29g Struggling Reef

[vlangel]

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!

I love the way your tank looks minus the big rock. Great scape.

[teenyreef]

The tank looks great - hopefully the Vibrant will help with the sandbed. Have you been vacuuming it regularly?

[Orangutran]

I love the way your tank looks minus the big rock. Great scape.

Thanks! I will have to add a smaller rock in that empty space though, need it to get the corals off the sand bed.

 

 

The tank looks great - hopefully the Vibrant will help with the sandbed. Have you been vacuuming it regularly?

 

 

Thanks, still waiting for my Vibrant to arrive. Has it helped your tanks? I am vacuuming every 2-3 weeks, alternating between cleaning the sump and display during my water changes. Although, I'm still trying to increase nutrients. Been so busy the last couple of months, I haven't fed as much.

[Orangutran]

What's this??? A giant box of LIVE ANIMALS under my desk at work last Friday?!

 

 

I picked up a fish at lunch time, and they packed it in the biggest bag and put inside a styrofoam box for me, pretty awesome for a chain LFS! Anyway, it's a potter's angel. I've thought long and hard about this, and have visited this little guy numerous times at the LFS for the last month, and looks healthy and eating.

 

 

 

[vlangel]

Its a beauty! I hope it settles in nicely for you.

[Snow_Phoenix]

Love the new fish. Tank looks very beautiful too.

[Orangutran]

Love the new fish. Tank looks very beautiful too.

 

 

Thanks so much!

 

Here's an updated FTS. Just added another island with a new cave. I need the extra rocks for the angel to graze on, and the new cave for my pink streaked wrasse. I think the angel has evicted him from his old cave. Overall, the scape is nicer too, like a gentle reef slope. And I finally got a picture with proper white balance!

 

 

Oh, and all 5 fish are in view!

[Sharbuckle]

Damn nice looking tank.

[teenyreef]

Looks great and nice job on the picture! I love that pink coral, is it an acro? I don't see them that shade of pink very often.

[Orangutran]

Damn nice looking tank.

 

Thanks dude! I'm really happy with it now, and just gonna let it mature. (Yeah right!)

 

Btw, do you know farm boy reef? Looks like you guys are both from ottawa?

 

Looks great and nice job on the picture! I love that pink coral, is it an acro? I don't see them that shade of pink very often.

 

 

Thanks Teeny, just used my phone and corrected the white balance. Gotta remember the settings! The pink one is a setosa, fastest grower in my tank! Think you have a frag right? It's supposed to be a lot darker pink/orange, but I can't get that colour back. Still my fave!

[Sharbuckle]

 

Thanks dude! I'm really happy with it now, and just gonna let it mature. (Yeah right!)

 

Btw, do you know farm boy reef? Looks like you guys are both from ottawa?

 

 

 

Thanks Teeny, just used my phone and corrected the white balance. Gotta remember the settings! The pink one is a setosa, fastest grower in my tank! Think you have a frag right? It's supposed to be a lot darker pink/orange, but I can't get that colour back. Still my fave!

Ive chatted with him but we've never met in person! Im gonna go see his 700 gallon once its built though. Only about 30 minutes from my place. You from the north as well friend?

[teenyreef]

 

Thanks dude! I'm really happy with it now, and just gonna let it mature. (Yeah right!)

 

Btw, do you know farm boy reef? Looks like you guys are both from ottawa?

 

 

 

Thanks Teeny, just used my phone and corrected the white balance. Gotta remember the settings! The pink one is a setosa, fastest grower in my tank! Think you have a frag right? It's supposed to be a lot darker pink/orange, but I can't get that colour back. Still my fave!

Yes, I do have a small setosa frag, too. It seems to be turning more pink than red, too.

[Orangutran]

Ive chatted with him but we've never met in person! Im gonna go see his 700 gallon once its built though. Only about 30 minutes from my place. You from the north as well friend?

 

Never knew ottawa was a hot bed for reefing! lol I'm in toronto. We have it pretty good here, in terms of LFS.

 

Yes, I do have a small setosa frag, too. It seems to be turning more pink than red, too.

 

 

I believe they get more pink in higher light? If you figure it out, let me know.

[Sharbuckle]

 

Never knew ottawa was a hot bed for reefing! lol I'm in toronto. We have it pretty good here, in terms of LFS.

 

 

 

I believe they get more pink in higher light? If you figure it out, let me know.

Ordered a few times but fragbox. Dissapointed last time so will only stick with local from now on.

 

If you're ever in Ottawa ill show you around!

[Orangutran]

Hello reefers! I haven't been active on here in like half a year. Life got in the way, work got busy, and my tank has been sliding. It got taken over with what I thought was diatom, but it's lasted like 9 months now, so I believe it's dino. The few acros I have are dead, but luckily my bird nest colony is ok, and my setosa colony bleached a bit, but it seems to have stopped.

 

Anyway, with the limited time I have, I've been looking for easy solutions, and installed a uv sterilizer last night. Lets see if that knocks it back a bit. I forgot to check the tank this morning before I left to drop off the kids. That's how crazy things are, tank has gone done in priorities.

[vlangel]

7 hours ago, Orangutran said:

Hello reefers! I haven't been active on here in like half a year. Life got in the way, work got busy, and my tank has been sliding. It got taken over with what I thought was diatom, but it's lasted like 9 months now, so I believe it's dino. The few acros I have are dead, but luckily my bird nest colony is ok, and my setosa colony bleached a bit, but it seems to have stopped.

 

Anyway, with the limited time I have, I've been looking for easy solutions, and installed a uv sterilizer last night. Lets see if that knocks it back a bit. I forgot to check the tank this morning before I left to drop off the kids. That's how crazy things are, tank has gone done in priorities.

You are in a busy time of life.  I found it tough to keep my tank up to date with maintenance when I was at the stage of life you are in.  It wont always be like this.  Enjoy your kids cause they wont always be at home.  It all goes too fast.

[Orangutran]

Dino Update:

 

So I stumbled onto a thread on R2R.... https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/ and have bought into their theory and strategy in fighting dinoflagellate. What they describe in that thread, matches my scenario exactly.

 

Quick history of my tank in the last 9 months...

- Note that it's always been low nutrient, since my old tank got taken over by GHA, I've been scared of nutrients

- Started with some cyano, which I took care of with chemiclean

- Right after, I got diatoms, which I took care of with Vibrant... see the pattern?

- After diatoms, I got dino, not the ugly stringy ones, just the slimy crap on the sand

- Basically my phosphates bottomed out from GFO, my already low nutrients is now imbalanced, and apparently dinos like that

- Also, my use of chemiclean and vibrant and a bit of peroxide may have killed off a lot of my biodiversity

- Since reading the R2R thread, I am dosing phosphates (my NO3 already kinda high at 25) to encourage algae growth to compete against the dinos 

- Took GFO offline

- Added new rock rubble to increase biodiversity

- Note that I have no algae growth in the last 2-3 months. Barely cleaning the glass. 

- Still running UV in the display

- Everything sounds counterintuitive, but I have bought into the ideas from that thread

- So far, 1.5 weeks into it, sand bed is 50% better

- Crazy thing is that my NO3 is 25ppm and PO4 is .1ppm, and still no algae growth. However, some zoas that have been closed for 2 months are now opening half way! 

- Will continue this path and see where we are in a few weeks/months

 

On another note, I picked up the following off a local reefer:

Bag of Pumps - 60$
(includes a mag drive 3, tunze 1073.02, a cobalt mj 900, a marineland mj 900, a marineland mj 400, and an extra motor block for mag drive 3).

 

A reefer can never have too many pumps! I'd be happy if half those pumps work for 60 bucks, but the guy said they all work! lol

 

 

[vlangel]

Hey, nice to hear from you.  I have seen that thread many time on R2R but never read it.  I will have to keep that in mind though if I ever have a sand bed again.  So how about a tank shot?

[Orangutran]

20 hours ago, vlangel said:

Hey, nice to hear from you.  I have seen that thread many time on R2R but never read it.  I will have to keep that in mind though if I ever have a sand bed again.  So how about a tank shot?

 

Yes, that thread really is a life saver when you need it!  

 

I don't have a tank shot worthy to post, but here are a couple frags I picked up at lunch today. With the problems I am having, I need some frags to get me excited about my tank! Just a ric and chalice, from a new LFS that has cheapo frags!

 

Frags at work

[Orangutran]

edited

[Orangutran]

Ever wondered how an anemone moves? Here's my BTA I managed to capture in time lapse, super lucky cus it was by the glass! Old post from Instagram...

 

 

[Orangutran]

I knew my teal bird nest (colony?) was going to crash down sooner than later, it was balanced on a skinny base that I glued down when it was a teeny tiny frag. And of course, it lands on the setosa...

 

 

And here is a FTS after some minor re-scaping. You can see the dino on the sandbed, somewhat improving actually, due to dosing phosphates to get it above zero.

 

[Orangutran]

This is what happens during my lunch break, when there's an amazing coral store 10 mins from my work...

 

 

It's a valida frag, that I'm using as a tester. Need to see if my tank can maintain some sps colours, other than brown.  I was tempted to get a mini colony of a red millepora at the store, but it would be too costly of a "test"...

[vlangel]

Smart move with the valida.  Hey, your tank looks great...I thought you said that it wasn't worthy of taking pics a week ago.  It did not transform overnight so it must have been lookin' better than you said.

[Orangutran]

19 hours ago, vlangel said:

Smart move with the valida.  Hey, your tank looks great...I thought you said that it wasn't worthy of taking pics a week ago.  It did not transform overnight so it must have been lookin' better than you said.

Thanks! I guess we are a bit more critical of our own tanks.  All I see is the brown crap (dino) on my sand bed! 

 

I'm a bit nervous about the new frag. My nutrients are kinda high (on purpose), so good thing the valida is a bit brown to begin with...