Perseverance Reef

[Fishy888]

The nem has been in the same place for over 36 hours now. It still hides from light from time to time but it’s looking much better. I’ll get a picture later on.

I got my order in this afternoon. Tomorrow I’m going to begin dropping my phosphates and nitrates back to reasonable levels. I didn’t get a chance to test my nitrates and phosphates yet but that’s the first thing I’ll do in the reef.

Even though I have a boatload of cyano at the moment it won’t take long for it to disappear. My ratio of nitrates to phosphates is out of whack but it’s not so bad that it can’t be brought back in a relatively short amount of time. I’m not going to rush it. A couple of weeks from now my phosphates especially should be where I want them.

For nitrates I’ll start vinegar dosing. I’ll have to watch ALK closely though. I’ll also perform water changes. I’m still planning on a decent sized water change before long. I was going to do a 50% water change but I’ll probably do a 33% change. That’ll be less disruptive to the system.

Despite the cyano issue my system is pretty stable. Not acropora stable yet but it’s almost Montipora and easy acropora stable. I think by October I should be able to start on those.

I’m also going to be looking into some green snow globe BTAs as well as black widows and some others I think would look amazing. I don’t know that I’ll be buying any any time soon but eventually.

 

[Fishy888]

So I just did my phosphate test and got a result I really wasn’t expecting. I use the Hanna Phosphorus ULR. They have a chart to convert to phosphate. I got 28ppb phosphorus which equates to 0.086 ppm phosphates.

The phytoplankton I’ve dosed thus far must have dropped my phosphates because I was >0.2 before I started dosing. I haven’t done nitrates yet but that’ll be coming soon.

Something is driving the cyano though. I have the same amount of flow I’ve always had. I wonder if my nitrates are super low which certainly is a possibility considering how low my phosphates are. Thankfully my corals and inverts look great.

Needless to say I won’t be using LaCl anytime soon. I’ll be doing manual removal of cyano instead. I’ll also add MicroBacter7 once I get the sand cleaned up some.

Like I said earlier the new nem is looking good.

It’s still not as colored up as the others but it looks so much better now.

 

[Fishy888]

It turns out my nitrates are 75 ppm exactly. Vinegar dosing incoming! I realize the Redfield ratio isn’t exactly the end all be all of nutrient uptake but according to the chart I should have more of a GHA problem. Supposedly cyano becomes more prevalent when the NO3/PO4 ratio is lower than 7.5 to 1 nitrates to phosphates. If the ratio is lower because PO4 is higher, that’s when Cyanobacteria are supposed to be favored.

I also realize that my true phosphate reading is likely being masked by my chaeto, caulerpa, Nannochloropsis and GHA to some extent although not by much. My macros are all doing quite well. My water doesn’t have a green tint but my phosphates are this low and GHA isn’t growing much at all. I would say that my phosphate reading is more accurate with so little GHA growth. If I had tons of GHA growing everywhere it’d be a different story.

The reason I feel that way is because if there’s just enough hair algae to turn the rocks green it’s more likely that the rock will balance its phosphates with the water column. If the rock was so full of hair algae that phosphate balancing became totally impossible then I would question the test results a lot more, especially if I were to get a zero or near zero reading.

Still I’ve been wrong before and I might be again. I’ll know soon enough.

 

[Fishy888]

I tested my nitrates and phosphates several days ago and I got 75ppm nitrates and 0.086 ppm phosphates (both Hanna). Yikes!

I’ve been manually removing cyano and stirring the sand bed. There was enough crud initially to make it so I had to wash the filter sock twice in a 2 hour period!

After stirring up the sand bed I turn off the skimmer and ozone, dose the MB7, then I turn the lights off manually to give the good bacteria an advantage. Since cyano is photosynthetic they can’t proliferate so rapidly at night.

My thinking too is that dosing the bacteria right after stirring the sand bed should help the good bacteria take up the sugars that accumulate in the cyano mats as long as the lights go out right after dosing.

Yesterday was day 3. Things are improving. I think I made one of my anemones move though. It’s only about 5 or 6 inches from where it was but it moved to the backside of the rock it was on. I’m not going to mess with it at this point since it has plenty of light and flow where it is.

 

[Fishy888]

The cyano cleanup continues. It’s likely that I’m going to rearrange the rock work so I can get at the cyano I can’t reach with my turkey baster. It’s not a guarantee that I’ll rearrange the rocks but I’m about 60% sure I will.

The first RBTA I placed moved as I posted about due to my cyano cleanup. It stayed in place for about 24 hours. It moved again overnight but I’m not sure where. I’m pretty certain it’s still alive since there’s no cloudy water and no signs of stress, except for the anemone unfortunately.

I’m hoping to find the nem as I do my rearranging of rocks. I’m not looking to tear everything apart though. I’m thinking about going back to having two bommies. I’d just need to move five or six rocks elsewhere. I’m absolutely not messing with the area where my fire shrimp lives. His cleaning station is on the left hand side of the display.

On the right side, my coral banded shrimp have their cozy little spot. That area is about where the anemone likely is. If I can help it though, I’m going to leave their area as is as well.

The other two RBTAs are doing great and staying put, including the newest one. They look vibrant and seem happy. My fish and inverts are doing nicely too. The fire shrimp was out this morning. After a while of not seeing any of my chitons I could see them on the front panel. This is the second morning I’ve seen them. I also have a ton of collonista snails, feather dusters, etc.

 

[Fishy888]

I was going to rearrange my rock work but decided against it. I don’t want to destabilize the system. The cyano is enough to deal with.

As for the anemone that went missing, it appears to be moving back towards where it was before. It’s still 4 inches from where it was originally but I can actually see it when standing in front of the display. As long as I can see where it is, even if it’s not in a location that’s best for viewing, I’m good with that. I just need to be able to observe their health at least. It’d be bad of course if one died suddenly and nuked the system.

 

[tbrown]

I was going to rearrange my rock work but decided against it. I don’t want to destabilize the system. The cyano is enough to deal with.

As for the anemone that went missing, it appears to be moving back towards where it was before. It’s still 4 inches from where it was originally but I can actually see it when standing in front of the display. As long as I can see where it is, even if it’s not in a location that’s best for viewing, I’m good with that. I just need to be able to observe their health at least. It’d be bad of course if one died suddenly and nuked the system.

Sometimes they hide when they split. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next day or two it goes back where it was and a new one pops up behind it.

They can split when happy and also when stressed.

 

[Fishy888]

I was going to rearrange my rock work but decided against it. I don’t want to destabilize the system. The cyano is enough to deal with.

As for the anemone that went missing, it appears to be moving back towards where it was before. It’s still 4 inches from where it was originally but I can actually see it when standing in front of the display. As long as I can see where it is, even if it’s not in a location that’s best for viewing, I’m good with that. I just need to be able to observe their health at least. It’d be bad of course if one died suddenly and nuked the system.

Sometimes they hide when they split. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next day or two it goes back where it was and a new one pops up behind it.

They can split when happy and also when stressed.

I thought about the possibility of that nem splitting. It might still happen. I would be happy either way, as long as the nem is otherwise happy and thriving. I’d like them to grow more first but we’ll see what happens.

 

[Fishy888]

I've merely been stirring the sand in an attempt to get rid of the waste and detritus that's built up. Of course, that buildup contributes to cyano big time since cyano can feed directly on that buildup even when nutrients (NO3 and PO4) are low.

After 4 days it's become apparent that stirring the sand bed was just spreading the crud around rather than taking it out. I went that route because I don't want to kill off anything beneficial in the sand. Then I started thinking about this a bit.

I have a plastic peanut butter jar that I use to clean sand. I put some sand in the jar, which I place on the bottom. Doing that limits how much of the buildup can get into the water column. Once that's done I quickly remove the jar and the sand I put in it, and screw the lid on. Then I shake it really well and pour out the water, then rinse and repeat. Literally. Once the water runs almost completely clear I put the sand back in the tank.

I've done it before and with great results. I just worry that I might be tearing up worms and the like sometimes. Then I remembered that when I did this last time plenty of benthic (sand dwelling) critters survived. As a result I started doing that with the sand. I can already see a huge difference! The only place in the tank with no cyano is where I cleaned the sand using the jar. There's cyano everywhere else.

I'm only doing a little at a time however. It'll likely be a few days before all the sand is done. I'll continue dosing MB7 which should help a lot. Honestly I'm surprised there aren't many bristleworms in the sand bed. I do see them in the rocks on rare occasions though.

I've started looking at getting a Jebao SCP-180. 10,000 GPH of flow! I have the SCP-120 now. That comes with about 4500 GPH give or take. I need to get higher flow and not just to keep cyano at bay. I have acropora ambitions. They won't be "high end ultra rainbow tutti frutti" acros that make you have to take out a second mortgage for a 1/16" frag. They WILL be beautiful nonetheless, and they'll need good flow.

On a different note, pretty soon I'm going to go through my build thread and do a bit of editing. The purpose of my editing will be to help beginners to really understand what I'm doing and why, and how well it worked or if it didn't work. I'm making some changes to my YouTube channel, and some of those changes are going to include how I present my subject matter. I'm also going to link to my build thread so my viewers can follow along. I want to encourage my viewers to come to R2R because this forum is amazing as are all the people on it.

Several of you are mentors of mine and I want my viewers to be able to meet you and learn not just from me but from you too! Sometimes the same subject is explained differently by two people, such as how cycling a tank works. Both explanations are right, but one is easier to understand than another. Which one will depend on the person. At the end of the day, I'd rather my viewers be well informed, even if they learn from someone else. I want to see them succeed, and I know I'm not perfect. I am getting better though and I think you'll like the changes that'll be coming over the next month or so!

 

[Fishy888]

The bad news is that I officially crashed my Nannochloropsis culture. I’ll order Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis in September depending on how things go.

The good news is that I’ve pretty much got my reef back. Cyanomagheddon is well underway! I’m almost 2/3 of the way done with cleaning the sand. I now have to get behind the tank so I can clean the rest of the sand. Good thing I’ve been losing weight. :D Anyhoo here’s a picture or two of Perseverance Reef tonight.

In the images above and below you can really see how big Sapphire, aka Dory, has gotten since being here. She was the size of the clownfish in the above image. Now she's catching up to the Coral Beauty in the image below.

The reef looks much, much better. I'm really happy with the progress I've made so far.

 

[fishguy242]

PBT new addition ?

 

[Fishy888]

PBT new addition ?

I’ve had him for about 3 or 4 months now. He’s been awesome with all my fish and inverts so far. He chased my hippatus around when I first got her but the next morning they were swimming together and there’s been no bullying since.

 

[Fishy888]

Done and done! I cleaned all the sand from behind the rocks and under them, at least, as much as the turkey baster could reach.

In the 6 hour time frame it took me to clean all the sand, I literally went through 3 filter socks! It’s crazy!

I saw some keyhole limpets milling about on the rocks. I’m glad I still have them. They must really like whatever I kicked up with the turkey baster.

It won’t be long before the weather cools down and I get some frags, thanks to @Fish Styx. My system will be ready now that I have much cleaner sand and no cyano. Parameters are holding steady despite the cyano bloom and my sand cleaning. Tackling it quickly and dosing MB7 has helped tremendously with keeping things stable.

As I posted recently I’m going to get more flow. That’ll keep this from happening again. I’m looking at the Jebao SCP-180. It can deliver 10,000 GPH. I won’t need to run it that high though. I might have my SCP-120 alternate with the SCP-180 but I need to find out if that would shorten the lifespan of my wave makers.

My flow is decent for what I’m keeping right now. I’ll be able to keep Montipora just fine with my current flow, but I’ll need higher flow for when it’s time to get my first Acropora. That’ll be down the road a bit. I figure in 6 months I should be ready for at least easy Acropora. I probably will be ready sooner than that but I don’t want to rush and mess up.

 

[Fishy888]

I knew it was possible (although I didn’t think it probable since I’ve only had it a couple of months), and @tbrown called it. The RBTA that went into hiding as one nem became two.

The split happened either overnight or early this morning. As of last night before the lights went out it was still a single anemone.

They’re at the back of the tank still. With only a foot of space between the wall and the back of the tank it’s hard to get a really good image.

Thankfully it’s a good enough image to where it can be seen that both nems have pulled themselves together and look to be healing nicely. Admittedly it’s possible that the parent nem split within the last couple of days and I just didn’t notice one of the new nems until today.

Here are the other two.

They look happy and are growing. I’ve got four now. I just hope all four start putting their energy towards growing larger instead of splitting.

I want them to grow, not necessarily in a hurry though. Soon I want to get my Maroon clowns. Plus I still want a couple different BTA colors as well.

 

[tbrown]

I knew it was possible (although I didn’t think it probable since I’ve only had it a couple of months), and @tbrown called it. The RBTA that went into hiding as one nem became two.

The split happened either overnight or early this morning. As of last night before the lights went out it was still a single anemone.

They’re at the back of the tank still. With only a foot of space between the wall and the back of the tank it’s hard to get a really good image.

Thankfully it’s a good enough image to where it can be seen that both nems have pulled themselves together and look to be healing nicely. Admittedly it’s possible that the parent nem split within the last couple of days and I just didn’t notice one of the new nems until today.

Here are the other two.

They look happy and are growing. I’ve got four now. I just hope all four start putting their energy towards growing larger instead of splitting.

I want them to grow, not necessarily in a hurry though. Soon I want to get my Maroon clowns. Plus I still want a couple different BTA colors as well.

See, sometimes I know what I'm talking about!










Blind squirrel, nut, etc...

 

[Fishy888]

See, sometimes I know what I'm talking about!










Blind squirrel, nut, etc...

I know you do. I’m just glad it was that and not a sign it was dying or something. Carry on number 3! Who knows? If we never see @F i s h y again, maybe you’ll be number 2.

 

[Fishy888]

I ordered about 70 lbs of both special grade sand and crushed coral today. They should be here Monday. Although I ordered crushed coral, I'm mainly using it where the flow has swept all of the sand away. Most of the system will be special grade sand. I want a wrasse or two still.

 

[Fishy888]

Once again, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is my ozone generator bit the dust. The good news is one package of sand arrived today. Hopefully tomorrow my other package will arrive.

I cleaned the plates and even checked the circuit board. Sadly it seems that it’s just not producing any ozone. When I first got it you could really smell the ozone when I tested it. Now, you can’t smell it whatsoever and my water is yellowing again. Next week I’ll have to replace it.

Since I’ve been wrestling with the ozone generator I haven’t added the new sand yet. I’ll be adding it later today.

 

[F i s h y]

I know you do. I’m just glad it was that and not a sign it was dying or something. Carry on number 3! Who knows? If we never see @F i s h y again, maybe you’ll be number 2.

Im still around.

 

[Fishy888]

The anemones that split last week have started moving back into the light.

The two nems on the left which are close together are the ones that split. They’re looking great. I think they actually grew some.

All the new sand is in now. I made a sand drift out of crushed coral towards the back right hand corner as you look at the reef. I’ve been wanting a tube anemone for a long time.

Since I got the sand for much less than I could ever have gotten it at PetSmart I bought 70 lbs of it. I got it on sale almost half off and free shipping since it was my first order. Since I had enough crushed coral I made the sand drift about 4 inches deep in the area where the tube anemones will go.

The anoxic zone, while not huge, will help a little in keeping nitrates under control. I’m glad I was able to do this now before I get anymore corals. Even though I added that much sand I don’t expect things to get thrown totally out of whack. In fact there’ll be more microflora and microfauna living in the sand bed which will eventually help support a sea cucumber or two. That’ll help my conchs too. Sand sifting gobies will love it too.