My 75 gallon adventure

[taulgrl]

Wow! A year has gone by since my last update. I don’t think it looks much different but, unfortunately, there are fewer fish. Here are a couple of updates:

I had to get rid of my Copperband. . We have been taking longer and longer vacations and he needed daily frozen or live food. Too much work for my fish sitters. Shortly after that my yellow Coris jumped out and somehow wound up in the basket I keep my cords in. It took me a while to find him - I thought he jumped and the dog ate him! Now I have a bristleworm INVASION. I had no idea these two were eating so many. Hoping a couple of Halichoeres wrasses will help the situation.

Coral update has mostly involved maintenance of existing stock. My Goni is gone and my Xenia is struggling (hard to believe) but the rest of the coral and the constantly splitting nems (hiding in pics) keep me busy.

Plan moving forward: more fish, setup kalk dosing and try my hand at some easy SPS.

Happy reefing!

 

[Eric R.]

Sorry to hear that you've lost fish! Always a hard thing.

If you need xenia, I always have a ton. And I recommend milka stylo as an easy SPS - it's the only one that survived my early attempts to keep SPS when I was still topping off by hand, and also survived my tank crash due to an autofeeder failure. I know a local reefer you can probably get some from inexpensively - if I had a bigger colony I would share, but mine isn't that big yet. He also has some other easy SPS you may be interested in.

 

[taulgrl]

Sorry to hear that you've lost fish! Always a hard thing.

If you need xenia, I always have a ton. And I recommend milka stylo as an easy SPS - it's the only one that survived my early attempts to keep SPS when I was still topping off by hand, and also survived my tank crash due to an autofeeder failure. I know a local reefer you can probably get some from inexpensively - if I had a bigger colony I would share, but mine isn't that big yet. He also has some other easy SPS you may be interested in.

Thanks so much! I’ll PM you for details

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I love the scape. Great choice in your combination of coral. It works well together. Impressive ;)

 

[taulgrl]

I love the scape. Great choice in your combination of coral. It works well together. Impressive ;)

Thanks for the kind words! I just checked out your mixed reef and it is awesome. Goals!! How is your Copperband? I miss mine - never had aptasia (or feather dusters lol) after adding him!

 

[taulgrl]

Some new things going on: picked up a Talbots Damsel to make sure my QT setup wasn’t what killed my Sailfin Tang. Damsel made it through QT and is now in the DT hiding from the yellow tail damsel that keeps hassling it .

Got a Melanurus Wrasse to control the bristleworm population that exploded after the yellow coris wrasse and copperband left the tank. It seems to be working

Got some SPS from a local reefer! Purple Stylo and Monti Cap. They are doing great and showing signs of growth

Started dosing Kalk to maintain Ca and Alk. Started w a handmade dripper to dial in the amount and just brought a pump online today. Using the kamoer x1 Pro 2 and a 24L plastic bin I found at Agway

FTS. The candy cane coral is “hosting” my 2 clowns. Clowns have zero interest in the RBTAs …

Side shot showing Purple Stylo and Monti Cap:

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Some new things going on: picked up a Talbots Damsel to make sure my QT setup wasn’t what killed my Sailfin Tang. Damsel made it through QT and is now in the DT hiding from the yellow tail damsel that keeps hassling it .

Got a Melanurus Wrasse to control the bristleworm population that exploded after the yellow coris wrasse and copperband left the tank. It seems to be working

Got some SPS from a local reefer! Purple Stylo and Monti Cap. They are doing great and showing signs of growth

Started dosing Kalk to maintain Ca and Alk. Started w a handmade dripper to dial in the amount and just brought a pump online today. Using the kamoer x1 Pro 2 and a 24L plastic bin I found at Agway

FTS. The candy cane coral is “hosting” my 2 clowns. Clowns have zero interest in the RBTAs …

Side shot showing Purple Stylo and Monti Cap:

Awesome looking and great use of space.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Some new things going on: picked up a Talbots Damsel to make sure my QT setup wasn’t what killed my Sailfin Tang. Damsel made it through QT and is now in the DT hiding from the yellow tail damsel that keeps hassling it .

Got a Melanurus Wrasse to control the bristleworm population that exploded after the yellow coris wrasse and copperband left the tank. It seems to be working

Got some SPS from a local reefer! Purple Stylo and Monti Cap. They are doing great and showing signs of growth

Started dosing Kalk to maintain Ca and Alk. Started w a handmade dripper to dial in the amount and just brought a pump online today. Using the kamoer x1 Pro 2 and a 24L plastic bin I found at Agway

FTS. The candy cane coral is “hosting” my 2 clowns. Clowns have zero interest in the RBTAs …

Side shot showing Purple Stylo and Monti Cap:

You mentioned copperband and bristleworm, I don't have them in my display and I have a copperband. I never put 2 and 2 together. What else had you seen him eat out of curiosity.

 

[taulgrl]

You mentioned copperband and bristleworm, I don't have them in my display and I have a copperband. I never put 2 and 2 together. What else had you seen him eat out of curiosity.

As soon as he entered my tank my aptasia and feather dusters were toast! Honestly, I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together either until I noticed an explosion of bristleworms after copperband (and wrasse) were gone

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Some new things going on: picked up a Talbots Damsel to make sure my QT setup wasn’t what killed my Sailfin Tang. Damsel made it through QT and is now in the DT hiding from the yellow tail damsel that keeps hassling it .

Got a Melanurus Wrasse to control the bristleworm population that exploded after the yellow coris wrasse and copperband left the tank. It seems to be working

Got some SPS from a local reefer! Purple Stylo and Monti Cap. They are doing great and showing signs of growth

Started dosing Kalk to maintain Ca and Alk. Started w a handmade dripper to dial in the amount and just brought a pump online today. Using the kamoer x1 Pro 2 and a 24L plastic bin I found at Agway

FTS. The candy cane coral is “hosting” my 2 clowns. Clowns have zero interest in the RBTAs …

Side shot showing Purple Stylo and Monti Cap:

My clowns also continue to ignore my BTA; maybe they will go to it one day. The stylo and monti look great!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

As soon as he entered my tank my aptasia and feather dusters were toast! Honestly, I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together either until I noticed an explosion of bristleworms after copperband (and wrasse) were gone

Ok now that makes sense, I have tons of feather duster in my sump but nothing in my display LOL!

 

[Eric R.]

Some new things going on: picked up a Talbots Damsel to make sure my QT setup wasn’t what killed my Sailfin Tang. Damsel made it through QT and is now in the DT hiding from the yellow tail damsel that keeps hassling it .

Got a Melanurus Wrasse to control the bristleworm population that exploded after the yellow coris wrasse and copperband left the tank. It seems to be working

Got some SPS from a local reefer! Purple Stylo and Monti Cap. They are doing great and showing signs of growth

Started dosing Kalk to maintain Ca and Alk. Started w a handmade dripper to dial in the amount and just brought a pump online today. Using the kamoer x1 Pro 2 and a 24L plastic bin I found at Agway

FTS. The candy cane coral is “hosting” my 2 clowns. Clowns have zero interest in the RBTAs …

Side shot showing Purple Stylo and Monti Cap:

Hey, that Stylo looks familiar!

I had one of those monti caps as well, but unfortunately lost it during an over feeding incident while I was traveling. I need to get another frag of it.

Hope the grow well for you!

 

[taulgrl]

Hey, that Stylo looks familiar!

I had one of those monti caps as well, but unfortunately lost it during an over feeding incident while I was traveling. I need to get another frag of it.

Hope the grow well for you!

Haha I got it from the guy you recommended. Very generous and knowledgeable person Yours is looking great!

 

[taulgrl]

2025 theme: reefing is hard

Another year, another update! Big event was a dinoflagellate. INVASION in February. It took me a while to diagnose. I thought it was algae, then cyano. Finally looked at water under a microscope and it was teaming with Dino’s. Ugh! Tested water and sure enough my nutrients had bottomed out

Got a UV (Green Machine) and ran it for about a month. This solved my Dino problem but this left me w unstable water. Dosed Phos and Nitrates and got an explosion of green algae. Took a while to get that under control. Here is pic of the tank when (I thought) it had fully recovered in May:

Now I have cyano and my SPS is dying. Tissue coming off purple stylos and Monti cap not doing well. Not sure why. They survived all of the stuff mentioned earlier!

If someone is reading and has idea I’d appreciate thoughts. Same light and flow. Parameters:
SG: .025
P: .03
N: 10-15
Alk: 7.6-8.4 (trying to stabilize to 8.4
Ca: 440
Calcium got up to 470 (from 400) around when this started. Not sure how.. been dosing Kalk the same amt for a year now. Been trying to slowly bring it down

 

[Eric R.]

Rough, sorry to hear that. I had a large turbo snail die while I was traveling this summer, and my larger purple stylo colony complete lost all its tissue, while my smaller colony wasn’t affected at all. For cyano, I tend to do a 3-5 day blackout on the tank, it always works for me, though sometimes it takes a second treatment. I don’t use chemiclean but I know it also tends to work for people (I don’t like using antibiotics unless it’s necessary).

 

[Kodski]

Love your tank! Sorry to see you're going through a rough patch. Just know, everyone goes through them though and you'll make it out to the other side!

Parameters look ok, a large swing in ALK could definitely be an issue but 0.9 of a change within 24-48hrs isn't really THAT big of a deal. Just kind of depends on how quickly that change happens really.

In an attempt to help, I'm going to fire off a few things for you to take a look into.

- Magnesium. Don't see it listed, but its an important parameter. It often goes overlooked and sneaks up on people, causing issues. I'm guessing its not this though because your hammers looks happy and LPS usually are the first ones to point to a magnesium issue.

- When is the last time you changed RODI filters? RO membranes and carbon blocks often get forgotten due to the infrequency you change them. I find in my systems that when they are due to be changed I see an increase in algae growth along with a decline in coral health. For me this is also the only time I see cyano in my system. I was told by my reefing guru that its because silicates will make their way through the filter and into the tank. DI resin will not filter out silicates, so its usually reliant upon the carbon blocks and RO membranes to be removed. I notice an immediate change in my system when I do change them out and things usually return to normal, including cyano.

- Inspect your equipment. Go through everything with a fine tooth comb, removing everything and disassembling. It will be a good time to do your once or twice a year cleanings on equipment. Mainly, you're looking for anything rusting or leaching metals into your water. Also, check those nooks and crannies of your sump for bolts, nuts, screws or anything else that may have made its way into the tank. Stuff happens, so even if you think there's no way, check and double check.

- You mentioned that you were running UV and thought it was causing unstable water parameters. I've ran huge UV's on small system in the past and those were some of the most stable tanks I've had. I think the trick with UV is to run it all the time, not just for issues. With Cyano showing its head, I'd for sure keep it on for the time being. At least until you get these new issues ironed out.

- If all else fails, I think an ICP test would really help eliminate a lot of potential "ifs" and help point you in a direction to look.


Chin up! You'll get to the bottom of this soon enough! Just remember these issues are often caused by things building up over months, and they can often take months to fix!

 

[taulgrl]

Rough, sorry to hear that. I had a large turbo snail die while I was traveling this summer, and my larger purple stylo colony complete lost all its tissue, while my smaller colony wasn’t affected at all. For cyano, I tend to do a 3-5 day blackout on the tank, it always works for me, though sometimes it takes a second treatment. I don’t use chemiclean but I know it also tends to work for people (I don’t like using antibiotics unless it’s necessary).

Thanks Eric! I appreciate the advice

 

[taulgrl]

Rough, sorry to hear that. I had a large turbo snail die while I was traveling this summer, and my larger purple stylo colony complete lost all its tissue, while my smaller colony wasn’t affected at all. For cyano, I tend to do a 3-5 day blackout on the tank, it always works for me, though sometimes it takes a second treatment. I don’t use chemiclean but I know it also tends to work for people (I don’t like using antibiotics

 

[taulgrl]

Love your tank! Sorry to see you're going through a rough patch. Just know, everyone goes through them though and you'll make it out to the other side!

Parameters look ok, a large swing in ALK could definitely be an issue but 0.9 of a change within 24-48hrs isn't really THAT big of a deal. Just kind of depends on how quickly that change happens really.

In an attempt to help, I'm going to fire off a few things for you to take a look into.

- Magnesium. Don't see it listed, but its an important parameter. It often goes overlooked and sneaks up on people, causing issues. I'm guessing its not this though because your hammers looks happy and LPS usually are the first ones to point to a magnesium issue.

- When is the last time you changed RODI filters? RO membranes and carbon blocks often get forgotten due to the infrequency you change them. I find in my systems that when they are due to be changed I see an increase in algae growth along with a decline in coral health. For me this is also the only time I see cyano in my system. I was told by my reefing guru that its because silicates will make their way through the filter and into the tank. DI resin will not filter out silicates, so its usually reliant upon the carbon blocks and RO membranes to be removed. I notice an immediate change in my system when I do change them out and things usually return to normal, including cyano.

- Inspect your equipment. Go through everything with a fine tooth comb, removing everything and disassembling. It will be a good time to do your once or twice a year cleanings on equipment. Mainly, you're looking for anything rusting or leaching metals into your water. Also, check those nooks and crannies of your sump for bolts, nuts, screws or anything else that may have made its way into the tank. Stuff happens, so even if you think there's no way, check and double check.

- You mentioned that you were running UV and thought it was causing unstable water parameters. I've ran huge UV's on small system in the past and those were some of the most stable tanks I've had. I think the trick with UV is to run it all the time, not just for issues. With Cyano showing its head, I'd for sure keep it on for the time being. At least until you get these new issues ironed out.

- If all else fails, I think an ICP test would really help eliminate a lot of potential "ifs" and help point you in a direction to look.


Chin up! You'll get to the bottom of this soon enough! Just remember these issues are often caused by things building up over months, and they can often take months to fix!

Thanks so much! I have a feeling it is my RODI cartridges / membrane. I’ll try all of this

 

[taulgrl]

2025 reefing is hard update: @Kodski , you were right about my RODI cartridges. My TDS was low so I was exploring all of the other causes of my problems. I did a big water change to try to stem the tide of algae outbreak and my foxface started breathing rapidly and was very distressed. I thought it was because he had gotten too close to some Kalk paste I put on some hairy mushrooms and damaged his gills. He died 24 hrs later . Fast forward two weeks and another big water change. Immediately after, one of my anthias was breathing rapidly and in distress! I finally put 2 and 2 together and thought it could be Chloramine. I dosed Prime and within hours the anthias was better!

Replaced my RODI cartridges, did lots of water changes, bought a ton of cleanup crew and the algae tide is finally turning! Oh, and I set a reminder on my phone to replace my cartridges sooner next time. Thanks for you help earlier. Not sure I would have thought of high Chloramines if you hadn’t mentioned my RODI cartridges.