either skimming wet and light or not skimming at all. After I clean it sometimes I have to play with the adjustments for hours to get it just right. 2) the ability to use my own pump is a home run, if it breaks or I ever need to replace it it will be much easier in the long run. For those of you who don’t know about Lifereef skimmers they use a Venturi style of skimming. Another thing this does is it sets me up to be able to use ozone at some point in the future ! This is a email response I got from Jeff at life reef :

“This is a very light skimmate as typical with most if not all needle-wheel skimmers. The reason is that the bubbles produced by the skimmer are all the same tiny bubbles and form a wet foam on the surface and then you force this wet foam into the cup. If you lower the level to try to produce a dry foam all you do is lower the water level and the wet foam layer.

In a venturi skimmer the bubble sizes vary from tiny to sometimes pea-size and everything in-between. When these bubble get to the top and form that initial bubble layer you have these larger bubbles rising all the way to the surface and as the do this they strip solids and proteins off the lower layers, carry it to the top and into the cup.

The other huge difference is the neck diameter. Needle-wheel skimmers all have a large neck compared to the body diameter so your wet foam/bubble layer is laid out in a large pie whereas a narrow neck takes this pie-layer and stacks it up into multi-tiered wedding cake, so to speak. And with this taller foam/bubble column, and different bubbles rising to the very top contribute to a much better, adjustable from dry to wet, and puts the proteins and solids in the cup and not back into the skimmer body and water.”

 

[usernam invalid]

Tank maintenance today:
Alage continues to get better. It is much slower growing back if at all. 15 gallon water change done as well as all water parameters
Phosphate:.06
Nitrate:1-3 ppm
Alk:9.3
Calcium:450

Haven’t seen much growth on any corals but all are happy during the lights on period which is only 3 hours of full intensity until I get alage situation under control. Also I have a 2 week acclimation period set on my radions because of new corals ! The light is set to ramp up from 35% intensity to 75% over the next 2 weeks.

Speaking of new corals I went out to @usernam invalid house today to shop around, man what a setup you know he’s good when he has 8-10 year old fish in his display tank! I picked up a torch coral , hammer coral , acan, and birds nest coral! The hammer , frogspawn, hammer and torch are in there own corner on the sand bed for new while the rest up on my frag rack until I decide where I want to place them !

The frags look great can't wait to see how they do in a few months.
And congrats again on the upcoming wedding

-jay

 

[LEOreefer]

The frags look great can't wait to see how they do in a few months.
And congrats again on the upcoming wedding

-jay

Thank you again the frags are happy and look great! Definitely the best quality frags I’ve found on the island @usernam invalid !

 

[LEOreefer]

Sunday update time !
It’s my wedding week!! I get married on Friday 10/20 so the tank will take a back seat for a few weeks. I told my future wife that basic maintenance days still need to be done and she said “ no problem I know it’s important “ and that’s why I’m marrying her!
Water change will be done tomorrow and next Monday the day b4 I leave for my honeymoon. My new skimmer will be here tomorrow it’s a Lifereef Venturi skimmer. No other additions or changes will be done until I get back.
I have a tank to set up for quarantine and some media sitting in my sump so I can set it up when I get back.

As far as the other existing stock all corals and inverts are happy. Both my shrimps have molted and I’ve noticed it’s usually after a water change. My tuxedo urchin is powering through the remaining GHA and my corals esp my frogspawn, hammer, and torch are puffy and happy !

 

[LEOreefer]

I have been dosing vibrant to fight this GHA problem. I have to say this product works! I did experience a small bacterial bloom that lasted only a day. The vibrant did not affect any inverts or corals. Granted I did scrub my rocks with a tooth brush in the tank but there where areas that I couldn’t reach that saw a drastic decrease in GHA and I was amazed. It’s at the point I’m concerned what I am going to do to make sure the urchin stays full

 

[LEOreefer]

I’ve also been thinking about my stocking plan as far as fish go. Here’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to try saltwater fish .com
-snowflake clown
- x 2 bangi Cardinal
- some sort of dottty back
- some sort of blenny maybe stary or scooter
- maybe some green chromis
- I would love to try some sort of wrasse

Anyone have any suggestions? Allways open to here what other people would put in a tank this size

 

[Barrett]

I’ve also been thinking about my stocking plan as far as fish go. Here’s what I’m thinking. I’m going to try saltwater fish .com
-snowflake clown
- x 2 bangi Cardinal
- some sort of dottty back
- some sort of blenny maybe stary or scooter
- maybe some green chromis
- I would love to try some sort of wrasse

Anyone have any suggestions? Allways open to here what other people would put in a tank this size

Flame hawk by far the most personality of any fish I’ve ever had. If you get a chance hop over to my build thread and check it out I have added a bunch of corals.

 

[LEOreefer]

Flame hawk by far the most personality of any fish I’ve ever had. If you get a chance hop over to my build thread and check it out I have added a bunch of corals.

I will be heading over there now !

 

[LEOreefer]

Water change done !

Also installed my new life reef skimmer! It’s a tank and a huge upgrade from my skimz I can’t to see what it pulls out !

 

[Barrett]

Nice I have been looking at the life reef skimmers, I am having trouble finding one that will fit in my sump.

 

[LEOreefer]

Nice I have been looking at the life reef skimmers, I am having trouble finding one that will fit in my sump.

I would email them. I had the same exact problem but jeff assured me it will fit. I had to wiggle it in but it fit like a glove

 

[Barrett]

Have a great wedding.

 

[LEOreefer]

Have a great wedding.

Thank you! You all feel like second family! I’ve been with my fiancé for 11 years she is my everything ...... and she loves my tank!

 

[LEOreefer]

So I’m married! I have 3 days before I leave for Mexico. Monday will be tank maintenance day. I’m still trying to tune the new skimmer in, its skimming a little wetter than I would like .......

 

[Barrett]

Congratulations, enjoy the honeymoon and don’t drink the water.

 

[Brew12]

So I’m married! I have 3 days before I leave for Mexico. Monday will be tank maintenance day. I’m still trying to tune the new skimmer in, its skimming a little wetter than I would like .......

Turn it off, deal with it after the honeymoon. Trust me on this. And congrats!

 

[trevormass7]

Congratulations man. Hope you're wedding went well and your honeymoon is even better.

 

[LEOreefer]

Hello everyone ! From Mexico! As I sit here on my balcony overlooking a beach on the Gulf of Mexico I find myself thinking about my tank. Tomorrow the wife and I are going snorkeling in 3 of Mexico’s top reefs! I’m so pumped! I hoping seeing a real reef will inspire me even further. I will have a GoPro with me so I’ll be shooting some cool footage to share with my friends on R2R once I get home !
As far as my tank goes my apex it doing the job and remotely monitoring my system. I also have my sister watching my cat she has no fish tank experience but she sent a few pics and all looks ok. For all of you who have been following you know I had a strict no fish rule b4 the honeymoon...... well the honeymoon will be over on Wednesday and I will be finally setting up my QT tank and making me First fish purchase !

Until then I leave you with this......... talk to you all soon !