Shell Island - Rookie Waterbox Reef 100.3 Build Thread

[DothanReefer]

So I've added a few SPS - stags, digi and milli mainly. They have been in the system for almost 2 weeks. I woke up yesterday to a couple of them turning white around the base. I did a water change and checked the lighting PAR with Seneye yesterday. May have been a little light-starved at around 180-200 PAR, but I wouldn't think that would kill them so quickly. I was "acclimating" in Mobius up to 400 PAR on top of rocks. Well, I threw that out the window and just set them to desired final intensity now.

Flow is 2 MP40s, set to 40% ReefCrest/Tidal Swell during day and Lagoon at night. This can't be the issue, unless it's too much flow?

I wake up this morning and it's progressed a little, not as bad as the first morning though. Parameters are below and tank has been stable for months now. Coraline Algae growing everywhere. I'm not sure what is going on. I've ordered an ICP test, so maybe that will shed some understanding on anything that's out of wack.

Any input is greatly appreciated. I don't know what I'm doing wrong!!?

PH - 7.75 - 7.95 (seneye)
dKH - 8.7 (hanna)
Amm - 0.001 (seneye)
NO3 - 8 ppm (RS Pro)
Sal - 1.026 (hanna)
Temp - 78 (hanna)
Ca - 445 ppm (hanna)
PO4 - 0.08 ppm (hanna)
Mg- 1425 ppm (RS Pro)

I dose around 10ml BRS soda ash daily for Alk.
I dose NoPox around 8ml every two days for nutrient control.

Alk did get down to 8.5 yesterday,but I wouldn't think that kind of swing would have such a dramatic impact?

Any suggestions?

 

[DothanReefer]

well...its been a year since my last update. i got so discourage last year with most everything just dying off, i just quit caring for a while honestly. i maintained the tank but didn't do much maintenance outside of maybe 1 or 2 water changes, dumping the skimmate and changing the floss regularly. i know, sad, but hopefully just a phase in my journey...

about a month ago i decided i would give it a go again. so i started with testing my water params and was pleasantly surprised to see that the nutrients had stabilized (NO3 @ 4pmm and PO4 @ 0.07) even though i fed like crazy and didnt do hardly any WCs. I always had the issue with high nutrients early on and this gave me some much needed encouragement to dive-in. so i did about a 30% WC and checked the equipment, cleaning where necessary. i ordered an ICP test (which the results were received today and posted via link below). i ordered a mix of new frags including couple softies, few LPS and SPS. the only issue that is visible at the moment is some cyano on the sandbed, but i guess thats to be expected with the lack of WC schedule - im planning to resurrect the WC schedule and thinking this may take care of the cyano problem before i have to treat. we'll see...

i am planning to rework the rock structure today while doing another large change. it should be fairly straight forward as there are only two things growing and attached to my rocks - 2 RBTAs and some GSP on an island rock - just about every other coral that encrusts has perished. That said, my 3 mushrooms (inc WWC Sunkist Bounce which has gotten huge) are all doing great!! i plan to turn all the flow off and just carefully recreate my aquascape inside the tank before doing the large WC.

i'm redo-ing the scape basically bc of the nems - they are just soooo big. they take up about 1/3 of the real estate in their current position and it drives me crazy. i know they can move but i hope to create something that they will like (like 2 seperate structures, one for them) so hopefully they wont move after. if they do, i'll have to re-home at least one of them.

my blue tang has also grown to the point that she is running out of real estate. it's time to find her a new home as well. there are no LFSs around me so i'm not sure how to handle this one...any input greatly appreciated...

anyway, i'm back and eager to get this right the 2nd time. i'm very encouraged with the stability of the system while i was away and that gives me hope that maybe i can do this - maybe less is more. so this go-round, i will try to maintain patience and gain more knowledge. as i mentioned earlier, here is the link to my ICP test results. I plan to do another in a few weeks after i've done some major WCs to see where i stand at that point. I will also post some pics shortly. cheers, and happy reefing!!

Triton Lab Showroom - Explore this water test results and click on the image above.

Someone wants to show you the water test results and shared this link to the evaluation. Click on the image above to explore the water test results.

www.triton-lab.de

 

[DothanReefer]

I completed about a 35% water change yesterday as well as re-scaped the rocks. I'm much happier with the layout now as I have many different zones to place corals - low flow, low light - high flow, high light - and everything in between. Before the change, it was mostly just high flow high light...there is also much more room for the fish to swim around and they seem to be enjoying it. In all, two big rocks came down to the sump (where I hope the purple cloves will die off) and the rest just got rearranged. So far, the corals look great and all inhabitants accounted for. I will rest today and enjoy my efforts over the past couple days - been very busy with it: recieved 2 rounds of frags, had skimmer overflow completely throughout night, got ICP results, re-worked the aquascape and did a very large water change. I'm beat...lol

Here's a before and after of the rock work...
Before

After: