Paulie's Lagoon 25

[Pauliex77x]

Dosed the carbonate for a second day and alk is up to 8.3 dkh. Close enough for me. Fingers crossed it kick-starts some growth because if it doesn't I'm fresh out of ideas.

Added a new frag to the pool. Think it's a Kenya tree but not 100% sure. Took about 10 minuites for it to open. Up all the way so I'm gonna guess he's found his spot in between the two rock islands.

I want some rastas and Superman zoas and I think the lagoon garden will be complete. Also want to add a few more ricordea colors and a chalace for higher up above the zoas.

I figured out the problem with the aquaclear 70 for the 10g. Tomorrow there is supposed to be a tropical storm rolling through so I'll get the scape and equipment set in stone for that and let it cycle for a while. I plan on making that tank euphylia dominant with some zoas and mushrooms as well.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Things have been going up and down for a little while now, closing in on the 1 year mark of when i started the cycle. been dealing with some algae outbreaks, nothing thats too serious. also dealing with chaeto growing in the display and trying to clean it out before it annoys the corals. in all honesty i need to step up my game and stick to a more consistent maintenance schedule.

so one zoa frag hasnt really been opened much for a few months, i gave it a dip in some reef dip today and we'll see if that helps. also gonna move it up into the budget 10g that i finally found a home for next to the computer desk. here it is.

Filtration is an AC 70 with an in-tank insert using Filter floss, chemi pure blue, Marine pure gems, and about a tennis balls worth of chaeto. Lighting is the Prime. also have an Aqamai KPS in there for some added random flow but the filter should be enough. for top off i have a cheap 10$ fitting that fits a 2L soda bottle that hangs on the lip of the tank. it did have a striped blenny about a month ago but he decided to jump. added a few snails tonight and tomorrow i'll be transferring some corals up from the Lagoon.

namely these, these are the twizzlers that have gone downhill in about a weeks time. hope it isnt too late for them.

also today i got my second order delivered from Todd and the guys over at Cherrycorals.com. if you havent ordered from them yet then you're missing out. here are the new arrivals.

Green Goblin Favia and a really fat Caulastrea. I also got some Bloodsucker Palys but they havent fully opened yet. ill get a better pic of them later.

The first favia (dont know its name, LFS didnt have it posted) is growing really well. Along with the GSP and the Galaxea.

the Hammer is a little deflated and losing some of its color still but its not deteriorating any further. keeping an eye on it though.

still enjoying the hobby, but now i realize i need to be better about keeping weekly water changes consistent along with changing filter media when needed. most likely thats the problem with keeping everything growing and thriving.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Moved a few snails upstairs along with an Acan, the zoas that havent opened in a while but still look alive. and these Twizzlers that look like theyre gone.

hope they arent completely dead but not sure theyre salvagable. here's the Acan

cleaned a ton of green algae off the skeleton that i thought was from it growing new flesh. hes not very happy but should be OK in a few days. and here are the last zoas that look like they still have some life but they're tiny and they havent really opened in a long time. hopefully the change of scenery helps them as well

 

[Pauliex77x]

Lol so as I was getting ready for bed with the lights out I checked on the unhappy zoas one last time, they had some small white bugs that looked like pods crawling on them. All zoas getting a dip tomorrow lol.

 

[RRsNano]

Looks good. I like how you have separate rocks as islands.

I bought a IM 25 and I didn’t know how I wanted it scapped. I ended using 4 nano arches from Caribsea. I wish I could do separate islands like yours!

 

[Pauliex77x]

Thanks. Actually just realized today that I think I have a dino problem . Doing some research now on what I'm gonna need to do.

I think the T5 setup is a bit much as Its mounted about 4" off the surface of the tank and it was causing my hammer to lose color. And I'm pretty sure the lack of nutrients in the water is making the zoas very unhappy.

Along with dealing with the dinos my plan most likely is to scrap the T5 bulbs until later down the road when I can get the ATI fixture and mount it at the proper height. Until then the prime hd is gonna have to do which is fine because I don't have any light demanding frags. I'll get a budget LED for the "budget 10 gallon" lol. About 90% sure that's what is going to happen.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Soooooooo...... Dino's. My nutrients have been close to zero for a long time so I'm assuming thats what the slime all over the place is. Still researching a plan of attack but for now the first move was to get all my frags and give them a quick scrub with a toothbrush before transferring them upstairs to the 10g. Nutrients are kinda low In thst tank as well so I'll be turning off the fuge light and getting rid of the chaeto. Filtration for now will be done with floss, marine pure gems in a mesh bag, and 2 chemi pure blue nano packets. I'm gonna treat this as a new start and try to keep it as simple as possible.

As for the lagoon, I ordered the Innovative marine UV sterilizer from BRS Along with some tropic marin NP plus and a filter sock for when I syphon out the slime. Lights are off, as well as the skimmer, and the fuge light because the chaeto is in the trash.

The T5's I think are too strong for some of the corals in the tank so that's getting put back on the shelf. The prime hd will be going back into the lagoon and I've ordered a Nicrew hyper reef 30w LED with a controller off of Amazon that should be plenty for the 10g.

Taking this as a challenge and looking forward to seeing if I can come out on the other side of this successfully.

 

[Pauliex77x]

New light Came in for the 10g so i can move the Prime back onto the lagoon whenever im ready. since i only moved my corals yesterday i wanted to get the lights swapped out so they can acclimate as quick as possible.

first off the Nicrew Hyperreef is very well built. Its a heavy light with a solid and sturdy mount as well. its actually heavier and bigger than the prime.

it took about 20 mins of tinkering around with the Timer that comes separately before I got the schedule set and the intensity dialed in. ill be honest I'm surprised that such an affordable light is build so well and makes the coral colors really pop. The crappy cellphone camera doesnt do it any favors.

obviously the AI prime is superior because of the app and ability to choose your own spectrum. but other than those bells and whistles the only difference i can tell is the prime has a lot more shimmer to it which really doesn't make any difference to me. lets see how well it can grow corals (if i can keep water chemistry in line too).

 

[TheWB]

New light Came in for the 10g so i can move the Prime back onto the lagoon whenever im ready. since i only moved my corals yesterday i wanted to get the lights swapped out so they can acclimate as quick as possible.

first off the Nicrew Hyperreef is very well built. Its a heavy light with a solid and sturdy mount as well. its actually heavier and bigger than the prime.

it took about 20 mins of tinkering around with the Timer that comes separately before I got the schedule set and the intensity dialed in. ill be honest I'm surprised that such an affordable light is build so well and makes the coral colors really pop. The crappy cellphone camera doesnt do it any favors.

obviously the AI prime is superior because of the app and ability to choose your own spectrum. but other than those bells and whistles the only difference i can tell is the prime has a lot more shimmer to it which really doesn't make any difference to me. lets see how well it can grow corals (if i can keep water chemistry in line too).

I didn’t buy that particular model because I didn’t like the mount. I went with the Nicrew 30w round light with the gooseneck. Works the same way as yours but I didn’t get the controller. I just set to a spectrum I liked and use the apex to turn it in and off. I’m just using it as a cheap supplement to my Radion in the corner where the Radion doesn’t reach too well. The bummer is that for the money I like it and now I want another one for the other side of the tank but it’s not available anymore on Amazon.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I didn’t buy that particular model because I didn’t like the mount. I went with the Nicrew 30w round light with the gooseneck. Works the same way as yours but I didn’t get the controller. I just set to a spectrum I liked and use the apex to turn it in and off. I’m just using it as a cheap supplement to my Radion in the corner where the Radion doesn’t reach too well. The bummer is that for the money I like it and now I want another one for the other side of the tank but it’s not available anymore on Amazon.

i learned my lesson with lights that are too strong hence why i went with the 30W for this small 10g. i actually prefer the solid mount over the gooseneck but i can see if you have it on a narrow tank up against a wall how it would be a problem.. could always mod the mount to shorten it up but im fine with how i have it. the Controller makes it well worth the 75$ i spent. its too bad the controller doesnt work on the 50 or 100w versions because that would be a game changer.

build quality aside its just time to see if the light is strong enough to actually grow some stuff. frags are open and as happy as theyve been in a while so i'll take that as a good sign. i gotta stay on top of alk in this smaller tank though so ill test today and dose it if its under 8.

you noticing a difference in growth with it? or has it been more of an aesthetic change for you since you have the radion as it is?

 

[TheWB]

i learned my lesson with lights that are too strong hence why i went with the 30W for this small 10g. i actually prefer the solid mount over the gooseneck but i can see if you have it on a narrow tank up against a wall how it would be a problem.. could always mod the mount to shorten it up but im fine with how i have it. the Controller makes it well worth the 75$ i spent. its too bad the controller doesnt work on the 50 or 100w versions because that would be a game changer.

build quality aside its just time to see if the light is strong enough to actually grow some stuff. frags are open and as happy as theyve been in a while so i'll take that as a good sign. i gotta stay on top of alk in this smaller tank though so ill test today and dose it if its under 8.

you noticing a difference in growth with it? or has it been more of an aesthetic change for you since you have the radion as it is?

I’m not really noticing any faster growth but it’s not turned up too high. I really only got it to fill in some shadowing and to bring out color. It’s right above the Devils Armor Zoa patch that the clowns live in. Those Zoas have green skirts but you couldn’t really tell before. Now that a blue light is aimed right at them they show the coloration better. I really was hoping to eliminate some shadowing on the Birdsnest frag but that’s not really happening. It’s directly under the Radion and the lower parts of the frag are in shadow. I though there might be some bleed over from the Nicrew light but it’s pretty focused so if it’s helping the Birdsnest it’s not real obvious.

You‘re right, I probably could have modded the length of that bracket to make the light you have work but my DIY skills are pretty poor. I may have no choice though if the the one I bought doesn’t come back in stock. For my current needs it was perfect.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I’m not really noticing any faster growth but it’s not turned up too high. I really only got it to fill in some shadowing and to bring out color. It’s right above the Devils Armor Zoa patch that the clowns live in. Those Zoas have green skirts but you couldn’t really tell before. Now that a blue light is aimed right at them they show the coloration better. I really was hoping to eliminate some shadowing on the Birdsnest frag but that’s not really happening. It’s directly under the Radion and the lower parts of the frag are in shadow. I though there might be some bleed over from the Nicrew light but it’s pretty focused so if it’s helping the Birdsnest it’s not real obvious.

You‘re right, I probably could have modded the length of that bracket to make the light you have work but my DIY skills are pretty poor. I may have no choice though if the the one I bought doesn’t come back in stock. For my current needs it was perfect.

the actinic look of the light is really nice. i have it set about 9" off the water and about 20" from the sand bed. blues are on at 100% for 12 hours and whites at about 35% for 6 hours. ill keep an eye on it for about a month and adjust it from there. its really making the colors pop especially the frags i got from cherry corals. the hammer is even puffed up and looks happier even though its lost most if not all of its green. ill take it looking healthier as a sign that the color will come back eventually.

 

[Pauliex77x]

RODI unit needed new cartridges. It being 15+ years old, the company no longer had cartridges that fit it. So a new unit was needed. Ordered the Basic 5 stage unit from Liquagen along with an in line TDS meter off Amazon. I salvaged the pressure gauge off the old unit and got it all plumbed in and mounted on the stand. Letting it do it's 30min flush as I type this.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Lengthy update incoming lol.

Things seem to have stabled and settled down in both tanks. After doing a Dr tims two week treatment in the lagoon with Refresh and waste away there is still some Cyano and some gha but it's under control. I've simplified the filtration as well. In the lagoon I've scrapped the fuge for now until the bio load gets heavier. Now only running floss, the UV sterilizer, chemipure blue nano 4 packets, and the Marine pure gems. In the 10g it's just the chemi pure and the gems with floss.

I switched up the scape so that the shorter rock is on the left and I can keep the wave maker centered and it covers the whole tank front to back. I added rfg's to the returns which are really really nice.

Took a trip to the LFS for some tiger Conch's. Got one for each tank. They're already hard at work keeping the sand clean. Doing a good job already after just 2 nights.

Also got a cardinal to round out the fish livestock.

And finally the wife wanted a nem so she got what I think is a rainbow bubble tip I believe.

Hasn't moved from the spot I put it. So far so good. Fed some reef roids tonight. I'll get some squid for it sometime this week.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Small little update here. A few upgrades in the works but I just looked over at the tank and the bigger clownfish has found the BTA

 

[Pauliex77x]

Happy Thanksgiving! Just a little preview but a big update is due. Hope everyone is safe and happy for the holidays.

 

[TheWB]

Happy Thanksgiving! Just a little preview but a big update is due. Hope everyone is safe and happy for the holidays.

Looking good. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one with froth coming out the top of my skimmer cup

 

[Pauliex77x]

Happy new year!

Life has been a little crazy so I haven't been able to give a step by step lately but here is an update that is due. First lets start with some pics of the corals that are all doing well.

I've decided I like paly's more than zoas lol. The garden is really starting to take off. The green favia in the background was completely browned out about 2 months ago and has come back nicely. The green stem hammer as well lost all it's pigment but has returned nicely.

As far as hardware goes I built a DIY floating canopy using a tv wall arm. Inside is a miro T5 retrofit kit with 2 blue plus bulbs that run for about 6 hours a day. Along with my ai prime on the AB+ schedule. I've added the IM UV sterilizer as well and it's helped a bit with water quality.

I have my jaebo doser set up with alk, calcium, mag and some trade elements. Tho this week I will test some and figure out consumtion rates again for the cal and alk.

Coraline is finally starting to take a foothold on the rock structure after adding it about a year ago lol.

I need to re evaluate my clean up crew. The trochus snails have reproduced about 3 times now and I've also added a tiger conch. The one I added to the budget tank actually does a much better job of keeping the sand bed pristine.

The nem is happy and I'm waiting for it to split or spawn. I'll try to give an update on the budget tank later or tomorrow if I have time.

 

[TheWB]

Looking good Paulie.

 

[Pauliex77x]

It's been a while again and I need to update this build thread more often. But after about a year and a half ive finally learned patience with the tank.

Things are going good. Still trying to dial in my dosing. Still treating vibrant for a bubble algae outbreak. But other than that things are thriving. Here are some pics I took today. Zoas aren't that happy because I just fragged some for the first time.

The green favia came all the way back from being completely browned out. The hammer garden has at least 3 heads on each type of hammer. The japanese weeping willow is my favorite so far and it's getting huge. The kenya tree is a weed and it won't stop popping up all over the tank.

The mushrooms for some reason aren't splitting. And the acan in the center is only now starting to grow new heads.

The nem is getting huge as well but it won't split either. Added my first two sps about 2 weeks ago. A poscilopora and a birds nest. Both are doing great.

So with the lagoon under control I decided on starting up another tank. I'll make a separate post for that but I'm not sure if I should make a new thread or just add it on to this one and keep going.