Green Hair Algae battleplan?


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Raege

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Hello all, I've been out of circulation since underground filters were the way it was done. I've been catching up on the 1 or 2 changes ( lol holy moly a lot more than 1 or 2 things to catch up on) since last I was in the hobby for about a year. A lot of books, websites, and if course lurking here gave me the confidence to jump back in.

So far not much to share or show except a newly cleaned tank and sump. I've picked up what was missing from this Craigslist find but still found I needed a new plumbing kit ( just ordered online) as local stores didn't have what I needed to complete last bulkhead connections.

Rocks are getting a first soaking and once last items arrive mid next week will aquascape and start the cycle going. Looking forward to documenting this tank and sharing its progress with everyone.

Edit Jan 6 2020
Here’s updated equipment list and start of a thread index
75 gal left overflow reef ready tank
Trigger crystal 34 sump
3x165 DSuny led lights 2x actinic fluorescents that are in kitbashed hood. Fluorescents not bring used
ATI 48 inch 8 bulb T5HO with Reefbrite blue xho installed April 2020 retired Aug 21
4x Hydra 32 HD added on suspended rail
Bubble Magus Curve 7 skimmer
2x icecap 1k gyres added dual wireless gyre controller 4/20
2x 500 watt titanium heaters inkbird controller
Coralife 16x uv
Dual Brs reactors
Nitrate reactor
Apex classic lite w/pm2 vdm Retired Aug 21 full apex w/trident phasing in

Mistakes in hindsight and points of interest
Pg1
Post 17 adding yellow tang beautiful to aggressive later additions
Pg 2 post 23 Blue devil damsels (told they were chromis by LFS)
Pg 3 post 59 start of trying to catch damsels
Pg 91 cardinal turns killer
Pg 96 video hand feeding Foxface and Copper band Butterfly
Pg 97 added Tammarin Wrasse pics
Pg 98 added Scopa and Half Black Tangs pics
Pg 109 velvet strikes after coral adds
Pg 112 operation rescape moving an 18 inch diam lta
Pg 113 new coral pics fr Cultivated Reef
Pg 119 2 year tank scape progression pic and coral photo bombs
Pg 120 post 2389 Giant Leather added plus other sos and zoa pics
Pg 123 movie trailer style tank vid 1st real editing try post 2448
Pg 123 restocking moyers,fox face, and cbb
Pg 124 photo bomb pics Moyer wrasse diving living in leather
Pg 124 post 2475 Maroon Clown kill new wrasse
Pg 126 New adds coral beauty, mandarin, long fin fairey wrasse.
Pg 128 New baby Grade A DaVinci clowns arrive pics
Pg 128 iMovie link for crabby48 425 RedSea reefer
Pg 130 Melanurus Wrasse vid Leopard Wrasse diamond Goby doa stress
Thinking to do list mistakes and wins losses to help folks new find stuff? Thoughts?

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Raege

Raege

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Got around to installing a 20 amp dedicated tank outlet and finally did a water test. The tank held fine so once New bulkheads and overflow parts get here tomorrow can start for real.
Darkened the back of the tank today as well. My wife wasnt thrilled with paint option so I tried Gila privacy film. I was worried it wouldn't be dark enough but it doesn't look bad so far. One pic is with halides other darker pic just the actinctics

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Not much to update with work getting in the way. RODI unit is running picked up the aquatics 4 stage to start with at LFS. I thought 100 gallons a day would be output in a workday but looks like 5-7 gal an hour plus needed to flush 30 gallons thru to clean preservatives from membrane.
I may need a trip to Salt tank rehab. Keep looking at what I want to have equipment wise compared to what I got with tank to start up from Craigslist deal.
Future want to upgrade sump get a apex controller and cpl canisters for carbon and pros. The wife wants the pretty lights with clouds storms and lunar cycles so Coralife fixture may not have much of a life span.

Future thoughts gear not in priority order
Skimz 36 sump Refugium
Pair of Hydea Hd led lights
Apex controller
Cpl reactors in line
Dosing pumps
Auto top off

Stocking my wife's been going thru the books and her thoughts seem to be changing turns out she is into Wrasses and coral choices seem to be leaning towards mushrooms. Good news is have quite a few weeks cycling to get some gear and finalize a timeline for addition.
Hopefully have some pics in a week of a tank with water and rocks cooking away
 
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Well the tank is cooking away first sea life casualty is rotting away. I went for 1 Jumbo Shrimp figure everything else that goes in is gonna cost so might as well go top shelf with the starter ;-)

Turns out practicing the scape and taking photos rock by rock if em going together to recreate wasn't needed as we tweaked as it went into the tank. I never took into account the overflow so we shifted a bit.
Water is still cloudy as I didn't put enough sand in for my bosses liking so dropped another bag but clear enough for general idea.
 
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Well I couldn't help but test for ammonia to see how it's progressing. Results came back at
Ammonia .75 mg per liter with ph at 8.6
Nitrites. .5 mg per liter
Awesome to see the numbers coming in as cycle progresses. It seems cycle is going rather quick. Perhaps a combination of the arag alive sand and Bio S from Aquaforest I used.
Here's to making progress and knowing I didn't screw the pooch yet lol
 
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Test 2 tank day 4
Ammonia still .75
Nitrites 2mg
Nitrate 10mg
For tank upgrade news looks like kids are pitching in to get me the skimz 36 sump. Current sump is about 10 gallons when set to reef devil skimmer height so going to approx 30 gallons with a refugium and auto top off tank is gonna be sweet!

Test 3 tank day 5
Ammonia .75 mg
Nitrites 5 mg
Nitrates 25 mg

Test 4 day 6
Ammonia .5 mg
Nitrites 5.0 mg
Nitrates 50 mg

Test 5 day 7
Ammonia 4 ppm
Nitrites off the chart
Nitrates 40

Test 6 day 8
Ammonia 3 ppm
Nitrites off the chart
Nitrates 100+
 
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Got some new gear coming in mid next week.
Skimz 36 sump courtesy of my sons and wife for Father's Day
Ice cap ATO
Finnex hpg 300 watt heater (swapping out couple lower watt in display for quarantine tank) as temp not as dialed in as I want having almost 2 degree swing 76-78
Tunze 6500 waterproof led for refugium
2 jebao PP8 wireless wavemaker with controllers
After this settles in thinking on a couple reactors and wife is set on getting led lighting
Will get some pics of sump once installed
 
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Hi all, well got my delivery in. Unfortunately the skimz sump came in pretty much destroyed. The end reservoir and next wall in were kicked in and three cross braces were also snapped. Folks at Reef2land aren't thrilled with skimz as this is a usual issue. They are great with customer service and ordered me a new one and when I asked to just return and get a trigger sump instead they are trying to turn the new skimz sump around for me.
As for the wavemaker the 2 Jebao SW8 are in the tank and really stirring it up!
Ammonia has been zero for 3 days but nitrites are still sky high but coming down now so closing in on fish time getting into the DT
 
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Raege

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Nitrogen cycle seems stalled somewhat or numbers were so high it will take a few more to see the drop register on my test kit. Still have seen color spreading on the rocks so took a few pics of that and my jebao stirring the tank.

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20% water change today. Nitrates are now in readable range nitrites still off the charts and ammonia holding at zero.
Any temp best for the nitrogen cycle or salinity range? At 80 and 1.025 now.
 

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20% water change today. Nitrates are now in readable range nitrites still off the charts and ammonia holding at zero.
Any temp best for the nitrogen cycle or salinity range? At 80 and 1.025 now.

That is exactly the temp and salinity I cycled my rocks at in the bucket. I note Randy H-F noted in the past that the Nitrate test can be affected by Nitrite. If you search you can find some examples, here is one:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/high-nitrite-nitrate-what-now.390258/#post-4720994
 
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Raege

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Thanks Caveman didnt know that about nitrates being thrown off by nitrites. Was doubting my Sera test kit but lfs came up with same numbers.
Hopefully the livesand and bio s additive i have been using since starting cycle will show an effect on nitrates soon
 
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Caught a break with the cycle! New inhabitants feeling good. The yellow tang named blondie McGee must be part pig cause his food intake has been nuts. The fire fish named showboat loves being front and center of tank. Acclimation from QT to tank went better than I expected and they took to home right away stress free.
Also finally closing in on skimmer tuning the etss reef devil gets good reviews but has been very touchy trying to get the foam right. Here's a cpl pics


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Hello all, I've been out of circulation since underground filters were the way it was done. I've been catching up on the 1 or 2 changes ( lol holy moly a lot more than 1 or 2 things to catch up on) since last I was in the hobby for about a year. A lot of books, websites, and if course lurking here gave me the confidence to jump back in.

So far not much to share or show except a newly cleaned tank and sump. I've picked up what was missing from this Craigslist find but still found I needed a new plumbing kit ( just ordered online) as local stores didn't have what I needed to complete last bulkhead connections.

Rocks are getting a first soaking and once last items arrive mid next week will aquascape and start the cycle going. Looking forward to documenting this tank and sharing its progress with everyone.

IMG_3251.JPG
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