29g Struggling Reef

[Orangutran]

Good morning orangutran! Long time no talk. I am just catching up on your thread since I was also crazy busy and not on the forum much over the summer.

I am fighting red slime algae in my tank, (cyano). Its a pain. Is most of the green slime just on the sandbed?

 

O yeah, congrats on having the new baby! Yes, they take up a lot of your time but someday they will grow up, get married and move away and you and your wife will miss them. Enjoy your children now as much as possible.

Hi Dawn, nice to hear from you! Yeah I know we all get busy with real life. I've been following your adventure over the summer. I remember when my first daughter was born, I prob didn't go on NR for a year! Yes, will enjoy them (the kids) while I can, and while they let me hug and kiss them, before they turn into teenagers and don't want anything to do with their dad!

 

Green slime is on the rocks too. I think it's slowing down, but still there. How's your fight?

[Orangutran]

Can't believe I managed to get quite a bit done this weekend.

1. got my water back down to zero tds

2. changed gfo/carbon

3. did 2 water changes

4. put in marine pure

 

got all water tests done:

nitrate: .2

phosphate: 0

alk: 7.3 (low)

cal: 370 (low)

mag: 1365

 

- just added Seachem Reef Builder to get alk up

[vlangel]

Hi Dawn, nice to hear from you! Yeah I know we all get busy with real life. I've been following your adventure over the summer. I remember when my first daughter was born, I prob didn't go on NR for a year! Yes, will enjoy them (the kids) while I can, and while they let me hug and kiss them, before they turn into teenagers and don't want anything to do with their dad!

 

Green slime is on the rocks too. I think it's slowing down, but still there. How's your fight?

Mine is also slowed down a lot. I am leaving the white daylight bulbs on for a shorter duration and I manually remove the cyano when I see it, (once or twice a week). I am also adding Stability or a probiotic after water changes. I think adding sand from Baby's 10 gallon helped too with bio-diversity.

[Orangutran]

Removed a bunch of green slime a couple nights ago, and see if the stuff I couldn't reach will disappear on its own. If not, I'm gonna try lights out for 3 days after the weekend.

 

I can't wait to get rid of the green slime, cus I got some sticks waiting in my sump to transfer to the display.

 

[Orangutran]

Woohoo! picked up a used T5 fixture from a local reefer. It came with 2 blue plus bulbs, but being a T5 noob, not sure if that's what I want to supplement my LEDs with. I want more red to show up in my corals, and from other threads, I believe coral plus (or purple plus) was the way to go. We shall see how the blue plus works out.

 

[vlangel]

Woohoo! picked up a used T5 fixture from a local reefer. It came with 2 blue plus bulbs, but being a T5 noob, not sure if that's what I want to supplement my LEDs with. I want more red to show up in my corals, and from other threads, I believe coral plus (or purple plus) was the way to go. We shall see how the blue plus works out.

 

I love my T5s and with your LEDs you have the best of both worlds. I do run a purple in mine to bring out the reds.

[Orangutran]

I love my T5s and with your LEDs you have the best of both worlds. I do run a purple in mine to bring out the reds.

 

Yeah, I'm loving the T5s! Can't stop looking at the tank, everything is so evenly lit up! I will definitely change out one of the blue+ though, and go with purple+, thanks for suggesting it.

 

What I might do is put in the 10k bulb that originally comes with the fixture (brand new, seller gave it me) and see if that helps.

[vlangel]

Yeah, I'm loving the T5s! Can't stop looking at the tank, everything is so evenly lit up! I will definitely change out one of the blue+ though, and go with purple+, thanks for suggesting it.

 

What I might do is put in the 10k bulb that originally comes with the fixture (brand new, seller gave it me) and see if that helps.

My fixture is a 4 bulb unit. I run an actinic and a purple in the blue lights and I run a 10k and a coral daylight in the white lights. 10ks are whiter than coral daylights which have a yellowish tint but a fuller spectrum. What you choose will be influenced by your LEDs though.

[Orangutran]

My fixture is a 4 bulb unit. I run an actinic and a purple in the blue lights and I run a 10k and a coral daylight in the white lights. 10ks are whiter than coral daylights which have a yellowish tint but a fuller spectrum. What you choose will be influenced by your LEDs though.

 

Good point about the LEDs influencing what I should run! My main goal for the T5 is to reduce shadowing, and secondly make the reds look nicer. I will do a bit more research, but I'm leaning towards the purple as you suggested. Unless I really like the 10k. I have enough blue light from my LEDs.

 

What I didn't think about with the T5 is the added heat above my tank. It's not a canopy, but lights are covered by a panel to blend in with the shelving unit. May have to get a small quiet fan up there...

[vlangel]

Good point about the LEDs influencing what I should run! My main goal for the T5 is to reduce shadowing, and secondly make the reds look nicer. I will do a bit more research, but I'm leaning towards the purple as you suggested. Unless I really like the 10k. I have enough blue light from my LEDs.

 

What I didn't think about with the T5 is the added heat above my tank. It's not a canopy, but lights are covered by a panel to blend in with the shelving unit. May have to get a small quiet fan up there...

Yes, they are pretty hot compared to LEDs from what I have heard.

[markalot]

Nice lights, I once had 3 fixtures all married together to make a 6 bulb unit. Only issue is lack of cooling but I placed a fan on one side, put all the bulb labels on that side, and it did pretty well.

 

IMO your Alk was perfect at 7.3, especially since nutrients were so low. Abandon crap like Reef Builder and start doing two part when Alk is low. Equal parts both parts to keep everything in balance. Raising Alk too fast with low nutrients will burn SPS badly.

 

It looks like you are having the same issues I'm having in my 40 gallon. Fish load is really too small to give the corals enough nutrients and food ends up rotting and quickly getting consumed by algae, and slime algae, keeping nutrients really low.

[Orangutran]

Yes, they are pretty hot compared to LEDs from what I have heard.

 

And I thought LEDs got hot! What fixture do you run?

 

 

Nice lights, I once had 3 fixtures all married together to make a 6 bulb unit. Only issue is lack of cooling but I placed a fan on one side, put all the bulb labels on that side, and it did pretty well.

 

IMO your Alk was perfect at 7.3, especially since nutrients were so low. Abandon crap like Reef Builder and start doing two part when Alk is low. Equal parts both parts to keep everything in balance. Raising Alk too fast with low nutrients will burn SPS badly.

 

It looks like you are having the same issues I'm having in my 40 gallon. Fish load is really too small to give the corals enough nutrients and food ends up rotting and quickly getting consumed by algae, and slime algae, keeping nutrients really low.

 

What kind of fan did you put on your old aquaticlife fixtures? (I know you got the awesome ATI hybrid now! )

 

Thanks for your advice regarding my alk! Still learning about all this stuff. Seriously need to look into two part since I caught the sps bug. I will be extra careful with my crappy Reef Builder until I get two part.. lol Might be sooner than later.

 

Oh yeah... good news is that I got rid of my green slime with ChemiClean, (as you know from my skimmer post!) This stuff works as advertised! Vacuumed my sandbed for the first time too, yeah I know I know....!

 

[vlangel]

Nice FTS! I had not realized how much your coral have grown. And your color is pretty good too. Very nice!

 

My current fixture is a Coralife although I had an Aquatic-life prior. It always gave me trouble with the bulbs not wanting to turn on. Also my 30" fixture only used 24" bulbs. I did love the one plug for all 4 lights and the built in digital timer though.

Coralife has a plug for blue lights and a plug for white which was ok once I got a timer that was made for that. It takes 30" bulbs which is nice for lighting the whole tank. It has built in fans too but one of my fans never worked. I saw on BRS that T5s are most efficient and effective if the bulbs are cooled a bit. I probably should fix the broken fan.

[Orangutran]

Nice FTS! I had not realized how much your coral have grown. And your color is pretty good too. Very nice!

 

My current fixture is a Coralife although I had an Aquatic-life prior. It always gave me trouble with the bulbs not wanting to turn on. Also my 30" fixture only used 24" bulbs. I did love the one plug for all 4 lights and the built in digital timer though.

Coralife has a plug for blue lights and a plug for white which was ok once I got a timer that was made for that. It takes 30" bulbs which is nice for lighting the whole tank. It has built in fans too but one of my fans never worked. I saw on BRS that T5s are most efficient and effective if the bulbs are cooled a bit. I probably should fix the broken fan.

 

 

Thanks! Some of my corals have taken off! I'm waiting for everything to fill in now, just like yours. Must resist urge to add more...

 

I didn't know they have 30" bulbs! Speaking of timers, I splurged and got a wifi timer for the T5s, so easy to set a schedule and I can turn it on and off from my couch. Yes, it's a poor man's version of all the fancy wifi enabled fixtures on the market!

 

If you're interested… https://amzn.com/B00ZYLRQNE

 

Thanks for the tip on bulbs being more efficient when cooled. You need to fix your fan, and I need to get a fan!

[Orangutran]

Have you ever vacuumed your sand? I recommend you read about it and start.

 

I'm willing to bet deep in your sand it's super nasty, gotta carefully and one area at a time, get that nasty out!

 

 

Hey wanna thank you for suggesting the idea! Finally got a proper water change vacuum hose, and did it last weekend, and man, there was a lot of nasty brown sludge that came out! I have been lazy all this time, and did my water changes from my sump in the basement. Will now try to vacuum once a month!

[RollaJase]

Lovely looking tank, love the fuzzy sticks.

[Sharbuckle]

Tank looks nice. Great colour. Im a cuplrit of not vaccuming my sand too.... New tank wont have that issue. Gotta make sure to leave space so I can actually access the sand bed.

[Sharbuckle]

Also. Standard 29g are awesome. I eventually painted mine black too

[Orangutran]

FINALLY!!

 

 

I've had the BTA for over a year, and after trying almost everything, the clowns finally figured it out! It might be coincidence, but I reduced the flow slightly because my mp10 was getting too loud, so maybe that allowed the clowns to not fight against the current and explore the BTA instead? Or not.

 

 

[Orangutran]

Lovely looking tank, love the fuzzy sticks.

 

Thanks! I got bit by the sps bug, but still learning... I need to get more colour and PE in them!!!

 

Tank looks nice. Great colour. Im a cuplrit of not vaccuming my sand too.... New tank wont have that issue. Gotta make sure to leave space so I can actually access the sand bed.

 

 

I think since our tanks (29) are tall and narrow, it makes vacuuming around the rocks that much harder. Lesson learned--I gotta do it more often than once a year. Hope your new tank will allow for better access too!

[vlangel]

FINALLY!!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLFRLiahtgh/?taken-by=orangutran

 

I've had the BTA for over a year, and after trying almost everything, the clowns finally figured it out! It might be coincidence, but I reduced the flow slightly because my mp10 was getting too loud, so maybe that allowed the clowns to not fight against the current and explore the BTA instead? Or not.

 

Yeah for the clowns who 'finally' figured it out! It is so cool to see clowns enjoying a nem.

[Orangutran]

Been stupid busy at work, so no time to be on N-R lately.

 

Quick update: umm... I got a jebao doser and now adding b-ionic alk/cal/mag. Someone was selling the doser/reservoirs/additives for a deal I couldn't refuse! lol Now I'm just waiting for my sticks to grow...

 

 

QUESTION: anyone know if I can add a royal gramma and a damsel to my tank? It already has a pink streak wrasse, neon goby, and 2 mean clowns. I need some fish that can hold their own against the clowns..

 

 

Anyway, anyone watch Octonauts?

 

Here's an episode about damsels...

[vlangel]

Adding fish when an established clown pair are in a tank is tricky. This is by no means a guarantee that your female clown wont hunt down the newcomers but I found you have the best chance of success if you add multiple fish at 1 time. That way you spread out the bullying. I would add them at night when the lights are off. Have you considered dottybacks as some of them are beautiful? Of course then you will have a new mean fish to contend with because they can be absolute demons, ha ha. It might not be a bad idea to QT the new fish a few weeks to build them up before they deal with the stress and bullying of the clowns if you can.

[Orangutran]

Adding fish when an established clown pair are in a tank is tricky. This is by no means a guarantee that your female clown wont hunt down the newcomers but I found you have the best chance of success if you add multiple fish at 1 time. That way you spread out the bullying. I would add them at night when the lights are off. Have you considered dottybacks as some of them are beautiful? Of course then you will have a new mean fish to contend with because they can be absolute demons, ha ha. It might not be a bad idea to QT the new fish a few weeks to build them up before they deal with the stress and bullying of the clowns if you can.

 

 

Hey Dawn, thanks for the idea of adding a bunch of fish at the same time! That'll be an excuse to add even MORE fish! lol Although I am near the max for my tank, I'll push the limit a bit. I skim and filter pretty aggressively, and the fish all occupy different niches of the tank. There's a local fish dealer that sells quarantined fish, so I'll try going thru him. Hopefully they will be healthy.

 

Hope all is good!

[Orangutran]

Update:

 

I think I have diatoms... and hopefully not dinos on the sand. See picture below. I have vibrant aquarium cleaner on order, hope to knock it out with that if it works.

 

Still debating on which fish to add. A LFS had a couple of flameback angels, which was very tempting... I would have gambled on the coral nibbling, but after more research, seems like they (maybe all dwarf angels) become very aggressive when they mature, so that's a no no!

 

I do miss my chromis'. May end up with more of them. I notice that my clowns are less aggressive that the nems are hosting them. They have a smaller territory to protect, not the entire tank. So hopefully any new fish will be somewhat safer...

 

Here's the latest FTS:

 

 

 

Oh yeah, my nem split, so I had 3, so I gave away the big rock on the right to a buddy. Now back to 2 nems, and lots of open space, which I really like!!

 

 

BTW: Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope Santa brings you some reefing gear!