Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

I added a second Mexican turbo snail tonight. It’s doing well so far.

I also got a phosphorus reading today of 6 ppb. That’s 0.018 ppm phosphates. The system has no real shortage of phosphate though since GHA is growing in the sump like crazy.

I harvested some but I am letting it grow out and away from the return pump. Some of the hair algae worked its way into the return pump so I took it out and cleaned it. I noticed yesterday that my fish weren’t eating much at all. I touched the glass and sure enough it was cold. Since the heaters are in the sump and they were working I knew the return pump was the culprit. It’s working now which is a relief.

My corals are getting used to the new light. The only holdouts are the mushrooms. I’m going to try shading them a little. All the other corals were open at least halfway.

The heat factor wasn’t all that bad. The DT was about the same temperature as it normally is. That was with the halides and no heaters. The heaters are on now so the temperature shouldn’t drop too much overnight.

 

[Fishy888]

Today I noticed that the mushrooms are more open than yesterday. One is twice as open as yesterday.

The return pump is doing better also. My tank was at its normal temperature.

I left the heaters on today so we’ll see if the temperature in the DT ends up higher.

The new snail, kind of like the old one, is falling off the glass fairly often. I’m going to either keep on putting it on algae covered surfaces in the DT; or I’ll put it in the sump for a few days.

If everything goes according to plan I’m going to do some work on the electrical side cabinet, install a switch and outlet for the lights, and get the transformer and capacitor mounted. I also need to mount the wavemaker’s control box mounted.

 

[Gobi1canobi]

So you downgraded?
Cpl things jump out at me.
- you are gonna increase feedings to decrease nutrients?
-you think pods eat dinoflagellates?
- don't use a 10g as a sump... they are useless. Ive done it. Lol.
D

They do eat dinos

 

[Fishy888]

They do eat dinos

Truth! I had hordes of pods once I got REAL live rock from an actual thriving tank. Between the live rock and chaeto filled with pods; the dinos were gone in less than a week.

 

[Fishy888]

Last night I got the second set of outlets wired up. Of course they’re on a switch. All the lights will likely be powered by the new strip. The outlets are just regular ones but they will get replaced with GFCI outlets eventually.

Today’s goal will be to get the transformer and capacitor mounted. After doing some thinking I’m going to add a board to the upper frame of the cabinet frame. I’ll mount the transformer to said board in the very center so that the cabinet will be balanced.

Both cabinets are going to attach to the stand in such a way that they’ll be easy to disconnect.

Even with the heaters being on the tank was at its normal temperature just before I pulled the plug.

The fish are exploring the tank more since I got the halides. They have been eating more as well. They seem happy so far.

The corals are holding up quite nicely. They’ve been opening more too.

As for the snails the newest is still falling off the glass but it’s still alive. I also noticed that the first snail disappeared into the rockwork. I haven’t seen it since I put the second one in. I’m going to see if it comes out tomorrow. If it doesn’t come out I’ll have to mess with the rockwork to get it out.

 

[Fishy888]

I got a little more done on the electrical cabinet framework today. I’m using wood from other projects so it doesn’t look super pretty… yet.

There are some cracks in the wood in spots. A bit of glue and some clamps and the new cabinet will be as sturdy as the stand itself.

The original snail came out or the crevice it was hiding in. Both are alive and well.

I haven’t dosed LaCl in quite some time. While I’m getting some cyano in the DT it’s much less than used to grow. The sump is growing some too but I haven’t put a circulation pump in there yet. I’ve been lazy in that respect.

I got one of those needlepoint canvases which I want to seed with the GHA in the sump. I’d like to grow a bunch of it so I can keep a large pod population. Between the chaeto and GHA there’ll be plenty of pods with time. The tank will be better able to cope with food and bio load as well.

 

[Fishy888]

The cabinet project is on hold. I need more wood and we’re babysitting tomorrow into Sunday. I’ll resume the cabinet project next week.

There’s only one way to describe today….. CORALLINE!!!!!!1111……

Ok maybe not. All jokes aside one of the snails knocked my original GSP colony off of the rock it was on. It was still attached to a frag plug that I hadn’t glued down yet. I grabbed a decent sized rock and glued it down. I did it out of the water so I could push down on it fairly hard so it would stick better and follow the contour of the rock; and because superglue cures better out of water. I think it’ll be a week before they open up again.

Speaking of opening this first picture of my zoanthids is from new year’s eve and the second is from a couple of hours ago. I think the zoanthids like the new lighting.

 

[Fishy888]

It’s the moment of truth now. Algae is statutory coat things. It ain’t exactly coralline. I fear it’s lyngbya. I have hair algae in the sump and some starting in the circulation pump. The lyngbya is growing on the rock. It was only a tuft or two for a while but now it’s starting all over the place.

This stuff can be pulled up to a degree but small tufts hold fast to the rock and it has a wooly look to it. The ends remind me of frayed yarn. It has a drab olive color to it. The hair algae is a healthy looking green color and is much finer. I’m going to ride this out and see what I get. My focus will be on getting more cuc and on letting the system stabilize.

Of course the algae takes up phosphates fast enough that even hanna only reads a few ppb of phosphorus. So how does one know what their phosphate levels really are? Either way I doubt my phosphates are anywhere near where they were. Still I need to get an idea so I can keep things stable.

My sand is still pretty clean and my iron oxide zoas still have that vibrant orange/rust color. My other corals seem happy. My duncans are a beautiful iridescent pink and green with their long tentacles out like they normally are. Between a slightly higher phosphate level and the new light things are looking better.

I’m not entirely surprised that I’m getting more algae since I’m using a 6000k lamp. It’s a light meant for growing…. something. Nonetheless these lamps are just like the Phoenix 6500k lamps I used to use. They’re only 14 bucks. I’m going to supplement these lights with either T5s or LEDs but until then I need to keep feedings in check. At the same time I need to feed enough for everything to thrive.

Hopefully I can find some CUC that eats lyngbya with gusto soon that will thrive in the cube.

 

[fishguy242]

tuxedo urchin ??

 

[Fishy888]

I believe they’d work. There’s a thread I’ve been reading

I think I have Lyngbya - Best way to get rid of it, please share your experience?

Hey guys, I had this for about a year now, it started when I dossed Nitrate before that was 0 Nitrate/Phosphate. Thought it was dino, Didnt really care about the aquarium as I should have after that event. A search seems to bring up only 2 threads about Lyngbya. Not 100% sure if is Lyngbya...

www.reef2reef.com

Tuxedo urchins are one thing @vetteguy53081 mentions. Chitons are another. I can’t easily remove all the rock to scrub down though I can get to most of it. In the meantime I’ll see if anyone local has a chiton or two they could spare (or sell if need be).

 

[Fishy888]

I forgot to mention that it’s only now that I’m seeing lyngbya (which is a type of cyano rather than an actual alga) growing on rocks it wasn’t on before. It’s in its early stages so I should be able to power through this fairly quickly and without reaching for the phosphate-e. This is a good thing because evidently it produces a toxin that works like mustard gas. The toxin causes a type of dermatitis in us humans if we touch it. The faster I can get it out the better.

 

[Fishy888]

Other than to clean the glass and rescue the newest snail (who is gaining strength so it’s not as often as at first) I’ve kept my hands out of the tank the last three or four days. Since I’m feeding small amounts (but I’m not starving the tank exactly) three to four times a day the phosphates should stay pretty low. The algae is growing but not like I expected. I have to clean the glass a bit more often but it’s not like when my phosphates were 1 ppm. It takes about two days before I have to clean the glass which is fine by me.

The lyngbya got mowed down except for the two large tufts that grow right back when I pull them up. As long as it stays where it’s at I’m good for the moment.

There’s a new algae that’s growing on my rocks, mainly on top. It’s a pastel green color and coats mainly the tops of the rocks it’s on. I doubt it’s coralline though because it has grown and spread too fast for coralline.

They’re not the best pictures ever but they should give a good idea of what it looks like. The algae is slightly raised like coralline. There’s an algae however that has a rubbery texture and looks like coralline but isn’t. It’s hard to get rid of from what I understand. I hope it isn’t that. I can’t remember the name of it right now but I’ll look it up later.

Speaking of coralline I fully expected the real coralline I’ve been talking pictures of to die back or at least grow pale. If anything it’s grown more. I also found a new spot on a rock that’s midway up and almost right under the light.

It’s fascinating seeing the changes happening with the new spectrum and higher PAR. It didn’t take my corals long to acclimate to it. If anything they look better since I installed the MH. The system in general looks healthier to me.

 

[fishguy242]

sorry, really cannot tell anything from pics, blurry for me...
can you take a short video and post it through u tube ??

 

[Fishy888]

I’ll try that tomorrow.

 

[Fishy888]

I’ll try that tomorrow.

Well here goes nothing….

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

You can see some lyngbya still on the rocks but the frosting like algae is growing over the lyngbya. I apologize for the algae on the glass but not even a credit card can scrape this stuff off.

The algae is a pastel green as opposed to the khaki colored lyngbya. Once I get the algae scraped off I’ll make a new video.

I still need to grab a metal scraper soon. That and a water change is happening as soon as I get the adapter for the RO/DI unit. That said the tank doesn’t look as yellow in person as it does in the video.

 

[fishguy242]

i get video is private...

 

[Fishy888]

i get video is private...

Let’s try this again shall we?

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

 

[fishguy242]

it worked, still very blurry, did see a rock kinda looks like a skull...

 

[Fishy888]

I just finished making a new video of the mystery “algae”. I suppose it could just be where the snails have been. The pattern doesn’t look like the “bite marks” of Mexican turbo snails but who knows? Anyway here’s a link to the new video.

 

[Fishy888]

I noticed tonight that a xenia polyp made its way to a new rock. That was a neat discovery.

I’m going to rearrange the rock a bit. The flow pattern kicks up too much sand in a couple of spots. I’m going to place some of the rock in those spots. I might even be able to turn the flow all the way up at that point. The rock with the mushrooms on it are going to come down in height because it seems like they are still having trouble with the higher PAR.

My peppermint shrimp have been coming out more. For a while they stayed hidden to the point where I thought they were goners. They’re both doing well I’m happy to say.

Since phosphates aren’t getting out of control I’m going to get rid of my jury rigged LaCl doser. I intend to get a proper pump for dosing but it will be for when I actually need two part.

I’ll hopefully never need LaCl again but I’ll keep it on hand. One never knows when it’ll be needed. I might get more dry rock eventually. In that case I’ll throw some LaCl in with it and pull out the phosphates literally overnight. I might need to make a fairly rare LaCl dose to the system but at this point it will be months until I’d need it.