Texas Waterbox 220.6 +Plus HD

jstephens24 · Apr 7, 2020

The Hanna ULR phosphate checker came in today. Came out to .03

jstephens24 · Apr 9, 2020

Ordered my first corals yesterday. I went with 3 zoas from Jason Fox. They should be arriving tomorrow. I have my eye on a few more today. Doing research on using Bayer dip for them. I already went to Lowe’s to pick up the right stuff. As of now the plan isn’t to have a stocked coral tank so it will be interesting to see later down the road if I change my mind haha. Wife doesn’t like the look of coral on every rock and we care more about fish. Thinking the 3 zoas, 3 torches, few hammers and then a couple acans.

Did first water change today and did about 30 gallons

jstephens24 · Apr 9, 2020

I also ordered from BRS some space saving gallon jugs and some Mg mix and Ca mix so I can bring levels up. Will attempt to make my own Alk mix using baking soda when I need to.

TexAgReefer · Apr 9, 2020

jstephens24 said:
Ordered my first corals yesterday. I went with 3 zoas from Jason Fox. They should be arriving tomorrow. I have my eye on a few more today. Doing research on using Bayer dip for them. I already went to Lowe’s to pick up the right stuff. As of now the plan isn’t to have a stocked coral tank so it will be interesting to see later down the road if I change my mind haha. Wife doesn’t like the look of coral on every rock and we care more about fish. Thinking the 3 zoas, 3 torches, few hammers and then a couple acans.

Did first water change today and did about 30 gallons

Haha good luck with that!!

I originally got into the hobby for the fish. I still love my fish, but the corals change the game for most...

jstephens24 · Apr 10, 2020

So today is the day and boy am I nervous I am going to screw something up. For the bayer dip I plan on using 1 cup of DT water to 1 ml of bayer. Doing some research it looks like I don’t have to drip acclimate them for salinity reasons, just float the bag for temp.

I did win some new corals last night: 3 acans and 1 torch. It did not say torch in the title but it sure looks like one. Won them from Aqua SD.

Now for lighting question/statement. I just set my lights to run 50% intensity for 2 weeks. Then I plan on doing another 2 weeks at 75%. Then put them back to normal. Does that sound good? Is that moving too fast or slow?

TheShrimpNibbler · Apr 10, 2020

jstephens24 said:
So today is the day and boy am I nervous I am going to screw something up. For the bayer dip I plan on using 1 cup of DT water to 1 ml of bayer. Doing some research it looks like I don’t have to drip acclimate them for salinity reasons, just float the bag for temp.

I did win some new corals last night: 3 acans and 1 torch. It did not say torch in the title but it sure looks like one. Won them from Aqua SD.

Now for lighting question/statement. I just set my lights to run 50% intensity for 2 weeks. Then I plan on doing another 2 weeks at 75%. Then put them back to normal. Does that sound good? Is that moving too fast or slow?

I would acclimate the corals just to be safe. Alkalinity, calcium, or pH could be different, even if your salinity matches theirs. Just curious, but what did aquaSD call the coral that you think is a torch? As for the lighting, instead of making 25% jumps, I would go up by like 5% increments every few days, but keep the total timeline the same.

jstephens24 · Apr 10, 2020

TheShrimpNibbler said:
I would acclimate the corals just to be safe. Alkalinity, calcium, or pH could be different, even if your salinity matches theirs. Just curious, but what did aquaSD call the coral that you think is a torch? As for the lighting, instead of making 25% jumps, I would go up by like 5% increments every few days, but keep the total timeline the same.

They called it acid drip Euphyllia

jstephens24 · Apr 12, 2020

Guess I never updated. FedEx was a disappointment. Was supposed to be delivered Friday by 10:30a and never came. Waited all day and nothing ever came. Called them Saturday and turned out the the package got there after all the delivery drivers left so it got put in “container”. That container was only for people who work Mon thru Fri so I couldn’t even go pick it up. They said they will make it a priority to be dropped off Monday. Emailed Jason about it and he said coral should be fine.

Aqua SD running an Easter sale so went ahead and picked up another torch, hammer and one more zoa. Those along with the eBay order should be mailed out Wed or Thurs.

Also my OctoLid should be finished this upcoming week so I can finally order some more fish

jstephens24 · Apr 13, 2020

My 3 zoas from Jason Fox showed up today. One of them is already barely peaking open. I will wait to post the pic on here til they do. I did post a photo on my Instagram though. If you have one I will follow back. My IG name is TexasWaterbox220

Joshua123 · Apr 13, 2020

What cleanup crew package did you purchase from reef cleaners?

jstephens24 · Apr 13, 2020

Joshua123 said:
What cleanup crew package did you purchase from reef cleaners?

a custom one I chose tha was about 10 of each type I picked. A total of around 75. One type didn’t make it though and was DOA

dohc97 · Apr 13, 2020

Good job so far, where in Texas are you? I am in plano and happen to have a TSM order coming in this week, glad you had a good experience.

jstephens24 · Apr 13, 2020

dohc97 said:
Good job so far, where in Texas are you? I am in plano and happen to have a TSM order coming in this week, glad you had a good experience.

east of houston

jstephens24 · Apr 15, 2020

Received my latest BRS order today and did another round of testing.

Alk-8.3
Ca-350
Mg- 1260
Nitrate roughly 5.

Goals is to keep Alk around 8.5, Ca around 420 and Mg around 1350. Using the BRS calculator I added half of the needed amount of Ca and all of the amount of Mg to get to those levels. I will add the rest of the Ca tomorrow. My Aqua SD order of coral should arrive tomorrow

jstephens24 · Apr 16, 2020

Received my order from Aqua SD today and couldn’t be happier. They even added what they call a Scarface blasto. Here are some pics from iPhone using Orphek 20k lens. Sorry if pics are huge. Posting from phone

jstephens24 · Apr 18, 2020

So tried just now target feeding all the corals with reef roids. I turned off MP40s but I guess I need to turn off return too. Like a min after I feed everything the 2 torches and hammer have this string thing come out of it with the food all over it. Did I do too much food?

PilotOfSubmarines · Apr 19, 2020

jstephens24 said:
So tried just now target feeding all the corals with reef roids. I turned off MP40s but I guess I need to turn off return too. Like a min after I feed everything the 2 torches and hammer have this string thing come out of it with the food all over it. Did I do too much food?

No that is normal. They expel a mucus type substance and then eat the reed roids like slurping spaghetti. I turn the MP40's and return pump off for at least 20 minutes when feeding the coral. Below picture is of a mushroom but you get the idea.

I target feed all of mine twice a week and it's been working extremely well for the office reef

sfairtx · Apr 19, 2020

jstephens24 said:
east of houston

East of Houston? Golf of Mexico?

I lived in Austin for 7 years and still have some businesses in Texas. Great state. Love watching your build!

sfairtx · Apr 19, 2020

Be careful not to feed the corals too much especially at this stage. With your reef being new, the rock, sand, and other substrate may not be able to handle the bio-load being thrown at it with a lot of feeding. All the food the corals don’t consume need to be consumed by bacteria and other tiny inhabitants. If not, nuisance algae and other uglies will help themselves to the nutrients. I experienced that the hard way.

jstephens24 · Apr 19, 2020

So this one head of the torch has been looking rough since I got it and today is the worst it has looked. Normal or do I need to cut it off and remove? Will be posting in LPS section too