New build in progress - 60g cube

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WiscoFishNut

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Just a few notes for today -

The foxface rabbit fish has settled in nicely after some skirmishes with the current residents. He actually got a small chunk taken out of his tail fin by someone/thing, but he seems to be no worse for it.

Regrets -
Adding those blue legged hermits. Even with some empty shells thrown in, those murderous little jerks have gone after my Florida cerith snails. The scarlet leg hermits seem to be better tankmates. The blue leg punks also have no respect for my zoas, crawling all over them. Little jerks are heading to the sump in the near future.

Positives -
Pitho crabs! I picked up a couple of these little dudes last week and man are they algae munching pigs :D So far they've not gone after any corals which is a huge relief after the experiences I had with emerald and sally lightfoot crabs. Plus they're small enough that they don't creep out my wife..
My Alk/Ca levels are finally back where I'd like it to be at 8.1 - 8.2 thanks to the all in one All-for-reef mix. So easy a caveman can do it along with a Hanna checker. Eventually I think I'll get a doser, but for now its not too much of an inconvenience to manually dose before bed. The corals are looking much happier and seeing a lot more corraline algae popping up.
Cleaned the wet sides of my MP10's yesterday. Tons of GHA removed. I couldn't believe how much it was affecting their performance! Might need to actually dial them back a bit. I'm thinking about actually adding a third one though on the bottom of the back glass to hit some dead spots.

In progress -
Still fighting the GHA/turf algae. I've been slacking a bit on the manual removal because who the hell enjoys that lol. I've been focusing mainly on keeping the corals happy and removing what bits I can. I have some Flux Rx(Fluconazole) on standby, but I think I'll break out the Phosban reactor before taking that step.

I'll post some water parms after I do a full round of testing tonight. Life has just been getting in the way too much.
 
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Update time!

Made some changes over the weekend and did a bunch of cleanup. This dang GHA is ticking me off. The frags on the frag rack are just sitting there waiting until I can actually clean the rocks off. In the meantime they're under constant algae attack.. I've lost a couple frags in the process which sucks.

I decided to abandon the notion of growing macro in the tiny fuge section in the sump. The space is just too cramped for it to be tumbled properly, and honestly just ends up being a combined mess of micro and macro because of it. So, I ended up pulling the algae and also moving the pod hotel up to the DT in a corner on the bottom. One downside is that my NO3 levels have been pretty steady around 20-25. I've been lazy lately about WC's (every other week), so that could be improved. Also, my skimmer is currently dialed back in keeping with the lazy theme, so I could run that wetter.

The other big change was the addition of a Phosban reactor. PO4 has been consistently high and nothing I had done so far seemed to make a dent. I set it up on Sunday and left it sort of just hanging out in the front of the sump until I'm certain I want to use it long term. I went with the Two Little Fishies PhosbanReact 150 and a Sicce Syncra Silent 0.5 pump. That name for the pump is a lie; it's definitely not silent lol.. The dang thing is louder than my Jebao return pump. Hoping once it breaks in it'll get quieter.

In livestock news - the fish are all doing good and everyone still gets along. The foxface is quickly becoming a family favorite, and doing his part to help with algae control. The hermits continue to be snail killing punks, but do a pretty good job at counteracting my overfeeding habit.

I need to clean my sump lol
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24 hours of running the Phosban reactor and PO4 is down to .2 . when I tested yesterday it was over the 1ppm threshold of the Tropic Marin test. Looks like we're moving in the right direction finally. I'm wondering what its gonna take to keep it at a proper level, maybe only running the reactor for a limited amount of time? Thoughts?
 
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Small updates - I spent a bunch of time doing manual algae removal and rock blasting over the weekend. It's getting there slowly, but surely. PO4 has leveled out at around .06 and doesn't seem to want to budge either direction. I've left the Phosban reactor on for now since the PO4 levels don't seem to be moving any more. Is that normal? Guessing I have enough media in there to remove a good bit of PO4, but not completely zero it out?

As a reward for all the algae picking/boring maintenance work I snagged some corals from @ChaosAquaculture's FB auctions :D

Here's the pics for what I ordered. Some stuff may end up in my office nano if I can't find space lol

Neon green and teal goniopora
1598897208930.png


WWC Illuminati zoa
1598897295635.png


Teal and neon green sparkle favia
1598897335791.png


ORA montipora setosa
1598897389865.png


Pink and teal sparkle favia
1598897428540.png
 

revhtree

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Small updates - I spent a bunch of time doing manual algae removal and rock blasting over the weekend. It's getting there slowly, but surely. PO4 has leveled out at around .06 and doesn't seem to want to budge either direction. I've left the Phosban reactor on for now since the PO4 levels don't seem to be moving any more. Is that normal? Guessing I have enough media in there to remove a good bit of PO4, but not completely zero it out?

As a reward for all the algae picking/boring maintenance work I snagged some corals from @ChaosAquaculture's FB auctions :D

Here's the pics for what I ordered. Some stuff may end up in my office nano if I can't find space lol

Neon green and teal goniopora
1598897208930.png


WWC Illuminati zoa
1598897295635.png


Teal and neon green sparkle favia
1598897335791.png


ORA montipora setosa
1598897389865.png


Pink and teal sparkle favia
1598897428540.png

FIRE!! Very nice!
 
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I finally hit a milestone in the algae battle. I've managed to get the Phosban reactor dialed in just right to keep my PO4 levels at a steady .06 :D Now to finish with the manual removal and then bring NO3 down slightly from 25ppm. I'm hoping a slight adjustment to feeding and maybe running the skimmer wetter will fix that. I'm guessing maybe the elevated NO3 levels are from the algae dying off? Fortunately the corals have looked pretty happy for the most part throughout the journey other than a couple losses due to "suffocation". There are a few frags on the temporary frag rack that have GHA that I wasn't able to remove with a toothbrush, so I'll be trying a quick salt water/hydrogen peroxide dip tonight to take care of it. The other option I was considering is a CoralRx dip. Suggestions welcome/appreciated! The affected frags are mainly zoa and 1 clove polyp frag if that makes a difference.

One bummer - the WWC Illuminati frag either melted or one of my fish finally broke bad and ate it. It was closed up upon arrival, and then 6-7 hours later I was looking at an almost spotless clean frag plug. :mad:
 

truepercs

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Finished the electronics cabinet. The actual end table/cabinet was picked up from wayfair.com. The wife approved of the rustic design and there was just enough room for what I needed to stash in there. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out other than the big hole I had to cut in the back to run the MP10's thru.. Everything is attached via heavy duty velcro in case I need to rearrange or upgrade things later. The lights have a remote control with a rave/disco function Ran out of steam, so the other cabinet for the ATO reservoir will happen tomorrow morning. Then the real fun begins, hard plumbing the tank. Not gonna lie, I'm really nervous about it.

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Nice job on putting the electronics in a separate cabinet
 

truepercs

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"Low key"


Not sure about that... Usually they become a focal point.

When company comes over and starts asking about the aquarium soon your wife will be saying oh that fish...that is a "Tail spot Blenny" we call him Benny the Blenny ha...
 
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