Smite's Stout CDA - 205g Acropora dominant system 50x38x25"

Smite · Mar 13, 2022

I had a horrible cyano outbreak. I broke down and treated with chemi-clean. The tank is looking better now. Time to turn my attention back towards bryopsis and green hair algae. I'm torn on dosing another thing to my tank or going the manual removal/siphon route. My only hang up is the bryopsis on that front.

Here is a FTS from today with my new rock layout.

I took the right hand side structure and placed it in the center back near the overflow. I then took the center structure and was able to elevate it off the ground more. The picture doesn't do it justice but it's pretty dang hollow looking over there. There are gaps where light shines through under the cave and it looks pretty cool in person.

My favorite new tank inhabitant made it through is antibiotic treatment. Gigantea carpet anemone, hosting my female percula clowfish. This thing looks tan at first glance but has some awesome pink and purple hues hidden in there. I just hope she settles down a bit, this clown is crazy aggressive with her hosts. This gig has now taken the attention off my green gig, so hopefully that one can heal up. The clowns pay no attention to my CSB bubble tip.

Acropora52 · Mar 15, 2022

Sorry you've had such a rough course recently. My suggestion would be to stick to manual removal and more herbivores. I have been burned too often by chemical shortcuts.

The other thought, and just my opinion, is to start dosing phyto and also seed with some zooplankton as well as some enriched sand/mud to increase your micro herbivores. Again, maybe anecdotal but I've noticed more free swimming plankton at night and more small life in my system since I've done it. Can't remember if you mainly had dry rock to start or not.

The gig looks great! Mine is one of my prize inhabitants and I put up with it's proclivity to wander, even though none of my others has ever done so

Smite · Mar 15, 2022

Acropora52 said:
Sorry you've had such a rough course recently. My suggestion would be to stick to manual removal and more herbivores. I have been burned too often by chemical shortcuts.

The other thought, and just my opinion, is to start dosing phyto and also seed with some zooplankton as well as some enriched sand/mud to increase your micro herbivores. Again, maybe anecdotal but I've noticed more free swimming plankton at night and more small life in my system since I've done it. Can't remember if you mainly had dry rock to start or not.

The gig looks great! Mine is one of my prize inhabitants and I put up with it's proclivity to wander, even though none of my others has ever done so

Thanks for kind words. This tank has really challenged me so far. Hopefully it'll turn around here soon.

I dose live phyto every day but I'll have to check out the zooplankton too. What type of mud are you referring to?

Yeah I kept catching it releasing then flying and grabbing another rock. I was under the impression they liked moderate-strong flow but this one seemed to settle in a low-medium flow area. I also think I messed up with my original rock I wanted it to stay on. I chiseled out a hole for it to sink it's foot into, like I've done with BTA in the past. I placed it right in the hole but no go. It crawled to a ledge near the sand and wedged in there. When it grabbed a rock in the lower flow area, I placed another rock up against it that formed more of a crevice/crack. Once it found that, it seemed to really lock in. I think that played a role with it staying put so far, fingers crossed at least

I really like the gigantea/percula interaction and can't wait for it to get some size. It's also nice to have something beautiful to look at while my acropora rebound.

Acropora52 · Mar 19, 2022

Smite said:
Thanks for kind words. This tank has really challenged me so far. Hopefully it'll turn around here soon.

I dose live phyto every day but I'll have to check out the zooplankton too. What type of mud are you referring to?

Yeah I kept catching it releasing then flying and grabbing another rock. I was under the impression they liked moderate-strong flow but this one seemed to settle in a low-medium flow area. I also think I messed up with my original rock I wanted it to stay on. I chiseled out a hole for it to sink it's foot into, like I've done with BTA in the past. I placed it right in the hole but no go. It crawled to a ledge near the sand and wedged in there. When it grabbed a rock in the lower flow area, I placed another rock up against it that formed more of a crevice/crack. Once it found that, it seemed to really lock in. I think that played a role with it staying put so far, fingers crossed at least

I really like the gigantea/percula interaction and can't wait for it to get some size. It's also nice to have something beautiful to look at while my acropora rebound.

I've ordered from here and got some of the mud and some of the sand when I started up.

Live Mud 1 Cup

floridapets.com

I'm planning on ordering a little boost from IPSF as well so I'll let you know how it goes.

I have struggled with my gig. I've always used moderate to strong flow as well but my current one has wandered a lot. What I've found is I can get it to stay still as long as it gets some moderate flow during the day and can burrow it's foot between two rocks occasionally. Prior to my tank it was attached to the glass for 4 years without moving a lot. You can see some of the flow in a video I put up on my build thread.

The clown/anemone interaction is what drew me into the hobby years ago and still something I have in every tank I've had.

Smite · Mar 26, 2022

Working on the algae, bryopsis and some strange brown dusting on the sand. I'm guessing dinos, maybe diatoms? Not sure, no bubbling so far.

My corals are starting to come around now. Some are coloring back up others are just showing slight signs of improvement like PE.

Pictures are all 10 t5 lamps on with kessils 100% color, so all white.
Oregon Tort

ORA Frogskin

A nice wild no namer I've been growing for a few years now.

Sexy Corals Orange Passion

RRC Hellfire Enchinata

TGC Cherry Bomb

TGC Orange Creamsicle

Vivid's Rainbow Delight - not colored at all but I'm glad it seems to have made it

A freebie I got from Coral Euphoria, I believe it was a signature piece but I forget the name now.

A.Caroliniana

A no name millepora I got form RRUSA about 7 maybe 8 years ago. My first millepora. Luckily a fellow reefer held onto a piece for me in his sump when I moved a few years back, and it's made it through all this nonsense.

My Kablowee piece, looks like shazam, went up in smoke. I was able to salvage a small frag and this decent sized chunker. Fingers crossed it holds strong

Minus 9's Valkyrie's Moon. Hopeful I can get it back to is beautiful purple/blue coloration in had in my last tank.

This yellow gigantea anemone is starting to recover now that the clown's attention is on my larger tan gigantea.

Smite · Mar 30, 2022

The tank is coming out of a flux treatment for bryopsis. I added back skimmer cup and some carbon. The bryopsis is grey and on it's way out. The GHA looks happy as ever but with the dino looking dusting on the sandbed I didn't want to run the treatment any longer. I can deal with GHA manually. I may added a foxface and a scopas if my current crew can't keep it back.

coraline is in overdrive, maybe that'll play in my favor for algae getting a good foothold too.

Acropora52 · Mar 30, 2022

Smite said:
The tank is coming out of a flux treatment for bryopsis. I added back skimmer cup and some carbon. The bryopsis is grey and on it's way out. The GHA looks happy as ever but with the dino looking dusting on the sandbed I didn't want to run the treatment any longer. I can deal with GHA manually. I may added a foxface and a scopas if my current crew can't keep it back.

coraline is in overdrive, maybe that'll play in my favor for algae getting a good foothold too.

Looking good. Having battled dinos, I think other algae tends to be a relative breeze. Love seeing a wavebox. I really miss mine but it wasn't compatible with my wife working from home

Smite · Mar 30, 2022

Acropora52 said:
Looking good. Having battled dinos, I think other algae tends to be a relative breeze. Love seeing a wavebox. I really miss mine but it wasn't compatible with my wife working from home

I do love it too but the noise is a bit much sometimes. I've got it as quiet as I can and it's still very noticeable through most of the house. I have it turn off at night cause of it, can hear it from my room.

I've gotten pretty lucky with them in the past. A black out or adding nutrients gets me over the hump until another algae can out compete it. Hopefully it doesn't come to that here.

Smite · Apr 6, 2022

Looking forward to seeing how these work out. I’ll be keeping a close eye on parameters while the Dino’s are present.
Currently po4 .07
No3 10

VanDalsenReef · Apr 6, 2022

Smite said:
Looking forward to seeing how these work out. I’ll be keeping a close eye on parameters while the Dino’s are present.
Currently po4 .07
No3 10

Please keep us updated. Super interesting

VanDalsenReef · Apr 6, 2022

Smite said:
Looking forward to seeing how these work out. I’ll be keeping a close eye on parameters while the Dino’s are present.
Currently po4 .07
No3 10

Is it dosed daily with a pump or needs to be kept cold and does it feed coral or a bacterial to consume no3 and po4

Smite · Apr 6, 2022

From what I understand, PNS probio is a "probiotic" (not sure if that's just another word for beneficial?) bacteria. It sounds like it is a well rounded bacteria type that helps in the nitrification process but also helps to act as a food source for sps and filter feeders. I believe it is a different type of bacteria than Biodigest and MB7 that I supplement with so I'm hoping to add a little diversity considering most of my rock was dry rock. the cycled rock is a few years old but also not from the ocean.

here is a link and where I bought it from. It will break it down better than I can

PNS ProBio™

By removing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, consuming organic waste products, providing a nutritious food source for filter-feeders and acting as a powerful probiotic, PNS ProBio™ is a highly beneficial addition to your aquarium's microbial community. This product is especially useful for feeding...

www.algaebarn.com

Substrate sauce is meant to support microbe growth in substrates and nitrifying media. Since my dinos are engulfing my sand bed I thought "Hey, why not?" I had soaked my sand (dry) in mb7 in the tank over night at start up but wanted to see what this will add.
Break down from PNS:

PNS Substrate Sauce™

PNS Substrate Sauce™ Containing a blend of the ecologically important purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) Rhodopseudomonas palustris and Rhodospirillum rubrum, PNS Substrate Sauce™ helps to establish a healthy and dynamic microbiome in all marine and brackish aquaria. Cultured on select...

www.algaebarn.com

If I feel these add improvements to the tank I'll continue use and probably also try their yellow sno after my dinos have subsided. I believe that contains aminos and vitamins, not sure I want to be dosing that with the current state.

I don't expect them to beat back dinos, but I'm hoping they'll help in addition to moving my UV directly to the display; raising my nutrients to detectable levels - current no3 10 po4 .09; dosing live phytoplankton from OGphyto that contains 7 strains of living phyto; I've also been dosing DIY snow to try and help trap some of those suckers at lights out.

Over the last few days my tank is now showing some green film on the glass, which to me is always a good sign. When I have to clean it every 24-48 hours my tank is usually humming along. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the algae itself but just a visual clue for me that I'm on the right track and nutrients are available.

I cleaned out my algae reactor and boy was that thing packed with copepods and giant amphipods. One slapped good enough to make me think a fish got in there momentarily. I love seeing all that fauna flourishing down there. I may one day swap for a larger sump that can accommodate a very large refugium section just to house all that life. I feel that's one area where this system could improve.

Acropora52 · Apr 6, 2022

I think your approach is a good one. A couple other things I did to help beat dinos were to run UV and I also siphoned out the dinos nightly (as often as I had the energy) through a filter sock to avoid changing a lot of water. Once the other algaes really take hold you're in the clear. Good luck! Interested to see how the PNS products work out.

Kenneth Wingerter · Apr 6, 2022

Smite said:
Looking forward to seeing how these work out. I’ll be keeping a close eye on parameters while the Dino’s are present.
Currently po4 .07
No3 10

Nice. Be sure to measure PO4 right after adding the Substrate Sauce, as it does contain a small amount of supplemental PO4.

Smite · Apr 7, 2022

Acropora52 said:
I think your approach is a good one. A couple other things I did to help beat dinos were to run UV and I also siphoned out the dinos nightly (as often as I had the energy) through a filter sock to avoid changing a lot of water. Once the other algaes really take hold you're in the clear. Good luck! Interested to see how the PNS products work out.

Thanks, I've been meaning to do that nightly as well but haven't ended up with the time to do so. If these continue on, I'll make the time.

Smite · Apr 7, 2022

Kenneth Wingerter said:
Nice. Be sure to measure PO4 right after adding the Substrate Sauce, as it does contain a small amount of supplemental PO4.

It's pretty cool they do that to insure it's got something to feed on when introduced. I tested .07 in the A.M., sauce showed up and dosed it. It was .09 a few hours later. So there was a notable increase in po4 from it.

Smite · Apr 10, 2022

I feel the PNS really helped the tank in addition to UV and nutrient adjustments. The day after adding substrate sauce and probio I started to see improvements in the dinos on the sand bed. Yesterday I felt confident enough to do a 40g water change. I matched po4 and no3 in the new water to make sure everything stayed put.

Today my sand is back to being very white. No signs of bryopsis. Just some GHA and a dino patch here and there on the rockwork. I will continue to run the UV direct to display until it's 100% gone. If no bryopsis pops up over the next few days, I'll be done with water changes and back to full moonshiner's program. I'll send out my ICP later this week.

FTS from today:

Some corals that are looking happy:
Caroliniana has some cool swirls in it:

TGC Cherry Bomb

Oregon Tort over Purple Death Palythoa

RRC Hellfire Enchinata

WD - starting to encrust. Great to see, this has been locked up on me for a long time now.

Some LPS:
Pink ******* chalice

A micro blasto, I want to say Iron Man but I could be remembering wrong. Cool looking cluster

Smite · Apr 14, 2022

This guy! Frags are one thing but a full on rubble jawbreaker hat? Common

this guy mows through coralline algae like crazy.

Smite · Apr 14, 2022

Testing my system with a few new frags. It's hard to tell if the tanks really doing better with acropora taking so long to recover from events sometimes. So far these new additions haven't skipped a beat. Shots taken under full spectrum t5 and kessils at 40% color
Hyperberry. Only been in there a few days but holding color so far

Same for this teal stag

and green slimer

Ultimate test might be these tenuis frags from maricultured pieces at my LFS, Tong's:
This one had an angry bird look under their g5 blues all blue with orange filters. Have to see how it turns out

Another thats been in for about a month and starting to encrust

RR Rainbow Loom from TGC, 3 weeks in

A very hairy millepora from Seaside, a LFS

About 3-4 weeks in on these BC pieces from a local reefer:
BC Aquaticman

Blue Spath. Not 100% on the spath part, polyps look different to me? Could just be to small to tell at the moment.

Overall I feel like new additions are doing very well. Hopefully that means my last colony that still looks poor is just late to recover and will turn around here soon.

VanDalsenReef · Apr 14, 2022

Smite said:
Testing my system with a few new frags. It's hard to tell if the tanks really doing better with acropora taking so long to recover from events sometimes. So far these new additions haven't skipped a beat. Shots taken under full spectrum t5 and kessils at 40% color
Hyperberry. Only been in there a few days but holding color so far

Same for this teal stag

and green slimer

Ultimate test might be these tenuis frags from maricultured pieces at my LFS, Tong's:
This one had an angry bird look under their g5 blues all blue with orange filters. Have to see how it turns out

Another thats been in for about a month and starting to encrust

RR Rainbow Loom from TGC, 3 weeks in

A very hairy millepora from Seaside, a LFS

About 3-4 weeks in on these BC pieces from a local reefer:
BC Aquaticman

Blue Spath. Not 100% on the spath part, polyps look different to me? Could just be to small to tell at the moment.

Overall I feel like new additions are doing very well. Hopefully that means my last colony that still looks poor is just late to recover and will turn around here soon.