Onward and Upward ... the 65 gallon that's too big.

[HuduVudu]

Shorty is carbon reactor for drinking RO water. We have three separate storage bins - 1 for RODI, 1 for waste (plants, etc) & 1 for drinking & dog.

You are using the three stage DI to nuke the chloromines?

 

[Mical]

You are using the three stage DI to nuke the chloromines?

Yeah, three stage resins - Cation, anion & dual bed resins. I was "cooking" through dual bed resins (2 canisters every other month) ever since switching over to the separate resins I go through 1 Anion every 3 months. The Cation is just shy of a year old and dual bed is over a year old and barely showing color change and TDS is 0.

 

[HuduVudu]

Whelp ... Doser has ich ... again. ROFL. This silly fish will get ich at the drop of the hat.

Shouldn't be a problem unless something else crazy happens.

 

[Mical]

Doser...lol I had a powder brown tang that would get ich like a teenager gets acne... He met his demise when he tried to steal food from a carpet anemone.

 

[HuduVudu]

Dumped a bunch of amphipods in from my 20. I think the wife said she got three nets full of them. For reference that would be about a gumball size times three. Put them in at night so the marauding fish wouldn't eat them. My limpet transfers didn't do very well. Will need to get more over. The black snail I moved over is doing well and having a heyday on the algae.

The lights have definitely kicked off the algae. Unfortunately because of the freeze the LFS has no CUC. I think I want to put a conch in this tank. They are such fun creatures. Should be more than enough to keep him busy. I want to be careful and not overdo it. I don't need dead crew members.

Pics for posterity.

 

[HuduVudu]

Ok, I just realized my mistake. Too much dosing in my head. My Pakastani's name is Dozer. He just wanted me to make that clear to everyone that is watching.

 

[HuduVudu]

Ok, got back to the LFS. He went overboard and I was able to get my small clean up crew and most importantly I was able to get a conch. I hope he does well I really love these creatures and I would be really happy to have one like I have in my 20.

So new tank and coral failure is real. My wife thought that LPS would work in the tank and suggested that we get a small LPS frag to test. I was skeptical but what the hay I thought we would try. LUL that didn't work at all. The coral looked good when I put it in the next day looked like crap ... I have pics. Then the wife was like yah that didn't work. We put it in my 20 and now it is puffing back up and will probably eat tonight. Ughhhh, now I have another LPS to keep up with.

I got an ICP test for my 20. It showed elevated vanadium and nickel. This has been a weird ongoing problem for me for a while. It doesn't seem to cause trouble with the tank but I don't think it is helpful. I attributed it to the hydrogen sulfide exposure when I put a pump into the front end of my digester. Whelp I don't think that is the case now. I did some quick research and found this:

ATI results back, sources of vanadium?

I received my ATI ICP test results and I have extremely high vanadium and nickel. What could possibly be the cause of these metals in the tank, specifically vanadium. I am unable to keep SPS alive for more than a few weeks before they completely STN. All magnets, pumps and powerheads have been...

www.reef2reef.com

I really think it is the black sand that I am using. I had kept some for my 20 because I thought it was leaching iron and my thought was good ... I want that. I don't think that anymore. Fortunately for me I pulled the skimmer that I dumped the sand in so it is removed from the 20, Unfortunately for me I used it in my plenum on this tank. Argghhhh thankfully it is in the sump so the disruption will be minimal. I am going have to yank the plenum and rebuild it using a the white silica sand. I am debating whether I want the dead space, I know Jaubert said it wasn't relevant but old habits die hard. Hilariously I was right as it the origins of the idea. LOL old undergravel. Anyway here are some pics and a full tank shot for posterity.

Clean up crew with a special pic of conch.

Kewl sponge that is doing well. I am very happy to see all of the sponge life.

FTS with Dozer actually in the picture. He is in his favorite hidey hole. Gilly of course being her photo bomber self.

Before and after on the new LPS that got moved.

Before:

After:

Not a happy camper.

 

[HuduVudu]

Well the new tank absolutely nuked the LPS it didn't even recover in my 20. Yikes. The porites and stylo are now fully gone and being overtaken by algae. The coral that Gilly pulled it's mouth out is hanging in there and it definitely doesn't like the higher light. There is a new coral that I thought was dead but because the algae growth is so thick it is pretty clear now that it is not dead because there is no algae growth on it. It is extremely pale. Let's see if it will color up or even if it will survive.

Got a new ATO container. It is a 10 gallon container. I am starting to see some alk depletion and this will get worse when I pull the plenum. Hopefully this weekend I can rebuild it. I will be getting a new doser for my GHL and I will get the kalk stirrer going and start dosing kalk. I will put up pics of those events when I get them up.

Fish are fat and healthy. Dozer is finally starting to calm down. His color is coming back and he is pale less often and picking at rocks more. No more visible scale lifting and the head shaking has abated.

New ATO

Tank clowns.

Dead porites:

Dead stylo:

Coral that I thought was dead:

LPS from live rock that Gilly out the mouth out of:

 

[Vette67]

Rinse your sand, then turn on all blues and everything will magically fix itself. Didn’t you get the memo?

 

[HuduVudu]

Then Dozer and Gilly wouldn't have stuff to pick at. They would be very VERY angry. I couldn't go against them they might turn on me.

 

[HuduVudu]

Replaced the plenum. Yukkk that was a job. Got all of the black sand out and replaced with white silca sand. Hopefully I should get some silicates for my sponges.

I hate that I get so much blue from 20. It makes pictures hard.

Re-used the dead space. It is just coarse filter with window screening.

White silca sand on top of the dead space.

Finished. The black is the dead space. I am not sure the sand will fall down and cover this. Maybe in time.

 

[Vette67]

Replaced the plenum. Yukkk that was a job. Got all of the black sand out and replaced with white silca sand. Hopefully I should get some silicates for my sponges.

I hate that I get so much blue from 20. It makes pictures hard.

Re-used the dead space. It is just coarse filter with window screening.

White silca sand on top of the dead space.

Finished. The black is the dead space. I am not sure the sand will fall down and cover this. Maybe in time.

Glad you posted that picture. I’ve been having a hard time visualizing what a plenum looks like. Is that the first chamber in your sump? And do you pump water into the bottom layer?

 

[HuduVudu]

It is the first chamber of the sump.

It is easy if you imagine how this whole thing came about and to think Jaubert actually patented it. Yuusssh, that was stupid.

It is simple imagine an under gravel filter minus the lift tubes covered with 5 to 6 inches of sand. I take it a little further and add an inert substrate in the lower part of it. I was using the black sand because I thought that it was inert ... ooops. Now I am using silica sand. I do this because I don't want the clumping that comes from using a calcium carbonate based sand. This is all speculation on my part and as is most of this hobby the theory may or may not be true but what happens with all of this I have a lot of experience with.

The lower layer or the plenum is dead. There is no water movement. The next step that would incorporate this type of system would be a reverse flow undergravel filter. This is what Paul B. and others use. Where a small amount of water is pushed down the lift tubes into the space underneath.

Hope this explains it.

 

[Dcal]

Im really interested in getting butterfly(s) for my reef with most interest in your two types. Any advice?

 

[HuduVudu]

Im really interested in getting butterfly(s) for my reef with most interest in your two types. Any advice?

Lots of gas exchange with flow. I used white worms to get them started eating. It took about 2 and 4 days to get them eating. Once they are eating be judicious for the first few days spread the feedings out, and feed a little. Once they are tolerating the food and they start to enter the voracious phase after a few days from them starting to eat. Feed them a lot and constantly to get their reserves back.

My Pakastani was very sick when he came in, though there were few outwardly visible signs. It took me quite some time to get him strengthened up.

Just know that butterflys are moderately hard to get acclimated. A more mature tank can help with this so if you can let them be the last additions that you make.

Good luck. I hope you have success.

 

[Dcal]

Lots of gas exchange with flow. I used white worms to get them started eating. It took about 2 and 4 days to get them eating. Once they are eating be judicious for the first few days spread the feedings out, and feed a little. Once they are tolerating the food and they start to enter the voracious phase after a few days from them starting to eat. Feed them a lot and constantly to get their reserves back.

My Pakastani was very sick when he came in, though there were few outwardly visible signs. It took me quite some time to get him strengthened up.

Just know that butterflys are moderately hard to get acclimated. A more mature tank can help with this so if you can let them be the last additions that you make.

Good luck. I hope you have success.

Yep! Tank is about 9 months and i just started a thread about my other options for my last fish. If I had to get a pair what would you suggest

 

[HuduVudu]

Yep! Tank is about 9 months and i just started a thread about my other options for my last fish. If I had to get a pair what would you suggest

It all depends on you.

Butterflys are not considered reef safe, so be aware of that. There are many species to choose from and pictures don't really do them justice for how beautiful their colorings are. I can't even get really good pictures of mine to show just how pretty they look.

Here are most of the ones that are available to the hobby.

Butterflyfish | Marine Fish

Marine hobbyists prize Butterflyfish due to their colorful and patterned bodies

www.liveaquaria.com

You often have to wait for availability. I haven't really tried pairs so I can't say with that, but do be aware there is often intraspecies agression.

 

[HuduVudu]

Added my new doser on and moved over the dosing to this slave doser from the stand alone doser that I have on my 20. It was very painless. Thank you GHL.

Next step is to get the stirrer going and get it dosing the tank.

 

[HuduVudu]

Moved over a bunch more amphipods from my 20, and ordered more pods online at Algae Barn.

Seems like the algae is getting beat up pretty bad. My sump tells the tale.

Who needs a protein skimmer. LUL.

Algae is still there but the bare spots are not going away and the cyano is having a hard time re-establishing. It is hard to see from the pictures but I will document over time.

 

[HuduVudu]

Our nocturnal raid on my 20. Here are some pics of the amphipods. It is truly crazy how many I have.

This is pretty much the entirety of the back of the 20. Plus all that are in the rocks and sand. The LPS like to catch them and eat them.

Got 'em.