My SPS dominant 180g

CoralWealth

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Hello! I have been on the forum for a little while but was too lazy to start my own build thread. I have been in reefing for a couple years and have SPS dominant for around 2 years.

I moved my current tank to my new house in December of 2016 and to say the least I had a ton of struggles on the way. I finally realized that most all of it was from adding random "supplements" and not doing water changes. Well then I made sure I do weekly water changes, MAKE SURE MY TDS is 000 and just keep things simple.

My system:
Standard 180g tank and stand
500 gallon sump and frag tank in basement
Lighting is 8x80w sunpower with 2 reefbrites
Skimmer is Bubbale Magus B12
Return pump is a reeflo (forget what but it is insanely powerful)
3 gyre 150 and a PP15 and OW-50
Calcium Reactor
Kalk doser
KHG controlling and monitoring alk
Cheato in the middle section of my sump

FTS Feb 2020







Some top down videos from December 2019:






My goal params are:
Alk 8.5
Calc 420-430
Mag is 1350
Phosphate below 0.1
Nitrate between 4-10

Fish:
2 clownfish
3 Female Lyretail Anthias
1 Male Lyretail Anthia
Yellow Coris Wrasse
Male Labouti Fairy Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Choati Leopard Wrasse
Black Leopard Wrasse
Male Crescent tail wrasse
Supermale Lineatus Wrasse
Supermale Golden Rhomboid
Supermale Flame Wrasse
Supermale Pintail Wrasse
Yellow tail tamarin
Hovens wrasse
Cleaner Wrasse
Yellow Tang
Blue Powder Tang
Purple Tang
3 Blue Chromis
10-15 Yellowtail Damsels
3 Male Bluethroat triggers
Yellow Diamond Goby
 
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happyhourhero

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Glad to see your thread here. I hated having to go to the other site to read it. Also glad things are hopefully turning around for the better!
 
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CoralWealth

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Looking good man, glad to see you make a build thread.

Thanks man! Just trying to get my tank somewhat as nice as yours haha. I am on vacation this week so I am nervous to see what the tank looks like when i get back.
Glad to see your thread here. I hated having to go to the other site to read it. Also glad things are hopefully turning around for the better!

Haha, I go on here more now honestly so I figured it made sense to make a thread :)

I follow your thread on RC, glad to see things are turning around for you!

Thanks! Had a lot of trouble since my move and it all had to be due to the water in my new city, ever since I added another DI and Carbon block my tank has took a huge turn to the better
 

Daniel@R2R

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Awesome! Following along!
 

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RC is still a little heavier on the old school hardcore SPSers, it seems, but R2R is holding its own and certainly gaining daily. Always good to see more SPS folks put up R2R threads so I don't have to navigate that clunky site.

All those tangs andwrasses are a recipe for SPS success, it seems. Those are some great frags, they'll start taking over soon.
 
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CoralWealth

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Awesome! Following along!

Thanks!

RC is still a little heavier on the old school hardcore SPSers, it seems, but R2R is holding its own and certainly gaining daily. Always good to see more SPS folks put up R2R threads so I don't have to navigate that clunky site.

All those tangs andwrasses are a recipe for SPS success, it seems. Those are some great frags, they'll start taking over soon.

Yup I definitely agree with this. I just got home from vacation and everything looks good but it seems like I am starting to get dinos out of nowhere.

Great tank Cody, can't wait to see your frags grow!

Thanks!
 
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CoralWealth

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I am going on vacation again next Sunday for another week so I will be nervous again. I am going to take some pictures of the algae tomorrow when the lights come on. I am concerned about it a little because it is growing on some of the corals so it is concerning.

When I blow it off it comes back on the same part within 30 minutes.
 
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CoralWealth

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Not sure what is going on but ever since I have gone on vacation, I have dino problems which are getting very annoying and now are going ontop some of the tips of my SPS like pictured above.

Just tested my water:

Nitrate are between 4-8
Phosphates are 0.03
Alk is 7
Calc is 430


I would not be worried if it was just on the sand, glass and rock but now it is growing on some of the tips of the corals. Do you guys just suggest I do nothing but blow it off as much as possible and hope my filter socks get it all? That is what I am doing now.

Still only using a skimmer and cheato, with the nutrient levels low. I do not want to add GFO, etc

As soon as I blow it off the tips of the coral, it legit is back on it within 5 minutes every single time.

dinos1.jpg


dinos2.jpg
 
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CoralWealth

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So I think I am going to just continue what I am doing, which is blasting everything as much as possible to get all the dinos to hopefully stay in the filter socks. Replace the filter socks as soon as they look like theyre about to overflow.

I am also thinking of lowering my main lighting period (sunpower 8x80w) to only 6 hours a day from today till I get back from vacation on July 2nd. Or don't you think lowering the main lighting will help? It just seems like that is the only time I notice them on the frags. After the T5s go off, I can blow them off the frags and they will not come back till the T5 comes on the next day. I look in my tank eveyr morning before work to see the PE with nights out as I think that is a great indicator of how healthy/happy everything is and they always have the polyps out on the tips where the dinos are with the lights on. Then as soon as the T5s come on, the polyps on some tips go in and the dinos go on the tips.
 

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Chemistry
Alk of 7 dKH is a little low for my own comfort levels (but not bad per se) AND slightly low to be in balance with your calcium and magnesium levels. I'd raise alk to 8 or 8.5 dKH.

Light
I do think that's a lot of light over the tank....probably the T5's alone would be enough....or the LED's alone.

I would make lighting changes incrementally though...if you don't have at least a lux meter, I'd get one to gauge the changes you make.

Even a free lux meter app is better than nothing, but a real handheld lux meter is what I'd recommend and those only cost around $15.

I'm curious to know how much light you'd read at the surface now.

Nutrients
Dino's usually get a leg up when the tank starts to go nutrient-poor. Presumably their competition starts having a hard time reproducing or functioning on other basic levels....in addition, dino's are triggered by marginal condions to start playing dirty by generating toxins and switching from the life of a phytoplankton to the life of a bacteria-eater.

Sounds like your system was recently setup from the move AND may have been running on pretty low nutrients....bordering on zero-readings from sounds of it. If you weren't doing water changes and you weren't feeding all that regularly (just assuming) then it's hypothetically possible (but less likely) that another nutrient became limiting as well, or instead.
 
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CoralWealth

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Chemistry
Alk of 7 dKH is a little low for my own comfort levels (but not bad per se) AND slightly low to be in balance with your calcium and magnesium levels. I'd raise alk to 8 or 8.5 dKH.

Light
I do think that's a lot of light over the tank....probably the T5's alone would be enough....or the LED's alone.

I would make lighting changes incrementally though...if you don't have at least a lux meter, I'd get one to gauge the changes you make.

Even a free lux meter app is better than nothing, but a real handheld lux meter is what I'd recommend and those only cost around $15.

I'm curious to know how much light you'd read at the surface now.

Nutrients
Dino's usually get a leg up when the tank starts to go nutrient-poor. Presumably their competition starts having a hard time reproducing or functioning on other basic levels....in addition, dino's are triggered by marginal condions to start playing dirty by generating toxins and switching from the life of a phytoplankton to the life of a bacteria-eater.

Sounds like your system was recently setup from the move AND may have been running on pretty low nutrients....bordering on zero-readings from sounds of it. If you weren't doing water changes and you weren't feeding all that regularly (just assuming) then it's hypothetically possible (but less likely) that another nutrient became limiting as well, or instead.

Thanks for the response! I do not want to go above 7.5 alk as once I got to 8, I saw a lot less PE and some burnt tips.

For the lighting, I will leave it the same besides maybe reducing the lighting period.

I am starting to think I am nutrient poor too which is hard to believe as I have a pretty good fish stock and feed flakes 4 times a day on an autofeeder that spins twice (so really 8 times). I am really thinking of starting to add some acropower that I have but I am hesitant. I am beginning to do water changes every week and that is actually when the dinos started, so that makes me think even more that I am nutrient poor. My nitrate was 4 yesterday and phosphate was 0.027 with HANNA ULR
 

mcarroll

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I do not want to go above 7.5 alk as once I got to 8, I saw a lot less PE and some burnt tips.

That "should be" a phenomena only associated with carbon dosing. (i.e. vodka, vinegar, etc) I imagine that it could happen in a very P-starved tank too, but that's not common as far as I know.

If you aren't carbon dosing and you get things back to where they should be nutrient wise, you should be able to go to 8 or even higher. (8 is not high it's simply balanced for the C and Mg levels you have. More like 8.45, actuall. :) )

I am starting to think I am nutrient poor too which is hard to believe as I have a pretty good fish stock and feed flakes 4 times a day on an autofeeder that spins twice (so really 8 times). I am really thinking of starting to add some acropower that I have but I am hesitant.

Turn it up, but just a notch and see how it goes. Make sure flakes/dry food is not all you're feeding too...not great for the fish in the long term.

Just FYI: Go with some live items if you can. But there are lots of refrigerated items like #ROE (which I particularly like because fish AND corals go nuts for it and it's very neutral-bouyant) and lots of good frozen foods too. Prefer whole-frozen foods when possible. You clearly have room to feed more though! Don't be afraid to turn up the auto-feeder, but do it by a little bit at a time and allow at least a few weeks to see how things go. Supplementing a little with liquid nutrients in the immediate short term might be desireable, but again I'd do a small starting amount and watch closely to see how things go. Ultimately, it's important not to allow N or P to go to zero.
 
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CoralWealth

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That "should be" a phenomena only associated with carbon dosing. (i.e. vodka, vinegar, etc) I imagine that it could happen in a very P-starved tank too, but that's not common as far as I know.

If you aren't carbon dosing and you get things back to where they should be nutrient wise, you should be able to go to 8 or even higher. (8 is not high it's simply balanced for the C and Mg levels you have. More like 8.45, actuall. :) )



Turn it up, but just a notch and see how it goes. Make sure flakes/dry food is not all you're feeding too...not great for the fish in the long term.

Just FYI: Go with some live items if you can. But there are lots of refrigerated items like #ROE (which I particularly like because fish AND corals go nuts for it and it's very neutral-bouyant) and lots of good frozen foods too. Prefer whole-frozen foods when possible. You clearly have room to feed more though! Don't be afraid to turn up the auto-feeder, but do it by a little bit at a time and allow at least a few weeks to see how things go. Supplementing a little with liquid nutrients in the immediate short term might be desireable, but again I'd do a small starting amount and watch closely to see how things go. Ultimately, it's important not to allow N or P to go to zero.


Thanks! I am going to feed a lot more and have my house sitter feed more too when I am gone.

I am getting a lot of advice that I should run carbon when trying to get rid of them but I am hesitant to run carbon in my SPS tank because everything has been doing great. Will carbon do anything bad or only the good to help take out Dinos? I also saw that water changes could enhance the dinos, is this true? I wanted to do a 30g water change tomorrow before I go on vacation to replenish some of the amino acids and other levels.


Overall the tank is looking very good. The corals had great PE last night and probably the best PE this morning that I have seen in a long time.
 

mcarroll

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I am going to feed a lot more and have my house sitter feed more too when I am gone.

I'd start with "a little" vs "a lot" :)

Will carbon do anything bad or only the good to help take out Dinos?

Activated carbon, used as directed (or less quantity) shouldn't hurt anything and if you have evidence of toxicity I think it's a good idea. I don't know if this describes your situation. In most tanks it's most just good for removing color from the water, IMO. I still shouldn't hurt anything.

Carbon-source dosing (vodka, vinegar, biopellets, etc) on the other hand is to be avoided.

I also saw that water changes could enhance the dinos, is this true? I wanted to do a 30g water change tomorrow before I go on vacation to replenish some of the amino acids and other levels.

It's unlikely there are amino acids in your salt unless your use an odd brand or add them yourself. I would not add extra amino acids to the tank in any way.

I think a water change is a good idea if you think the tank needs it. I really don't think water changes should have a large impact on dino's....not in most cases, anyway.

Overall the tank is looking very good.

Remember that this is your indication to take small steps no matter what you do.....sometimes it's a fine line between making improvements and ruining the whole thing. ;)
 
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CoralWealth

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Thanks! I am not going to put the acropower online then since that is amino acids as I previously was going to to try to raise phosphates, etc.
 
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