Paulie's Lagoon 25

[TheWB]

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.

Good to see you back Paulie. What’s the new tank going to be?

 

[Pauliex77x]

Good to see you back Paulie. What’s the new tank going to be?

I drilled a 20L aqueon and built a diy sump from a 10g aqueon with a DIY stand. I'll put some pics up later. Still have to water test it but other projects put it on hold for a bit.

 

[TheWB]

I drilled a 20L aqueon and built a diy sump from a 10g aqueon with a DIY stand. I'll put some pics up later. Still have to water test it but other projects put it on hold for a bit.

Sounds fun. I have the same two tanks sitting in my garage doing nothing but I’d have nowhere to put them. I’d want to do it just to mess around with plumbing. I’ve never had anything that wasn’t an AIO. Post lots of pics.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Here's one or two. Ill post some more as I get it going.

 

[TheWB]

Here's one or two. Ill post some more as I get it going.

That looks great. Nice job on the stand.

 

[Pauliex77x]

The new tank is up and running. I think I'll post about it here. Don't want to have to keep up with two different threads. The entire build is pretty much DIY except for the lights (which I'm debating on doing DIY as well.) Here's a pic of it as it stands.

This is with the night lights on last night. Here's one of the whole setup before it was filled.

I diy'd a controller board as well

The board setup is a bit different than this pic. I played around with the placement of some things to figure out the best fit for all the controllers.

 

[Pauliex77x]

My plan is to have a kind of display fuge. With different macros and some coral frags. I'm using a Nicrew 30w LED for the sump. I had to buy their puck light as the hyper reef didn't fit underneath with it's mount and I couldn't find the hanging kit for it. The return pump is a Jebao dcp 3000. It's silent. Lighting is the old T5 fixture I ran for a while above the lagoon. I'm thinking of changing it though because the T5's don't seem as bright as the ones I run on the lagoon retro kit. But there is no rush as the cycle will only begin tonight.

Looking forward to playing with the sump and seeing the differences between it and AIO tanks.

 

[TheWB]

Looks great Paulie. I have that same Nicrew light. I really want to do this same setup but there just nowhere for it to go right now. Living vicariously on this one.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Yeah I rememeber you had it to suppliment the radion. I want to do something different with the fuge. It's a small space but I think I can fit a frag rack or two in there along with some cool macro algae. I know it's not the red light like the IM chaetomaxx I use on the lagoon but I don't think the nicrew will have an issue growing macro. I'll keep it on the whiter side of the spectrum. The dual channel timer works great on it.

 

[TheWB]

Yeah I rememeber you had it to suppliment the radion. I want to do something different with the fuge. It's a small space but I think I can fit a frag rack or two in there along with some cool macro algae. I know it's not the red light like the IM chaetomaxx I use on the lagoon but I don't think the nicrew will have an issue growing macro. I'll keep it on the whiter side of the spectrum. The dual channel timer works great on it.

You know what’s funny is that if I ever get the 20 up and running the Radion will be the light. Total overkill but since I’ve still got it I’ll definitely use it. I tried to grow some red ogo and some ulva under the Radion for a while but I never tuned it to a proper spectrum for growing macro. The Nicrew should work nicely as I believe you can turn the blue channel off or at least all the way down.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Ran a full battery of tests for the first time in a while today on the lagoon. I usually check calcium and alk at least once a week but my nem is acting a little strange so I decided to check everything.

Nitrates a bit low so thinking of a plan to get them up a few ppm. Other than that everything looks good. After a year and a half things seem super stable and I'm seeing really good growth out of my birds nest and poscilopora.

3 months of vibrant dosing got rid of my bubble algae problem and the new peppermint shrimp took 2 nights to eradicate the aiptasia I'd been fighting for a good while. Here are some pics.

The Kenya tree and the gsp rock are gonna be relocated to the sump in the 20L. I'll do another update on that after I do all the tests tonight or tomorrow. They're like weeds you can't get rid of lol.

Plan is for the lagoon to be dominated by paly's and the new tank to be zoa dominated. Things Are stable tho and that's a really good feeling.

 

[TheWB]

Ran a full battery of tests for the first time in a while today on the lagoon. I usually check calcium and alk at least once a week but my nem is acting a little strange so I decided to check everything.

Nitrates a bit low so thinking of a plan to get them up a few ppm. Other than that everything looks good. After a year and a half things seem super stable and I'm seeing really good growth out of my birds nest and poscilopora.

3 months of vibrant dosing got rid of my bubble algae problem and the new peppermint shrimp took 2 nights to eradicate the aiptasia I'd been fighting for a good while. Here are some pics.

The Kenya tree and the gsp rock are gonna be relocated to the sump in the 20L. I'll do another update on that after I do all the tests tonight or tomorrow. They're like weeds you can't get rid of lol.

Plan is for the lagoon to be dominated by paly's and the new tank to be zoa dominated. Things Are stable tho and that's a really good feeling.

Looking good. I’m jealous of the peppermint shrimp that actually eats aiptasia. Mine don’t so more Berghia just went in.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I got both my peppermint shrimp from reef cleaners and they both destroyed the aiptasia. The first one disappeard on me tho so had to get a second.

 

[TheWB]

I got both my peppermint shrimp from reef cleaners and they both destroyed the aiptasia. The first one disappeard on me tho so had to get a second.

I ordered 3 from Reefcleaners about a month ago. One was DOA and I have not seen the other two, who were both very small, since they went in. I have an older, bigger peppermint shrimp from the LFS which is very active at night but does not eat aiptasia. I’m really hoping the Berghia Nudibranchs survive this time and do their thing. Some of the aiptasia are getting really large.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I've been using aiptasia x as well but stopped using it with the shrimp. It keeps them at bay but the shrimp does a better job.

 

[TheWB]

I've been using aiptasia x as well but stopped using it with the shrimp. It keeps them at bay but the shrimp does a better job.

I’ve used both Aiptasia X and F-Aiptasia and neither one works very well. F-Aiptasia is probably better but only if the surface it’s used on is flat. Aiptasia X works better for angled applications because the anemone eats it but they always come right back in the same spot a day or two later. Neither one is a permanent solution in my experience. I just want something, anything, to start eating them. Berghia, peppermint, doesn’t matter. I’m contemplating an aiptasia eating file fish from the lfs.

 

[Pauliex77x]

So I did my first full battery of tests on the DIY 20g today. Here are the results.

Not bad. Water change tomorrow to get nitrates down a bit. First frags are in and there are quite a few. Most are from cherrycorals.com but a few are from reefapalooza. Mostly this tank will be zoas and mushrooms but there is a montipora digitata and a frogspawn. Here's some pics.

Filtration is really simple. An aquatic life skimmer that I modded to make quieter. Filter socks, a ton of bio blocks, and a BRS mini reactor that I'm running carbon in. It's fun to work with more room in the sump compared to the small compartment of an AIO. Still debating on what to do with the fuge section. For now it just holds some bio media.

 

[Pauliex77x]

I bit the bullet and bought some Hanna checkers for testing. Alkalinity, Nitrate HR, phosphate (ppm) and the pH checker. 100% worth the investment. I was getting tired of looking at color charts. Everything is within tolerance except for my PH being low at about 7.95 and my nitrates at 0.0. I tried to dose tropic Marin plus NP but nitrates stayed at 0 while phosphates Rose to .13. guessing the BTA looking drab is the zero nitrates. Plan now is to resume feeding reef roids and coral aminos as I haven't fed corals since before my bubble algae outbreak. Hopefully that will bring the nitrates up without having to go and buy sodium nitrate.

I fragged up about 9 tiles worth of GSP and removed the rock from the corner. The back panel of the lagoon has a pretty good portion of it growing so I'll let nature do it's thing and the gsp can have the panel.

The 20L had really good testing numbers too. After doing a water change everything was within normal. Nitrates were low at about 1.3 ppm and pH was a bit low the same as the lagoon 7.95. gsp frags went into the sump along with some red ogo. Plan to take the gsp, a few bloodsucker paly frags, and the Kenya tree to the LFS and try to get some store credit for a frag/fish or two.

 

[Pauliex77x]

Here are some pics of both tanks...

 

[TheWB]

Looking good Paulie.