Zach's 120 Gallon Reef Resurgence

[zachxlutz]

Does anyone else have any Anthias that like to much on nori as it gets torn off by their herbivorous pals?

 

[zachxlutz]

This weekend I put some finishing touches on a few things that had been put on the back burner. The reinforcement board for the lights needed painting to match the surrounding ceiling area. Looks much better than the raw wood and really blends in now. I need to put some caulking around where the wood meets the ceiling, the popcorn finish made for some unsightly gaps.

Finished up painting the exterior of the stand and got it permanently attached to the structural portions. The sides are attached with velcro for ease of access. Fashioned up a little L shaped cover for all the wiring traveling from the tank to the equipment cabinet. The temperature cord is a little short and won't make the turns required to hide it. I need to find an extension for it. Anyone have any ideas? Sounds like a trip to Fry's or MicroCenter is needed. I believe it's a molex connector. Seems pretty standard.

So dark and mysterious...

[zachxlutz]

At some point, on some forum, I saw someone using a nice little storage container to hold all of their testing equipment and reagents and thought it was a great idea. Well, I was shopping at Lowe's the other day and came across this nice little deal and thought I'd share how I'm using it. 

Stack-On Deep Cup Organizer from Lowe's.

It's a great container, all the bins come out for ease of use, it keeps my reagents nice and dry and keeps everything clean and in one spot.

Top Row, Left to Right:

• Nitrate/Phosphate color wheel, refractometer calibration fluids, salinity pipettes
• Red Sea Nitrate
• Red Sea Phosphate
• Salifert Calcium
  

Middle Row, Left to Right:

• Miscellaneous vials, extra Hannah alkalinity reagent, cleaning microfiber rag
• SR Aquaristik Speed Test portable magnetic stirrer
• Hannah Alkalinity Colorimeter 
• Red Sea Magnesium
  

Bottom Row, Left to Right:

• Red Sea Coral Colors Test (Iodine)
• Red Sea Coral Colors Test (Potassium and Iron)
  

This little container has been immensely helpful in keeping things stored nice and neat. I hope it helps you out if you get to try it too!

[zachxlutz]

How has the Nitrate dosing worked out for you after a month? Are you noticing better colors in your SPS?

I believe it has worked exceptionally well with regards to coral coloration.

Some details and notes:

Since beginning dosing on 12/16/16, 245.5 ml of KNO3 solution has been added to the tank, usually between the amounts of 5 ml and 20 ml, but as much as 30 ml when I was first getting started.

245.5 ml of the KNO3 solution equals 49.48 ppm NO3 (nitrate) and 31.24 ppm K (potassium) added to the tank.

I've also dosed Vibrant weekly for 9 weeks at 15 ml for a total of 135 ml.

Vibrant plays a role in the reduction of NO3, as well as the natural uptake of NO3 by coral, algae, etc.

Recently I've noticed I don't have to dose as much KNO3 solution, so I think I'm starting to reach a sort of equilibrium. I believe that the combination of dosing Vibrant and KNO3 has allowed the tank to have appreciable nutrient levels with a lack of nuisance algae and has allowed the tank to avoid almost all of the new tank "uglies".

I've also pulled my GFO offline and have not been running any form of phosphate reduction since 11/28/16 and my phosphates have never risen over .08 ppm, usually hovering around .03 ppm. That being said, I feed A LOT. I have a auto feeder dropping in a pinch of pellets 4 times a day, plus supplemental frozen feeding and nori daily. I believe that keeping the NO3 value elevated higher is helping with the reduction of phosphates due to the Redfield Ratio (debateable, but seemingly verifiable).

I believe that the addition of KNO3 and Vibrant to the system has created a nutrient rich system with almost no algae growth, better coloration and an overall healthy look to the tank.

The most recent additions of Tyree Blue Acro and Orange Fungia have held their colors amazingly well, while the remainder of the corals seem to be coloring up, growing great and showing great polyp extension. The montipora spongodes and setosa are showing the slowest signs of recovery, but they lost almost all color within the first few days of entering the tank during the nutrient poor period. SPS coral seems to be quick to decline and very slow to recover.

Thanks for checking in. I'm hoping to add some more fish to the system soon which should help to reduce my need for supplemental KNO3 dosing.

[zachxlutz]

PHOTO DUMP!

02/28/2017 FTS:


Chameleon Acro:

Showing really good coloration, growth and encrusting since parameters have been stable at target levels. This one was just purple and brown for the longest time in my system and is steadily improving and coloring up.

Red Planet Acro:

Just added this one to the system on Saturday. Things got a little messy with the superglue... can't wait to see this one color up and start tabling.

Tyree Blue Matrix Acro and Green Psammocora:

Added this acro pretty recently, showing great blue coloration and huge polyp extension... a little peeved in this photo because the flow was off and the tank was stagnant.

Orange Fungia and Meteor Shower Cyphastrea:


Montipora Digitata:


Purple/Pink Birdsnest and some photobombing anthias:

See the bubble algae? Hoping the Vibrant dosing 1x per week knocks that out.

Green Birdsnest:


Mint Pavona:

Montipora Setosa:

Still recovering from the sterile tank situation but starting to show some deeper colors.

Mystic Sunset Montipora:

Growth is great, coloration is great. Happy camper over here. Still dosing Vibrant weekly and KNO3 as needed.

[zachxlutz]

I did a little clean-up work on the reactor plumbing the other night... I'm quickly running out of room under the stand, so I'm trying to get things as clean and organized as possible. I need to come up with a plan to mount my new Jebao DP-4 dosing pump along with the 4 bottles of diluted Red Sea Coral Colors. I'm thinking about redesigning the entire dosing setup and building a new mount for the BRS dosing pumps and somehow incorporating the DP-4 to be mounted all in the same area. I also need to come up with a solution for the Cal/Alk containers. Thoughts?

[zachxlutz]

Sneak Preview:

I built a simple dosing pump stand out of some extra red acrylic I have for my new DIY sump project. Dosing containers and final touches coming soon.

[zachxlutz]

...and now we've automated Red Sea Coral Color dosing!

I fabricated this little acrylic shelf for the Jebao DP-4 dosing pump, some 500ml Voss water bottles for the Coral Color solutions and some tubing routing and we're in business.

The Voss bottles are holding 50 ml of each A,B,C and D (respectively) with 450 ml of RO/DI water. This provides a lower concentration of the solution, therefore providing a more consistent and even dosing regimen.

I still need to make another dosing tube holder to fit on the trim of the sump similar to the tube holder the ATO, Cal and Alk lines fit in.

[RIP Sebastian]

How do you like the Coral Colors?

[zachxlutz]

36 minutes ago, RIP Sebastian said:

How do you like the Coral Colors?

It's tough to say.

 

The tank is really thriving lately and it's hard to point to one particular aspect of the husbandry that I can directly attribute to the tank's success. I believe a well rounded approach to tank maintenance is giving the great results. Water changes, Vibrant dosing, Coral Colors dosing and KNO3 dosing all have their place in my little ecosystem.

 

FYI: I do have a full panel of tests available to test for the Red Sea Coral Colors elements I'm dosing... I wouldn't recommend dosing these without the ability to test for them.

[RIP Sebastian]

Thanks!

[Christopher Marks]

Impressive dosing setup, very tidy! Nice work!

[zachxlutz]

15 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

Thanks!

 

Any time.

 

15 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Impressive dosing setup, very tidy! Nice work!

 

Thanks! I'm not sure it's impressive, but it's definitely something!

[zachxlutz]

So, someone (I'm not pointing fingers but I'm looking at you Mr. Magnificent...) got spooked last night when I was cleaning the glass or doing something in the tank and broke a frag off of the Montipora Spongodes. This Monti had been through some stress when my tank was nutrient poor and was just finally starting to color back up and show some growth. Hopefully, the stress of the impromptu fragging doesn't set back the progress of the main colony.

This was my first time gluing one of my own frags to a disk... The BRS superglue took forever to set up and I felt like I was doing some damage to the coral while I was holding it from falling over. Any tips or tricks for getting the super glue to set up faster?

[Ibuyen]

soak the glue with some water once it on frag disc, will harden or start the process quicker

[zachxlutz]

18 minutes ago, Ibuyen said:

soak the glue with some water once it on frag disc, will harden or start the process quicker

Thanks, that seems to be the consensus. That and maybe using an accelerator. 

[zachxlutz]

New Fish!

I picked up two female leopard wrasses and a blue stripe threadfin fairy wrasse (Temminckii) today, acclimated them and tossed them in QT. The Leopard wrasses are out hunting pods like crazy and the blue stripe is a little more timid. All three ate frozen mysis at my LFS, so I'm hoping they all transition to their new homes without incident.

Leopard Wrasses:

Blue Stripe / Threadfin (Temminckii) Wrasse:

...and VIDEO!

 

[RIP Sebastian]

Neat!

[zachxlutz]

MAIL DAY!

 

I've been itching for an apex and finally pulled the trigger. I also got some essentials I feel I've been missing lately.

 

[zachxlutz]

I just placed an order with Tidal Gardens during their YouTube live sale. Well, I missed it live, I was out riding my mountain bike, but once I got home and saw that many of the corals I would have ordered during the live portion were still available, I went ahead and got my order in before they took down the corals from the site. I had a gift card from Christmas, so I kind of went berserk...

• Purple Bonsai acropora
• Frogskin acropora
• Pink Sand Dollar montipora
• Strawberry Patch montipora
• Sunset montipora
• Neon Green montipora
• Superman montipora
• Purple Haze montipora
• Pink Floyd chalice
• Red Stripe chalice
• Hollywood Stunner chalice
• Hill Have Eyes chalice

Can't wait for these to show up! 2 acros, 6 montis, 4 chalices... This is really going to help fill out some bare spots in the tank. 

[zachxlutz]

Ho-lee mo-lee. That was stressful... My order from Tidal Gardens showed up this morning, so I spent my lunch break (plus some) acclimating, dipping and putting the coral in the tank.

A couple of notable things.

• Looks like I got a couple of AEFW (acropora eating flatworms, Amakusaplana acroporae) to detach in the CoralRX dip.
  

• Spotted an aiptasia on the bottom of one of the chalice frag plugs. - broke the end of that frag plug off.
• I didn't remove any of the corals from their plugs (my usual process) as I was already at a high stress level from receiving that many frags at once.
  

Left to Right 

1. Pink Sand Dollar Monti
2. Frogskin Acro
3. Neon Green Monti
4. Strawberry Patch Monti
5. Purple Haze Monti
6. Purple Bonsai Acro
7. Sunset Monti
8. Superman Monti
   

 

Left to Right 

1. Red Stripe Chalice
2. Hills Have Eyes Chalice
3. Pink Floyd Chalice
4. Hollywood Stunner Chalice
   

I hope the CoralRX dip and the Bayer dip handled the AEFWs. I'm very stressed about this. What should my next steps be? I'm thinking I'll remove all the frags from the frag plugs tonight and reglue them all to new frag plugs to observe for a while before placing the corals in the rockwork? I realize I probably should have just done this before placing them in the tank.

Ugh. I really hope I didn't introduce any pests into the tank.

[zachxlutz]

Last night, I mounted the Chalice frags on small pieces of live rock rubble so that I can move them around a bit once I see how far the sweepers extend. I placed them all on the lower part of the left island. I'll post a picture or two this evening. I still need to mount up the acros and montis but I ran out of time last night.

 

I'll be dosing Vibrant again tonight, I skipped last week and I'm moving to a bi-weekly dosing schedule rather than weekly. I didn't get any significant rise in Nitrates or Algae growth by skipping a week so I'm hoping this new dosing schedule will help even out the NO3 swings and reduce my dependence on KNO3.

 

Since picking up the Hannah ULR Phosphorus checker I've noticed that my PO4 levels are dangerously close to 0. I'm seeing very lower numbers than I'd like. .012 ppm last week and .003 ppm last night. To battle this I'm going to increase my feedings a bit more. I'm hoping that once I bring the three new wrasses over to the tank it'll help bring the nutrients up a little more. 

 

I'm dealing with a bit of STN on the montipora Setosa, although it's showing decent color and growth otherwise. I may end up having to frag it to save it. Hoping to increase the phosphates some and see the recession/bleaching stop.

[1891Bro]

Just found this thread. What a nice build! I used to live way up GA 400, I always went to Pure Reef, that was years ago now. Where is Atlanta Aquarium? Notice you get tons of stuff there. Anyway, fantastic tank. 

[zachxlutz]

13 hours ago, 1891Bro said:

Just found this thread. What a nice build! I used to live way up GA 400, I always went to Pure Reef, that was years ago now. Where is Atlanta Aquarium? Notice you get tons of stuff there. Anyway, fantastic tank. 

Awesome! Thanks for the compliments. Atlanta Aquarium is off Pleasant Hill near the Gwinnett Place Mall. Great selection and the owner Rit has a TON of knowledge and a great willingness to help his customers. 

[zachxlutz]

Quick FTS 04/07/2017:

Left Island:

See the chalices mounted on their shiny new start white rubble homes? Me too. Hopefully the rubble darkens up quickly, it's quite an eyesore now. The green psammocora refuses to look good under the full 8 bulbs, it just looks brown... Under the 2 bulbs of actinic and purple at sunrise and sunset it looks great though. :/ The Montipora spongodes is still regaining its color from when it bleached/browned out but it's well on it's way to recovery. The montipora setosa isn't looking great, to be honest. It's pale and has some STN. Not sure what's going on there. 

Right Island:

Things look fairly good over here on this side, save for the Cyphastrea issues I've got going on. It's still showing great polyp extension but the blue/green base is bleaching a bit and the polyps don't have the color they once had. The chameleon acro, red planet and red digi are all showing great encrusting.

I'm hoping the tank is just going through some new tank swings still and things will continue to improve as I control the parameters and keep them stable.

Sorry the pictures aren't great. I'll need to bust out the DSLR for some better shots. That'll wait until I get the rest of the frags mounted up. Now I just need to decide where to put them.