Reefer 170 SPS Dominated Floating Aqua Scape

[Blitheran]

Well, nutrients are in the tank and not bottomed out!

I’m at a 258:1 so I need to figure out if I raise nitrates or raise phosphates. I want to get to a 100:1 ratio

I do have some green hair algae in the tank, so I have dropped my feeding a little bit to regulate how much I’m putting in the tank.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Well, nutrients are in the tank and not bottomed out!

I’m at a 258:1 so I need to figure out if I raise nitrates or raise phosphates. I want to get to a 100:1 ratio

I do have some green hair algae in the tank, so I have dropped my feeding a little bit to regulate how much I’m putting in the tank.

If it were me, I would VERY slightly raise up the PO4 to the 0.08-0.10 range and call it good. Cool build so far! I'm doing something similar in a 7g nano.

 

[Blitheran]

Here are some updated pics! In an effort to keep my nutrients elevated, I ended up with a bit of a green hair algae issue. I’m not too stressed about it though — nothing a bigger clean-up crew can’t handle!

I just added a solid crew, and one of the main additions was a Diana Conch for the sand bed. This guy should cruise around, sift the sand, and keep things looking clean.

Nutrients are right where I want them, so now it’s just about getting a handle on the green hair algae. If I had a bigger tank, I’d just toss in a couple tangs, but that’s not really an option in a smaller system.

Alk, calcium, and magnesium are all sitting at good levels. I just need to bump my alk up a bit since it’s currently at 6.

 

[Blitheran]

 

[Blitheran]

Currently working on nutrients that are trying to bottom out. I’ve been feeding very heavily, so I haven’t actually let them crash completely, which I think is why I haven’t run into a true dino issue yet.

I also believe running UV has played a big role in preventing any problems so far.

Friday’s nutrient check came in at 4.4 nitrates and 0.01 phosphates definitely lower than I’d like, but I’m actively increasing feeding. There is some algae present in the tank, so it’s clearly consuming nutrients as well.

One of the best parts about owning your own home is being able to drill a ½” hole through the wall to run a dedicated airline for the skimmer

Day 1 results: pH is already showing improvement. It used to bottom out around 7.8, and now it’s sitting closer to 7.9. Hoping to see continued improvement over the next few days. I opted for an outside airline instead of a CO₂ scrubber mostly because I don’t feel like paying for media

 

[Blitheran]

Picture update time!

The first batch of Acros should be arriving Tuesday/Wednesday

The two Acros I picked up as testers have been growing nicely, so I must be doing something right. I’m also starting to see the early stages of coralline algae, which is always a great sign.

The tank is currently consuming about 10 mL per day of ESV Alk and Ca, so demand is definitely ramping up. I’ve since hooked up the kalk reactor and will be starting low at 300 mL per night, then gradually increasing it until it matches the tank’s current consumption.

Enjoy the pics of how the tank and equipment are sitting right now!

 

[Project1004]

Lovely tank :)

So, you have two frags in your tank... And dosing 10mls esv 2pt and also planning to add kalk at night... YOu should simply do water changes and should be sufficent... I can tell you that 10mls of 2pt is not being used properly.

 

[Blitheran]

Alright, the new batch of corals is in! After successfully keeping the existing Acros, I decided to move forward with purchasing new corals.

Pictured are the following left to right:

Vivid confetti
Merlin Staff
Goofy Homewrecker
Bill Murray
Solar Flare
Pink Floyd

Currently dosing 500 mL of kalk per night.

Alkalinity drops about 0.3 per night and swings in the morning.

I’m also dealing with a case of dinos. I have since added more fish and increased feeding to keep the tank “dirty,” maintaining nitrates and phosphates at 5.

 

[Tahoe61]

Where did you get those chunky frags? They look awesome.

 

[SixlineRyan]

Cool build! What was the silicone that you used? I did a floating wood in a freshwater tank, but the silicone didn't hold after a few weeks.

 

[bradreef]

Alright, the new batch of corals is in! After successfully keeping the existing Acros, I decided to move forward with purchasing new corals.

Pictured are the following left to right:

Vivid confetti
Merlin Staff
Goofy Homewrecker
Bill Murray
Solar Flare
Pink Floyd

Currently dosing 500 mL of kalk per night.

Alkalinity drops about 0.3 per night and swings in the morning.

I’m also dealing with a case of dinos. I have since added more fish and increased feeding to keep the tank “dirty,” maintaining nitrates and phosphates at 5.

Great frags. Do you know what type of dinos you're dealing with and the toxicity?

 

[Blitheran]

Where did you get those chunky frags? They look awesome

​

steevareno​

Got them from
Him! Great seller!

 

[Blitheran]

Cool build! What was the silicone that you used? I did a floating wood in a freshwater tank, but the silicone didn't hold after a few weeks.

This is what I used!

 

[Blitheran]

Great frags. Do you know what type of dinos you're dealing with and the toxicity?

I don’t know exactly what type of dinos I’m dealing with. I see a lot of reefers identify the strain and then throw everything at it all at once.

I’m taking a simpler approach. My reef is still new and in the early stages of establishing itself, which is typically when dinos are most prevalent.

I have a UV sterilizer plumbed in under the tank, and my nutrients had bottomed out, so I added more fish to help “dirty” the system. I’ve also been feeding heavier and blowing the dinos off daily.

I know dinos aren’t something you beat overnight it’s a process but I’m confident I’ll get there. I may dose silicates later, but for now I want to see how this approach works first.

Currently, my nitrates and phosphates are stable at 5 ppm and 0.05 ppm, keeping them in balance around the 100:1 ratio.

 

[bradreef]

I don’t know exactly what type of dinos I’m dealing with. I see a lot of reefers identify the strain and then throw everything at it all at once.

I’m taking a simpler approach. My reef is still new and in the early stages of establishing itself, which is typically when dinos are most prevalent.

I have a UV sterilizer plumbed in under the tank, and my nutrients had bottomed out, so I added more fish to help “dirty” the system. I’ve also been feeding heavier and blowing the dinos off daily.

I know dinos aren’t something you beat overnight it’s a process but I’m confident I’ll get there. I may dose silicates later, but for now I want to see how this approach works first.

Currently, my nitrates and phosphates are stable at 5 ppm and 0.05 ppm, keeping them in balance around the 100:1 ratio.

Ide recommend the Facebook group, macks dinoflagellates page. Best resource. The problem with waiting is it can go on for many months. Some types get killed with plumbed UV, others don't. But, could go away naturally and getting nutrients up is a great start.

 

[Blitheran]

Ide recommend the Facebook group, macks dinoflagellates page. Best resource. The problem with waiting is it can go on for many months. Some types get killed with plumbed UV, others don't. But, could go away naturally and getting nutrients up is a great start.

Trust me, I have done that route. I have purchased the microscope Identified what was needed. Purchased countless items and threw the wall at it to beat them.

I’m trying to be more natural and simple. UV was two reason one for Dino’s and two because it’s a new tank. So we Shall see with time

 

[Blitheran]

So here is a side by side comparison of one of the cheap test Acros I added to the tank.

Added Nov 19th

Today is Jan 10th

Not even 2 months and the tank is only a few months old and we have some decent growth!

Not too shabby.

Kalk has been a good addition, I currently dose 500 ML a night and that keeps my alk stable.

I currently test twice a day. Once at 6am and once at 6 pm.

As you can see my tank currently consumes approx .3 DKH of alk a day right now. But with these new coral additions I may have so slowly ramp it up. Right now we are steady.

 

[Blitheran]

I caved, bought a micro scope! Looks like I have Osteoporosis

 

[Blitheran]

My Battle With Dinos

I started by testing daily and closely monitoring my levels. To keep nutrients detectable, I was dosing a capful of NeoNitro and NeoPhos. Despite that, the dinos were getting stronger every day. I was turkey basting the tank each night, but by midday the next day they were back in full force.

I decided to do a one-day blackout to give beneficial bacteria a chance to compete. At the same time, I dosed every bacteria product I had on hand to really kick-start the population: MicroBacter Clean, Dr. Tim’s One & Only, and Waste-Away.

In my previous tank, I beat dinos by cutting back feeding and dosing Waste-Away daily with vodka, so I went back to that approach. I now dose a capful of Waste-Away and add 1 ml of vodka to provide a carbon source for the bacteria.

I also realized my Avast feeder was running 7 times a day for 20 seconds, which turned out to be the equivalent of 10–15 cubes of food per day. I had no idea it was that much. I cut it back to 7 feedings per day at 4 seconds each, which equals about 2 cubes per day. Still on the heavier side, but I do run a filter roller and a Nyos 120 skimmer.

Since making these changes, I haven’t been checking levels as aggressively, but the dinos have been reduced dramatically. They’re still somewhat present on the sand bed, but I stir it every week or so to push them into the water column where the UV can take care of them.

I did have to leave for a three-day vacation and wasn’t able to dose anything during that time. I was nervous about what I’d come back to—but the tank was perfectly clear. No issues. The dinos are still lightly present on the sand bed, but it’s just a faint brown dusting now, nothing major.

I’ve since purchased MicroBacter 7 and will be dosing that in the mornings instead of MicroBacter Clean. My current routine is MicroBacter 7 in the morning and Waste-Away with vodka at night, really pushing bacterial competition.

I’ve also stopped doing water changes for now until the issue is fully resolved.

I don’t have very recent pictures, but here are some recent shots of the tank.

 

[Blitheran]

Full tank shot as of today! Have not cleaned glass in a few days.