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

[Smite]

Had another dip in system health and lost a few more pieces. Hopefully this tank will start to stabilize here shortly.
Bright side there are some pieces still doing well. I've also added some new tester frags from generous local reefer to see how they fare.

New additions:
CC Voodoo Majick

PC Rainbow

He also gave me a pink setosa but I just couldn't get a decent pic.
ASD Doomsday is looking happy:

BC Aquaticman Gaining color

Garf Bonzai starting to wake up

RMF Flavor Parade. Not much flavor, but alive!

Vivid's Rainbow Delight

TGC Orange Creamsicle

Maricultured (at this point aquacultured I think) aussie table. It's light blue with green but plays tricks on the camera

Oregon tort. Has me stressing a little bit with the light spots. Either new growth or about to go up in smoke?

 

[Smite]

TGC Rainbow Loom is starting to encrust:

FreeB from Coral Euphoria (maybe another RainbowLoom? not sure) encrusting

HyperBerry

Caroliniana - seems pretty dormant but looks healthy?

The lone surviving frag of my "Kablowee" colony. So happy this one looks to be okay and actually incrusting. I was planing on moving it more to the forefront but I'll leave it be now that I see some positive change.

Wild Tenuis I've had for some time now. Doesn't look too good though, that rear branch worries me. Kind of the look things have before they've gone in the past.

Jawbreaker shroom

Cool blastos, forgot the name. Black something maybe?

 

[Smite]

Here is how it sits this evening. Pictures always help me to see things I need to fix, ha! Dang light wires.

 

[mfollen]

Even with the dip, still looking great!!

I believe those are black Cherry blastos

 

[BranchingHammer]

Wow, just read through this whole thread! Tank looks great and glad it's on the mend!

 

[Smite]

Even with the dip, still looking great!!

I believe those are black Cherry blastos

Thanks mfollen! That does look like the right ID too

Wow, just read through this whole thread! Tank looks great and glad it's on the mend!

Thank you! Lots of ups and downs this year. Hopefully come '23 I'll get that 1 year stability going for me

 

[Janci]

Still looking strong and stunning.

 

[drawman]

Love that caroliniana @Smite where did you get it?

 

[Smite]

Love that caroliniana @Smite where did you get it?

A great coral vendor, Triton Corals out of Santa Barbara, CA. He has a lot of fire and all the frags were very chunky and arrived healthy. Cut and then waited 2 weeks to ship. Here is the frag pack I received. Unfortunately the Caroliniana is the lone survivor from the tank transfer. I need to contact him once my tank settles. Lots of nice acropora of all types.

And the PC Superman "frag"

 

[Smite]

I plan to make a few changes to the system. BRS had a 25% off Trigger Systems, so I went with the Triton 44 series sump. That will allow me to keep a large refugium and hopefully help raise my nightly ph drops. I'll also be able to place my CARX effluent into the fuge to help boost macro growth and in turn pull more of the co2 from the system. I'm going back and forth on whether I'll do a true fuge with a DSB or not. I may since I pulled my sand in the DT.

Sounds like I have an opportunity to buy back my ReefBrite Hybrid as well. I plan to swap back to that at some point. Not that I'm unhappy with the T5 powermodule but I miss my MH setup and it will actually be slightly less watts to run. Easier to work around and lighter. I'll be running 14k hamiltons and most likely try to retro fit my Quanta OG pops alongside the XHOs to see how they blend.

I've been on the hunt in my DT and am starting to believe that most my issues are stemming from vermitid snails in the rockwork. Almost all acros showing stress have had one of those nearby. I pulled Valkarie's Moon acropora and Vivid's Orange Crush tenuis to frag and attempt to save piece of them as they were TN'ing. So for both look to be doing well as frags but what do I find near/under the base of both these acros? Webbed out vermitid snails! I've bought a small detailing pic set from Harbor Freight and have been busting them open from mouth to base with these sharp pics. I'm starting to see more polyp extension on the acropora nearby afterwords so hopefully this is my current issue.


ATI ICP came back clean of heavy metals, including Tin. There were a few traces very depleted and with the metal gone there's no real need for water changes for the time being. I've started to correct what I have on hand and placed an order with Reef Moonshiners for the rest of my missing traces. The newly added pieces look very happy with full PE and coloration so hopefully I'm back on track and will see some growth here soon.


Next challenge will be bubble algae. It's really starting to take hold. I'd love to add a foxface but was blown away at the prices they've risen to lately. I've added a few emerald crabs and will be keeping a close eye on them. I also added some bubblebee snails for the vermitid snails but they haven't been going for the ones I can see. I'm hoping if I take out the large ones, maybe they'll consume the smaller ones.

 

[Smite]

A new frag I'll be keeping an eye on. I believe my LFS got some frags in from Steve Garret but I'm not sure. Looks like sun grown coral to me and a lot of classics.

Garf Bonzai

Tropic Thunder Montipora is gonna make a nice carpet on the bottom glass.

Purple Deaths are pretty but I'm going to be actively trying to kill them off. They are on the main structure and looking WAY too happy. I'll try to salvage a frag for an island piece but I really don't care for handling/cutting palys

Branch on TGC Creamsicle getting color and PE

Coming back from the dead and got moved up to a better location after healing up on the bottom pane. Looking forward to what this no namer turns into.

Silly strings color is looking great just need to get some PE. I'll be looking close lights on tomorrow to see if there is a web there

Hold on Kablowee - all blue thru and orange filter so it's exaggerated but the rusty red polyps are coming through in person now. I love the teal is coming back in, great sign.

PC Rainbow is holding color and PE. Very happy with that. All blue thru orange so exaggerated. I really want to find a good brown filter, I heard that's the best for accurate all blue pictures. It is bright in person and rainbow.

 

[Smite]

Gonna be some work but it’ll be nice to have a refugium again when it’s all said and done.

 

[Smite]

Pulled the AA hybrid today. Great sump but I need a refugium section:

Leak test on the triton 44 v2

And installed. Always takes about 2x as long as I think it will, ha!

I came up short on the john guest tubing for my calcium reactor so that will be wrapped up tomorrow sometime. I also need to come up with a clean way to support my drains in a few spots. Too long of a span to free air it like that. I'll probably build off the wall or the top sheet of plywood in some way. The skimmer just barely fit in there, literally touching on both sides and at an angle.

I'm very happy with the sump swap. I was worried about having less room but where the sections lined up and the sump being narrower by a few inches I feel I have more usable space now up front.

I plan to add a deep sand bed to the refugium section. I have 90 degree elbows on the drains and will cut them just below the surface. Hopefully that will keep the sand from blowing around. I'm not sure what macro algae I'll be running yet.

I'm thinking about adding a titanium heater that will hopefully be shorter so I can place it in the return pump section and keep it out of the refugium area.

I have to say I'm impressed with this sump. It's no where near as beefy in build as the AA hybrid but the layout is exactly what I was looking for. Very simple yet has some cool features to it. Probe holders, john guest connectors for dosing, john guest already in the fuge section which I'll utilize for my effluent line, some very easy to use wire management arms that simply open and close for access and I like how they used the last baffle for a small media/filtration rack. Very well thought out system. Hopefully this fuge will help me get a bump in a ph and help my system run a little smoother from here on out.

 

[Smite]

I've started to dose kalkwasser. I thought my bubble magus was jacked up but it was a brain fart on my part. I've got it running max, 1999ml a day with a low saturation kalk solution (1/2 tsp/gal) to try and feel it out. That's no where near my evap in a day so I may run doser head 2 on kalk also. That will get me dosing 2x an hour and possibly closer to my evap until I get a better high/ml pump.

I'm still manually topping off in addition to the kalk dosing. I broke my float bracket during the swap. I've had a few close calls and really need to remedy that. It ran dry at 2 am last night, opened my valve half asleep and spaced out while it overfilled as you can see by my skimmer cup.

Bryopsis and bubble algae are starting to take hold in my system. I've really been trying to avoid dosing flux but at this point it's probably my best bet. I'll start out very low, around 1/2 dose as that worked for bryopsis in the past. The BA I'll deal with manually.

I completed my first corrections with the RM method since I started running into issues. It took about 2 weeks with needing to order more shine but I've seen some improvements since then. If I can dial in this kalkwasser and keep my ph higher I'll be happy.

 

[Smite]

The new pieces are doing pretty good and encrusting.
8/31

Today:

I'll take encrusting and 2 little offshoots in a months time. It's nice to see progress of any kind.

 

[Smite]

 

[Smite]

9/11

2 weeks later it's starting to grow over the glue a bit.

 

[Smite]

Currently one of my favorite pieces in the tank

I think these are going to compliment each other well when they fill in. Hopefully 4 loko wakes up. I mean common, coraline (and now bryopsis) is outcompeting you?! My Lime In The Sky went up in smoke but the base is holding on. Fingers crossed for a comeback.

Vivid's Rainbow Delight is actually getting some color to it

ORA Frogskin is taking off. I tried to get rid of this piece in my last tank. Now I'm glad it was so stubborn. Next to Oregon Tort.

 

[Smite]

Kalkwasser is starting to do it's thing. My lows on average were near 7.7-7.8 range so it's slowly starting to rise.

I've converted to a 5g jug that fits perfect under the stand. I fill it with 4 gallons of kalkwasser solution. should give me about 7 days of dosing at 2000 ml a day. I still have my ATO working but I would like to eventually get my kalk to 100% of my daily top off. Currently at 1 tsp per gallon for solution.

Seems to be working well so far. I haven't noticed much of an increase in alk yet, or drop in calcium. Locked in around 8.3 and haven't had to adjust the calcium reactor. My plan is to increase the concentration of kalkwasser solution before ramping up my calcium reactor. Get to full concentration and adjust from there pending ph. I'll just have to keep an eye on my calcium as I go.

 

[Smite]

Some new pieces added yesterday from Golden State Corals
BC Angelica

CC Blaze of Glory

I picked up some nice pieces from minus9 while I was out that way as well. Thanks again man!
Nice abro looking piece. Puple base with green polyps

Green acropora with what looks like bluer new growth areas. Very cool looking piece.

Vivd Confetti! So stoked to have this back in the system.

Really nice grafted monti cap. I'm hoping to make some type of platform in the center and attempt to grow a RR Golden Rod frag in the middle. Would contrast very well when viewing top down