Slice Of Paradise

[Admonition]

The only issue with the mini version of their reactor is that they don't recommend it to run just GFO because you can't get it to tumble properly due to the short height. I just found a video on them by BRS. I have however, been devating about their full sized one

[Admonition]

So I picked up the IM Mini-Max desktop reactor and BRS bulk GFO. Idk how you guys are running it without problems but even at it's lowest setting in the closed position, it's still too powerful for the GFO, not to mention it pushes GFO -out- of the reactor past the sponges.

 

That being said, the algae that has been taking over my dry rocks is now working it's way across my love rock and I can't seem to stop it. I am subsequently thinking about removing the dry rock and cycling it in a separate container until it's done leaching phosphates. Not to mention scrubbing those suckers dry. I'm just over this invasion of algae as I've tried everything short of removing the rock.

 

If I decide to do that, then I am debating breaking up the large center live rock and completely change the layout. The huge center live rock creates a flow barrier for my powerhead, not to mention I feel like there's more rock than water lol.

 

So, opinions? Suggestions?

[snowflake_clown]

My dry rocks from Marco Rocks are leaching phosphates still and my tank is currently just over 100 days old. While annoying, I'd still rather deal with nuisance algae problems like this instead of potential crazy pest problems from other live rock sources.

 

I dose with nopox and (against Red Sea's recommendation) also run seachems phosguard. My nitrates range between 0.25 and 0.5 ppm and my phosphates are 0ppm. Obviously from my videos, I have a lot of diatoms all over my rock, so the 0 ppm is a false reading, and really just means all the algae is consuming the phosphates.

 

You've got a great scape going...my suggestion would be to place an order on live aquaria and get like 20 or so cerith snails (they are tiny and eat everything), 2 or 3 red banded trochus snails, and some turbo astrea snails.

[Admonition]

I'm going on almost 6 months of fighting this algae -.- And I would add more live rock, I'd simply smash up my current large piece.

 

I've tried the ceriths in a reef cleaning package, never tried the trochus though. I'm just at my wits end with this algae.

[Chief Reefer]

I'm going on almost 6 months of fighting this algae -.- And I would add more live rock, I'd simply smash up my current large piece.

 

I've tried the ceriths in a reef cleaning package, never tried the trochus though. I'm just at my wits end with this algae.

Sorry to hear about the algae issues man - I know how frustrating it can be.

 

Are you still doing 25% weekly water changes on this tank? What is your feeding schedule like? Light schedule?

 

That koralia nano might also not be enough flow for the tank. Are you running the stock IM pump with spin streams? Those reduce the amount of flow too.

 

Do you have any emerald crabs? Maybe pick up 1 or 2 - mine does work all day on algae.

 

Do you use the stock IM baskets? With all the sponges? Those can gather detritus and become nutrient factories quickly if not cleaned regularly. I recently tossed all of mine and am going to order 1 of the Intank floss holders to replace.

 

Maybe try putting some heavier carbon in the reactor first to slow the flow to the GFO? Thats how I am running mine, and so far no GFO in the tank.

 

Your setup is awesome man, love how clean it is. Hope you can get the nutrient/algae issues out of the way soon.

[Admonition]

Yes, 25% weekly. Feeding is about five-10 pellets that I watch my fish eat. Normal light schedule.

 

Stick IM pump, no spin streams.

 

No emeralds. I've had them in the past and they started eating my corals I avoid them now.

 

I have two inTank media baskets.

 

Yeah I've thought about possibly mixing the GFO and carbon to help reduce the GFO getting out. But I'm just concerned it'll get loose in the tank.

 

Thanks for the help and the compliment. Who knows, maybe the gyre will help. I'm just still torn about fighting it off or removing the rocks.

[Sully375]

I've been running PhosGurd in my minimax and it works well. Once I see the algae start to appear again I change the PhosGurd. Tried changing over to the GFO from BRS but it just didn't work out, same issue you are having with it getting too much flow.

[Admonition]

Interesting. I'll have to take a look at that stuff.

 

Small update, I did some manual removal of the algea with a firm toothbrush and was able to remove a lot of the long strands much easier than before. I'll subsequently try ordering more CUC members coupled with good in tank scrubbing in the hopes of not having to re-scape.

 

Also, my XF-130 Gyre just came in the mail! So I'll have pictures up tomorrow once it's installed (damn the night shift).

[APLATN13]

Interesting. I'll have to take a look at that stuff.

 

Small update, I did some manual removal of the algea with a firm toothbrush and was able to remove a lot of the long strands much easier than before. I'll subsequently try ordering more CUC members coupled with good in tank scrubbing in the hopes of not having to re-scape.

 

Also, my XF-130 Gyre just came in the mail! So I'll have pictures up tomorrow once it's installed (damn the night shift).

I would like ur thoughts on this... My new scape is preventing me having 2 side mp10's...

[Sully375]

Really enjoying the Gyre in my 30L, lots of flow. Have it set at 40% 10 second pulse. Really gets everything swaying nicely yet no waves.

[Admonition]

I would like ur thoughts on this... My new scape is preventing me having 2 side mp10's...

I'll definitely let you know. I'm curious to see how my large scape will effect the gyre flow too lol. It's one of the reasons why I'm

Thinking about redoing it.

 

Really enjoying the Gyre in my 30L, lots of flow. Have it set at 40% 10 second pulse. Really gets everything swaying nicely yet no waves.

Oh nice, glad to hear it. I was wondering how high we could get the percentage before it is too much for our tanks. Do you like the pulse mode over constant?

[APLATN13]

I'll definitely let you know. I'm curious to see how my large scape will effect the gyre flow too lol. It's one of the reasons why I'm

Thinking about redoing it.

 

 

Oh nice, glad to hear it. I was wondering how high we could get the percentage before it is too much for our tanks. Do you like the pulse mode over constant?

Thoughts on placement? I was thinking in between the 2 nozzles...

 

Also, I am using BRS HC GFO on my minimax desktop version.

[Admonition]

Really enjoying the Gyre in my 30L, lots of flow. Have it set at 40% 10 second pulse. Really gets everything swaying nicely yet no waves.

Did you remove the return nozzles? I just set up the gyre and it seems that the flow of the returns is effecting the 'gyre' effect. Also, does yours rattle at 40% and up?

[Sully375]

Did you remove the return nozzles? I just set up the gyre and it seems that the flow of the returns is effecting the 'gyre' effect. Also, does yours rattle at 40% and up?

Yes I removed the nozzels and just have water coming directly from the return tube. Mine at 40% is pretty quiet. My tunze 9001 skimmer is louder.

[Admonition]

Yes I removed the nozzels and just have water coming directly from the return tube. Mine at 40% is pretty quiet. My tunze 9001 skimmer is louder.

Hm. Mine makes a substantial rattling noise at the 10m mark, which I believe is 40%. I wonder if there's a break in period for this. I know 150 users reported a rattle at higher percentages.

 

I'm assuming you mounted it horizontally on one of the side walls? Any picture updates of your placement, I didn't see one on your tank thread and I'm curious how far down you have it.

[Admonition]

Okay so very large update with the tank- I reaquascaped the whole thing. I ended up removing the BRS Reef Saver dry rock and used the live rock for my new 'scape. I thought about this decision for a while now and I ultimately decided to go for it for two very specific reasons.

The first and foremost reason was simply personal preference. My tank is shallow and thin due to its AIO nature. This doesn't leave me much room for the wall-to-wall live rock I originally visioned. And to be honest, I've hated the amount of live rock I used in my tank since day one of the Nuvo 16. I like the look of minimal rock work with open coral growth room and swimming room for my fish. Its something I think about every time I look at my 'rock tank' and I had enough lol. Also, having such large pieces of rock made flow a real problem because the center rock acting like a dividing wall between either side of my tank, and the last thing I wanted was three powerbeads crowding up my already crowded display area.

My second reason is that I have tried everything I can think of to get rid of the GHA growing on my dry rock over the last 6-8 months and I am completely over trying to save the rock from its phosphate leaching. Therefore, changing my layout to something I wanted to begin with also had the added benefit of getting rid of the GHA disaster rock.

My new scape can be seen below. My idea is very simple (as you can tell). The center island will be SPS dominant, the left island will be LPS, and the right rock will be an LPS/softies mix. Hopefully I can get the wife to use her fancy DSLR camera to take a proper FTS, but for now I'll just show you pictures from my crummy phone's camera lol.



That being said, I also made another large addition to the tank equipment wise. I added the new XF-130 Gyre. As seen in the pictures below, the Gyre just fits horizontally in the display section when attached to one of the two side walls. The controller is very easy to use, and I had no problems setting any of it up. I am also very impressed with the amount of flow this thing can put out even on its smallest setting (10%). That being said I've noticed a few issues.

First, I initially had an issue with how high I could mount this pump without overflowing my tank with water as I increased the power level. It should be noted that you can rotate the flow cages to direct flow up or down. This will subsequently allow you place the pump pretty close to the top of your tank (which is helpful in shallow tanks). Its really just about finding that sweet spot of flow cage direction, power, and height of pump on your wall.

The second issue I have with my unit at least, is a loud rattling noise. If I run my pump at 10% or 20% power, then it is dead silent. If I run my pump at 30% or higher power it makes a very loud rattling noise which I can hear fifteen feet away in my living room area. A quick bit of research shows that it is possible that the rattling is a result of a loose part which simply needs tightening. I subsequently submitted a ticket with CoralVue to see what their response is (like break-in time needed or if there really is something wrong with mine) and I will report back with their answer.

Edit: Here is their answer "Please take it apart and make sure that the propellers are installed correctly. Please know that the gyre will be a little noisy when first installed. Usually after the second week, all the components have been coated with bacteria creating a natural lubricant that makes that small pump very very quiet."









Other than that I love the pump. So far the only thing I'd like to see them come out with is Apex control and the ever important battery backup. If anyone has any questions about the pump or wants more specific pictures, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer!

[Admonition]

So I did what CoralVue told me to do and I took apart my Gyre to make sure the propellers were installed correctly and would you believe I was missing a bushing? A brand new (expensive) product and they forgot a bushing. Good thing they come with spare parts. I subsequently installed the missing bushing and now I have no loud rattling noises any more. Although the higher power levels create a more audible noise with each progression, the noise is quieter than my Tunze 9001 skimmer. Aka, its really not noticeable.

 

So lesson learned if you order this product, take it apart to make sure it was built correct -.-

[APLATN13]

U have any FTS?

[Admonition]

Wife got home late from work tonight and my corals were all closed up. I tried taking one on my phone and but the lights wash out the image and you basically see a purple haze. So hopefully she gets home on time tomorrow and can take the picture while they're all open and looking happy.

[Admonition]

So the wife has promised me that she will take lots of pictures on Saturday because she keeps getting out of work late (new product launch at her company). So I'll update with pictures then

 

That being said, I have a few more updates. The first of which is, I got new fishies After re-aquascaping my tank I searched high and low for my missing royal gramma and could not find him or any remnants of his body. The only thing I can think of is he died and was eaten and his bones are stuck in a crevice of my rock or covered by my sand bed. That being said, I picked up another royal gramma, along with a banggai cardinal and a pajama cardinal. I am hoping that the changing of the rock work and the addition of my new fish will confuse my six-line wrasse enough to not bully the new fish. Here's to hoping

 

Aside from new fish, I also just recieved a bunch of new coral My new additions are as follows: Red Sea Pulsing Xenia, Green Center Blastomussa wellsi, Pink Pocillopora damicornis, Green Pocillopora damicornis, Birds of Paridise, Electric Green Acropora, Green Pavona, Purple & Green Favia, and an Ultra Cyclops Acropora. I decided to take the plunge and try my luck at some acropora. I feel that my water parameters are very stable and that I will be successful in keeping my first attempt at acroporas alive and well.

 

Speaking of which, I ordered these corals from a vendor I have never used before, Than Thein at Tidal Gardens. A few members advised they had great experiances with this vendor and after researching them for a while I decided to give them a chance. The only other vendor I've used is WorldWideCorals because my local stores are absolutely horrible. I have got to say that I was extremely pleased with my corals from Tidal Gardens. I have never seen corals packaged the way this guy does it, and it defintily goes above and beyond your typical bag of water when more fragile coral pieces are purchased. He basically suspended each coral piece upside down in a plastic container. The container looks like the little cup you pee in at the doctor's office lol, very solid plastic as you can imagine. The coral stays in place upside down because the top (technically bottom) of the coral's plug is pushed into a piece of styrofoam, which naturally floats. He also included a small pamphlet in the box with acclimation tips and a coupon code for my next purchase. I'm not sure if this is something packaged with every order but it sure was nice and really makes you feel like the company takes pride in their corals. Here are some pictures of the packaging and the pamphlet:

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I have NEVER dipped my corals before. I know I'm a daredevil but I just never have done it before. For whatever reason however, I decided to do a Coral RX dip on all my new additions today. Let me just say that I will never again add a coral to my tank without dipping it- EVER. I could not believe the pests that fell off my coral. While it wasn't a million of the buggers, I definitely collected about ten in total over the course of dipping all nine new additions. I am not sure which coral was the one who dropped them as I added three corals to the dip at a time, but I believe it was the Blastomussa because it happened right away and the Blastomussa was one of the first I dipped. Needless to say I did the full 10 minutes as recommended by Coral Rx, used a powerhead pointed at the corals, and even personally swished the corals in the dip. I then carefully inspected each coral under direct light. While I know Coral Rx is not a cure-all, I sure hope I managed to rid the corals of all the pests that were there.

 

 

 

 

[Admonition]

So I've been debating about going BB. My Figi pink sand has always been a pain, constantly found on my rocks and corals. And now with my Gyre and new rockscape, the sand bed at the front of the tank is being dug out and pushed back, as well as blown into my right rock with corals.

 

What I am thinking about doing is removing the sand bed and going bare bottom. If I like it I'll keep it. If I don't like the look, I can always add a new sandbed with a larger grain size like Carib's Natural Reef sand (3.0mm to 5.5mm) instead of my current Fiji Pink (0.5mm to 1.5mm).

[Admonition]

So it took forever but here are a bunch of pictures of the new tank scape and all the new additions! Enjoy!

 

Full Tank shot after breaking up the main rock

 

Left rock

 

Middle rock

 

Right rock

 

Black Torch

 

Green Pocillopora damicornis

 

Pink Pocillopora damicornis

 

Green Pavona (the pictures makes it look brown but its really a nice light green!)

 

Red Scolymia (which has started to turn more orange than red)

 

Red Sea Pulsing Xenia

 

Purple & Green Favia

 

Green Center Blastomussa wellsi

 

Birds of Paradise (yes, another one!)

 

Electric Green Acropora

 

Ultra Cyclops Acropora (it looks pale but its wicked bright green!)

 

Pajama Cardinal

 

Banggai Cardinal (I caught him by surprise!)

 

 

Royal Gramma

 

 

Feeding time!

 

I also have a new chalice, palys, and a favia frag but forgot to photograph them individually lol

[Jeff_in_FL]

Beautiful Pics!!! So much color everywhere! ohh...and thanks for labeling the coral pics It really helps a noob out!

[Admonition]

Thank you! And lol no problem, I always like labeling my new corals, helps me learn them too

[Ramfublio]

Beautiful tank!

 

I was thinking about getting a gyre and had the question about fitment. You have helped me a ton by doing your fitment. Are you running you gyre mostly at 10% or more? I just watched a ton of videos from tidal gardens and was thinking I was going to buy from them. They do a video on their packing and I was impressed. They are very transparent (at least in their videos)