chipmunkofdoom2 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Hey everyone! After being out of the hobby for a while, I've decided to get back in, and I'm going to share a bit about myself before moving on to my setup (feel free to fast forward to the end for the pics!)I was never really much of an active member on Nano-Reef and used it as a great resource for LED info back in the day and currently. But since the new tank I'm setting up is technically a nano (standard 10g), I figured it's time I got a little more active I've kept two 29 gallon tanks previously and never had the dicipline to take care of them properly, and thus never had much longevity or success in the hobby. I think my problem is I always tried to go too high tech or use equiment that was too sophistocated in order to reduce the work of maintianing a tank. My last aquarium, for instance, got so overrun with GHA that I just gave up and took it down. I tried to solve my algae problems with a mini-sump/fuge that contained cheato, but the cold hard truth of the matter was that I wasn't doing enough water changes and I wasn't keeping up with cleaning the sand and rocks. Simply changing the water more frequently would have been fine, but I kept insisting that I needed newer or different methods of filtration. Now that I'm a bit older (though not much wiser!) and have some more time on my hands (thanks to a full time work-from-home job!), I think it's time for me to try again.The theme of this tank is going to be simplicity. I was considering adding a sump with an overflow box, but that's too complex. This setup is going to be very simple in terms of equipment, relying mostly on water changes to maintain it. Since it's a going to be a simple setup and I'm a huge packrat, I already had most of the equipment, including the old stand from my 29g. Here are the current specs and my planned maintenance schedule:Tank: Standard 10g Current water chemistry: 78*F, 1.026SG/35ppt, CA: 425ppm, dKh 7.7) Equipment and Specs: AI Sol Blue LED light with AI controller (already had from my old 29g, custom enclosure pending so I can remove optics) 150W ViaAqua Ti heater (large for a 10g, I know. DIY external temperature control device pending) Koralia Nano 425 (425gph flow, 42.5x turnover) DIY ATO powered by peristaltic dosing pump ($11.50 total cost, I can do a tutorial if anyone is interested) Unknown quantity of dry rock from friend's old tank (didn't even weigh it, just made a pleasing aquscape and left it at that!) Digital thermometer (ordered a few days ago) Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt Planned maintenance schedule: Weekly 25% water change: Begin mixing water on Saturday, change on Sunday Testing newly mixed saltwater before adding, testing tank parameters the day after the water change, and testing once later in the week as well (Thurs/Fri?) Planned livestock: 1x picasso clown (was going to go for two, but without a sump I'm not sure how well I'd be able to keep up with two) Softies, LPS and SPS (eventually.. never done SPS before!) And now, the pictures. The tank was set up last week and had its first water change today. Simple front view. Mounted to the cieling. A nice clean look, if I may say so (although I'm not thrilled about how I had to run the wires for the AI Sol.. Simple and clean (IMO anyway!) aquascape. The area on the left is pretty high flow and because of its elevation will be great for SPS/LPS. The sloping area on the right is slightly lower flow and will likely be where I keep the softies (zoas, rics). A top-down view of my ATO float switch and the Koralia 425. Any questions, please let me know! Looking forward to getting back in the hobby Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Hey welcome back chipmunkofdoom! It sounds like you are ready and I like your new start. There is nothing wrong with going back to the fundamentals and keeping it simple. Actually my seahorse tank is pretty low tech and water changes are the bedrock of its stability. I think if you stick to what you have laid out you will have a thriving reef. I will look forward to following your progress. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted January 31, 2016 Author Share Posted January 31, 2016 Thanks vlangel, I'm hoping that simplicity will be the ticket this time around! Your consolidated tank looks great by the way! Very unique for sure. But yes, I'm hoping that frequent and substantial water changes will be the ticket. My ideas started shifting when I heard about people on here and other sites running picos of 2.5g or less. In some cases, these people claim to do 90%-100% water changes weekly. And they claim to keep SPS and LPS long term, even essentially replacing all the water once a week. Of course it's difficult to verify everything you read on the 'net, but it got me thinking about how hardy these animals really are. So long as you do your due diligence with testing the new water. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Looks like you're off to a good start! Link to comment
vlangel Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Thanks vlangel, I'm hoping that simplicity will be the ticket this time around! Your consolidated tank looks great by the way! Very unique for sure. But yes, I'm hoping that frequent and substantial water changes will be the ticket. My ideas started shifting when I heard about people on here and other sites running picos of 2.5g or less. In some cases, these people claim to do 90%-100% water changes weekly. And they claim to keep SPS and LPS long term, even essentially replacing all the water once a week. Of course it's difficult to verify everything you read on the 'net, but it got me thinking about how hardy these animals really are. So long as you do your due diligence with testing the new water. Thanks for the kind words! I dragged my feet so long about consolidating the tanks because I loved my midas blenny, clownfish and clam and none of them could go in the seahorse tank. However, once I decided to do it, it was the best thing I ever did. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 After testing for the last 2 weeks or so, I noticed that my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were all holding steady (1ppm, 0ppm, and 0ppm respectively). Since I started my tank with dry rock, I can only assume that the cycle isn't going anywhere because of the dry rock. As much as it pains me, I drove to the closest LFS to me (over an hour away) and picked up some rock rubble. The rock at the LFS is usually pretty mediocre, but I was surprised this time around. I actually got some quality pieces. Some of them have great coloration (coralline) and some even have mini-feather dusters.I also picked up a few certih snails, which are in quarantine (not the 1ppm ammonia tank, don't worry). Since I'm going snail-only on the CUC, I also replaced the splash guard on my DIY ATO with something that's actually snail-proof.Once the cycle is over I'm planning on getting two Picasso clowns. The ORAs on LiveAquaria are expensive, but I trust their customer service, so I think I'll eventually get them from there.New FTS. Not much has changed. Good for historical purposes though Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Yesterday I received the only two fish I plan on having in the tank, 2x ORA tank-bred True Perculas from LiveAquaria. I was originally planning on getting a pair of Picasso, but after reviewing the options and prices, $70+ for just a run-of-the-mill Picasso, with only slightly larger bars than a standard True Percula, was not worth it to me.. at around $20/each, I felt the True Perculas are a much better value in my case.Here's the best pic I've got so far of them:They arrived okay and only seemed slightly stressed after the acclimation process. I did have a few bones with the order, however. Firstly, the shipment didn't arrive until 16:25 EST. UPS tracking information said the shipment would be delivered by 10:30 EST (Next Day Air). I guess not a huge deal, as the clowns seem to be doing okay. But, if I had known that UPS wouldn't honor their delivery time and they would be sloshing around in their own filth on the truck for an additional 8 hours, I would have had them dropped off at a local store and picked them up myself earlier in the day. Second, LiveAquaria said the size "small" clowns are between 3/4" and 1 1/4". The fish I received are at least an inch and a half, perhaps more. Not the end of the world, but the larger these fish are, the greater the chance one (or both) has already changed to female (at least the way I understand it). Additionally, I was hoping to get one clown that was at least a bit larger than the other, but they're both almost the exact same size. One is perhaps 5% larger than the other, but that's it. This one's not LiveAquaria's fault at all, as there's no guarantee on size.. I was just kind of hoping. As long as one of them hasn't transitioned to female, I think they can establish who is the dominant without killing each other.Overall, not a terrible experience. Just a few minor quibbles. On the plus side, the one clown has a very wide center white bar, and the white bar on its tail extends pretty far up the body (read: could be considered semi-Picasso). She should look very pretty once her black colors develop between the bars. And they're from ORA, which I understand produces very healthy tank bred fishes.I'll post more pics once I can get a few good ones and once they're fully adjusted to their home. Since I got them so late in the day yesterday, I didn't have a chance to have the tank lights on yet. Link to comment
Droy008 Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Love those clowns. Very interested to see how this tank goes for you, I love the simplicity of it. Link to comment
vlangel Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Darling little clownfish! I will be watching for more pics of them when they settle in. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Thanks for the replies, Droy and vlangel! They do seem very personable and seem to be acclimating well. They're not displaying any erratic behavior, and they're getting along despite being almost the same size. I tried feeding NLS 1mm pellets a little earlier today, which I read is one of the things ORA feeds their fish, but they must have just not been ready to eat yet. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. After the lights being on for only a few hours, they seem much more calm (although they're still hanging around my ATO's float switch, for some odd reason. Link to comment
vlangel Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Thanks for the replies, Droy and vlangel! They do seem very personable and seem to be acclimating well. They're not displaying any erratic behavior, and they're getting along despite being almost the same size. I tried feeding NLS 1mm pellets a little earlier today, which I read is one of the things ORA feeds their fish, but they must have just not been ready to eat yet. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. After the lights being on for only a few hours, they seem much more calm (although they're still hanging around my ATO's float switch, for some odd reason. Clowns seem to choose a spot in the tank where they feel safe or just want to hang out and that is where they spend most of their time. I guess its the same instinct that drives them to find an anemone and then stay close once they have found one. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 It's been a while since I've updated, so I just wanted to drop by and post a new pic and give a status update on the tank. First things first, FTS:The biggest news in the tank is I'm battling a pretty serious algae outbreak. I'll get to the details on that in a minute. The good news is there's a lot of goods stuff going on in the tank. I think the algae caught a ride in on the rock rubble I got from the LFS. These pieces are growing coralline algae VERY quickly. I'm hoping that as soon as I get some of the algae taken care of, it'll begin to spread to the other rocks. Also, while I haven't seen many amphipods (1, to be precise), my tank is absolutely TEEMING with copepods, and spirobid worms are popping up everywhere. I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount that made it in from just a measly pound of rock rubble.In other news, my clowns are getting along just fine. I was worried they'd both be very aggressive toward each other since the two I received were both larger and similar in size. They haven't been figthing at all, however. I've seen both of them doing the "submissive dance" to one another. I'm not sure what that means, or if they've chosen an alpha yet, but they're getting along perfectly and haven't been aggressive toward one another even the tiniest bit, so I'm not complaining.I changed my aquascape just a bit as well. I was doing some manual removal of the algae and while trying to get the one rock to lean up against the other, I sort of liked the look of the rock just laying flat. I decided to leave it that way. This will give me more room for vertical coral growth (I know, counting my chickens).Now back to the algae. It looks like GHA. There are probably a few reasons why I'm having such a hard time with it.First is overfeeding. I had to take a trip for work last week (left Sunday morning, got back late Wednesday night). It was an unplanned trip, or else I wouldn't have ordered the fish. To make a long story short, I was leaving on Sunday, and the fish had only arrived that Tuesday. They had barely started eating, so I made sure to feed them as much as I could (within reason) before leaving so they'd be okay while I was gone. They made it through just fine. Second is that I had serious detritus buildup. The tank has been up for just about 2 months now, and I have been doing weekly water changes and siphoning junk as I go... but when I returned back from the trip, there were piles and piles of detritus everywhere. Mostly snail poop, but still, just a ton of garbage polluting the water. That's probably where a good bulk of the algae is coming from. To combat this, I got a cheap HOB filter and some Marineland floss from the local Petsmart for some mechanical filtration (don't worry, I'm changing the floss every 3 days at the most). I'm basting the rocks and the few dead spots daily in order to stir up the junk and give the filter some time to catch it. I also have begun doing daily water changes of 1 gallon. I got a large Brute trash can and have decided to mix up about 15 gallons of saltwater at a time and simply do a gallon change a day with that until it's gone. I'll then mix up another 15 gallons and repeat. The daily water changes give me a daily opportunity to siphon off some detritus and to baste the rocks to get as much junk out as I can.Third is something I'm just sort of considering very recently, and that is the dry rock I'm using. I got the dry rock from an aquantence when he was breaking down his tank. I hadn't asked many questions about his tank or what it was used for, but I think he may have used it for a FOWLR tank, and I think he may have had nutrient problems. Long story short, this rock may have absorbed a significant amount of phosphates and other nutrients from his tank, and those may be leaching out now. This could be why the algae outbreak was so severe in my last tank. It's hard to say.Regardless, my daily water changes, along with daily siphoning/basting and some mechanical filtration, should bring the outbreak under control. I also ordered a simple airstone skimmer as well, and hope to receive that in the next week or so. I'm hoping that as the tank becomes more established, I can reduce the frequency of the water changes and/or remove the HOB. I'll have to let the tank dictate that.One thing I will say is that this whole experience with trying to keep the tank clean has made me glad that I've gone with a bare-bottom setup. In my previous tanks with sand, I don't think I ever would have noticed all the junk building up. I never cleaned my sand in previous tanks because I wasn't sure how best to do it. But I'm loving the ease of cleaning that this bare-bottom brings.There are a few other updates (modified my AI Sol, added a PWM controller to my peristaltic-based ATO), but those will have to wait for another time. This post is long enough as it is! Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Been a while since I posted last, so I figured it's time for an update. Here's a current FTS: A few developments. First, I ordered a cheap airstone driven skimmer off Ebay. It's pulling decent skimmate for only being installed for a week and it was really cheap ($23), so overall I'm happy with it. Since I've got a skimmer, I've also started dosing organic carbon. I'm still having some lingering algae issues, even after manual removal and daily 1g water changes. I'm hoping that as things move along, I'll be able to get back to my weekly 25% water changes, especially since I now have the skimmer. I hopefully will be able to back off of the organic carbon dosing as well.. don't want to if I don't have to. Other than that, all, is well. My one larger clown, who I believe to be the female, developed some discoloration last week and looked like she had 2 bruises on her side. Oddly enough, it showed up one morning and got worse throughout the day and the very next day was gone. She's been eating and acting normally since then. My DIY ATO kept shorting out float switches, so I decided to run it solely on a timer. It's on for 3 minutes every six hours and that takes care of my top off needs for the day. At a top off rate of around 1oz/minute, that equates to about 3 cups per day. Timer-only is not ideal, IMO, as evaporation rates will change throughout the year, but I feel like it's a decent compromise. I'd have to be gone for a very long time and evaporation would have to fluctuate very rapidly for there to be a drastic increase or decrease in salinity. My goal to make an affordable dosing pump has sort of fizzled out. The problem I'm running into is when I try to control hobby-grade pumps with a PWM circuit, eventually there's a point where the motor doesn't turn. The pulse isn't long enough to get the motor going. I've ordered a looping on/off circuit that I'm going to test with the pump to see if I can get that working as desired. Using short on/off bursts, I should be able to dial the pump in and get it dosing small enough amounts. My goal was to get a pump together cheap enough that I could make a few for other interested Nano Reefers at a price point of $30, but it looks like the parts alone are going to cost almost $25 now. That's still a decent price for dosing pumps for myself, but it's a tougher sell to others after I build in customer service margins and profit.I I'm hoping that in the next week or so, the algae is under control and I'll be able to get some corals. We'll see how the tank looks. Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 It will be good to see some coral in there. Glad the clowns are getting along well and nothing serious materialized with the bigger clown's so called bruises. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Thanks Dawn, I'm very glad nothing ever became of that odd discoloration. It worried me, but nothing has been off since then. Time for a weekly update! Here's the latest FTS:Not too much has changed overall with the operational aspects of the tank. I've discontinued daily water changes as they were sending my skimmer into overdrive every day. I'm doing 3g weekly changes and completed one today. I'm continuing to dose carbon and am up to 0.5 ml/day total. I've also set my skimmer to skim a little on the wet side. On the dry side, it was pulling some pretty dark skimmate, but it was not pulling much. I may adjust later on, however my skimmer has an airline out let, so I don't need to worry about emptying the cup frequently. Ever since my one clown had that odd discoloration a week or two ago, I have been feeding twice daily. I'm dropping that back to once a day since I've found a food that they eat very readily and I don't think that twice a day is really necessary.I added the first two corals this week. I felt now was an appropriate time as the algae has plateaued and I feel is beginning to receed. That, and Dr. Mac over at Pacific East Aquaculture was having a 50% off sale on all of his $15 and over frags, and when you combine that with $20 shipping since I live in PAE's backyard, I couldn't refuse getting a few corals to test the waters.I got a green/blue Ricordea florida and a green birdsnest. Both corals arrived in great health. I'm having trouble getting good pictures of the ricordea because I'm terrible at photography, but it's a pretty run-of-the-mill blue/green ric (not a slight to the specimen at all.. just why I'm not killing myself to get a good pic). Additionally, the ricordea has not one, not two, but three mouths! It looks like it might be reaching out for more light, so I'm going to start moving it up in the tank over the next week to see where it's happy. I'm currently running the AI Sol Blue at 35/35/45 (white/blue/royal blue). The green birdsnest has been doing very well since acclimating to the tank. The polyp extension has been great since adding to the tank, and the only time I ever see polyps retracted is after I annoy it by stirring up detritus in the tank. It's my first SPS ever and I'm not a pro by any means, but it's appears to be a very healthy frag. The birdsnest actually looks MUCH better in person than it did on the site. Here's the picture PAE had on the listing:And here's what I feel is an accurate representation of the color in my tank:Very colorful and a great looking specimen. I'm probably going to wait until next month or so to get more corals. I want to make sure these two are doing well before I add some more. Plus I need to work out placement and securing to my live rock. I'm planning on a pink stylo and maybe an orange ricordea next. I think I'm eventually going to get some zoas, but I'm having a hard time deciding which ones and where to get them. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 Time for a weekly update and FTS:I was going to give an update yesterday (Sunday) after my water change, but I miscalculated and dosed double the magnesium that I was supposed to into my new saltwater (grr). So I had to filter more RO/DI water, double the volume, remix, re-test, and re-dose. Long story short, here we are today. Annoying, but at least I caught my mistake early and didn't put the water into the tank.All inhabitants are doing just fine. The fish are behaving normally and are eating as if they are trying to satire how much real pigs eat. The two corals, the Ricordea fl. and the green birdsnest, are also doing exceptionally well.I'm seeing great progress with the organic carbon dosing. I'm up to 1.5ml vodka per day, a level to which I ramped up over the last 3 weeks. During my daily rock basting routine, algae is letting go of the rocks in tufts. The skimmer is still pulling watery skimmate the color of green tea, but the foam in the collection cup is seriously dense and takes forever to collapse (which I hear is good when carbon dosing). I'll continue to ramp up next week if needed, but with the rate the algae is falling off my rocks, I may be able to hold steady at 1.5ml/day.Moving on to new eqiupment. I got some waterpoof magnets and eggcrate from BRS to make a DIY frag rack (visible in the FTS, the ricordea is in the rack now). I got tired of my snails bulldozing the corals into the rocks while I let them acclimate to the light on the bottom. My greatest fear was they would push the birdsnest into the ricordea, or vice versa, which would undoubtedly kill the birdsnest. I think the ricordea is happy where it is. It expands pretty far. I'm not sure if it's reaching for light or if it's just expanding because it's happy. I figure it'll brown out if it needs more light, so I'll move it if that happens. My plan for now though is to find a decent size rock, drill a hole, and let the ricordea settle in and start covering it (hopefully!). The birdsnest has been looking great, always having fantastic polyp extension. The polyps still appear to be a vibrant green color, but the flesh of the coral appears to be darkening up nicely. If you Google for pictures of green birdsnest, you'll notice the flesh on the skeleton typically looks to be what I call a healthy brownish color with vibrant green polyps. My birds nest appears to be moving this direction. I hope I can move it up a few inches without it losing color. Once I secure the ricordea to a rock, I'll transfer the birdsnest to the frag rack and start moving it up.I also replaced my Koralia 425 with a Vortech MP10wES from thatguytom on Nano-Reef (great transaction, by the way!). The reason I made the jump to this pump is because at times it appeared my ricordea was not happy with the amount of flow it was getting. The only way I could get it to look somewhat happy was to shield it with a rock. Thanks to the adjustable nature of the Vortechs, I was able to find flow that makes the polyps sway on the birdsnest, but allows the ricordea to remain happy. More importantly, I have random flow and can adjust as needed later.I've had my existing corals for about 2 weeks, but already I'm wanting more. I'm taking it slow, resolved to waiting at least 3 weeks before I get my next batch, but I've decided what I'd like to get at least. I'm planning on getting a pink stylophora, maybe a green or purple monti cap, and perhaps another frag of birdsnest (pink or purple polyped). Pacific East Aquaculture has dirt cheap SPS frags and $20 shipping for me, so it's a great buy.As far as side projects, I received the time-delay relay this week, so I'm going to be experimenting with my DIY dosing pump a bit more. I've also started working on a battery backup project that will function like a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). In the event the power goes out, the batteries will kick in, and they'll shut off when power comes back on. The beauty of this design is I'm using my own batteries, inverter, and power supply, so I can scale up the system to any size or specification. More to come on both those endeavors next week. Link to comment
SantaMonicaHelp Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Looking great! I love the nice, clean, keep-it-simple look SF Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted May 11, 2016 Author Share Posted May 11, 2016 Thanks SM, my goal is to have a simple, open look with a few hard corals. We'll see if I can do it Anyway, it's been a while since my last update. No pictures this time around, just a bit of an FYI.I added a green and purple monti cap as well as a pink stylo since my last update. (Mostly) everything is doing well. The fish are healthy and most of the corals are in good health. My green seriatopora had some tissue recession near the base. I noticed a strand of thick, wiry algae bouncing around on the base and was able to manually extract it with some tweezers. The recession has stopped and hasn't moved at all in the past 2 weeks or so, which leads me to believe it was the algae irritating the flesh. My alkalinity is rock solid and I match that with every water change, so I don't think that could be the cause.Now, the not so good news... the green monti cap is a goner. I saw what appeared to be algae stuck to the top one day and gently attempted to blow it off with a turkey baster. When I did so, all the flesh blew off instantly, leaving only a white skeleton behind. I was devastated, not because the frag was particularly expensive, but because at the time I had no clue what caused it. My water quality is good (aside from some excess nutrients), and I match alkalinity, calcium and magnesium with each one of my weekly water changes (as well as the obvious parameters like salinity and temperature). I was really beating myself up and it was a bit of a disheartening moment because I couldn't figure out why the coral suddenly perished. The answer is sort of a good news/bad news type deal... the parameters weren't the problem.. I have a monti eating nudibranch infestation. Looking on the underside of the dead skeleton, I saw several small "feather duster" looking things. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than the dreaded MEN. I dipped the surviving purple monti in Bayer immediately and am currently setting up a small quarantine tank where I can watch to make sure no other nudis surface. This will also leave my main tank monti-less and give the nudis a chance to die off.I was able to finish my DIY dosing pump and switched to dosing vodka using that, but have experienced a substantial algal bloom since then. It wasn't sudden, so I think my dosing pump may not be delivering as much vodka as the tank needs. I've gone back to manual dosing and will revisit later. I haven't changed my feeding habits and my lighting schedule is the same. Additionally, the skimmer now struggles to pull skimmate with any color whatsoever.I'm also planning to get a reactor to run some GFO, hopefully sometime this month. I'm becoming more and more convinced that my algae problem is a phosphorus problem. While I admittedly don't test for phosphates, I'm using dry rock that I believe might be leaching PO4, and my nitrate readings are always zero (API test kit). Plus, I dosed vodka to the point of getting a bacterial bloom, and while the algae receded a bit, it was never gone. Since carbon dosing needs some N and P, I'm thinking the carbon dosing is using the N and the corresponding amounts of P, and there's still lots of P left over. I already have a Hydor Pico pump, so I should be able to just get a reactor of some kind and see if the GFO clears up the issue. I was debating spot treating the water weekly with lanthanum chloride, but decided against it. Though the setup and dosing may be simpler, I think there's less room for error with LC.Finally, the growth on all my corals has been abysmal. There actually hasn't been any. I'm thinking that it's either due to the PO4 issue described above, or possibly due to the lighting I'm using. I have an old AI Sol with no optics over the tank running at around 45%, and while that sounds like a lot, especially for a 10g, it doesn't feel like it. Without the optics, this fixture throws light everywhere. I'm going to try increasing the intensity by 1% per week and see if that helps with the growth at all. I think this, along with some GFO, should hopefully get things in order.I expect to receive the lighting for my QT sometime this week, early next week at the latest. I'll post when it gets here. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Hi all. It's been a while since I've had the chance to make an update. I got a new phone (Nexus 5X) and I feel the pictures are much better than with my old one, especially in color representation. Here's a current FTS:All livestock is alive and well.I finally broke down and added a sump since my last update. I've been trying to avoid the extra complexity that this would bring, but I don't think I can put it off any longer. My nuisance algae problem has only gotten slightly better.. it hasn't gone away. And this is with what I consider to be adequate husbandry (weekly 30% - 40% water changes, appropriate feeding, manual algae removal, and siphoning detritus multiple times per week). I think my issue is that I'm doing a lot of different things and none are working that well.First, I've been carbon dosing for a few months, and while I think this has helped, it's not quite the slam dunk success that I've read about with other reefers. I attribute this to one of two things: first, my rock could be leaching phosphate. The carbon dosing is using all the available N and an appropriate amount of P, but not all the P. My second guess is that my skimmer is not adequately removing the bacteria that feed on the carbon source, leading them to die in the tank and simply re-introduce the nutrients. It could be a mix of both of these factors (a little bit of excess phosphate AND a poorly performing skimmer). Either way, I carbon dosing alone was not cutting it.Second, I've been using a HOB filter for mechanical filtration, and it's a high-maintenance exercise. The little tube gets clogged with tufts of algae and detritus, and the filter floss is a pain to cut to the right size. With the sump, I'm able to use a felt filter sock. Additionally, I'm able to siphon as often as I like and pour the siphoned water straight down the overflow, guaranteeing that the water gets filtered before returning to the display.With the sump I can also run the GFO reactor I got a few weeks ago (was going to run in display, but it's too large). I was hoping to stop using the skimmer as well, as I don't feel it's very effective, but I'm going to have to hold off on that. I started reducing the carbon I was dosing, but it feels like the algae has had a bit of a resurgence. I'm going to keep the carbon where it is for the moment, meaning I'm going to have to keep skimming.The one good thing that has happened since my last update is that I finally got my battery backup system working. I'll have to do this in another post, because this has turned into a novel as it is. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 One of the things I've been very disciplined on this time around has been testing my newly mixed saltwater when I make a new batch for changes. I always test salinity, Mg, carbonate (alk), and calcium. I test alkalinity in the tank and parameter match on that every single change, while I simply target 450ppm for Ca and 1,350ppm for Mg (I test the tank for those probably once monthly). I've been saving most of the test results and decided to share them with the community.First, a bit about my salt mixing procedure. I currently use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and I test using Salifert test kits. I bought the 200g bucket of TMPR and it came in a single, non-resealable bag. I divided the salt mix into 7 separate gallon Ziploc bags and store those bags in Home Depot buckets. This is to ensure the mix stays dry, as the original bag didn't seal at all.When I do my water changes, I calculate how much salt mix I need based on how much water I'm mixing and take an equal amount from each bag. I sift and agitate each bag before taking the salt from it. I've found that I need about 3.63 grams of salt per PPT of salinity per gallon of water. This number roughly correlates to the weight of the bucket and the amount of water it's supposed to make. For example, if I was mixing 5 gallons of water: 5g RO/DI water x 3.63 grams of mix per ppt x 35 PPT desired salinity = about 635g salt mix. I started out with 7 Ziploc bags of salt mix, meaning I take about 91g of salt mix from each (635g total / 7 bags). Since each of the bags came from different regions of the bucket, and since I mix each small bag before taking salt from it, I feel this gives me a pretty good uniformity of salt mix and gives solid parameters. The test results seem to agree.Here are my raw numbers:Calcium Results:Carbonate (alkalinity) results:Magnesium results:I've drawn a few conclusions from these tests.First, the results are remarkably stable. When you consider that hobbyist test kits probably have a margin of error of +/- 10%, these numbers are very, VERY close. Good on Tropic Marin for making a consistent mix.Second, I barely have to adjust CA and carbonate, as these two are always almost right at the levels that I want. However, Magnesium is always a problem. It consistently mixes up at 1,100 - 1,200. If you look at my test results from yesterday (6/26), you'll see that Mg was at around 1,200. For Ca and carbonate, I only had to dose a few mls to get them squared away. I had to dose over 60 ml of Mg to bring it up to 1,350.Third, in relation to the above conclusion, TMPR is not worth the money. I've ordered a 200g box of standard IO and will be slowly transitioning to that until my current salt mix is gone. If I'm going to be testing every new batch (which really, I don't think I could go without after doing it), and I'm going to have to dose the saltwater to get it where I want it anyway, why spend $90+ on a bucket of TMPR when IO costs $50/box?Fourth, I REALLY like testing each new batch of saltwater, and would highly recommend it to everyone, at least for the big three (Ca, Alk, Mg). It's really comforting to at least know that the water I'm putting into my tank has been tested and is very close, if not an exact match, to the water already in the tank. I sort of avoided testing in the past, especially since the Salifert kits were really intimidating at first. I probably spend about 2 minutes doing each test after getting used to it, which means everything is tested in under 10 minutes. Anyways, just wanted to share my findings. Hope some of you find this useful Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted July 6, 2016 Author Share Posted July 6, 2016 Well, looks like my 10g is about to become a 20L, courtesy of Petco's dollar per gallon tank sale (going on now til August 6th I believe).I'm traveling for business in the next few weeks, so I may wait til I get back to change out the tank. I just want to be around in case something goes wrong. I may get impatient though, so we'll have to see.Not much other news besides that. I found a local source for aquarium livestock and I'm getting a cleaner shrimp tonight. I'm continuing to ramp up my GFO usage as well. I started with 1 tbsp, upped it to 2 tbsp a week later, and just upped to 4 tbsp yesterday. I'm changing out every week or so until I get the phosphate problem under control. I'm still getting algae growing on my glass between weekly changes and there isn't any noticable change in the algae on the rocks, so I'm going to slowly ramp up until I get that under control.I got a box of standard Instant Ocean (got tired of dosing newly mixed TMPR) and have found that it mixes up to very high levels (1,435 ppm Mg, 11.8 dKh, and 445 Ca). As a result, I've stopped carbon dosing and began elevating the dKh to match that so my water changes don't shock the corals.I'm currently doing a write-up on my battery backup system and will hopefully post that in the next few days. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 It's official, my 10g is now a 20g long! And look, no algae:Here's one of the last FTSs I have of the 10g to illustrate the size difference we're talking about here:The transition to the new tank took about 15 minutes and after a few days, everything seems to be doing just fine. The stand that the tank is on is actually for a 29g, and since the 29g and the 20g long have the same footprint, it's a perfect match.I think I'm slowly winning the battle with the algae. Even before I switched tanks, I've been noticing good signs. The algae was beginning to thin even if not by a ton. My birdsnest frag was beginning to develop pointy tips as opposed to the rounded dull tips that it has had for so long, leading me to believe that it's growing once again. Similarly, my pink monti cap is beginning to develop a white ring around the edge, again leading me to believe it's growing again as well.To get these results I've had to use a figurative ton of GFO. Before I switched to the 20g long, I was up to using 6 tbsp, 3x the BRS calculator's recommended amount for my water volume. In that small of a tank, controlling the carbonate precipitation was a bit of a challenge, but not insurmountable. I used one of my DIY dosing pumps and a DIY baking soda alkalinity solution to keep the carbonate levels up. The carbonate swing in the 20g has been a lot less severe, thankfully.In other news, the power was out randomly at my place for over 4.5 hours on Wednesday. No wind, no rain, no storms, no nothing. My battery backup saved my bacon for sure, and this reminded me that I really need to do a write-up on it in case others are interested. Going back and looking at it, however, I had a hard time figuring out how it all works! Long story short, I got a DPDT relay which will clean up the system design quite a bit. I hope to have that installed tomorrow and get some pics soon. Link to comment
StinkyBunny Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Yea, that guy with the Cleaner shrimp is an OK Joe. I'll get that spongodes frag this weekend for you. Link to comment
chipmunkofdoom2 Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Haha thanks Stinky, that monti is going to be a great addition. Alrighty so it's been a while but I figured I'd give an update while I could.All existing livestock is doing well, and the birdsnest is even showing some pretty solid growth. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to place things so for now everything is just chilling in a frag rack.I placed a softy order from Cultivated Reef a few weeks ago and everything is doing well. Fedex royally screwed up the shipping, but everything made it okay. I got some Whammin' Watermelon zoas, some Radioactive Dragon Eyes and an orange/blue ricordea fl. I'm glad I decided to QT because I found two aiptasia on the Whammin' Watermelons. I transplanted a few of the zoas onto another frag plug and they're doing okay, but I still need to get the rest off the aiptasia rock. I'll probably do that in a few days, but I'm in no rush. I have a good QT setup and everything seems to be doing okay under the PAR38 bulb I have so I'm just letting things be for now.I needed a stand for my QT setup, however, which prompted me to make this bad boy:It's designed to fit a 20g long or standard 29g, but my 10g QT sits on it just fine. I've had leveling problems in the past, but this one is solid and level.I made some not sexy, but much needed upgrades to my main tank. I replaced the Chinese Maxijett I'm using as my return pump with one of the Cobalt ones and it's so much quieter. I also replaced my DI stage on my RO/DI unit. The old one was some weird canister style that was very difficult to fill. I got the dual DI unit from BRS which are a lot easier to fill and maintain.I've officially gone on the warpath with the nutrients in my tank. I don't have tons of algae growing on my rocks, but I have a ton growing on my glass every two to three days. I've been changing my GFO weekly for the first few weeks so that it doesnt' get saturated because of my high PO4 levels, and that's not cutting it. I was up to a cup and a half of GFO changed weekly, along with weekly 25% water changes, with no visible change in algae. I've gone to 25% water changes every three days, as well as swapping out the GFO every 3 days as well. I'm fairly certain the rock I have is the problem.. StinkyBunny has had some rock from the same place (That Fish Place) and has confirmed that this rock leaches PO4 like nobody's business. Things are getting better, as my birdsnest is showing new growth.. but it feels like something is wrong still.I still need to swap out one relay in my battery backup system and give an overview of that. It works as is now though, so it's hard to spend the time. My next upgrade depends. I kind of want to upgrade my light (AI Sol Blue). I was thinking adding some neutral or warm white LEDs, or simply DIYing a Nanobox two-array fixture. I've been wanting a simple controller like the RKL (I need some sort of backup to my heater's internal controller). I may just forego the light and get some more corals. Who knows.Anyway, I got this video on camera a few weeks ago, it's so funny. A piece of the rockwork broke off and they kept trying to move it, but failed. Link to comment
flatlandreefer Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Neat tank! I really like your detailed tank thread, also I think the upgrade to the 20L was a good decision. Link to comment
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