Ninja's Red Sea Reefer 350 - still here!

[ninjamyst]

2 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

Don’t worry, you’ll be back there in no time, I’m sure of it.  Did u find a lagoon 25 yet?

Nope, not yet.  But I have time.  My basement is still gutted and won't get done for another 2 months or so.  I have a Nanobox Tide that I will put over the Lagoon.  Since it's a shallow tank, it should be fine.  If I can't find an used one by then, I will just get one during Thanksgiving sale.  It does scare me that MarineDepot no longer carries the 25 Lagoon.  Maybe IM plans to discontinue it??? 

[Nano sapiens]

6 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

I looked back at one of my old FTS.  I really miss this tank....sigh:

 

Don't give up, you can get this back into shape again like your earlier photo above 👍

 

Teenyreef has the right idea:

 

"When I was struggling so much with my 10g, I completely stopped carbon dosing and just started doing large water changes including extensive deep vacuuming of the sand bed and scrubbing the rocks. I didn't get immediate improvement, it took about a six weeks of doing this every other week before I saw improvement. But after that it really turned around."

 

So many of these imbalance issues are due to attacking one specific issue or other with a chemical, which then allows some other organism the chance to get the upper hand later on due to the changes that these products induce in the system.  This often results in a 'see-saw' effect of continuously cycling through one nasty outbreak after another. 

 

IME, the best approach is to develop a consistent routine to reduce the overall organics that inevitably built up in the system by physically removing the sources (manual pest algae removal/detritus removal).  It's not a 'quick fix' methodology and can take weeks (or even a few months), but it's the best way to bring a system back to a more stable state that precludes pest organism blooms (the goal is control, not total elimination...which is virtually impossible anyway).

 

 

[skyscraper2290]

I’m curious now that your thread on overcomplicating tanks has been around for a little bit on if you will be implementing some new plans for the tank? 

[ninjamyst]

On 9/18/2018 at 10:26 PM, skyscraper2290 said:

I’m curious now that your thread on overcomplicating tanks has been around for a little bit on if you will be implementing some new plans for the tank? 

I took my skimmer offline, removed purigen and phosguard.  Still running carbon because dino can release toxin.   I am dosing nitrate and phosphate to maintain good nutrient level.  Color is great on corals again but dino still comes back stronger every day.

[skyscraper2290]

I'm glad that you are starting to see good colors again. I was thinking of hooking up my skimmer again but just thought back to that thread. I hope you start getting some luck coming your way with the dinos. Seems to be one of the toughest thing to deal with especially with the toxins they can release. 

[ninjamyst]

GHA invasion started again.  Sigh.  This started after I added an order of snails from reef cleaners.  The package took 5 days to arrive.  John always says to dump in the snail anyways so I did that because I was in a rush to make it out to dinner.  My hermit crabs had a feast that night.  Maybe all the dead snails triggered a GHA outburst.  Worst $30 spent.  

 

Going to Amsterdam and Dubrovnik for 10 days in a week.  Plan of action now is to dose fluconazole tomorrow.  For GHA, it's a 2-3 weeks treatment so timing is perfect.  Crossing my fingers I don't come home to a disaster.

[skyscraper2290]

Good luck while you are on your trip! Hope the GHA gets taken care of. That’s a bummer about the snails from reef cleaners. 

[ninjamyst]

I came back to film algae covering all the glass.  I feared the worst but as I scrape off the algae, I notice colors I haven't seen in a LONG time.  My reef is back!  I would say about 80% back to what it was before in terms of coral colors.  The GHA is gone, cyano is gone.  I still get dino on the rock and sand but it's not as bad as before.  I contributed this to:

1. I removed 50% of the sandbed before I left
2. Turned off skimmer
3. Stopped running carbon / purigen
4. Added chaeto

 

Some photos:

FTS

 

Clown started hosting the goniopora

 

Bonsai survived and turning back to purple

 

Duncans

 

My priced splattered hammered broke into two pieces cuz it got tooo heavy.  Easier now to mount the small piece

 

 

Some photos from my trip to Dubrovnik and Amsterdam.  LOVE Dubrovnik.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40199713@N03/albums/72157696441096950

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40199713@N03/albums/72157700781798741

[mitten_reef]

54 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

I came back to film algae covering all the glass.  I feared the worst but as I scrape off the algae, I notice colors I haven't seen in a LONG time.  My reef is back!  I would say about 80% back to what it was before in terms of coral colors.  The GHA is gone, cyano is gone.  I still get dino on the rock and sand but it's not as bad as before.  I contributed this to:

1. I removed 50% of the sandbed before I left
2. Turned off skimmer
3. Stopped running carbon / purigen
4. Added chaeto

 

Some photos:

FTS

 

Clown started hosting the goniopora

 

Bonsai survived and turning back to purple

 

Duncans

 

My priced splattered hammered broke into two pieces cuz it got tooo heavy.  Easier now to mount the small piece

 

 

Some photos from my trip to Dubrovnik and Amsterdam.  LOVE Dubrovnik.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40199713@N03/albums/72157696441096950

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40199713@N03/albums/72157700781798741

nice! so glad things are turning around!!!

[skyscraper2290]

So happy that you are starting to see everything coming back to how it used to be! It’s awesome that you are seeing these results after simplifying the tank. As always your photos are absolutely top notch! Can’t wait to see the reef continue to improve. 

[bluecard]

This is great news! Your tanks are some of my favorites. 

[roll_the_dice]

Glad your reef is healing...That is encouraging for you I am sure!  And a testament of the love you have for your reef.  That is what it would do in the wild, but with our small ecosystems, it makes it harder to come back.

 

I admit I didn't read all 118 pages, but love your setup.  How do you still like the AP700 Kessil?  Are you still using it?  Thanks and congrats!

[ninjamyst]

2 hours ago, roll_the_dice said:

Glad your reef is healing...That is encouraging for you I am sure!  And a testament of the love you have for your reef.  That is what it would do in the wild, but with our small ecosystems, it makes it harder to come back.

 

I admit I didn't read all 118 pages, but love your setup.  How do you still like the AP700 Kessil?  Are you still using it?  Thanks and congrats!

Thanks!  Still using the AP700.  It works well for mixed reef.  The new 360x sounds even better though.

[vlangel]

Wow, that is great that the tank turned around so well with the treatment while you were away!  I am happy that it worked so well.  The colors look stunning, like I need my sunglasses!  

[ninjamyst]

Things are doing great in this tank!  I have tons of monti and birdnest frags available from colonies that I saved when my tank crash, but now want to move in a new direction.  Once I get rid of those, the tank will look much nicer.  Since my tank crashed once, I am going full into SPS.  Probability of tank crashing TWICE is pretty low right????

 

New FTS:

 

Ricordea garden + jack o lantern lepto:

 

New torch island:

 

Bonsai SPS coloring up really nicely, especially the tips:

 

Pink lemonade

 

Duncan with over 20 heads.  Want to get rid of it soon to make more room for SPS.  Right now it's just on a floating island

 

Starburst monti frags.  Have about 15 of these.  Who wants to buy them???  Color is even better than before with bright yellow polyps.

 

[mitten_reef]

What a great post to start the new year!

 

 

happy new year @ninjamyst!  Tank looks amazing, especially knowing what you had to go thru with the tank last year. 

 

 

[vlangel]

27 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

Things are doing great in this tank!  I have tons of monti and birdnest frags available from colonies that I saved when my tank crash, but now want to move in a new direction.  Once I get rid of those, the tank will look much nicer.  Since my tank crashed once, I am going full into SPS.  Probability of tank crashing TWICE is pretty low right????

 

New FTS:

 

Ricordea garden + jack o lantern lepto:

 

New torch island:

 

Bonsai SPS coloring up really nicely, especially the tips:

 

Pink lemonade

 

Duncan with over 20 heads.  Want to get rid of it soon to make more room for SPS.  Right now it's just on a floating island

 

Starburst monti frags.  Have about 15 of these.  Who wants to buy them???  Color is even better than before with bright yellow polyps.

 

Yes sir, 2019 looks like a new year for you and your tank.

[ninjamyst]

From 3 months ago:

 

To now:

 

Can't wait to see what happens in another 3 months =).

[Christopher Marks]

An incredible rebound @ninjamyst, so glad to see it! 6 months in should be unreal! 🙂

[ninjamyst]

19 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

An incredible rebound @ninjamyst, so glad to see it! 6 months in should be unreal! 🙂

Hopefully the new SPS takes off like my old ones did.  I still have room for 2-3 more sticks and then will just let them fill in.  So far I have:

 

Strawberry Shortcake

Pink lemonade

RMF Diablo Millie

Miyagi Tort

Red Planet

Yellow Tip Poletti

Purple Bonsai

Unknown Millie

 

[DaveFason]

Looks amazing Jacky. I would love a frag of the monti..... 😄

[vlangel]

16 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

From 3 months ago:

 

To now:

 

Can't wait to see what happens in another 3 months =).

What an amazing comeback and we all love a good comeback story.  This tank is gonna be epic in 3 more months!

[YHSublime]

Hows that lepto treating the rics? Looking good!

[ninjamyst]

5 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Looks amazing Jacky. I would love a frag of the monti..... 😄

I can send you a piece when the weather gets nicer for 2 days USPS priority mail.  I remember Gena used to ship montis 2 days just fine.  

 

1 hour ago, YHSublime said:

Hows that lepto treating the rics? Looking good!

The rics are actually holding it back from spreading.  I am pretty surprised.

[RIP Sebastian]

I am SO jealous of your rics and torches! Everything looks great.