C & A's 30L

[This guy is extra salty]

The stringers are actually a feeding response by a lot of corals it is a good thing...Next time use some reefroids you’ll get a huge reaction from all of them almost similar in action except nomnomnom

[CAfirstReef]

Things have settled down today. I'm getting a lot of micro-bubbles in the tank. I think I have to adjust my ghost skimmer? I'll be cleaning it tonight anyway so I'll re-adjust then.

 

Tux is on the back wall, made a huge trip to get all the way up and middle back. I hope he's just scoping out where he wants to be. Chip and Dale are just in heaven, I've forgotten how social they are! They do still frighten away sometimes, not sure why... no one knocks on their glass (my daughter's too short!) Pep shed his shell overnight and now is hiding, managed to wrangle it away from a bumblebee snail this am!

 

I want to post a picture of the moticap/motipora that survived all of this and I think even the original green one is "alive-ish" but I'm working towards those amazing macro shots that people post and I don't think I have a lens for them. I'm using a decent camera I'd like to think, with the Nikon D7200 but I only have a AF 18-400 and a G1.8 lens which are not made for that. Going to do some photography research on here and see what lens type I need.

[CAfirstReef]

Working through keeping things nice and clean. It's looking a lot better IMO now. The micro-bubbles were indeed my skimmer needing adjusting, all clear now. I do think that cleaning off my live rock in the tank was not a good idea. I think my parameters for 24 or more were severely disturbed by my disruption.

Apart from fixing my filtration compartments, I have 2 things on my list to fix and may need some advice on these.

 

1. Getting rid of the brown hair algae that has shown up, I think it was there during my cyano issue just not as prominent, but with that gone, it's the biggest eyesore left now.

 

2. Cleaning off my live rock better and re-scaping (guess that's 3). I was thinking of taking each rock out of the tank, blasting it in a bucket of tank water (either fresh mix or during a water change) with the turkey baster to get all the deterius out of the crevices. Not sure how else to clean them? any suggestions?

 

3. Re-scaping the rocks properly. Any suggestions? I'm thinking I have too many in there in the first place plus some stuff has to go. I'll post a FTS tonight to capture all the rock i have in there now but it won't look too different from the FTS's in the last few weeks

 

Also picked up a filter and a 1x,2x,4x,10x lens for my camera. only had a few minutes to play with it. here is a shot of my scoly with the regular lights on, not photo mode.

DSC_0911

[teenyreef]

For cleaning your live rock, the turkey baster is your friend. Blow everything off really well every couple days, and use it to stir up some of the sand (a different section every time). At a minimum do this before doing a water change. 

 

I'd be hesitant about removing live rock to clean it until you spend a few weeks cleaning them in place together with water and filter changes to get rid of the worst detritus. 

 

I'm glad things are going so much better! 

[CAfirstReef]

I've had a bit of a hick-up since my last post. I have some photos to go with this but I'm not able to post them atm. Will try to post tonight.

 

The brown hair algae that I thought I had, I think is in fact dino's which was kept under control by the cyano outbreak... With the cyano gone, they've take over the rock.

Backing up to my last post, It was just brown, filamentous and had no outward signs of a dino colony, since then, I have noticed bubbling and that my sand is clear overnight but when I get home in the evenings it is brown. I noticed some sensitivity of my snails and they seem to keep to the areas it's not as prominent, haven't noticed any extra shells beyond what was there for the moment. It hasn't gone onto the corals, mainly taken over where the cyano died off (from all the nutrients left behind probably). If it isn't one thing it's the next, I know all self inflicted, but I really need to fix it.

 

Current plan was:

• to keep running filter floss in my filtration compartment left side,
• do one last water change for the next while and try to get as much of the algae (dinos) out as possible - not sure i should do this atm
• add phosbond in a nylon bag sitting on paper-towels changed every 2-3 days so that the flow goes through the media, then through the paper-towels and then the biofilter media block that is already in there.
• Add microbacter7 as directed for high nutrient system for 2-3 weeks and some copepods
• no water changes for the next while

This may all change since I fear it is now Dino's. I was looking at DinoX, 2-3 days of dark, and H2O2 dosing in addition to the above. I've purchased also a silicate test. not sure that matters with dino's... 

 

Was hoping the worst was over but I hear about people re-setting because of Dino's. That's not really in the plan atm and would be an absolute disaster. So I need a new plan or continue with the above plan, not sure once again what to do .  Photos tonight.

[teenyreef]

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that! Good luck, I'll be following along to see how things go. 

[CAfirstReef]

I've been doing a lot of reading. I'm beginning to think/hope it's not dino's. The growth lacks the snotty nature and the main body of it doesn't really go away at night. The dusting on the sand bed is gone but that's all it looks like, a discolouration of the sand, nothing growing there. It is very tricky to get a photo that isn't way out of focus, still learning. I've attached the best one so far at the end of this post.

 

My best description of the problem is that the "algae" looks hairy, simple stringy structures no longer than 2cm (0.75") with some bubbles at the end. It is not easily blown off with a turkey baster, nor does it come off easy when siphoning! Seems to be attached and doesn't have a snotty look to it. All this makes me think it's more like calothrix.

 

I think my original plan would be incidentally the best course of action for this problem? (posted above)

 

Something odd happened on Friday on top of everything. I've have a frag of Acans doing great for over a month now (or close it it) and all of a sudden, when i got home on Friday they were all closed up and small, not puffy and open like before. Forgot to test the water in the situation and set up everything for a water change on Saturday first thing. They must be mad at something, they didn't open up on Sunday either. With the water change, I pulled out 1 of my 2 ancient sponges finally (the one upstream of the media block and popped in a chemipure blue bag in the caddy. (still using clean floss as my first stage) Not sure that was the right reaction, but something isn't right and carbon well, I don't think it can do any more wrong than what the acan doesn't like. Will test my water tonight. (still waiting on my order with the phosbond to come in.)

 

Also I did by copepods & rotifers, but with the acan being mad, i've stored them for the weekend. I think I'll add them tonight pending water tests results.

 

DSC_0964

[CAfirstReef]

Been quite busy, and keeping up with my maintenance. Seems to be running smoothly apart from the blob photo above. I've progressed in the filtration fix, and now I'm in the process of getting a new RO/DI system which will help.

 

With regards to the nasty blob that has overrun the tank...... I shouldn't run from it now, it must be dino's. can't let it get to me like the cyano did. So I've asked around, done tons of reading, and I'm going to try hydrogen peroxide dosing for a week at first. I'm putting together all my numbers now on dosage and length of treatment.

 

Will post up results when (not if - I hope)  I see them. Feel free to post up advice. 

 

I feel I'm close in fixing all the issues and having a smooth running tank.

 

[CAfirstReef]

Quick update. We just got back from our two week vacation, which means the tank had even less experienced hands in it for the two weeks.

With minimal training and as much prep as I could do I set off across the ocean praying that everyone would survive.

The only maintenance that was done while I was away - feeding, every 3rd day filter floss change, ATO fill up. Crazy to think that's all but I'm thankful that was done.

 

Some interesting results though!!! Right before I left, I did a bunch of water changes over the few days before, probably equal to 50% of the water in 1 week all with my new RO/DI water. My last day, when I was filling up the ATO jug, I noticed my MP10 was only 2 or 3 lights in from the left, which I thought was low or for some reason it caught my attention, so I turned the knob to see what the programmed level was... only to realize somehow it had been turned down to 25% max power!!!!! so not thinking twice, I cranked it up to the second last dot (right below 100% power) I washed my hands and got on a plane after that.

When we got home, we were really happy to see everyone alive and SHOCKED to see the growth on the rocks to have been cleared off the entire right side (MP10 side) of the tank! Overall the algae is much LESS!!!! I think not only the use of proper RODI water but the newfound increase in circulation seemed to have started solving my problem. (ooops edit - I also restocked my hermits 1 week before leaving with 10 new blue legs).

 

As a result, I'm looking now for another MP10 to put on the other side of the tank to increase the overall circulation and utilize their pairing function. The length of the 30L must be too much for a single MP10 I guess? it is 3 feet. Will need to pop that on the father's day list

 

[teenyreef]

I'm glad things went well on vacation, and that's great news about the increased flow! I agree with a three foot long tank, one MP10 is not enough. 

[CAfirstReef]

It's been a while since I've posted. My tank has been doing well, as are Chip and dale (clowns). Been keeping up for the most part with all the maintenance except had a 2 week stretch at the end of July that was oddly hectic and missed a few duties. All the algae is basically gone (none on my rocks). some dusting the sand bed but that is new and it's already going away since the photo below was taken 2 days ago (that was right before a water change) I have a small tuft that's being stubborn between my acan heads but it's partially my fault as I keep moving it around. I have to decide on where to put it and glue it down finally, it's been around for a while now and seems to be very tolerable to my maintenance and being bullied by a hermit that likes to help it move around... Now that things have calmed down since the major re-engagement int he hobby, I've taken to tracking my parameters better and most things seem to be stable now. A few weeks with a power head turned basically off did wreak havoc that takes a while to bounce back from!

 

The LFS sent out it's stock list as per usual on Friday (past) and to my amazement, for the first time since I started researching this hobby (>2 years now), they had 3 green banded gobies in QT!!!😮 (Apparently they are not available in Canada very often😞... don't know why.) So ofc I emailed the store up asking when they will be out of QT (Saturday) and I reserved 2! They have been on our shopping list for a while, one of the fish my wife and I both really liked. In any case, long story short, we now have 2 very small GBG's in QT at home and a 6-line wrasse (who hopefully won't hurl himself out of the QT tank the day before move in again... 🙁 better lid on the QT tank this time).  It's been a long time coming to get a new wrasse but I wanted to make sure things are stable and not rock the boat too much as I re-learn everything. One GBG is bouncing around, eating when fed and looks in great shape/spirit, the other one is a bit slower but I've seen him eat. I hope the whole traveling ordeal didn't get him hurt, they did post 3 available and I would have taken the third after thinking about it but he was gone by Sunday when I got to the store, not sure if he was sold, if they kept him or if he didn't make it.

 

I'm getting to a good point in the hobby I believe and will be slowly allowing my tank to mature. Don't get me wrong. I'm NOT going to run out and buy 20 corals to fill the tank and hope that they live, Just going to keep what I have in good shape for now and enjoy our new baby that is due in the next few weeks! (I couldn't pass the GBG's though... otherwise the wrasse would have also been a fall purchase)

Here is a FTS with my cell phone without filters (sorry it's dark and makes the sand look a lot worse than it is) and one of the 2 GBG's - Going to need to come up with names...

[A Little Blue]

Those guys are super nice. Good buy. 

[CAfirstReef]

Hi All, been a long time since my last post. Big changes when a second little one comes around.

The tank has been a bit neglected but nothing like before, just some small algae patches here and there but otherwise things are stable, even the glass hasn't required much scrubbing. Since the last incident, I have not purchased any corals for over a year as I don't feel like throwing the money out and it wasn't fair to the corals themselves. I did siphon my sand bed 3 weeks ago - I don't know why - and well things are a bit upset at the moment and had a few CUC deaths back then because of it but I thought I was helping - mainly my nassarius snails - but nothing else resulted from that other than an increase in algae on the sand that is already going away. 

 

I did a few hardware upgrades recently to try to help automate a lot of items or to make things easier. Lugging buckets of water up from the basement was never fun so I've gone and purchased an Apex - along with a pair of DOSers, a Trident and and learned a lot of things about my tank in the last 3 months since I've had it. First of all, my heater was over heating the aquarium, it was consistently running over 80F (no wonder some corals were not happy from day 1 way back when) my pH fluctuation was large as the KH was quite low (6ish). To help this I started dosing redsea's Foundation B - ALK and that seems to be under control now. In any case - there were no fish deaths 😊which is amazing and there is 1 mushroom that survived through it all with me (a real trooper). Reconnected my MP10 to the Apex and it's controlling it now too.

 

Surprisingly I did manage to keep up with those weekly water changes with only a handful of slips where they were bi-weekly which really allowed things to just ride while we had our hands crazy full. Also I thinned out the live rock a bit as it seemed like just too much. For Christmas I got a giftcard to the LFS so i'm trying to generate a new baseline of stability and will be using ATI's 2 part elements on the second doser once I have a few weeks of results from the trident and will grab a few 10-20$ cheapo corals to try again. I've notice already in the last 3-4 weeks the mushroom has grown since the conditions are more favourable. Probably a small Acan frag and maybe try a monticap again - I really want one of those to survive and grow.

 

Yoda (our Green banded gobi) has grown quite nicely and is quite the character at over a year in the tank now! The Clowns (Chip & Dale -rescue rangers) are celebrating their 3rd birthday of being in my tank soon and the 6line Wrasse (Maveric) is right there with Yoda.

 

A few questions to throw out there to Neptune users:

1. My waste line for the trident is working - mostly - but it's leaking just a bit at the junction between the small provided line and the RO line that I put it into to allow it to drain to an actual drain which is 10' away. I tried silicone tape at the junction but that failed - and I'm thinking of silicone-ing there now. Any other suggestions/experience with this? i have about 2' of the provided line in the RO  line.

2. With the AWC via the DOS - do you keep the saltwater heated or once it's mixed you stop heating but keep mixing? I'm guessing that if it is at room temperature since it gets put in so slowly, the 15-20mL that drop into the tank would barely change the temperature and it's safe to stop heating which would also stop anything growing in the fresh saltwater mixing station?

3. non neptune question - how do people attach RO tubing to their Tunze 3155 ATO? I managed a decent seal with a bit of plumber's tape around the RO line and then jamming it in but it's not ideal. Any suggestions?

 

Cheers all!