Susan's 125 gal re-reboot. 3rd Times the Charm

[Susan Edwards]

Take a look at Brightwell Razor. It lessens sludge, and then gets it to stick together once it's free floating for your filter to remove.

is it better than vibrant? Can it be used with vibrant? I ordered some. Be here sunday. I'll look up the brightwell.

Trying to get my skimmer back to normal after the chemiclean! Ugh, over skimming still...

 

[CMMorgan]

wow wow and wow. A lot done today. I'll do separate posts!

First up: LIGHTS We have new lights
Hubby got everything done, and lights are up. Running them 60% blue 5% white right now. Only 2 leathers, and some mushrooms/palys in there right now. It is so cool being able to shift the lights against the wall and then pull them back.

We ordered a cord cover which we'll paint to match the walls. If the lights are too mcuh while sitting on couches, we'll box in on 3 sides but that is later. What I especially like is that there is just 1 cord, not 3 as that can be unsightly! Bravo Lynn!!!

Set them
ch 1 on at 9 blues 60
ch2 on at 10 5%
Off
ch1 off at 9 but may change to 10
ch 2 off at 8

Question to ask: they don't ramp, but wondering if I could set each slightly different.
#1 ch 1 on 830 off 930 ch2 on 930 off 830
#2 ch 1 0n 8 off 10 ch2 on 9 off 10 (just so I have a bit of color before bed)
#3 ch 1 on 9 off 9 ch2 on 9 off 9

would this give a slight ramp effect?


Lights assembled

Cord made into a hotdog mold. 3 cords in, 1 cord out

Lights up. Full power. About 14.5 above water.

Lights 60 blue, 5 whites. TV mounts pushed to side. Not used to so much blue lol's

"Swings to one side... whoa. genius

 

[schuby]

When I used Chemiclean, I had to keep my skimmer off for two weeks. I put an air-stone in my sump (right next to skimmer) to keep the oxygen-level up.

 

[Reverend Turtle]

is it better than vibrant? Can it be used with vibrant? I ordered some. Be here sunday. I'll look up the brightwell.

Trying to get my skimmer back to normal after the chemiclean! Ugh, over skimming still...

Honestly I haven't tried it yet. I know it works differently than vibrant though.

 

[Susan Edwards]

When I used Chemiclean, I had to keep my skimmer off for two weeks. I put an air-stone in my sump (right next to skimmer) to keep the oxygen-level up.

ugh. I'm just letting it run.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Noticing some progress with vibrant after almost a week. Enough for a big hurray! All the long, waving algae is gone. Just some brownish stuff on sand. But along back wall, it's gone. Also, all the stuff on the rocks that looked like webs is also gone. Rocks are clean. Still some reddish brown almost like dusting or patches on rocks. Might be cyano there. Will do a water change tomorrow and another dose. Doing once a week right now. Will test water after the water change. replaced phosguard as po4 started to climb. So feel like making progress.

Sort of depressing to know I can't, when tank is settled, go to a lfs for coral. Calif is going on lockdown again, and it is just too risky to go out for the next few months. So will have to do online orders. We've also made the difficult decision to put off any Christmas gatherings, even though it is just us and our 2 grown kids and families. Again, just too risky, so we'll play Santa and deliver and pick up gifts.

Backwall Before and current

sand before and current

On rocks before and current

 

[CMMorgan]

Looking good. No side effects?

 

[Susan Edwards]

Looking good. No side effects?

so far, none. just good progress. Oh, the return pipes on top of water line had turf algae. Gone. I used in my 45 gal observation tank the Brightwell product same day. No progress, so plan to do water change and use vibrant. Very pleased so far. finally got my skimmer going right. Took forever from the chemiclean to stop over skimming.

 

[Reverend Turtle]

so far, none. just good progress. Oh, the return pipes on top of water line had turf algae. Gone. I used in my 45 gal observation tank the Brightwell product same day. No progress, so plan to do water change and use vibrant. Very pleased so far. finally got my skimmer going right. Took forever from the chemiclean to stop over skimming.

Sorry the brightwell didn't work.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Sorry the brightwell didn't work.

I may try it again after a water change.

 

[CMMorgan]

Which one won't kill my macroalgae.... Brightwell, Dr. Tim's or Vibrant? It's like Russian roulette sometimes. Susan,
Your tank is looking just incredible. So much progress.

 

[fishguy242]

hi,hows things going?

 

[Susan Edwards]

Will get an update here in next few days. Busy with life. I just did something stupid and over did the vibrant, doing the 1 mil per gal instead of 1 mil per 10 gal. Lucky not much coral in there and I'll be doing a water change in the morning. From what I've seen on google, shouldn't be a disaster... Ugh

 

[Susan Edwards]

Tested numbers. Will reck tomorrow after the water change. Salt water all ready to go.
Alk 11.5
PO4 .07
Mg 1420
Ca 380
NO3 40-80 somewhere

So prob. need to adjust doser. Cal up, alk down, mg down, and change phos media

 

[Susan Edwards]

Time to make time to get back here. Might have to assign a date and time like homework lol's. Life is busy. Writing 4 hrs a day and working on an etsy business.

Numbers pretty good. Phos high but I'd need to do a retest to be sure. It seems to go from .07 to 4.1 so I think that is the testing. No3 though was down to 10-15 which is good for my tank

I notice the algae in tank turning white so my overdose of vibrant might be doing something. Have a bit of cyano but stirred sand, adjusted flow. did a water change today.

Have fish arriving tomorrow.
Mandarin-mine seems to have died or disappeared. Tons of pods so I'm betting its gone
Clown--this fish will stay in observation tank with my other clown--the one that had been chased into the overflow
3 damsels.

with the bigger staghorn damsels, I can't really put shy fish in here. royal grammas and firefish did not do well last time I tried. Damsels, even small, can handle. I have 1 yellow tail. i think I got 3 blue.

The fish will stay in the observation tank 2 months most likely. I hope I can get the damsels out! There are a few pcs of live rock in there with leathers on them.

Also getting in 2 bta's. One for each tank, one for ea pair of clowns. I don't know if the pair in the 125 will switch and host with it and not the huge leather they call "mom" now.

Put mesh on all powerheads.

Observation tank numbers also pretty good. Not test po4. No 3 is 5 I think.

Pics tomorrow

 

[Susan Edwards]

Turns out my order from LA is delayed and will reship when 75% of the order is filled! What the heck? I have a clown shipping from Florida or somewhere but the stuff in CA is not coming. So disappointed.

Oh well, might give me a chance to do another water change ea tank. the 40 gal observation, I just remove 3 qts of water and replaced.

I did a suction in the 125 to clean sand. had trouble with hoses (need my hubby to do them right for me lol's). After I used the turkey baster and blew out a bunch more! Need to every couple days or even every day blast 1 part of the sand.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Ugh. If LA can't ship my order by Wed. then I will cancel. Will take a day before I can reorder because I used 2 gift Certif. So I have to wait for those to be credited. They are so out of stock on fish!

Test my water yesterday
Ca 360 Turned up the doser
Mg 1410 Turned down the doser
Alk 9.3 Might need to turn up a tad to keep it there as it is falling. Or get the CA up. I'll add some extra tonight.
NO3 20 Or somewhere between 10 and 20. So happy about that!!
PO4 .02 This drives me nuts as the hannah is sometimes much higher and then a couple days later it is lower. Not sure if it is because more or less powder gets in? I get as much as I can and shake it like crazy!

Overall, numbers not bad

considering adding an algae scrubber--santa monica drop at marine depot or see if my hubby can make one of their hog (hang on glass) style.

off to see if I can a powerhead working again. soaking it in vinegar. I think it might be new from November!
Tank as of the 21st. Not bad except the algae...

 

[Susan Edwards]

Post for the hanna contest. I love the alk and po4 testers. Want more! Last po4 was .02, alk 9.2

 

[Susan Edwards]

Wed. I will get a shipment of fish from LA
2 green btas
1 green mandarin
3 saphire damsels
And some tetras-neon and ember I believe for my 40 gal fresh water tank. The tetras will go directly in as I don't QT fresh. The saltwater fish will go into the 40 gal observation tank with the new little clown added. 1 bta to the observation and 1 to the display which means putting all the mesh nets back on

have a powerhead out. Need to see if they come apart for cleaning. got it working for a few hours and dead again. So frustrating

 

[Susan Edwards]

Got my fish today.
Tiny green mandarin--finding pods in the 40 gal observation. Will see if she is also eating frozen
3 sapphire blue damsels. All coming out and all eating. Gonna be heck to get them out with the live rock. 2 with leathers will have to come out. The other stack has a nem on it so that will be tricky. The tiny clown will stay. I could leave them in for interest with the 2 clowns but that is the tank to put all new fish. Not that I will add too many more fish. I'd like 1 or 2 more tangs and another scooter blenny. A flame angel too maybe.

I'd hoped for wrasse and anthias but until some of those staghorn damsels bite the dust I won't.

The mandarin will def. go into big tank.

Got 2 gbtas. 1 looking sort of sick, other looks good. Here is the link to the post I just wrote for advice

New BTA's. 1 doesn't look so good

Just received 2 nems from LA. The 1 in the 125 gal looks like it's settling. Foot attached, tentacles waving. The one I put in my observation tank (40 gal with live rock and a couple leathers, 2 clowns and a batch of new fish), doesn't look so good. It's been flat and limp. After several...

www.reef2reef.com

To be fair to LA, the order I received today is wonderful. Had 10 tiny tetras--freshwater and the 4 I just added all good so far
1st 2 pics are the nem. 1st is the one looking good. then the other not so good

Nem tonight after lights off