Hi everyone,
This tank has been setup in October of 2020. We had a great start until we got a golden torch which unfortunately didn't make it, got brown jelly disease and basically wiped out 75% of all corals that we had (majority of tank consisted out of LPS, it's our favorite species group).
This in the end demotivated me to keep the level of detail and upkeep to a perfectionist standard which led to either a algae outburst, bacterial boom or invertebrae dying off.
A visit to an LFS inspired me to get back on track, get a couple of new frags and start working on the reef properly again.
The reason i'm starting a thread is to first of hear from experts what the best ways are to get rid of the nuissances we have in the tank right now and after that improve on the existing setup.
I've added a picture right before I did my weekly waterchange and cleaning to show the tank at it's worst.
Current setup:
Waterbox Cube 20
Tunze 1073.008 pump on max setting
Nero 3 alternating between 5%-10% (during the night) and 15-30% during the day.
ATO which is fed by a 25l glass aquarium holding RODI water
150W heater on controller set at 25.3 degrees celsius
Alk, phos are tested via hanna checker. Rest is with Salifert test kits
Tropic Marin Pro Reef
Own RODI filter installation with builton TDS meter giving a reading of 0
Using Red Sea's active carbon (30g exchanged every other week)
Current stocklist:
2x clownfish
1x pistol shrimp
1x yellow goby
2x strombus snail
2x nessarius snail
1x xenia (which hated the flow and thus has almost melted away)
1x favia (which bleached a little but is still alive)
1x mushroom which is thriving
1x scoli (which thankfully survived the LPS meltdown)
2x Zoa colony
1x GSP
1x Hammer
2x torch
1x duncan
Normal regiment up till changes were made:
Feed 1/4th Mysis or artemia cube daily including the moisture
Exchange filtersock every other day, clean with bleach, rinse with RODI and hang dry
Weekly waterchange of 15 liters
Weekly clean before waterchange (cleaning glass, cleaning rockwork with toothbrush, cleaning fragrack, stirring up sandbed)
No dosing of any kind
Prime 16HD light
Lights on at 11am and off at 11pm. Using BRS AB+ schedule
Nero 3 running between 40-60% during the day (an effort to keep nuissance algae on the surfaces at bay)
Testresults 24/08/2021:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 4 ppm
Phosphate = 0.05 ppm
Calcium = >500ppm (test kit maxed out)
Alkalinity = 6.8dkh
Magnesium = >1500 ppm (test kit maxed out)
Salinity = 35.8 PPT
PH = 8.4
Changes I've made in the last week:
Making sure that the food is defrosted and sieved before I give it to the tank.
Lowered the Nero flow to 5%-10% (during the night) and 15-30% during the day.
Salinity adjustments by letting in more topoff
Change lighting schedule to 12am untill 11pm and added a bit more white which tapers off starting at 8pm.
Added 1x clown to keep the other one company. They are very happy together
Added 1x strombus snail
Added 1x urchin which unfortunately showed signs of stress the day after introduction (retracted spikes) and has now been killed by the pistol shrimp (found his shell with a gaping hole)
Added 2x torch
Added 1x hammer
Added 1x duncan colony
Lowered water volume so that top is skimmed properly
Testresults 29/08/2021 (right before weekly waterchange):
Alkalinity = 6.8 dkh
Phosphate = 0.06 ppm
Salinity = 35.1 (i adjusted the salinity over the entire week to get back to 35)
Nitrate = 3.5 ppm
PH = 8.3
Goals:
Get the tank back to normal conditions and looking clean and healthy (no pests, algae or excessive bacteria cultures)
Improve where improvement can be made
What I THINK I should do:
Add more CUC such as Trochus snails (4x?), emerald crabs (for the hair algae).
Stop using filter socks and build myself (in europe, cant buy intank media basket ) a egg crate media basket where I'll put in filter floss and the activated carbon pouch.
I'm open to all suggestions. As said, I'm ready to start putting in proper effort once more into the tank again and learn from past mistakes (buying damaged coral at a discount). Regarding the bacterial plague I have no idea what to do as I don't know what it is. I don't think my tests are that bad except for low DKH and maybe too high phosphate?
Thanks in advance!
This tank has been setup in October of 2020. We had a great start until we got a golden torch which unfortunately didn't make it, got brown jelly disease and basically wiped out 75% of all corals that we had (majority of tank consisted out of LPS, it's our favorite species group).
This in the end demotivated me to keep the level of detail and upkeep to a perfectionist standard which led to either a algae outburst, bacterial boom or invertebrae dying off.
A visit to an LFS inspired me to get back on track, get a couple of new frags and start working on the reef properly again.
The reason i'm starting a thread is to first of hear from experts what the best ways are to get rid of the nuissances we have in the tank right now and after that improve on the existing setup.
I've added a picture right before I did my weekly waterchange and cleaning to show the tank at it's worst.
Current setup:
Waterbox Cube 20
Tunze 1073.008 pump on max setting
Nero 3 alternating between 5%-10% (during the night) and 15-30% during the day.
ATO which is fed by a 25l glass aquarium holding RODI water
150W heater on controller set at 25.3 degrees celsius
Alk, phos are tested via hanna checker. Rest is with Salifert test kits
Tropic Marin Pro Reef
Own RODI filter installation with builton TDS meter giving a reading of 0
Using Red Sea's active carbon (30g exchanged every other week)
Current stocklist:
2x clownfish
1x pistol shrimp
1x yellow goby
2x strombus snail
2x nessarius snail
1x xenia (which hated the flow and thus has almost melted away)
1x favia (which bleached a little but is still alive)
1x mushroom which is thriving
1x scoli (which thankfully survived the LPS meltdown)
2x Zoa colony
1x GSP
1x Hammer
2x torch
1x duncan
Normal regiment up till changes were made:
Feed 1/4th Mysis or artemia cube daily including the moisture
Exchange filtersock every other day, clean with bleach, rinse with RODI and hang dry
Weekly waterchange of 15 liters
Weekly clean before waterchange (cleaning glass, cleaning rockwork with toothbrush, cleaning fragrack, stirring up sandbed)
No dosing of any kind
Prime 16HD light
Lights on at 11am and off at 11pm. Using BRS AB+ schedule
Nero 3 running between 40-60% during the day (an effort to keep nuissance algae on the surfaces at bay)
Testresults 24/08/2021:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 4 ppm
Phosphate = 0.05 ppm
Calcium = >500ppm (test kit maxed out)
Alkalinity = 6.8dkh
Magnesium = >1500 ppm (test kit maxed out)
Salinity = 35.8 PPT
PH = 8.4
Changes I've made in the last week:
Making sure that the food is defrosted and sieved before I give it to the tank.
Lowered the Nero flow to 5%-10% (during the night) and 15-30% during the day.
Salinity adjustments by letting in more topoff
Change lighting schedule to 12am untill 11pm and added a bit more white which tapers off starting at 8pm.
Added 1x clown to keep the other one company. They are very happy together
Added 1x strombus snail
Added 1x urchin which unfortunately showed signs of stress the day after introduction (retracted spikes) and has now been killed by the pistol shrimp (found his shell with a gaping hole)
Added 2x torch
Added 1x hammer
Added 1x duncan colony
Lowered water volume so that top is skimmed properly
Testresults 29/08/2021 (right before weekly waterchange):
Alkalinity = 6.8 dkh
Phosphate = 0.06 ppm
Salinity = 35.1 (i adjusted the salinity over the entire week to get back to 35)
Nitrate = 3.5 ppm
PH = 8.3
Goals:
Get the tank back to normal conditions and looking clean and healthy (no pests, algae or excessive bacteria cultures)
Improve where improvement can be made
What I THINK I should do:
Add more CUC such as Trochus snails (4x?), emerald crabs (for the hair algae).
Stop using filter socks and build myself (in europe, cant buy intank media basket ) a egg crate media basket where I'll put in filter floss and the activated carbon pouch.
I'm open to all suggestions. As said, I'm ready to start putting in proper effort once more into the tank again and learn from past mistakes (buying damaged coral at a discount). Regarding the bacterial plague I have no idea what to do as I don't know what it is. I don't think my tests are that bad except for low DKH and maybe too high phosphate?
Thanks in advance!
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