My Foray Into Reefing In The Mountains

[Ippyroy]

Added my new fish, a caramel clownfish, a yellow watchman goby, and a chromis. They are all swimming around happily. My Cherub Angelfish is the boss of the tank but nothing to bad. My Phosphates have fallen to .10 and Nitrate are holding steady at 5. I have started using the Nyos nitrate test kit. I like it a lot more than the Red Sea. I am dosing about 6 ml of soda ash daily to maintain 8.7DKH. I switched salts to MW marinemix. The alk measured 9.8 on first batch. I am guessing user error and will retest next water change. I am going to start doing bi-weekly water changes if my phosphates keep dropping. My chaeto is growing very well.

 

[Ippyroy]

FTS Friday

 

[Ippyroy]

Fish are happy and eating well. Alk is almost consistent. PO4 is at .10 - .12 and NO3 is holding at 5. The chaeto has grown a lot. Still running fuge light from 930 till 530 everyday. Need to redo the Apex programming. Might skip the water change this week. Tank Temp is staying within good area. Was nervous about this as I do not have an AC and it is 82 degrees most days outside.

 

[Ippyroy]

Haven't had much time to do anything with tank this week. Did a 10% water change and cleaned the sand bed really well. Alk, NO3, and PO4 are all holding pretty well. Fish all look fat and healthy. Skimmer is pulling black gunk out now. I think I finally got it dialed in correctly.

 

[Lou Ekus]

This will be a big week. I receive the last of my fish on Wednesday, a chromis, caramel clown, and a yellow watchman goby. I will do my weekly water change on Tuesday in order to be ready for the new fish on Wednesday. I have switched salts to HW Marinemix since Tropic Marin BioActiv Alk is only 7.The new CUC are doing good and my current fish are fat and healthy. My PO4 and NO3 are doing ok. My chaeto took off this week with the addition of a much better grow light.

Just to be clear, the Bio Actif System salt from Tropic Marin is 8-9 dkH. Not 7. If that was your major concern.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good and Go Braves!

 

[Ippyroy]

Either nobody knows how to deal with hard green algae or nobody cares to help me out with it. I have posted a couple of different times asking for help and get little to none. I will be pulling out the rock in my DT and will replace it. This will also probably be my last update on here because it is not the help I had expected.

 

[Ippyroy]

I did a 25% water change and used my new 1inch python to clean the sand bed. Used a new turkey baster, rocks were gross I found out. Had to take the skimmer offline for about 5 days due to chaeto falling apart and getting all over sump. I have added more chaeto and 1 7inch filter sock and about 5 pounds of live sand in fuge area. I cut some eggcrate and ziptied the foam to it and put it in the whole at the bottom of the fuge area. This seams to help a lot more at keeping the chaeto in the fuge. I have placed an order with IPSF for mud and worms and a larger CUC. My rocks look better since I raised the flow and cut down light times and feeding. I will up the light schedule next week and gradually more each week for about the next month. Pics coming soon.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

It sounds like things are going well so far! How are all the corals and fish doing, especially the newest three fish? I’m sorry that you haven’t gotten much help so far with your algae problems here. It sounds like your cuc consists mainly of only ceriths. I don’t know if they eat the hard calcareous green algae you are describing. I’m not sure specifically what kind would, but if you check the descriptions of each snail on reef cleaners, I’m sure you could find one. I wouldn’t recommend removing any rocks from your tank because they have algae on them. The algae will eventually get worked out after a period of time, and that time line could get set back some by you changing the rock out (at least that’s my take on it). I hope this was helpful, and if you ever feel like you aren’t getting the help you need, feel free to let me know and I will do my best to help or find someone who can.

 

[Ippyroy]

Dosed some MicroBacter Clean today. New CUCs coming in the next couple of days as well as some mud from IPSF. I will do my weekly water change tomorrow of 5 gallons. Diatoms are really coming in on the sand and glass now. Seems a little late but I’m not too worried yet. My fish are happy and corals mostly seem to be doing well. I might turn the lights up to 8 hours a day this week. I don’t know yet. These green rocks are really ugly.

 

[Ippyroy]

CUC is lost in the mail. Had to order from LA. Most expensive CUC ever for snails and hermits. Ridiculous. Almost frustrated enough to throw in the towel. Algae is growing great. Getting some nice fluffy green rocks. The tank gets uglier by the day. PO4 is down to .05 and NO3 is still at 5. Going through about 2-3 DKH a day so I have to dose soda ash or I will be below 7 well before my water change. Diatoms are almost done on the sand bed though.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

CUC is lost in the mail. Had to order from LA. Most expensive CUC ever for snails and hermits. Ridiculous. Almost frustrated enough to throw in the towel. Algae is growing great. Getting some nice fluffy green rocks. The tank gets uglier by the day. PO4 is down to .05 and NO3 is still at 5. Going through about 2-3 DKH a day so I have to dose soda ash or I will be below 7 well before my water change. Diatoms are almost done on the sand bed though.

Don’t worry, I’m sure things will get worked out and your cuc will be here soon enough. Things should start to clear up after a while on the algae front, so I wouldn’t worry too much as long as you have good maintenance.

 

[Ippyroy]

Don’t worry, I’m sure things will get worked out and your cuc will be here soon enough. Things should start to clear up after a while on the algae front, so I wouldn’t worry too much as long as you have good maintenance.

It’s all good. I just need to vent. I had to order another CUC. I won’t get the other one until Monday. Most of the items will probably be DOA. 7 days is a long time in a plastic bag. The algae is getting bigger now. Not GHA but something more substantial. I will start scrubbing the rocks next week.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

It’s all good. I just need to vent. I had to order another CUC. I won’t get the other one until Monday. Most of the items will probably be DOA. 7 days is a long time in a plastic bag. The algae is getting bigger now. Not GHA but something more substantial. I will start scrubbing the rocks next week.

More substantial than gha? That must be some tough stuff. Do you know what type it is? Hopefully it’s not bryopsis.

 

[Ippyroy]

Not sure yet. Thick and green. Not looking forward to it for sure. Need the CUC ASAP to help take it down. Should be a lot of fun cleaning it off that's for sure. It was supposed to arrive yesterday.

 

[Funston07]

Seen you having problems with algae, while im no expert on this issue figured I would post this chart I stumbled upon that helped me with picking certain snails to help with controlling algae. The only thing I wouldnt say is 100% accurate is the part about which ones can flip themselves over but other than that it will help you get a better idea of which snails would be more beneficial for your situation

 

[Ippyroy]

Seen you having problems with algae, while im no expert on this issue figured I would post this chart I stumbled upon that helped me with picking certain snails to help with controlling algae. The only thing I wouldnt say is 100% accurate is the part about which ones can flip themselves over but other than that it will help you get a better idea of which snails would be more beneficial for situation

Cool! I've been wanting something like this.

 

[Funston07]

Cool! I've been wanting something like this.

Hope it helps ya. Just an FYI the top list shows the best two types of snails to get for that specific algae its listed next to. Different snails prefer different algae so that will help you get rid of it a little faster than just throwing any snails at it you can get. If I were you I would try manually removing as much of it as you can while doing a water change and suck up the pieces you can manage to pull off the rocks.

 

[Ippyroy]

Hope it helps ya. Just an FYI the top list shows the best two types of snails to get for that specific algae its listed next to. Different snails prefer different algae so that will help you get rid of it a little faster than just throwing any snails at it you can get. If I were you I would try manually removing as much of it as you can while doing a water change and suck up the pieces you can manage to pull off the rocks.

It's too small to remove inside the tank but spreading everywhere quickly. I will have to remove and scrub inside a bucket of saltwater. Should be fun.

 

[Ippyroy]

Well, the box of dead animals will be arriving at the PO today. Not sure if I want to pick them up, write return to sender, or just throw in the trash. Maybe some will have survived. I don't yet. My DKH fell .6 last night. Strange, but I am still letting it go. My PO4 was .08 this morning. A tad higher, but I will be dosing Micrbacter Clean this weekend. I do have a CUC from LA arriving tomorrow. I am sure they will all be alive. IPSF should arrive on Thursday.