Pyro's 29g Standard

[Pyrosteve]

oops if I open my eyes and read. I see that you are doing screen tops. good choice I look forward to seeing how they look on the tank.

I put the glass on and overnight with just the Fuge light & UV sterilizer on the temp went up 3 degrees and I would have to move my fan so looks like it's the screens after all! I'll def post a pic with them on.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Here's what it looks like with the screen lids. If I were to do it again I might size them to drop in the tank (instead of sit on top) and get the rimless lid clips. I can live with this tho.

 

[Reef Recked]

Yeah I plan on stocking heavy and probably overstocking, lol. nothing crazy tho.

I'm looking at 4 cardinalfish, pair of clowns, royal gramma, and gobie/shrimp combo. Probably from Diver's Den. They had a RG and bonded pair of ORA Snowflake Clowns this week but I still have the cardinalfish in my QT till next week.

I saw you got a frag rack and figured I'd need one so I DIY'd one out of spare parts while making my 2 pc. lid (still waiting on the netting). My reef dreams are bigger than my reef budget

Those all look great! and that sounds like a great little fish squad, im still trying to decide what my full stock is going to be but i know itll be heavy cause theres so many i want . most difficult decision right now is if i want to try a mandarin and if so when i would add him.

I was thinking of building something similar for the frag rack but didnt have time with how aggresive my hermits were being with the plugs lol. Looks awesome tho!

 

[Pyrosteve]

I haven't had much time for the tank (It's Pyro season!) but I did get my AWC running and testing it for the last week or so. The plan is to do continuous daily change of about a 1-2% per day see how that works. My ATO jug needs filling every 3-4 weeks so I'm hoping to fill/empty them all at once. Right now just testing with my dosing containers to make sure they're at the same amounts consistently.

I also picked up a SL2 with salinity probe for the Reefkeeper to let me know if the dosing pump gets out of whack (I may use one of the ports on it for a float switch on the waste jug too). so far so good!

 

[Pyrosteve]

Some new friends. A coupla clowns

 

[Reef Recked]

Im loving the AWC setup! thats awesome, what is that third line for under the dosing pump? and how are you liking that doser? im starting to look for one myself.

hope you survived pyro season to take care of those clowns! ;Joyful Some good looking fish!

 

[Pyrosteve]

Thanks. The third line with the elbow is the ATO line. The doser is a Jebao DP2. They're ok but not super accurate and probably won't last that long the way I'm using it but it fit my cabinet. I also hooked up a DP-3 slave to it on the other side.

I'm going to try the Aquaforest 1+2+3+ balling method for dosing. I've read good things about it and it seems pretty easy, dial in your alk and dose all 3 parts the same and everything else should balance out. Seems idiot proof which is right up my alley .

I did have an issue with my fuge. The light was too strong and melted my chaeto and grew a ton of GHA. I had to dial back the photo period and block some of the leds (see pic). A couple of Trochus and Margarita snails went thru the GHA had it looking like new in a few days tho!!

A good sign... pods all over the place!

 

[Reef Recked]

Thanks. The third line with the elbow is the ATO line. The doser is a Jebao DP2. They're ok but not super accurate and probably won't last that long the way I'm using it but it fit my cabinet. I also hooked up a DP-3 slave to it on the other side.

I'm going to try the Aquaforest 1+2+3+ balling method for dosing. I've read good things about it and it seems pretty easy, dial in your alk and dose all 3 parts the same and everything else should balance out. Seems idiot proof which is right up my alley .

I did have an issue with my fuge. The light was too strong and melted my chaeto and grew a ton of GHA. I had to dial back the photo period and block some of the leds (see pic). A couple of Trochus and Margarita snails went thru the GHA had it looking like new in a few days tho!!

A good sign... pods all over the place!

Yeah thats one of my problems is finding something that fits my limited space still available.

Good to hear about getting rid of the GHA! cant wait to be done with all mine!
and love the creative solution for the fuge light! its looking good buddy!

 

[Pyrosteve]

Quick update. I added a DIY waste removal cup so I don't have to fiddle with the skimmer cup. It's really tight to the stand so less time changing it the better. In case you couldn't tell I'm trying to keep maintenance down to a couple days a month (Fill ATO & AWC containers, Dump AWC Waste & Waste Cup, clean skimmer and change GFO/carbon)

I am having a problem with getting coralline to grow so I'm trying to up my alk dosing baked baking soda. My ph is also pretty low at 7.7 and Nitrates still at 0 so I'm hoping to bring them up and get everything in order before adding any corals. Still an empty frag rack ...

I think I may wait until Philly Splash to pick up corals. Looks like JF, UC and Cherry corals will be there. I'm already eyeing some pieces on their websites!!

Good news is I have almost all the fish I wanted quarantined and in the tank...
Clownsx2, Cardnialsx3, HiFin Goby & Shrimp (although I don't see them much)
and no algae issues to speak of (knock on wood!) .

 

[Pyrosteve]

Well, we took a step back. Came back from vacation to find what I think is the dreaded dinos. I made a big mistake. After finally getting Nitrates up I decided to add a few hours to the fuge light schedule and add new GFO to the reactor to try to avoid any algae issues while I was away. Instead everything bottomed out and with the reduced feeding came the dinos. Stupid now that I think about it. Just judging by the characteristics, and since I've been running a UV, I'm guessing Amphidinium. I just ordered a Microscope to verify. I'm REALLY hoping this is cyano or diatoms. I was looking forward to the show next weekend and purchasing some corals. Now it seems like I'll never get coral in this tank.

 

[Pyrosteve]

It's been a long time since my last update but here goes. Things were going well from my last update until around the holidays when I noticed strings and brown film on the glass. Dinos (verified by microscope) and it went back and forth for about 4 months until it got so bad I decided to reboot the tank. Took everything and moved it to my QT tank and did a rip clean. I had already started adding zoas, LPS and even a few SPS (which was probably too soon) and they were all doing pretty well. Through the whole process I ended up losing my SPS except for the monti caps which somehow made a recovery from being almost bone white. Some zoas were in bad shape but looks like they all bounced back. I still see dinos creeping back here but at least now I know what to do to knock them back.

Parameters are stable Alk at 7.8, Ca 450, Mg 1475 using Kalk now. PH 8.3-8.4. Salinity 35ppt and using the AWC to change close to 1% per day. I added some macros from Reefcleaners to the fuge and that is running well with the exception of some GHA which I now need to keep to out compete the dinos. Nutrients are still high No3 around 25 and PO4 .16. I'm probably going to push the issue and bring them down over the next couple weeks and start to add SPS back. I'd also like to get another Euphyllia, Frogspawn or splatter hammer and an Orange Fungia plate.

At least the tank is fun again. Here's some before and after pics right after the reboot and now...

New addition Frammer...

FTS 6/11/20

 

[Fishbike13]

Really like the look of the glass bracing vs the plastic trim, wish i had the nads to do that to my 20 long setup before i got it running.
Good to see that you managed to save most things from the dinos, I had a similar experience and tried everything. The only thing that gave me results was Dino X from Fauna Marin.

Tank looks good, will be interesting to see it grow out.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Really like the look of the glass bracing vs the plastic trim, wish i had the nads to do that to my 20 long setup before i got it running.
Good to see that you managed to save most things from the dinos, I had a similar experience and tried everything. The only thing that gave me results was Dino X from Fauna Marin.

Tank looks good, will be interesting to see it grow out.

Thanks. The dinos where a learning experience if nothing else. One thing I didn't try was Dino-X. I might pick some up just to have on hand. To be honest, cleaning with the glass bracing is a PITA but I do like the look of tank. From the research I did, a 20 long doesn't need the top brace as it's height vs. glass thickness but if I did de-rim a 20 long I would probably put triangle braces in the corners to strengthen the seams. The 29 was too tall (over 16") and required both seams and center bracing. Still there's always a chance of breaking the bracing with a rock or a seam failing so it's a little risky when DIYing.

Yeah, things are finally growing again which is nice. I'm sure I'll have a whole new set of problems once I start with the SPS heavy, lol.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Got a new toy for the tank....

Really liking the new wave pump. Added a cabinet to keep things dry. On the tank stand doors was not a good idea, lol.

 

[Pyrosteve]

Woohoo!!! Some new corals in the tank today thanks to Harrys Frags...

A few Birdsnests with a nice BGM chalice, Setosa, Spongodes, Rainbow Monti.

FTS 7/19/20

It's actually starting to look like a reef tank!

 

[Cencalreefer56]

Woohoo!!! Some new corals in the tank today thanks to Harrys Frags...

A few Birdsnests with a nice BGM chalice, Setosa, Spongodes, Rainbow Monti.

FTS 7/19/20

It's actually starting to look like a reef tank!

Very nice tank, glad to see it bouncing back from the Dino’s, the aquascape is amazing! Can’t wait to see this thing in a year

 

[Reef Recked]

Sorry to hear about the dinos/ SPS losses, but glad to hear your back on track! ive been going through the same issues so i feel your pain. Are you going to actively go after the GHA once the Dinos are gone?

 

[revhtree]

Nice job on the growth!

 

[Pyrosteve]

Sorry to hear about the dinos/ SPS losses, but glad to hear your back on track! ive been going through the same issues so i feel your pain. Are you going to actively go after the GHA once the Dinos are gone?

I'm actually trying to actively keep some GHA in the sump. From my fight with Dinos, anytime I didn't have any GHA is when I would see them start to creep back, even when my nutrients were still on the high side PO4 .13-.16 and NO3 10-15. I think it out competes Dinos better than bacteria or macros. I'm running UV at night only so I'll see a few strings here and there sometimes, but no blooming. I do have to keep PO4 above .1 and NO3 above 5 or I see more. I have 4 Mexican Turbos and they take care of any GHA and anything else in the tank. I hope to see some updates on your tank soon!

 

[Katrina71]

@fishguy242 looks like y'all have some things in common!