Newb with SPS - Issue?

E.intheC · Nov 28, 2020

Since the current frags are still holding strong, I decided to add five more sps frags today.

The 34 gallon shallow tank is up and running with LPS corals. The 120 is completely SPS only.

All that said. I have a few questions:

1) I’m thinking of moving the sand from the 120 to the 34. It’s been kept pretty clean and is white, but I’d rather increase the flow and the sand is holding me back from doing so. Should I get rid of the sand itself and start new, or transfer the sand from one tank to the other? I’m trying to avoid the cloudy water and sand storm that comes with buying new sand.

2) I am starting to see some algae on the rocks. Still not a huge rise in phosphate/nitrate levels Not a lot, but maybe 5% of the rock is covered with a dark greenish/brown looking algae. Should I leave it be, or get a tang to help with it?

3) I have a huge spinoid (however you spell it) worm problem. They’ve been in my tank for a few months and I thought they would go away with time, especially with the reduced nutrients and tight control since the SPS have been added. Maybe I’m lucky, but I haven’t experienced a worm outbreak like this since I’ve started reefkeeping and honestly don’t know how to remedy the issue. I’m sure they’re irritating my corals as well. Would a copperband butterfly help with this? Manual removal? What’s best?

JPergamo · Nov 28, 2020

E.intheC said:
Since the current frags are still holding strong, I decided to add five more sps frags today.

The 34 gallon shallow tank is up and running with LPS corals. The 120 is completely SPS only.

All that said. I have a few questions:

1) I’m thinking of moving the sand from the 120 to the 34. It’s been kept pretty clean and is white, but I’d rather increase the flow and the sand is holding me back from doing so. Should I get rid of the sand itself and start new, or transfer the sand from one tank to the other? I’m trying to avoid the cloudy water and sand storm that comes with buying new sand.

2) I am starting to see some algae on the rocks. Still not a huge rise in phosphate/nitrate levels Not a lot, but maybe 5% of the rock is covered with a dark greenish/brown looking algae. Should I leave it be, or get a tang to help with it?

3) I have a huge spinoid (however you spell it) worm problem. They’ve been in my tank for a few months and I thought they would go away with time, especially with the reduced nutrients and tight control since the SPS have been added. Maybe I’m lucky, but I haven’t experienced a worm outbreak like this since I’ve started reefkeeping and honestly don’t know how to remedy the issue. I’m sure they’re irritating my corals as well. Would a copperband butterfly help with this? Manual removal? What’s best?

Eric hope those frags are doing well. Id be careful with disturbing established sand and if you do, do a very small amount at a time over a few weeks would be my suggestion. Algae on the rocks is a good thing. You saw my systems today. I have some algae, not a lot but some. I always try to explain to guys that it is way harder to kill sps with high nutrients than it is with low nutrients.

As far as the worms go, some wrasses will probably eat them. And if you have a lot in the sand bed id say you have a descent amount of detritus in there and even more reason to be careful when disturbing and moving it if you decide to. Text me whenever you want if you wanna talk shop and run ideas by me, im always available to help and pass on opinion from my many many failures lol.

iamacat · Nov 28, 2020

I’d also like to transfer some of the sand from the 120 to the 34 gallon.

I do not recommend doing this. You will encounter one or many issues during this process and I think your experience would be more enjoyable if you left the sand alone. As Jpergamo said go very slowly if you are going to remove it. There is a decent amount of discussion on BRS about their issues in the 160 doing that. I would look into it thoroughly before jumping into that decision

E.intheC · Nov 29, 2020

JPergamo said:
Eric hope those frags are doing well. Id be careful with disturbing established sand and if you do, do a very small amount at a time over a few weeks would be my suggestion. Algae on the rocks is a good thing. You saw my systems today. I have some algae, not a lot but some. I always try to explain to guys that it is way harder to kill sps with high nutrients than it is with low nutrients.

As far as the worms go, some wrasses will probably eat them. And if you have a lot in the sand bed id say you have a descent amount of detritus in there and even more reason to be careful when disturbing and moving it if you decide to. Text me whenever you want if you wanna talk shop and run ideas by me, im always available to help and pass on opinion from my many many failures lol.

Thanks James- Your SPS corals are great. And I’ve had many failures myself lol.

I’ll keep the sand as-is for now. I like the idea of getting a wrasse or two and leaving things be, as difficult as that is for me.

E.intheC · Dec 10, 2020

Small update: all frags are still essentially the same. Since the last post on 11/29, I added 5 more chromis, and increased feeding to twice per day.

I left the sand and rock alone.

The red digi polyps have slowly turned orange, and the green slimer is now a light green with almost a yellowish tint. I’m guessing this is a result of the low nutrients.

I had a small temperature dip to 75.9 overnight a few days ago, and on Tuesday night one of my heaters exploded . Luckily I caught it quickly and was able to replace it, but I did get shocked twice. I normally replace heaters on a yearly basis, but I wish they would make better quality heaters.