looking really good! how is everything doing now?
Waterbox 7226, resistance to upgrading was futile
- Large Build
- Thread starter dragon99
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
Just letting everything settle and mature. It might be time to turn up the lights and try a couple frags. I swapped out the lifereef skimmer for a Vertex Omega 150 I had. Either my bioload is way to low for the lifereef (most likely is) or the pump I'm using isn't up to the task of pushing a venturi skimmer (possible, but the Leopard L90 is a beast of a pump). The vertex isn't pulling a ton of skimmate, but it has cleared up the water some.
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
Hoping I can keep the sand on just the end. I would have gone full bare bottom, but I do love my wrasses. I have 2 halichoeres and a leopard that need sand to sleep in.
I haven't really run the gyre's full blast yet, but the sand has stayed in place so far. I'm running the preset LTC (lunar tidal cycle) that ramps up to 100% but never runs there long.
Bumped the LED's on the hybrid to 15% "full spectrum". Lightroom thinks the color temp is 8200k
I haven't really run the gyre's full blast yet, but the sand has stayed in place so far. I'm running the preset LTC (lunar tidal cycle) that ramps up to 100% but never runs there long.
Bumped the LED's on the hybrid to 15% "full spectrum". Lightroom thinks the color temp is 8200k
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
The first frags are in. Started out with JF Grape Juice, RR Aussie Gold, WWC Yellow Tip, PC Rainbow, a tiny piece of TCK Pikachu (didn't mean to frag that one, I'm clumsy), and a no-name yellow acro.
Measured PAR with just 4 T5 and the LED's @ 50% and I'm getting 360-400 at the top of the rocks and even a few places towards the bottom of the tank. I think the 8-bulb hybrid might have been overkill. I'm basically running it half capacity and more than enough PAR.
Few fish pics. Added a new fish, C. jordani (flame wrasse) already transitioning to male.
Measured PAR with just 4 T5 and the LED's @ 50% and I'm getting 360-400 at the top of the rocks and even a few places towards the bottom of the tank. I think the 8-bulb hybrid might have been overkill. I'm basically running it half capacity and more than enough PAR.
Few fish pics. Added a new fish, C. jordani (flame wrasse) already transitioning to male.
Any idea what type of algae you're growing right now?The first frags are in. Started out with JF Grape Juice, RR Aussie Gold, WWC Yellow Tip, PC Rainbow, a tiny piece of TCK Pikachu (didn't mean to frag that one, I'm clumsy), and a no-name yellow acro.
Measured PAR with just 4 T5 and the LED's @ 50% and I'm getting 360-400 at the top of the rocks and even a few places towards the bottom of the tank. I think the 8-bulb hybrid might have been overkill. I'm basically running it half capacity and more than enough PAR.
Few fish pics. Added a new fish, C. jordani (flame wrasse) already transitioning to male.
samson78945
Community Member
Great looking build!
Hard to ID the algae for sure from the pictures are you sure it isn't dinos? Sorry if you've mentioned this elsewhere, but I'm curious about what type of camera you are using the take these great shots? Thanks!diatoms at the moment. They came into full bloom once I turned the lights up.
Spanky05
Active Member
Planning to let it ride?diatoms at the moment. They came into full bloom once I turned the lights up.
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
The brown plague is passing ;Woot. Just in case it's dino's I've been dosing extra bacteria (MB clean) and H2O2 at night.
The first set of frags is still looking OK, though not very colorful. I added another round of frags tonight as well as a zoa/LPS rock and frogspawn coral.
Alk is stable, but not dropping so there's no growth yet to speak of. Nitrate is a bit high at ~20-25ppm. PO4 is dangerously low, testing at 0-4ppb so I'll get dosing a bit of that.
The first set of frags is still looking OK, though not very colorful. I added another round of frags tonight as well as a zoa/LPS rock and frogspawn coral.
Alk is stable, but not dropping so there's no growth yet to speak of. Nitrate is a bit high at ~20-25ppm. PO4 is dangerously low, testing at 0-4ppb so I'll get dosing a bit of that.
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
Dosing phosphates has eliminated the dinos thankfully.The rocks which were completely brown are clearing up, the sand is no longer brown, and I've got a ton of green algae on the glass now (none before). For a few days I was doing massive amounts (20ml at a time) and was still getting a 0-4ppb reading within a few hours. Finally the system has caught up and I've moved the dosing over to a pump and spaced out 12ml per day.
Sent in a triton sample last week and have my results back in 5 days, I'm liking this new US based testing!
www.triton-lab.de
Little concerned about the tin, and I'll need to do something about that. Starting with cuprisorb as that has worked for me in the past.
The Al is expected based on the marine pure blocks I moved over from the old tank. I expect that will taper off over time. Zinc is a little unexpected and I'm not sure where that's coming from. I'll keep on eye on that one.
A few water changes are probably in order. I've put off doing any since the dino's showed up. Given the less than perfect ICP results I'll get back on schedule of weekly 10%.
Sent in a triton sample last week and have my results back in 5 days, I'm liking this new US based testing!
Triton Applied Reef Bioscience are the world leaders in professional sea water analysis.
Empowering aquarists around the world since 2008. Click to view shared sea water analysis.
www.triton-lab.de
Little concerned about the tin, and I'll need to do something about that. Starting with cuprisorb as that has worked for me in the past.
The Al is expected based on the marine pure blocks I moved over from the old tank. I expect that will taper off over time. Zinc is a little unexpected and I'm not sure where that's coming from. I'll keep on eye on that one.
A few water changes are probably in order. I've put off doing any since the dino's showed up. Given the less than perfect ICP results I'll get back on schedule of weekly 10%.
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
Found that one frag had passed on after the transfer. It was a tenuis that had nearly died once and was making a comeback, but probably wasn't ready for the move. Out of the 28 SPS frags that I moved to the new tank that has been the only loss.
Otherwise corals look a bit dull/brownish, but healthy.
Otherwise corals look a bit dull/brownish, but healthy.
MSOEME2009
Active Member
Beautiful tank. I plan on getting one when we move houses next year to our forever location. I like the hybrid sand/BB. Sand is great for stability and wrasse but BB has so much allure with cranking up flow. I switched from sand to BB back to sand on my new tank I set up (before any livestock). I ended up only putting about 1/2-1" of sand in places. My clowns actually have a cleaned out corner for their "nest" to sleep in. I love having big flow, it really helps.
I've been there with water on the floor. My case was coming out the kitchen recessed lights ;Facepalm (2x...).
Until then I'll enjoy my nuvo 20 pen. on my desktop.
I had great success setting this one up with Microbactor7 doses and it kept all the nasty algae away. I also have a bottle of vibrant on hand just in case. Plus I cycled it for 3 months... I had the same thing with dino's on my last tank with low nutrients. This tank I have no skimmer, but added a HOB refugium, chaeto, and pods and it's been golden. The DOS AWC doesn't hurt either....
I will say I love KZ additives for the coral, great color and growth.
Can't wait to see it grow out!
I've been there with water on the floor. My case was coming out the kitchen recessed lights ;Facepalm (2x...).
Until then I'll enjoy my nuvo 20 pen. on my desktop.
I had great success setting this one up with Microbactor7 doses and it kept all the nasty algae away. I also have a bottle of vibrant on hand just in case. Plus I cycled it for 3 months... I had the same thing with dino's on my last tank with low nutrients. This tank I have no skimmer, but added a HOB refugium, chaeto, and pods and it's been golden. The DOS AWC doesn't hurt either....
I will say I love KZ additives for the coral, great color and growth.
Can't wait to see it grow out!
OP
OP
dragon99
2500 Club Member
Since adding the MP40's on each side, flow is better. The fish (tangs especially) seem to enjoy swimming into the current.
The banggai didn't get the memo about which direction to swim for the photo
The banggai didn't get the memo about which direction to swim for the photo
Similar threads
