IM Nuvo 30L ~ Alphaeus

[al_flood]

 

 

Sorry to hear, looks like everything was fine. Sometimes we lose something in the tank mysteriously. at least he was not in there too long to trigger a spike on your parameters, never a good feeling to walk out and see half your coral in the fritz

Thanks and your right about that. Im happy I found him and took him out before any damage was done.

 

Pics will come tomorrow, I just got back from a game of kick ball with the family.

[al_flood]

Yesterday I received and installed the Jebao DCS 3000 return pump. Here are some aspects of the Jebao DCS 3000 pump that I like over the stock pump.

 

1. Less heat transfer into the tank

2. Jebao DCS 3000 is much quieter

3. Feed Mode, no more manually unplugging

4. Soft Start up, the water does not splash around when I start the pump

5. More flow

 

Now onto the ugly. I got some green algae growth in my tank, it is not green hair algae and it only grows on the rocks. My sandbed has no algae and it seems like the diatom algae has gone but replaced with this green algae. I will post some pics of the tank and algae later when I have a moment to upload the pictures from my camera.

[al_flood]

Tonight I made an emphasis on updating this thread. I've been very busy so I have not taken care of the tank how I would like. I goal is to test all my parameters every week except for Magnesium which I will test on a monthly basis, but with everything I have going on doing so proves very difficult.

 

NO3 - 2.5

PO4 - 0 / Untraceable

Cal - 450

Alk - 8.3 dKH

Mag - 1455

 

I purchased a few corals since the time I updated this thread. Here are the corals I purchased and didn't note on this thread, some of the corals I have pics for and others I don't. I will be taking pics of all my corals soon.

 

1. Bi-Color Torch (Pink & Green Tips)

2. Plate Coral

3. Pink Tip Frog Spawn

4. Water Lily Alveopora

5. Green Torch Coral

6. Red & Green War Coral

7. Birds Nest (Green)

8. Jack

9. Blue Stylo

 

I added more clean up crew to my tank.

 

1. Serpent Sea Star (Green)

2. 4x Mexican Red Leg Hermit Crabs

3. Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

4. Fighting Conch

 

All these new additions have been added within the last few weeks.

 

I've suspended the use of ZeoVit due to the green algae that's on my rock. I'm not sure what kind of algae it is and I am investigating it, but I haven't found any information on it. If anyone knows what type of algae it is please let me know. Pics below.

 

Green Algae (At Night)

 

Green Algae (During Day)

 

Green Algae (At Night #2)

 

Green Algae (During Day)

 

Plate Coral

 

Frog Spawn Coral (Pink Tips)

 

Jack-O-Latern Leptoseris

 

Finally, I'm contemplating adding another MP10 on the other side of my tank. I like running my tanks with at least 2 power heads to create random flow within my tank. That's all for right now, tomorrow I will try my best to take some pics of the corals in my tank.

[al_flood]

Here are a few pics of my corals.

 

[al_flood]

My Yasha Goby jumped out the tank and landed on top of the screen top. I had a feeling that this could possibly happen due to the space between the screen top and the sides of my aquarium. I didn't really worry about the Yasha Goby jumping from the tank because it always stayed at the bottom of my tank, and he never strayed far from his burrow.

 

Fish wise, my tank consists of the following:

 

Helfrichi Firefish Pair

Clownfish Pair

 

I am going to keep it this way for a while. I don't anticipate myself adding any additional fish.

 

In order to keep any more jumpers, I ordered a new screen top from BRS and will be getting rid of the IM screen mesh top which sucks. I also ordered the Hanna Phosphate and Alkalinity Checkers with extra regiments. I want to ensure ease and accurate readings when it comes to checking my parameters. I've read some great reviews about these checkers and the ease of using them so I am excited that I finally decided to pull the trigger and get them. I will keep the Salifert test kits to check Calcium, Magnesium, Ammonia, & Nitrate.

 

I am looking at purchasing the MaxSpect Gyre XF-130 to add to the other side of my tank. I was going to add another MP10 but I wanted to try a different pump. If anyone has an opinion of the MaxSpect Gyre XF-130 let me know...............

[al_flood]

Today I ordered some coral from AquaSD. AquaSD is a reef store I used to purchase all my livestock from when I was living in California. They have a great selection of rare and exotic corals and the owner, Will is super nice and helpful. On October 15 AquaSD had a sale and I found the sale thread on Reef2Reef and placed an order which they accepted even though the sale was 11 days ago. Shipping is a flat rate of $40 no matter how many corals you order. The coral that I am the most excited about is the Snowing Ultra BTA. I always wanted to put a BTA in my tank but didn't want the regular BTA. Here are the corals I ordered (I stole the pics from their thread, hopefully they won't mind):

 

Toxic Goniastrea

 

White Eye Hillae

 

Toxic Eyes Favia

 

Toxic Eyes Blasomussa Merletti

 

Super Splatter Hillae

Snowing Ultra BTA

 

Red Star

 

Toxic Splash

 

 

On Saturday I will be picking up a Pink Goniopora from my LRS.

[burtbollinger]

how did the new pump do with making the tank quieter?

[al_flood]

how did the new pump do with making the tank quieter?

 

I don't even know that the Jebao pump is running unless I look at the tank when I was running the stock pump it was constantly vibrating and producing heat in the tank. The stock pump was the loudest equipment in my tank. As of right now the pump works great, but we will see about longevity.

[ninjamyst]

great pics! the green algae looks like green cyano

[al_flood]

great pics! the green algae looks like green cyano

 

Hey Ninjamyst, thanks for your comment.

 

Green Cyano, was my first inclination, but I dismissed it because the algae only grow on the rocks even in the places where the flow is the greatest. I've had the regular Cyano algae in previous tanks and during water changes was able to siphon it out of the tank, the algae I currently have I cannot do this, it's stuck to the rock and there are no bubbles forming on the algae like I've seen with regular red Cyano. Before your comment, I chalked it up to the rocks changing color (this is my first time using dry rock so I may be wrong here) because I saw a video on YouTube another Reefer using Dry Rock and she had the same type of algae on her rock. I still wanted to find out what it was so I purchased the Hanna Checker for PO4, I've been using the Salifert test kits and it always shows my PO4 as undetectable and my nitrate as 2.5. I will be getting my Hanna PO4 Checker today so I will test my water for PO4 and retest for NO3 using the Salifert. There is also a possibility that whatever algae that's in the tank is utilizing the extra nutrients, therefore when I test I get the low parameters.

 

I will keep researching Green Cyano to see how I can naturally get rid of it. I'm thinking of a big water change and reduced feedings and maybe more flow in the tank. This will justify me purchasing the MaxSpect XF-130.

[al_flood]

Quick this evening using the Hanner Phosphate Low Range Checker, PO4 still reads undetectable. NO3 reads 2.5 using Salifert test kit.

[al_flood]

Today I purchased the MaxSpect Gyre XF-130 to create more randomize flow within my aquarium. I was contemplating purchasing another MP10 but I wanted to try something new and different. I've never owned a Gyre before and I have never personally seen it in action so I'm pretty excited about it. I also purchased more Seachem Matrix, 2L to be precise. The plan is to eventually get rid of MarinePure in my tank and replace it with the Matrix. The MarinePure works great but its just a pain when I have to remove it in order to clean the sump portion of the aquarium. I plan on placing the Matrix in a media bag so it will be easy to remove when cleaning. The MarinePure will be removed slowly from the system unless I find a media bag big enough to fit them in, if I do find a mesh bag big enough then I will keep them and when I get my 120 utilize them to seed the tank.

[davidrod8]

You are going to love the gyre, lots of options!!!

 

My only complaint is that it seems to be very strong for our tank, so I have to run it at a very low setting. My fish and shrimps hide while the pump is on, and when it goes off, everybody comes out to play, so I have been tweaking it so that it doesn't run too strong for the tank.

[al_flood]

You are going to love the gyre, lots of options!!!

 

My only complaint is that it seems to be very strong for our tank, so I have to run it at a very low setting. My fish and shrimps hide while the pump is on, and when it goes off, everybody comes out to play, so I have been tweaking it so that it doesn't run too strong for the tank.

 

Thanks Davidrod8 for the input. I will be receiving it tomorrow, can't wait!!!

[al_flood]

So quick update on the tank, the good and bad, new editions, new equipment and equipment removed.

 

The MaxSpect Gyre XF-130 has been added to my tank and then 3 days later I removed it. While the Gyre moves massive amounts of water, aesthetically, it was not the look I wanted for the tank. I am now running one MP10, which I turned up to about 40%-50%. During this Black Friday sale, I hope the MP10 goes on sale so I can purchase another.

 

About a month ago, 19 October to be exact I purchased a Blue/Turquiose Maxima Clam. It was about ~2.5" long (trying to go by memory should have measured it) when I got it. It is considerably larger now and I purchased a Clam holder from Marine Depot so it can attach its foot to. I also added 3 Acropora SPS corals, with the addition of the Clam and the corals my Alk started dropping very low. Before my Alk would only drop 8.3dKH at the end of the week and then I would conduct a water change to bring it back up to 9dKH. Once I adding the clam and the SPS Corals by the end of the week my Alk would be 6.9dKH.

 

I noticed my pink tip torch coral tips started turning white and it was not opening up as before. Since it was next to my Hammer Coral I decided to move it because I thought the Hammer Coral was probably stinging it, therefore the white tips. After moving it, the Torch Coral still was not doing well, this is when I tested my water parmeters and noticed my Alk was 6.9dKH. I did a water change which brought up my Alk to 7.6dKH but the next day dropped to 7.4dKH. I purchased BRS 2 Part and today I started dosing the Alk portion to bring my Alk back up to 9dKH.

 

Before dosing I tested my Alk which was at 7.4dKH and dosed 10ML which brought it up to 8dKH. Tomorrow morning before the lights turn on, I will test my Alk and more than likely dose another 10ML. I will keep doing this until my Alk reaches 9dKH. My concerns are the Cal and Mag, currently Cal measures 480, I prefer it to be 450, Mag is 1470, I prefer it to be 1400. To try and lower my Cal and Mag I may look into not doing any more water changes to see if my levels will drop but my first step is to get my Alk up to proper levels and then I will tackle the Cal and Mag.

 

My Yasha Goby died, it decided that it no longer wanted to stay in the tank and it jumped on top of the screen. I did not see that coming because it always stayed at the bottom of the tank. I bought a replacement screen from BRS to replace the stock screen the IM tanks came with but I have not installed it yet. I am looking at a screen top from Artfully Acrylic, yes I know they are very expensive but it is the look I am going for. I am trying to convince myself to spend $115 for a screen top, really cannot convince myself yet or justify the expense.

 

That's it for now, I will take pics of the tank someday when I have a chance.