Reefer 525 XL ...#upgrades

[PDR]

Any updates?

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I've been thinking about writing an update lol ^^^.

Not much good news to report on. I decided to get back on the horse with another anemone (and cover the powerheads and take other precautions). So far so good; it is settling in nicely and my clownfish has taken a liking to it.

Unfortunately my Monti's and some LPS are unhappy/having color issues. Seems like growth has slowed down; or maybe I'm just getting impatient not sure. I believe this is because my nitrates are nearly bottomed out -- probably because my GHA is eating it up and there isn't a lot in there anyways. So I have Brightwell Aquatics NeoNitro and NeoPhos on order to dose. It'll probably make my algae go crazy but I'm almost convinced my corals are unhappy due to this situation. Only other theory is lack of trace elements since I don't change my water often. I also have stopped running carbon for the time being as it may be correlated as well. Skimmer is still not actually skimming and just making bubbles for oxygenation.

Ups and downs I guess.

Parameters:
Alk 8.6 (highest deviation is .6 over 6 days)
Calcium 440 (highest deviation is 40ppm over 6 days)
Magnesium 1440 (highest deviation is 40ppm over 14 days)
Temp 77
Sal 1.026
NO3 0
PO4 0.01

Pics:
New anemone (Carl is happy)
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Duncan baby heads starting to show up after months :/
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Royal Gramma
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Red Planaria destroying machine!!
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Torch that has been damaged since the anemone incident and only looking worse as time goes by :(
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This used to be dark red
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...and this used to be bright orange
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FTS that I'm not too proud of
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I really do believe most of my issues are related to this nitrate nonsense. I'll happily feed the algae all day if it means my corals can get some. I initially had prolific growth up until about a month ago when things started to slow down and lose color (consequently I started seeing more GHA then).

Blegh, feeling like the tank is an overall bummer right now but if my hunch is right about the nitrates things will hopefully bounce back soon here :)

 

[LBCobra]

How much sand did you end up using (lbs) and how deep is your sand bed? Have you tried lowering all but blues on your lights to try to beat the GHA? I think your issue is nitrates and Phosphates, you might be getting no readings because the GHA is consuming it all, I would try to lower with GFO and some Chaeto.
Love the new scape, looks good!

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I did a thing today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My tank has been improving drastically as my Nitrates are finally becoming detectable (but GHA is getting worse). I've stepped up my husbandry and do consistent 15g w/c's every week as well. My nem is much happier as well (I also switched foods so that may be it). I went into Reefstock 2019 riding this high.... bad idea... I walked out with not one but TWO tanks :0 A 16g cube (15.5"^3) and a 17g rectangular tank both rimless low iron. One is tied into my main tank (for sensitive critters) and the other will be a QT tank. Lots of firsts for me; I:

Tied two tanks together via a mutual sump
Drilled a tank (twice!)
Installed an external overflow and plumbed it
Built a tank stand
...yeah.

I'm really stoked and looking forward to stocking my sensitive critters tank with some cool stuff. Ideas:

LTA and breeding clownfish
Pipefish
Seahorses
???

The stand is just a rough build to hold me over until my dad can build me a legit stand with his woodworking skills. I just have a skill saw, belt sander, and a speed square that I found out isn't...square... so the stand is pretty rough but it's level and sturdy.

The only problem I'm having is that the overflow (Eclipse S from eShopps) is very loud; I want to build a herbie but I don't think there's room in the box and I don't know if I want to do a ball valve (sketchy) so will need to research that.

Pics (I'll add more pics of the better looking main tank when the water clears up):

Drilling the hold was scary but not bad.


This was irritating. The bulkhead hole was not drilled properly and the bulkhead didn't fit so I had to sand it down to fit. This is like a 100-120 overflow shouldn't have that issue (and should be quiet).


All I had to build the stand. I gave up on 45 deg cuts lol


Drilled tank. I had to buy another diamond bit for the return line. Manufacturer recommended 1.5" but I got away with 1 3/8".


All done (keep in mind a legit stand will go there to hide everything soon).

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

Well, I haven't posted in some time. I've been having a pretty rough time with the tank. Livestock is all fine, but GHA has overtaken the tank completely. It took maybe a few weeks. No amount of scrubbing could stop it -- I quickly learned that was a futile endeavor. It is so bad I have to scrub the overflow daily so the tank doesn't overflow/run dry. The corals are understandably ticked as the GHA chunks are attacking it, though still growing. I have removed even more rock from the DT and put in the sump to kill off the GHA.

My parameters are as they have always been, no deviations:
kh 8.6
ca 400
mg 1390
sal 1.026
t 78
po4 0.01
no3 0.05

I have turned off my T5 strips and am just using LED's now and have dosed Fluconazole as a last ditch effort. I have no idea how this GHA is so invasive -- it even grows where there is no light on the rockwork. My SPS and some other corals are paling; I believe due to the lack of available nutrients because the GHA is sucking it up.

I'm on day 5 of fluconazole dose, so still a long way to go before I (hopefully) see results.

Yesterday I was up until 12:30 trying to catch a fish that was bugging my LPS (Melanurus wrasse) and in the process had to move rocks. That released insane amounts of GHA into the water column which, in turn, resulted in over an hour of skimming the tank with a net to get the loose GHA out. The pic below is after all that work. The pics after are of before starting the flucon.

The tank has a relatively light bioload and I'm doing everything by the book. The only thing I haven't tried is a blackout. I'm worried I'm going to have to do a reboot if the flucon doesn't kick it back. I've been fighting the GHA for months but it was an easy battle; this last month has been an explosion for no apparent reason. My testing logs do not reveal anything exceptional.

I'll keep up to date on the progress with fluconazole. It is my last hope I am afraid.

Untitled by Andrew English, on Flickr

Untitled by Andrew English, on Flickr

Untitled by Andrew English, on Flickr

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

The flucon has appeared to help at least slow the GHA down. I have started a fuge and my Chaeto is already growing like crazy under an H160! I also took PAR measurements of the tank and realized I've basically starved my corals of light for the past few months. I have been running my 3 A360WE'S at way too low intensity; they actually need to be 90-100% WITH my two T5 fixtures to provide 200-300 PAR towards the top and 100-150 at the sand bed. See pics. Also I learned positioning the light bar correctly has an effect lol.

Low par near the SPS because I had the light rack positioned over the middle of the tank instead of biased towards the rear, where those higher rocks are piled. Make sure that gets taken into consideration! The mid row of PAR figures are accurate though, and directly under the light.

Again, with the light biased towards the rear

Then I moved the light rack to the back 1/3 of the tank and got better figures (though I was still surprised at how low the numbers were... good enough for me but I can see why some people feel the need to go overboard with Kessils)

This is of the little 15" cube with an A160.

Lastly, I already want to go bigger. I'm considering 96x24x24 240g tank that will take up almost the entire wall. I actually think it will look better instead of this 5' tank and its sidecar jutting out from the wall with awkward proportions. It all depends on if I can actually afford it though because the lighting will be expensive! (Need two more T5 strips and two more A360's AND bigger skimmer AND new sump... all aside from tank stand and canopy!)

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I'm sad to announce I have sold the tank. I'm heartbroken. I'm moving sooner than expected and was able to sell it to a good home. It gets picked up in a couple weeks. This is the end of my reefing journey for now. Thanks to all that helped and a massive thanks to @PDR for being so helpful in my early stages.