TeenyReef's 10g Fusion - ATO Disaster

[kimberbee]

Yes it is! I got it partly based on your good experience with it - thanks!

 

Doug 2 is doing just great. He sleeps in the back during the day and pokes all around the tank when the lights get a little dimmer, but he's not shy about the lights when it's feeding time. He goes after frozen brine shrimp and even mysis shrimp, and he doesn't bother the corals at all.

 

My fish left my big green RFA alone too. I've heard a few other people report RFA's eating their fish but it seems to be unusual.

Aww!! I planned to use it in my lagoon, bur nice to know it fits in the 10 too!!

 

I'm so indecisive about next fish to get... Good thing shipping season is over for me till spring. Lots of time to think about it!

[Droy008]

What model is that eshopps skimmer teeny?

[teenyreef]

What model is that eshopps skimmer teeny?

It's the Eshopps Nano. Loving it so far, I'm getting nice dark skimmate, and no microbubbles.

 

There's kind of an annoying rattle/vibration that I haven't been able to get rid of, but to be fair all I've done is wiggle things around without taking it back out of the tank. My guess is I didn't get the pump attached firmly. There really aren't many moving parts at all so I can't imagine not being able to fix it. Other than that it's been completely silent.

Aww!! I planned to use it in my lagoon, bur nice to know it fits in the 10 too!!

 

I'm so indecisive about next fish to get... Good thing shipping season is over for me till spring. Lots of time to think about it!

Yep, thanks for reporting the good results you had!

 

Most likely the fish was a little ill already, in sleeping maybe it floated into the rfa. That I could see perhaps.

I suspect that's the case. Healthy fish seem to be able to avoid them with no problem.

[teenyreef]

Last night I trimmed up the monti caps, as they were starting to overshadow a lot of corals. I now have about ten little monticap frags in the frag tank, green, red, and purple

 

I also used the toothbrush on the gha today, and I really do think things are getting better. While the spots where the gha is really long and thick aren't better, the other spots where it was growing lightly seem to be mostly clear now. It didn't take me nearly as long with the toothbrush as it has been in the last couple weeks. So you can color me cautiously optimistic about the Vibrant

[Droy008]

Last night I trimmed up the monti caps, as they were starting to overshadow a lot of corals. I now have about ten little monticap frags in the frag tank, green, red, and purple

 

Let me know if you plan on selling any.

[teenyreef]

Let me know if you plan on selling any.

I'm happy to sell them! Probably $10 each since they're small. Just give me a week or two to make sure they survive.

[RIP Sebastian]

I'm happy to sell them! Probably $10 each since they're small. Just give me a week or two to make sure they survive.

Teeny! Just redid my entire thread! Stop by!

[teenyreef]

Teeny! Just redid my entire thread! Stop by!

Nice job

 

Now I need to redo page 1 of this thread too

I got back from three days out of town for Thanksgiving last night. The tank did well with no feeding or dosing while I was gone. I fed heavily just before leaving and right after getting back.

 

I definitely think there is real improvement in the gha situation now. There are still clumps where it was growing thick, but it's not regrowing much at all now in the rest of the tank, which is a huge change from what I've been seeing for the last couple months. There are a few clumps of green turf algae in spots now, but it's a different kind of algae from the grayish green gha I've been fighting. It will be interesting to see if continued use of Vibrant is able to kill that stuff too.

[teenyreef]

I missed posting my weekly update last Monday because I went out of town for work, and things were super busy when I got back. The algae situation has continued to improved, slowly, but there hasn't been any real improvement in the condition of the corals. The acans are still receded and seem to be getting a little worse since I haven't been home to target feed them more than once or twice a week.

 

The angel eye favia also decided they don't like the conditions. The areas exposed to the most light turned red, and then about a week later all the tissue started dissolving. The only parts left are those in more shade. I don't know if this was caused by water conditions or by the increased light they got resulting from me trimming the monticaps back.

 

The monticaps are doing fine still, as are the zoas and the duncans and the merlettis. The rics have stayed the same, the ones that are big are still big, and the ones that are small and shriveled are still they way too.

 

I've been working on slowly cutting back on dosing NoPox and PhosphateRx. Things are still out of balance in this tank and I need to let the normal bacterial populations get re-established. I just don't want to go to fast and cause a crash.

 

On the other hand, if things don't really start improving, I've been thinking more and more about doing a soft reboot. I may pull all the rocks out, scrub the tank and all the chambers, clean or replace the sand, and give all the rocks a good scrub to get all the old algae off.

 

It's tempting to try drastic action, but I don't want to risk crashing the tank, either. So before I get that desperate, my plan is to completely eliminate carbon dosing first, and just use carbon and GFO to keep things clean (plus filter floss and skimming of course). And I'd like to eliminate the most of the carbon and GFO if I can, with the idea being to improve the bacterial population. I also need to beef up the clean up crew and pod population.

 

And I want to do it all slowly so that I don't make things worse trying to make things better

[vlangel]

I missed posting my weekly update last Monday because I went out of town for work, and things were super busy when I got back. The algae situation has continued to improved, slowly, but there hasn't been any real improvement in the condition of the corals. The acans are still receded and seem to be getting a little worse since I haven't been home to target feed them more than once or twice a week.

 

The angel eye favia also decided they don't like the conditions. The areas exposed to the most light turned red, and then about a week later all the tissue started dissolving. The only parts left are those in more shade. I don't know if this was caused by water conditions or by the increased light they got resulting from me trimming the monticaps back.

 

The monticaps are doing fine still, as are the zoas and the duncans and the merlettis. The rics have stayed the same, the ones that are big are still big, and the ones that are small and shriveled are still they way too.

 

I've been working on slowly cutting back on dosing NoPox and PhosphateRx. Things are still out of balance in this tank and I need to let the normal bacterial populations get re-established. I just don't want to go to fast and cause a crash.

 

On the other hand, if things don't really start improving, I've been thinking more and more about doing a soft reboot. I may pull all the rocks out, scrub the tank and all the chambers, clean or replace the sand, and give all the rocks a good scrub to get all the old algae off.

 

It's tempting to try drastic action, but I don't want to risk crashing the tank, either. So before I get that desperate, my plan is to completely eliminate carbon dosing first, and just use carbon and GFO to keep things clean (plus filter floss and skimming of course). And I'd like to eliminate the most of the carbon and GFO if I can, with the idea being to improve the bacterial population. I also need to beef up the clean up crew and pod population.

 

And I want to do it all slowly so that I don't make things worse trying to make things better

O my teeny, I wanted to see how the Vibrant was working out but never expected to read that you are considering a softie reboot! I am not critical in the least, just surprised. Actually I agree when something happens that takes the fun out of it then it is definitely time to make a change. It sounds like you have a good plan.

[Bowen1022]

I have been feeling the same way about my lagoon. I just can't seem to balance everything out. I hope the best for you!

[Nano sapiens]

I missed posting my weekly update last Monday because I went out of town for work, and things were super busy when I got back. The algae situation has continued to improved, slowly, but there hasn't been any real improvement in the condition of the corals. The acans are still receded and seem to be getting a little worse since I haven't been home to target feed them more than once or twice a week.

 

The angel eye favia also decided they don't like the conditions. The areas exposed to the most light turned red, and then about a week later all the tissue started dissolving. The only parts left are those in more shade. I don't know if this was caused by water conditions or by the increased light they got resulting from me trimming the monticaps back.

 

The monticaps are doing fine still, as are the zoas and the duncans and the merlettis. The rics have stayed the same, the ones that are big are still big, and the ones that are small and shriveled are still they way too.

 

I've been working on slowly cutting back on dosing NoPox and PhosphateRx. Things are still out of balance in this tank and I need to let the normal bacterial populations get re-established. I just don't want to go to fast and cause a crash.

 

On the other hand, if things don't really start improving, I've been thinking more and more about doing a soft reboot. I may pull all the rocks out, scrub the tank and all the chambers, clean or replace the sand, and give all the rocks a good scrub to get all the old algae off.

 

It's tempting to try drastic action, but I don't want to risk crashing the tank, either. So before I get that desperate, my plan is to completely eliminate carbon dosing first, and just use carbon and GFO to keep things clean (plus filter floss and skimming of course). And I'd like to eliminate the most of the carbon and GFO if I can, with the idea being to improve the bacterial population. I also need to beef up the clean up crew and pod population.

 

And I want to do it all slowly so that I don't make things worse trying to make things better

 

By reducing/eliminating carbon dosing, GAC and GFO I think it very likely that you'll start to see improvement. I strongly suspect that long term skewing of the natural CNP (carbon-nitrogen-phosphate) ratio in our reef aquariums is a major contributor to many imbalanced systems.

[Reefkid88]

You still need a pic of that favia,I wanna see that red.

[teenyreef]

 

By reducing/eliminating carbon dosing, GAC and GFO I think it very likely that you'll start to see improvement. I strongly suspect that long term skewing of the natural CNP (carbon-nitrogen-phosphate) ratio in our reef aquariums is a major contributor to many imbalanced systems.

I agree! I used to have super high nitrates and phosphates in this tank. Here are the parameters I had in this tank a year ago:

Nitrates: 15

Phosphates: .61 (not .06, so this was ten times where it "should" have been!)

Alk: 8.5

Ca: 420

Mg: 1200

 

Apparently my acros didn't know they were supposed to be brown when nutrients are that high - here's what the tank looked like a year ago:

 

IM10 Top Down by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[teenyreef]

You still need a pic of that favia,I wanna see that red.

Unfortunately it turns out the red was just an indicator that the tissue necrosing

 

Here's a picture of what it looks like now

 

Dying Favia by TeenyReef, on Flickr

[jedimasterben]

That coral looks better than my entire tank lol

[Nano sapiens]

I agree! I used to have super high nitrates and phosphates in this tank. Here are the parameters I had in this tank a year ago:

Nitrates: 15

Phosphates: .61 (not .06, so this was ten times where it "should" have been!)

Alk: 8.5

Ca: 420

Mg: 1200

 

Apparently my acros didn't know they were supposed to be brown when nutrients are that high - here's what the tank looked like a year ago:

 

IM10 Top Down by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

Now those are some happy corals!

 

Some people have tried to use the Redfield Ratio (106:16:1, C:N:P) for our reef tanks, but at best it would be a rough guideline. Having said that, looking at just N and P, if I got my math right your tank a year ago had ~ 24:1 ratio of nitrogen to P04 (inorganic phosphate) based on your test results. Adding in the organic phosphate that we can't measure and the ratio is closer to 16:1. I think the main point is not shooting for a specific 16:1, since we don't know if that is really optimal, but something relatively close may be where we want to be.

[teenyreef]

 

Now those are some happy corals!

 

Some people have tried to use the Redfield Ratio (106:16:1, C:N:P) for our reef tanks, but at best it would be a rough guideline. Having said that, looking at just N and P, if I got my math right your tank a year ago had ~ 24:1 ratio of nitrogen to P04 (inorganic phosphate) based on your test results. Adding in the organic phosphate that we can't measure and the ratio is closer to 16:1. I think the main point is not shooting for a specific 16:1, since we don't know if that is really optimal, but something relatively close may be where we want to be.

I've read up on the Redfield ratio, but I'd missed the bit about estimating the organic phosphates. I'd wondered why my corals did so well back then because it seemed like the phosphates were too high for the nitrates. That helps explain things, though.

 

I've been gradually cutting back on the NoPox, and as of now it's down to about .1 ml per day which is almost nothing. Nitrates have gone up from less than 1 tow or three weeks ago, to about 12 as of today. I've been keeping Phosphates fairly low (.06 or less) but I've also been cutting back on the PhosphateRx.

 

The next step is to completely stop PhosphateRx and let phosphates rise on their own. I'm going to keep using carbon and GFO for now, though, just to keep things from getting completely crazy. I'm going to keep the amount of GFO relatively low, though. I'm also going to go back to dosing Microbacter7 more often to try to build up the natural bacteria levels in the rocks.

 

Once things are back in balance (the acans will let me know when that happens), I may try discontinuing the GFO and only doing NoPox, at low levels.

 

I also may take some of the biobrick out of the frag tank and put some chunks of it in the pump chamber...

 

Here's an updated shot of the acans. You can see how thin the tissue is on most of them now - they were nice and puffy about a month ago. That's what tells me that even with the algae dying off I still have a water condition problem.

 

Acans by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

 

Here's an updated top down, just to track progress:

 

2016-12-03 IM10 Top Down by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

I'll probably get an FTS tomorrow or Monday.

 

 

That coral looks better than my entire tank lol

You're tank seems to be doing great! Other than the poor birdsnests

[Nano sapiens]

I've read up on the Redfield ratio, but I'd missed the bit about estimating the organic phosphates. I'd wondered why my corals did so well back then because it seemed like the phosphates were too high for the nitrates. That helps explain things, though.

 

I've been gradually cutting back on the NoPox, and as of now it's down to about .1 ml per day which is almost nothing. Nitrates have gone up from less than 1 tow or three weeks ago, to about 12 as of today. I've been keeping Phosphates fairly low (.06 or less) but I've also been cutting back on the PhosphateRx.

 

The next step is to completely stop PhosphateRx and let phosphates rise on their own. I'm going to keep using carbon and GFO for now, though, just to keep things from getting completely crazy. I'm going to keep the amount of GFO relatively low, though. I'm also going to go back to dosing Microbacter7 more often to try to build up the natural bacteria levels in the rocks.

 

Once things are back in balance (the acans will let me know when that happens), I may try discontinuing the GFO and only doing NoPox, at low levels.

 

I also may take some of the biobrick out of the frag tank and put some chunks of it in the pump chamber...

 

Here's an updated shot of the acans. You can see how thin the tissue is on most of them now - they were nice and puffy about a month ago. That's what tells me that even with the algae dying off I still have a water condition problem.

 

Acans by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

 

Here's an updated top down, just to track progress:

 

2016-12-03 IM10 Top Down by TeenyReef, on Flickr

 

I'll probably get an FTS tomorrow or Monday.

 

 

You're tank seems to be doing great! Other than the poor birdsnests

 

Hmmm, perhaps you have mixed up my tank with another? My BNs are doing better than ever lately and I'll have to prune them soon.

 

One thing to think about for future reference is that NO3 and PO4 can, and have, been managed without any products whatsoever for decades (GFO is relatively new). I still manage both with regular detritus removal and water changes, so no oddball/irregular CNP ratios should occur (unless I do something really silly).

 

From the pic the Acans don't appear to have the typical rapid 'recession with tighly stretch tissue' syndrome. These look like they will bounce back in full glory again once balance is restored.

[teenyreef]

 

Hmmm, perhaps you have mixed up my tank with another? My BNs are doing better than ever lately and I'll have to prune them soon.

 

One thing to think about for future reference is that NO3 and PO4 can, and have, been managed without any products whatsoever for decades (GFO is relatively new). I still manage both with regular detritus removal and water changes, so no oddball/irregular CNP ratios should occur (unless I do something really silly).

 

From the pic the Acans don't appear to have the typical rapid 'recession with tighly stretch tissue' syndrome. These look like they will bounce back in full glory again once balance is restored.

Thanks - I have hope for the acans, I think they'll be a good indicator of water chemistry balance. And for what it's worth, even when using NoPox, they recommend avoiding any phosphate reducers. But when I started using it, I got impatient and started using GFO to bring it down, which I think may have been the beginning of the problems long ago. I think using the GFO together with carbon dosing let the N/P ratio get out of balance, and it's been getting more out of balance with everything I try ever since.

 

The comment about the birdsnests was about Ben's tank. Too many quotes ALL the corals in your tank look great

[Nano sapiens]

The comment about the birdsnests was about Ben's tank. Too many quotes ALL the corals in your tank look great

 

Thanks, but there are two that haven't done well, namely the Jack O Lantern' Leptoseris (which died out) and one purple morph of Zoa that's been struggling. Challenges...challenges...

[Biggen]

Have you had any Acan agression issues keeping them that close together? I had 4 Acans coming in from AquaSD but I chickened out and told them to send me 1 Acan and replace the other 3 with Zoas. I just dont feel like I have enough room in my tank to hold 4 of them without them stinging the crap out of each other.

[Reefkid88]

Have you had any Acan agression issues keeping them that close together? I had 4 Acans coming in from AquaSD but I chickened out and told them to send me 1 Acan and replace the other 3 with Zoas. I just dont feel like I have enough room in my tank to hold 4 of them without them stinging the crap out of each other.

Acan's can touch one another without any issues. All of mine touch eachother and everyone is happy as can be. I'e even had Zoa's touching my Acan's and never had any ill effects. Proto-paly's like purple deaths are a different story.

[teenyreef]

Acan's can touch one another without any issues. All of mine touch eachother and everyone is happy as can be. I'e even had Zoa's touching my Acan's and never had any ill effects. Proto-paly's like purple deaths are a different story.

I agree. As long as you keep the same kind of acans together you'll be fine. Mine are all acan lords, so if I wanted to have an echinata it would have to be separated.

[Tuffryu]

Hey Teeny,

just curious how the assessor is getting along with the others like the wrasse? I am considering adding another fish, but have seen mine become somewhat territorial - which is pretty normal I suppose. Let me know what you're experiencing.