Partner Member Red Sea 525 XL

[NY_Caveman]

I could not grow Chaetomorpha in my AIO tank at all. Tried all different light intensities on an adjustable LED. I have pretty low nutrients, but I attributed it to the tank simply being too young. All just pure speculation. I had it in a back chamber and left the light in place to try again some day.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I had good luck with my Nuvo 20 a few years ago. It was outgrowing the chamber. My tank is still relatively new so perhaps I will wait a few months and give it another shot.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Just add some pics... if anyone has advice for pics with galaxy note 8 I'm all ears.

 

[WWIII]

Just add some pics... if anyone has advice for pics with galaxy note 8 I'm all ears!

I use a free app called snapseed sometimes. Basically just open whatever photo, turn the warmth up and it gets rid of some of the blue. It's decent enough most of the time for s quick pic or 2.

Tank is looking really nice so far!!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I use a free app called snapseed sometimes. Basically just open whatever photo, turn the warmth up and it gets rid of some of the blue. It's decent enough most of the time for s quick pic or 2.

Tank is looking really nice so far!!

I will check it out, thank you for the advice and compliment! Much appreciated!

 

[WWIII]

Did you figure out what was up with the light? Have you swapped ballast with a bulb you know works? Or are the ballast internal?

Looks like it's working in the pics. What was the dealio?

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

The light is working. The left halide comes on about 15-20min after the light fires. The right side comes on immediately. Not sure why, but since it comes on I havent messed with it. Hamilton wasn't the best to deal with during the dilemma either. But it is up and running.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Did you figure out what was up with the light? Have you swapped ballast with a bulb you know works? Or are the ballast internal?

Looks like it's working in the pics. What was the dealio?

Must have jinxed myself. Came home to one side not working. Discouraging. All I really get from Hamilton is that "they tested the light and bulbs before shipping." Guess I'll have to find an electrician to take a look.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I must say though, i'm very happy with the progression. All of the algae is receding, fish are happy and corals are happy. TBH I haven't tested at all since moving into the new tank. Trying to judge things by how they look and having some pretty good success. Although I feel this weekend I will get some baseline numbers to work with.

Still doing AWC at 3gal per day and dosing 4ml of Vinegar every 12 hours. It's not a lot, but I've noticed a big difference since I started. Still doing Lugol's and ZeoBak twice a week and 1/2 dose of Reef booster each week as well. Fish are eating Reef Frenzy like its their job or any food I put in the tank. Exciting times

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Some fts... algae continues to recede... fish seem to like the one side lol.

 

[Maritimer]

My fish seem to prefer the right side of my tank as well.

All except for the sharknose goby, the zebra dartfish pair, and that one cranky Talbott's damsel . . .

Your setup is looking pretty sweet!

~Bruce

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

My fish seem to prefer the right side of my tank as well.

All except for the sharknose goby, the zebra dartfish pair, and that one cranky Talbott's damsel . . .

Your setup is looking pretty sweet!

~Bruce

Thank you!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Looks like I'm going to have to find a new light. This Cebu Sun from Hamilton is just not reliable. Half the time I come home to one side of the tank mh not lit up. May try reaching out to them one more time, but past experience has not been good. Discouraging to say the least.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Ok, so I put a new bulb in my fixture and have not had an issue since. Fingers crossed. Algae is basically gone and a small amount of cyano has appeared, but doesn't seem to be spreading. In an attempt to get some nutrients up I have not run my skimmer. Planning on adding fish when it is not -30 for them to ship. Hopefully next week as I will be out of work for sinus surgery #2. Here's two week update pics. The grafted Monti has grown a lot since I got it. Try to track down original pic...

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Well it's been a little bit since I've updated.

Start out with the bad news. Turns out my starboard didn't get silconed down very well, so it's coming up in all four corners. I've managed to siphon detritus out without any issue. Luckily my export is much higher than needed so nutrients aren't getting out of hand. In fact i'm welcoming the increase as PE has been at its best.

Good news... Scored some great pieces at the live sale this past weekend that will arrive tomorrow. I will post pictures once I get them dipped and acclimated into my tank. Refugium... I had missed a couple of pieces of lettuce that I had put in the fuge with Chaeto and it turns out it is thriving. So we will see where that goes.

Besides that everyone is very happy and doing great. This tank is working out to be just as amazing as I hoped when I won it.

Happy Reefing all!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Live sale pick ups....

JF Insane Sunset Stylo
John Deere Leptastrea
Bam Bams
PC Rainbow
Rainbow Acans
Ultra Acan
JF Lethal Lepto
RR Banana Split Baby
Gonzos XXX Rainbow Goniopora

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Okay... so corals have arrived...

I've never received a coral shipment and been unable to identify most of the shipment. Even when I got a battlebox I could, and I picked these out myself and can't. At first I was happy seeing multicolor coralline covering most of the plugs. But then the red coralline started to move and I quickly realized I had red bugs. New frag plugs and Bayer were scheduled anyways, but it's still a little bit of a let down to see. I hope others dip accordingly as I haven't always been a true coral dip or fish qt kind of guy. This definitely changed my plans going forward and can see that I have been very lucky in my endeavors thus far.

I'm able to identify 3 of my WYSIWYG corals. I'll be adding QT tank to my list of things to do next. Here's a picture of where i'm at... new plugs, third rinse since the bayer.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

ok... couple updates.

The corals all made it through and are doing well. I've started moving some up the tank to higher light and others will find a home this weekend.

I haven't been very consistent with my testing because I wanted to train myself to see when things were different or not as they should be. I've had great PE on all of my corals and most recent tests had shown untraceable nitrate and phosphate with Red Sea tests. On a wimb I decided that I didn't feel the PE was what it had been and wanted to test. Red Sea Nitrate only goes to 4ppm and I exceeded that within half the time limit of letting the test settle out. Sure enough, the next day I spot small spots of red(cyano) accumulating on the star board bottom. I had to be away from the house for a couple days so as I bandaid I dosed Dr. Tims waste away(half recommended). Was happy to get home last night and see that it hadn't progressed. So I changed my AWC schedule to 5gal/day until I can clean out the sump this weekend. Lesson learned, I will be testing more often and picked up a salifert Nitrate test kit. I was shocked to see that Hanna doesn't have one. I will post some pictures next time, but this came up on my facebook. My 20gal Nuvo from about two years ago when I lived in WA. Crazy to think one chamber was packed with chaeto, I was actually supplying the LFS and was dosing close to 100ml of 2part a day. No super high end corals, but they aren't needed to have a beautiful tank. The Red Planet was a nub 8 months earlier.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Beautiful 20g!

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Beautiful 20g!

Thank you! I really enjoyed that little tank.